What is a Healthy Lifestyle?

So many people strive to have a healthy lifestyle without truly understanding what it means.  To clear things up,here are some of the biggest components of a healthy lifestyle:

1) Eating right

2) Being fit & flexible

3) Getting plenty of sleep

4) Having a calm mind

And most importantly

5) Live life to the MAX!

Listen: the first 4 things on this list are things that MILLIONS of people place a heavy emphasis on, but almost nobody ever talks about the 5th even though it is so important!  That's why I am going to focus upon it for this post. :)

So what does it mean to "live life to the max"?  In simple terms, it means doing whatever it takes to live the life of your dreams.  There are way too many people that focus on being healthy, but forget to have a fun and fulfilling lifestyle!  Let me ask you something: do you absolutely love every aspect of your life?  Chances are that you answered "no". This proves that there are parts of your life that are decreasing the quality of your lifestyle, right?  

Now that you understand this, there are two things you have to ask yourself:

1) What things are making my lifestyle worse?

2) What would enrich my current lifestyle?

Once you have done that, start to get rid of things that are making your lifestyle worse, and take some steps to implement the things that will make it better.  Trust me, not only will you begin to truly love your life, but you will also dramatically improve your health and increase your lifespan.  This quick video here might just help you realize why this is so:

This next video will help you understand the importance of living your dreams, and at around the 4.5 min mark the speaker talks about another positive effect that it would have on your health.

Until next time! :)

Previous post: Best Ways to Get Fit Naturally

Most Effective Ways to Get Fit Naturally

Here is a list of what I believe to be the best ways to get fit naturally.  Be warned that I am not promising you that these methods will improve your fitness quickly, but if you integrate these tips into your life for an extended period of time, then you will definitely see results.

1) Go running for 30 minutes per day

2) Go swimming everyday or on a regular basis

3) Eat less processed foods

4) Eat less sugary foods

If you were to follow these 4 steps, you will definitely improve your fitness levels!

This is not something that would be for everyone, but one type of exercise that I would recommend is Capoeira.  Capoeira is a Brazilian dance-like martial art that uses virtually every single muscle in the body.  It is fantastic for cardio, muscle building, flexibility, coordination, and agility.  Best of all, it is a ton of fun!!  The first video below is a Capoeira demonstration, and the second is a quick tutorial about the most basic Capoeira step.  Enjoy!

Pretty cool, eh?  To finish this post off, I am going to give you a bit of a challenge: implement ONE thing that I talked about in this post into your life.  Easy enough?  Good! :)

Have a great day!!


Previous post: The BEST Way to Move Your Health Forward - Part 4/4

The BEST Way to Move Your Health Forward - Part 4/4

How did you like that video series?  I LOVE Zig Ziglar, he is such a phenomenal speaker!  Even though he covered a whole lot of material, it all comes down to this: the best thing that you could do for your health is to start setting some goals for yourself.  Maybe you want to lose some weight, or maybe you want to become more flexible.  Here are the main keys from Zig Ziglar's speech:

1) Write your goal down:  When you do this step, BE SPECIFIC.  Clarity is so key when you want to achieve a goal.  For example, if you want to lose weight, be sure to say EXACTLY how much you want to weigh.

2) Give yourself a time limit:  Make sure that your time limit is something that will challenge you.  And most importantly, DON'T BEAT YOURSELF UP IF YOU MISS YOUR GOAL!  If you happen to miss, it's not the end of the world!  Simply give yourself an extension :)

3) List all of the obstacles that you might have: This is really important because it will ensure that you are prepared for the things that might get in your way.  If you are prepared to face them, the odds are higher that you will overcome them.

4) Find the people, organizations, and groups that you need to work with:  For instance, if you wanted to increase your fitness level, you may want to join a gym.  It's also important for you to surround yourself with people who are going to support you in hitting your goal!  Without that support, it can be all to easy to lose motivation.

5) Make a plan of action


6) Identify how you will benefit once you achieve your goal:  Make sure that you come up with LOTS of different benefits!  The more benefits that you have, the higher the chance you will follow through to hit your goal.


This video unfortunately does not talk enough about exactly how to set a goal.  If you do not set your goal properly, your odds of success are considerably lower.  If you would like to go through a free course on goal setting, join the Simply Health Club before November 22nd and I will make sure that you get this coaching.  Click here for more info on the Simply Health Club

Previous post: The BEST Way to Move Your Health Forward - Part 3/4

The BEST Way to Move Your Health Forward - Part 3/4

Next post: The BEST Way to Improve Move Your Health Forward - Part 4/4

Previous post: The BEST Way to Move Your Health Forward - Part 2/4

The BEST Way to Move Your Health Forward - Part 2/4

Next Post: The BEST Way to Move Your Health Forward - Part 3/4

Previous Post: The BEST Way to Move Your Health Forward- Part 1/4

The BEST Way to Move Your Health Forward - Part 1/4

This is a 4 part video series on the very best way you can move your health forward.  Enjoy!

Next post: The BEST Way to Move Your Health Forward - Part 2/4

Previous post: Lowering Blood Sugar By Diet - Part 2

Lowering Blood Sugar by Diet - Part 2

Wow, seems like the last post was pretty popular!!  Here are some other ways to lower blood sugar by diet: 


1) Cinnamon: Half a teaspoon of cinnamon per day lowers blood glucose levels!  On top of that, it helps get rid of bad cholesterol and increases good cholesterol levels :)  Try putting some cinnamon into one of your meals every day, whether it be on apple pie, oatmeal, or even with your tea.

2) Protein: Protein slows down the absorption of sugar into the body, which in turn keeps your blood sugar levels even.  Try to have a little bit of protein with every meal.  Some good protein sources are lentils, beans, or chicken.

For more health tips, please join our Simply Healthy Club!  Click here for more info on what the Simply Healthy Club is :)

Next post: The BEST Way to Move Your Health Forward - Part 1/4

Previous post: Lowering Blood Sugar by Diet - Part 1

Lowering Blood Sugar by Diet

Lowering blood sugar levels is crucial to having great health and will help you to avoid complications such a diabetes.   Even though there are lots of different ways to manage blood sugar levels, one popular way of doing so is to lower blood sugar by diet.  

So here are my top 2 favourite ways of doing this:

1) Eat small amounts of food frequently throughout the day: This is a great tip that will keep your blood sugar even, for it is much easier for the body to digest food this way.  My nutritionist had actually recommended that I eat every 2-3 hours.

2) Increase your water intake: This is something that I learned very recently, and it really surprised me!  The simplest way that I can describe this comes from Yahoo Answers (http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080303060316AAJRamt)

Imagine that your bloodstream is a cup half full of water.

Say you eat a candy bar (or, even something healthy -- an apple). Each time you eat something, you're putting sugar in that cup of water.When you drink water, it increases the volume of your blood stream... so, it's like you're adding more water to that cup of water... and the more water you add to that cup of water, the less sugar you'll find in each drop. 


I hope that these tips help you to lower your blood sugar by diet. If you would like to receive some other information and resources to help you improve your health, please join the Simply Healthy Club!  Not only can you join a fantastic community of like-minded people interested in great health, but you will also receive some cool resources & information to help you hit your health goals!  To join, enter your email on the right hand side of the page, or if you want to learn more click on the link 2 sentences ago to learn more :)

Until next time!!

Previous post: Great Beginner Exercise Program - Part 2

At Home Diet and Exercise Program - Part 2

So as I said last time, Easy Fit is basically a great home diet and exercise program.  If you are someone who enjoys going to the gym regularly, this diet and exercise program might not be for you.  In other words, this is a plan for people who are looking to get eased into a healthier lifestyle without having to make any drastic lifestyle changes.

Here are my favourite benefits of doing exercise:

Increases endurance
Increases flexibility
Increases strength
Increases mental alertness
Increases circulation
Increases energy

Simply put, following a diet and exercise program is one of the best ways to improve your health.  I challenge you to start following one right away!

Have a fantastic day!!

Next post: Lowering Blood Sugar by Diet

Previous post: At Home Diet and Exercise Program - Part 1

At Home Diet and Exercise Program - Part 1

A HUGE key to good health is having a diet and exercise program.  However, there are a few things that stop people from following one:

1) They don't know where to look for one
2) It's expensive to pay a nutritionist to design a plan for you.
3) Most programs are too hard to keep up

I used to fall under the 3rd category, for I honestly believed that being healthy was complicated.  However, a few weeks ago I met a someone by the name of Sandra Dansereau at a seminar, and she told me about her book "Easy Fit: A Simple Guide on How to Look and Feel Great".  Seeing as it intrigued me, I bought it and just finished reading it yesterday. 

Sandra Dansereau, who specializes in fitness and well-being, battled with weight issues every since she was 7 years old.  In fact, at the age of 12 she weighed 180 pounds!  Thankfully she managed to turn things around for herself by implementing a healthier lifestyle, but it was not particularly easy.  One of the things that Sandra talks about is her frustration at the fitness industry, for most programs typically work best for people with a lot of time, money, and knowledge.  Unfortunately, most of us don't have a lot of time, money, and knowledge, therefore those plans never seem to work out!  Can you relate to that at all?  My bet is that you can, or at least you know someone who can.

This is why Sandra wrote EasyFit.  This book focuses on providing a guide that keeps being healthy really simple and best of all, FREE!  That's really what I liked most about it, for it showed me some ways to be healthy & fit without having to spend any money!

So to sum it all up, this book provides a program that can be done anytime, anywhere, with no cost, and no equipment. There is even provides sample menu plans covering breakfast, lunch, and dinner!  And there's some great recipies in there as well!

So as you have probably noticed, I am pretty excited about this book and the knowledge that it contains. I believe that this book is fantastic for people who are looking for a home diet and exercise program so that they may ease into a healthier lifestyle :)

If you are wondering if Easy Fit is right for you, check out the following post: Is Easy Fit right for me?

Have a great day!


Next post: At Home Diet and Exercise Program - Part 2

Previous post: Get Organized

Get Organized

The 21st century is extremely fast paced, there is no doubt about it.  Because of this, people are resorting more and more to eating take-out and pre-packaged food.  Although this is a simple solution, it definitely isn't a healthy choice.

So how can we maintain good health in such a fast paced world?  The answer is this: organization.  A lot of people have a belief that getting organized is a hard and complicated to do.  Fortunately, I am going to simplify it to the point where literally ANYONE can do it.  Here is a way where you can take a short period of time on your weekend and positively change your health:

1) Go shopping on one day of the weekend: You are far less likely to eat out or snack on junk if you constantly have a fridge stocked full of nutritious food.  When you go shopping make sure you buy enough fruit and vegetables for you to eat at least 1 serving of each per day.  

2) On the other day of the weekend, prepare some lunches and/or dinners for the week: This will ensure that you have some ready made nutritious meals for the week, which will reduce the chance of you going for unhealthier options.

There you go!  That really is as simple as it gets :) If you are interested in more health tips such as these ones, check out the following website: 

http://livelighter.org/15-practical-and-easy-health-tips/

Also, a quick reminder for the Simply Healthy Club members.  Remember that I am sending out those free tickets to the seminar from the video in my last post.  In addition, I am also firing off an e-book that I found recently about increasing self-esteem :)  If you aren't a part of the SHC yet and want those resources, just be sure to join (which you can do on the right hand side of this blog) before November 23rd, 2011 and I will still make sure that you get them.  If you did not have the chance to read my previous post and would like to learn more about these resources, here is the link to where you may do so:

Simple Tip #5: How to Get Over Fear & Reduce Stress 

Lastly, if you are unfamiliar with the Simply Healthy Club (SHC), here is the post that explains what it is:

What is the Simply Healthy Club?: 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog!  It truly does mean a lot to me :)

Next post: Great Beginner Exercise Program - Part 1

Previous post: How to Get Over Fear & Reduce Stress

How to Get Over Fear & Reduce Stress

In my last post we talked about what fear really is, and how it leads to high stress levels (please read my previous post before reading this one, it will be to your benefit).  Today we are going to go a step further and go through exactly how to get over any fear that you have in your life.  Can you imagine how great your life would be if fear no longer stopped you?  Not only would your stress level be drastically lowered, but you would have a lot more freedom as well!

Watch the following video from the 1:33 minute mark before you read the rest of this posting.

Now that you understand fear on a deeper level, follow this 3 process, and you can get over ANY fear:

1) Pick 1 fear from your list that you would like to "tame" and figure out why it scares you.

2) Identify WHY you want to get over this fear.  How is your life going to change once you have gotten over it?  This will give you what I call WHY-POWER.  I heard a saying once that has really stuck with me: "Willpower will always fail you.  What you need is why-power".  Basically, what this quote is saying is that if you have a VERY STRONG reason for why you want something, there is very little that can stop you.

3) Take a minimum of 1 action per day that challenges your fear.  For example, if you had a fear of meeting new people, make it a point to establish at least 1 friendship per day.  And remember: ACT IN SPITE OF FEAR!!!  Don't wait for the fear to subside, for chances are that it won't until you take some action.  If you are having troubles figuring out what actions to take, don't hesitate to post a comment below this post and I will do my best to help you out :)

So there you have it. You are now prepared to not only reduce your stress levels, but you also have the tools to go get the life you truly deserve.  I know that if you follow this process, you will see AMAZING results in your life!

Please share this blog through Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Tumblr, email, etc if you think that this information could benefit others.  It's an easy way that you can truly improve someone's life.  That's the reason that I made this blog after all, for I want to help as many people as possible and guide them to improving their quality of life.  However, I can only do so much by myself!  Therefore, please share this with everyone that you think that this could help out!!!

Until next time :)

PS A quick shout out to all SHC members! This week I am going to be sending you a free e-book that contains 10 great ways to increase your self-esteem. I have gone through it and I believe that it will help you develop your self-esteem which will in turn give you more confidence in yourself to face your fears.  In addition to this, I am also going to send you free tickets to the 3 day seminar that this video clip came from, so keep an eye on your inbox!!  If you are not an SHC member, you can still join and get these resources!  Simply put your email into the box on the right hand side of the page and I will email you all of the resources I listed above : D  Just make sure that you do this before the end of this week (November 13th) and I will make sure that you get them.

Tame the Cobra of Fear

I have been getting so many hits for the topic of stress reduction,  that I decided to make another blog post about it!

So far we have covered some causes of stress and a few techniques to reduce it.  However, there is one HUGE stresser that nobody ever thinks about: FEAR.  Believe it or not, our bodies ALWAYS fire a stress response when something scares us.  Thus, the more we live our lives in fear the more stressed that we will be!

Check out the following website that explains the connection between fear and stress:

http://www.anxietycentre.com/anxiety-tips/stress-fear-2.shtml

So my advice to you in this post is the following: make a list of 3-5 of your fears that you would like to eliminate.  I am suggesting this because next time we will be talking how you can get over some of those fears so that you can reduce your stress levels :)

Lastly, seeing as keeping up good health is so important I have decided to go the extra mile to help you out.  Today is the launch of the Simply Healthy Club!!  This is an amazing opportunity for you to really start improving your health, for all people in the SHC will receive weekly tips on maintaing great health simply and conveniently.  By the way: all information that I send out will NOT be posted on the blog, so sign up to get the extra health tips!

To join this growing online community, enter your email on the right hand side and start taking your health to the next level :)


Next post: How to Get Over Fear & Reduce Stress

Previous post: Reducing Stress - Part 2

Reducing Stress - Part 2

This is going to be a really short post, but I think that you will enjoy it!!  Recently I realized that often times we feel stressed because we get really worked up over life, and we start taking things too seriously!!  Here is a quick little video that I came across that helps with getting de-stressed and feeling happier.  I couldn't stop laughing after watching it :P



If you enjoyed that video, please share it through twitter/facebook, and tell your friends! :)

Next post: Tame the Cobra of Fear

Previous Post: Reducing Stress - Part 1

Reducing Stress - Part 1

Before I start this post, I want to talk to you about the "follow by email" feature on the right hand side.  It has come to my attention that for some reason, blogger thinks that the name of my blog is "great health for dummies", and I don't know why.  I have taken some steps to try and fix that, but I think that my follower list got deleted.  Thus, for all of my followers from before, please input your email for a second time so that you can be on the list again :)  Sorry for the inconvenience!!

Anyways, let's talk about stress.  Prolonged stress is HORRIBLE for our bodies!  High stress levels lead to problems such as:

1) Heart attacks

2) High blood pressure

3) Headaches

4) Cancer

5) Insomnia

Basically, living in a stressed state is a recipe for disaster and it will drastically shorten your life!  It's a bold statement,  but I think that a lot of you truly needed to hear that.

Here is a video explaining some causes of stress:

I hope that video helped you gain a better understanding of stress and what causes it.  I challenge you to start taking ACTION and make it your top priority to lower your stress levels.

Hope that you have a great day!!!!

Next Post - Reducing Stress - Part 2

Previous post: Water!

Best Health Benefits of Drinking Water

We all know that drinking lots of water everyday is important, but here's the thing: most of us don't drink enough!  A health consultant that I know once told me that "not drinking enough water is like not ever flushing the toilet in your home".  So my question to you is this: are you flushing the junk out of your body or are you allowing it to accumulate?

Check out the following video about some of water's health benefits.  I hope that it helps you realize the importance of simply drinking more water everyday!



So the bottom line is this: DRINK MORE WATER! Bring a water bottle everywhere you go and drink it all!  I know that I am being repetitive, but it's only because I want this to be engrained deep into your mind,  for quite honestly it is the simplest way that you can improve your health.

That's a wrap for this post, remember to follow this blog so that you can keep up with the amazing health tips and resources that I will be posting.  Also, check out the poll about water right above the "about me" section, I am interested to see the results.  Have a FANTASTIC day!!

Next post: Reducing Stress - Part 1