Healthful Facts: 5 Ways You Can Take Control of Your Body

People have ignored their health for all sorts of reasons. For example, some simply were just too busy to worry about their health, but that is changing. More and more people understand how important it is to stay on top of their health. Taking control of your health is not too hard though it does require a bit of an investment on your part.

Knowledge

One of the easiest things you can do is learn what is healthy and what is not. You can take better control of your health if you know what is good for you and what might not be. Talk to a health consultant, and make sure you look up information online to further your education.

Take Action

Knowing what is healthy is one thing, but you also have to make sure you motivate yourself to take action by sticking to specific diets or exercise regimes. You could talk to a dietitian and a fitness trainer to help motivate you if you have trouble doing this step on your own. You can also read a few self-help books, which work for some people.

Choose Care

People who wait to the last minute to seek medical attention hardly put any thought into where they will go for help. You need to value choice, and look for a care center that truly cares for you. For example, you may want to look for a personal dentist such as Smile Makers Dental rather than the closest one to your house. Knowing that the dentist provides trustworthy care is one major step in the right direction.

Supportive Team

Some people may be having a hard time letting go of unhealthy habits. This is normal, but you have to make sure that you have a support system. There are support groups for people having all sorts of issues such as overeating or smoking. Admitting to yourself you have a lack of control is important, and it’s yet another step in the right direction.

Peer Pressure

You need make some new friends on this journey of yours that will help focus you and push you. Taking full control of your health is not always easy, so you are going to need friends who care about health as much as you do. Now, those who already have health enthusiast friends may skip this step, but those who do not try to make friends.

There you go, now you know five ways to take control of your health once and for all. Be sure to talk to health care specialists about additional ways you can make this change.

Meghan Belnap / Blogger, Researcher and Freelance Writer

Meghan Belnap is a freelance writer who enjoys spending time with her family. She loves being in the outdoors and exploring new opportunities whenever they arise. Meghan finds happiness in researching new topics that help to expand her horizons. You can often find her buried in a good book or out looking for an adventure. You can connect with her on Facebook right here and Twitter right here.

Healthiest McDonald's Menu Combos That You Can Make Yourself

Despite being known as a fast food restaurant chain, Mcdonalds does have items that are lower in calories on their menu. And depending on the meal you choose to order, there are several different ways to enjoy a full meal without busting your calorie or macro count for the day. These orders can come in at under 500 calories. On the catch side you just have to manipulate the order yourself.

Try making some of the following combos at breakfast, lunch or dinner.

Meal 1:

Fruit & Maple Oatmeal: 310 calories

Apple Slices: 15 calories

Coffee: 0 calories (no cream or sugar)
Total: 325 calories

Meal 2:

Fruit and Yogurt Parfait: 150 calories

Coffee: 0 calories (no cream or sugar)

Hash Browns: 150 calories
Total 300 calories

Meal 3:

Egg McMuffin: 290 calories

Hash Browns: 150 calories

Coffee: 0 calories (no cream or sugar)

Total: 440 calories

Meal 4:

Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad (no cheese or tortilla strips): 260 calories

Fruities (Mandarin orange): 35 calories

Total: 295 calories

Meal 5: 

Premium Grilled Chicken Sandwich: 380 calories

Side Salad: (no dressing) 20 calories

Water: 0 calories
Total: 400 calories

Meal 6:

Hamburger: 250 calories

Kids Fries: 110 Calories

Small Diet Soda
Total: 360 calories

Meal 7:

Cheeseburger: 300 calories

Side Salad: 20 calories

Water
Total: 320 calories

Meal 8:

Hamburger: 250 calories

Side Salad: 20 calories

Water
Total 270 calories

Happy do it yourself Mcdonalds creating! Let me know how it goes!

4 Reasons A Great Meal Is About How You Eat – Not What You Eat

Everyone knows it’s important to eat the right foods to live a long and healthy life, but many of us fall short of that ideal.

We eat on the run, pulling into a drive-through and scarfing down a hamburger on the way to the next appointment. We grab a candy bar at the grocery checkout and munch it on the way to the car.

And somewhere along the line we realize that just as you can’t judge a book by its cover, you can’t judge food by its taste, says Jane Bernard, an educator and author of Lucid Living in the Virtual Age (www.sensualthinking.com).

“We know that taste can be misleading, at least when it comes to what’s best for us,” she says. “People love donuts, but they don’t make a nutritious breakfast. Spinach isn’t popular with many people – especially children – but it’s beneficial to our health in many ways.”

But for Bernard, a great meal is less about what you eat than how you eat it. She advocates something she calls “intuitive eating” that’s aimed at improving every dining experience – and perhaps making for a healthier diet along the way.

“Intuitive eating is deceptively simple,” Bernard says. “Focus on one meal at a time to get the most pleasure and nutrition from your food. Notice what you see, smell and taste. Check in with your body to see if you’re really hungry – because sometimes we keep eating when it’s actually time to stop.”

Although you might find yourself shedding a few pounds, intuitive eating isn’t necessarily about losing weight, she says. It’s about getting more pleasure out of your meals – and getting more pleasure from the people you have meals with.

Bernard suggests a few exercises that can help turn you into an intuitive eater:

• Smell food before putting it in your mouth. Nearly everyone has memories tied to the aroma of food. Perhaps it’s your mother baking cookies on Christmas Eve. Perhaps it’s hamburgers sizzling on a backyard grill. With most meals, people don’t take the time to savor the aroma, Bernard says.   Does it smell inviting? Greasy? Fresh? Bad? “If the food doesn’t smell right, it isn’t,” Bernard says. “Let your nose protect you and help guide choices.”
• Taste food as you chew. You may think you already do this, but too often people don’t really take time to enjoy the taste, Bernard says. They wolf down their food so they can move on to whatever is next on their agenda. Tasting food helps your body relax and digest more efficiently, she says. Tasting and savoring what you eat also is good for overall health.
• Be thankful for your meal. Giving thanks doesn’t have to be limited to Thanksgiving. “Think about what food is giving you: energy, strength, health, nourishment and pleasure,” Bernard says. “If you take a little time to meditate on that, your body will relax and you will get more nourishment from your food.”
• Give your stomach time to inform your brain. It takes 15 minutes before your brain gets the message from your stomach that you’ve eaten. That’s no doubt one reason people over eat. They don’t give their body time to get the message that they are getting full before gulping down even more food. “Take time to have conversations when you eat and you will eat less – and enjoy the meal more,” Bernard says.

“Eating is a necessity of life,” Bernard says. “But there’s no need to rush things. Eat just enough to feel good and trust that hunger will return and another meal will be found.”

About Jane Bernard

Jane Bernard, author of Lucid Living in the Virtual Age (www.sensualthinking.com) and other books, is a philosopher and educator who writes and teaches about intuition and sensual thinking. She has appeared on TV and international radio, talking from the intuitive perspective. Jane introduced her first book, Fine Tuning, on The Montel Williams Show, in 2006.  Her easy-going combination of common sense and originality is a natural eye-opener.

6 Foods That Can Help Save Your Skin From Sun Damage

Just as an unhealthy diet can have a negative effect on your skin and health, a healthy diet high in antioxidant-rich foods can help protect your body, even from the sun. Since antioxidants help reduce inflammation and free radicals, loading your diet with them will go a long way against sunburn and skin damage as a result of UV rays. We connected with Dr. Christopher Calapai, D.O., a New York City Osteopathic Physician board certified in family and anti-aging medicine for his list of foods that help prevent sun damage.

To be clear, Dr. Calapai is not saying you should completely replace using daily use of sunscreen with food, but what you eat can offer additional protection for your skin. So if you’re looking for some ingestible sun protection, add these six sun-friendly foods to your next shopping list.

1. Berries & stone fruits

Strawberries, blueberries and cherries contain high levels of vitamin C, which can reduce free radical damage caused by exposure to UV radiation. Vitamin C also stimulates collagen production, important for skin’s youthful appearance. As a bonus, cherries contain melatonin, which protects skin from UV radiation and repairs sunburn damage.

2. Leafy greens

If it’s green and it’s got leaves, chances are it’s good for sun protection. According to one study, spinach, kale and swiss chard can reduce the risk of squamous cell skin cancer by 50%. Broccoli is also a good choice: it’s full of sulphoraphane, an antioxidant that helps your cells protect themselves against UV radiation.

Fresh herbs like parsley, basil, sage and rosemary are also packed with free radical-fighting, skin-protecting antioxidants. Not sure where to start? Check out our guide to cruciferous vegetables.

3. Red & orange produce

The antioxidant lycopene has been shown to protect the skin against sunburn and is at least twice as effective an antioxidant as betacarotene when it comes to blocking UV light. It also helps rid the body of free radicals. Chow down on tomatoes, papaya, guava, red bell peppers and pink grapefruit. Watermelon is an especially good choice: it contains 40% more lycopene than tomatoes.

4. Micro-algae

Spirulna has been dubbed “the next great superfood,” and for good reason. This micro-algea, along with chlorella, contains the antioxidant astaxanthin, which has been shown to protect the skin and eyes against UV radiation. It also fights free radicals and inflammation to prevent sun damage by preventing UV-induced cell damage.

If micro-algea isn’t exactly your cup of tea, you can find this powerful antioxidant in shrimp and salmon.

5. Chocolate

As long as it’s dark chocolate you’re eating, you’ll be ingesting plenty of flavanoids, which can improve your skin’s ability protect against sunburns and other UV-induced issues.

Research found that people who ate about one ounce of high-percentage dark chocolate every day for three months could withstand twice the amount of UVB rays before their skin started to turn red, compared to those who didn’t.

6. Green & black tea

The myriad health benefits of tea are well known, but it’s nice to know that the cups you’re drinking can also help protect against sun damage. Green and black teas are packed with polyphenols that can help stop cancer development by limiting the blood supply to the cancerous area. Green tea can even help prevent non-melanoma skin cancer by enhancing DNA repair.

Hey guys! If you have protein powder in your diet this week and are craving a sweet treat give this recipe a try!

Ps this recipe was sent out in my newsletter so if you aren't subscribed makes sure you do! www.trainitright.com either click the popup or scroll to the bottom.

Healthy Chocolate Lava Cake

Artificial Sweeteners

The following is a very simplified overview of my five main issues with artificial sweeteners.

Re-enforces the craving for sweets and overeating. Sends a very strong signal (stronger than sugar) to the control centers in the brain to remind and push to consume sugar because it creates pleasurable feelings. What ends up happening is people end up craving sugars even more and end up getting it eventually and when they do, it’s more than they would have eaten had it not been for the artificial spike. Eliminating artificial sweeteners from your contest prep diet honestly makes dieting 100 times easier because you’re not providing a constant reminder to eat more sugar.

Changes the way foods are metabolized. Research confirms that artificial sweeteners can negatively impact the way the body processes and metabolizes certain foods. So even if you are eating healthy, your body may not be processing the nutrients appropriately and partitioning them accordingly how they should be. (i.e. more gets potentially stored as fat, not muscle cells). Research has also suggested artificial sweeteners can impair glucose metabolism.

Creates an artificial insulin spike. Mixed research on this but enough in my mind to warrant mentioning it. Artificial sweeteners can send a signal to the body that sugar has just been dumped into the blood. In some individuals, this can actually cause the body to produce insulin (a storing hormone). While in contest prep, we try to suppress insulin with the exception of very specific times. Stimulating it’s release multiple times through the day is not the best way to get shredded.

Long term use linked to changes in the brain-metabolism balance. Artificial sweeteners can create an energy imbalance that mimics the actions of fasting on the brain – which can be highly detrimental to the metabolism. The pathway here is the AMPK causing certain cells to produce NPF – a peptide that promotes hunger.

Studies have correlated artificial sweeteners with weight gain and metabolic syndrome.  While correlation is always up for debate, it shouldn’t be just overlooked.

Tonica Kombucha - Review

What is Kombucha?

According to Wikipedia:

Kombucha is a variety of fermented, lightly effervescent sweetened black or green tea drinks that are commonly intended as functional beverages for their supposed health benefits. Kombucha is produced by fermenting tea using a "symbiotic 'colony' of bacteria and yeast" (SCOBY). Actual contributing microbial populations in SCOBY cultures vary, but the yeast component generally includes Saccharomyces and other species, and the bacterial component almost always includes Gluconacetobacter xylinus to oxidize yeast-produced alcohols to acetic and other acids.

Although it has been claimed to have numerous health benefits, there is no good evidence that drinking kombucha has such effects.^[1] By contrast, there are several documented cases of serious adverse effects, including fatalities, related to kombucha drinking, possibly arising from contamination during home preparation.^[2][3] Since the mostly unclear benefits of kombucha drinking do not outweigh the known risks, it is not recommended for therapeutic use.^[1]

Despite their being claims there is no good evidence. I think it affects other people differently. The Tonica is naturally carbonated, only 45 calories per bottle, organic, raw and GMO free. Its also made in Canada. However a lot of carbs for a drink. I would rather not drink my carbs personally. However, it was really tasty and thirst quenching. But then again so is water. Until theres some good scientific background to its claims I probably wont be drinking any more kombucha any time soon.

The Tonica is bowed and bottled with natural carbonation over the course of a full 10 day ferment. According to them their brew preserves the integrity of ancient kombucha and delights todays customer with their certified organic tea infusions.

Its certified USDA Organic, Canada Organic and certified Raw.

Visit the website for more information www.tonicakombucha.com

If you are busy and on the go a great way to get your daily nutrition can be through a shake. You can literally grab the packets and throw them into your purse, mix them up in little to no time and enjoy!

Skinny Shake recently sent us samples to try over here at Train It Right! Their chocolate and vanilla flavours contain 16g of protein, 25 vitamins and minerals and are only 140 calories.With the added benefit of:

Goji Berry
Acai
Chia Seed Powder
Horseradish Tree Leaf (Moringa)
& more!

If you look at the ingredients a lot of it comes from fibre. And we wouldn't really count what they count as carbs at all as most aid in the digestion process.

We found that it tasted good, clean and mixed well with water when we tried it. The company recommends to add about 8oz of liquid. At Train It Right we recommend water, almond milk or cashew milk for easy digestion. Mix it in a shaker cup for best results and enjoy. For recipes ideas visit their recipe section on their website. http://skinnyco.com/recipes

As an amazing bonus Skinny Shake has given me a code for you guys to get a discount. I do not make any referral fee this is strictly for you guys. Use your unique 20% OFF coupon code “GETSKINNY-154” to give you 20% off their entire order.

Go to www.skinnyco.com to learn more about and purchase the Skinny Shake™ product.

Use your unique 20% OFF coupon code “GETSKINNY-154” to give you 20% off their entire order.

The Rise & Shine Breakfast Bowl from Hopscotch

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day, should not only make you feel good but also give you that extra motivation to hop out of bed every morning. I never skip breakfast and my breakfast meals always include a good source of protein, vegetables and healthy fats. This is why I want to share with you this recipe: The Rise & Shine Breakfast Bowl from Hopscotch.

Hopscotch (a health-focused, locally-sourced, fast casual restaurant) has the perfect way to fill your readers bellies and start the day off on the right note.

The Rise & Shine breakfast bowl is a light but filling starter that uplifts tired, morning spirits with a mix of wheat berries, spinach, bacon, egg, sweet potato, avocado and cucumber, tossed in a maple balsamic vinaigrette.

If you would like a PDF of the recipe please so that you can make it yourself at home. Click here: Hopscotch Recipe- Rise & Shine

For more information about Hopscotch please visit their website.