Happy Birthday ELA!

It's my lovely wife's birthday today, head on over to ELA and wish her a happy birthday!

Needless to say I'm spoiling her today with some of her favorite foods before we fly to Melbourne tonight.

Avocado on toast, with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice, home made Limeonade and Chai tea... Possibly one of the simplest yet best breakfasts possible.

Disagree? Then let me know...

Bored?

From here

Feeling bored?

What about tired?

Finding it difficult to focus?

These can all be signals that you're not exercising enough. We all know that exercise is good for you, it doesn't really matter what type of exercise, how or where. What is important is that you do it! Regularly!

When you exercise regularly you improve your stamina and endurance physically and mentally. So going to the gym a few times a week, swimming, jogging, riding, playing tennis or basket ball - whatever it

Goals

From here

I touched on goal-setting in the previous post (Present Time Consciousness), and goal-setting is just as important when it comes to your health as career choices etc.

Just as some people will wander aimlessly from the start of their career to the end letting the world push them to where-ever they end up, possibly more people take the same approach with their health. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that, it's your life, do shat make you happy - just be prepared to reap the consequences of you actions good or bad.

Looking at physics, chemistry, and pretty much any other science (hell, look beyond science and you'll find the same!), every action has

Present Time Consciousness

From here

There's a quote that I love:

"The past is a mystery,
the future is a mystery,
but today is a gift - that's why it's called the present."


As far as I know this wasn't said by anyone particularly

Use it or lose it: body, brain.... etc.

Image: Michal Marcol / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Wow! The body that you live in is amazing!

It does most things you want it to and a mountain of things that you don't even know it should - just to keep you alive!

How do you wake up? How are you able to put one foot in front of the other and call it walking?
The chemical cascades and chain of reactions that control the human body is an entire scientific area of study in itself.

Run away from colds!

So, it turns out that a recent study has shown what most of us already knew - people who regularly exercise tend to be much healthier and not get sick as often as those of us that don't exercise!

The study shows that people who exercise regularly catch the common cold about half as often (making it a little less common... I guess...).

The study (done in America) asked volunteers to note any cold-like symptoms (coughs, blocked and runny nose etc.) for three months in Autumn and Winter, and to also note how many times per week they exercised enough to sweat.

All of this makes sense - if you exercise regularly - your health will improve, making your body able to adapt to change a little easier, increasing the odds of you fighting off that cold... before you even catch it.

Here's the twist. One of the most important factors that played a role was the persons perception of how healthy they were. Just a bit more evidence of how the brain and nervous system really are in control of everything that goes on in these two legged vehicles we get around in.

Brought to my attention by lifehacker.

Get yourself as Healthy as an Ox.

“You will become whoever you want to be.” ~ Paul Arden 1940-2008

Fat vs. Carbs

This is the first of probably many posts about fat and carbohydrates...

Fats have gotten a pretty bad wrap since about the 40s (and lets face it - probably a lot earlier than that too). It's been blamed for all sorts of things like heart conditions, blood pressure, strokes, obesity and a plethora of other health conditions... but is it really as bad as they say it is? Saturated fats are associated with increasing the cholesterol levels, the above mentioned diseases and diabetes... so if we already know all this why bother repeating it?

Because perhaps, just perhaps we've got it wrong...

On Being Right and Wrong

By now you know who Paul Arden is, Arden has an interesting view no being Right or Wrong. Being Wrong is nothing to be feared, it is in fact to be encouraged – only by being wrong are we able to grow.

“If you can’t solve a problem, it’s because you’re playing by the rules.” Often, thinking laterally or creatively is what you need to break through to the next stage, to create something special.

Aim High

Paul Arden’s book ‘It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be’ (published by Phaidon) has a great message about not holding back, and going for the big prize. Arden points out that there is actually not much of a demand for excellence, but there is a huge demand for mediocrity. The big prize actually has less competition when you go for it – unlike the middle of the road, everyone’s aiming for that!

Much of this may seem obvious once you read it, yes, you may already know these things, but don’t you (like most other people) need to be reminded?

It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be

Paul Arden made a huge splash in advertising in the UK, working for Saatchi & Saatchi for 15 years – during which he became the Executive Creative Director. His book ‘It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be’ (published by Phaidon) helps to bring forth the unknown and untapped talents, dreams, thoughts and energy from within.

As the back cover says, the answers seem obvious once you see them written on paper: yes, you may already know these things, but don’t you (like most other people) need to be reminded?

Nearly all of the most rich and/or powerful people have only one quality that others don’t.

They don’t have more talent, better education or better looks.

They have the desire to be rich and/or powerful.

I'm Still Alive!!!

Hi all, sorry for the infrequent posting in the past while. Parents visited in Dublin, we packed up our lives and now we're in Dubai with ELA's Dad - on our way back to Australia... So it been (and still is) hectic to say the least... so bear with me (or is it bare with me? someone leave a comment with which one is right...) for the next week.
After that, all should be good, and back on track.
In the meantime ELA has somehow managed to put some stuff together so check in on her too.

Keep it healthy!

Think and Grow...

It's Napoleon!

Napoleon Hill's 'Think and Grow Rich' (through BookDepository.co.uk)is something that I've been getting stuck right into recently.

Each person that reads a book or watches a film is bound to take something different from it - different things will resonate with each individual. Take each of these quotes, they can and should be applied to your health. One of the most important things that you can realize is that your life is in your hands - no one else will live it for you.

Chiropractic explained

I could try to explain all about Chiropractic and the philosophy behind it... But I've found this great video that pretty much explains it all nicely instead.

In the future I'll explore different aspects of health, but chiropractic is such an important part of my own health and wellness maintenance program that really, this is already overdue!

A great quote that I heard somewhere says "Like Gravity, Chiropractic Principles Work. Whether You Believe in Them or Not."

Stress

Stresses can be categorised into three groups. Physical, Chemical and Emotional. It is our ability to react and adapt to these stresses that determines our level of health, as stresses build up in the body they have more and more effect on the body - often to levels that the body will start to deteriorate and/or change the way it functions in order to ensure short-term survival.

Although the chance of short-term survival is increased, if the stress is allowed to continue, the body then has to deal with a chronic stress - changing the way it works more significantly.

Just Quickly...

ELA just posted this, I think it's appropriate for this day and age where we are all about the quick fix and shirking any responsibility for our own health... have a quick look...

Health - 101

Health is not just something to think about when it fails, it's not even what most people are doing now - that's just survival!

Health is really thriving, your body functioning as well as it possibly can - physically, mentally, socially and spiritually.

Napoleon Hill

I've just started reading Napoleon Hill's 'Think and Grow Rich' (through BookDepository.co.uk), When I first heard the title I had the same reaction as the narrator in Robin Sharma's 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari' - what, some 'get rich quick' book?

Napoleon Hill from here

Indeed the idea behind it is success, but the most important thing is that it would seem that the principles can be applied to any facet of your life: Work, Relationships, Health, Wealth... what else can you think of? It can probably be applied to it.

So is it a get-rich-quick book? So far the answer is no - that would pretty much go against the principles outlined. But if applied properly it can make you rich in any and every way.

From page 38 "Remember, no more effort is required to aim high in life, to demand abundance and prosperity, than is required to accept misery and poverty."

Very inspirational - now, back into it!

Decreasing belly fat? Ab-solutely! Article Review

While thinking about how I REALLY need to get back into a gym soon - no, that's not me in the picture... I stumbled upon this article  (I've started doing most of my thinking online now - it's a part of the high-information diet [geeze I've gotta go on a low-info diet!] - I know that doesn't make sense, but it will in a week or so) by Michael Geary called 'My Top 55 Lean-Body Foods to Build Muscle and Lose Body Fat'.

Biomega Bikes

Biomega 'MN'

Obviously exercise is a massive part of a healthy life-style... and speaking of style, Biomega and Puma are giving us plenty of ways to exercise in style!

Biomega have decided to reinvent the wheel with the 'Copnehagen' and 'Bamboo' (after the jump) by changing the way the bike works - no cogs and chain, instead you have a crank-shaft... pretty clever... and when I had a play with one in the store, pretty quiet too!

Biomega 'MN'

Happy Anniversary

Dear ELA,
How happy I am that we met.
How happy I am that we got married two years ago.
Love you kitty!

Enough now, lets not make the nice people sick...

Happy Birthday Mother-in-Law!

Happy Birthday you!
Mother of ELA...

A Day in the Park

 

With all of my spare time, I've decided to reassess where I'm at. Where best to do that than laying on the grass in the park?

For the next month or so I'm still living in Dublin, so there are no better parks than St. Stephen's Green and Phoenix Park - the largest enclosed park in Europe (so I'm told).
Perhaps tomorrow I'll visit Merrion Square...

BUT while laying there, I realised that I was catching up on something
that I'd been lacking quite a lot of...

Any guesses?

Fear Setting

Hectic week at work, with the end result of me quitting! What a relief!

It was a case of me standing up for what I believe in and realizing that my work was causing me too much emotional stress - in the past two months I lost between two and three kilo's in weight. That puts me under my normal weight - and I don't like that!

Thanks to 'The 4-Hour Work Week' by Timothy Ferriss (through BookDepository.co.uk), and a technique that he calls 'fear setting' (define the absolute worst case scenario, is it really that bad? Are there actions that you could take to get things back on track? On a scale of 1-10, what is the highest possible lasting negative impact it could have on your life? If we're honest, probably only 3 or 4 - On the other hand, What are the positives that could come out of following through on this hypothetical action? On a scale of 1-10, what is the possible lasting impact it could have? Possibly up to 8? Even 9 or 10?).

So, now that I'm done with that, I get to recover and recuperate. Time for some more research and putting the good word out there about our healthy lifestyle alternatives - One-on-One is great, but I think I'll be able to make more of a difference with getting more information out in the public realm for you all to think about.

If there's anything in particular that you'd like me to look into - just drop me a line! I'll get onto it!

Great Sources of Info

Before I start with all of the real info-ing, here is a great source of health information:
Dr. Mercola: an MD bringing new research to all about many different topics
Full of loads research and products that can really help!
Dr. James Chestnut DC: a chiropractor that has dedicated countless hours towards researching and reviewing the academic literature to bring scientific validation of chiropractic principles to those who scoff at pro-active health care principles.
Dr. Jennifer Barham-Floreani: an Australian chiropractor and author of 'Well Adjusted Babies', the book is an exceptional guide to pregnancy and parenting - an absolute must read for couples considering children right through to grand parents.
Patrick Holford: Author of '100% Health', promoting the principles of 'food as medicine', prevention being the best cure, and also advocating a pro-active approach to looking after health, another must read.

First post... Again

It's late on a Friday night, the end of a long week and still one more full day of work to go... It's a good thing that I LOVE what I do!

Because I'm passionate about pro-active health-care I'm going to do what I can to help everyone be a little more aware of the choices we face and how to make the most of the body you have - if we're all going to grow old, we may as well be able to enjoy it right???

Stay tuned!

Healthy as an Ox

Coming soon to a blog near you!