yogayak.com presents Michael Riel leading you through a one hour yoga flow designed to release those hard-working neck and shoulder muscles as well as loosening the related muscles and joints through the whole body. This class is designed to decrease headache and shoulder pain as well as increase awareness of how the whole body interrelates. Using twists, strength building postures and backbends, this class will help you bring circulation to your body after a long day. Duration 57 min
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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1. Do not try to go in for any quick weight loss programs. While you may lose quite a few pounds to begin with, you may drastically have altered your metabolism making it difficult for you to hope for any long-term weight loss.
2. Taking the proper amount of carbohydrates (especially complex carbohydrates) in your meal is very important. Understand what is the right portion for your and ensure that you have it in every meal.
3. Choose fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables over canned ones. While frozen ones are almost as nutritious as the fresh ones, canned ones not only contain sodium, they also lose some nutrients in the water they are canned in.
4. Make sure you add enough vegetables and proteins to your diet.
5. Yogurts and legumes are rich in carbohydrates and proteins and form excellent additions to any meal.
6. Most muffins are filled with too much fat and sugar and can cause you to put on weight if eaten frequently.
7. Some pretzels can bring in fairly hefty calories into your body – avoid them, even the non-butter ones.
8. Sodas are a bad way of taking in calories. They tend to leave you high but at the end of it, leave you feeling very low and very hungry having used up all the calories.
9. Sugar is sugar – providing plenty of calories but no nutrients. Do not be tricked by advertisements claiming that brown sugar is better than white sugar. They are essentially the same and you need to watch out for how much sugar you consume.
10. Make it simple to include veggies in your diet – top your pizzas with plenty of vegetables and include plenty of veggies in your pasta dish as well.
11. Studies have shown that people who take in more calcium in their diets are inclined to lose more weight than those who take diets deficient in calcium.
12. Parmesan cheese has fewer calories per gram and should used as a topping rather than calorie heavy salad dressing.
13. Similarly replace the fattening salad dressing with some plain vinegar or lemon juice.
14. Try replacing the cream in any of the recipes by the non-fat dairy creamer.
15. Eating healthy lean proteins is very important to speeding up the metabolism and losing weight. The body takes up a lot of calories in breaking down lean proteins and so they are excellent means to boosting the body’s metabolism. Proteins also help tremendously in the toning and strengthening of muscles and as such serve a dual purpose.
16. Never skip breakfasts. Your body tends to be far hungrier and will crave for food. This will force you into making the wrong food choices and you may end up eating more calorie-heavy food than what you would have done, had you had your breakfast.
17. Many people do not eat breakfast in the morning simply because they have no time for it and always feel rushed for office. The simplest solution to this is to get something simple ready from the night before.
18. If you are used to having regular breakfasts in the morning, you may be surprised to find yourself a little hungry sometime later in the morning. This is actually good news because then it means that your body has started speeding up the rate of metabolism.
19. Try not to eat very heavy meals but instead eat smaller meals more frequently. Try to include the proper servings of carbohydrates, proteins and fats in all your meals. The key to firing up one’s metabolism is to eat more frequently than what one is used to and not more food than what one used to.
20. After starving for a long time, people tend to eat more than what they would normally do and take in extra calories. As a solution, many watch what they eat even when they are hungry and do not over eat thinking that this is a solution. However, starvation almost always leads to a slowing down of the metabolism rate and however little you may eat still may lead to weight gain.
21. Snacks like peanut butter on a low-fat whole grain muffin help keep you full and satisfied for a longer period of time thus reducing hunger pangs.
22. By eating smaller frequent meals, you are effectively reducing the size of your stomach. You will find yourself feeling full even after eating little. This reduces the number of calories being taken in and less fat being stored.
23. While it is important to eat smaller and frequent meals, it is also important to eat them at the right time and watch what you eat in every meal. There is no point in having a well-balanced breakfast and then have a snack of French fries.
24. You should aim to have small meals every two to four hours and should certainly not stay hungry for more than four to five hours; else your metabolism will distinctly slow down.
25. The suggestion of eating more meals may seem contrary to our goals of wanting to lose weight. However, the idea is to spread what we normally eat, over the day and make the meals more balanced, with the proper servings of proteins and carbohydrates.
26. One of the simplest ways of speeding up our metabolism is by drinking plenty of water. Insufficient water can make the body feel dehydrated and its activity levels come down, thereby reducing the metabolism rate. It is therefore important to drink adequate amounts of water.
27. Water does not have any side effects unlike the power beverages and yet people ignore water while spending thousands on these fancy products. Water also helps us eat and digest our food more easily. We feel full quickly and fibrous foods are digested more easily, enhancing metabolism.
28. Water does not contain any calories and therefore should be preferred to any other kind of beverage especially for quenching thirst.
29. It is better to eat fresh fruits than drink fruit juices since they contain more sugar and water than actual fruit juice.
30. Regular exercise can go a long way in toning muscles and increasing metabolism.
31. Include some weight training in your regular workouts. Even lifting light weights regularly can help your muscles to a large extent.
32. If you are looking for variety in your activities, always look for something that will help you firm, tone and strengthen your muscle mass. That way you can ensure that the body is consistently burning up your calories.
33. Any regular activity or exercise is going to expend calories. Whether you are able to actually go in for regular workouts or not, try and devise methods by which you can be involved in some or the other form of physical activity for a brief period.
34. Exercising like hiking, biking, walking and aerobics not only have an immediate effect in the sense of the calories being burned because of the physical activity but an extended one too since the body stays warmed up for quite some time and keeps using up the calories.
35. While it is recommended that a person get about eight hours of sleep every day, the average number of hours a person sleeps is for about six hours. This means the person is getting much less sleep than what the body needs. This can result in diminishing the metabolism rate.
36. Inadequate sleep means less activity during the day, which can also reduce the metabolism rate. Try and get enough sleep at night. If you are not able to get enough sleep at night, try this quick solution. Grab some shuteye during the day and you will feel refreshed.
37. Another side effect of not getting enough sleep is that it actually starts affecting your appetite. Despite eating a normal meal, you may still feel hungry and eat something extra adding up calories.
38. Growth hormones are stunted by the lack of proper rest to the body. This also means that the growth of muscle mass will be affected and the body metabolism slows down.
39. If you are waking up hungry in the middle of the night and then find it difficult to go back to sleep, try to keep some small snack ready to eat. Otherwise, try eating it about half an hour before you go to bed.Try not to eat food that will cause interference with a good night’s sleep. For some, it is late night coffee while for some it is spicy food.
40. If you feel really tired after a sleepless night, you may want to reach out for a cookie to get you all fired up. But, you are more than likely to just increase your calories without getting any relief.
41. Less sleep also means less serotonin, the chemical that helps the brain maintain its feelings of well-being and happiness. It also sets off a craving for carbohydrates, which is a surefire way of slowing down the metabolism.
42. Exercising regularly helps relieve you of stress, helps the body fight against various disorders and of course, sets in motion the process of speeding up the body’s metabolism.
43. Contrary to popular beliefs, by exercising you are not just burning the calories needed during that brief period. Even later on, when you are relaxing on a couch, your body will still be burning those calories.
44. Even by merely jumping up and down, you can speed up the body’s metabolism and help it to burn those extra calories.
45. If you are planning on taking any beverage go for water. In fact, it has been shown that alcohol has a tendency to slow down the metabolism, leading to big bellies. Hence the term ‘beer belly’.
46. Cardiovascular exercises are great exercises since they require that you use a substantial set of your muscles in some physical activity over an extended period of time. Like swimming, biking, hiking and so on.
47. Rather than skip dairy completely, try the skimmed, low fat or non-fat dairy products to help adjust your metabolism so that it is ready to burn more calories.
48. It is a very good idea to determine how many calories you actually need every day. Consult a nutritionist on this one way and use the advice to understand how much of fruits, vegetable and other food products will be needed to provide you with the nutrition that you need which in turn will boost up the metabolism.
49. Even five minutes of working out to burn some calories is much better than nothing at all. Try to give yourself no excuses and work out for at least some time on a regular basis.
50. Research has show that our metabolism slows down the most when we are watching television. Even reading involves some activity of our body and mind and helps with the metabolic activities. Try reading when you have a chance.
51. Though gardening may seem like an activity for the elderly, you may be surprised at the amount of physical activity involved and you may actually have fun doing this. Try taking care of the yard or wash your car yourself for some interesting and helpful physical activities that will help with the metabolism.
52. Try to walk wherever you can. Take the flight of stairs to your office; get down from the bus a few blocks away from home and walk home; take your kids to school walking instead of driving them down.
53. Try and exercise even when you are in the office. Just sit down and stand up a few times to fire your metabolism.
54. Take your dog for walks or better still, gather a few more dogs that need walking and go for brisk walks.
55. It is important that you take good carbohydrates like complex carbohydrates and lean proteins, like fish, white meat, soy protein, etc. to suitably enhance the metabolism.
56. Never ever eat less than the recommended dietary allowance and never allow yourself to feel starved since that is a sure way of slowing down the metabolism of the body.
57. You need not spend all the time you have allotted to exercising, in the morning itself, especially if it is making things very rushed for you. Spread your workout time over the day, not spending more than ten minutes every time. This will not only make you feel less pressured during the busy morning times but also keep your metabolism at fairly high levels throughout the day.
58. See how you can be active even in everyday situations. Perhaps you can sweep your front porch today. May be you can walk down to your neighborhood store. Maybe you will walk to work today. These are various ways in which you can keep your metabolism at elevated levels.
59. Maintain variety in your workouts. Never let the body settle into a routine and slow down the metabolism. Keep it off guard so that the metabolism speeds are always high.
60. Think of exercising as another important health appointment. Just as you would not miss a doctor’s appointment, you should not miss your exercise appointment either.
61. Spices are supposed to help with metabolism. A dash of spice to your foods can help increase your metabolism dramatically.
62. As one ages, the muscles start to shrink. Since there are not too many muscles to maintain, the body’s metabolism starts to go down and fat starts to accumulate. Strength training will help replace fat tissue with lean muscle tissue.
63. A personal trainer may help considerably in working out regularly and speeding up the body’s metabolism.
64. Remember that the goal of weight training is not necessarily to develop bulging muscles but well toned muscles.
65. Even veteran weight trainers may from time to time slip into complacency and allow their metabolism rates to slip down. It is important to have variety even in weight training to keep metabolism levels high.
66. Try to maintain a straight posture at all times, not only are your shoulders straight but you will also need to keep your abs contracted at all times, which is an excellent workout for the abs.
67. Crunches and push-ups are well-tested methods of burning more calories.
68. The best way to develop a good set of well-toned muscles is to work on a specific set of muscle groups, one at a time.
69. Always try to do those workouts you like the least at the beginning. This way you will ensure that you are completing all the exercises. If you had left the exercises you do not like to the end, chances are you may shave kipped them on occasions.
70. If you are under stress, you may have a tendency to overeat. Recognize the real problem and deal with it.
71. Stress also brings forth symptoms that resemble hunger. This not only means the body slows down the metabolism rate but that it will accumulate more fat.
72. When you are stressful, you may not want to exercise or do anything enjoyable. This results in the slowing down of the metabolism.
73. Whether you like to run on a treadmill, a rowing machine or swim, mix these up from time to time so that your body does not get used to any single exercise.
74. All fats are not bad. Some of them provide much needed fuel to the heart and muscles. Ensure that they are taken in limited amounts to maintain the metabolism levels. Avoid using cooking oil that contain saturated fats and/or trans fats.
75. Instead of doing almost all your shopping online, you might want to take a walk to your neighborhood shopping center from time to time.
76. Organic foods contain fewer pesticides and less toxins leading to healthier cells and better metabolism.
77. When you first try working out, chances are after the first few days, you will be feeling tired and reluctant to come out again. Give yourself just two minutes every time you feel that. As you start to work out, you will feel yourself warming up and you will soon be in your workout routine.
78. When the outdoor weather is pleasant, forget about the indoor pool and indoor gym – work out outside. The extra oxygen and workouts will start to boost the metabolism.
79. It is also believed that by staying still you are always losing fewer calories than when you are fidgeting. Try to perform some small activity if you have been sitting still for too long.
80. You may not want to keep eating the same amount of calories every day. By changing the amount a little, you are not letting the metabolism settle into a routine.
81. Many health experts suggest adding small but important supplements to your diet to ensure that the body’s metabolism functions smoothly and aid in the loss of weight.
82. If you watch TV, do not use the remote control. Get up, walk over to the TV and change the channel manually.
83. If you watch TV, do push-ups or sit-ups during the TV commercials.
84. Turn on the music and dance wildly to the tune. This will help burn some extra calories while you are having fun.
85. Take green tea supplement half an hour before you exercise. It has been reported to help you burn more calories during your exercise routines.
86. When you are at home, do not keep your mobile phone with you. Keep your mobile phone some place at a distant where you can hear it ringing. This way you have to get up and walk to pick it up when it rings.
87. On a day when you consume more calories than you should, add a bit of extra physical activity to your routine for that day and the following day.

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1. Regular Exercise-The Essential Ingredient to a Healthy Lifestyle

Heart is one of the most vital organs in the body. It plays an important role in the pumping of oxygen-rich blood throughout the body. Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of human deaths worldwide.  Factors like obesity, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol level can increase your risk of developing heart diseases. Fortunately, these factors can be avoided satisfactorily through the use of natural medicines. It is best to remember that ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

For the heart to function efficiently, you must eat nutritious and well-balanced diet as follows:

1. Ample amount of raw fruits and vegetables.
2. Low fat proteins like skinless chicken, skinless turkey and broiled fish.
3. Food rich in important fatty acids such as tuna, herring, salmon and mackerel.
4. Cut down on the consumption of butter, read meats, refines sugars, alcohol, soft drinks, fried foods and refined grain products.
5. Drink a minimum of 8 glasses of water a day.
6. Cut down on the consumption of sodium, preservatives, monosodium glutamate, tenderizers, baking soda and table salt.

In addition to the well-balanced diet, maintaining of a healthy body weight and a daily exercise routine is essential for keeping your healthy. Stress should be avoided or at least regulated through the practice of certain relaxation techniques like meditation, yoga, visualization or Tai Chi.

In the treatment and prevention of heart diseases, it is advised that you incorporate herbs and vitamins to your daily diet. Listed below are some of the natural remedies that are proven to promote cardiovascular wellness:

1. Garlic lowers the levels of cholesterol in the body and helps to lower blood pressure.
2. Vitamin C and E are the important antioxidants that keep the blood vessel healthy and raise the level of good cholesterol.
3. Omega-3 Fatty Acids slows the development of atherosclerosis plaques and lowers the risk of death from heart disease.
4. Chromium Picolinate, Selenium and Niacin combined together can help lower the level of bad cholesterol (LDL cholesterol) in your body.
5. Magnesium and Potassium together aid in the regulation of blood pressure and regulate heart beat.
6. Fish oil supplements lower cholesterol, have anti-inflammatory properties and reduce the risk of death from heart attack.
7. Ginseng can help manage high blood pressure and improve cardiovascular function.
8. Ginkgo Biloba has antioxidant and anti-clogging properties, making it useful in reducing atherosclerosis.

It is of utmost important that you take good care of your heart. By combining a well-balanced diet with herbal and mineral supplements and a daily exercise routine, you drastically reduce your chance of getting any heart disease. Your daily exercise routine doesn’t have to be anything complicated. It can just be something as simple as taking a daily walk, and then slowly progressing to a more strenuous exercise as you become fitter. It is advised that you consult your physician before you embark on any kind of exercise routine.

Always remember that you are the one responsible for your health and fitness and most importantly your heart.

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1. 10 Great Arguments for Eating Raw Foods

To achieve a healthy lifestyle, one must include regular exercise as a part of his/her daily routine. Different exercises benefit the body in a different manner. You can choose the form of exercise that is most suited to your way of living.

According to the dictionary, exercise is defined as activity that requires physical or mental exertion, especially when performed to develop or maintain fitness. Any kind of activity that causes you to make extensive use of your bodily muscles can be considered as an exercise. Exercise helps to make your heart pumps faster, thus increasing blood flow to the muscles and the overall body.

Regular exercise helps keep your heart strong and increase your energy level Regular exercise also helps reduce risk of Type 2 Diabetes and osteoporosis.

Daily exercise help you expend calories, thus burning stored fat. If you include exercise and a healthy diet into your daily regimen, you can lose weight and maintain it.

Walking, swimming, hiking, dancing, yoga, weight training, etc are the various kinds of exercise that are available for you to choose from. It is a good idea to incorporate and combine the different types of exercise into your daily regimen. This way you can make sure that you reap the benefits of the different exercise routines.

It is highly advised that you confer with your physician, before you embark on any form of regular exercise. Be sure to always have a good warm up before you begin your exercise routine. Warming up and stretching your muscles will help to prevent any injury that might occur.

I am sure that you all agree that regular exercise is vital to maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but what if you just cannot get yourself to be diligent about exercising regularly? Be cognizant about the different types of exercises that are available for you to incorporate into your daily routine. Find the type of exercises that you deem enjoyable. May be it is a good idea to engage in a sport that you can play with others like tennis, basketball, volleyball, etc. You will find that it is much easier to motivate yourself to participate in a group sport than to exercise on your own.

You could also enroll in a group exercise classes like belly dancing, hip hop dance, and Pilates.   When you exercise with a group of people, you often find yourself much more motivated to keep going since being a part of a group with similar goal of getting in shape is a powerful incentive.

The most important catalyst to ensure that you maintain a regular fitness regimen is to do what you find enjoyable. Doing something that gives you pleasure is a good way to get you up and moving. You can choose any physical activities that will give your heart the needed workout, strengthen your muscles and get your body moving.

Find the type of exercise that you enjoy and stick with it. Regular exercise is vital to living and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

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