Health Beauty & FitnessHealth, Beauty, Fitness Tips

It’s already November. The leaves have turned and fallen, and we’ve pulled the blankets out of the closet. A few weeks ago we dug around in the basement to locate coats, hats, gloves and boots so that they could air out and to assess any damage we may have missed.

Now that 2010 is drawing to a fast close, do you think it’s time to assess the damage done to your health this past year? Instead of the typical New Year’s health resolution, maybe you’d be more successful implementing positive changes ahead of the curve.

Nutrition. Most of us don’t eat well-rounded meals, so we either miss out on vital nutrients or take a daily multivitamin to bridge the gap. It can be hard to eat a balanced meal three times a day. Consider the “baby steps” approach and start concentrating on a single meal. Apply what you know and choose the right foods in the right portions. That wasn’t so bad, was it?

Exercise. In addition to a daily multivitamin and better meals, think about simple ways to work in some muscle activity. If you don’t mind the winter weather, consider earmarking 15 minutes of your lunch for a walk. It wil not only get your blood moving but possibly clear out your mind as well.

Hydration. That hunger pain you feel each morning about 10am? That may not actually be hunger (unless, of course, you eat empty calories for your 8am breakfast). That pain may be your body telling you to drink some water. Water plays a huge role in metabolizing and processing the food we consume into energy, and when we’re short on water our body goes into a survival mode. You may get headaches, feel hungry, or feel mentally slow. Grab a daily multivitamin and some water and take a short break from your desk.

These tips should help you get a foothold on healthier habits for 2011.

School Vending Machines Are Making Students Obese

Let’s face it, kids in America are fat. In fact, nearly 30% of them are obese! What is causing this obesity epidemic? Where does the blame lie? It’s hardly fair to blame the kids themselves; they are too young to make smart food choices when their parents aren’t around. And what about when their parents are around? What are you teaching your children about healthy eating habits? You may do the best you can at home and serve a well-rounded, properly portioned meal at dinner time but kids spend most of their days at school where you have no control over what they eat and how much they eat. We all know school lunches are not the healthiest meals in the world. Processed meals featuring frozen meat and starches lack the essential fruits, veggies and whole grains that kids need to maintain a proper body weight. Where else to kids get food at school? The dreaded school vending machines are taking your kids’ money and making them fat.

The Effects of Eating Junk Food at School

There are many reasons kids don’t need to eat junk food at school. Not only does it affect their physical health, it affects their mental health as well. Eating a bunch of empty calories and processed junk does not fill you up and it zaps your energy. Kids are not getting any “value” from this type of food. It does not fuel their bodies or give them energy to perform throughout the day. They’ll have a sugar rush followed quickly by a sugar crash which leaves them wanting another sugar “high” and the vicious cycle continues. Same goes for salty carb-loaded snacks. Carbs just turn to sugar and have the same effect on a kid’s metabolism. A junk food diet will also cause kids to lose focus, feel sluggish and perform poorly in class and on tests. Blood circulation can even slow down if you eat too much junk food and fat gets in the way of blood flow. Brain capacity can also be compromised as a steady diet of junk food will cause a lack of oxygen, nutrients and proteins to your brain. Further effects include heart disease and high cholesterol. As you can imagine, having these health issues as a young child can have a major impact on a kid’s life long-term. It’s much harder to correct these health problems than it is to just avoid them in the first place. Fat kids turn into fat adults which is why over 25% of Americans are obese. Learning proper eating habits as children will help these kids maintain a healthy weight and body fat percentage as they grow older. School vending machines do NOT help kids make healthy eating choices.

Why Do Schools Have Vending Machines?

It seems so obvious that if you remove the vending machines in schools, kids will eat better. It’s not that simple, unfortunately. Our schools are terribly underfunded and vending machines offer them a profit stream that they need for their operational budgets. Schools do receive money from the government under the National School Lunch Program which feeds more than 30 million kids each day in over 101,000 schools. But it’s simply not enough. One dollar per student is not enough to provide them with a healthy meal. So schools supplement cafeteria offerings by adding vending machines as another food option for students. The profit margins of vending machines are huge because the mark-up is so high. And students will visit the vending machines again and again because of the addictive power sugar and carbs have on the body.

Changes In Store For School Vending

There is a light at the end of the junk food tunnel. Legislation is up for vote that could mark the end of the school vending machine era. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act will give more money to schools and will allow the Secretary of Agriculture to establish nutritional standards for schools. Parents and schools can also play a huge role in the eating habits of our kids. Schools can voluntarily remove junk food vending machines and/or replace them with healthy vending machines that offer kids nutritional choices that will fill them up and help them focus throughout the day. Parents, the real change needs to come from you. Start with the way you eat. Kids see what you eat and they are more likely to listen to your nutrition advice if you are eating healthy foods yourself. You can’t eat pizza and expect your kids to eat salad. Get your kids involved in cooking healthy meals. The more invested they are in the process, the more likely they are to eat something they are not usually fond of. Perhaps most importantly, parents need to put pressure on their kids’ schools to make the necessary changes. Most school administrators will just let the vending machines stay put if they are not encouraged to remove them. If you take a stand for your kids’ health, schools will be forced to make a change.

We all know that change must occur to help our kids get back on track. They are simply too fat and the fault lies with schools and parents. Vending machines are the major culprit, however, as they continue to supply our kids with junk food that compromises their health and their ability to learn. Change needs to come from both parents and schools in order to remove these machines and improve the chances our kids have in life. Their success in school, college, their professional lives, and their health depends on it.

When you begin planning your wedding, what to eat along the way is probably not in the forefront of your mind. However, your wedding is the one day of your life that you want to look as close to perfect as possible, and maintaining a healthy diet will definitely play a big role in how you look and feel. These are some of the nutrition tips that every bride should incorporate into her pre-wedding routine.

The months before a wedding can be loaded with potential dietary pitfalls. There are engagement parties (around 100 calories per glass of Champagne), bridal showers with cakes and pastries, food tasting sessions with the caterer and baker, bachelorette parties (600 calories in a big frozen margarita!), not to mention meals eaten on the run. If you happen to be a stress eater, too, you can suddenly find your wedding dress getting tighter and tighter at each fitting. So what is a bride to do?

Knowledge is half the battle. Once you become aware of all of the extra calories that are lurking in your celebrations, you can plan ahead. No one is suggesting that an engaged couple should not enjoy their pre-wedding parties, but if you want your dress to fit, a little caution is a good idea. When going to a party, eat a filling dinner first, and stay away from the appetizers, cheese plates, and tiny desserts at the party. It can be easy to eat way too many of those tasty little treats; each one is so small that it can be hard to realize how quickly they add up. If there is no time for dinner, eat a lowfat protein bar or a bowl of yogurt mixed with a high fiber cereal before you hit the party.

Alcohol is the biggest diet killer in more ways than one. First of all, it is loaded with empty calories. Secondly, after a few drinks, it is easy to lose control over your snacking in a way that you would not if sober. If you are at an engagement party with lots of Champagne toasts, remember that etiquette says that the person being toasted should only raise their glass; you do not actually drink to yourself. Once you realize that you don’t have to drink along with every toast, you can nurse one or two glasses of Champagne all evening long. As for those wild and crazy bachelorette parties with the margaritas, try a light beer or a glass of white wine instead to cut the calories in each drink down to 100 or less from 600 or so for the big frozen cocktail.

For those brides who like to reward themselves with food, find an alternative indulgence when you are looking for a little pick-me-up. A piece of jewelry from your favorite bridal jewelry set is not going to put weight on your hips like an ice cream sundae. Anything that makes you feel beautiful is good, whether it is bridal jewelry, a makeover, a manicure, or some sexy new lingerie for the honeymoon. Stay away from the kind of treats that you will regret later. Keep your wedding goals in mind to help keep temptation at bay.

And finally, remember to eat a sensible and well balanced diet with plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, protein, and fiber to keep you feeling satisfied. Crash diets are dangerous, and they do not work in the long run. It is much better to get on a good path of healthy eating that will keep you and your new hubby feeling healthy and happy for all the years of your marriage.

Atlantic City Vacation Package:-

One of the toughest things to do, it seems, whether it be a holiday at home, or a trip, is to stay regimented with diet and exercise. In my opinion there is no doubt that the trip away from home is just awful when it comes to staying fit.

Why is this? Well if you’re in a hotel you have that damn candy and soda machine right down the hall from your room. Oh, yeah, don’t get me started with going on a cruise because the word buffet is synonymous with cruises.

Ok, so what do we do when we go on vacation to keep fit and on the right track. Well let’s stick to doing it with the hotel travel.

1. Pack the running shoes and the work out clothes. This makes the ability to get to the gym much easier.

2. Try and find hotels that offer fitness centers. Also, make sure that the fitness centers are what you need. Not a medicine ball and a thing to stand on that vibrates a belt.

3. Refuse to get the key to mini bar in the room. Lot’s of empty calories my friends.

4. Pack some healthy snacks that won’t go bad. Protein Bars, a bag of almonds, you know what’s right. Fruit may be an issue.

As you see going away does not have to throw you off from being healthy. You just have to plan to beat the vacation bug of being bad.

Search for vacation ideas with the Atlantic City Packages guide. Each listing below offers a full directory of information for the resort or hotel. Find out the specific hotel room amenities, check out pictures, look for hotel map location information.

Also, find out all there is to know about local activities in the Atlantic City area.Borgata,House of Blues, The Pier, The Walk and much much more.

Reserve Vacations LLC is quickly becoming one of the new gems of the online travel market. Serendipity probably had a greater hand in the success the web site ReserveVacations.com has had, due to the fact that the vacation packages offered are tremendously discounted and the economy turned bad at the time of launch. So be it. Regardless of pricing, Reserve Vacations web also operates under a strict professional style. This can be found in the sites’ Vacation Package Price Guarantee.

If you visit the page the policy is very straightforward. The long and short is if you can find a better deal that exactly offers what is being offered in any one of the web sites vacation packages, Reserve Vacations will refund 110% of the difference. It’s that simple. If you find a vacation package on another site and email Reserve Vacations, within 48 hours of booking you will receive that refund.

That’s the beauty of dealing with professionals.

Please Tell Me how Is That?

Weight loss is a big struggle for millions of us – and it is also a big business. Americans spend over $42 billion on diet products, supplements, and foods. That’s more than the gross domestic products of more than half of the countries in the world, and the worst part, for your pocket book and your self-esteem, is that they do not work for most people. Wouldn’t it be nice to get off the diet rollercoaster and achieve healthy, lasting weight loss? How do you do it? Old fashioned diet and exercise. Nutrition is key – and it can be easy when you choose the best energy bars.

Why are energy bars such a great tool for those who are trying to lose weight?

They are packed with nutrition. When you choose the right bar, you will get excellent vitamins, minerals, and nutrition in exchange for your calories. This is really what you want; instead of feeding your body empty calories, you are fueling it with high quality foods, such as organic almonds, cashews, sunflower seeds, hemp, and natural sweeteners like fruit juice instead of sugar and sugar alcohols.

They are portion-controlled. Portion sizes are difficult for many of us, and energy bars an ideal way not only to start eating better but to start eating within your caloric requirements. You know how many calories are in the bar; you know what the serving size is. There is no guesswork, which is crucial whether you are eating at home or on the go.

They can be snacks or meals. When you find the right energy bar for your health needs and lifestyle, you have access to healthy snacks and occasional meal replacements. Carry a bar or two in your purse or bag for work, your afternoon snack, or post-workout nutrition. For those days when you just don’t have time to eat breakfast before starting your commute or when you have to eat standing up between meetings, they can be excellent meal replacements. For a meal, pair the bar with a small salad or fruit.

They help you stay full. Choose nutrition bars that have about 10 grams of protein, which will satisfy your appetite and provide you with quality fuel. Also look for fiber, which can help keep you feeling full longer. This is why eating fruit or veggies with your bar makes it such a great meal; the added fiber is perfect for weight loss goals.

Weight loss is hard; make it a little easier with the right energy bars.