Feed: The Healthy Body Blog - AggScore: 50.7

Use Your Imagination to Beat Cravings

By Steve Brolin, Editor

The most effective tool in our weight loss toolbox isn’t some ineffective diet pill, or celebrity fad diet, or pre-packaged frozen diet dinner—it’s our mind. Heck, I recently blogged about the power of our beliefs in helping us lose weight.

That’s why you might be interested in a Carnegie Mellon study that found that people who repeatedly imagine eating a certain food have reduced cravings for that food. In the study, they used M&M’s, but it could be any food.

Read the New York times article on this study, and then try it for yourself.

© Stasys Eidiejus | Dreamstime.com

If you’d like to get many more weight loss tips and strategies like this, join our email newsletter weight loss series* and also receive our FREE fantastic report that reveals the secrets you MUST know to jump-start a slow metabolism and burn the MOST calories.

* Canadian researchers have found that those who subscribe to weight loss email newsletters lose significantly more weight than those who do not. Seriously!

Use Your Imagination to Beat Cravings is a post from: The Healthy Body Blog

How Your Stories May Keep You From Losing Weight, and the 3 Key Steps to Change Them

By Steve Brolin, Editor

You'll either go up in life, or down, based on your beliefs. Photo: Gabi Moisa - Fotolia.

You know the old saying, “you are what you eat?” Well, it can also be applied to the way we think. Just as with the quality of the food we consume, the things we allow in our minds produce the results we see in our lives.

If you consistently think you’ll “never lose weight,” it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to guess the outcome of your weight loss efforts. If you believe you’re a failure, then you’re going to ultimately live a life that confirms that belief. The great business coach, Rich Schefren, calls these beliefs “our stories.” So if you don’t like where you’re at in life—whether it be in weight, financial position, relationship status, or whatever—then you must ask yourself what your stories are, and if the stories you tell yourself aren’t true, then you must change those stories to change the outcomes in your life. I’ll let you in on a little secret—most of the stories we tell ourselves are NOT true. I say this because so many of our stories are negative and not in anyway based in fact.

Rich recommends the following strategy to help you identify and change your stories. And I can tell you from personal experience that if you follow this strategy and take what you learn to heart that it can make a profound difference in your life!

1) Write down your current beliefs—the stories you tell yourself day in and day out. They might be things like:

• “Weight loss is harder for me than others.”
• “Weight loss is hard, period.”
• “People make fun of me.”
• “I’m ugly.”
• “I’m worthless.”
• “People will like me if I’m always nice” (even if sometimes you shouldn’t be)
• “I’m not a good friend” (or wife, father, mother, son, etc.)
• And so on….

Once you’ve identified your beliefs, then it’s time to:

2) Ask yourself the following questions—and write down the honest answers—in regards to each of your beliefs:

• “Does this story reflect the truth as much as possible?
• “If I continue to live this story, will it get me where I want to go?”
• “Will it lead me to where I want to be?”
• “Along those lines, if not, then why not?
• “How will I change this story?”

Trust me—writing down your answers to the questions above for each of your beliefs is a powerful way to confront yourself, and to truly get to the facts of the matter. Facts are very important because they’re often scarce in our beliefs, and because we let assumptions, negative perceptions of the world and of ourselves, and our own good or bad attitudes influence our stories and leave us in a perpetual cycle of negative circumstances because of it.

3) Follow the advice you give yourself to change your stories.

When you follow your own advice to change your stories, you’ll see some life-changing results. I certainly have. You are, and will become, what you think. The mind is powerful and it will create the life circumstances that you continually dwell on. So, if you’re striving to lose weight, then you’re hopefully feeding yourself quality, unprocessed foods. Therefore, shouldn’t you feed your mind beliefs that create your greatest you as well? Honestly, there really shouldn’t be an alternative.

We’d love to hear about your stories and how you plan to change them today. Let us know in the comments section below!

If you’d like to get many more weight loss tips and strategies like this, join our email newsletter weight loss series* and also receive our FREE fantastic report that reveals the secrets you MUST know to jump-start a slow metabolism and burn the MOST calories.

* Canadian researchers have found that those who subscribe to weight loss email newsletters lose significantly more weight than those who do not. Seriously!

How Your Stories May Keep You From Losing Weight, and the 3 Key Steps to Change Them is a post from: The Healthy Body Blog

Is Your Body Pumped?

By Steve Brolin, Editor

I’m fortunate to have a fantastic gym in my relatively small hometown here in Montana. About a year ago they added on to their facility and started offering various Les Mill’s group classes, such as BodyPump, BodyFlow, BodyCombat and more.

BodyPump immediately caught my eye. Mix in some barbells and weights and a lot of lifting, a motivating instructor, high energy music, and a room full of folks eager to improve their lives, and you pretty much have an understanding of what a Les Mill’s BodyPump class is like. The muscle building and cardio benefits you gain from one 55 minute class are phenomenal.

I’ve been strength training full time for almost 12 years now and have never been as physically exhausted as my first few times completing a BodyPump class. If you keep at it on a regular basis though, your body acclimates quickly and the classes become more about enjoying the energy, challenging yourself, and growing your body’s muscles (including your heart), than simply enduring an exercise in exhaustion.

If you want to get a flat belly or want to be the fittest, healthiest person you can be, it’s hard to go wrong with a BodyPump class. Check out Les Mill’s website to learn more and to see if classes are available in your area.

Photo: Sebastian Kaulitzki | Dreamstime.com

If you’d like to get many more weight loss tips and strategies like this, join our email newsletter weight loss series* and also receive our FREE fantastic report that reveals the secrets you MUST know to jump-start a slow metabolism and burn the MOST calories.

* Canadian researchers have found that those who subscribe to weight loss email newsletters lose significantly more weight than those who do not. Seriously!

Is Your Body Pumped? is a post from: The Healthy Body Blog

A Documentary that got Me Juiced Up!

By Steve Brolin, Editor

I settled down last night to do some stretching (a daily habit, and one I recommend you start) and thought I’d watch a documentary while doing so. I flipped through the Netflix options and was intrigued by the title of Joe Cross’ film, “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead”. As an avid fitness and nutrition buff, I couldn’t help but push play. Joe’s story, and those of the people he dramatically influenced while on a 60-day juice fast to reverse his obesity and auto-immune illness, was profound.

Watch this film and I can just about guarantee that you’ll be both excited and inspired. Reversing our ugly diets composed primarily of processed foods and opting instead for ones based on whole foods truly is the solution not only for weight loss but for disease prevention as well. And as Joe shows in the film, the body has an incredible ability to heal itself of already existing disease so long as you fuel it with the right foods.

I did some searching and see that Joe has a website devoted to the documentary, and to juicing. You can access his site by clicking here. Why accept poor health any longer?

Photo: © Lori Martin | Dreamstime.com

If you’d like to get many more weight loss tips and strategies like this, join our email newsletter weight loss series* and also receive our FREE fantastic report that reveals the secrets you MUST know to jump-start a slow metabolism and burn the MOST calories.

* Canadian researchers have found that those who subscribe to weight loss email newsletters lose significantly more weight than those who do not. Seriously!

A Documentary that got Me Juiced Up! is a post from: The Healthy Body Blog

Watch Out for These Bogus Diet and Supplement Red Flags

The bogus diet scams, dangerous diet supplements, and ineffective quick weight loss gimmicks are a dime a dozen these days. So why is it we seem to be more easily misled by these snake oils more now than ever? Shouldn’t we easily spot the red flags before being duped by outrageous claims?

I understand though. It’s difficult to keep a clear head when evaluating promises of fast or effective weight loss when we so desperately want to lose weight. But if you ever want to actually achieve effective weight loss, then keep a clear head you must. You can more easily do so by watching out for these red flags of junk science and bogus diets.

Image: © Dana Bartekoske Heinemann | Dreamstime.com

If you’d like to get many more weight loss tips and strategies like this, join our email newsletter weight loss series* and also receive our FREE fantastic report that reveals the secrets you MUST know to jump-start a slow metabolism and burn the MOST calories.

* Canadian researchers have found that those who subscribe to weight loss email newsletters lose significantly more weight than those who do not. Seriously!

Watch Out for These Bogus Diet and Supplement Red Flags is a post from: The Healthy Body Blog

How Television Ads are Seriously Harming our Children

By Jessica Holder

“We need to wake up and smell the fast food,” says Dr. Victor C. Strasburger, who is a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Council on Communications and Media. He’s referring to the glut of fast food and snack commercials on television. With kids and teens getting fatter, and television usage as high as it’s ever been, commercials for processed foods aren’t doing young people or adults any favors.

I’m not against TV by any means. But if we’re honest with ourselves, its use is typically out of hand with most of us. Are we sending the right message to our children when we spend 3-5 hours every evening on the couch? And are we communicating to our children the value of nutritious, whole foods over the heavily advertised, mass-produced varieties?

Find out how parents, pediatricians and child-health advocates can combat processed food advertising together.

© Geotrac | Dreamstime.com

If you’d like to get many more weight loss tips and strategies like this, join our email newsletter weight loss series* and also receive our FREE fantastic report that reveals the secrets you MUST know to jump-start a slow metabolism and burn the MOST calories.

* Canadian researchers have found that those who subscribe to weight loss email newsletters lose significantly more weight than those who do not. Seriously!

How Television Ads are Seriously Harming our Children is a post from: The Healthy Body Blog

Finally Stop Tripping Yourself Up and Lose Weight for Good

By Steve Brolin, Editor

If you are your own worst enemy when it comes to weight loss, then maybe it’s time to stop tripping yourself up and start reaching your goals. I admit this is easier said than done. But in reality, you will achieve (and maintain) your weight goals based on how strategically you approach your efforts. No quick fixes will help you take charge of your body and life. No expensive monthly diet programs or trendy diet fads will give you longterm, effective weight loss.

You’ll likely keep sabotaging your own efforts unless you start to think better than you have in the past. Reaching goals is a mental game. Asking yourself the right questions, and allowing yourself the time to find the right answers is how you succeed in reaching your goals.

If you’re thinking strategically, then you realize that successfully losing (and keeping off) excess weight is really about creating a healthy lifestyle, not just losing a set number of pounds. Embracing a healthy lifestyle starts with how you view yourself and the priorities you place on food and well-being. It involves the very thing that I’ve stated twice in this post—strategy. However, if you are an “opportunist” then you’ll likely always fail at weight loss, and pretty much at any goal you set to achieve.

Click here to learn the difference between a strategist and an opportunist and finally conquer your weight loss goals today!

Image: © Neliana Georgieva | Dreamstime.com

If you’d like to get many more weight loss tips and strategies like this, join our email newsletter weight loss series* and also receive our FREE fantastic report that reveals the secrets you MUST know to jump-start a slow metabolism and burn the MOST calories.

* Canadian researchers have found that those who subscribe to weight loss email newsletters lose significantly more weight than those who do not. Seriously!

Finally Stop Tripping Yourself Up and Lose Weight for Good is a post from: The Healthy Body Blog

The Only Guide You Need to Clean Up Your Diet

I talk a lot about ridding your diet of processed foods and opting for whole varieties instead. I realize there may be some confusion as to exactly what processed and whole foods are. In addition, I’m sure that substantially changing what you eat must seem like a gargantuan process and some readers may wonder where to start.

If this is the case, you’ll love an article I just read on FitSugar that shows you 9 easy ways to clean up your diet. Opting for better quality food is easy and you most definitely won’t starve. However, you will lose weight, and you will begin to crave how good whole foods make you feel. Sounds like a fair trade to me!

Click here to read the article.

Image: © Benis Arapovic | Dreamstime.com

If you’d like to get many more weight loss tips and strategies like this, join our email newsletter weight loss series* and also receive our FREE fantastic report that reveals the secrets you MUST know to jump-start a slow metabolism and burn the MOST calories.

* Canadian researchers have found that those who subscribe to weight loss email newsletters lose significantly more weight than those who do not. Seriously!

The Only Guide You Need to Clean Up Your Diet is a post from: The Healthy Body Blog

The Best List of Exercise Myths I’ve Seen So Far

I see a lot of lists on the internet about “exercise myths that won’t go away.” They’re usually always helpful, since it’s beneficial to be reminded of harmful and incorrect assumptions or beliefs. However, I read a list on CNN’s health site recently that struck me as being one of the better ones I’ve seen in a long time. As an avid strength-trainer and nutritionist, I see myths hinder people’s results all the time. I notice people exercising day-in and day-out and not seeing the results they want. However, I hope that anyone reading this post might find a way to turn their frustrations around by clicking the link below.

Click here for an awesome list of exercise myths that just won’t go away.

Image: © Paul Moore | Dreamstime.com

If you’d like to get many more weight loss tips and strategies like this, join our email newsletter weight loss series* and also receive our FREE fantastic report that reveals the secrets you MUST know to jump-start a slow metabolism and burn the MOST calories.

* Canadian researchers have found that those who subscribe to weight loss email newsletters lose significantly more weight than those who do not. Seriously!

The Best List of Exercise Myths I’ve Seen So Far is a post from: The Healthy Body Blog

You Don’t Have to Count Calories the Rest of Your Life, Or Maybe You Do

I just read an interesting article on diet and exercise myths that made me pause. The article proposes that when people like myself say “you don’t have to count calories,” this is a myth that I (and diet book authors) use to tell you exactly what you want to hear so you’ll buy more merchandise. I don’t directly sell diet books, but I do recommend excellent programs from time to time that I feel provide true and lasting value to readers. I can’t speak for diet book authors, but I assure you this isn’t about selling merchandise.

Just ask the rest of the world

There are billions of people in this world who can prove my point that counting calories is not necessary. They also prove that you don’t need to worry about carbs or fat, or what time of the day to eat, or whatever nonsense we’ve come to believe are truths for getting and maintaining a healthy weight. For the most part, any people living on this planet who don’t eat Western diets are thin. Since we know they don’t count calories, how is it they’re not fat? The reason is simple and goes back to what I just said—they don’t eat Western diets. They’re thin because they primarily eat only real food and rarely if ever eat processed foods. Throw in the fact that most people ’round the world are much more active than Westerners and you’ve really got a simple reason for why the majority of human beings never need to count calories!

Why YOU might have to count calories

If you primarily eat processed foods (yes, even the diet kinds), if you regularly eat fast foods, and if you consume processed sugars on a regular basis, then yes, you will have to count calories for the rest of your life. And even if you manage to stay thin because you count calories, you still have to worry about the other negative health consequences (outside of obesity) of eating these types of foods.

I’m 42, carry 20 pounds of muscle on my body and am not fat. Do I need to fear that since I don’t count calories, or worry about fat and carbs, that I’ll balloon in size any day now? Absolutely not. I eat real foods and exercise regularly and this is why I’m thin. It’s all about priorities. What’s most important to you—that frozen, microwaveable diet dinner you think qualifies as a viable alternative to real food, or a high quality of life?

Image: © Phil Date | Dreamstime.com

If you’d like to get many more weight loss tips and strategies like this, join our email newsletter weight loss series* and also receive our FREE fantastic report that reveals the secrets you MUST know to jump-start a slow metabolism and burn the MOST calories.

* Canadian researchers have found that those who subscribe to weight loss email newsletters lose significantly more weight than those who do not. Seriously!

You Don’t Have to Count Calories the Rest of Your Life, Or Maybe You Do is a post from: The Healthy Body Blog