Your Questions... Answered!

Question: What is the best way to eat for someone who works a desk job and has not yet made regular exercise a habit and needs to kick start his metabolism and help him lose weight?

Answer:

1. Add in exercise. Exercise will help to boost lean muscle mass and muscle burns calories while sitting still which will kick start your metabolism.
- Try sneaking in exercise to get started: instead of fast-forwarding through commercial breaks, do crunches or push-ups.
- Consider enlisting the support of a personal trainer to help you create an exercise routine that is right for you!
- A bit more extreme but interesting is treadmill desks; check out this recent article from NPR on companies that are providing treadmill desks for their employees.

2. Sip on green tea.  Adding in plain green tea to your routine is linked to boosting metabolism; the benefits seem to be from the most abundant catechin in green tea, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Research shows the link to metabolism boosting when about 5 - 6 cups of green tea is consumed per day (Journal of the American College of Nutrition 2007)!

A word of caution... each cup (8 fluid ounces) of green tea has about 25 milligrams of caffeine. If you are drinking other caffeine containing beverages, cut back on other sources of caffeine coming from soda, coffee and skip energy drinks.

3. Sleep. Getting enough sleep (7-9 hours per night) is linked to helping keep weight in part by controlling appetite hormones. This partly because during sleep appetite hormones are regulated - specifically leptin (keeps you full) and ghrelin (makes you hungry). Without enough sleep here is what happens: leptin levels in the body decline and ghrelin levels increase... the result a bigger than necessary appetite!

Do you have a nutrition question you would like answered? Sumbit your questions at my Web site: http://www.creativenutritionsolutions.com/contactus.aspx

How to Fall Asleep Quickly

Even though now we  the know the benefits that sufficient sleep can bring, many of us still do not get sufficient amount of rest. One of the main reasons why this is so is because many of us are unable to sleep early.

With this reason plus the fact that most of us need to wake up early to go to work the next day, it results in us having insufficient hours of sleep and puts our whole body under stress, causing us to have grogginess and feel moody throughout the day.

Today I'll be sharing with you five tips to enable your body to sleep faster plus a very special tip involving technology that I use everyday to ensure I wake up not feeling tired.
Here are the tips:

1. Reduce your daily amount of caffeine intake
All you coffee and tea lovers out there take note. Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system, hence, an optimum on it can keep us alert. However excessive amounts of caffeine can make one feel restless and overly alert. These results can cause a person not to able able to sleep well at night, which causes him or her to have insufficient hours of sleep. Therefore, reduce caffeine intake!

Also take note not to take caffeine products from late afternoons onwards as the effects of caffeine can last for more than 6 hours, and this may cut into our sleeping time.

2. Do not exercise after dinner time
After dinner is usually a time where your body winds down as the day is about to end. Exercising after dinner produces adrenaline which stimulates our body and mind near bedtime, and this may cause difficulty sleeping. It is also very bad for our digestion and may lead to appendicitis.

3. Pamper your body before you sleep
As your body prepares for the next day, pamper it by giving yourself a hot bath before you sleep. A hot bath relaxes your muscles and allow you to sleep more easily. If need be, sprinkle some fragrances such as lavender oil on your pillow and bedsheets as reports have shown that lavender does indeed help a person sleep more soundly.

4. Drink a hot cup of camomile tea
Camomile tea does not contain caffeine and is well known to help a person sleep easily. This is due to natural properties found in camomile which promote restfulness and drowsiness to a person.

5. Set a habitual sleep pattern
Try to sleep and wake up at the same time a day. This will naturalize your biological clock in such a way that it automatically causes your body to feel tired when you approach your sleep time.

How to Wake Up Fresh:
Lastly, the tech tip you all have been waiting for. You may or may not know it, but this is the tool really works for me to ensure I wake up not feeling tired. I use an iphone app called "Sleep Cycle" on my iphone to ensure I wake up feeling fresh. This app works by basically using the accelerometer in my iphone to monitor my movements when i'm sleeping to determine which sleep phase I am in. It then uses a 30 minute alarm window that ends my set alarm time and wakes me during my lightest sleep phase. For more details, you can check http://www.sleepcycle.com/ for more details!

That's all for today folks. Hope this helps!

Health Benefits Of Sleep

Hello people. Today I will be talking about the benefits of sleep and why it is important to us. Sleep is important as it gives our body a rest and allows it to prepare for the next day

Before I begin, I would like to show you the recommended amount of hours an individual should sleep everyday, sorted according to age.

Newborns 12-18 hours
Toddlers 12-14 Hours
Children 10-12 Hours
Teenagers 8-9 Hours
Adults 7-9 Hours

Having enough sleep is important as:

1. It leads to better results
Be it if you are a student or a worker, having enough sleeps helps you to be more alert and fresh for the next day. Hence one is able to perform better.

2. Sleep improves memory
Students listen up! Having enough sleep makes our brain able to processing new experiences and factual knowledge better. It helps increase analytical reasoning and knowledge as well.

3. Sleep improves our mood
Have you realised that most of the reason people give for having a bad mood during the day is due to not having enough sleep? A prolonged period of lack of sleep may even lead to more serious problems like depression. Enough sleep helps take away the groggy feeling felt during the day. Therefore it is important we have enough sleep to improve our mood.

4. Sleep improves our  weight
Researchers have found that dieters who have enough sleep loose more fat! Sleep ensure the balance of hormones are well balanced so our craving for high calorie foods would be much lesser.

5.Sleep helps you live longer
Studies have shown that people who sleep less than six hours a day have high higher blood levels of inflammatory proteins. These will lead to a higher chance of suffering heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, and premature aging. Therefore ensure you get enough sleep to prevent heart related problems and a range of other ailments

With sufficient sleep, we are one step closer to good health!

Sleep and Athletic Performance

A recent study by Stanford University of their varsity men's basketball team showed that getting more sleep improved athletic performance. This is probably something that you believed to be true already, but now here is the proof. The researchers recorded their averages of sprint speed, shooting accuracy, 3-point percentage, and free-throw percentage. Then they asked the basketball players to get a minimum of 10 hours of sleep per night - how many of you get that? 

After a 5-7 week period of more sleep at night, the players improved! They were running faster, shooting better, and reported an improvement in mental health. Their free-throw percentage increased an average of 9% and their 3-point field goal percentage increased by 9.2%!

As a college athlete, you are given a few obstacles that may interfere with your sleep. Studying, training, and traveling to competitions certainly takes up a lot of your time. It can be easy to put less emphasis on sleep when your to-do list is long. But it is important to realize that creating a sleep deficit DOES make a difference in how well you perform, not only in your sport but in school.  

You can read the full manuscript here:
The Effects of Sleep Extension on the Athletic Performance of Collegiate Basketball Players by Cheri D. Mah, MS, Kenneth E. Mah, MD, MS, Eric J. Kezirian, MD, MPH, and William C. Dement, MD, PhD

Day 33 Mono Orange Juice.

Day 33 ♥

I am continuing to feel good on the juice, sleep is just wonderful, energy levels are good, flexibility is improved, lung capacity seems greater.

I noticed today though that the smell of other fruits was starting to attract me; I cut up some Apricots for Cappi and they smelt very good to me.

I do not think I have taken the Orange juice to conclusion though, but I am feeling that to take it to conclusion I would prefer being away from 'civilization', My weight, I feel, is quite acceptable now, but it can be challenging being at a lower weight among folk who do not understand what is going on.

If I was starting to feel weak or malnourished (which I am not) I would stop the diet. However, it is another matter to stop it because of other people's opinions, which happened with my extended juice diet in 1995.

For the moment I shall continue, because the juice I am having tastes like nectar and I adore it and it makes me feel very joyous, and energetic and free.

Today I hand juiced and then strained the juice. Because the Oranges are not as ripe as I feel they could be, I think that it may be better for my teeth to hand-juice and then strain the juice and drink from a glass.

It was interesting because doing that I actually measured how much juice I was consuming for the first time.

Fruity Fare ♥

Morning—375ml/12.7oz

Late Morning—250ml/8.5oz

Afternoon—375ml/12.7oz

I was using the same amount of Oranges that I usually do when I have three lots of juice per day, and more than when I have two lots of juice. My Oranges have been little ones.

Fruitful Exercise ♥

40 mins workout

20 mins Dancing

50 mins fast walking

Have Peachy days ♥

Love and Peace XX ♥ ♥

Day 31

Day 31, and the rains continue, interspersed with beautiful Sunshine. So everything is just growing and growing in the garden.
The humid, balmy climate feels perfect with my Orange juice diet.
In the past most of my Orange juice diets have been done in Winter because Oranges are really a Winter crop. I do find however, that the warmer temperatures really go well with the Orange juice diet.
I am still waiting  (excitedly) for my delivery of Oranges. Because it is holiday time they may be delayed, so I may have to go on an Orange hunt tomorrow when most of the fruit shops reopen.
I have not been doing so much day-to-day searching simply because I had found a great source of Biodynamic Valencias that I could get in bulk.
Not having to think about what I am going to eat coupled with not having to go look for it has really freed up a lot of my time and energy, both physical and mental.
It is great to go looking for fruit, I love it! But it is also nice to take a rest from that for a bit too.
My energy has been great the last couple of days, and I am still enjoying my Orange juice.
My sleep continues to be great, I find that I need 6 or 7 hours to feel refreshed and well-rested.

Fruity Fare ♥
Morning-- 9 Biodynamic Oranges, juiced in mouth.
Early Afternoon-- 7 Biodynamic, 2 conventional Oranges, juiced in mouth.

Fruitful Exercise ♥
40 minutes workout
50 minutes dancing.

Have Beautiful days ♥
Love and Sweet Peaches XX.

Day 26 Mono Orange Juice

Day 26.

The computer had its operation to replace its fried bits and pieces, plus it was connected to a fancy surgeboard to try to stop a repeat incidence.

Being in the Sub-tropics, we get a lot of storms in the Summer, and have been getting quite a few lightening hits very close by. The rain has been wonderful for the baby fruit trees, many of whom are growing new leaves. The combination of sun, heat, and rain is just what they need to thrive.

Meanwhile, I am thankful to be thriving on Orange juice, sunshine, some water and exercise, plus the best night's sleep.

Fruity Fare ♥:

Morning—the juice of 11 organic Valencias, juiced in mouth (they tasted like nectar ♥)

Fruitful Exercise ♥:

30 minutes fast walk

1 hour sawing (the tree that came down in the storm)

Have Peachy Days,

Love and Peace XX  ♥ ♥

Day 20 Mono Orange Juice.

Day 20.

I have been really enjoying reading Dr. Frank McCoy's book.

I will quote a case study:

" Case 26. male 65 years of age. This patient was a retired physician who had been totally deaf for about 10 years. He came to me in the hope that I might be able to give him a diet which would relieve the catarrhal condition in his head and throat which had existed all his life. He remembered having catarrh as a boy, and was never entirely free from it at any time, but in spite of all the treatments he took in his endeavors to overcome the trouble, it gradually increased through the years, so that when he presented himself to me for treatment he was using several handkerchiefs daily. He gradually became deaf during the years of his practice, and the last few years had been spent as a specialist on a certain branch of medical science where acute hearing was not essential. After becoming totally deaf he found it hard to continue his practice at all and consequently retired from it altogether.

I explained the benefit of the fasting cure for his catarrhal condition, and suggested that his hearing might be regained. Of course he did not believe this, after eminent specialists had failed to help him.

He started on an orange juice fast to rid his system of catarrh. during the fast he used only the juice of 6 oranges daily, one taken every two hours with a plentiful supply of water.

The fast was continued for 25 days. After the tenth day certain loud noises could be heard. His hearing continued to improve, and on the eighteenth day of the fast he passed the test used for railway trainmen, and could hear a watch tick 18 inches from either ear...

The cure was completed several years ago and from time to time I have heard from the doctor, who has resumed practice, and has had no return of catarhal symptoms or deafness."

Over the last few days I have been eliminated some clear mucus in the morning.

My energy is generally very good, although there was a point today where I wanted to rest for a an hour in the afternoon.

My sleep is so wonderful and rested and my dreams are very vivid.

Fruity Fare:

Morning—12 Organic Valencia Oranges, juiced in the mouth

Afternoon—Ditto.

Fruitful Exercise:

1 hour fast walking

40 minute workout

20 minutes dancing.

Have Beauty Days ♥

Love and Peaches XX.

Day 16 Mono Orange Juice.

Day 16, and still on Planet Valencia.
I have been feeling good and my energy levels are also good.
We got some more rain, which was marvellous after the very dry, hot weather of late. The garden has freshened up and the baby fruit trees are happy.

I am getting some coating on my tongue, so I believe that I am still elimination. But I wake in the morning between 4am–4.30am feeling ready to get up and go! And I am pretty active or working for most of the day, and do not feel a need for rest during the day.

The Biodynamic Valencias, are being replaced by Organic ones at the whole food store, so I may be on Organic Oranges instead.
The Organic ones are still very good quality and sweet, but just not quite as vibrant somehow as their Biodynamic cousins.

Fruity Fare:
Morning—10 Biodynamic Valencias, juiced in mouth.
Afternoon–10 Biodymamic Valencias, juiced in mouth.

Exercise:
40 minute fast walk
20 minute workout.

My sleep is still so good and restful and exciting dreams too.

Wishing you Beautiful days ♥
Love and Peaches XX ♥

Day 11 Mono Orange Juice Diet

Day 11 of sweet Valencia Nectar, I have still not lost much weight.

It seems like everytime I go on an Orange Juice Diet, I lose less weight and seem to assimilate the juice better.

It has been really delicious and nutritious juice this time around.

The Biodynamic Valencias are pretty small (about half the size of a regular Valencia) so I am having juicing more Oranges than when I use larger Oranges.

Fruity Fare

Morning—The juice from 11 Biodynamic Valencias, juiced in the mouth.

Lunchtime—The juice from 9 Biodynamic Valencias, juiced in mouth.

Afternoon—1 conventionally grown Orange, juiced in mouth.

Exercise—1 hour walking.

It has been really hot here, about 36 Centigrade/97 Farenheit; but I have not been feeling the heat, but enjoying it.

I have had a very quiet and peaceful digestive system, and continue to have lovely sleep.

Love and Peaches XX

from Anne ♥