Copyright 2005 Trevor Dumbleton

One of the problems with family stress is the fact that is knows where you live. After all, it tends to show up exactly where you live: at home. This tends to be a bad thing, since working people generally try to come home in order to relieve their stress. Of course, it is even worse for those who are full-time homemakers, since the source of stress is there all the time. In fact, even going to a job every day seems like it would be a nice stress relief. Thus, when family stress starts rearing its ugly head, it is time to take stock of things and figure out a way of lessening it.

The first thing to do, when dealing with family stress, is to let go of the illusion that the home is somehow a place a rest and tranquility that is utterly free from any sort of stress. Let’s face it, it’s just not true. Though you love your family and enjoy spending time with them, home life can be very stressful. After all, you have many people there who have a lot of expectations of you and you cannot fulfill all of those expectation all of the time. So understand that stress can enter the home and you will be halfway there.

The next step in lessening family stress is to actually spend time with your family. One of the best ways to spend time with your family is at the dinner table. Just sitting down with your entire family and enjoying a meal is a way to connect with everyone. Do not eat dinner in front of the television but, rather, sit in the dining room or kitchen and just share a meal. At first, it may be quiet and there may not be much to talk about, but this will come in time. As it slowly sink into your family members’ minds that there is nothing to do but talk to each other, conversation will start flowing.

The next step in alleviating family stress is to have fewer expectations of your family members. Yes, you expect your spouse to be absolutely devoted to everything you say and do, you expect your kids to be straight-A students and you expect your home to be immaculate all the time every day. Tip for you: Not going to happen. Homes are not perfect any more than people are perfect. As in, not at all. Imperfections are part of home life and you will need to learn how to deal with them. Accept the bad, enjoy the good, and let everyone be human. Then everyone will have much less stress and, as a result, everyone will be much happier.

Next, accept the fact that you are not a superhero. Despite the fact that you want to be able to work hard every day, spend plenty of time with your kids, drive them to every sports/music/dance practice and be there for every game/recital/performance, it is not going to happen. Yes, you can make every effort to be there all the time and it is very important that you try, you cannot be everyplace all at once. Learn to appreciate the fact that you are not going to be perfect. You may try and you may be largely successful, but you cannot be everything you wish you could be. So accept your own humanity and allow yourself to be human too.

Finally, when you want to relieve family stress, do not force it. Yes, you want everything to come easy and you want to be able to connect with your kids all the time, but that is not always possible. Children change, often in surprising ways, and you need to learn how to accept that. This is especially difficult with teenage children, since they tend to be moody, elusive, and sometimes even obnoxious. However, by accepting them for who they are and dealing with the fact that they are not ready to open up to you all at once, you will relieve a great deal of family stress. This is especially true if you have not been able to reach them for some time, since they tend to be closed off and reluctant to open up to their parents. So accept that it will take some time for you to make some connections and understand that things may not always be as easy as you hope. After all, if something was easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing, would it?

Family stress is difficult to deal with, but it is not impossible. By accepting your own limitations, as well as those of your family, you can save yourself a lot of worry and concern by simply understanding that your family is composed of different people. Different people who have their own lives, their own concerns, and their own unique way of seeing things. By accepting that, you can understand their points of view and come to grips with the fact that family stress is, oftentimes, just a fact of life.

Long distance runners and other endurance athletes have long been educated to believe that drinking lots of fluids during a long distance or endurance event was critical. And if you didn’t drink enough water, you ran the risk of dehydration.

Researchers - studying 488 runners in the 2002 Bost Marathon found that the bigger danger is in drinking too much fluid (water or sports drinks) rather than not enough. They found that 62 of the 488 runners, more than one in eight, had a serious fluid and salt imbalance after the event. And three of them were in the danger zone.

Hyponatremia - a condition where drinking too much water or other fluids to the point where the salt level in the body drops too much - can develop during marathon races where the runners drink constantly to stave off dehydration.

Runners who actually gained weight (anywhere from 4-11 pounds) during the event and very thin runners are most at risk. Runners who drink sports drinks with very little salt in them are least at risk. The goal of drinking during a race is to replace water that is lost, not to take in more than you are losing.

A good way to learn how much is right for you is to weight yourself before a heavy training session. Then drink and record how much liquid you consume during the trainging. Then weight yourself again. If you find that you weight more after the training than before, you should cut down on your liquid intake. By performing this exercise, you will learn how much liquid you really need to injest during an event and be able to pace yourself accordingly.

Hyponatremia can begin with confusion and lethargy and can progress rapidly to more severe symptoms. They can include twitching, siezures, stupor, coma and even death.

In recent years, hyponatremia has killed several amateur marathon runners as well as competitors in the Marine Corps Marathon.

To learn more about hyponatremia and proper hydration during events, visit http://usatf.org/groups/coaches/library/hydration/

Copyright 2005 Tom Venuto

Do calories matter or do you simply need to eat certain foods and that will guarantee you’ll lose weight? Should you count calories or can you just count “portions?” Is it necessary to keep a food diary? Is it unrealistic to count calories for the rest of your life or is that just part of the price you pay for a better body?

You’re about to learn the answers to these questions and discover a simple solution for keeping track of your food intake without having to crunch numbers every day or become a fanatic about your food.

In many popular diet books, “Calories don’t count” is a frequently repeated theme. Other popular programs, such as Bill Phillip’s “Body For Life,” allude to the importance of energy intake versus energy output, but recommend that you count “portions” rather than calories…

Phillips wrote,

“There aren’t many people who can keep track of their calorie intake for an extended period of time. As an alternative, I recommend counting ‘portions.’ A portion of food is roughly equal to the size of your clenched fist or the palm of your hand. Each portion of protein or carbohydrate typically contains between 100 and 150 calories. For example, one chicken breast is approximately one portion of protein, and one medium-sized baked potato is approximately one portion of carbohydrate.”

Phillips makes a good point that trying to count every single calorie - in the literal sense - can drive you crazy and is probably not realistic as a lifestyle for the long term. It’s one thing to count portions instead of calories - that is at least acknowledging the importance of portion control. However, it’s another altogether to deny that calories matter.

Yes, calories do count! Any diet program that tells you, “calories don’t count” or you can “eat all you want and still lose weight” is a diet you should avoid. The truth is, that line is a bunch of baloney designed to make a diet sound easier to follow. Anything that sounds like work - such as counting calories, eating less or exercising, tends to scare away potential customers! But the law of calorie balance is an unbreakable law of physics: Energy in versus energy out dictates whether you will gain, lose or maintain your weight. Period.

I believe that it’s very important to develop an understanding of and a respect for portion control and the law of calorie balance I also believe it’s an important part of nutrition education to learn how many calories are in the foods you eat on a regular basis - including (and perhaps, especially) how many calories are in the foods you eat when you dine at restaurants.

The law of calorie balance says:

To maintain your weight, you must consume the same number of calories you burn. To gain weight, you must consume more calories than you burn. To lose weight, you must consume fewer calories than you burn.

If you only count portions or if you haven’t the slightest clue how many calories you’re eating, it’s a lot more likely that you’ll eat more than you realize. (Or you might take in fewer calories than you should, which triggers your body’s “starvation mode” and causes your metabolism to shut down).

So how do you balance practicality and realistic expectations with a nutrition program that gets results? Here’s a solution that’s a happy medium between strict calorie counting and just guessing:

Create a menu using an EXCEL spreadsheet or your favorite nutrition software. Crunch all the numbers including calories, protein, carbs and fats. Once you have your daily menu, print it, stick it on your refrigerator (and/or in your daily planner) and you now have an eating “goal” for the day, including a caloric target.

That is my definition of “counting calories” — creating a menu plan you can use as a daily guide, not necessarily writing down every morsel of food you eat for the rest of your life. If you’re really ambitious, keeping a nutrition journal for at least 4-12 weeks is a great idea and an incredible learning experience, but all you really need to get started on the road to a better body is one good menu on paper. If you get bored eating the same thing every day, you can create multiple menus, or just exchange foods using your one menu as a template.

Using this method, you really only need to count calories once when you create your menus. After you’ve got a knack for calories from this initial discipline of menu planning, then you can estimate portions in the future and get a pretty good (and more educated) ballpark figure.

So what’s the bottom line? Is it really necessary to count every calorie to lose weight? No. But it IS necessary to eat fewer calories then you burn. Whether you count calories and eat less than you burn, or you don’t count calories and eat less than you burn, the end result is the same - you lose weight. Which would you rather do: Take a wild guess, or increase your chance for success with some simple menu planning? I think the right choice is obvious.

Before delving into Muscle And Fitness - The Second Key, the final and most important key to success in your muscle and fitness routine, I’d like to remind you about what the previous article discussed.

In a previous article, you were given a number of steps to follow. If you haven’t received this article, I suggest you read that before reading this one here, as it will make what I’m talking a

little more clear. You can access that article here: The HAVE Key

In summary, Muscle And Fitness - The Second Key is the ‘DO’ key. This is where you structure your actions to take you to your goals. You must decide which action (Exercise) is the most effective tool to help you achieve that particular goal.

Which brings me to the third and final key:

The ‘BE’ Key

This is what you must BECOME in order to ensure that you take the necessary action to DO whatever it takes to get what you want to HAVE.

You already know what your goals are - The HAVE key

You already know what you have to DO to achieve those goals - The DO key

In order to make sure that you carry out the DO key (your chosen exercises), you must BE the type of person that consistently and persistently follows the routine. You must do this without fail, so that you can have the ideal muscle mass, weight loss, fitness goal or whatever your goal is.

How do you become someone that you are not?

By not giving in!

Lets say that you have a chosen goal. Lets assume that goal is to lose 28lbs by the end of three months. What do you have to be in order to make sure that you achieve that goal of 28lbs of weight loss?

You have your goal. You have your exercise routine sorted out that is the most effective way, for you, of achieving that goal. Now it’s time to guarantee that you don’t stop after a week or so.

Your goals should be on your index card, as described in a previous article. You can read it here - Your ‘HAVE’ Goals

As you are about to perform your training routine, go through this little scenario…

1. Read your goals aloud.

2. As you do, visualize that goal having already been achieved.

3. Feel that goal, as if you have already achieved it.

4. Then ask yourself:

* How good do I look? - I look GOOD! * How great do I feel? - I feel GREAT!

Now say to yourself…

I feel Great - I look Great - I am successful! I feel Great - I look Great - I am successful! I feel Great - I look Great - I am successful! Ok… Lets Do It!!!

Do this daily…

* In the morning, upon rising. * Just before you begin your workout. * Just before going to sleep.

When you repeat this each time, feel it with conviction and say it with conviction. Feel your blood boil with excitement. Feel your heart beat hard. Get right into it. Stir up that passion and throw yourself right slam into the middle of it.

Don’t give in. Persist and be consistent with your efforts… no matter whether you feel like it or not.

I have often found that the thoughts of having to do something are horrible at times. But, once I throw myself into it I feel absolutely fantastic and so happy that I didn’t give in.

Have you ever found that?

If you have, remember that feeling. Feel it every time you are about to begin your training. Stir it up. Love that feeling and then get stuck in. BEcome what you need to become so that you can DO whatever it takes to achieve the goals that you said you want to HAVE.

That is the final key to successfully achieving your Muscle and Fitness goals.

Your cigarette, cigar or pipe smoking doesn’t only have an affect on your health. The U.S. Surgeon General’s report “The Health Consequences of Smoking,” released in 2004, states it has been proven that smoking (or living with a person who smokes) can cause disease in nearly every organ of the body, in men as well as women. This means that every time you “light up” you are potentially damaging the health of your children, your spouse and your loved ones.

It is a fact that second hand smoke (also known as environmental tobacco smoke or ETS) is a major cause of children’s illness. As children have developing lungs and have higher breathing rates than adults they run the greatest risk of health effects. In children under the age of 18 second hand smoke has been linked with pneumonia, lower respiratory tract infections, upper respiratory tract irritation, increased severity of asthma and asthmatic symptoms. It has been associated with sudden infant death syndrome, middle ear infections, upper respiratory tract infections (colds and sore throats) and cancers and leukemia. Japanese researchers just released a study that suggests that second hand smoke may affect childrens gums. 70% of the children of smokers had a brownish or black pigmentation of their gums.

Statistics show that approximately 3,000 non-smoking adults die of lung cancer each year as a result of second hand smoke. Second hand smoke has been linked to nasal sinus cancer, cancer of the cervix, breast and bladder. Second hand smoke also causes an increased risk of death from heart disease.

If you must smoke, it is essential that you protect your loved ones, especially children. Don’t smoke in your home. If you must smoke, smoke outside. Do not smoke in your car when your children are with you. Make sure that childcare providers and others who work in your home or around your children do not smoke.

There are many publications available to you free online that provide information on environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) and it’s affects on your family. Visit the US Environmental Protection Agency at http://www.ep a.gov/smokefree/publications.html for a free booklet.

The fact is that it’s not only your own health at risk when you smoke. You quitting will make your loved ones healthier, and happier too.

Introduction to be given prior to the exercise: Our body is surrounded by a coloured envelope known as aura. The colours of the aura undergo continuous changes in accordance with the changes in our attitude and emotional pattern. In fact, there is close relation between the aura and our attitudes and emotions. We can purify the aura by the purity in our attitudes and emotions, and the latter can be gauged through the former. In the present exercise, we have to use our power of visualisation of a particular colour at a particular psychic centre. Then again, with the mental projection, we have to visualise the same colour as spreading all around us and permeating the whole aura around us. Lastly, we have to make use of the technique of auto-suggestion to bring about the change in our attitude or emotional pattern. Deep concentration and alertness are of course to be maintained throughout the exercise.

The third step of preksha meditation is Perception of Psychic Colours.

With your mind’s eye visualise that everything around you, including the air itself, is coloured bright emerald green.

Take a deep breath and as you slowly inhale visualise that you are breathing long streams of bright green air. Repeat the breathing exercise several times, each time inhaling bright green air.

Now concentrate your mind on the psychic Centre of Bliss situated in the middle of the chest near the heart; try to visualise bright green colour in that region.

Perceive bright green light and visualise that the bright green radiations are spreading in the psychic centre covering the whole portion upto the back.

If the light does not appear or vanishes after appearance, do not be disappointed. Intensify your effort for sustained visualisation.

Now visualise that the particles or radiations of bright green light are emanating from the Centre of Bliss and spreading all around permeating the whole body and the aura. Practise sustained visualisation with deep concentration.

Now using auto-suggestion realise—”My emotional pattern is being purified; my mind is being purged of all the negative attitudes”.

With your mind’s eye visualise that eveything around you, including the air itself, is coloured bright blue like peacock’s neck.

Take a deep breath and as you slowly inhale, visualise that you are breathing long streams of bright blue air. Repeat the breathing exercise several times, each time inhaling bright blue air.

Now concentrate your mind on the psychic Centre of Purity, situated in the middle of the throat and try to visualise bright blue colour in that region.

Perceive bright blue light and visualise that the blue radiations are spreading in the psychic centre covering the whole portion upto the back.

If the light does not appear or vanishes after appearance, do not be disappointed. Intensify your effort for sustained visualisation.

Now visualise that the particles or radiations of bright blue light are emanating from the Centre of Purity and spreading all around, permeating the whole body and the aura. Practise sustained visualisation with deep concentration.

Now using auto-suggestion, realise “My sexual impulses are being under my conscious control.”

With your mind’s eye visualise that everything around you, including the air itself, is coloured bright red like the colour of the rising sun.

Take a deep breath and as you slowly inhale, visualise that you are breathing long streams of bright red air. Repeat the breathing exercise several times, each time inhaling bright red air.

Now concentrate your mind on the psychic Centre of Intuition situated in the middle of both the eye-brows and try to visualise bright red colour.

Perceive bright red light and visualise that the bright red radiations are spreading in the psychic centre covering the whole portion upto the back.

If the light does not appear or vanishes after appearance, do not be disappointed. Intensify your effort for sustained visualisation.

Now visualise that the particles or radiations of bright red light are emanating from the Centre of Intuition and spreading all around, permeating the whole body and the aura. Practise sustained visualisation with deep concentration.

Now using auto-suggestion realise–”My intuition power is developing.”

With your mind’s eye visualise that everything around you, including the air itself is coloured bright yellow like sunflower.

Take a deep breath and as you slowly inhale, visualise that you are breathing long streams of bright yellow air. Repeat the breathing exercise several times each time inhaling bright yellow air.

Now concentrate your mind on the psychic Centre of Knowledge situated on the top of the head and try to visualise bright yellow colour.

Perceive bright yellow light and visualise that the bright yellow radiations are spreading in the psychic centre covering the whole portion of the brain.

If the light does not appear or vanishes after appearance, do not be disappointed. Intensify your effort for sustained visualisation.

Now visualise that the particles or radiations of bright yellow light are emanating from the Centre of Knowledge and spreading all around, permeating the whole body and the aura. Practise sustained visualisation with deep concentration.

Now using auto-suggestion realise –”My perceptive capacity is increasing.”

Now with your mind’s eye visualise that everything around you, including the air itself is coloured bright white like the full moon.

Take a deep breath and as you slowly inhale, visualise that you are breathing long streams of bright while air. Repeat the breathing exercise several times, each time inhaling bright white air.

Now concentrate your mind on the psychic Centre of Enlightenment, situated in the middle of your forehead and visualise bright white colour.

Perceive bright white light and visualise that the bright white radiations are spreading on the psychic centre, covering the whole portion upto the back.

If the, light does not appear or vanishes after appearance, do not be disappointed. Intensify your effort for sustained visualisation.

Now visualise that the particles or radiations of bright white colour are emanating from the Centre of Enlightenment and spreading all around, permeating the whole body and the aura. Practise sustained visualisation with deep concentration.

Now using auto-suggestion realise–”My anger is waning away. My passions and emotions are being pacified. I am feeling complete tranquillity of mind.

* 1 out of every 7 children is affected by asthma. * It is the second major reason for the hospitalization of the children up to age 9. * Asthma has affected 1 out of every 12 adults. * The death rate due to it is constantly rising in America, Africa and Latin countries. * It has become one of the major reasons of absenteeism from school in the US. * It leads to 2 million emergency room visits and amounts up to 5,000 deaths every year in the USA alone.

Asthma is a chronic disease, which directly affects your airways. The airways are the tubes carrying air in and out of your lungs. Asthma is caused by inflammation and subsequent constriction of your airway. The condition is characterized by an instantaneous reaction by the airways in response to various triggers or allergens and substances.

During an asthma attack, the airway gets inflamed and restricts the airflow to the lungs. It directly effects your breathing and leaves you short of breath. It makes you wheeze and you can experience chest tightness. During an asthma attack the production of mucus by airway cells increases and it further causes obstruction in the air flow through tubes. You can die due to the lack of oxygen, if the attack is severe and prolonged.

Asthma, if not treated and controlled, can cost you your life.

It is widely known disease, effecting millions of people, still there is no concrete evidence towards its cause. Studies have revealed that it is caused due to allergic reactions caused by the presence of certain antibodies or certain conditions. Some studies also reveal that it is caused due to obesity and weight related problems. Various triggers or allergic reactions are known to cause asthma in people. It might not be necessary that the same trigger causes an asthma attack in all people. There are numerous triggers, which can cause asthmatic attacks. Triggers can be categorized as allergens, irritants and other triggers. Among the common triggers which initiate asthma attacks are as follows:

Allergens Dust Pollen Mold Cockroaches Dust mites Animal dander Irritants Tobacco smoke Air pollution Strong odor Laughing Crying Others Workplace chemicals Common cold Infections Exertion Respiratory infection Flu

It is important for you to identify what triggers an asthma attack for you. It would help you greatly if, once recognized, you in stayed away from any known causes.

Like other diseases, asthma also presents symptoms that characterize its early, advancing and later stages. Some of the common symptoms include coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and chest tightness.

The first stage — Early warning signs of Asthma

If you are in the early stages of an asthmatic event, you might experience some common symptoms. These common symptoms are characterized during the inception periods of the asthma episode. The symptoms include:-

*Frequent coughing during sleep in the night. *Experiencing wheezing or coughing after exercising. *Shortness of breath. *Extreme exhaustion following exercise. *Feeling tired and upset all the time. *Experiencing a running nose, sore throat, headaches and sneezing frequently.

If you experience any of the above symptoms, you should immediately get yourself checked for asthma. The swifter you act, the more you will be able to control it.

The second stage - Advancement and worsening of Asthma

If you are not able to identify the initial symptoms of asthma, or if you ignore those symptoms, asthma could get even worse. The advancement of asthma starts affecting your daily activities and sleep. Some of the symptoms of worsening asthma include.

*Regular and undying cough. *Frequent wheezing. *Declined response to medications. *Shortness of breath. *Experiencing regular tightness in the chest. Asthma should be diagnosed immediately upon countering these symptoms or it could further advance into a severe stage causing damage to your body.

The final stage and its symptoms When asthma enters into its last stage it starts affecting you severely. It makes life difficult for you and can even cause the death. You would need immediate medical attention if you experience any of the symptoms listed below:

*Rapid breathing. *Undying chest pain and pressure. *Non-stop coughing. *Sweaty and dull face. *Blue fingernails and lips. *Hampered talking. *Retraction of neck and chest muscles. *Frequent gasping for breath. *Severe wheezing.

Asthma can only be controlled, not cured. So you must abide by proper medication and medical instructions. It is also important to stay free of any known triggers, which can cause an asthma attack.

You should visit your doctor immediately if you are concerned you may be suffering with asthma.

Fitness means good physical condition. To keep your body fit and fine it’s important to take regular exercise and balanced diet. Regular or proper exercise tone-up your muscles, body strength and suppleness. Exercise prevents various diseases and burns unnecessary calories.

Now-a-days obesity has become the biggest problem and it is a disease in itself. There are different ways to fight with this worldwide problem and to make your body strong. Some of them are gyms, home-fitness products and many others. There are number of fitness-equipments in the market and you can also bring such equipments at your home.

Joining a gym is a costly method and not suitable for those who have less time. You also have to pay monthly fees for making use of gym equipments. The best option is purchasing your own health equipments, which saves your time and money.

You will find a large number of health-equipment providers in the market. Fitness equipments are available in different sizes and shapes but you must follow some important guidelines while purchasing fitness equipments. You must read the important instructions and guidelines printed and the other important thing is cost. Such body equipments are costly and you have to pay higher prices for it.

Always choose fitness equipments that will suit your budget and need. There are also fairly simple and cheap options in the market. There are number of websites providing information about fitness products.

Author presents a website on fitness equipments. This website provides information about meaning of fitness, importance of fitness equipments, how to buy fitness equipments. You can visit his site on best fitness products

Copyright 2006 Kristy Haugen

The chemical compound known as a phenol is characterized by an aromatic benzene ring with a hydroxyl group (OH) attached. This makes sense that poly-phenols refer to a chemical substance with more than one phenol group. Phenols function as potent antioxidants, reacting with free radicals. Phenols are responsible for the bright coloring in many fruits and vegetables. These fruit and vegetable phenols protect the plants from damage by disease and ultraviolet light.

Polyphenols are phytonutrients or phytochemicals. Phytonutrients are biologically active compounds in food. However, these phytonutrients are not classified as essential nutrients. This is because the body does not depend on these nutrients for proper bodily function. Phytonutrients do play a vital role in affecting our health just as significantly as vitamins and minerals do.

Polyphenols are classified as flavonoids, which is a class of phytonutrient. Polyphenols can form complexes with metal cations such as iron, zinc, and copper. This reduces the absorption of the mineral. This is beneficial because excess levels of these cations promotes the generation of free radicals. Polyphenols are potent free radical scavengers in the body. Polyphenols also protect and regenerate other dietary oxidants such as vitamin E.

Polyphenols are plentiful in green tea. Polyphenols have been found to be more powerful as an antioxidant than even vitamins C and E. In particular, EGCG or epigallocatechin gallate is the major polyphenolic constituent of green tea. EGCG is a potent antioxidant. A number of chronic diseases have been thought to be caused by free radical damage such as cancer, aging, and heart disease.

Antioxidants protect the body from free radical damage. What are free radicals? Free radicals are caused by cigarette smoking, radiation, pollution, and herbicides. Free radicals are atoms with unpaired electrons in the outer shell. The unpaired electrons make free radicals unstable. Free radicals want only to be stable. Free radical stability requires the electrons to be paired. Free radicals are extremely reactive and will oxidize the nearest molecule.

Oxidizing causes the free radical to gain an electron but also creates another free radical. This creates a chain reaction continuing until the disruption of a living cell. Free radicals can attack proteins, carbohydrates, lipids, and DNA. However, DNA is usually preferred. DNA and free radical interactions usually result in mutations that adversely affect the cell cycle and potentially lead to malignancy. In fact, researchers believe this is how many forms of cancer arise.

Antioxidants protect the body from damaging oxidation reactions. Antioxidants safely interact with free radicals to prevent damage to vital molecules. Antioxidants donate an electron to the free radical, hence stabilizing the free radical and preventing damage. The antioxidant is stable with or without the electron, making this a win-win situation.

Polyphenols can be found in white, black, and green tea. Of course, the level of polyphenols along with other nutrients is based on how the tea is processed. Steamed white and green tea retains more polyphenols and nutrients than roasting and fermenting. Black teas and some green teas are fermented and roasted, damaging the bioactive substances in the tea leaf.

Why should you drink green tea? Many studies have been done on the health benefits of green tea. Dietary intake of green tea has been linked to a reduced risk of cancer and heart disease. Regular consumption of green tea shows no significant side effects. Green tea helps prevent cavities, strengthens teeth, and is thought to kill oral bacteria that is responsible for bad breath. Green tea has been shown to protect the brain from oxidative stress and lower monoamine oxidase activity; preventing age related brain degeneration. Green tea studies suggest an increase in exercise endurance by improving the metabolism of fat.

Green tea offers many health benefits to those who drink green tea regularly. Besides offering antioxidant benefits, green tea is excellent as a weight loss supplement offering weight loss results and safety. Of course, green tea should be used in combination with a healthy diet and exercise program. If you take medications for a health condition, consult your doctor before adding green tea to your diet.

When it comes to fitness exercise, the undisputed popular master has to be aerobics. It is flexible, low cost, and easy-to-follow movements took the nation by storm in the seventies and shows no sign of letting up.

There are however, different forms of fitness exercise actually older than aerobics, but the most important thing is what is right for you. If you prefer a steady beat of music, with a good cardiovascular workout, an aerobic program is for you. Aerobics can be done alone in the home, but many enjoy working out with friends.

Physical Fitness can be described as a condition that allows you to work through everyday life with ease and comfort without injuries. It helps you look, feel and do your best. It is the ability to endure, withstand stress and carry on in circumstances where an unfit person could not continue.

Physical Fitness is a major basis for good health and well-being. If you do not have a program in your area, here is how you can begin your own aerobic class. First, you must recruit an instructor. Talk to everyone who wants to get in shape, get healthy and have fun. The main thing is to round up a group of people, you can start with one person, just get started. You must send the right signals to get the right response. Keep a positive attitude about your program otherwise you won’t make it a permanent part of your life. Secondly, you need to find a place to hold your class. A conference room or even a daycare center when it is closed would be wonderful.

Next, you will have to make marketing materials. Make a flyer, put the name, time, and place where the class will be held, what to bring, what to expect. You can get a local printer, paper, or business to sponsor the printing. The friends and co-workers you recruited for the class can help pass flyers, and mail out for you to their friends. Then you must advertise, use newsletters or post on community boards. Try placing announcements in your community college, and high school newspapers.

Finally, get started, no matter how many participants. Meet with the class, talk, workout, walk, laugh and smile and most of all ENJOY. Every step is an action toward success. For many it takes a lot of energy, and motivation just to make it to the gym. A good group and fitness instructor will be dedicated to helping you to enjoy the class, committed to making your workout the best it can be, and will be able to translate his or her enthusiasm into a fun class.

Interested in this subject? Try this link for more of the same