No one has said it better

I don't usually get involved in politics, in fact, I avoid it wherever possible. However, it almost impossible to ignore the debacle going on with Obamacare. Barbara Bellar has said it better than anyone else and put it into a single long sentence. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did. 

“So let me get this straight – this is a long sentence. We are going to be gifted with a health care plan that we are forced to purchase, and fined if we don’t, which reportedly covers 10 million more people without adding a single new doctor, but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents, written by a committee whose chairman doesn’t understand it, passed by Congress, that didn’t read it, but exempted themselves from it, and signed by a president who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn’t pay his taxes, for which we will be taxed for four years before any benefits take effect, by a government which has bankrupted Social Security and Medicare, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese and financed by a country that is broke. So what the blank could possibly go wrong?” 

― Barbara Bellar

Treat everyday as if it were your last

We plan each day as if we will always be here. We get up, go through the motions of our daily routine, and continue through it without appreciating the magic of it and the people around us. 

The daily grind and the continuous negativity of the news seems so oppressive at times, we fail to recognize how special our lives are to others, and others to us. This article was published on November 14, 2013, and drives home the impermanence of life around us. 

Read Every Day and see if doesn't touch you in the same way it did me. I already have personal experience with this subject, as have you. How do you start your day?

Metabolic Mayhem

This post is another from a good friend of mine, Marlene Harris.

Marlene's Note: There's a number of general factors that affect our metabolic rate, among them, height, body structure (small, medium, or large frame), age, gender, and activity level. However, there's also a number of smaller, day-to-day type factors that can affect it as well, and that's the focus of today’s article from INH Health Watch.

Metabolic Mayhem: Stop these habits now to boost your calorie-burning potential! 

Need another reason to love your body? It burns calories all by itself—as long as you don't get in the way. See, every cell in your body plays a role in energy metabolism—the process of turning the food you eat into energy that keeps your heart beating, lungs pumping, and muscles moving. The faster your metabolism, the more calories you burn. And just like there are ways to speed it up—by working out, for instance—certain habits can hit the brakes on your natural calorie-churning engine.

Here are things to avoid in order to keep your metabolism humming.

Marlene's Note: Notice that it said to AVOID doing these! :-)

1). Skipping Breakfast: When you miss breakfast, you don't just set yourself up to overeat at lunch. You actually tell your body to conserve energy—which means it burns calories more slowly. That's one reason of the many reasons a study from the American Journal of Epidemiology found that people who skip a morning meal were 4.5 times more likely to be obese. 

 2). Dehydration: All of your body's cellular processes, including metabolism, depend on water. If you're dehydrated, you could burn up to 2 percent fewer calories, according to researchers at the University of Utah.

Marlene’s Note: Now, 2% fewer calories may not seem like much, but let’s do the math: for the sake of simplicity, if you need 2,000 cal/day to function, by just not drinking enough water, you’ll burn 40 calories less each day, 1,200 calories less each month, and 14,400 calories per year, which amount to 4 pounds of flubber (divide by 3,500 cal/lb.). All that by simply not drinking enough 0 calorie water!

3). A Weird Eating Schedule: In a 2012 Hebrew University study, in animal studies groups fed high fat foods sporadically gained more weight than mice that ate a similar diet on a regular schedule. Researchers suspect that eating at the same times every day trains the body to burn more calories between meals. Certainly what we eat has an enormous impact on our health and weight status. But did you know that when and how we eat also make a huge difference? Eating at the appropriate times throughout the day will help to maximize fat burning and keep hunger at bay.

Soultions:

   Aim to eat every 3 to 4 hours. Timing your meals will improve your fat loss by preventing excess insulin, allowing leptin to work its magic on appetite control and metabolism, and by balancing the stress hormone cortisol. Try to schedule your meals at the same time every day.
  
   Eat within 1 hour of rising. Your mom was also right when she told you breakfast was the most important meal of the day. When you skip breakfast, you lose its stimulating benefits on your metabolic rate. You also become more likely to eat unbalanced meals, more calories, and larger amounts of saturated fat throughout the day. Plenty of research shows that those of us who skip breakfast are heavier. Missing out on a healthy morning meal also increases your stress hormones.

   Start the day with protein. For better appetite control throughout the day, try combining your starchy carbs at lunch, dinner, or after your workouts rather than at breakfast. Stick to eggs or whey protein smoothies for breakfast and you'll eat less throughout the day.
   
   Don’t eat within 3 hours of bedtime. Eating too close to bedtime raises your body temperature, increases blood sugar and insulin, prevents the release of melatonin, and cuts down on growth hormone release. All these factors interfere with the quality of your sleep and the natural fat-burning benefits of a good night’s rest. Furthermore, sleep deprivation leads to more cravings and a greater likelihood of overeating the next day. If you must eat before bed, opt for something light that's high in protein and low in carbohydrates and fat. 
  
   Always eat within 45 minutes of finishing your workout. This meal or snack is the only one of the day that should not contain much fat and should be higher in carbohydrates. For example, have a smoothie made with juice, fruit, and protein powder, but no flaxseeds or oil.

     Never do your weight training on an empty stomach. You need energy from your foods to perform optimally. You may, however, complete your cardio before eating if your session will be less than 30 minutes.

     Eat protein first. Eat the protein on your plate first to help speed the signal to your brain that you are full.

3). Skimping on Sleep: A 2012 study found that people who sleep less move less the next day, which means they burn fewer calories. But it gets worse: Sleep deprivation actually reduces the amount of energy your body uses at rest, according to the German and Swedish researchers.

4). Eating Too Little: When you skimp on calories, your body slows your metabolic rate to conserve on fuel. There's no getting around this fundamental truth: You can't have weight-loss success unless your calories burned are more than your calories in. Leslie Bonci, M.P.H., R.D., a sports nutritionist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, recommends the following formulas for figuring out how many calories your nutrition plan should include. Use them to get a basic idea of how many calories you should be eating for both active and inactive days.

Marlene's Note: The following calculations should be considered "quick and dirty" type references, and not taken "written in stone"!

Lazy-Day Calorie Goal: Use this on days when you're taking it easy/not exercising:

A. Your weight, in pounds: ____

B. Ans. To A x 15 = _____

C. Ans. To B - 500 = _____

Active-Day Calorie Goal: Use on days when you're active/exercising:

A. Your weight, in pounds: ____

B. Ans. To A x 18 = ____

C. Ans. To B - 500 = ____

Aim for these numbers and you'll set yourself up to lose 1 pound per week, a weight-loss rate that's healthy and easier to maintain.

5). Sitting Too Long: It takes only 20 minutes in any fixed position to inhibit your metabolism, according to Carrie Schmitz, an ergonomic research manager for Ergotron. Develop a game plan to get up from your work station more frequently and move around. You can walk, or even develop a little body weight exercise routine to do to augment your fitness program.

6). Not Getting Enough Calcium: Another reason to drink your milk: Calcium plays a key role in regulating your fat metabolism, which determines whether you burn calories or store them as fat. A diet that's high in calcium could help you burn more fat, according to research conducted at the Nutrition Institute at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

It must wait...

This is something you need to watch from start to finish, and then ask yourself is texting and things like this worth it when so much is on the line, and a split second can make a world of difference. It's a film by Werner Herzog that shows what can happen when you become distracted for even a few seconds.

One Second to the Next

Spread this around. It's the one thing you can do to help.

Volcanos of Mexico

Looking at this, I can hardly believe I once climbed this mountain. It's one of two peaks that I reached the summit on during my trip to Mexico. It's also a fair bet that nobody will have a chance to do it again in my life time.

Popocateptl - erupting in 2013

This is the other one I climbed. Higher by 1000 ft.

Pico de Orizaba

Both were exciting and challenging, and a highlight of my adventures.

It's one thing in my life that I am pleased to have accomplished.