Healthy Life Blog

Archive for August, 2009

Like many teens, my sons read the cereal box panels at breakfast. A few weeks ago, they noticed the health claims on our Whole Grain Total cereal box and asked me what they meant. You may be wondering the same thing.

Health claims on food packages help people shop for foods that are linked with prevention of certain diseases. “Several approved health claims pertaining to the health benefits of whole grains will help consumers make wise food choices,” says Kathleen Zelman, M.P.H., R.D., director of nutrition for WebMD Health.

Grain products, fruits, and vegetables may lower cancer risk when they are included in a low-fat diet. A diet that is high in fat increases risk of developing certain types of cancer.

Diets that are low in saturated fat and cholesterol and rich in fruits, vegetables, and grain products that contain some types of dietary fiber, particularly soluble fiber, may reduce the risk of heart disease. Oats are a good grain source of soluble fiber.

Diets rich in whole grain foods and other plant foods and low in total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol may reduce the risk of heart disease and some cancers. This health claim specifies that benefits come from eating whole grain foods rather than all grain foods.

Ms. Zelman points out that while a health claim about foods with calcium and bone health does not mention grains, “a breakfast of whole grain cereal with low-fat milk and fresh fruit is an ideal way to start the day because fortified cereal and milk provide calcium, along with protein and a whole host of vitamins, minerals and fiber to meet your nutritional needs and keep you feeling full all morning.”

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid food guidance system emphasize the importance of eating whole grain foods. They recommend including at least three servings a day of whole grains in place of processed grain foods. Health claims can help you find all-important whole grain foods. They also suggest you to take on weight loss pills if you have to lose weight.

The exercise benefit you may want from exercise may differ greatly from the exercise benefit someone else wants but some things remain the same.

Strong Heart
A strong heart does not have to work so hard so you are less likely to have a heart attack. Regular exercise also increases your HDL (good) cholesterol and helps lower your total cholesterol. Exercise also helps lower your blood pressure. Your lungs will also benefit from exercise as they become better conditioned so that activities such as climbing stairs will not make you out of breath.

Any exercise tip you use needs to be simple yet smart enough so you can use the exercise tips to quickly and easily adapt your exercise habits to continue to push ahead and reach your health, fitness, and physical appearance goals and still have the time for a great family life.

Exercise tip for an exercise benefit:
Get a baby jogger. You don’t have to run or jog, walking at a fast pace will do just as good, but you should get a baby jogger they’re much easier and smoother than a regular stroller for this;

Increased Self-Esteem:
Gaining control of your body size and weight through fitness is an amazing way to increase self-esteem. You look better and are more confident which empowers you in everything you do. You will find that the self-discipline required and learned through regular exercise spills over into other areas of your life and you will be better able to make other necessary and desireable changes

Start by talking with your doctor. This is especially important if you haven’t been active, if you have any health problems, or if you’re pregnant or elderly.

Exercise Makes Your Heart Happy
You may know that your heart is a muscle. It works hard, pumping blood every day of your life. You can help this important muscle get stronger by doing aerobic (say: air-o-bik) exercise.

Balance Ball
You’ve seen them lying around the gym, but you’ve never really known what to do with them. At first, you may have thought they looked “girly,” but then you probably saw some of the most muscular guys at your gym using them. Balance ball is a great way to get great abs! We urge you to find out more about balance ball exercises!

Have you been going to the gym regularly for months and haven’t been able to put on any serious poundage? If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s time to take a step back and make some plans. Building muscle is not rocket science. There are four key factors that will mean the difference between building muscle and staying skinny. You have to ask yourself these four questions.

Is my diet optimized for building muscle?

It’s time to get out of the “3 meals per day” mentality. If you want to gain (or lose) weight you need to feed your body whole foods, six times per day. This means splitting your large meals up and eating about once every three hours. Not only is this good for your metabolism, but your body will use the foods instead of storing them as fat.

Your six meals per day should consist of mainly complex carbohydrates and protein. You should aim for at least thirty grams of protein per meal. High protein foods include lean meat, chicken, fish, egg whites, cheese and milk products. Complex carbohydrates are found in brown rice, brown bread and potatoes. Stay away from foods high in salt and sugar

Should I be using supplements, and when should I be taking them?

If you can afford supplements you should be using them. The basic three you should be considering are protein, carbs and creatine. Whey protein supplements are the fastest known way to deliver quality protein to your muscles. This makes shakes particularly effective after your workouts, when your body is craving protein for muscle re-growth.

There are three key times that supplements should be taken. First thing in the morning, after your workout and before bed. If your diet is up to scratch you shouldn’t need supplements at any other time. Don’t use supplements to replace meals. Supplements are supplements, not meal replacements.

Am I training hard and not smart?

The biggest mistake the new lifters make is thinking that the more they workout the bigger they’ll get. This couldn’t be further from the truth! Two basic rules you must remember when it comes to weight training. First, quality is better than quantity. Second, compound exercises are the kings of building muscle.

Compound exercises require at least two joint movements. Big compound exercises are the squat, bench press, wide grip pull up and seated row. These movements recruit many more muscles fibers to use to move the weight. This means more muscle groups are worked, the exercise is more challenging and the potential for growth is much greater.

Generally you should be doing three compound exercises for one isolation exercise. For example your back/biceps workout might consist of wide grip pull ups, seated row, bent over row and standing bicep curl. You might think this is not enough work for your biceps? Wrong. Your biceps are worked heavily in all over these exercises; the bicep curl just finishes them off.

The length of any training session should not exceed one hour. And you only need to train one muscle group once per week. This means a split routine should only need to be three days per week. In fact, most professional bodybuilders only train four times per week. Remember, it’s quality not quantity.

Do I get enough rest and recovery time?

When you workout you’re not building your muscles, you’re breaking them down. The reason why you looked “pumped up” when you’re in the gym is because your muscle tissue is swollen and damaged. Your muscles actually grow when you are resting. So in simple terms, no rest equals no muscle growth.

So take it easy when you’re not working out. Ease up on the cardio. And make sure you get plenty of sleep. Sleep is the body’s number one time for building muscle. This is also why it’s important to eat before bed, so your body has the fuel to repair muscle in your sleep.

Simple isn’t it?

So you can see that despite what you read in magazines or on the web about building muscle, it’s surprisingly simple. If you get the four aspects I have mentioned in this article right, you will build muscle. If you’ve got any questions, I’m available on the forum on my site. See links in my bio.

Asthma is the most common chronic (long-term) childhood disease. In America about nine million children are diagnosed with asthma. Up to ten per cent of children in Europe are also suffering from asthma symptoms. Unfortunately parents of these children are often uninformed about the various ways to control childhood asthma.

If you suspect your child has asthma the first priority is correct diagnosis. However, be aware that symptoms can vary from episode to episode and not all wheezing and coughing is caused by asthma. Asthma-like symptoms in children younger than five are usually due to a virus or bacterial infection of the airways. However if your child is experiencing breathing difficulties it is best to get them to a doctor whatever the cause.

About eighty per cent of children who develop asthma do so before the age of five. Studies show that children living in rural areas have lower rates of asthma than those who live in cities, particularly if they spent their first five years in a rural area. For children living in inner cities the cockroach allergen seems to worsen asthma symptoms more than dust mite or pet allergens. Therefore another important step in the control of your child’s asthma is to ensure that general cleaning and maintenance routines are followed to ensure cockroaches are not encouraged into the home. Levels of cockroach allergens have been found to be highest in high-rise apartments.

Another factor that has been linked to the development of asthma in children is exposure to smoke. A study in Norway showed that almost ten per cent of adult asthma patients had experienced passive smoking during early childhood. Therefore another step to take at home is to ensure that your child is not exposed to tobacco smoke.

If your doctor recommends the use of medication the next step is to encourage your child to take the medicine. Asthma is one of the main causes for emergency room visits by children. Yet studies have shown that up to half of these hospitalizations may be preventable if children, particularly teenagers, followed their medication schedule correctly, avoided their asthma triggers and made regular visits to the doctor.

Perhaps fear of side effects or dependency, or an impression that it is uncool to be seen taking medicines is preventing children taking their medication as regularly as they should. Perhaps intermittent asthma symptoms persuade children and their parents that it is not important to take medication if there are no symptoms. This is a mistake. Even when there are no obvious symptoms an asthmatic’s lungs will be inflamed to some degree.

The fact that the condition seems to run in families with a history of asthma or allergies suggests that certain people are born with a predisposition to asthma. Some may believe you are born with the condition and there is nothing you can do. However a child’s environment can also play an important role. Studies have found that exposure to potential allergens like pets and pollen in the first six months of life may reduce the chance of developing asthma later. However exposure beyond six months of age has the opposite effect. Being born into a family that already has siblings also seems to reduce the chance of developing asthma.

It is known that children are more susceptible to viral and allergic triggers than adults. An important step in controlling your child’s asthma is identifying the triggers and teaching your child how to recognize their asthma triggers and avoid them. One possible trigger is ibuprofen, with over 100,000 children susceptible to asthma symptoms brought on by the drug.

Children tend to spend more time outside during the summer vacation. If pollen or high levels of ozone trigger your child’s asthma you need to monitor these. Physical exercise is a common trigger of childhood asthma. Teach your child to take medication if necessary, and do warm up exercises before strenuous activity and wind down exercises after.

If your child is going away to camp during the vacation make sure those in charge are aware of your child’s asthma management and action plans. There are camps designed specifically for asthma sufferers in the U.S. and Canada.

It is essential to have a written action plan that clearly states what medication to take and when, as well as how to respond to an asthma attack. You or your child may not remember what to do at a time when it may be difficult for them to breathe, so it is essential to have the important details in writing.

It is important you and your child remain calm during an attack as panic can produce more breathing difficulties. A parent’s instinct may be to cuddle their child, but that would constrict the chest further.

If asthma is diagnosed your next step is to inform your child’s school. Every school should allow access to asthma medication and some allow children to carry and self-administer their asthma medication if certain requirements are met.

Whilst we’re talking about schools here’s one often overlooked childhood asthma trigger. School buses are major sources of pollution, and studies show children who ride them are exposed to five to fifteen times as much asthma triggering particulates inside the buses compared to outside. New Jersey recently passed a law requiring retrofitting of school buses and municipal vehicles to clean up tailpipe emissions. Is your state doing the same?

Remember, if asthma is confirmed you need to educate yourself. According to the experts knowledge is the best prescription. To stop the disease affecting your child’s life you need to know how to monitor and manage asthma. This will mean knowing how to use medications correctly, whether your child’s attacks are triggered by allergens and if so how to reduce exposure to them, and the lifestyle changes that will help your child prevent attacks.

Despite being a widespread disease there are still plenty of myths about asthma. One of the most damaging of these for children is the belief that the condition will improve every seven years or can even disappear completely. Unfortunately, any apparent improvement is probably due to hormonal changes as the child’s immune system matures. The underlying condition does not go away and not managing it can lead to long-term lung damage.

Are you aware that nearly 107 million Americans have total cholesterol of 200 mg/dL or higher, a level at which cardiovascular risk begins to rise.

Mike Flowers of you-and-your-cholesterol.com states that “High Cholesterol and Triglyceride (blood fat) can easily be controlled by following a few simple rules and without giving up some of the pleasures you enjoy most!”

Mr. Flowers also added that ten years ago his doctor wanted to place him on medication due to his high cholesterol levels.

“I was totally shocked because I felt fine, and was going to see him for something unrelated.

At that point, I started thinking about my dad and the Quadruple Bypass he had a couple years earlier.

I convinced my doctor to give me 30 days to reduce my Cholesterol, and get it under control. If not, I would be more than happy to start taking the medication.

When I returned to his office 30 days later, he was completely amazed at how low my levels were and told me to continue doing what I was doing.

To be honest with you, I was more amazed than he was. I was thrilled…not expecting such good results.

It has been ten years since that visit, and each time I visit his office for a check up my levels are consistently good!

A lot of people can lower their levels by incorporating the right diet plan, knowing what foods to stay away from, educating themselves on the benefits of natural herbs, cholesterol information and having a simple exercise regiment.

Unfortunately for some, no matter what they do – they will not be able to get their levels under control and will have to seek the advice of their medical professional.”

ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

Alternative medicine means different things to different people. Alternative medicine encompasses many different approaches from massage to Chinese medicine and yoga. Alternative medicine means practices or medicines that are used instead of the usual, or standard, ways of treating diseases or illness. Examples of complementary and alternative medicine are meditation, yoga, and dietary supplements like vitamins and herbs. Alternative medicine means that it is different to the dominant health care system and potentially can replace it.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is the oldest continuously practiced medical system in the world and is used by one third of the world’s population as a primary health care system. Health is defined as a state of physical well being, mental alertness, socially adjusted, and spiritually developed. Health care is not about drugs and the cost of drugs.

CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE

Conventional medicine is continuing to lose market share. More and more people want options beyond what many consider to be essentially a high-tech slash, burn and poison medicine. Conventional medicine is used to describe the services that treat the symptoms of a disease or illness with prescribed medications and surgeries. Conventional medicine treats the ailing part of the body but may not address the underlying causes of the illness or disease.

Traditional practitioners don’t express hopefulness when their medicine fails as they treat diseases first and then people secondly. On the other hand alternative practitioners, often encourage patients to be hopeful even when the situation is hopeless as they aim to treat the mind, body and soul of their patient.

Medicine is directly related to the biomedicine and health sciences. The term ‘Medicine’ today refers to the fields of surgery, clinical medicine and the medical research. Medical mistakes appear to be increasing, and if they are not, then at the very least, the publicizing of them is increasing. It makes people wary.

HERBAL

Herbal medicine is a booming industry in the United States. The American market for herbal remedies has doubled the last couple of years. Herbs may be harmful if taken for the wrong conditions, used in excessive amounts, combined with prescription drugs or alcohol, or used by persons who don’t know what they are doing. Just because an herbal remedy is natural, does not mean it is safe!








ACUPUNCTURE

Acupuncture needles are usually inserted to a depth of about a quarter of an inch into the skin. The therapist gently twists or twirls them for up to 10 minutes, leaving them in five to 20 minutes longer; or stimulates them with a weak electrical current; or heats them with a burning herb such as mugwort (see moxibustion). Acupuncture was used as an illustration of medical irrationality before James Reston’s fortuitous appendicitis brought it to the United States. From the impact of the LaLeche League on the advisability of breast-feeding to current studies of botanical medicines such as ginger, echinacea and ginkgo biloba, folk and alternative medicines have continuously influenced medical research and practice.

A number of novels and stories of the early 18th and 19th centuries often portray women as mad and irrational beings, thus, espousing the creation of mad women literature. But, modern medicine dispels this “mad” attribute. By establishing that women’s hormones are more sensitive and susceptible to change than that of men, more attention is given to female health. Menstruation, menopause, PMS, and perimenopause – these are all part and parcel of general health topics related to women. Aside from that similarity of being part of female health, these phenomena are due to one thing: hormonal changes. Hormones are fickle, they change with the slightest variation in diets or physical activity. Sometimes even emotional upheavals are enough to make women’s hormones go haywire. Researchers on female health come up with studies on the relationship of female psycho-emotional well-being and their physical health. More often than not, hormones are the established links between this relationship.

Hormonal imbalances are the usual culprits for a number of health disorders in women. Although some of the symptoms are associated with other illnesses, their root remains to be unbalanced hormones. As varied as general health topics are, they range from physical manifestations to psychological and emotional troubles. Physical manifestations of hormonal imbalances include fatigue, weakness, weight gain, weight loss, digestive problems, hot flashes, and joint pain. Other symptoms are more pronounced and less insidious like hair loss and dry skin. Unfortunately, with the demands of career and family life, women often ignore these symptoms as merely due to excess work and overall tiredness. Some attempt to cure their symptoms with remedies and rest that do not work. Hormonal imbalances need medical attention and hormonal supplements to be treated properly. Otherwise, symptoms grow worse with heart palpitations, increased nausea, urinary dysfunction, breast pain, and vaginal dryness. Extreme cases even include changes in menstrual periods with the affected person either suffering from extended periods and bleeding or have total absence of periods.

If the symptoms and conditions above are bad enough, they are just the hormonal imbalances’ physical aspect. Usually cropping up as manifestations of other psychological disorders, the psycho-emotional aspect of these imbalances are often disruptive. There are documented cases wherein afflicted persons confess of being unable to function at their normal level because of the symptoms. Some of the minor symptoms include cravings and mood swings. However, if the symptoms do not receive treatment, they progress to worse conditions like lack of sexual desire, depression, insomnia, and unclear reasoning. It’s no wonder that general health topics and concerns about women often include well-being exercises.

But, these imbalances are not permanent afflictions. With proper diet, exercise, supplements, and counseling, women are able to get their hormones back on track. However, early detection is a key factor in treating hormonal imbalances. It is therefore important not to dismiss the symptoms as just belonging to general health topics or issues. Hormonal imbalances are not just topics — they are real, and they happen to more women everyday.

Aging of the skin is a natural process by which the collagen and elastin, that keep our skin looking firm and youthful, begin to decline, this results in wrinkles. Cell production and cell quality also diminish over time resulting in wrinkles. These factors unfortunately are out of our control, though diet and supplements can slow down the process, but it won’t stop it.

The influences that are within our control are largely environmental such as pollution (eg; smoking) and sun damage. Here are 20 easy ways to reduce wrinkles and slow down the aging process.

1. Stop smoking (It’s #1 for a reason)
2. Always wear sunscreen whether it’s cloudy or sunny and don’t sunbake.
3. Hydrate your skin by drinking about 8 glasses of water a day.
4. Use skin care products that contain antioxidants and AHA’s.
5. Moisturize the skin on your face twice daily.
6. Reduce stress. (Try reading, exercising, meditating) 15 minutes a day is a good start.
7. Reduce alcohol consumption. Over indulging can put enormous strain on your system and will accelerate wrinkles forming.
8. Eat healthily by incorporating plenty of fruits and vegetables in your daily diet.
9. Sleep at least 8 hours every night.
10. Eat fish three times a week. Great for the skin and general health.
11. Check with your doctor about taking supplements, your diet may be lacking some of the important ones.
12. Use an eye cream for the delicate skin around the eyes nightly.
13. Facial scrubs remove the build up of dead cells that can increase the appearance of wrinkles, try this weekly.
14. Use natural skin care products that will nourish your skin and give it lots of vitamins and minerals to help it stay fresh and healthy.
15. Jojoba oil resembles the skins natural oils. Dab this around the eyes to keep wrinkles at bay.
16. Take vitamin C supplements and use products that contain vitamin C, it will help boost your collagen.
17. Start a good skin care routine in your 20’s. Prevention is easier than the cure.
18. Honey is known worldwide for it’s beneficial abilities. Use a honey mask weekly. Simply apply the honey to your face and neck and leave for 30 minutes then rinse off. This mask will “feed” your skin with nutrients.
19. Aloe Vera and Avocado oil both have the ability to prevent the skin from drying out; they are both used to improve the skins elasticity.
20. A soothing way to help achieve a wrinkle-free face is to lie on your back with your knees elevated by placing a pillow or cushion beneath them.

Try this when you are watching TV or reading.

Anesthetics have been used for thousands of years. In fact, the first recorded use of anesthetics was actually in the ‘pre-history’ era, an era of human history predating written text.

Early Uses of Herbal Anesthetics

In the pre-history era, anesthetics were herbal in nature. Opium poppies are known to have been harvested as early as 4200 BC, and these plants were farmed first in the Sumerian Empire. The first recorded uses of anesthetics containing opium preparations was in 1500 BC, and by 1100 BC, civilizations in Cyprus and other locations were farming and harvesting the plants.

Opium poppies were introduced to India and China in 330 BC and 600 to 1200 AD, respectively. Other types of herbal anesthetics were in use in China during this era as well. In the second century, the Chinese physician Hua Tuo is known to have used an anesthetic derived from cannabis to perform abdominal surgery.

In Europe, Asia, and the Americas, several other ‘solanum’ plant species were used as anesthetics, including mandrake, henbane, and several datura species. Each of these contains a potent tropane alkaloid. In the classical Greek and Roman eras, prominent figures such as Hippocrates and Pliny the Elder noted the uses of opium and solanum-containing plants. In the Americas, the leaves of the coca plant (from which cocaine is derived) were an often-used anesthetic. This was applied by Incan shamans who would chew coca leaves and then spit the leaves into wounds to administer a local anesthetic.

Herbal anesthetics of these types were widely used for several centuries; however they were not without drawbacks. One of the main problems with the use of herbal anesthetics was in administering the right dosage-too little would have no effect, and too much often killed the patient. Standardization of anesthetics was difficult, but was achieved to a certain degree prior to the nineteenth century by categorizing anesthetics according to the location in which anesthetic plants were grown.

The Discovery of Morphine

In 1804, a German pharmacist named Friedrich Wilhelm extracted morphine from the opium poppy, and named the compound ‘morphium’, for the Greek god of sleep and dreams. However, morphine was not widely used for nearly fifty years. In 1853, the hypodermic needle was developed, and thanks to this new method of administration, the use of morphine increased substantially. Morphine was then widely used as an anesthetic.

In 1874, a morphine derivative called diacetylmorphine-commonly known as heroin-was developed. Nearly twice as potent as morphine, heroin was marketed for a short time by Bayer, starting in 1898. However, it was just 16 years later in 1914 that the possession of morphine, heroin, and cocaine without a prescription was outlawed in the US due to the highly addictive nature of these substances.

Development of Inhalant Anesthetics

Oral and inhalant anesthetics were utilized historically by Muslim anesthesiologists, and the use of these preparations was well known in the Islamic Empire. Several hundred surgical operations were performed which used sponges soaked in narcotic preparations, placed over the face of the individual undergoing surgery.

In the Western world, the development of inhalant anesthetics, along with the use of sterile surgical techniques developed by Joseph Lister, was one of the main keys to performing successful surgery in the nineteenth century.

During the nineteenth century, both carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide were used in experimental surgical procedures. While the use of carbon dioxide as an anesthetic never became popular, nitrous oxide did in fact become very widely used.

The anesthetic properties of nitrous oxide were first noted by Humphry Davy, a British chemist, in a paper published in 1800. However, it was not until several decades later in the 1840s that nitrous oxide became more widely used. One of the first successful uses of the gas for painless tooth extraction was carried out by American dentist William Thomas Green Morton, in 1846.

During the same decade, an inhalant anesthetic called diethyl ether was also used for tooth extraction. Diethyl ether was originally synthesized by German physician Valerius Cordus in 1540; however it was not until the 1840s that the first public demonstration of the use of ether occurred. A decade earlier, in the 1830s, chloroform had also been developed. This became more popular in Britain, but even so the dangers of both ether and chloroform were well-noted.

Modern Anesthetics

Modern anesthetics are of two types: general and local anesthetics. Local anesthetics include substances such as lidocaine and procaine. These work by preventing transmission of nerve impulses in the area where the anesthetic is administered. General anesthetics, on the other hand, are more similar in nature to nitrous oxide in their method of delivery, and in fact this inhalant anesthetic is still in use. Inhalation anesthetics are usually fluorochemicals (isoflurane, sevoflurane and desflurane) that have much lower flammability than diethyl ether, thus they are much safer to use in the operating room.

Are you tired of diet tips handed out by someone with apparently unlimited income and time? For some of us, it may just not be practical to spend half of our Sunday preparing carefully portioned meals for the rest of the week, or financially feasible to buy all our meals prepackaged in just the right portions. And there are those of us who cringe at the thought of weighing food to achieve ‘optimal portion sizes’. Here are ten real life diet tips for the rest of us.

1. Eating out? Restaurant portions tend to be enormous, and if it’s on the plate, we tend to eat it. If it’s possible, order from the kid’s menu, where portions are more reasonably sized.

2. Keep healthy snacks around and easily accessible. A bowl of fruit on the kitchen table, a container of celery or carrot sticks in the refrigerator, or a couple of pop-open cans of fruit salad in your desk at work will help you grab for something healthy when those first hunger pains begin. In other words, you’ll be more likely to grab something low-calorie and good for you if it’s easy to eat.

3. Substitute frozen vegetables for canned. Canned veggies tend to be high in sodium, which you don’t need, and low in real nutrition, which you do. Buy economy size bags with zip closures to make it easy to pour out a single serving for a meal.

4. Buy a vegetable steamer. Steaming is one of the healthiest ways to cook vegetables. The food retains nearly all of its natural nutrients instead of leaching it out into the cooking water. Even better, it makes your veggies taste great – which means you’ll be more likely to eat them instead of filling up on fatty foods that pack on weight.

5. Never eat standing up. One of the easiest ways to sabotage your diet is to ‘eat without thinking’. Treat eating with the respect that it deserves. Fix yourself a plate. Sit down and eat properly. You’ll be less likely to just pop food into your mouth without paying attention.

6. Spread your meals out. When you eat three meals a day, your body tends to store whatever it doesn’t need right that moment. By adopting a ‘grazing’ habit, you’ll keep your metabolism working throughout the day. Have a small breakfast, a piece of fruit with crackers or toast at mid-morning, a light lunch and an ‘after school snack’ mid-afternoon. Just remember that you’re breaking up the same amount of food into smaller meals, not ADDING more food into your daily diet.

7. Grab a fruit juice or flavored water instead of soda. Soda is nothing but empty calories. No nutrients, lots of sugar. Instead, grab a bottle of 100% fruit juice, or water flavored with a spritz of fruit.

8. Drink water. Even the FDA recommends at least 8 full 8 ounce glasses of water a day to keep your body working right. When you’re dieting, you should drink even more. It’s not just that full feeling – water helps your body digest foods properly and cleans out your system.

9. Can’t afford a gym membership? Make a pact with friends to exercise together. Make a date at least three times a week to play volleyball, take a walk or spend half an hour doing something active.

10. Skip the potato chips. Fatty snacks fried in hydrogenated oil like potato chips contribute fat and calories and not much else. Instead, grab a handful of dried fruit or a cup of yogurt for the same amount of calories and a lot more nutritional benefit.