10 Ways to Gain More Health and Vitality For Maximum Success

Health does play a crucial part in success. The absence of our health allows us to experience appreciation and gratitude on a whole new level. The presence of health allows us to live a more productive, pain-free life enabling us to get more enjoyment out of life. Being healthy is feeling good about yourself, knowing that you are taking care of your most valuable asset – yourself.

Unless you are living in a bubble somewhere, there will be times when you have to deal with illness. Here are some suggestions to keep you on the road to success at times of illness.
Just because your body is ill, it does not mean you mind or spirit have to be ill as well. It is all about maintaining your positive mental attitude.
If your illness is temporary, see it as temporary. Setbacks in life are common and expected. Keep your sight on your life’s goals and never let temporary illness take you off course.
Focus your attention on anything but your illness. Be active if possible, practice mind control and focus on empowering and positive feelings.
Do something about your illness and work on future prevention. Is this something you could have prevented? If so, how? Make changes in your life if necessary to avoid illness and learn from each experience.

Remember that health is not just the absence of illness; it is the presence of vitality.

Here are 10 ways to help you reach and maintain your ideal health while enjoying life to the fullest.

1) Understand what you are eating
“Let your food be your medicine,” said Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine. Many believe that the foods we eat have a significant effect on both our short-term and long term health. We literally are what we eat. If we put garbage in, we get garbage out.

Spend some time and do some research on what you are taking daily, what nutrients and calories do they provide. If you understand your food, you can plan your meal and what to have for the entire day or week to give you the extra energy, focus and clarity that you need.

Eating well begins with learning about foods that have positive effects on your body and mind. Bookstores are loaded with books on this topic. So… Go get one would you?

2) Eat breakfast every day
No excuses because breakfast is your most important meal. Your breakfast should be taken within two hours of waking. Researched has again shows that having healthy breakfast has a long term health benefits. It can reduce stress level, improve your productivity, focus, and your mood and also gives you energy that you needed throughout the day.

3) Eat lunch every day
No excuses. Lunch re-energizes your body and keeps your metabolism active. If you feel sluggish and sleepy after lunch, probably you are taking too much. Consider a moderate size meal, with more vegetables and fruits will keeps you fresh and ready to take on another few hours.

4) Nap likes a celebrities
I discovered that many successful people who are actually nappers. Leonardo Da Vinci, Thomas Edison, John F. Kennedy, Lee Kuan Yew, Winston Churchill and so on…

I suggest you seriously considering taking daily naps for following few reasons:

a) Nap restores your energy and prevent you being burnout.
b) Nap reduces overall health diseases.
c) Nap makes you more productive
d) Nap restores your alertness

The national sleep foundation recommends a short nap of between 20-30 minutes to achieve all of the benefits above.

5) Drink enough fluid
Practice the habit of drinking plain or mineral water – with ten glasses a day is ideal. Our body are made up of 70% fluid. By keeping yourself hydrated, you revitalize and purify the body. Let me share with you few more great reasons why you should drink more water every day.

a) Water helps energize muscles and reduce muscle fatigue
b) Water helps improve your blood circulation system and keeps your body at a peak performance
c) Water lower down your stresses, migraine and thirst of sugar which may lead to health issue later on.

6) Exercise more
Both of your body and mind need activity to grow stronger. Maintain physical and mental fitness programs that keep you in your best shape. If you’re enjoying most doing together with others, join a membership club or a group workout lesson… It creates momentum and you will be surprise about how fast your progress will be.

7) Lose excess weight
If you are like most Americans, you probably can lose a few pounds. As you lose fat, your body becomes a more efficient “fat burning” machine. Conversely, as you pack on the pounds, it becomes increasingly more difficult to lose the weight.

8) Every day – Let your body out to play
Movement is play for your body. Every day give it a little of what it needs to be happy. It doesn’t matter if walking up the stairs is as much as you can manage; walk up the stairs today. And tomorrow aim to walk up the stairs twice. Or try a few stretches while you’re watching TV. Or race your kids to the end of the street. Or join them on the trampoline for a quick bounce. Start small and build up the expectation that you will move every day – Just as you would brush your teeth.

9) Make healthier choices
Eating well does not have to happen overnight. In fact, I began the process over 2 years ago when I have made dozens of healthier choices such as drinking water rather than diet soda, using olive oil in place of butter, snacking on nuts rather than candy, and other relatively painless dietary changes.

10) Do not neglect checkups
See your doctor on a regular basis. Many health problems are insignificant when taken care of early enough. Do not let your fear of doctors, or the sharp needles they stick into you, keep you from health.
Final Thought

Most people’s definition of success includes some level of health. It is very difficult to enjoy anything, including success, if your mind is continuously focused on your illnesses, pain, heartburn, lethargy, and/or the extra 20 pounds of fat you are carrying around with you. You have full control over many aspects of your health, so take control of what you can do today and live with vitality.

“What is called genius is the abundance of life and health.” – Henry David Thoreau

Why Breakfast is Important

If you were to go 6 to 9 hours during the day without eating you would be feeling very hungry but if you think about it, this is what you do during the night. If you don’t have breakfast then this ‘fast’ may continue for several hours longer.

Although this rest from food gives your digestion a well-deserved rest, delaying food for so long may lead to overeating when you do decide to eat and cause you to choose sugary foods instead of more balanced options to give you that instant energy hit.

You may also find you play ‘catch up’ with your calories leaving you eating far more than you should late at night, when it is more likely to be stored as fat then used for energy.

Remember – research shows that people who eat breakfast are more likely to maintain a healthy weight than those that don’t.

* Low blood sugar levels that may accompany bouts of fasting can cause symptoms of:
Paleness.

* Shakiness and trembling.

* Lack of energy, as a result you will feel fatigue, weakness, and have poor coordination.
* Increased hunger

* Irritability, anxiety, agitation

* You may also have excessive sweating /perspiration.

* Problem in concentrating

* Confusion

The brain in particular may perform better with the instant source of energy it gets from food (eating), so if you want to be working at your full potential then eat breakfast!

Breakfast ideas – for when you have NO time in the morning

Eat your fruits/vegetables nuts and seeds and still get to the office on time!

If you are too busy to make breakfast in the mornings buy a blender that is very easy to use and clean such as the Nutri Bullet.

The great thing about this type of blender is its design. The blender’s container is removable and doubles up as the cup you drink your smoothies from. The blender’s blade is also removable which makes it super easy to clean as there are no ‘hard to reach’ bits.

Why blending rather than juicing can be quicker and healthier:

* You are able to blend whole fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds and so retain all the fibre

* When you juice you have to clean up the pulp (extracted fibre) which is fiddly and messy
When you juice you have to ‘feed’ through the produce which takes longer than blending it
* The Nutri Bullet can be blended with water, not fruit juice, making the smoothies much lower in fructose than smoothies made with fruit juice or juice by itself

*You can add nutrients rich foods such as spirulina, maca and barley grass when you blend and nuts and seeds which will give you essential fats

So you now you have some great ideas to get you started, if your still not convinced then why not try eating Breakfast for one week and see how you feel.

Healthy breakfasts (for people who hate breakfast)

Not hungry first thing in the morning? Pushed for time? Trying to lose weight? These calorie-counted treats will tempt you to rediscover the pleasure of breakfast.

From an energy-boosting "apple pie" porridge and protein-packed scrambled eggs, to a nutrient-rich green smoothie and sugar-free granola bars, there's something for everyone.

"Creating the habit of eating in the morning is something you can build towards," says dietitian Alison Hornby. "Start off with a light bite such as a piece of fruit or a low-fat yoghurt.

"After a while, your morning appetite will naturally increase and you'll probably find you eat less throughout the day, including snacks."

Research suggests that people who eat breakfast are slimmer because they tend to eat less during the day, especially high-calorie snacks.

If you're short on time in the morning, think about ways of gaining time by keeping breakfast simple, either by waking up 10 minutes earlier or getting other chores out of the way ahead of time.

'Apple pie' porridge

A warm and comforting porridge spiced up with the classic flavours of a homemade apple pie.

Throw all the ingredients into a saucepan. Heat and stir until boiling, then lower the heat and simmer gently for five minutes, stirring often. Spoon the porridge into a serving bowl and add a sprinkling of cinnamon.

Scrambled eggs (with optional wholemeal toast)

The secret to perfect scrambled eggs is to fold them gently in the pan to get curds, rather than a dried, quivering mess.

Lightly mix the eggs and milk in a bowl. Melt the low-fat spread in a pan and add the egg mixture. Cook over a medium-high heat, stirring slowly and gently until they're just set with big soft curds. Serve the eggs on the slices of toast, sprinkle over the chives and season with some pepper.

                     

Green smoothie

Smoothies are a great introduction to breakfast if you don't normally have much of an appetite at the "crack of yawn". They're also a good portable option for your morning commute.

Compared with some hardcore green smoothie recipes, our green smoothie is a softer version that is quite sweet and fruity, while still giving you a healthy serving of greens. Blend all the ingredients together until smooth. Add more water to achieve the desired consistency.

Five-minute breakfasts

Sometimes mornings can be a bit of a rush. Make a batch of these granola bars, made with no added sugar, in advance for a healthy breakfast on the go.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C, gas mark 6). In a bowl, mix together the oats, cherries, cranberries and seeds. Pour in the melted butter and mix in thoroughly to make sure the oats are well coated. On a separate plate, mash the bananas into a pulp with a fork, add to the oat mixture and mix well. Spread the mixture into a 30cm x 20cm tin. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Once  cooked, transfer to a wire rack to cool, then cut into six bars.

English breakfast muffin

Oozing poached egg on a layer of cheese and roast ham – what's not to love about this lower calorie version of the classic English breakfast muffin?

Preheat the grill. Toast the muffins on the cut sides only. Poach the egg in gently simmering water for 3-4 minutes until the yoke is set but still runny in the middle. Spread the toasted sides with the low-fat spread and lay on the spinach leaves, ham and cheese. Place the poached egg on one muffin half, season with black pepper and top with the other muffin half.