Health and Fitness

We’re all young at heart, but often our bodies insist on suggesting otherwise. With age our skin loses its lift and elasticity and our muscles slacken. The result around our eyes is a baggy and droopy look that wasn’t there before. What can be done to correct this and restore our youthful confidence?

Appearances can be deceptive. You may be well rested and in good spirits, yet appear to be tired and sad, all because of the way the skin looks around your eyes. Your eyes are a powerful communication tool and one of the most noticeable features in your face. If the eyelids or frames of these windows of facial expression have loose skin folds that hang down and slightly obstruct your vision; or ‘bags’ that sag downwards, they can seriously detract from the expression of your eyes. Many women also find that in these circumstances the use of eye makeup, instead of enhancing their appearance, often has a counterproductive effect instead.

Many of these problems can be corrected with surgery on the eyelids (blepharoplasty). An oculoplastic surgeon performs a relatively straightforward operation to remove the surplus skin and re-contour the protruding fat pockets. This is a popular procedure that ‘freshens up’ the eyes and gives a new look to an ageing face. As the thin skin around the eye area tend to age about 10 years ahead of the rest of the face, in many cases, people choose to do eyelid surgery first and then may consider a full face-lift many years later.

What to expect from a blepharoplasty?

Properly proportioned upper and lower eyelids should certainly rejuvenate your face and give you a more alert look. If you have suffered from excessive skin on your upper eyelids, the procedure should also improve your peripheral vision. For many ladies, removing the loose excess upper eyelid skin allows a more ‘stable platform’ for the application of eye make up. However a blepharoplasty procedure cannot remove crow’s feet or other wrinkles, eliminate dark circles under your eyes, or lift sagging eyebrows. Blepharoplasty, however can be combined with other treatments such as Botox and fillers, which may be more effective in treating these other problems. Who is a good candidate for such surgery? You should be physically healthy, psychologically stable, and probably have passed your 35th birthday (although younger people with a family history of baggy eyelids also have the operation). An important step during the preoperative consultation with your surgeon is to discuss your expectations frankly and in detail.

The preparation stages

Before your surgery, you’ll need to show the surgeon your complete medical history and say whether you smoke. Your health record should specify if you have any allergies and are taking any vitamins, medications (prescription or over-the-counter), or other drugs. During the consultation, your surgeon or a nurse will test your vision and assess your eyes. If you wear glasses or contact lenses, be sure to bring them with you.

An important step during the preoperative consultation with your surgeon is to discuss your expectations frankly and in details. The surgeon will then discuss the scope of the procedure - which eyelids you wish to alter (all four, just upper or just lower), whether skin as well as fat will be removed, and whether any additional procedures are appropriate. Other topics will cover the place where the surgery will be performed and the risks and costs involved. Note that most insurance policies will not cover eyelid surgery unless you can prove that it is necessary for medical reasons (such as drooping upper lids that interfere with your vision). Remember to plan for someone to drive you home after your operation and help you out for a few days if necessary.

How is blepharoplasty carried out?

The upper eyelid surgery is carried out through a thin incision in the skin of the upper lid, which is later closed with fine sutures. In the lower eyelid, the incision is made in two possible places: either hidden just underneath the eyelashes where excess fat and skin has to be removed; or from the inside of the eyelid so no scar is visible on the skin (where only excess fat has to be removed).

The surgery is usually performed on a day patient basis and the procedure usually takes one to three hours. After a short rest you can be taken home. You are given local anesthesia and light intravenous sedation to relax you. This means that you will be awake during the surgery, but relaxed and insensitive to pain (however, you may feel some tugging or occasional discomfort). Some surgeons prefer to use general anesthesia; in that case, you′ll sleep through the operation. In any case, this is a point to discuss.

After your surgeryBear in mind that every kind of surgery gives the body some kind of trauma, from which it has to recover. After the operation, your surgeon will probably lubricate your eyes with ointment and may apply bandages over both eyes for some hours to minimize the bruising. They will be removed so you could see your way home. It is normal to experience bruising and swelling, and your eyelids may feel quite tight. You can control any discomfort with the pain medication prescribed to you. Keeping your head elevated and using cold compresses to reduce the swelling and bruising will help. By the end of the second week you should feel much better.

Getting back to normal

You can expect the maximum bruising and swelling to settle after two weeks, but it often will take up to six weeks for the tissues around your eyes to settle down completely. You don’t have such an operation every day and therefore it is important to plan a significant amount of time (a couple of weeks) away from your regular activities. It will be very hard to see any visible scars because they are very thin. The incisions in blepharoplasty are made in the normal creases and folds of the upper and lower eyelids.

Three to four weeks after your operation, when you look in the mirror, you should see a younger person looking back.

Dr. Vickie Lee MA FRCOphth is a consultant ophthalmic surgeon and eyelid specialist at the Central Middlesex Hospital, London, UK. She is a Founder Member of the British Ophthalmic Plastic Surgery Society and a member of European Society of Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons. Dr Lee contributes regularly to leading medical journals and has lectured frequently in the UK and abroad on oculoplastic and ophthalmic topics. Her web site is eyesthetics.co.uk eyesthetics.co.uk

There is a lot of information out there about how to lose weight. We are all looking for that “fast weight loss no work” system that will solve all of our problems, either through special foods or magic pills.

While surgery may be a quick weight loss fix for many, the only true solution to lasting weight loss is to change your lifestyle. It’s not a quick fix, but it is the only way to permanently lose weight.

Think about it: it took you many years to gain the weight. Over a period of many years you ate more calories than you burned, so month by month you gained a pound or two each month, until now you are many pounds overweight. Since it took you this long to gain the weight, it will obviously take you a period of time to lose the weight.

The only weigh to reverse this gradual weight gain is to change your lifestyle to promote weight loss.

First, start by being conscious of what you eat and drink. Keep a food diary, so that you can track your calories. When you see how many calories your consume, it’s easy to start cutting back. Knowledge is power when it comes to weight loss.

Don’t just keep track of calories; a lifestyle change means not only reducing the calories you consume, but also improving the quality of the food you eat. Avoid junk food and soft drinks. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables. That’s a powerful lifestyle change.

Finally, don’t forget about exercise. Instead of watching television for an hour every night, go for a walk. That’s a lifestyle change that will help you lose weight, and feel better about yourself. Remember, a positive attitude is the most important lifestyle change of all, so by believing that you can lose weight, you will be successful.

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We are bombarded with information about eating right and exercising but millions still battle their weight. Diets often impose food rules that most people do not, cannot or should not follow for very long.

Diet “experts” recommend counting calories, servings or points. Some diets require you to eat pre-packaged meals or eliminate entire food groups. Face it; if dieting was truly effective, the problem would have been solved with the first one!

Diets are not just doomed to fail; they’re doomed to backfire. Learn why so you can create the perfect weight management plan for yourself.

Your Body is Programmed to Survive

Your body has primitive, complex survival mechanisms that help keep you alive during limited periods of starvation. Now that food is abundant and readily available, most modern “famines” are the result of self-imposed diets. While it seems that diets backfire, this is really the result of your body adapting to being under-fueled.

When you follow a restrictive diet, you lose water, fat and muscle. The reason you lose muscle is that it burns calories so some of your muscle mass may be given up to lower your metabolism and “save you” from starvation.

If you return to your previous eating habits when the diet is over, your body quickly replaces its fat stores but not the muscle you lost. You’ll have a higher body fat percentage and a lower metabolism than before the diet. That is why you usually gain more than you lost in the first place.

Deprivation Can Lead to Cravings

But it is not just your body that rebels when you diet. Your mind rebels too. When certain foods are forbidden you feel deprived, leading to powerful cravings. Eventually, when you give in to the cravings for these “bad” foods, you’ll feel guilty and out of control. You may give up the diet and binge on the foods you’ve been missing. Of course, most dieters blame themselves when the diet fails, but in reality, dieting itself is to blame.

Diets Ignore the Rest of You

The biggest problem with diets is they focus on what and how much to eat without addressing why people eat in the first place.

Many people eat or overeat because of environmental triggers such as appealing food, automatic meal times and learned messages like “clean your plate.” Many people eat due to emotional triggers like stress, boredom, loneliness, sadness or anger.

Since these triggers don’t go away simply by imposing a strict set of diet rules, you may try to cope with them by eating the “allowed foods.” In other words, you never really give up emotional eating or learn other coping skills, so when the diet is over, you go right back to eating the way you did before.

So What Does Work?

At this point you are probably thinking, “If diets don’t work, what am I supposed to do?” To begin with, if the diet plan you′re considering isn’t something you can imagine doing for the rest of your life, then don’t bother doing it for a day!

It is time to face the fact that the key to solving your struggle with weight and food does not lie in a magical, or even a logical, combination of diet and exercise. The real solution lies in finally addressing your relationship with food and learning to recognize and effectively cope with your eating triggers.

Start by asking yourself “Am I hungry?” whenever you have and urge to eat. When you relearn to trust your innate ability to know when and how much to eat, you will begin to eat in a way that fuels your body, mind, and spirit.

Michelle May, M.D. is a recovered yoyo dieter and the award-winning author of Am I Hungry? What To Do When Diets Don’t Work. Learn to manage your weight without deprivation and guilt with Dr. May’s complimentary mini e-course at amihungry.com/mini-e-course-intro.shtml/ amihungry.com/mini-e-course-intro.shtml

Wear for fun colored contacts are exactly what they sound like. Wear for fun colored contacts are cosmetic contacts and are available throughout the world. You can even get some of these wear for fun colored contacts without a prescription.

When you wear for fun colored contacts you should still make sure they are safe for your eyes. Many people think the wear for fun colored contacts do not require the same care as prescription contacts, but they are wrong.

If you use the wear for fun colored contacts you should see an eye doctor to make sure your eyes are healthy and suitable for the wear for fun colored contacts. Do this before you buy any of the wear for fun colored contacts.

You will also need to know how to insert the wear for fun colored contacts in your eyes and how to remove them safely. Do you know what to do if the wear for fun colored contacts get stuck in your eyes?

If you are considering wear for fun colored contacts, are you prepared to take care of them? Do you know how to clean them properly and are you willing to take the time to do so?

Have you thought about how you will store your wear for fun colored contact? This is important, too. Before you get the wear for fun colored contacts you should have all the contact care items ready to go.

Another thing to know about wear for fun colored contacts: do not ever share them with friends. Your wear for fun colored contacts may be super neat and your friends may want to borrow them. The answer should always be, “no.” It is not safe to share your wear for fun colored contacts and if you do so you are putting your vision and the vision of your friend at risk.

Wear for fun colored contacts are great to have and easy to obtain but please use caution and take good care of them.

Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Vision-Doctor.com. He provides more contact lens tips and vision-doctor.com/Discount-Contact-Lenses.html discount contact lenses that you can research and purchase in your pajamas on his website.

It is hardly surprising that the symptoms of computer vision syndrome are so prevalent. The eyestrain that is caused by sitting at a computer screen for hours on end viewing text and graphics, results in headaches and blurred vision and diminished work performance. Practicing visual ergonomics offers a commonsense approach to reducing eyestrain and improving poor basic work habits.

What exactly is visual ergonomics? Ergonomics is the study of human efficiency in a working environment. Visual ergonomics involves a more efficient interaction of your vision with the task you are performing on your computer, and learning how to minimize the strain on your eyes while you work.

Putting this concept into practise requires following some simple guidelines which will ensure you adopt sound work habits when using your computer. Looking at these guidelines, “twenty” seems to be the magic number which comes up time and again.

But it isn’t just restricted to visual ergonomics. When designing an ergonomically-sound kitchen, for example, twenty feet is considered the maximum total distance between the work triangle of icebox, stove and kitchen sink.

Let’s look in more detail at these simple rules. We are all familiar with the term 20/20 vision to denote perfect vision. But to keep our eyes healthy, and avoid the symptoms of computer vision syndrome, we should be following the 20/20/20 rule. Every 20 minutes or so, look away from your computer screen for at least 20 seconds at an object 20 feet away.

Why is this important? Studies have shown that constant near-point focusing on a computer monitor has contributed significantly to an increase in the number of cases of shortsightedness (myopia) among twenty to thirty-year-olds.

As babies we are born longsighted and our eyes are not fully developed until we are 8 years old. Living in a “near-point” world, and exposed to prolonged computer use from an early age which takes its toll on the undeveloped focusing muscles of young eyes, today’s young adults are increasingly at risk from developing myopia.

Practicing visual ergonomics, therefore, helps protect young eyes, and monitoring software that reminds them when to stop is now available. Children are not as self-aware as adults, so regulating your child’s time on the computer and encouraging him to follow the 20/20/20 rule is very important.

For those of us who are older and spend long periods in front of our monitors, it is an equally good idea to keep doing this exercise. As we age, our ability to do near work in comfort diminishes. This is because the eye’s lens stiffens, compromising its ability to become rounded and so impairing our ability to see comfortably close up.

Focusing from near to far to a distance of 20 feet and back to near again several times a day can help slow down the hardening of the lens. This focusing and refocusing should form part of a general eye care program which should also include proper intake of vitamins and exercise. Visual ergonomics can, therefore, play a positive role not just in helping to counter the symptoms of computer vision syndrome, but also in keeping your eyes generally healthier.

If you have reached the “bifocal” age, and already wear bifocals or trifocals when using your computer, another twenty rule comes into play. Make sure your monitor is no nearer than 20 inches and, if you have a monitor larger than 20 inches, position it so that the top of the viewing area is approximately 3” above eye level. Lowering the monitor provides more comfortable viewing through your lower lenses.

Remember as well that, even with glasses, the computer screen can become blurred. Trying to read a fuzzy screen can cause a variety of vision-related aches and pains from a sore neck and shoulders to nagging back pain. When using a computer, your vision can adversely affect your body.

If you’re struggling to read the screen through the lower portion of your bifocals, or through half-eye reading glasses, you tend to adopt a poor posture. Computer glasses, which enlarge the intermediate zone of your vision making text and graphics much easier to read, may be appropriate to assist you in achieving greater comfort at the monitor.

For some people the concept of visual ergonomics needs to be widened. Specific vision therapy programs, with the aim of improving binocular vision and efficient functioning of the visual system, have been developed for individuals suffering from ambylopia (lazy eye), strabismus (squint) and other eye alignment problems.

These programs offer vision training to get the eyes to work at their peak efficiency and alleviate eyestrain. Diagnostic testing, training procedures, along with the use of lenses and prisms, may all be involved in successfully treating these conditions. Tailored to the individual’s specific binocular problem, the resulting improvements in how the eyes aim and focus together can lead to greater concentration and increased efficiency for near work.

Let’s now go back to our work triangle in the kitchen and apply an important aspect of kitchen design to visual ergonomics in the office. The workplace in the 21st century differs markedly from the office of a few decades back. Then, typists did not have the modern work triangle of monitor, keyboard and copy, with its associated problems of eyestrain, to contend with.

A work triangle is necessary in the kitchen, but why in the office? By using a document holder, and keeping your hard copy close to the screen, you remove one side of the triangle altogether and create a more ergonomic angle. This immediately reduces eyestrain by reducing the number of times your eyes need to focus and refocus during the working day.

Here are three final tips for healthy computing. First, remember to blink fully and often to avoid dry eyes, a symptom of computer vision syndrome.

Second, to relax your eyes, cover them with your palms, take several deep breaths for 20 seconds, uncover your eyes and refocus. Repeat several times during the day.

Third, make sure you have an annual eye check-up. Take a note of your viewing distances, and give these figures to your doctor before the eye exam.

Don’t forget, though, the most important figure in visual ergonomics is the number twenty. Follow the above guidelines and near vision tasks will become more rewarding and enjoyable.

© 2006 Maureen P Cook

In this article, Maureen Cook shows you how visual
ergonomics can help avoid computer vision syndrome.

To read more, go to myvisioninfo.com/computer_vision_syndrome.php Computer Vision Syndrome

Cold sores and pregnancy, although rare, can be serious concern for new mothers who suffer from the herpes simplex virus. It is understandable to be concerned, so let’s take a deeper look into this health issue.

The herpes simplex virus that causes cold sores is not a genetic condition, meaning that you can’t automatically pass it on to your unborn child. The cold sore virus is only spread by coming in direct contact with someone who is infected.

Cold sores and pregnancy can be a health concern during the delivery of your baby. If you are about to give birth and have an active cold sore or herpes outbreak around the birth canal, your doctor will do a c-section delivery instead to protect your baby from coming in contact with the virus. It’s important to note that if you have herpes, but are not currently having an outbreak, a normal delivery should be fine.

Studies have shown that women who have had the herpes simplex virus long before becoming pregnant are at a very low risk of infecting the baby.

The one area that is of greatest concern is if you contract the herpes virus for the first time during your pregnancy. There will be a very high likelyhood of passing it on to your baby. Neonatal herpes as it is termed, can be fatal to your baby. You must get in contact with your doctor immediately if this occurs. Since Neonatal herpes is not a reportable disease in many different states, it is impossible to know exactly how many cases there are each year. Estimates put the number at 1,000-3,000, so cold sores and pregnancy are a concern to be mindful of, especially if you have had them in the past.

What is more amazing, and quite sad, is the fact that 5%-8% of all newborn babies who contract neonatal herpes get the virus by being kissed from an adult who has an active cold sore. While this is hard to believe, it points out the fact that you have to be careful in who is around your new baby.

The best tip in regards to having cold sores and wanting to get pregnant is to talk with your health care provider beforehand. Regardless of whether you currently have an active herpes outbreak, or if it has been years ago, talk with the medical experts and get all your questions answered in regards to cold sores and pregnancy.

Do you suffer from cold sores? Find out much more about allaboutcoldsores.com/Cold_Sores_And_Pregnancy.html Cold Sores And Pregnancy as well as more information about cold sores at allaboutcoldsores.com www.AllAboutColdSores.com

If you have many things to do at the office, many reports to finish, and many accounts and deals to close, you can find it more and more difficult to keep healthy and live right. You may have time to control your diet, and you can have time to relax and sleep during the weekends, but can you spare a few hours for a workout?

Going to the gym is understandably a hassle: you need to pay high gym joining fees, engage in workouts that strain your muscles more than tone them, and spend hours on boring machines that make exercise more a trial than an enjoyment.

A fitness ball workout, on the other hand, can put more verve in your workout. You need not even go to the gym to engage in a fitness ball workout: all you need to buy is a stability ball, a fitness ball workout manual, and a few hours off your day, and you can do your fitness ball workout right at your office or in your living room.

A fitness ball workout, moreover, allows you to do away with the hard wooden or concrete floor of the gym, which can wear out the soles of your gym shoes and strain your back with the impact of the floor on it.

If you are interested in engaging in a fitness ball workout, you may need to consult with your chiropractor or orthopedist first. A fitness ball workout lessens floor impact by allowing you to concentrate on flexing and moving your muscles more; this same fitness ball workout can stretch your muscles and make you over exert them without the proper training and supervision.

An orthopedist can recommend exercises to add to your fitness ball workout that will not strain your back or exacerbate any existing diseases or medical conditions that you might have.

To reshape your body with a

If you suffer from xerostomia, or dry mouth, it seems to make sense to most people look for dry mouth alternative remedies. Perhaps this is because we don’t take the condition all that seriously: like dry skin or dry hair, it’s just another challenge for daily self-care that one must deal with. Xerostomia, however can be very uncomfortable, can affect daily life and health, and can be caused by more serious medical conditions or drugs. It’s important to find out what is causing the condition before selecting a remedy: the best remedy may be a cure for something else!

Prescription medication for dry mouth is available, and is often prescribed by dentists, or by medical specialists who are treating the underlying causes of xerostomia. Some of the prescribed drugs are specifically targeted at known causes, for instance, if the xerostomia is caused by radiation for cancer, a radioprotectant drug may be used. Some other drugs simply stimulate the salivary glands to work harder, so it’s important to choose a prescription medication for dry mouth with the help of an experienced professional. Depending on the circumstances, you may want to try dry mouth alternative remedies first, but be sure to discuss it with your health care specialist.

There are a few simple measures you can take to lessen the discomfort of xerostomia. Avoid beverages that contain caffeine or alcohol. Avoid tobacco products. Drinks lots of water and fruit juice, sip water throughout the day, and use an artificial saliva product if you wish. Rinse your mouth after eating or drinking. Brush your teeth with a moist soft-bristle toothbrush and floss regularly. Use sugarless gum and hard candy (sugar promotes tooth decay but having a candy in the mouth stimulates saliva flow). Use a humidifier in the bedroom at night. If these easy tactics don’t work, try other dry mouth alternative remedies.

Anything that will stimulate the flow of saliva will combat xerostomia. Some herbs and herbal preparations are known to be particularly effective, and are recommended as dry mouth alternative remedies. Chinese green tea, a tea that is frequently valued for its other possible healthy properties, is a pleasant one that you can try. Chamomile (also sometimes taken as a tea) and ginger are other possibilities. Some of the herbal blends are available from alternative medicine suppliers. Again, because these are not prescription medication for dry mouth, you can get them without a doctor’s okay, but a professional diagnosis is still important.

Other dry mouth alternative remedies include acupuncture and dietary adjustments. Consult your local alternative medicine practitioner for more details on these approaches.

R. Drysdale is a freelance writer with more than 25 years experience as a health care professional. She is a contributing editor to
badbreath-cure.blogspot.com Dry Mouth Alternative Remedies, a blog dedicated to the treatment of bad breath.

There is no definite explanation of what exactly causes anxiety attacks. In reality causes of anxiety attacks can be psychological and physiological.

Many physiological researchers suspect a chemical imbalance in the brain to be one of the main anxiety disorder causes.

Any emotions, feelings and actions are transmitted to the brain as electrical impulses from one nerve cell (neuron) to receptor of another nerve cell. Chemicals in the brain such as serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine help to facilitate communication between neurons. Those chemicals called neurotransmitters help to regulate our mood. If there is a failure in this process and one of the receptors gets blocked, neurotransmitter is unable to send electrical impulse further. This can interfere with the amount of the neurotransmitters in the brain and create imbalance in its biochemistry.

Chemical imbalance in the brain can be also caused by a shift in the way almond-shaped area in the brain called “amygdala” responds to the brain signals. Amygdala is an “alarm system” that plays a large role in processing emotions, development of memories as well as in our defensive behavior. When danger is perceived, amygdala begins to set off a number of reactions that will help to defend the body and get extra oxygen to major muscle groups. Those reactions include rapid heart rate and breathing, sweating, hot and cold flashes and so on.

There is evidence that genetics can play an important role in developing anxiety. About 25% of people who are pre-disposed to serotonin and dopamine imbalance have a family history of anxiety disorders.

Other causes of anxiety attack can be environmental factors as well as personality traits. Sometimes upsetting events like death of a loved one, divorce, financial difficulties or unemployment can put a person under more stress that he/ she can cope with, which leads to anxiety. Such personality traits like low self-esteem, pessimism, shyness and poor coping skills combined with environmental factors may affect development of anxiety disorder or depression.

Anxiety disorder may also develop as a result of traumatic event, such as car accident, terrorism, physical or emotional abuse and natural cataclysms. In this case painful memories, nightmares, scary thoughts and anniversaries of the event can trigger anxiety attacks and outbursts of anger. Anxiety attacks usually

Some health conditions like heart disease, diabetes, neurological disease, sleep disorders, tumors, endocrine disorders, asthma and infections can mimic anxiety symptoms or cause anxiety.

Certain over-the-counter medications (such as decongestants), ADHD and high blood pressure medications, illegal drugs (marijuana, cocaine, heroin), weight loss products, alcohol, nicotine and energy boosters containing a large amount of caffeine may cause anxiety and for they reason should be avoided.

Herbal remedies are known to help coping with anxiety, but they can also trigger it. For example, such herbs as Ephedra and Ma huang are proved to stimulate anxiety attack.

Most psychotherapists agree that chronic anxiety disorders are related to both human anatomy and psychology. The various complex factors and anxiety risk factors can interact with the impact to one another.

If you suffer from panic attacks, regardless of what you have been led to believe, acute anxiety and panic attacks can be cured in easy-to-follow steps using a revolutionary new technique: goal-setting-guide.com/go/anxiety1.html goal-setting-guide.com/go/anxiety1.html

Because I believe diet and exercise are so important, I’m often frustrated with the recommendations I receive. Nutrition and natural health ideas are often so negative (don’t eat this, watch out for that) or so rigorous (be sure to eat some raw, natural, organically grown vegetable I’ve never heard of) or so complicated, I end up ignoring them. And yet, I know diet is critical to my health and well-being, so I made up my own rules. My objective was simplicity, so all of you with greater will-power and more discipline, cut me some slack, OK? For the rest of us, I hope you find them useful.

1. Eat less. I used to eat until I was full, and then snack as a hobby. And, sometimes I still do. But, more and more, I decide when I′ve eaten enough, leave room for a treat later, and simply choose to eat a little less. I think it helps.

2. Drink more water. I used to try to drink 8 glasses a day, but I usually ended up either losing count…or just going to the bathroom a lot. Now, on my way to the table I stop by the sink and grab a glass of water. I figure that’s more water than most people drink, it probably helps me eat less (see Rule #1), and sometimes it reminds me to drink even more. Close enough.

3. Eat more fruit. Benjamin Franklin said, “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” I just know apples, a banana, some grapes or something “exotic″ like a mango or a kiwi tastes good, and it’s the fastest, most portable and convenient food I’ve found. A handful of those little baby carrots beats a sandwich by a good 90 seconds!

4. Eat your vegetables. Yeah, still listening to my mother. But on the positive side, they’re so easy! No sauces, no mixing or blending or nothing! Raw, steamed or microwaved, they’re great for adding color to a meal (greens, yellows, and beans in all sorts of colors). I know fresh and organically grown is best, and sometimes I buy them that way….

5. Eat more rice and baked potatoes. I score points with my doctor, my “significant other″ and again, it’s about the easiest cooking I′ve figured out.

6. Stretch when you feel like it. I used to follow a routine that recommended stretching and yoga for about 30 minutes every morning. Wonderful stuff! Very healthy. And someday I’m going to give it another try! For now, every morning, and several times during the day, I stand up and try to reach the ceiling. I bend, twist, shake my shoulders, breath deep, whatever seems to feel good at the moment. Then I get back to work.

7. Avoid exercise and elevators. OK, I believe jogging and sweating and lifting weights are good for me. And I do some of it. But I also find it useful to walk around the block to get the mail (the box is across the street) or take the stairs instead of the elevator. I walk the dog, push the lawnmower and play tennis and golf with my friends. That way I figure I’m exercising and leaving the gyms open for the rest of you.

8. Spend time with friends. Talking, sharing dreams, giving and receiving support, solving life’s great mysteries and debating politics or religion with a friend does wonders for the soul. And, hugs are good. And if you have a life-partner, I find talking regularly seems to avoid a number of other problems, as well!

9. Laugh every day. Tell a joke, wrestle with your dog or play with the kids next door, but have some fun! Life’s short.

10. Plan for dessert! At the end of the day, I really like something special to top it all off. So, I plan for a bite of chocolate or a cup of low-fat pudding or yogurt or a handful of fresh grapes. It sure seems to beat restlessly searching the cupboards and refrigerator for “something” and ending up with a big bowl of ice cream!

Finally, a few words of experience. It’s OK to “slip” once in a while. At least it better be OK…I seem to do it periodically. Just get up again tomorrow, make the rules simpler, more fun or more appropriate for your situation and get right back on! I don′t think the objective is perfection — there’s no point in having a heart attack getting all stressed out about the rules! Just go have some fun!

© Copyright 2003 by Philip E. Humbert. All Rights Reserved. This article may be copied and used in your own newsletter or on your website as long as you include the following information: “Written by Dr. Philip E. Humbert, writer, speaker and success coach. Dr. Humbert has over 300 free articles, tools and resources for your success, including a great newsletter! It’s all on his website at: philiphumbert.com philiphumbert.com