Get a Body and a Life to Love

A Positive Holiday Outlook is Healthier in Many Ways

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holiday grumpies

Bah-humbug!

This totally describes a dear friend’s mood when the holidays roll around.  Every year… he could easily be a stand-in for the Grinch. Bah-humbug! He gets really grumpy! The mere mention of hanging lights and decorations… grrrrr!!!! and double Bah-humbug!!! OK… maybe WWIII…. just sayin…here’s his idea of hanging lights…

Maybe that’s you this time of year… NO JUDGEMENT!  I get it! The year-end is full of stressors… things that HAVE to be completed… the holidays… family obligations… work obligations…. leading to hectic, over-stressed, over-shopped, over-spent chaos… it is just TOO MUCH!!!

If you are like my friend, I urge you to consider changing your tune. Here’s why:

According to a study published in Psychological Bulletin, having a positive outlook can dramatically decrease your chances of having a heart attack, a stroke or cardiovascular disease. Should I mention that my friend has high blood pressure?

Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health reviewed over 200 studies from two major scientific databases. They found that optimistic people were around 50 percent less likely to experience an initial cardiovascular event compared to their sour-puss peers.

They also had lower blood pressure, healthier biological function, and a more ideal body weight. [Read more…]

The Truth about Pure Fruit Juice

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pure fruit juice

THEY say… It’s pure fruit juice, so it’s good for us, it’s good for our kids, right?

Nope!!!

Juice is actually a drink made of pure liquid sugar… in this case fructose. So, in spite of the fact that you or your children may be drinking a drink that says “100% pure fruit juice,” it may as well say “pure sugar.” It may as well be soda.

Here’s why. The sugar that comes from fruit is fructose. This is the same sugar in high fructose corn syrup. Fructose was designed by Mother Nature to be consumed with all of the fiber in the fruit it came in… so that its absorption would be slowed down… so your body could handle it. It was NEVER intended to be in that concentrated form that we find in HFC’s… or juices!

Fiber slows the absorption of the sugar in the fruit, as well as containing healthy fiber to feed your gut bacteria. [Read more…]

How to Eat Halloween Treats Without Gaining Weight

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halloween treats

It’s that time of year. It’s inevitable.

Few people I know can resist having Halloween treats in the house in October. Next to Valentine’s Day, more candy is sold and consumed than any other time of the year. All those little delectable goodies… so tempting…

What if you could enjoy the Halloween treats you love without gaining weight? Well, you can!

The first thing to do is RELAX!!! Keep reading to find out how many treats you would have to eat AT ONE SITTING in order to gain a pound of body fat. I don’t know about you, but the mere thought of having to eat 58 chocolate bars or 489 pieces of candy corn makes me more than a little queasy!!! [Read more…]

Late Eating Could be Keeping You Fat and Tired

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Liz Bull - Late eating could be keeping you fat and tired

What is YOUR main meal? If you are like most Americans, it’s dinner… which has come to mean the evening meal. And you usually have it after 6 PM, right? Well, it wasn’t always like that. For centuries, “dinner” (the heavier main meal) was eaten mid-day… between 11 and 3.  After 6 PM, we ate “supper”… from the French word “souper.” If you guessed that the later meal was soup, you’d be right!

For a very long time, this was a GREAT system! Why? Because it worked better with our bodies’ natural rhythms. Ayurvedic tradition with its six cycles explains this very well. [Read more…]

Mayonnaise- French or Spanish?

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Mayonnaise recipe

I love history…. including the history of foods…. and I got curious about mayonnaise… one of those things at the top of the list for summer salads.

Many have said that it was born in 1756 after French forces under the Duke de Richelieu laid siege to Port Mahon, on the Mediterranean island of Minorca, now a part of Spain, in the first European battle of the Seven Years’ War. The Duke’s chef, upon finding the island lacked the cream he needed for a sauce, invented an egg and oil dressing dubbed mahonnaise …after Port Mahon.

Here’s the rub: Another version of the story claims the chef learned the recipe from island residents! [Read more…]