Most of us take drinking water for granted.  However, water is a great catalyst to help you lose weight. Water helps by suppressing your appetite naturally and helping your body metabolize (burn) stored fat.  Studies have proved that decrease in water causes fat deposits to increase, while an increase in water reduces fat deposits.

Here is how it works.  Your kidney cannot function properly without enough water which causes the liver to work harder.  This causes to liver to become overloaded.  The main function of the liver is to metabolize stored fat into usable energy.

Having a personal trainer to get you back in shape is a great investment.  After all, what is more important than your health?  Many times people join gyms and change their diet with the intention of getting in shape.  They go to the gym several times a week and after a few weeks become discouraged, unmotivated or bored with the whole process.  They may not know how to properly and safely exercise or which exercises to complete to be successful.  They trot from machine to machine haphazardly doing several random exercises.  They have no plan to accomplish their goals.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and United States Department of Health and Human Services (USDHSS) developed a national food guidance system, referred to as the "Food Guide Pyramid", that provides a daily eating plan. 

Although there is much debate about the food guide, it's a good guide to help you evaluate your current eating habits and point you towards making adjustments in your diet to for better nutrition.

Resting heart rate gives an indication of stress and overtraining levels, while exercise heart rate gives an indication of exercise intensity.  Monitoring your resting and exercise heart rate over time as you train will change over time and provide you with good markers of physical conditioning.

To properly measure your heart rate, find your pulse and count how many pulses you detect for 30 seconds.  Now multiply the number of pulses by 2 which gives you pulses per minute thus your heart rate (beats per minute or bpm).  Of course you can purchase a gadget (such as a heart monitor) to easily measure your heart rate. 

Not feeling healthy? Yes you say!  You have been exercising and you are in pretty good shape, but you still feel unhealthy.  Or you are not in shape, but something is missing to give you the desire and discipline to get healthy.  Well maybe you need to take a look at your spiritual health.  Good health is a combination of physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being.  If all these things are not in equilibrium, you will not feel completely healthy.

Spirituality can deeply affect your health.  People who have developed good spiritual health realize that it gives their life meaning and purpose.

So we all know to reduce our saturated fat and cholesterol intake. But that means throwing out everything in the fridge and starting completely over, right? 

Not really. Eating healthy is easier said than done, as these substances can easily sneak up on you and before you know it, you’re overdoing it.. 

Use the guidelines below to help you determine the small changes you can make to “healthy up” your daily eating habits.

American Academy Award-winning film director Michael Francis Moore who produced “Bowling for Columbine” and “Fahrenheit 9/11” will be releasing a film titled “Sicko” on June 29th. 

Sicko is a documentary that highlights the problems and catastrophes with the American Healthcare system. The film profiles several ordinary Americans whose lives have been disrupted, shattered and in some cases ended because of the healthcare catastrophe. 

“If you want to build muscle, do heavy weight and lower reps. If you want to tone, do light weight and high reps.” This is a declaration passed along from trainer to client, trainer to new trainer, workout buff to best friend, and big buff guy to new girl in the gym (don’t get me started on that). 

The problem is, only the first part is true. Keep reading and I’ll explain why. First, let’s talk about the word “tone”. Scientifically, muscle tone actually refers to the degree of tension in a muscle, which is part of the way it functions.

I recently read the book, “The New Wellness Revolution” by Paul Zane Pilzer.  It’s a very good book that speaks to our current and future wellness / healthcare system and potential opportunities that exist for entrepreneurs looking to get into the wellness industry. 

In Chapter 3, “What You Need to Know about Food and Diet”, Mr. Pilzer promotes drinking soy milk instead of cow milk.  The reasons gave me pause to drinking cow’s milk.  

The reason you probably stumbled upon this site or article is because you are seeking knowledge when it comes to your health. You maybe seeking information to lose weight, learn a different exercise, tone a body part, or you maybe looking for a personal trainer. You are looking for a change.

Health is a combination of physical, mental, spiritual and social well-being. Care must be taken to ensure that all these dimensions in your life are taken care of. To improve any of these dimensions in our lives require change. 

Everyone should exercise!  It only makes sense.  Exercise benefits your health. 

However, if you do exercise and experience chest pain, dizziness, extreme shortness of breath, persistent pain in your legs or joints while exercising, or any other physical condition that just doesn’t seem right, this may indicate a problem.  Stop exercising and see your doctor before continuing.

Assuming you are healthy, regular physical activity has many benefits other than making you fit. 

Do you feel mentally drained, uptight, frustrated, annoyed, tired all the time, or overwhelmed?  Then chances are you are probably stressed! Being stressed can wreak havoc on the body, internally and externally and is very unhealthy. 

With our hectic lifestyles where we have to juggle many balls, it’s easy to become stressed.  Some people can handle stress, while others cannot.  There are a few things you can do to reduce your stress.

It’s a sad truth that cancer kills over ½ million people in the United States for the last several years.  Cancer is the second cause of death, exceeded only by heart diseases. (See article on protecting your heart).

Lung cancer is the most common fatal cancer in men (31%), followed by prostate (9%), and colon & rectum (9%).  Lung cancer is the most common cause for women.  In women, lung (26%), breast (15%), and colon & rectum (10%) are the leading sites of cancer death.