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Many companies are not waiting until New Years Eve to make resolutions about their total health and wellness program and incorporating weight-loss competitions inspired by a popular TV shows such as “The Biggest Loser.” Corporations are investing big dollars by assisting workers who are concerned about their waistlines. Employers are viewing this as a win-win situation by creating an opportunity to improve employee health, increase productivity, reduce absenteeism and lower health care costs.

From reading many testimonials employees have admitted that they were excited about the contest as they really didn’t have the motivation and willpower necessary to lose weight on their own. Interestingly it seems the idea of a competition built a true camaraderie, team centered environment which kept the motivation and focus on their weight loss targets. Turns out some corporations are seeing extra benefits as it relates to the overall culture with enhanced teamwork and tenacity.

Apparently these contests have spurred it’s contestants to make radical changes to their eating and fitness habits which are even rubbing off on others. It appears, the most popular choice in the soda machine is sparkling water, and it’s common for people to use the stairs instead of elevators and walk or run around the building at lunch.

As a Human Resources Professional and champion of our health and wellness program for my company, this initiative sparked my interest both from corporate perspective and also personally. I too have tried many weight loss programs in the past, trying to lose those pesky pounds but they keep creeping back, so I would try another one and then I was back at square one.

It is very tempting to be one of many companies incorporating this great idea and host a fad diet competition by using the latest magazine article that promises the world with fantastic fat losses, just take a couple of fat burning pills follow the diet and then wow! A brand new body in a few weeks.

The sad fact is these fat diets don’t work long term, so what does this mean, what would happen to morale and productivity? I asked myself, would this potentially spoil the short term gain and have a damaging effect on the culture and morale for the employee’s long term?

This was a great opportunity for me to find a total health and wellness program through nutrition and exercise and reap the rewards long term rather than just a quick fix. My company sponsors fitness and exercise through at our local gym so my research focused on uncovering a nutritional program that is safe and natural. After months of searching I was introduced to doctor recommended total health and wellness system that focuses on cleansing and fat burning. I jumped right in and gave it a try, and why not I had tried virtually everything else. I have to report that my results have been absolutely amazing; I have dropped over 20 pounds and 28 inches, safely and naturally and to my surprise I have kept it off. This system has changed my life in understanding the importance of looking after my internal body and the best thing is I feel fantastic.

I recommend companies and individuals to take advantage of my research and be cautious about be involved or incorporating Biggest Loser type contests as a band-aid approach and seek long-term results.

The Volumetric’s Diet was created by Barbara Rolls PhD and is a very popular diet that has been part of a weight loss program for a number of very successful dieters.

Volumetrics is based on a very simple fact - people like to eat! And that if people are given a choice between eating more or eating less then in 99% of cases they will always choose to eat more.

The Volumetric’s Diet isn’t based on deprivation like many other diets. It’s based on this natural human preference just mentioned and the natural human dislike for dieting (i.e. hunger and unhappiness).

The basis of the Volumetrics diet is finding foods that you can eat lots of whilst you are still losing weight. Volumetrics focuses on the feeling of fullness that many other diets exlude. According to Rolls, people feel full because of how much food they’ve eaten and it has nothing to do with calories, grams of far, protein, carbs or anything else. The trick is to fill yourself up on foods that are not full of calories. In most cases, following the Volumetrics diet will allow you to eat more and not less whilst you are still easily losing weight.

In 2000, Barbara Rolls and her co-author Robert A. Barnett released The Volumetrics Weight Control Plan detailing her theory. She followed it up in 2005 with The Volumetric’s Eating Plan which provided even more recipes whilst reminded people of the basis of the diet.

You may be wondering who Rolls is and what credentials she has. She’s the profession of nutrition and directory of the Laboratory for the Study of Human Ingestive Behaviour at Penn State University. She’s written well over 200 research articles and based the Volumetric’s diet largely on the work she has done in her laboratory.

In the Volumetric’s diet, there are no banned foods, nor are foods divided into good and bad foods. You are urged though to evaluate foods based on their energy density, which is a vital concept for the diet.

The energy density is the number of calories in a specific amount of food. Some foods, particularly fatty foods, are much more energy dense than others, i.e. they have a lot of calories packed into a small amount. Water is the complete opposite because it has a zero energy density.

By eating foods with a high energy density you are consuming a lot of calories. By eating less energy dense foods you can not only eat more, but you get less calories too.

Some very low energy density foods include things like soup or broths, fat free milk and non-starchy vegetables. In contrast, some of the very high density foods include things like crackers, chips, cookies, chocolate, nuts, oils, butter, etc.

At the heart of the Volumetric’s Diet are foods with a high water content, such as vegetables and fruits, which are often up to 95% water. These will fill you up without adding too many calories. Of course, you could drink a lot of water and consume no calories at all, but you would still feel hungry.

The Volumetric’s Diet also recommends eating foods with filling fibre, lean protein (i.e. not fatty meat) and some healthy fats such as those you find in fish. You can still eat energy dense foods like sweets, fats and alcohol, you just eat them a little bit more sparingly that you would have before.

At its root, the Volumetric’s Diet is very clever. It is essentially a sensible eating program that almost any nutritionist would recommend. Reduce your calorie intake, lower your fat intake and eat lots of vegetables and fruits.

The South Beach diet menu is the collection of the food that you could take if you truly want to achieve your set goal. You could substitute some of the food contents only that you must not go beyond what is required by the phase.

The Phases of South Beach Diet Menu

There are various phases involved in the South Beach Diet Menu. Moreover, they are all nutritious and wholesome foods.

For Phase 1, you would be required to eat only lean protein while mixing it up with the mono and the polyunsaturated fats like those of the canola oil, olive oil, and peanut oil. The low-glycemic index of carbohydrates may also be included.

Phase 2 re-introduces the list of some healthy carbs like the whole grain bread, fruit, whole wheat pasta, whole grain rice, and sweet potatoes. Some indulgences may also be enjoyed from time to time.

Phase 3 is now the maintenance part. There is no ready food plan or list. You would simply be adopting the knowledge and concepts that you earned from the phase 2 of the South beach diet menu.

Be very creative in thinking about alternatives or substitutes in every single phase. You may try new foods and new things. It matters that you do not get bored with the food plan that you take.

The Aim of the South Beach Diet Menu Phases

All of the three phases of the South Beach diet menu plans are meant for flexibility. As you deem yourself already fit, you may switch on with the phases. South Beach diet menu helps you in eating for the purpose of your health. Its main goal is to let you eat foods which are nonetheless pleasurable for you yet they are healthy at the same time.

The Acceptable Food for the South Beach Diet Menu Phases

Phase 1 Food list may include the lean cuts of beef, all kinds of seafood, skinless poultry, lean cuts of veal and pork, lunchmeats and cheeses that are low-fat or fat-free, tofu, eggs, legumes, low-glycemic index vegetables, canola oil, olive oil, peanut oil, seasonings and spices without added sugar, and some sugar-free treats.

Phase 2 list may include the advisable food for phase 1 and the addition of whole grain bagels, whole wheat pasta, high-fiber cereal, high-fiber breads, popcorn, and whole wheat pita.

South Beach diet menu plan aids in resolving the problems of the body in processing sugar, fats, and fuel. If you are ready with the routine intake, better get professional help.

What are feelings of depression?

- a mental state characterized by a pessimistic sense of inadequacy and a despondent lack of activity

- sad feelings of gloom and inadequacy

Are you surprised by these definitions? What is missing here? The definitions do not tell you how depression starts and certainly does not tell you how to stop it.

Depression is about how you think. And thinking is about interpreting your experiences in the world. You have three choices when it comes to deciding how you will deal with all the events in life. You can change how you think. You can change how you feel. Or, you can change what you are doing.

Here is an exercise to help you understand this. Really do this step by step. Spend several minutes on each step really seeing and feeling yourself doing those things. Do the first step before you do the next.

Here Is How

1) Think about something pleasant that happened to you before today. Keep on going back into your past until you find one moment that made you feel good. It could be learning to ride a bicycle or learning to swim or just a pleasant day or swinging or whatever. See yourself touching and seeing and hearing everything that is going on.

2) Take a deep breath. Think about where your are now. Have a look around the room and see something you have not noticed for a while. Now, think about your left foot. What is is doing at this moment. Focus on what your right hand is doing at the moment. Wiggle the toes on your right foot. If you are sitting feel the pressure on your left hip.Take another deep breath and listen to the sound it makes as you breathe in and breathe out.

3) Think about something you really want to do tomorrow, something you really like doing. And when tomorrow comes do it.

4) Now stand up and do your million dollar happy dance. Really get into it. Move your arms and legs and shout out yaaaaaah!

While you were doing these exercises did you once think, “I’m so depressed”? You see, YOU ARE in control of how you feel. Even if you only read what I said I’m willing to bet depression never once crossed your mind.

What I did in the exercise was to focus on a pleasant experience from the past. Then, I focused on what I was doing now, in the present. Then I planned to do something pleasant in the future.

Listening to your breathing while you take a deep breath is an excellent exercise if you are stressed. It allows you to relax and allows you to focus on this very moment where you are now.

What happened yesterday can not be changed. It has already happened. You do not want to spend all your life looking backward on something you cannot change. Yesterday is the experience that got you here. It is the experience that makes you who you are.

You can only do something in this present moment. Each moment you live is totally new. You can only do what you can right now.

If you plan for something pleasant to do each day, then you can also plan to do something that needs to be done. When you have done that, reward yourself by doing the pleasant thing you planned for yourself yesterday. That way, all the routine things that you need to do will get done and you won’t have to worry about doing them. And, you will end your day with something that makes you happy.

Each day go do some physical activity for 30 minutes. And while you are cycling or walking or running or whatever you want to do, go through steps 1 to 3 in your mind. Smile at everyone you see.

People say life is like roller-coaster, sometimes we’re in the up, and some other time we’re in the down moment. We’re all only human, even the most positive mindset people in the world will feel down when a lot of sequences of bad events come to his life. The next question is how to get up when we’re in down moment. Do all those motivator or positive articles really help you when you are in down moment? When you read those positive articles, it sounds very easy and maybe only those people in neutral mood or in the up moment will read and agree. From my personal experience, when I feel down, I do not even have a mood to read those articles. This past few weeks, I felt down and I tried to read happiness articles, but it did not give me the effect for me to get up from down moment. I am not saying it’s useless, it helps, but still not enough for me to get out of down moment.

Here are some useful tips that can help you overcome your depression or stress :

1. Hang out with your friends and seek advice from your friends or those people who has experienced the same situation with you.

2. Analyzed and tried to find out what the root cause of this down feeling. For every action there is reaction, and for every cause there is an effect. When you feel down, there must be root cause of it. If it is something that can be solve, then try to find the solution instead of keep thinking about it again and again.

3. Accept the fact that life is a cycle and a series of pitfalls. There is a good news, like I said previously, life is like roller coaster, sometimes we’re in up, and sometimes we’re in down. So, that means when we’re in down, we soon will go up again

4. Bad moment are not necessarily bad. I really inspired by Steve Job’s life story about connecting the dots on his speech Standford graduation commencement*. If you believe whatever happened to you will be good on you in the future, you wont feel down easily, and this mindset might made differences in your life.

5. If you are an religious person, pray..pray..pray and pray to God to help you get out of the down moment and believe that God has a better plan / vision for you through this moments.

Well, this is all based on what I experienced, you can try it, I hope it helps, I share it because it worked for me. If you have another thought or solution, please feel free to share it so we’re all can have benefit from it, after all, the strong and success people are those never give up and keep get up when the down. Cheers

We know that thoughts and feelings interact. But how do they do so? Why is it important that we know?

We are thinking all the time in two ways. The first is the obvious one. It is the headlight attention thought. It focuses on the subject that we are paying attention to.

But we are always aware of our surroundings. We have a sort of scan or radar scanning what is going on. It may be something in our vicinity. But it may be a relevant subject. Say we are nearing an exam.

This scanning process defines the importance of the subject that it is scanning. It has three levels of grading. The first is to tell us that the subject is of no significance. It is virtually telling the headlight attention ‘there is no need to refocus.’

The next level is ‘Well I am not too sure ‘. ‘You can stay focused but I am putting you on standby’. This is object or event is labeled. But how is this done? By marking it with an emotion. So we have one subject in our ‘headlight’ but a feeling can occur. We are unaware of why we are feeling it. Obviously the event in the ‘headlight’ too can evoke an emotion. The event in the ‘headlight’ can evoke subjects associated with it to appear in the ‘scan’.

We are subject to a range of emotions. Many of which we are completely unaware of the source.

Now some people do this labeling process badly. They tend to over emphasize the possibility of something happening. Events are given emotions where they need not be.

We know this person. He is the worrier, the over conscientious, ever ready guy we all know. He is permanently tense. Happiness for him is not being unhappy. Relaxation is the absence of tension. Eventually he may well develop depression or anxiety. Now we know the problem can we find a solution?

CBT – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy – is that solution. CBT allows us to examine easily the thoughts that were previously ‘hidden’. On doing so they are automatically corrected. More so we can see that very often the same thought and emotion occur. People can rapidly discover traits. They can readily correct theses traits.

How does our body being affected by depression? Can we call this a disorder or just reaction made by our body due to the negative emotional cause that had happened? How long this depression can take effect in our body?

This are just questions that we need to know first before taking any cure or actions.

First and foremost, what is this depression and where does it come from? Depression defines in a state of unhappiness or sadness or downturn in mood that may last to a few hours or days.

The causes of this depression may vary from generally situational and reaction associated with grief, loss or major transition. A change of residence, marriage, divorce, the break-up of a significant relationship, the death of a loved one, graduation, or job loss are all examples of instances that might trigger depression.

If a depressed mood lasts at least two weeks and it is accompanied by other symptoms that interfere with daily living, it maybe seen as symptom of clinical depression, and may lead to mental illness.

How can this long-term depression be cured? Therapy is the best cure for depression, as much as possible medication is considered as a last resort. Find something that is interesting for the person who is depressed such as music. If finances are not a problem, travel or go elsewhere which would help the person ease the depression.

Do not let a person depressed be alone. Do not by any chance let the person think that he is on his own. Let him think that he is always beside you whatever reason the person is depressed. A nice conversion is always good for a depressed person to come to his senses. Always provide positive views in life such as telling stories that are similar to his story that ended positively by overcoming and enduring struggles in life.

If the healing process required a medication such as taking an antidepressant, be aware that this is only a supplement required for a depressed person.

What is still needed is comfort and assurance that you and his family are in full support in the recovery or enduring the depression stages is having by this person. With this we can save him from other symptoms.

Do you suffer from both anxiety and depression at the same time? Just so you know, you are not alone in your suffering. Having both anxiety and depression together is so common it was given a name known as mixed anxiety depression or MAD.

The two conditions of anxiety and depression overlap with each other quite often. It is natural for someone with severe anxiety to feel depressed or that someone who is very depressed would feel anxious as well. This has led anxiety depression to become a disorder in and of itself.

Anxiety Depression In Children

Children and teenagers have been experiencing anxiety depression more and more and the rates of new diagnosed cases are rapidly growing. Sadly, people who are suffering from both disorders have more psychological, physical, and social impairment than people who suffer from either illness alone.

Don’t Get Misdiagnosed
It is common for doctors to not make the connection between the anxiety and depression. This means many people end up misdiagnosed as just having one or the other. It is very difficult to treat mixed anxiety depression with either depression drugs or anxiety drugs because they aren’t specifically made for this condition.

Treatments That Work

It is best to go with natural remedies that can help to heal these conditions as opposed to just masking the symptoms. There are quite a few herbs and vitamins that work very well to treat both anxiety and depression at the same time.

Anxiety and depression occur because the chemicals in the brain are not being regulated properly. This is why it is hard for someone to “snap out of it” because their emotions are not always in their control.

There are natural ways to help regulate these hormones without the need for antidepressants like Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Wellbutrin or Effexor and without the side effects.

One such natural remedy that I highly recommend is Relagen. I like that they are just as effective as prescription medications and they have no side effects at all. They also have all natural clinically proven ingredients.

Depression can sneak up on you and really take over your entire life. It may seem like an impossible task to ever climb out of it. This is what leads some people on a search to find a depression herb that can help rid them of their depression.

There are several depression herb remedies that can really make a huge difference in how you feel. This article is going to uncover what these options are and how to choose a depression herb that actually works for your condition.

Chinese Herbs
Magnolia and phellodendron are each great options as a depression herb. Magnolia comes off the bark of a tree from the rain forest in China. It is used in Chinese medicine to treat stress and anxiety. There are also antidepressant qualities found in magnolia that are quite effective.

The depression herb phellodendron has also been used in Chinese medicine for centuries. It works by supporting the body’s natural cortisol and DHEA hormone levels. Phellodendron also works well by producing a sense of well being for those taking it.

L-Theanine, which comes from green tea leaves actually has the ability to change your brainwaves into almost a meditative state. This works especially well for people who suffer from both anxiety and depression. L-Theanine also regulates serotonin and dopamine production. This helps a person feel balanced and keeps their emotions much more stable without being subjected to unnatural drugs or chemicals.

African Herbs
L-5 Hydroxytryptophan, also known as 5-HTP, is actually a natural chemical that is produced by the body as tryptophan turns into serotonin. This chemical has also been found in the African plant Griffonia simplicifoli and has been extracted from the plant as a supplement that can be used to increase the serotinin levels of the brain. This in turn improves your well being and also helps curb your appetite.

More Natural Remedies
There are more depression herb and supplements that can be very effective for helping to alleviate your depression. Some of these are suntheanine, vitamin B12, folic acid, vitamin B6, niacin, riboflavin and vitamin C.

Unfortunately, many teenagers have the tendency to abuse their own bodies when they don’t feel well. If they don’t act this way, they may even suffer from panic attacks. However, they don’t believe they are suicidal… They don’t want to receive treatment from a professional, mainly because they hate them, and they simply carry on in this way until something worse happens. Of course, it can only get worse since it is a very serious sign of the domination of the wild conscience in the person’s human conscience. This wild conscience is very violent, so it pushes the person to torture his or her own body. This behaviour is completely crazy!

If you are one of the teens who do this, I have to tell you that you need treatment no matter what. You may hate the professionals who you think supposedly want to help you because you don’t trust them, you don’t like their style and methods, but you must not ignore this horrible tendency you have and let it continue killing you.

This is killing you; you know it. So, you must fight against this disease.

The first thing you have to do is to stop doing it no matter what. You must stop cutting and abusing your body and just stay still without movement, and wait for the crazy desire to go away until it abandons you. You may think it will never abandon you, but you are the one who is going to decide this battle. If you are resistant and never again abuse your body even though you feel horrible because you feel the need to do this; in the end, you will stop having the desire to cut your body. It’s going to stop; I guarantee you this because it can beat you only if you are weak and you succumb to this tendency.

Now, you may have a panic attack because this tendency is already too strong. The solution is not to cut your body because this abuse is like a drug for you. It helps to calm you down, but you are calming down with something that should provoke horror in you! Your nature has been distorted and now you calm down and even feel pleasure when you torture yourself and abuse your own body! This is crazy! I hope you agree…

What has happened to you is that you have become a victim of the wild side of your psychic sphere, which has invaded your human conscience and is obliging you to do crazy things, supposedly in order to solve your problems. However, the crazy things you do don’t help you solve anything. They only create worse problems.

You must not follow the strong crazy desires you have; you have to stop believing that this crazy tendency is making you act. Don’t think that this desire to cut your body comes from your own conscious mind. It comes from the wild and violent side of your psychic sphere, which only pretends that it is a part of you. It is not a part of you, but it is the part of an unknown region of your psychic sphere that has an independent conscience, thinks by itself, and is independent of your human conscience. It has invaded your human conscience and is pushing you to do crazy things in order to control your behaviour. This is how people start becoming crazy—by the invasion of the violent content of the wild conscience.

Please, be careful! If you continue being a slave to your wild conscience, it will finally lead to suicide.

If you don’t like the professionals who can help you, learn how to interpret your dreams and follow the wise directions of the unconscious that produces the dreams. The unconscious is the best doctor you could ever find because it already knows everything about you. You don’t have to explain anything. Further, this unconscious gives you orientation, showing you how you can overcome your problems.

I wish you will try to interpret your dreams and have this tool in your life because it will help you forever if you always respect the dreams’ messages.

However, I prefer to see you learning to interpret your dreams after a visit to another doctor, even though you may not like his or her style. I only wish this because your problem could be very serious and you may need urgent help… After the first contact with this doctor and his or her therapy, you can start interpreting your dreams and also allow the unconscious doctor to help you.

Please, do something urgently in order to stop yourself from abusing your body, and then start learning how to interpret your dreams, so that you’ll never have any problem like this again.