Fat Kills You

How to Say No When You Don’t Want the Food

A friend’s doctor said he should lose 10 pounds and so he is trying to break his sugar habit. He generally eats well during the day but his downfall is cookies while watching TV. At an office luncheon when dessert was being served, he said, “No thanks, I don’t want any.” A well meaning co-worker then foisted dessert on him, shoving it in front of him and saying, “You’re doctor is wrong, have some,” leaving him staring at the dessert then back to us with a sorrowful look on his face.

Your Friend Is Trying to Make You Happy by Offering You Food

His co-worker probably was not out to sabotage him, but more likely was remembering the last time she said no when she really wanted to say yes. She wished someone would have made the decision for her, albeit against her wishes, and then she could have eaten the dessert because it wouldn’t be polite to refuse (or some other excuse), so now she’s doing him the favor. She is wrong, but that’s the way people generally are. We all understand the pain of deprivation and want to make it better for each other.

Devise a Plan for Dealing with Sabotaging Food Pushers

First, if you do want some dessert, have some, enjoy it and move on with your life. It is not a big deal to have a dessert, even if you’re already over full. It’s one eating event out of thousands. But when you are being pushed into something you don’t want it’s no different than being offered drinks when you’re underage; peer pressure doesn’t stop because you graduate from high school.

You Don’t Have to Explain: Just Say No

If you’re making an effort to make better choices, choosing to eat only foods that really appeal to you, and learning to say no when you just don’t want any, you can tell the food pusher, “No, thanks,” and leave it at that. You don’t owe anyone an explanation. You could also take a plate and let it sit there. Most people are so preoccupied with themselves they won’t notice whether you’re eating. If someone does ask, “Aren’t you going to eat your cake,” you could say, “In a minute.” Keep busy talking and just delay until it’s time to go, then discretely set the plate aside.

If you watch the thinner folks at parties you’ll notice they talk a lot and eat little. It’s difficult to talk and gesture while holding a drink in one hand and a plate of food in the other.

If the food seems to be calling your name and it’s becoming more difficult to resist since it’s sitting in front of you then simply pretend it is made of plastic, like the display food in a Chinese restaurant. It’s not meant to be eaten, just admired. Then admire it all you like.

Why do we need to resort to trickery to make our own food choices? Because food pushers are not going to accept your arguments, no matter how well you state your case, so don’t bother fighting a losing battle. You can’t change their mind; they want to eat some and they’d feel better if you ate some too. You can’t change other people, you can only change yourself.

Remember the next time you feel the urge to push food on someone, food means love in our society, but choice means more. Offer it, and then let it go if they say no.

~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com

Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.

How To Have A Healthy Thanksgiving

End of the year holidays are a time when our eyes are often bigger than our stomach! Many of us wonder how we will get through them without gaining 5 or 10 pounds. So how can you feel great after parties and meals instead of overstuffed and uncomfortable?

Your stomach cannot miraculously hold more food just because it’s the holidays.

First, remember that the amount of food your stomach can hold did not change between yesterday and today. Remember how uncomfortable you feel after you have eaten too much and how long it takes to start feeling better again.

Do you want to be able to enjoy your food, and enjoy your time after eating as well?

Smaller portions, lot’s of variety

If there’s a lot of food that you want to try, serve yourself smaller portions. This way you can get a variety of everything.

Chew your food and eat slowly. Savor!

When you’re trying to control your food intake, one of the most difficult things is when you feel satisfied, but everyone else is going for seconds. You feel out of place to just sit there. What can you do? Try to be the last one to begin eating your first plate and chew each bite thoroughly. That way you are eating more slowly and you won’t actually be finished by the time everyone else is getting a second plate. Chew about 50 times for each bite of food and set your fork down between bites.

Make a plate for yourself for later…

If the food is amazing and you don’t want to miss out on having a second or third serving, but your stomach is actually comfortably full, go ahead and make a plate for yourself, put Saran Wrap over it and stick it in the fridge. That way you will feel that you have a “treat” for later when you are hungry.

The food will taste much better if you eat it when you are hungry!

Split the desserts or cut them in half

There are often lots of desserts to choose from and sometimes it’s hard to pick one. So take a smaller slice of two so that you can get the equivalent of one dessert but the ability to try both.

Respect what your body is saying to you

Many times are loved ones will put the pressure on for you to eat more. They are not in your body though so they can’t possibly know how you feel. I encourage you to respect yourself and respect your body. It is not an insult to not eat more. No one would put more cookies in a cookie jar than could fit. If you did, what would happen when you put the top on? They would smush and crumble.

This is not the last time you will eat…the opportunity will come again

Most of all remember this is not the last time you will ever eat…and there will most likely be leftovers. You will get hungry again and you will be able to eat great food again….you don’t have to do it all in one meal!

Check out the recipe below for a healthy dish you can make this year.

Melissa King
Holistic Nutrition Counselor
http://www.wellnessandenergy.com

A visualization session is an hour-long conversation with your subconscious about what visualization statements you may be able to use to help relieve your pain. Here’s how the session works.

Visualization statements represent the specific language that your subconscious wants you to read to it several times a day to help it to ease your pain. The statements are simple and are targeted directly at the main factors that could bring you relief.

You can obtain these statements by learning how to communicate directly with your own subconscious mind. The process is straightforward and can be done at home by working with a facilitator over the telephone. You you need no special skills and no previous experience in working with the subconscious.

It may be beneficial to explore the use of the subconscious for pain relief regardless of whether you have back pain or pain in the neck or other extremities, arthritis pain, fibromyalgia pain, and neuropathic pain (nerve pain).

The Purpose of the Session

The purpose of a visualization session is to identify the specific visualization statements that your subconscious wants you to read to it to help reduce your pain. Since the subconscious can only respond to Yes/No questions, it can be challenging to find out exactly what it thinks will work.

In addition, special care has to be taken with language when asking any question of the subconscious. For example, it doesn’t like extremes, so words like “absolutely” produce inaccurate results. It gets confused when you string too many adjectives together. It sometimes says No when it would say Yes if it understood the question better. And so on.

Based on experience we’ve developed extensive lists of questions about brain and body chemistry, the musculoskeletal system, the immune system, hormones, emotions, and the other pain relief factors. These questions use carefully?crafted language that helps to avoid many of the difficulties involved in communicating with the subconscious.

Talking To Your Subconscious

During the visualization session a facilitator poses these questions to your subconscious over the telephone while you work a tool known as a Chevreul pendulum. This is a simple device that you can make at home in about two minutes. It’s been used for almost 175 years to obtain answers from the subconscious.

As each question is asked, you simply respond with Yes, No, Maybe, or Don’t Want to Answer. The facilitator records each answer and determines where to go next with the questioning.

The process may not make much sense to your conscious mind, and that’s fine–the purpose is to allow the subconscious to speak. Answers will come out one by one, which in the end will allow the facilitator to build the visualization statements that the subconscious thinks will help relieve your pain.

After the Session

At the end of the hour the facilitator will let you know when to expect an emailed list of visualization statements–usually they ship within 48 hours. He or she will also discuss the preferred time and day of the week for four follow-up sessions and agree on a schedule that works for both of you.

The subconscious is quite powerful. When programmed through the very visualizations that it suggests, it may be able to turn episodes of uncontrolled pain into events over which you have a degree of control.

Ben Plumb is CEO and President of The Visualization Group, Inc. The company’s service is delivered by people like himself who personally suffered from years of chronic pain, and used the visualization method described in this article to obtain relief when nothing else worked. For more information, please visit http://www.thevisualizationgroup.com.

(c) 2005 The Visualization Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The methodology and program disclosed in this article are Patent Pending.

Stop Being Influenced by Food Ads on TV

There is much in the news today about obesity and you can be assured that the food industry fully intends to place the blame squarely on the individual, despite the fact they spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year in an effort to entice us to buy more and more of their products. Children are especially vulnerable to the advertising for cereals, snack bars, crackers, cookies, candy, and fast foods. Colorful packaging, and now even colorful foods to encourage the little shoppers to badger their parents into buying the “convenient” snack packs for them. “Mommy I want it” is exactly the result advertisers are paying to obtain. They know that many adults will give in to the child’s demands, just to “keep the peace.”

If you live in modern society, you can’t escape advertising. How many times have you been happily minding your own business when suddenly the TV screen flashes a big, juicy, something! Your stomach may start gurgling, your mouth starts watering, and the launch sequence for hunger has begun. Once the countdown starts, nothing can stop the launch into the kitchen, or for the seriously dedicated, out the door to go get something to eat. This can happen only an hour after a big dinner. The ads are designed to do this, and they work well as we prove with our food dollars every day.

Count the Food Ads

Next time you watch TV keep a note pad nearby and make a little hash mark every time you see a commercial that encourages you to eat. You’ll also notice there are certain ads that seem to trigger the hunger response more than others. What is it about those ads? Do you start to mentally taste the food? Does it remind you of happy occasions? It can even remind you of unhappy occasions which then drives you to want something to eat because you “deserve” it.

Notice whether it is the people in the ad, the message itself, the words they use, even the background music or scenery? See if you can pin-point what, exactly, it is about the ad that draws you in. Notice what you don’t like about ads that simply do not interest you. Play college student and do this as homework, and if you can get your kids to do it with you, all the better.

My son has come to me many times to tell me about something he’s seen on TV and now wants me to buy. He gets caught up in the half hour infomercials and becomes so convinced their product is the single best thing, that it’s difficult to change his mind.

Evenings are an especially rough time for dieters because of the over abundance of advertising for food. Seeing delicious things to eat can create the sensation of hunger until it becomes a patterned response. Turning on the TV then begins to make you hungry, even without the food cues.

7 Ways to Combat Evening Snacking Habit

1. Mute the commercials or switch to another channel (channel surfers already do this anyway). Not watching or hearing the ad can help enormously. Remember, out of sight, out of mind.

2. Use commercial break time to do housework. You’d be amazed at how much clutter you can clear in three or four minutes, and every hour you get at least four of these breaks.

3. Mute the ads and keep your hands busy until your show comes back on with a project like knitting, reading or finishing that book you’ve been writing.

4. Start a new business (then you’re probably not in front of the TV anyway).

5. Step outside and breath some fresh air for a few minutes.

6. Exercise during the ads. Stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, do this for a full minute. It’s a great leg exercise. Use a kitchen chair rather than the couch to be kinder on your knees.

7. Move to another seat in the room. Sometimes just getting up from your usual spot in the room (the coach, or your favorite chair) and moving to another location can help, so can getting a glass of water. Sometimes it’s thirst.

Be Willing to Experiment and You can Overcome the Allure of the Food Ads

The worst thing you can do is simply watch and then attempt to combat your growing desire to eat. Once the idea that you’re hungry is planted, it becomes much more difficult to change your mind. Instead stop the idea from occurring in the first place by finding something else to do instead of watching another Burger King commercial.

Advertising only works when we’re paying attention, either watching or listening. I’ve no quarrel with advertisers, I advertise my services too, but watching one hundred ads all featuring food after dinnertime is a bit much for anyone to endure. Food ads are designed for you to simply sit and be mesmerized by the flashing words, snappy slogans, colors and lights. Pay closer attention, or pay none at all, but either way you’ll gain a much greater understanding of how advertising influences you.

~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com

Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.

No comments

Taming the See Food Eat Food Response

What happens when you’re just minding your business and suddenly someone walks by with a delicious looking cake, muffins, or some other goodie you weren’t expecting. You weren’t hungry a minute ago but now you are suddenly ravenous. So you jump up and rush to get yours before it’s all gone. After you get back to your desk and a few minutes go by, what happens? You suddenly realize you want more. Your stomach may be growling in fact. You can still see those muffins in your mind’s eye. You want them. A few minutes pass while you debate, “I want another, No, I shouldn’t, but, I really want one, they sure tasted good. If I don’t hurry they might all be gone, what about your diet, who cares? I’m getting one,” and off you go.

Frustrating, isn’t it? All you need is a plan for when the unexpected food suddenly drives you to eat. It’s not like this isn’t going to happen time and again, so having a way to deal with it, in that moment, is better than simply being swept up in the wave of wanting. The old pattern of see food, want food, eat food, get angry about eating food, eat more to get over feeling angry, get angrier, give up, eat more. This cycle generally ends when you either pass out or the food is gone. It doesn’t have to be this way.

TV commercials also induce this see food, want food response, which is why so many people overeat in the evening while watching their favorite shows.

Try this new approach using a technique caled EFT. It’s effective in that it forestalls the immediate pattern of jumping up and rushing to get a treat, and gives you a moment or two to think about what’s happening. Realizing you want a treat is fine, and deciding to have a treat is fine too, but simply eating out of a primal see food/eat food response is not okay. You can move past that immediate driven response to food cues by using this approach.

Step 1: The Desire to Eat Unexpected Food

Do a round of EFT the first moment you suddenly are struck by a desire to eat (when you weren’t hungry or thinking of food a moment before):

“Even though seeing those muffins made me hungry, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

“Even though I’m suddenly starving, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

“Even though I want some cake (or whatever it is), I deeply and completely accept myself.”

“Even though I know once I start, I’ll never stop eating all day, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

“Even though I’ll wreck my diet today, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

Now, these statements make not appear to make much sense, but if you’ve used EFT in the past, you’d know that a quick round of EFT on whatever it is that’s first and foremost in your mind (the thing you want, despite that you wish you did not), is what you want to address. That’s how EFT works. I don’t know anything about my car’s engine, but I can drive. You don’t have to understand every nuance of EFT or why it works to use it. Just do use it. (For info on learning EFT see resource box).

Step 2: Spending Your Calories Wisely

First check out the offerings by looking them over. Food, especially unexpected food, has to qualify before I’d even consider eating some. For me a food qualifies as special by how it looks, it’s texture, taste, and whether it truly is “special.” Does it appear good enough to spend my day’s calories on? I do pay attention, and I know I have a certain amount of calories on any given day and I don’t want to waste them. If the food is ordinary (something I could buy myself any day of the week), then more often than not I’ll choose to pass, saving my calorie expenditure on something I deem more worthy.

I think to myself, “I’d rather have cheesecake,” which means I decide whether I want this food, or whether I’d rather go get something better later. I can always stop by the bakery on my way home. There are other things I like better which I could have instead. Think of your own favorite treat and use that when confronted with unexpected food that you may want, but it’s not fabulous, just ordinary.

By ordinary I mean doughnuts bought at the supermarket that are nothing special, or a bakery cake with icing you don’t like. I don’t like typical bakery shortening icing and always scrape it off because the cake’s still okay. Don’t eat parts of the food you don’t even like. Chips, pretzels, cookies, etc. Are they home made or store bought. You can buy the store bought brands any day, they aren’t special at all. Take a pass. Save your calories for something really special. I’d rather skip the morning treats and have a piece or two of excellent chocolate tonight.

If you take a bite and find the food is not as good as you expected, you don’t have to eat it. “Really? I don’t have to eat it?” That’s right, you can choose to not eat. There is simply no way I’m wasting calories on food I don’t even like. No one is going to notice you aren’t eating. Talk to those around you. Laugh, enjoy yourself. Set the plate down, walk away. No one will even notice. If someone says, “Aren’t you going to eat that?,” you can say, “In a minute,” and go on chattering. They’ll forget all about it. Their only making conversation, they really don’t care whether you eat, believe me.

If the idea of leaving food or throwing food away is more than you can tolerate, use EFT on that issue too:

“Even though I can’t stand to throw away food …”

“Even though I hate wasting food …”

“Even though there is no way I can throw away perfectly good food …”

“Even though my mother said you should never waste food …”

Being unable to “waste” food is usually a holdover from childhood. You can outgrow childhood conditioning, if you want to. If you hold on to those beliefs, fine. There are no rules here. Just go with whatever comes up, using EFT on anything and everything, and you’ll be amazed at the difference it can make.

Step 3: Ending Food Cravings Even When You Don’t Want To

Do a round of EFT on the desire to eat anyway. If you think you don’t really want the food, but yet you do. In other words, you can’t decide not to eat it, or you’re deciding not to do the EFT because you want to eat it anyway, then do the EFT first, have the food second. You’ll still get to eat the goodies. No one is taking anything away from you.

You may still want the food but find your desire has lessened. You’ll want it because you’re hungry for it, or you’ll want to take some and save it for later when you are hungrier. You can always save some for later. There is no food police to take it away if you don’t eat it right now. Nobody is going to scold you for not finishing your food. Maybe when you were 6-year sold, but not now.

If any memories pop up about eating, leaving food, your mother telling you what you should or should not do, wasting food, or about getting enough to eat, use EFT on those too. That’s the best way to use EFT, just go with the flow of your thoughts, ideas, memories. You’ll get where you want to go without needing to know the details in advance. Just use EFT on whatever thoughts pop up, and slowly those emotional issues and faulty beliefs will melt away like light snowfall in the afternoon sun.

If you take these three steps and still want to eat, go ahead and eat. You’ll feel okay about what you’re eating, and that’s the point. Doing what is best for you in the moment is what really taking care of yourself is all about.

~~ Kathryn Martyn, Master NLP Practitioner, EFT counselor, author of the free e-book: Changing Beliefs, Your First Step to Permanent Weight Loss, and owner of OneMoreBite-Weightloss.com

Get The Daily Bites: Inspirational Mini Lessons Using EFT and NLP for Ending the Struggle with Weight Loss.

High blood pressure (hypertension) is a dangerous condition that can lead= to stroke, enlarged heart, congestive heart failure, kidney and eye damage, atherosclerosis hardening of the arteries, and premature death.

According to a recent report released in The New England Journal of Medicine of 16,000 adults surveyed over the age of 24, nearly 30 percent had blood pressure of at least 140/90 and more than one-third of them were unaware of their condition.

Blood pressure refers to the force of the bloodstream against the walls of the arteries as they deliver blood from the heart to the rest of the body. Normal, healthy blood pressure ranges from about 110/80 to as high as 140/90. The higher number refers to systolic pressure, which is the hearts contractions. The second number, the diastolic pressure, measures the rests between heartbeats. Here are the categories to consider when evaluating blood pressure:

• Normal - Less than 140/90
• Borderline - 141/91 to 159/94
• High - 160/95 or more

What Causes High Blood Pressure?

Although there are still questions about the roots of essential hypertension, many researchers name two culprits: The typical American diet and lifestyle factors. Following are 9 major factors that can contribute to this potentially deadly condition:

1. High-fat, high-sodium diet . . . Interestingly, vegetarians who normally eat a low-fat, low-sodium diet have a profoundly lower incidence of hypertension than non-vegetarians.

2. Fat imbalance . . . Too much saturated fat in the diet. We need more essential fatty acids to help clear the system of fat solids.

3. Nutritional deficiencies . . . People whose diets are low in potassium, magnesium, calcium and vitamin C are at greater risk of hypertension.

4. Obesity . . . High blood pressure is almost six times more common among overweight people ages 20 to 44, and twice as common in those 45 to 74

5. Smoking . . . Chronic smoking decreases blood flow to the brain, increasing the risk of stroke.

6. Alcohol . . . Heavy drinking is another indicator of high blood pressure.

7. Stress . . . In many instances, stress can be the major factor causing high blood pressure.

8. Atherosclerosis . . . A buildup of fatty deposits can narrow the blood vessels, leading to a rise in blood pressure. The increased resistance means the heart has to work harder to pump blood through the body, placing it under strain.

9. High sugar intake . . . People who had more sugar in their diet had markedly increased blood pressure.

Anti-Hypertensive Diet Guidelines

The following recommendations can help you keep your blood pressure at healthier levels:

• Follow a low-fat diet.
• Increase your intake of potassium, magnesium and calcium.
• Reduce your intake of salt.
• Restrict your consumption of refined sugars.
• Exercise more often. Since excess body fat is a primary risk factor in hypertension, it is critical to maintain a healthy weight. The importance of regular exercise cannot be over-emphasized.

Essential Nutrient Intake
What you eat has a powerful influence on your blood pressure as well as almost every other aspect of your health.

For most people, the sodium/potassium ratio is more significant than sodium alone. We should be consuming about five times more potassium than sodium (5:1), but the typical American diet includes half as much potassiumas sodium (1:2).

By eating more POTASSIUM-rich foods, you can reverse the ratio and promote healthy blood pressure. Foods such as bananas, oranges, tangerines, beans, dried peas, and potatoes provide a wealth of natural potassium.

MAGNESIUM is another vital nutrient for blood pressure. It is believed that magnesium activates the bodys cellular membrane pump, which pumps sodium out and potassium into the cells. Some clinical trials have shown that magnesium supplementation reduces blood pressure. Magnesium- rich foods include nuts (especially almonds, cashews, and pecans), rice, bananas, potatoes, wheat germ, kidney and lima beans, peas, soy products, molasses, oat, bran, and fish.

CALCIUM is important. People with high blood pressure are advised to increase Calcium intake and to eat more calcium-rich foods such as nuts, salmon, sardines, low-fat dairy foods, watercress, kale, broccoli, turnip greens, collard greens, and mustard greens.

Here is a list of other nutritional supplements that can help prevent high blood pressure:

• HAWTHORNE is an herb that has been shown to widen blood vessels, especially the coronary arteries.
• CAYENNE reduces the risk of atherosclerosis, which can lead to hypertension.
• VALERIAN has sedative activity, which has a beneficial effect on blood pressure.
• VITAMIN C supplementation has exerted a valuable blood-pressure-lowering effect in people by promoting the excretion of lead, which is linked to hypertension.
• COQ10 shows promise for hypertensives. Coenzyme Q10 is a nutrient that naturally occurs in our bodies and can be supplemented to assure adequate daily intake.
• GARLIC helps reduce cholesterol as well as blood pressure.

Summary . . . The consequences of untreated high blood pressure are too serious to go untreated. By making smart choices about the foods you eat, the intake of beneficial nutritional factors and your exercise regimen, you can help control your own blood pressure.

Roger Jirves an authorized dealer of the Vitamin Power line of Quality Nutritional Supplements and personal care products.

Why Your Subconscious May Be Able To Give You a Powerful Tool for Doing That–A Good Night’s Sleep

Being able to function starts with good sleep–without it you’re a mess. Yet pain prevents you from using the reliable sleep advice that works for other people. Here’s a possible way out of that dilemma.

Sleep research has shown that the body keeps a meticulous accounting of how much sleep it is owed. Any amount less than what you need gets added to your sleep debt.

For example, if you need eight hours of sleep and only get seven for seven days in a row, at the end of the week you have as much sleep debt as if you had stayed up all night. This impairs health, reduces performance, and puts you at serious risk while driving.

The Importance of Sleep in Pain Relief

The foundation of your ability to function despite your pain is sleep.

If you have chronic pain, sleep debt not only affects you the way it affects everyone else, but also makes your pain seem far worse than when you’re rested. This is true regardless of whether you have back pain or pain in the neck or other extremities, arthritis pain, fibromyalgia pain, or neuropathic pain (nerve pain).

The Sleep Dilemma You Face

There’s no secret about what it takes to get a good night’s rest. Sleep experts concur that you need to go to bed and get up at the same time every day; go to bed in a dark, quiet room; and avoid stimulating foods or activity before bed.

Yet as a person in chronic pain you can do all of that and still have severe sleep problems. Your pain simply won’t leave you alone long enough to fall sleep easily or stay asleep for long.

Better Sleep Through Visualization Statements

You may be able to resolve the above dilemma by engaging your subconscious mind through the use of visualization statements.

Visualization statements represent the specific language that your subconscious wants you to read back to it to help ease your pain. They’re simple and are targeted directly at the main factors that could bring you relief.

You can obtain these statements by learning how to communicate directly with your own subconscious mind. The process is straightforward and can be done at home by working with a facilitator over the telephone. You you need no special skills and no previous experience in working with the subconscious.

Here are five ways that visualization may be able to help you get better sleep:

1. Finding a comfortable position.

When you have serious pain the biggest problem you face may be that you can’t find any position comfortable enough to sleep in. No amount of turning and adjusting can give you relief, so you stay awake until exhaustion completely overtakes you-perhaps hours later.

It’s possible to choose what you think might be a comfortable position, such as lying on your side, and use visualization statements to program the subconscious to make that position just comfortable enough for you to fall asleep. If you repeat this statement often enough you may find that within a few days it’s not so hard to fall asleep quickly.

2. Staying asleep despite the pain.

Time and again pain may break through your sleep to awaken you. To avoid this it’s possible to visualize several different things:

? If cramped muscles are waking you up, you can attempt to program your subconscious to keep your muscles relaxed during sleep.

? If turning over into a particularly painful position is waking you up, you can visualize yourself being free of a desire to turn over in bed.

? If throbbing or stiffness after a certain time in bed is waking you up, you can visualize that your body remains calm and flexible during sleep.

3. Getting back to sleep if you do awaken.

You may be able to fall asleep easily enough but awaken after a few hours–not necessarily from pain, but due to pain meds or other factors that may be disrupting your sleep.

To get back to sleep it’s possible to learn what visualization your subconscious would find most relaxing and repeat it to yourself over and over as you lie in bed. For example, your subconscious may simply want you to visualize that every night you attain deep sleep. Or it may indicate a particular phrase that you could repeat.

4. Getting sound and refreshing sleep.

Sometimes you may sleep for eight hours but wake up feeling exhausted. This could be due to any number of factors, one of which may be that your pain prevents you from obtaining the short periods of very deep sleep during the night that are the most restful.

By crafting a visualization statement about sound and refreshing sleep that your subconscious agrees with, you may be able to wake up more energized. This could happen even though you have not specifically identified why your sleep is not sound.

5. Handling the poor sleep of fibromyalgia.

In the special case of fibromyalgia pain the sympathetic nervous system may be creating fight-or-flight type agitation that makes it very difficult for you to sleep.

One approach that seems to work is simply to visualize your body as being free of agitation. Another approach is to work on the specific parts of the body most affected, for example the feet and legs. Yet another is to visualize calm in any situation that may be creating unusual stress–for example a job or a relationship.

A further method is to visualize that the Alpha-2 receptors of your sympathetic nervous system are receptive to catecholamine, a substance that is thought to calm that system down.

Not Being Stopped

Overall, visualization seems to have a positive effect on sleep even when you’re in pain. It is necessary to learn what specific language your own subconscious wants to hear about sleep. But once you’ve deciphered that information you may be able to trigger just enough of a change to help you sleep.

The good news is that if even one of these visualization techniques works for your sleep, it may be able to make the difference between being stopped and not being stopped by your pain.

Ben Plumb is CEO and President of The Visualization Group, Inc. The company’s service is delivered by people like himself who personally suffered from years of chronic pain, and used the visualization method described in this article to obtain relief when nothing else worked. For more information, please visit http://www.thevisualizationgroup.com.

(c) 2005 The Visualization Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The methodology and program disclosed in this article are Patent Pending.

Did you know that most store bought vitamins and minerals are synthetic and are hard on your liver and kidneys? Have you noticed that if you do take store bought vitamins that you switch the brands like switching shampoos?

Think about how a cell works. If someone was suffering from scurvy, all they had to do was eat an orange and the body would immediately recover because the cells recognized that copper is the center of vitamin C and that it has all of it’s bioflavinoids surrounding it and just one tiny arm of the copper is vitamin C.

When you buy synthetic vitamin C, you are only absorbing a maximum of 15% or you may have one of those products where the label is inconsistent with what is actually in the vitamin.

Did you know that your cells will cannibalize a neighboring cell to try and make sense out of the synthetic vitamins in order to absorb it? Not good when you consider your cells assimilate food, not rocks and minerals mined from the earth.

Make sense?

Therefore at least one manufactuer has a DNA(Dietery Needs Assesment) Survey. You take this test that is more accurate than a blood test to find out about your autonomic nervous system. The way we eat may have to be adjusted according to our genetic disposition.

Did you know that it takes up to four generations to adjust to an entirely new way of eating? That’s why Pritikin and Atkins are not for everyone. Vitamins are not a “one size fits all” and most importantly of all, it must not be vitamin A, it must be the hole carrot.

Take the DNA Survey today, find out what you should be eating according to how fast or how slow you digest. Then, see your recommended FOOD Vitamin that is over 90% absorbed and supports the autonomic nervous system for you.

Click on the links to pull up the test and recommended results for free:
http://www.mannapages.com/sharethegift/DNASurvey.asp?UN=glycowellnessint

Now, Inuit people in Alaska eat high protein and animal fats in their diet and in complete contrast, Hindu people eat plant foods and no meat. They both have absolutely no history of heart disease in their culture. However, if you were to switch their diets… there would be grave circumstances.

This DNA test is cutting edge. Find out what you are, look at the pie chart showing you the portions of fats (fatt acids or EFA’s), proteins, and carbohydrates for your genetic disposition.

Zach Thompson works internationally as a Glyconutritional Consultant. He lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of rural Virginia. He serves primarily the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, & New Zealand. His clients range from Professional & Olympic Athletes to those with auto-immune disease & children with Learning Disabilities. He uses exclusively Pharmaceutical-Grade Glyconutritonals, & Dietery Supplements that meet or exceed the criteria set forth by The Council for Responsible Nutrition in his practice. The consumption of Organic & chemical-free foods along with a low-glycemic diet plan is an integral part of of his clients path to wellness. You can get more information at: http://www.myglyconutrientstore.com .

On a little island half way in between Guam and the Philippines there is a rampant epidemic affecting the inhabitants. This tiny island of approximately 8,200 people is not afflicted with famine or a deadly disease as you might think when talking about an epidemic… the islanders are dying at much earlier ages that at any other time in their history. They have alarmingly high rates of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Why?

Well, the people on this island used to make their living by farming, growing bananas and coconut and lots of fishing. They used to walk everywhere, eat fresh fruits and vegetables and had lots of daily activity.

Now, with the introduction of “western culture” and the destruction of their normal behavior, the islanders now drive to their computer jobs in mostly cramped offices and eat a diet of highly processed “prepared” foods imported from the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

As you can see, exporting the “American diet” of quick and easy processed food and lack of activity has taken a healthy and active island population, and turned it into a mini version of America, along with the associated rates of obesity and disease.

–It’s What You Don’t Eat

You see, when losing weight, we’re not only talking about weight loss, we’re also talking about better health. It’s hard to lose weight without taking steps to increase your healthy habits… right?

One of the most important and effective ways to lose weight and get healthier is to avoid two groups of foods.

Both of these foods have been directly linked to deteriorating health and specifically weight gain and obesity. The unhealthy ingredients in these foods have steadily (and secretly) been used in greater amounts over the last 20 years… and we haven’t known it. More importantly, we haven’t known the hidden dangers of eating them.

The first group of foods to avoid are those that contain “Trans Fats”.

Also know as TFA’s or Trans Fatty Acids, they are found in partially hydrogenated oils… manufactured and unhealthy fats. They are a silent killer hidden in our food, and have been directly linked to the skyrocketing rates of obesity in both adults and children worldwide.

The Center for Science in the Public Interest reports that banning trans fats from all foods would save at least 30,000 lives each year in the US alone. That’s 82-274 needless deaths every day. The web site www.bantransfats.com shows an alarmingly clear statistical increase in obesity over the last 20 years as trans fats have become a growing part of our American diet.

The government has admitted that manufactured trans fats have no safe level for human consumption! That’s zero. There is no safe level of consumption at all, but it’s still in a large percentage of the products we eat every day.

In American, we spend 90% of our food budget on processed foods. The government reports that over 40% of foods found in an average grocery store contain trans fats. Most fast foods contain trans fats. Snacks, chips, candy bars, cookies, crackers, commercial baked goods, pastries and cakes… almost all processed foods contain trans fats.

In the example of the island population above, the effects of eating processed foods and lack of activity turned a healthy population into one with alarming rates of obesity and disease.

How can we avoid trans fats and their effects? What do we look out for?

1) Become a label reader.

Read the ingredient labels of foods you buy and look for “partially hydrogenated”. If you see those words, avoid that food. Any food that contains “partially hydrogenated” anything is unhealthy and will negatively affect your weight loss program.

Some common foods that contain partially hydrogenated oils are:

-candy bars
-chips
-snacks
-commercially baked pastries
-processed foods
-most fast foods
-cookies
-cake mixes
-cereals

Bottom line, you can’t lose weight and regularly eat foods containing partially hydrogenated oils.

2) Ask questions.

When eating out, ask if the foods you are ordering contain “partially hydrogenated oil” or “trans fats”.

3) Look for alternatives.

The good news is that because of more media exposure about the dangers of “trans fats”, companies are starting to replace “partially hydrogenated oils” with alternative ingredients and creating healthier versions of some of your favorite products.

Restaurants are starting to add more natural oils and are removing partially hydrogenated oils from their kitchens. Ask about it when eating out.

Try to get as many “whole” foods into your diet. Add more fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and healthy fats and avoid processed, prepared and fast foods as much as possible.

Avoiding these hidden oils in the food you eat every day alone will make a significant impact on your health, and specifically in reaching your weight loss goals. Add a few lifestyle changes and imagine where you will be on your journey towards better health next month.

In Part 2 of this article, I’ll cover the other secret additive in foods that no one talks about. This ingredient tricks your brain into thinking what you are eating is delicious and makes you want to continue to eat it, bypassing all your natural signals of feeling full and satisfied! It’s also found in a large group of foods we eat every day.

Mark Idzik is a health coach with a national clientele who helps his clients feel better, get more energy, lose weight and make better health choices. Get his 37 free tips to guaranteed weight loss by visiting: http://www.Everyday-Weight-Loss.com/?src=wyde#tips

Did you know that being successful with losing weight starts with just two words?

Two words will either guarantee you’ll lose weight, or guarantee the you WON’T lose weight.

You see, words are very powerful. Especially the words that we say to ourselves… our self-talk.

Whatever we say to ourselves goes directly to our subconscious and is accepted as complete truth.

Did you catch that?

Whatever you say to yourself or others is accepted as a complete truth to your subconscious mind.

How do you describe yourself?

Do you see yourself as healthy, slim and energetic?

Or do you see yourself as heavy and overweight?

Do you tell yourself (or complain to others) that “you can’t” lose weight?

If you say to yourself….

“I am fat” … your mind says OK, you’re fat and gets to work in the background on taking actions that make (and keep) you fat.

or

“I am healthy and slim”… your mind says, OK, and gets to work in the background on taking actions that make (and keep) you healthy and slim.

[Note: You literally can’t lose weight if you see yourself as overweight… your mind won’t let you. This is one reason so many struggle with losing weight… and keeping it off. ]

Your subconscious doesn’t argue with you, or reason with your statement. It just goes to work following your instructions.

This one, small lifestyle change can make a difference between being successful in reaching your weight los.s goals, and continual struggle to lose weight.

It’s simple, just replace your current thoughts and words with ones that support your “new” you starting with those two most important words, “I am”:

“I am healthy”

“I am slim”

“I am fit”

“I am healthy and trim”

“I am at my goal weight of (your goal) pounds”

Saying “I am” gives your mind a statement and command in the affirmative… as if it were already true.

Do this regularly, every day, and watch your thoughts and self talk closely. If you catch yourself slipping, immediately stop your negative thoughts and replace them with those above, or your own “I am” statements.

Before you know it, your actions and results will start taking shape (literally ). It’s a proven fact, your mind acts on what you tell it, just tell it what you want!

You CAN do it!

Mark Idzik is a health coach with a national clientele who helps his clients feel better, get more energy, lose weight and make better health choices. Get his 37 free tips to guaranteed weight loss by visiting: http://www.Everyday-Weight-Loss.com/?src=2w#tips