So what should you do to develop good eating habits? Well, here are some guidelines to follow to get you well on your way to making better, more health minded food choices.

1)      PREPARE YOURSELF FOR SUCCESS

In order to begin you need to prepare yourself mentally. Plan in advance what you will be eating during the week, write it out for yourself, stock up on those foods and make it happen!

2)      PROTEIN IS VITAL

Make sure you eat protein in some form at every meal, including breakfast.

3)      EAT LESS REFINED BREADS AND STARCHES

Cut back on the amount of bread and  pasta you consume. Eat your pasta as your mid-day meal and if you do eat pasta or bread it comes from whole grains.

4)      LIMIT YOUR DAIRY CONSUMPTION

Drink non-fat milk, eat low fat or fat free cheese and low fat yogurt but check the yogurt, some low fat yogurt has a very high sugar contant!

5)      DON’T OVERDO THE FRUIT

No more than 2 a day and use just the good fiber kinds. Apples, pears, plums, and berries are best. Avoid fruit juices, they’re loaded with sugar!

6)      EAT NUTS

Just stay in moderation here. A quarter cup of pistachios, almonds or cashews are not only tasty, but a good source of protein.

7)      REDUCE THE PORTIONS

When at home, use smaller plates. If you go out, order the smaller size or if one size fits all, get a doggie bag in advance and put half your meal in it before you start to eat. You will fell better and have a good meal to eat again later.

8)      DRINK LOTS OF WATER

Water has great dietary and overall  health benefits. Many hunger pangs are due to lack of water. Drinking plenty of water throughout the day will keep you hydrated and will reduce food cravings.

9)      GO MEATLESS FOR A MEAL A DAY

Try eating one meal per day with no meat. For example, have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich rather than a hamburger. You reduce bad fat and increase fiber and protein.

10)  NEVER SKIP BREAKFAST

A proper breakfast gets your metabolism going. Use cereals with at least 5 grams of fiber and no more than 8 grams of sugar and use non-fat milk.

11)  EAT MORE SEAFOOD

Eat water packed tuna and salmon, they are loaded with omega-3 fatty acids that help protect the heart. You should have these seafoods 2-3 times per week.

12)  BRING YOUR OWN LUNCH

Rather than eating lunch out all the time, make your lunch and only eat out for lunch once a week. You’ll save money and know your eating good things like whole grain bread, lean chicken or ham and fruit or veggies.

The fact is, if you use these simple guidelines as a means to put together a plan of good eating habits  you will be well on your way to developing them with sound nutrition and you will be paving the way for a life long journey of better health.

Caffeine is one of the methyl derivatives of xanthine. Xanthines occure naturally in more than 60 plants and caffeine is the most potent of these and is found in coffee, tea, chocolate, many soft drinks and diet aids.

There is no doubt that caffeine works to help exercise performance. It is known to stimulate the central nervous system, mobilize various hormones that are involved in metabolic processes, improve muscle contraction, and improve the use of fats and carbohydrates for energy. But, and this is a big but, how you use it is very important in whether you’ll get maximum performance benefits from it so take note of the results of numerous studies on the subject of caffeine use to inhance performance in order to fully understand how caffeine use can benefit your exercise program.

Here are the findings of those studies:

1. explosive athletes who do short duration sports such as power-lifting, sprints, ect. Do not appear to benefit from caffeine use
2. endurance athletes such as long distance cyclists, runners, swimmers, ect. Can improve their performance with caffeine use.
3. reaction time can be improved with caffeine use.
4. the best dose of caffeine is around 3.0 milligrams per kilogram of bodyweight. Below that, little performance improvement is noted and above that, there will be a performance decrement.
5. an athlete who uses caffeine after abstaining from it for several days sees improved performance.
6. fat loss with exercise is increased when caffeine is taken prior to exercise.
7. the half life of caffeine in your system is 2 to 2 ½ hours and it’s effects are of similar duration.
8. caffeine intake results in increased alertness, reduced drowsiness and a reduced perception of fatigue.

With the above in mind, it would seem beneficial to use caffeine before exercise. Even those involved in powerlifting and sprinting can still benefit from the improved alertness and reaction time.

Now, something to point out here is that there are those who do not respond well to caffeine. About 20% of the population will exhibit adverse effects to caffeine such as cardiac arrhythmias, excessive urination, insomnia, withdrawal headaches and a type of anxiety called “caffeineism”. If your in the 20% who experience any of these effects from caffeine use, don’t use it! The benefits you get from it are not worth those side effects.

If you have ulcers you are cautioned against using caffeine because it causes a 400% increase in acid levels in the stomach.

The recommended dose of caffeine in coffee form is around two cups one hour before exercise.

The bottom line on using caffeine to help you perform better during exercise is, yes, it does have it’s benefits, but, it should be used wisely and only you can determine whether or not it’s helping your exercise performance and if it’s right for you.

Children are not miniature adults and so you cannot use the same methods on growing children as you can with adults as children are different from adults anatomically, physiologically and emotionally. Children have immature skeletons. Their bones do not mature until age 14 to 22 years old. In girls, exercise during childhood can have critical effects on bone health that can last for their whole lives. Children are often vulnerable to growth related overuse injuries such as Osgood schlatter’s disease. Children have immature temperature regulation systems due to having a large surface area compared to their muscle mass which makes them more susceptible to injury when not properly warmed up. Children do not sweat as much as adults so they are also more susceptible to heat exhaustion as well as heat stroke. Their low muscle mass and immature hormone system makes it harder for them to develop strength and speed and their breathing and heart responses during exercise are different from an adult’s which affects their capacity for exercise.

Now, boys and girls can greatly improve their strength with weight training but as opposed to adults, neurological factors instead of muscle growth factors are mostly responsible for these gains. When considering a program for a child, medical clearance should be obtained first and foremost. The best first approach for designing a program is to establish a repetition range of between 8-12 and keep the work load appropriate for that range. Workouts should be spread out to have at least 1-2 full days of rest between each workout and the main focus on every exercise performed should be on form and technique, not on weight lifted. Some guidelines to consider are: warm-up and stretching should be done before weight training. Start with light loads and make appropriate adjustments from there. No more than 3 non-consecutive should be done in a week and see that they drink plenty of water before, during and after exercise.

Always remember that if at anytime your child is sick, has an injury of any kind or seems tired or non-energetic, do not have them exercise until you are sure they are better or until they have seen a doctor and have clearance from them.

For starters, keep busy. Read a book, call a friend, go for a walk, work on a puzzle or clean some part of your house. Keeping busy will often fend off those hunger pangs until your next mealtime. Make sure you drink plenty of water throughout the day. Often hunger pangs are really your body’s way of signaling thirst. If you drink enough water daily you will likely feel less hunger pangs. Also try to take a good multivitamin every day. Sometimes your body may signal hunger pangs due to a lack of certain nutrients. If you feel hungry between meals, try waiting for 10 minutes and see if the feeling goes away. In a lot of cases, they will be a false alarm and they will subside by the time 10 minutes passes. If all else fails, try these little snack ideas that will stop the hunger pangs without the guilt. Try a handful of fat-free chips with a little salsa. Mabey a half cup of raw veggies like carrots, bell peppers, broccoli, celery and such. Perhaps 3-4 teaspoons of low fat cottage cheese or yogurt would be a better choice for you. One cup of fat-free popcorn or a handful of pretzels would also be good choices. Just remember this, when simply curbing hunger pangs between meals or at night time and you must snack to relieve them, it only takes a very small amount of whatever you choose to do the job and by the time they come back, it will probably be about meal time or bed time anyway so you will have cured the problem without taking a blow to your daily diet plan.

Well, there is a way to get some exercise into your day and that way is to simply exercise at your desk. No, that was not a typo. Here is a little routine that you can do right at your desk. It doesn’t take up much time and while it will not make you a candidate for the next fitness competition, it will give your muscles enough work to stay firm.

Complete one set of each exercise in order, doing 10 to 20 repetitions of each exercise, and follow the repetitions with 1 to 2 more sets in order if time permits it.

Chair crunch:

Sit tall in your chair with your feet flat on the floor. Begin to slowly round your upper back downward until you feel your abdominal muscles tighten. Hold for 3-5 seconds, and then return to the start position.

Squats:

Stand up in front of your chair. Sit back into a squat like you are sitting back down in your chair, keeping your weight on your heels and your knees behind your toes. When you are almost touching your chair with your butt, push yourself back to the standing position using your leg muscles.

Calf raises:

Stand in front of your desk and put your hands on the desk for balance. Lift yourself up on to the balls of your feet. Hold for 3 to 5 seconds and then lower yourself back down to the floor.

Desk pushup:

Stand 4 to 5 feet away from your desk and put of your hands on the edge of the desk. Relax your lower body and using just your arms, lower your chest down toward the desk and stop when your chest is about 3 to 6 inches away from it. Then push yourself back up to the starting position again using only your arms.

Seated triceps lift backs:

Sit tall in your chair. Put your arms down at your sides with your palms facing forward. With your arms strait and elbows locked, slowly bring your arms up behind you until you feel your triceps muscles tighten. Hold for 3 to 5 seconds and then lower your arms back to the starting position.

Seated bicep curls:

Sit tall in your chair. Start with one arm down at your side, palm facing forward in a fist. Put your other hand over your fist and push against it for resistance while bringing your fist up toward your shoulder. Once your fist is close to your shoulder, lower it back down to the starting position maintaining constant resistance with the other hand throughout the entire movement. Complete all repetitions for that set, then switch sides and repeat.

After you have completed each exercise for the amount of repetitions and sets you can do, sit down and straighten your legs. Now gently reach for your toes until you feel you can’t go any further, hold for 10 seconds (do not bounce), then return to the starting position. Next, reach your arms out to your sides as far as you can. Keeping them fully extended, bring them slowly to the front and cross them over each other as far as you can. Hold for 10 seconds, and then return them to your sides. Now, reach your arms over your head as far as you can, hold for 10 seconds, and then return them to your sides.

Taking the time to do this simple but effective exercise routine at the office will help you keep toned and you can do it even with the worst schedule possible. This routine is also helpful by the fact it can be done during your lunch break and still leave you enough time to eat your lunch. Enjoy your workout!