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Climb everythingOne of the main things that children like to do to play is to climb things. Why do children like to climb on everything? There is some part of our physical and mental make up that gives us a sense of accomplishment and pride when we are able to climb atop something. We feel like we have power over it, and have conquered it.

Children, being innocent and lacking the judgements and restraints that we develop as we grow, can’t hold back when they see something they want to climb. They want the feeling of accomplishment and the feeling of being on top of the world, and so they tend to climb everything they can.

This is not a bad habit. In fact, adults still get the same sense of joy and accomplishment from climbing and standing atop things. However, due to social norms, it would be a bit strange to see adults clamboring up trees and street poles and wherever they went. We develop the ability to restrain ourselves very well so not to look odd or get into trouble. This restraint is obviously practical and necessary in some cases, but unfortunately it is taken too far, and people block out their desire to climb on things altogether. Most adults never climb on things just for fun and excitement. They are missing out!

I give you a challenge. Try to forget about your restraints and look for something each day that you would like to climb. Not so much a planned hike up a mountain, but more of a spontaneous and short climb up a tree, a large rock, a small building, etc. There are all sorts of things we can climb if we keep our eyes open. Make sure you are careful so that you don’t get hurt. Let me know how this goes! Have fun and good luck!

havasu falls
I just had a chance to visit the famous Havasupai falls next to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. Boy what a treat that was. If there’s a hike in this world I would recommend it would be that. The hike was very strenuous and long, but it was worth it. Havasupai is on an Indian reservation, and it’s a 10 mile hike into a giant beautiful canyon. With this as with other long hikes make sure to bring only the essentials. You’re going to need to bring a pack, and if your pack weighs over 40 or 50 lbs, you’re going to be throwing things out of it halfway down the hike. Also be sure to bring plenty of water. If you run out you’re really going to regret it. People will usually drink over a half gallon each on this hike, so be sure to bring at least that much.

The hike leads you into a beautiful set of waterfalls. The water is crystal clear with a bluish tint. You can spend many days there without running out of things to do. If you plan to spend many days in the canyon make sure to bring plenty of food. People tend to get hungry quickly and eat a lot when out in the sun having fun. However, make sure to bring dried foods. Anything else will be heavy and weigh down your pack, and you will regret it. Make sure to bring a very light tent. If not for the millions of mosquitos I would recommend not using a tent at all, but the mosquitos will eat you alive if you stay out in the open.

The hike out is the hardest part. Coming in, everything is downhill, but going out, everything is uphill. It’s a good idea to hike during the night to avoid getting heatstroke. It gets very hot in there. The last mile before you reach the parking area is very steep uphill switchbacks, so be ready for that. After the hike your legs will probably be very sore, but you will still be very glad you went. The effort just makes it that much better.

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In order to keep our bodies functioning properly and happily we need a good amount of all our essential vitamins and minerals. These vitamins and minerals are what keep our bodies in tip top condition and prevent us from getting diseases and other problems. On the labels of all the food we buy, we can find the nutrition information. These labels can be highly informative if we understand them. Here I put together a list of the main vitamins and minerals, what they do, and good sources to find them.

Vitamin A (Retinol)
Promotes better eyesight, especially in dim light. Great for eyes, teeth, skin, appetite and taste. Night blindness is an indicator of a deficiency in Vitamin A. Good sources or it are Liver, Dark leafy greens, carrots, spinach, cod liver oil, egg yolks, milk and dairy products, and some fruits (canteloupe, squash, mangos). It is recommended to get 800 Micrograms of Retinol per day.

Vitamin B1 (Thiamine)
Good for the heart, the nervous system, digestion, muscles, and nerve tissue. Signs of lack are tingling fingers and toes, hard to balance, hard to concentrate, and loss of appetite. Good sources are liver, yeast, nuts, legumes, red meats, pasta, oatmeal, and eggs. It is recommended to get 1.4 miligrams of Thiamine per day.

Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin)
B2 is good for the skin, lips, tongue, hair, nails, growth, eyesight, and metabolizing fat, proteins and carbs. Signs of lack are itchy nose mouth and throat, cracked lips, and itchy eyes. It is found in Milk, yeast, cheese, liver, broccoli, salmon, avocadoes and other leafy greens. This vitamin can be destroyed by light, which is why milk stored in cartons is much richer in B2 than milk stored in bottles or jugs.

Vitamin B6 (Pyridoxine)
This vitamin helps with our metabolism and helping the body put to use the proteins and carbohydrates we give it. It also helps with preventing skin and nerve problems. Skin inflammation is a possible sign of deficiency. It can be found in foods such as Fish, whole grains, raisins, bananas, soybeans, avocados , spinach, potatoes, green peppers, and more.

More vitamins on next post…

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Top 10 Healthy Foods
I think all of us hope someday a magic pill will be developed that we can pop down each morning that will provide us with all the vitamins and nutrients that we need to be healthy. Although there are endless pills and formulas that claim to do that for us, through experience, we’ve learned that no matter what kind of pills or supplements we take, diet still comes out on top. The foods we eat and beverages we drink will always be the most important factor in our health.

Although there is no fix-all pill, there are some foods that if eaten regularly will give us the nutrition we would hope for from any pill or formula. These foods are chosen based on what is affordable, widely available, and easy to prepare and include in every meal. This is what makes them superfoods. They may be more common than you’d have expected. The list is based on reasearch from WEBMD

#1. Fat Free Yogurt
#2. Eggs
#3. Nuts
#4. Kiwis
#5. Quinoa
#6. Beans
#7. Salmon
#8. Broccoli
#9. Sweet Potatoes
#10. Berries

All these together, make a very balanced and healthy diet. You should try to find ways to include these in your diet as often as you can. They shouldn’t be hard to find, or enjoy. These foods allow you to enjoy great health, and still have a normal diet. Try this out! good luck!

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Tour De France Exercise BikeRecently there has been a surge of attention turned to Proform for their new Tour De France Exercise Bike. With the famous bike race going on right now, Proform just released an in home stationary bike to allow ordinary people to participate in the race. The race is one of the hilliest, most intense, and most famous races in the world. The Bike is built to be able to simulate such intensity with its out door simulation technology.

The new innovative features on the Tour De France bike include an automatic 20% incline and decline, SMR Silent Magnetic Resistance, digital gears, built in wind resistance, Google Maps integration, and Ifit Live.

All the features integrate perfectly together to create one of the most dynamic and realistic outdoor experiences on a stationary bike. The 20% incline and decline is as much as almost any hill you will encounter on a real bike. How it works, is Google Maps has already mapped out all the terrain in the world. All you do, is pick your course that you’d like to ride, and Google will download the measurements to your bike, and your bike will tilt up and down to simulate the hills. Using this technology you can effectively train for any course around the world that you’d like, right in your own living room.

If you’d like to race with the Tour De France Cyclists, just choose the course on your Google Map, and start pedaling. The bike will keep track of your distance and speed and everything else, so you can know right where you are alongside the rest of the cyclists. Imagine how useful this would be to professional cyclists who don’t have the means to travel around the world to practice every race they’d like to enter. They can now practice from their own home.

Or say you’d like to see how long it would take you to travel across the US using a particular course. Just plug it in, and start pedaling. The bike will handle the rest, including hills and more. You can see your progress on Ifit Live and compete with yourself or others. Imagine the motivation this could supply to your workouts. I can’t think of a better motivation to working out than coming in to my living room and seeing this bike beckoning me to hop on and ride.

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health drinksWhat we drink plays a major role in our overall health, whether for good or bad. A major problem we have in our society these days is the huge selection of unhealthy drinks, and the tiny selection of healthy drinks. Fortunately this problem is starting to be address more and more, and we are seeing more ready made health drinks show up on the shelves. However, still it’s more expensive to buy healthy beverages than the unhealthy ones. It can be hard to know what’s the most healthy, so we put together a top 10 list for you.

#5: Home made Fruit & Vegetable Blends. Just get a load of your favorite fruits and vegetables and throw them in the blender. It’s surprising how healthy these drinks are.

#4: Locally unprocessed milk. This can be hard to come by, but raw milk is extremely good for our bodies. Soy Milk is also very healthy, and low in fat.

#3: Mona Vie. This new unique drink blends some of the most healthy ingredients this world has to offer, to provide one of the most beneficial drinks around. It’s a bit pricey, but if you can afford it, it’s worth it.

#2: Wheat Grass Juice. this stuff is pretty expensive, but it’s not too hard to make it from home. You can get a wheat grass kit and do it all yourself, practically free. It only takes about 1 – 2 weeks to grow. This drink provides loads of energy and a huge amount of nutrients compared other vegetable drinks.

#1: Ice water. Because it’s free, and we can drink as much as we want of it with no problems. The most healthy habit to have is to drink as much water as possible throughout the day. Water helps with metabolism, cleaning out our bodies, our skin, preventing headaches and sickness, and much more…Water will always be the number one health drink no matter what people come up with in the future.

If you do one thing to your diet to improve your health, make a change for the better in your beverages. Give up habits of unhealthy drinks, and change to good ones. This one change alone will have a dramatic impact on your overall health.

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health clubNo matter where you live, there are most likely a plethora of health clubs and workout gyms all around you. Fitness Gyms are becoming more and more popular as time goes on, and they will likely continue to grow. More and more people see a gym membership as a necessity to staying in shape. While, there are obviously many ways to stay fit without a gym membership, there are a few reasons why having a membership at a local gym really does contribute to greater health and fitness.

A Gym can be one of the best resources for getting into shape. When we spend our hard-earned money on something, we usually intend to use it. And putting down a little cash for a gym membership helps us to commit to ourselves that we’re going to use the gym. When you sign up for a membership it’s important to have an exercise plan already planned out. Otherwise it can be easy to lose motivation and fail to utilize your membership, and, in a sense, throw away your money. This happens to a lot of people, so don’t be one of them.

The reason a gym helps so much is because it forces us to work out. Compare working out at home, to working out at a gym. Which is easier to stay focused at? Working out at my house, I can go for about 5 minutes before getting distracted. When at a gym, I have awesome exercise equipment all around me, and the only thing to do there is to work out. So that’s what I do (other than look at the pretty ladies, but that can be done simultaneously, so it’s fine). There is nothing to distract you. Also, since you made the trip there, you’re not just going to loligag around and then go home. You’re going to stay there until you feel like you’ve made it worth your trip.

Motivation is the prime reason that gym memberships stay in business. The main reason people aren’t in shape is because they lack the motivation to do what it takes to keep healthy. Fitness gyms provide that extra needed motivation to do what it takes. Even their marketing techniques provide greater motivation. The contract, the money, and everything else, really do help to motivate people to work out.

For those that utilize their local gyms know that the feeling of being healthy is worth far more than the cost of their gym. The trick is staying motivated, having a workout plan, and being consistent with it. If you just keep using your gym, your gym membership will be worth every penny, and much more.

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NordicTrack Reflex 8500 ProToday’s world is a fast paced, ruthless world. It doesn’t sleep, and tries not to let us take a break. It can be hard to try to fit in time to go for a walk or a jog. While these are very healthy and enjoyable activities, many people don’t do them simply because they can’t seem to block out the time for them. Another reason people don’t do them is because the weather may not be inviting for such activities. Regardless of the reasons, the fact is that there are many people who would love to go walking or running every day, but don’t for one reason or another.

A treadmill has been found to be a common cure of this problem. Simply having a treadmill in your home may be the best answer to helping you get into better shape. The reason for this is that if you have one, you will likely use it. The statistics show that this is true. Convenience and comfort have become dominant factors in everything we do. If something is not convenient, we will most likely search for a more convenient option. That is why treadmills are so effective in getting us to run. Because they make running more convenient and comfortable.

When we get out of bed, we don’t need to worry about anything but hopping on the treadmill and going for a run right in our own bedroom. Even the presence of the treadmill draws us into using it more often. The best place to put your treadmill is directly in a high traffic area. This will ensure that it gets the most use. It’s how we are. The more we see something, the more likely we are to use it.

Another factor that will determine the amount we use our treadmill is the treadmill’s quality. If the treadmill is loud, rickety, hard, and unstable, we won’t have a pleasant experience on it, and won’t want to push ourselves, for fear we may break it. On the other hand, if a treadmill is solid, sturdy, comfortable, quiet, and pleasant, it will invite us to spend more time on it. It’s how we are.

So, while the treadmill won’t do the work for you, it will have a major impact in your head in getting you motivated to run. If you, like many millions of others would like to run more often, but just lack the motivation, a treadmill is the perfect cure. Try it out!

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ZumbaDancing is one of the oldest forms of fun and exercise ever. It’s been around since music and the Human body met (not sure exactly when that was). There’s something very natural about moving our body to the rhythm of Music. The sport has evolved from culture to culture, but always remaining basically the same, simply moving the body to music.

In todays world there are countless forms of dancing from Latin Ballroom dancing, to Line dancing, to Swing dancing, to Hoola dancing, interpretive dancing and on and on. The list doesn’t end. Whoever you are and wherever you live, you’ve got to learn and love at least one style of dancing.

One popular modern form of dancing is Zumba! It’s very new, but there’s nothing new about it. It’s an Aerobic style dance aimed at getting its dancers into shape. The music used is any high-intensity popular music. There’s not much to it other than letting the music flow through you and going with it. It’s up to you how much intensity you put into it, but the more the better. What draws so many to it, is that it’s a perfect fit for what they need to get themselves into shape. Something to get them out of bed in the morning, get them having fun, and getting fit. It does just that, and anyone can do it, it doesn’t take time to learn.

There are Zumba classes offered all over the world. Chances are where ever you live, you can find one near your home. If not, you can Zumba using the DVDs that you can order on the zumba website. With them you can bring it to your home and do it there. However you choose to do it Zumba is a perfect way to get motivated and have fun while you get into shape. Try it out! Let us know how it goes.

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Every day it seems we hear about another breakthrough in nutrition and weight loss. New formulas, ideas, diets, health plans, pills, and herb combinations plaster the shelves and advertise themselves as the latest and greatest way to stay healthy and fit. While many of these can be beneficial, there is one beverage that tops all of them, and it is the oldest in the book. It is WATER.

Drinking lots of water is one of the most effective ways of losing weight. When we drink water, it suppresses our appetite, so that we eat less, and also increases our body’s metabolism. The Kidney needs water to operate well. If it doesn’t have enough water, then it gives some of its load to the Liver. The Liver is busy converting fat into energy, so if it gets too much work from the kidney, it can’t do its regular job, and as a result, less fat is used, and more fat is stored. When this is the case, it’s much harder to lose weight.

When our body is thirsty, it thinks it’s in danger, and stores every drop of water in extracellular areas. This water storage looks like fat. Drinking lots of water is the best way to flush this extra water out. When our body is given plenty of water, it snaps out of danger mood, and lets go of all the stored water.

Drinking plenty of water will also help to flush out excess sodium. Sometimes our body will store extra water because it needs it to dilute excess salt. If we simply drink more water, our body will use that to flush it out, rather than storing water to do it.

Some other things that water can help with: building proper muscles tone. Muscles need water to lubricate them and allow them to stretch and detract easily. It also helps the skin to look clear and healthy. It keeps the skin from sagging during weight loss by plumping up the shrinking cells. The body needs water to flush out extra waste. Whenever fat is metabolized it needs to go somewhere. Water helps to flush it out. Water will also help to prevent or fix constipation. When our body needs water, it knows that the colon has a lot of it, so it takes it from there. If our colon gets too dry, we get constipated.

Plenty of water will fix and prevent a lot of health problems. The optimal amount of water differs with each person. On average however, we should drink about 2 quarts per day. That’s about eight cups per day. For heavier people, more water is better.

Try this out, and note the difference in the way you feel and look. You will notice that as you drink more water, it will get easier to drink more. This is a good sign. You will feel more need for it and will be more in tune with the needs of your body.

Let us know how this goes, and add anything I may have left out. Thanks for reading!

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