How to Improve your health without much effort.

Sticking to healthy eating habits, and regular exercise are difficult for some people. Here I will give you some simple steps you can take to improve your health without a whole lot of effort.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• A little self control
• Chewing Gum
• Turmeric
• Green Tea

1. 
   Brown Rice

   Cut down on foods that are detrimental to your health. I call them the 3 S's, Sugar, Salt, & Saturated Fat. You might be surprised that simple carbohydrates, like white bread, white rice, and most pasta will rapidly convert to sugar in your digestive system giving you a glucose spike. What a glucose spike will do, is give you a boost of energy, and then an energy crash after a couple hours, leaving you feeling hungry shortly after your last meal. So eating complex carbohydrates, like whole wheat bread, brown rice, and whole grain pasta will give you a steady supply of energy because it takes longer for your digestive system to break down the extra fiber in the healthy carbohydrates, giving you a slow but steady supply of glucose (energy), leaving you feeling full and your hunger satisfied twice as long.
   Besides all that, cut down on your intake of sweets, soda pop, fried foods, and salty foods. Also cut down on dairy products, especially if you have seasonal allergies.

2. 
   Green Tea Farm

   Avoid stimulants, like caffeine, cigarettes and spicy foods. Anything that gives you an instant physiological change to your body is generally unhealthy for you. A couple cups of coffee a week are fine, and a spicy side dish as part of your meal a few times a week is fine as well. I recommend green tea as a coffee replacement, it will give you a slight energy boost from the little amount of caffeine it has, while providing anti-inflammatory effects for your body. Coffee provides just the opposite, coffee basically increases your stress hormones which create a lot of inflammatory responses in your body. Some people may wonder why the have panic attacks after drinking 3 cups of coffee, well coffee has a profound effect on your bodies adrenal system, so basically your getting a substance induced adrenaline rush from coffee. Adrenaline wreaks havoc on your body, so yes research says coffee has some healthy properties, and I'm sure if you use it in moderation it will be healthy. But if you want weak bones, brittle hair, and your nerves on edge, continue your addiction.

3. 
   Chewing gum

   If you feel a craving for food, sugar, chocolate, or anything to put in your mouth and chew when you know you shouldn't be eating. Reach for some gum. You can satisfy your oral fixation, strengthen your teeth and jaw muscles, relieve stress, and wean yourself off of emotional eating habits. It's as simple as that, just be sure to purchase four or five packs of gum at a time, and different flavors so you don't bore yourself too quickly.

4. 
   Fresh Turmeric

   Add turmeric spice to your food. It's the spice they use to give mustard it's color. It supposedly helps prevent some types of cancer, liver disorders, and Alzheimer's disease. It's touted for it's anti-inflammatory effects, and it's ability to lessen the severity of Irritable Bowel Syndrome, and Chron's. It lowers cholesterol, and protects men's prostates. Scientists are still researching the health promoting properties of turmeric and it's active constituent, curcumin. So let's not label it a heal all snake oil just yet. But I'm sure it won't hurt to have a little every day with your food, and who knows, maybe it is, just that awesome.

Tips & Warnings

• Drink lots of water, if your looking to drop a couple of pounds and have more energy. Have about 64 oz. a day.
• Break a light sweat at least once a day, if it's summer you can take a quick walk around the block and still break a sweat without having to wear yourself out.
• If your looking to go the extra mile for your health, eat at least a couple servings of fresh fruits or vegetables every day, this will do wonders for your body, I know it sounds crazy that eating an apple a day will do wonders for your body, but have you tried it yet?
• If your not getting the great exercise and stress relief that sex provides with your partner or if you don't have a partner, have no shame in having some me time. Yes, if your too lazy to go for a run and burn off some stressful energy, go ahead and masturbate, just make sure you do it on your own time. Studies show that men and women who masturbate frequently have a decreased risk of a heart attack, another study suggests that people who masturbate frequently also make better lovers because they are more sexually expressive. While yet another study says that for men who masturbate frequently, cut the risk of prostate cancer and erectile disorders.

Resources

• The Thriceweekly Badger

[ACGaughen]

on 8/4/2008 Really interesting article!