Physical, Mental & Social Wellness - Heart and Cardiovascular Health

Thank you for joining me for another health blog. So far we have covered many topics. Previously there was an introduction to nutrition and vitamins. We discussed the benefits of eating properly to ensure you get the proper amount of vitamins and minerals.

We then blogged about juicing and the benefits of vegetable and fruit juices. We learned that juicing is an easier and more delicious way of making sure you are getting a balanced diet full of vitamins and minerals. We then moved on to hydrotherapy and how water can actually serve as a detox tool for our bodies. And last, we blogged about the 7 steps of a healthy mind. There were exercises to practice and alot of useful information on the path to positive thinking.

All of those aforementioned topics fall into the physical, mental and social wellness category. However, there's a lot more we can do for our bodies, naturally to ensure we are at peak performance. Today, we are going to discuss the heart and cardiovascular system and various natural ways we can keep them healthy.

Cardiovascular disease is responsible for at least 43% of all deaths in the U.S. Atherosclerosis is known as the hardening of the arteries and can be prevented and even reversed through dietary and lifestyle changes. Reducing the risk of heart disease and strokes involves eliminating as many risk factors as possible. Some things we can do to eliminate these risks are:

1. Quit Smoking
2. Lower Cholesterol
3. Increase the Vitamin E
4. Increase Omega-3 Oil intake
5. Reduce Type A behavior and stress levels
6. Increase antioxidant intake

Here are a few tips that will help with changing the risky lifestyle behaviors. These tips are natural and should be the first thing attempted (in addition to quitting cigarettes) when trying to change. Changing the diet is easier and can actually impact many of the risk behaviors mentioned.

Increasing the consumption of fiber rich plant foods such as fruits, vegetables, grains, beans and raw nuts can lower the cholesterol, add more vitamin E to your diet and increase your antioxidant intake. In addition, you will have a better balanced diet, rich in vitamins and minerals. Be sure to read my previous blog on juicing and vitamins for tools and ideas. Eating these natural foods mentioned will also help maintain an ideal body weight which means less stress on the heart and less risk of heart attacks. Increasing your intake of water is also a cleansing mechanism that takes the toxins out of your body. Water helps to promote sweat and sweat is our bodies natural detox process.

There are many that reduce the risk of heart failure and disease by increasing their supplemental intake. Such tips and tricks can include taking Chronium, Pantheline, B12 supplements, folic acid, B6, Vitamin C doses, Grape Seed extract, and Vitamin E supplements. However, who wants to take all those pills? After all, the reason we try to keep healthy is so that we don't have to spend the rest of our lives on pills. And, every supplement mentioned above can be obtained through good food and nutrition. So, here's a list of the foods you can eat to get the the supplements mentioned above.









Chronium - Chronium is essential for increasing the biological action of insulin and promoting the use of glucose by the body cells and tissues for naturally produced body energy.

Foods Containing Chromium

Sweet Potato
Corn
Whole Grains
Whole Grain Cereals
Whole Grain breads
Poultry
Turkey
Tomatoes
Spinach
Broccoli
Onion
Garlic
Basil leaves
Lettuce
Fresh Chili
Green Pepper
Beets
Mushroom
Rye
Apples
Oranges

The amazing thing is that, all of the foods mentioned above include more than just the chronium, they include the other sources mentioned above, such as the Vitamin C, the B6, B12 and Folic Acids. So, we cab see that eating an orange will actually give us chronium and vitamin C, meaning that if we eat good foods, we will get the nutrients we need to prevent heart disease or reverse damage already done.

Thank you for joining me for another blog on natural health. I look forward to having you all join me next time when I discuss detoxing naturally. Be sure to leave your comments or ask questions. And, as always, feel free to click on any of the banners for great resources. If at anytime you missed a blog session, you can always go to http://www.bargainsdirectly.com and click blogger chatter - opinions matter to catch up.

As Always,
Blessings, Peace & Prosperity
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Complete Physical, Mental & Social Well Being - Practice Positive Visualization

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Welcome Back! In my previous blogs, we have covered many topics that can lead to better physical and mental health. In addition to a positive mental health, our skin seems to radiate when we are in a total and complete healthy state. As we continue our focus on mental well-being, today we will discuss the benefits of practicing positive visualizations. Practicing positive visualization is included in the list of positive mental health steps. Here's a list of those 7 steps:

1. Become an optimist - Instead of thinking the worst of everything,try finding the good in all things.

2. Become aware of self talk

3. Ask better questions

4. Employ positive self affirmations

5. Set positive goals

6. Practice positive visualizations

7. Laugh more


Moving ahead we are now ready to discuss the sixth step. Step 6 is practicing positive visualization. Positive visualization or imagery is another strong tool in creating health, happiness and success. Most people believe that if they can see their lives the way they want their lives to be, it will happen. In terms of good health, it works the same way. We must picture ourselves healthy in every aspect. Not just the physical but the mental and social aspects. And, you can use visualization in all aspects of your life but particularly your health. Based on research, positive visualization regarding your health can actually boost your immune system in the treatment of illnesses such as cancer.

Learning to be creative and having fun with your visualizations will soon find yourself living your dreams. Our dreams actually propel us in life, moving us forward to reach what we have visualized for ourselves. And, this is a powerful and inspirational tool.


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Most people don't realize it, but we have the power to control our dreams when we lay down to sleep. For example, I'm one of those people who can hardly sleep because I'm constantly thinking. I began to take my thoughts and turn them into visualizations before going to sleep. Meaning, I think about a goal and actually seeing myself achieving that goal. Throughout the entire night, my dreams are focused on that goal and how my life would look after achieving it. When I wake up in the morning, while most people forget what they dreamt that night, I'm completely aware of what my dream was. I can not only tell you what I dreamt, but I can also tell you the steps I took to achieve the goal I dreamt of. In addition, I wake up more rested and invigorated, with a renewed purpose.


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As we close this step out for the day, I encourage everyone to practice positive visualization and welcome you all to come back and comment on your results. Be sure to join us tomorrow as we discuss the final step toward positive mental health, entitled laughing more. And, as always, feel free to click on any of the resource banners and ads you see on this page to get more information and other health, social or mentally stimulating tips. Check us out at http://www.bargainsdirectly.com to read our previous posts or to gather additional information on our company.




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Complete Physical, Mental & Social Well Being - Set Positive & Attainable Goals

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Welcome Back and Thank you for Reading. In my previous blogs, we have covered many topics that can lead to better physical health and mental health. In addition to a positive mental health, our skin seems to radiate when we are in a total and complete healthy state. As we continue our focus on mental well-being, today we will discuss the benefits of setting positive goals. Setting positive goals is included in the list of positive mental health steps. Here's a list of those 7 steps:

1. Become an optimist - Instead of thinking the worst of everything,try finding the good in all things.

2. Become aware of self talk

3. Ask better questions

4. Employ positive self affirmations

5. Set positive goals

6. Practice positive visualizations

7. Laugh more





Moving ahead we are now ready to discuss the fifth step. Step 5 is to set attainable and positive goals for yourself. This is one of the most difficult and disappointing steps if not done properly. Often people first start out energized and excited by setting their goals. Many times people take that excitement and set their goals so high, they can't reach them. In turn, this leads to negative mental health because the inability to reach a goal often leads to depression. Thus, the key is to know yourself, your limits and know what is important to you.




Learning to set positive goals is another powerful method for building a positive attitude and raising self esteem. Goals may be used to create a success cycle. When you achieve your goals, you feel better about yourself and the better you feel about yourself, the more likely you are to achieve new goals. It is a practiced cycle.

One of the ways that helped me turn my goals into positive goals was to set a goal that I knew I could reach, but still needed to work at just as hard. That goal was a diet. Often my diets failed because I looked at the big picture or the total of weight I wanted to lose. However, once I took that big goal of losing weight and breaking it down, I was much for successful. For example, instead of telling myself I needed to lose 80 pounds, I scaled it down and told myself I needed to lose 5 lbs in a two week period. This allowed me to concentrate in smaller increments andfinally enabled me to reach my goal. After the first 5 lbs was lost, it fueled my mind in a positive direction because I had success. The next goal was of course to lose another 5 lbs and it happened. Until one day, all 80 pounds were gone.

Here are a few tips for setting positive goals:

State the goal in positive terms and do not use negative words such as can't, no, not

Make your goal attainable and realistic

Be specific about your goals. Write it down, plan it out step by step and execute it following your road map.

State your goal in the present tense and not the future tense so that you program yourself to attain your goal.

Just like anything else, goals all start with one step and then are followed by many other smaller steps. Taking one step at a time will help you get there in a healthy and positive way without deviation.

Be sure to tune in next time when we discuss the sixth step of practicing positive visualizations. As always, a few resources, links and banners have been provided to get you on your way. Feel free to try any of them by simply clicking on them. Or, you may always go to http://www.bargainsdirectly.com .


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Complete Physical, Mental & Social Well Being - Positive Affirmation

Welcome Back and Thank you for Reading. In my previous blogs, we have covered many topics that can lead to better physical health and mental health. As we continue our focus on mental well-being, today we will discuss the benefits of positive affirmation. Positive Affirmation is a part of the seven steps of positive mental attitudes. Here's a list of those 7 steps:

1. Become an optimist - Instead of thinking the worst of everything,try finding the good in all things.

2. Become aware of self talk

3. Ask better questions

4. Employ positive self affirmations

5. Set positive goals

6. Practice positive visualizations

7. Laugh more

Our very last blog talked about step 3, asking better questions of yourself and others for clarity. We mentioned that its a tool that works well with step 2, which was positive self talk. So, today, we are moving on with step four and I hope everyone has had the opportunity to practice some of the steps so far. Keeping a positive and healthy mental attitude is a practiced process.




What Is Positive Affirmation?

A positive affirmation is a statement with emotional intensity. It can make imprints on the subconscious mind to create a healthy positive self image. It can also fuel the changes you want to make in your life. Here are some of the most significant positive affirmations I use on a daily basis.

1. I'm well blessed and highly favored
2. All things are possible through belief and prayer
3. I can accomplish any goal I set out to accomplish

And yes, if you are thinking that positive affirmations fall into place with positive self talk and asking better questions, you are absolutely correct. Here are a few tips you can follow to create your own positive affirmations. Following these simple tips will give you insight and will make you feel really good about yourself and accomplishments. Not to mention, its something fun to do.

1. Always phrase your affirmation in the present tense.

2. Always phrase your affirmations in a positive manner. Don't use negative words like can't, not, or no.

3. Do your best to link emotionally with your positive affirmations.

4. Keep the affirmations short and simple, but full of feeling and meaning.

5. Be creative

6. Imagine really experiencing what you are affirming.

7. Make your affirmation personal.

After reviewing these tips, practice employing positive affirmations by following the guidelines and write down five affirmations that apply to you. Speak your affirmations aloud and throughout the day often. Once you get into the habit, employing positive affirmations will become like second nature.




Thank you for taking a moment to read my employing positive affirmation blog. I hope you enjoyed it and hope even more that you will practice it so that you may take control over your total health. Be sure to read tomorrow as we move forward with step 5, setting positive goals. As always, please feel free to comment on any of the articles or ask questions. You may always read other blogs posted by going to http://www.bargainsdirectly.com/blchopma.html .

We have also included some useful resources on this page to get you on your way to positive healthy living. And, if by chance you want more resources, be sure to visit http://www.bargainsdirectly.com/padeandfr.html and http://www.bargainsdirectly.com/index.html . However, clicking any banner or link of this page will get you to those resources as well.






Until Next Time,
Blessings, Peace & Prosperity
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Complete Physical, Social & Mental Well Being - Ask Better Questions

Thank you for joining me. It shows that my readers are dedicated to taking control of their health. Last week, we started on our journey to making sure we keep our minds healthy. We discussed the seven steps to making sure we can be the best that we absolutely can mentally. And, so far, we went over steps one and two. The first step is to become an optimist. The second step is becoming aware of self talk. Today, we move forward with the third step, Ask Better Questions.

Here’s a list of the steps to a positive mental attitude:

1. Become an optimist - Instead of thinking the worst of everything,try finding the good in all things.

2. Become aware of self talk

3. Ask better questions

4. Employ positive self affirmations

5. Set positive goals

6. Practice positive visualizations

7. Laugh more

So, we are on our third step, and that means we should ask better questions. Our mental attitude is just like our bodies, it requires care and maintenance to stay fit and at its best. Conditioning our mind should be a constant in our lives. One way we condition our minds is by asking better questions. The most important factor in practicing this exercise is so that we are able to better understand. We must always try to understand others, but we must try even harder to understand ourselves.

Our last session on self talk discussed the step of asking better questions a little. That is because both steps work together as a powerful tool torwards a better mental attitude. In fact, one of the most powerful tools found for improving the quality of self talk and the quality of life is through a series of questions that were developed by Author Anthony Robbins and his book Unlimited Power.

Anthony Robbins believes that whatever question you ask, your brain will answer. For example, say that you are faced with a particular problem and you perhaps ask yourself the question, Why does this always happen to me? Your brain probably answers immediately. It answers to resolve the situation to make it better. Its basically a human tool we have to assist us in making better choices. So, asking better questions, would help you make better choices. And, this is not just something that works with you and you alone. It works on other people. If you ask another person a better question, you have the opportunity to receive a better answer from them and perhaps resolving a situation. This is an amazing exercise used in family therapy, couple counsel and so forth.

So, here's a list of questions that you can practice:

1. What am I most happy about in my life right now?

A. Why does that make me happy?
B. How does that make me feel?

2. What am I most excited about in my life right now?

A. Why does that make me excited?
B. How does that make me feel?

3. What am I most grateful about in my life right now?

A. Why does that make me grateful?
B. How does that make me feel?

4. What am I enjoying most in my life right now?

A. Why do I enjoy that?
B. How does that make me feel?

5. What am I committed to in my life right now?

A. Why am I committed to that?
B. How does that make me feel?

6. Who do I love?

A. Who loves me?

7. What must I do today to achieve my long term goals?

These are great questions to practice. Personally, this little exercise assisted me in getting better organized in my business endeavors. The last question, number seven is a question I ask each and every day when I wake up. Although the questions seem a little repetative, they are indeed thought provoking, especially if we are not conditioned to think this way on a normal basis.

Now would be a great time to get yourself a planner. One like the Franklin Covey Planner that has tools on setting goals, self talk and asking better questions. The tools allow you to write down the questions and answer them and lets you keep a constant visual so that you become conditioned to thinking in this new way. They also have a book called, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. This is a thought provoking book that will certainly get you on your way. I'm putting a few tools on a carousel for all my readers to gain easy access to. And of course, you can always go back and read my previous blogs for tips and tools.




Until tomorrow when we discuss employing positive affirmations,

Blessings, Peace & Prosperity
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Social, Physical & Mental Well Being - Weekend Thought

Happy Sunday Everyone,

Today I'm sort of discussing a television show I ran across. Last week, we started our topic on Physical, Social and Mental well-being. We are into the mental well-being portion of this topic and started discussing various steps towards a healthy mind. However, today I'm deviating away from the steps a little to talk about this show I came across because it's becoming the latest trend in mental illness.

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The show is called Hoarders. It's a very entertaining show that enters the lives of people and their homes because they have been classified by family members as hoarders. They send a camera into the homes of these people as well as various mental health doctors in an attempt to get them to clean up their home and to understand why they have become hoarders. Most of the time, the hoarding according to the professionals come from various triggers in their lives such as loss or loneliness and even illness. Their family members are completely fed up with the living conditions and have basically put the hoarder on blast for the world to see.

Some of the people hoard due to shopping, some hoard food and others even hoard animals. The homes are in the worst shape imaginable. There is disease in many of the homes due to dead rodents, some have so many pets that they died and became burried in the home, some had food stored for years and refused to throw it away thinking they could still eat it. Clean up crews entered many of these homes and removed tons and tons of trash.

Some hoarders were at risk of losing their homes, some were at risk of losing their children, some family members walked out on them, never to return and the most drastic for some was possible death due to the terrible and diseased conditions. According to the professionals that attempted to assist these people, they were afflicted with mental illnesses. However, they always start the program by letting you know that not enough is known about hoarding to effectively help these people. Many of them face long term therapy and some simply refuse the entire process.

Many of these hoarders are professionals. There were teachers, some worked for the Government, some were on disability and some basically worked to support their hoarding habit. But, the thing that struck me after getting over the entertainment factor and the shear shock of seeing such living conditions was a little personal and historical to me. I remember as a child living in a really nice family oriented neighborhooh in Long Island, New York. Most of the families kept foster children and many of the homes were occupied by complete families containing a mother and a father. Usually the father worked and the mother tended the home.

However, every so often, you would see the State go into those homes and remove the children stating that the living conditions were not adequate. Basically, the state pretty much tagged these homes and the occupants as nasty and disgusting. That was it, no help was offered, no therapy was offered, they were just tagged as plain and simple nasty. The thing that really grated at my nerves after watching this show and then thinking back to my childhood is that now, these professionals are trying to make inadequate living and nastiness a mental disease. The question that ran through my mind was that if I did not wash dishes for a year and simply decided it was because I did not want to, would that make me a hoarder or would it simply make me lazy?

So, I'm asking everyone that reads this blog to look at the show when you have a moment and send me your comments on what you think. Should this hoarding become the newest mental illness fad?

Tomorrow, we will get back to our regular topic and please send your comments. You can post them below.

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Until Then.

Blessings, Peace & Prosperity
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Complete Physical, Mental & Social Well Being - Exploring Positive Self Talk

Thank you for joining me on a Saturday afternoon. It shows that my readers are dedicated to taking control of their health. Yesterday, we started on our journey to making sure we keep our minds healthy. We discovered that being optimistic can do wonders for your overall health. We also discussed the seven steps to making sure we can be the best that we absolutely can mentally.

Here’s a list of those steps:

1. Become an optimist - Instead of thinking the worst of everything,try finding the good in all things.

2. Become aware of self talk

3. Ask better questions

4. Employ positive self affirmations

5. Set positive goals

6. Practice positive visualizations

7. Laugh more

Yesterday, we discussed the first step and even gave you a few tools to use so that you could perform a self test. I hope everyone had the opportunity to take the test, but even more that you all learned about yourselves as a person a little more. I placed links to a couple of great books on my blog yesterday that will also serve as great tools on your path to self discovery.




Today, we move on to the 2nd step, Self Talk. The fact is, we all talk to ourselves, either verbally or mentally. Our self talk has the ability to reach our subconscious. In order to maintain a positive mental attitude, you must stay clear of negative self talk. We should actually become aware of our self talk and then work within our conscience to implore positive self talk. There are a couple of tools that you can use to begin the process.

1. Become aware of yourself – Meaning, begin noticing the times you perform self talk and notice what you are actually saying in your mind.

2. Examine – Examine at that very moment if what you said in your mind was positive or negative.

3. Evaluate – Evaluate what you said and think of a way it could have been created better in your mind so that the outcome was positive.

4. Apply – We all pretty much have repetitive conversations in our mind, so we should apply the positive outcome from the previous step of examination each time.

We try to teach our children to think before they speak and self talk works the same way. Think before you think and after practice, you will have positive thoughts more than negative thoughts.

To start your journey on the discovery of self talk, there are also other tools to use. These tools are actually included in the aforementioned steps. Steps 3 and 4 above, asking better questions and employ positive affirmations work hand in hand with positive self talk.

Tomorrow, we will discuss those steps. Until then, try practicing the tool mentioned above and begin setting your mind up for positive awakening.

Until Then,
Blessings, Peace & Prosperity
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