All about wellness

We all want to get the best nutrition possible for our health. Getting optimum nutrition is especially important if you want to make gains in the gym. When you are taxing your body with tough workouts to get in shape, lose weight or gain muscle, you may find that the vitamins and nutrients you get through whole foods are just not enough.

Before you go to the health food store and load up on supplements, though, you should ask yourself a few questions to decide if you really should be taking supplements as a part of your regular diet.

Are you making consistent gains?

If you are hitting your workouts hard and seem to be making good, consistent gains, you may want to skip supplements for now.

Nutritional Supplements exist to give your body what it is otherwise lacking. If your body consistently rebounds from workouts and you are moving steadily toward your fitness goals, you are obviously doing something right. As the old saying goes, “Don’t mess with success.”

If you don’t have any obvious gaps in your diet and your body is responding well to your workouts, stay away from supplements for now.

Are you eating healthy?

Do you consistently follow a good, healthy diet?If so, you may find that you don’t need supplements. Or if you do, you may need a minimal amount of them.

A lot of people start off buying a simple protein powder at the local health food store and get sucked into buying all kinds of supplements. Only get what you need to bring your diet up to speed for making gains. Don’t overdo your supplement use.

How are your energy levels?

If you find that you are always tired and lethargic after your workouts, you may need to add a dose of post-workout whey protein to your diet.

This is a simple sports supplement and a good place to start for beginners. Whey protein can help your body recover better from tough exercise sessions and give you the burst of energy you need to feel better.

Don’t assume that you need supplements just because you are working out. Ask yourself the above questions to answer the main one: Should you be taking nutritional Supplements? If your body doesn’t need the extra nutrition, don’t waste your money buying it.
Author: Melissa King of The Heart Rate Monitor Store, use the monitor when you GetInsanity with Shaun T.

In a previous post we talked about the healthy food pyramid and why it we should be eating healthy food. Here a guest blog from Evan Collins on how you can enjoy healthy diet foods with a busy lifestyle.

Have Healthy Diet Food, Even With A Busy Lifestyle

Eating  Healthy Diet Foods can be tricky, it happens to all of us. We get so busy during the day that we do not have time to eat, and we are so tired after work that we just pick up something quick for dinner on the way home.

This is alright, if it is only an occasional thing, but for all to many of us, this happens at least a couple of times a week, which can really wreak havoc on our health after a while. But, is it possible to be able to eat healthy diet foods when you are on the go constantly and don’t have time to sit down and have a good, nutritious meal? Of course it is.

How To Enjoy Healthy Diet Food Throughout Your Day

Start Your Day Off Right with an Easy-to-Make, Protein-Rich Breakfast

If you think you don’t have time to have a healthy breakfast, think again. You can make a healthy, protein and vitamin-rich breakfast shakes in a couple of minutes that you can take along with you.

All you have to do is blend one cup of frozen berries, one cup of orange juice, one banana and one cup of fresh or canned pineapple (in water, not syrup) for a delicious, healthy shake. Pour in a take-along cup, and you’re all set to hit the road.

Snacking Is Okay

For many years, it was thought that eating snacks throughout the day was one of the best ways to gain weight. Sure, this is true if the snacks are unhealthy ones. Actually, it is healthier to eat a number of small meals during the day than just three, so snacking is absolutely okay.

For  Healthy Diet Food snack make sure that any evening snacks are eaten well before going to bed, and that they are light. Some delicious snack choices can include nuts, seeds, unsalted and unbuttered popcorn, cheese and yogurt, all of which can be eaten on the go.

Don’t Forget Dinner

You may be tired after a long day at work and think a healthy diet is too much work, but you can prepare a healthy dinner in no time at all that your entire family will love.

Just heat up some frozen vegetables (these are just as healthy as fresh ones), throw a couple of pieces of chicken in the oven with some salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, garlic, onion and soy sauce, and toss a couple of potatoes in the oven as well. Sit back and relax, and in about an hour, you will have a delicious, hot meal ready to eat.

So you see, it really isn’t all that difficult to eat healthy diet food, no matter how busy you are. Once you get your diet back on track, you are going to feel better, and have more energy to get through your busy day.

Author: Evan Collins of the number 1 Insanity Workout WebSite. You can see Insanity With Shaun today.

Mother’s Day – Any Ideas?

It’s this time of the year again – Mother’s Day is closing in on us. What do you do? When exactly is Mothers day? And why is it happening the first place?

Some answers and Some Ideas to make Mothers Day really special this year.

Mother’s Day – Why Do We Have It?

Some ironic people say the idea behind Mothers Day came from the florists in an attempt to boost their sales. Not a bad idea it seems, and it definitely was successful – if this is the story behind it.

But there are some historic precedents set for Mother’s Day:

• Some people think this day emerged from a custom of mother worship in ancient Greece, which kept a festival to Cybele, a great mother of Greek gods.
• In ancient Romans they apparently had a holiday, Matronalia, that was dedicated to Juno (goddess and protector and special counselor of the state), though mothers were usually given gifts on this day.
• Europe has several long standing traditions where a specific Sunday was set aside to honor motherhood and mothers such as Mothering Sunday (several Christian Denominations), or Laetare Sunday (the fourth Sunday in Lent to honour the Virgin Mary and your “mother” church)

So, it looks like Mothers Day has been around for quite some time. Today it is celebrated as a day to honour mothers  and motherhood.

When is Mother’s Day?

The modern Mother’s Day is celebrated on various days in many parts of the world, mostly in May, though also in March.

Most countries have the Second Sunday in May as the official Mother’s Day.

That means Mother’s Day will be celebrated in these countries on

• May 9, 2010
• May 8, 2011
• May 13, 2012

What to do on Mother’s Day – Ideas?

Now it’s getting interesting – why a post around Mothers Day on a wellness page?

Very easy – because Mothers deserve to feel well about themselves as well. They deserve some pampering, some me-time and some wellness.

Why not take Mother’s Day as the reason to make sure mom is taking time to take care of herself – so she is able to continue to take care of others.

I know the classical Mother’s Day ideas of

• Giving mom chocolate
• Serving her Breakfast in bed
• Going out for Lunch or Dinner
• Buying or picking Flowers

But why not try something different, something with a more longterm effect for Mom? Why not give

• A Day Spa Gift voucher for Mom
• Even better – share some quality time with Mom at the Day Spa
• The Gift of time – take over her chores so she can go to eg. Yoga classes
• A personal trainer session at a good fitness club
• Subscribe her to a Relaxation or Meditation course

Make sure before that whatever you pick is something she will really enjoy and will actually use. It’s a great Idea for Mothers Day to send her to learn some Relaxation techniques – but only if it works with her schedule. A Day Spa treatment is wonderful – if she likes to be touched and nurtured by qualified therapists.

So, what is your Mother’s Day Idea? What will you give – or being a mother what would you enjoy receiving on Mothers Day? Looking forward to your feedback.

The Wellness Queen

©2010

Wellness and Gratitude

Wellness has a lot to do with how we feel about what we already have achieved in our life. And Gratitude is a great way of acknowledging that what you have achieved and to celebrate life.

I came across a video on the net which I really enjoyed – The Gratitude Dance. Have a look yourself, and why not try it.

I can only encourage you to express your gratitude any way you can – and why not with a dance (or singing your motivational song )

The Gratitude Dance

The guys who came up with it call themselves the GratiDudes and you can learn more about the whole thing on their website about Gratitude and GratiDudes.

So, have you tried the dance? How did it make you feel? And how do you express your gratitude? Let us know in the comments.

The Wellness Queen

© 2010

Do you struggle with managing your work life balance? Let me tell you – you are not alone.

While every generation has a different set of work expectations, the wish for work life balance has become one of the major goals for the majority of the workforce today.

Baby Boomers want to reduce their work hours and people in their thirties quiet jobs and are starting their own businesses in order to have more control over their lives and schedules. More often young workers turn down promotional opportunities in favor for greater work life balance.

Why Work Life Balance?

A study done with young employees showed that  managing work life balance was among the top values for both genders. Most of these young adults were raised in families where both parents worked and they experienced the sacrifice and demands placed upon their parents, firsthand.

Work is important, but it does not replace your life but needs to ad to it. To stay healthy and happy it is important to find your personal balance between work and life.

Being un-balanced has serious influence on your

• physical health
• emotional wellbeing
• stresslevels
• family and community relations
• productivity

Not surprisingly, of all the generations in the workforce today, the young adults are the most likely to consider job flexibility and schedules when they look for a job, and it is key to employee retention for companies that employ these young workforce.

Is Work Life Balance Really A Problem?

If you think that work and family life balance is a small problem, you may be interested to know that not only companies have recognized the issue and taken the lead in establishing life balance programs, more and more organizations, foundations, universities and groups are doing research on this topic.

Organizations as diverse as religious groups, government agencies, human resource companies and behavioral scientists now study work life balance issues and, not just because it is the right thing to do.

There are real economic advantages to companies that recognize the need for life balance and create a working environment to help their employees live their lives more fully.

Companies spend a lot of money training and keeping employees and happy employees will stay longer, live longer and contribute to the company longer when they get support in managing their work life balance successfully.

What Can I Do?

There is a lot you can do yourself to make sure you find your balance. Managing work life balance is not a one-off thing but an ongoing task.

Once you have figured out what it is you need to regain that balance it is a matter of implementing one step at a time, create new habits that help you to stay in balance.

It might be as simple as changing a few things in your daily routine or as complex as moving to another area and finding a new job or changing careers completely.

Everybody is different, so next time we will start with some work life balance questions to help you find the right tools to managing your work life balance.

See you next time
The Wellness Queen

© 2010