Nutrifect

Most people, who struggle with being overweight, are Emotional Eaters! We tend to use food to help us cope with our negative emotions. This is very common, but needs to be addressed if you want to permanently lose weight.

Compulsive overeating is one of the most common habits. We find ourselves wanting or craving a cookie, doughnut, or some type of sweet to get that sugar fix even though, we are not really hungry.  Sugar cravings are real.

Often we reach for the sweets because sugar and refined junk food carbohydrates
stimulate the receptors in our brains that are also stimulated by heroin or opiate drugs.
Sugar is very addictive and stimulates the same receptors.

This is also why the sugar or consumption of sweets gives us a calming sensation or
feeling. This calm feeling however is temporary so in order to feel it again the mind tells
the body “We need sugar”. This negative act then becomes a habit. We know that if we
feel bad, all we need do is reach for the sweets. If we get bored or anxious, reach for the
sweets.  Food addiction is real.

One of the key reasons for overeating junk food carbohydrates is due to brain chemistry.
If your emotions are not in harmony, oftentimes it is due to a lack of Serotonin and other
neurotransmitters in your brain. Feeling good, really happens in the brain first.

Symptoms of low serotonin may include the following:

• Worry a lot or suffer from anxiety
• Experience low energy and drive
• Have a difficult time focusing or thinking clearly
• Have a difficult time getting a restful night’s sleep
• Struggle with resisting your strong cravings

These deficiencies are very common and can be caused by an inherited genetic
deficiency. Most often however, it is caused by an improper diet and prolonged anxiety
and stress.

If you are currently on the HCG diet or any diet and are contemplating the possibility,
I recommend that you not forget the need for a powerful nutritional supplement, a
supplement that will assist and support you in your quest for a thinner, healthier you.
Visit www.nutrifect.com for more detailed information.

For the past month, I've been doing the P90X workout program.  I felt like I was doing well until last Sunday.  I started feeling sick.  What I hoped was just a brief cold, turned out to be 6 miserable days.  My get fit and healthy fat loss program took a dive.  

My personalized program consists of 3 main areas.
1.  Exercise - 6 days a week with P90X
2.  Nutrition - Eat healthy with limited fast food meals.
3.  Supplement - Nutrifect Product to help reduce sugar cravings and a sleeping solution. 

With being sick, my 3 prong strategy went down to 1 1/2.  I didn't exercise for a full week and I wasn't watching my eating habits as well as I should be.  I felt like I was on a roll and was starting to see results, and then I took a nose dive just like a roller coaster.  I am just hoping that getting back to my routine won't be difficult.  I woke up this morning and hit the snoozer too many times and missed my window of opportunity. 

So if you find yourself in a rut, how do you get back on track?

• Have a Plan.  Write down your short term goals and your long term goals.  As you work on your "to do's" for the week, make sure that you are writing down your exercises as well.  Make your workout programs a part of your day.
• Have a Backup Plan.  A great plan always has a great backup plan.  Things don't always go as planned.  You might get sick, go on vacation, have an injury, or something like that.  What you need to do is figure out if you do get sick, what can and should you do.  I missed my 60 minutes of cardio this morning.  Well, after dinner maybe I should take the family on a bike ride.  Think about activities that fit in your overall fat loss solution and write them down so you don't forget. 

Get out a pen or pencil and start writing down your health plans, your body will thank you.

I am constantly reminded of the numerous individuals searching for a business opportunity which allows them to work from home! With the economic climate being unstable and due to technology, we can virtually work from any location at any time. More and more people want to work from home and have more freedom and versatility.

Recently, I was contacted by an Associate Producer of a woman’s show that airs on the Lifetime channel. She was very interested in the Nutrifect Products and our philosophy. As we discussed these and other topics, she mentioned something that caught me a little off guard.

She asked if we offered a business opportunity that would allow women to work from
home. She mentioned that many of their viewers to her surprise were asking for exactly
that. And that a large number of their viewers want to get out of the rat race and spend
more time in the home and with their families.

After my conversation with this pleasant young lady, I began to reflect on the balanced
opportunities Nutrifect provides. Every individual searching for an opportunity to work
from home and take control of their lives has that option with Nutrifect.

With 4 powerful business models that can be managed from home or anywhere for
that matter, Nutrifect knows that they have a business model for you. If you have an
entrepreneurial spirit and want to start a business, or currently have a business and want
to augment it with additional products, I would strongly urge you to check out Nutifect.
Find out how simple it is to start you own business for just a few dollars.

Don’t just think about it, put your plan into action today and begin moving toward your
ultimate goals!

Last week, my wife came to a tipping point that has changed her eating habits.  She didn't realize how powerful sugar cravings can be.  Last Sunday, she had too much sugar in her body.  That afternoon, she ate a row of brownies and a popsicle after dinner.  Later that night, she decided to make some smores and ate two of them followed quickly by several marsh-mellows.  Tasty.  Sugar cravings are real.  Later that night she started feeling sick and had a low grade headache.  She felt like her heart was racing and experienced an over well feeling of "yuck".  Several times she commented how bad she was feeling.  I held back my sarcastic remarks, and only nodded my head.  She continued to feel sick well into the night. 

The next morning she commented to me that she needs to lay off sugar and start eating healthier.  After two days of watching the sugar intake, she couldn't believe how much better she was feeling.  She commented that she had more energy and didn't feel so sluggish.  She couldn't believe that she started to sleep better as well. 

Instead of indulging in chocolate or something unhealthy, here is a list of low-fat snacks that aren't packed with sugar:

• Rice cakes
• Raisins
• Nuts (sun flower seeds, almonds, cashews)
• Cottage cheese with fruit or berries
• Munch on air-popped popcorn with no butter
• Pretzels

You'll be surprised how your body reacts to living healthier.  You'll have more energy and you'll feel better.  Watching what you eat is one of the most important fat loss solutions that you can do.

Has anyone ever wanted to reduce stress? Well...it's been a few weeks or so since I've tried to get back in the swing of things with some sort of regular exercise and lifting regime and I am not getting very far.  Of course, working two jobs leaves me with very little time for myself, but I'm hoping things will slow down in the next few weeks.  Because I have very little time, but yet there is so much I need and want to get done outside of the workplace, I have sometimes felt stressed.  Since stress isn't always my feeling of choice, I have been doing a little research on how to reduce stress and stress reducing tips. 

An article I found at HELPGUIDE.ORG, Stress Management, speaks about how to reduce stress and how to prevent and cope with it as well.  An interesting part of the article speaks about how certain strategies for coping with stress may actually cause more harm in the long run.  As such, I just wanted to mention them and pass them along.  They are as follows:

• Smoking
• Drinking too much
• Over or under eating
• Using pills or drugs to relax
• Procrastinating
• Sleeping too much
• Filling up time to avoid the facing the problem
• Zoning out for hours in front of the TV or computer
• Withdrawing from friends, family, and activities
• Procrastinating
• Taking your stress out on others

As I found this list helpful, I'm hoping others might also.  Life's too short and we have to remember what matters most.  So in the meantime, let's all work on some stress relief.  Until next time, Jeff Kuhni out.

While a large portion of the population doesn't know what Zinc is, many people suffer with symptoms of not having enough zinc. There is a shortage of zinc in many people's diet, since zinc is destroyed in the milling process and is also lost in cooking.  

Zinc is believed by many nutritionists to be the most important mineral supplement because it’s commonly deficient in the standard diet while being essential to many enzyme systems. Zinc is also essential to the immune system, helps improve mood, and helps process amino acids.

Zinc deficiencies include baldness, inefficient or limited mental functioning, loss of smell, loss of taste, skin problems, sleep disorders, depression, nervousness, inability to concentrate properly, and slowed hair and nail growth.  It is also important to note that even relatively small deficiencies of zinc can impact the functioning of the immune system.

Zinc is involved in a multitude of enzyme processes such as amino acid metabolism, protein digestion, and energy production.

Without zinc, your body has a hard time increasing your serotonin levels naturally with the help of 5-HTP.  5-HTP is an amino acid that requires Zinc to turn it into Serotonin.   Zinc is also found in many cold lozenges and some over-the-counter drugs sold as cold remedies.

Three important issues that zinc can reduce are blue mood, sleep disorders, and loss of taste and smell.  These issues have one thing common, they all affect obesity.  If you can feel good, sleep better, and enjoy healthy foods, then the weight loss fight is a little easier.

It seems that about every other week, there is some type of report that comes from a University/Hospital or Health Journal about the benefits of being active.  What is being active?  Being active is doing an activity that increase your heart rate and your blood starts moving throughout your body.  This could be riding a bike, jogging, playing basketball, or going on a hike.  This should be twenty to thirty minutes a day.

I want to discuss five areas where your body will thank you for being active.

1. Brain Power:  Getting your heart pumping increases blood flow, delivering more oxygen to your brain.  It also spurs new growth in the areas of the brain that control multitasking, planning, and memory.  In the New York Times, SANDRA AAMODT and SAM WANG stated, "Exercise is also strongly associated with a reduced risk of dementia late in life. People who exercise regularly in middle age are one-third as likely to get Alzheimer’s disease in their 70s as those who did not exercise. Even people who begin exercising in their 60s have their risk reduced by half."
2. Improve mood:  Regular exercise promotes a sense of well being by boosting your Serotonin levels.  Serotonin is the happy feel good hormone.  Exercising is also a great way to reduce stress.
3. Your Immune System:  The Cleveland Clinic has a great article about your body's immune system.  "The immune system is our body's protective network designed to fend off invasion by harmful substances, including bacteria, viruses, and to act as a surveillance system against the development of cancer.  Even more so than nutrition, exercise has the capacity to protect and even enhance the immune response. Experimental studies have shown that a regular exercise program of brisk walking can bolster many defenses of the immune system..."
4. Sleep Better:  Do you have issues with falling asleep and feeling like you are tossing and turning in your sleep all night long?  When you can't sleep, the effects will last throughout the next day.  Studies have shown that with regular exercise, you are able to sleep better at night because you won't toss and turn and wake up and interrupt your sleep. 
5. Got Energy?  University of Georgia researchers who analyzed 70 different studies concluded that moving your body increases energy and reduces fatigue. Regular exercise boosts certain fatigue-fighting brain chemicals such as norepinephrine and dopamine, which pep you up, and serotonin, a mood enhancer.

Hi. Jeff Kuhni here again.  I'm an average guy trying to get back in shape!  I've been doing a lot of reading about health and nutrition lately so I can absorb any of the latest and greatest that might help me and keep me motivated.  One of my really good friends turned me onto a great article of which I would like to share some points.  The article "Survey Shows increasing obesity across USA" by Nanci Hellmich, USA TODAY (see link below) speaks about obesity, the problems it causes, how prevalent it is, and a few suggestions on how to overcome obesity. 

If you are about 30 pounds or more over a healthy weight, then you would be considered obese.  Being obese raises the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and many other cancers and diseases.  Extreme obesity can even cut 12 years off one's life; furthermore, according to the article, obese Americans cost the nation an estimated $147 billion in weight-related medical bills in 2008. 

Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control, mentions a few measures that can help overcome obesity (obesity and children is a problem too) and promote a healthy fat loss:

• Increase physical activity and more fruit and vegetable consumption.
• Make water freely available in schools and day care.
• Reduce TV time and high-calorie food and beverage consumption, particularly sugary drinks.

My take away here is to drink more water and consume more fruits and vegetables.  I'm willing to give it a try as I know I need to do it, but this is just a good reminder. 


www.usatoday.com/news/health/weightloss/2010-08-04-obesity04_ST_N.htm

In the quest to lose weight and burn fat, many individuals try numerous diet, fitness,
and fat loss products. Currently one of the front runners is the “HCG Diet”. While
this is not a simple program it seems to be quite effective based on the current feedback.

We must also remember that balanced nutrition is critical during the diet phase. Nutrifect
offers a wonderful balance through the use of its flagship product and is currently the
most effective companion to the HCG diet.  It sustains your body and mind and supports
your fat loss solution with natural and healthy building blocks.

Along with balanced nutrition, we must never forget fitness and exercise. One of the safest and most effective methods is Aquatic exercise. Water is one of the best fitness tools: It provides resistance, which strengthens muscles and boosts cardio intensity. It also supports some of your weight, making workouts easier on joints and reducing injury.

“Working out in water is very safe because no joints or bones are forced to bear too heavy a load,” says Andrew Jones, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon in Chapel Hill, N.C.

That's why it’s such a great low-impact initiation into fitness if you’re obese or just way
out of shape.

Pool workouts give you “better balance, agility and endurance, which is a great
confidence boost for anyone who has shied away from exercise in the past,” says Mary
Sanders, Ph.D.; it’s also a great fat-burner. “You can burn a higher level of calories in a
shorter time in the pool,” she says. 

Best of all, working out in the water doesn’t feel like work.

If you are currently on the HCG diet or contemplating the possibility, I recommend that
you not forget the need for a powerful nutritional supplement and an effective but simple
exercise plan. Visit www.nutrifect.com for more detailed information.

The HCG regiment has been growing in popularity over the last few years.  It has helped thousands of people lose weight fast!  Now with the Homeopathic drops people can do HCG from their own homes, and without having to get shots. A major concern while doing HCG is nutritional support. Nutrifect products are a perfect fit for people on HCG that need extra dietary support.  Let me share with you just some of the nutrients you will find in our products.

B Vitamins - are also an important way to increase energy naturally, support healthy brain function, and promote hair growth.

5-HTP - has consistently helped individuals increase their serotonin levels, which helps with mood, energy, and sleep.  5-HTP is often recommended by doctors to their patients who are on the HCG diet because it helps reduce cravings naturally. 5-HTP helps to balance hormone levels in both men and women.

L-Carnitine - is used often as an HCG support product.  L-Carnitine increases the use of fat as an energy source.  "It's primary role is to help transport fatty acids into the energy producing units in the cells" READ ATTICLE HERE.

Zinc - has been shown in laboratory studies to increase the bodies absorption of HCG.  READ ARTICLE HERE.  Hair Loss is a possible side effect from HCG.  Zinc helps to reduce hair loss because it strengthens and aids the natural oils that coat the hair.

These key nutrients, when combined together, prove to be a powerful strength and support while on the HCG protocol. As always, Nutrifect is dedicated to bringing you the best products available to help you find harmony in you life.  If you are on HCG, good luck out there! Be smart & be strong!

Last week, I wrote a blog entry describing sugar addictions and sugar cravings.  I would like to explore this even further.  Sugar is very addictive and more powerful than people realize.  If you've overindulged in cookies, candy, cake, ice cream, soda pop, energy drinks, or coffee, you know its seductive pull. Companies that manufacture food understand sugars addiction.  They load sugar into soft drinks, breakfast cereal, soups, salad dressings, spaghetti sauce, energy bars, and many others.  "Americans are swallowing 22 teaspoons of sugar each day, and it's time to cut way back, the American Heart Association says." according to a MSNBC report.  Teens are consuming 34 teaspoons each day.  No wonder why obesity and children is at an all time high.  A rule of thumb to follow is four grams of sugar equals one teaspoon of sugar.  Food addiction is real.  It isn't just sugar that we need to watch out for, pay attention to high-fructose corn syrup, maltose, and dextrose. 

The over consumption of sugar is linked to several health problems.  Some of them are; obesity, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, irritable bowl syndrome, attention and memory problems, hyperactivity, anxiety, and depression. 

According to Jeffrey Rossman, Ph.D., there are several ways in which we can overcome sugar cravings. 

1. Keep sugar and sugar products out of your house. This includes white and brown sugar, corn syrup, and maple syrup.
2. Get regular exercise, plenty of sunlight, and adequate sleep to reduce sugar cravings.  Our product from Nutrifect helps individuals sleep better. 
   
3. When you go out, make sure you are not ravenously hungry, especially if sugary sweets will be the only food available. Bring your own healthy snacks with you, or eat before going out.

The goal here is to decrease the amount of sugar that you are consuming on a daily basis.  When you do this, your body will thank you. 

Photo Credit: nadmental www.sxc.hu

This week I've been waking up early and doing P90X before heading to the Nutrifect Headquarters.  Today was legs and back, and apparently I didn't read the disclaimer that your legs will feel like jelly when you are done.  About 2:30 today, I hit a wall.  I nearly fell asleep.  Never a good idea at work.  So here is what I did.  I wrote a note to a co-worker that said the following.

1. Break up your nighttime routine by limiting mindless activity (like watching TV). One of the reasons many people get cravings late at night is because they're just plain bored. They consciously or subconsciously turn to food to give their brains something to do. Play a game, read a book, talk to you spouse/kids - anything that at least partially engages the brain will keep it too busy to think about food.
2. Eat a BIG breakfast. Skipping breakfast is one of the biggest causes of food cravings throughout the day - even late at night! And eating less in the evening will ensure that you're very hungry in the morning, so it should be easier to eat a nice big healthy meal.
3. If you must eat something late at night, at least make it relatively healthy and keep the portion size very small. Low-fat string cheese or cottage cheese are good options. Low or no-sugar yogurt is another.

Last week, I spoke about the importance of being healthy as it relates to a quote from Ben Franklin, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."  I feel that overall, I'm in decent shape.  I could eat a little more fruits and vegetables, but I don't have huge sugar cravings and eat junk food everyday.  I can run 4 miles without a problem (except for a sore knee), but I decided to take it up a notch or two and do P90X by Beachbody.  Yikes, I didn't know what hit me.  The first exercise focuses on Chest and Back.  Near the end, all I wanted to do was finished without throwing up.  Looking for a great fitness and overall fat loss solution, P90X looks like a good fit.  The key with any fitness program or diet, is to stay focused and go through the whole program.  I have 89 days left to go.

Now if you are looking to shed a few pounds, you don't need to go to the extreme and go through a fitness program like P90X.  Nutrition is an excellent fat loss solution.  Just watch was you eat, and eat in moderation.  Nutrition makes up a majority of the ingredient to making your body healthy.  If you are struggling with what you eat, and have food addictions where junk foods and soda pop are a major food source of your calorie intake, Nutrifect has a product for you. 

Ben Franklin stated, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".  This seemed too close to home for me and my family.  In previous years, it seemed our family would visit the dentist every six months to the day and get a check up.  We would get our teeth cleaned, swish some nasty tasting Fluoride, and check to see if we have any cavities.  The dentist would also remind us if we were not doing a good job brushing our teeth or not flossing enough.  This was a great reminder.  Well, we got out of the habit and haven't seen our dentist for over 18 months.  Last week, we visited with our dentist and it wasn't pretty.  Nine cavities were discovered.  Several of them were pretty bad.  If we would have visited with our dentist on a regular basis, the situation would have been different.  Bad habits would have been reversed, and cavities would have been discovered earlier. 

You can parallel this with your overall health.  An ounce of prevention is well worth it.  Obesity and children is at an all time high.  One in three kids in the US are either overweight or obese.  These numbers are staggering.  As a direct result, diabetes in children is increasing at an alarming rate.  Children have food addictions, and are consuming soda pop and energy drinks more than water.  To overcome obesity, we must stop our over consumption of junk food and sugar drinks. 

Back to the quote from Ben Franklin, we must look internally and ask what do I need to do inorder to become healthier?  Do we need to change a habit or two?  Nutrifect offers a product that helps reduce food cravings, as well as helps you sleep better.  "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure".

If you really want to have lasting power it's imperative you build up reserves in two critical areas, physical health and mental health. To accomplish this, it is important to give your brain the right nutrients it needs.  When your brain is working right, your body will take care of itself.

The truth is you can do some natural things to help your brain increase its cognitive function. We include nutrients in our products which are necessary to assist your brain in working properly.  Nutrifect products target these nutrients with a goal of balancing brain chemistry.  Magnesium, B6, and folic acid are all essential nutrients, just to name a few.

I personally have experienced the importance of folic acid. I couldn't figure out how to increase energy because I always seemed to be tired.  The doctors diagnosed me with chronic fatigue.  They said that I was going to be weak and depressed for the rest of my life.  Some doctors even said I might have a mood disorder and referred me to a psychiatrist, who quickly reversed that diagnosis. He said there was "no way" I had a mood disorder.  Even through all of this, I knew there had to be a solution. 

Finally I found a doctor that informed me that I wasn't processing my folic acid properly. He gave me for prescription folic acid, called L-methylfolate.  This supplement was basically the same as if I were to eat 50 lbs of broccoli each day. This increased my energy naturally and gave me my life back.  From this experience I understood the pain and frustration people experience with nutritional deficiencies.

I decided that I wanted to help other people overcome their deficiencies with natural solutions.  Nutrifect is devoted to helping people find those solutions.  Our challenge is not only producing the best dietary supplements, it also getting the word out to the public about what those solutions are.  Join us to help get the word out!
 

Last week, one of the employees in the Nutrifect office brought in a Segway.  They are pretty fun machines to cruise around in.  We've had a few cube walls get bumped, but no crashes so far.  This morning, my wife gave me a registration card for a baby car seat that I needed to put into the mailbox.  I placed it into my laptop bag and totally forgot about it until I took my computer out in my office.  I decided to take the Segway out to the mailbox that is in our parking lot.  It was a fun ride, but it sure didn't burn any calories.

When I sat down, I started brainstorming some topics to write about in my blog post.  I leaned back my chair and I hit the Segway that I parked just moments earlier.  What was the health benefit of riding that to the mailbox?  None.  I just walked to the mailbox and back and it was 174 steps.  Using 10,000 steps in a day as a goal for most healthy people, that was .0174% of a daily goal.  Not that much, but it adds up.  When looking for a healthy fat loss solution, in many ways you can just look at some small changes.  When was the last time you walked out and got the mail, or walked to a friends house?  Need to pick up a child from a friends house at night.  Take a walk and spend the time talking with each other.  Not only will this help your body, but will reduce stress. 

I saw an article the other day that spoke about, "Eight Astonishing Benefits of Walking".  I want to highlight two of them.

1. It Deflects Diabetes.  New research links brisk walking to a significant risk reduction for developing type 2 diabetes.  My Dad had Diabetes, and it is a awful disease.  Diabetes now affects 7.8% of Americans.  According to the American Diabetes Association, Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of Death in the US. 
2. Reduces Risk of a Stroke.  The article states, "Walking briskly for just 30 minutes, five days a week can significantly lower your risk of suffering a stroke, according to University of South Carolina researchers. After studying 46,000 men and 15,000 women over the course of 18 years, those with increased fitness levels associated with regular brisk walking had a 40 percent lower risk of suffering a stoke than those with the lowest fitness level."

The benefits are just amazing.  Read the article.  I personally sleep better, and is a great technique to reduce stress in my life.  Just make that change, one step at a time. 

As we near mid summer in 2010, it is becoming readily apparent that more and more people are looking for a direct marketing opportunity. One that fits well and allows them to truly work from home.

 

Interestingly enough, there are over 15 million direct marketers in the U.S. alone! Of that growing number, the vast majority are women at over 86%, men at a little over 13%. Most direct sales are still being initiated on a face-to-face basis at over 76%. The up and coming internet marketing medium is over 20% and climbing.

 

You can see that the number of direct marketers is growing every year. For those of you considering the entry into this type of business there are most likely a few things you’ll want to know.  You have the opportunity to be your own boss and take your business with you, wherever you may go. You have the opportunity to create a secondary source of income, which in today’s world is not only important, but necessary. You are not required to have a degree other than the degree of dedication you choose to exercise.

 

As you consider the benefits of being involved in a direct marketing opportunity, make sure it is a company, product, and commission plan with which you are comfortable. Additionally, be willing and prepared to dedicate as much time as you realistically able. It does take work and will never happen on its own.

 

Nutrifect offers a wonderful direct marketing opportunity that is designed for the individual with options that allow you to choose the way you want to design your business. Take a moment and visit Nutrifect.com to begin re-designing your future today.   

Top Photo by: riot jane at flickr.com

One of the quickest ways to change our habits, is to challenge the analogies we use to explain the world around us.   I would like to propose a few analogies that can help increase our health.  I would also encourage you to find analogies that can help you change how you see health and nutrition.

First of all, we each know that eating green vegetables is one of the best ways to overcome obesity. But at the same time, most of us believe "food is the enemy".  If we use a new analogy to describe food, I believe we can eat better and break our junk food addiction at the same time.  "Foods are warriors, greens are Friends", if we subscribe to this analogy we will begin to think that green vegetables fight for our health, and things like high fructose corn syrup fight against our health.

As we talk about how to increase serotonin, a second analogy that I like is "balancing serotonin levels in the brain is like cooking bread, unless you have all of the ingredients, it might not rise." 

There is a lot of misinformation out on the Internet right now about "raising serotonin levels".  Many of them even suggest that eating candy can raise your serotonin.  That is only partly true, sugars and high fructose corn syrup will spike your serotonin, but it will also come with a crash.  To have balanced brain chemistry, it is imperative that the body has all of the necessary ingredients to maintain balanced serotonin, instead of spiking and crashing which only leads to problems. 

I invite you to challenge the analogies that you use to explain important parts of your life. As you do so you will be able to change habits and lifestyle much easier.

Last week, I spent 7 days at Bear Lake enjoying some much needed time off.  While I resisted the temptation to eat junk food all day and night long, I failed to run once.  My first 10K is coming up and I haven't ran in over 2 weeks.  I'm a little scared.  To cap it all off, the alarm has gone off each morning this week, and I've turned it off and promptly fallen back asleep.  So what should I do?  After some soul searching, I've worked out a daily/weekly plan for the next 9 days to get me on track.

It has been an interesting few months since I've been running on a consistant basis... well, until the past two weeks.  I have felt that running has helped reduce stress in my life as well as been a great healthy fat loss solution.  Now one area that I didn't realize until last night was the area around sleep.  I have sleep better that past several months do to exercising and also taking a product from Nutrifect. 

This morning while eating a bowl of cereal for breakfast, I found a great article called, 5 Mind-Blowing Benefits of Exercise.  The number 1 benefit that is listed is stress.  "Jumping on the treadmill or cross trainer for 30 minutes can be an instant way to blow off tension by boosting levels of "soothing" brain chemicals like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine."  The article goes on and states something that I found very interesting.  "The researchers found that stressed-out women who exercised vigorously for an average of 45 minutes over a three-day period had cells that showed fewer signs of aging compared to women who were stressed and not active."  Exercising is a great way to improve mood as well as a technique to reduce stress. 

About a week and 1/2 ago, I told the story about my journey through a power lifting stage and my food addiction. I also mentioned that I found out I had sleep apnea, a sleeping disorder which requires me to use a machine, called a c-pap, as a sleep aid to help me sleep at night.  With my sleep apnea being diagnosed, I was one happy camper and thought all was good. About a year after I was put on the c-pap, although I was feeling much better, I had a follow-up visit in which the doctor was able to tell I still seemed to feel tired a lot and not have as much energy as I should.  My doctor wanted to check things out more, and after a test found that I had a bad thyroid.  As such, I was put on a medication to raise my thyroid levels to where they need to be.  I felt like a new man ready to tackle the world; 35 lbs lighter, sleeping good at nights, and my thyroid levels almost spot on.  However, believe it or not, there was still more energy that I was going to be able to tap into.  My friend had me try taking a serotonin supplement; after which I started sleeping like a baby.  I don't remember the last time I had a dream, but it almost became the norm while I was taking the serotonin supplement from Nutrifect.  The two biggest things I noticed are that I slept great, and when I woke up in the morning I felt refreshed; even if I only got a few hours.  So my lesson learned is that it is important to have healthy serotonin levels. 

Image from mikecpeck at flickr.com