16 Ways to Eat Healthy While Keeping it Cheap

What is Healthy Food? Before we start, let’s define healthy food. It consists of:

• Protein. The building blocks of muscles, needed for strength.
• Fat. A balanced intake of omega 3, 6 & 9.
• Veggies. All kinds, especially green fibrous veggies.
• Fruit. Full of vitamins.
• Water. 1 liter per 1000 calories you expend.
• Whole grain food. Oats, rice, pasta, breads, …

On with the tips.

Yoga @ Your Desk

People who work at their desks all day tend to stay in one position for a long time. The exercises in these videos are designed to counter the effects of sitting at your desk.

We suggest that you start with Part 1 below and then move on to Parts 2 and 3. Each video is about the length of your coffee break.

10 Ways to Instantly Build Self Confidence

9. Work out

Namaste Yoga

Namaste Yoga is on FitTV. It's a good workout. The models make it look easy.

Kids are still obese, despite nutrition education

Kids are still obese, despite nutrition education
$1 billion government programs don't change weight problem, studies show

PANORAMA CITY, Calif. - The federal government will spend more than $1 billion this year on nutrition education — fresh carrot and celery snacks, videos of dancing fruit, hundreds of hours of lively lessons about how great you will feel if you eat well.

But an Associated Press review of dozens of rigorous scientific studies shows that these programs almost never change the way kids eat. And there is no indication they will make a dent in the growing epidemic of childhood obesity.
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That reinforced a slew of disappointing studies:

• Last year a major federal pilot program offering free fruits and vegetables to school children showed fifth graders became less willing to eat them than they had at the start. Apparently they didn’t like the taste.
• In Pennsylvania, researchers went so far as to give prizes to school children who ate fruits and vegetables. That worked while the prizes were offered, but when the researchers came back seven months later the kids had reverted to their original eating habits: soda and chips.
• In studies where children tell researchers they are eating better or exercising more, there is usually no change in blood pressure, body size or cholesterol measures; they want to eat better, they might even think they are, but they’re not.

Most Americans think that they "eat healthy."

They could throw even more money at the problem by enforcing mandatory nutrition classes, but it still won't necessarily change people's behavior.

Nutrition information is good up to a point, then you have to realize that people eat what they have learned tastes good to them(processed junk), not the foods that actually make them feel more energetic and give them the best health returns (foods with high water content, fruits and veggies)

Instead of eating to survive people tend to use food to change the way they feel, sort of like they do with drugs. It's common for people to feel sorry for themselves with a tub of ice cream, for example.

Nutrition education is and should be just be a footnote to physical education and teaching people good habits to change the way they feel by breaking out of their comfort zone, instead of reaching for food. Food is fuel.

Now's a good time to ask again, "What is the difference between fit and fat people?"

Is it money? No.

Is it because the cheapest, most calorically dense foods can be found at the fast food drive through? No.

Is it having a personal trainer? No.

Is it because fat people are lazy and don't care? No, that is a stereotype. A lot of them do care and realize things could be better, they just don't act or rationalize "good reasons" to keep putting it off.

In general, the difference between fit people and fat people is a habit. The habit is regular physical activity. People who normally exert themselves and break out of their comfort zone feel great. People who don't have this habit, do other things, like emotional eating, to make themselves feel better or just normal.

If you do a thing consistently for 90 days, it becomes a habit. Exercise is a self-reinforcing habit. Once a person has this habit, other things like nutrition fall into place and it becomes a lifestyle.

"Weight-loss without exercise" is a marketing trick, a myth. Exercise only appears optional these days.

Big Wendy the muscular whippet

Look at the picture of this dog, Wendy the whippet.

The dog has a double mutation for myostatin protein. [link]

Wendy was recently part of a genetics study done in the U.S. on mutation in the myostatin gene in whippets, which resemble greyhounds in appearance. The National Institute of Health study reported that whippets with one single defective copy of the gene have increased muscle mass that can enhance racing performance in the breed, known for speeds up to 60 kilometres an hour.

But whippets with two mutated copies of the gene become "double-muscled," like Wendy. It has been seen before in one human, and also in mice, cattle and sheep, says the study.

p.s. Myostatin blocker bodybuilding supplements are a fraud.

Increase your Brain Activity with 15 Ideas

These are 15 fun ideas that will increase your brain activity. It has been proven that the more exercise you give your brain the more it will grow and operate to new super levels. Are you striving to be more intelligent, more creative? Here’s a great platform on how you can achieve your goals.

1. Just stop.

“Take 20-30 minutes out of your day to think about nothing. But don’t sleep – you’ve got to meditate. Sit still, reduce sensory input, and try to focus your mind on something like a calm scene or a color (to begin with thinking about something rather than trying to think of ‘nothing’ is easier). A study at the University of Kentucky revealed that subjects who took a late-afternoon test after meditating for 30 minutes had better scores than those who napped for the same time.”

2. Hit the streets.

“Lace up your running shoes and get moving. A study from the University of Illinois, US, revealed that aerobic exercise actually increases brain volume. They put two groups through different regimens - one did aerobic training three times weekly for one hour; the other group did just stretching and toning exercise. The aerobics group had increased their brain volume and white matter, which forms the connections between neurons.”

3. Mix it up.

“Exercise has long been hailed as an aid to brain-power longevity. But to ensure you’re not leaving the gas on in your eighties, vary your workout routines now. Try changing things up on a regular basis and you’ll stimulate your brain more because you’re not using the same pathway over and over again.”