Pay Attention to What You Eat

This might seem like common sense. But if you take the time to write down everything you put in your mouth you’ll realize that you’re actually taking a bite of food, whether it’s a few M&Ms from a coworkers candy dish or a few bites of food while you’re cutting a plate of food for your kids.

Everything you put in your mouth has calories. Most people make the mistake of only writing down the foods they eat during a planned meal. They may also write down a small snack. But they forget about the cream they put in their coffee, a spoonful of ice cream they snuck in when they planned dessert, a few crackers they popped in her mouth because they suddenly had a sugar craving.

Some people will find themselves disciplined enough to resist mindless eating. But if you’re just starting out in your diet, or not sure how your willpower will hold out, the best thing you can do to kick this habit is to keep a small notebook tucked away in your pocket or in your purse. Every time you get the urge to bring food to your mouth pull out that notebook and write down what you are about to digest.

Taking a Walk
Walking is the important, not just because it exercises your body, it is good because it relaxes your mind allows it to stop and take stock not mindlessly go from one activity to the other. I would encourage you to walk to work, or the grocery store or your children’s school if they are close enough. If you don’t like to walk on empty streets, go to a mall walk around for hours with endless amusements peeking at you. Go to your city’s museum and walk around there.

Walking is the easiest form of exercise but the benefits are tremendous like:

• It increases your body’s energy, stamina, and metabolism.
• It can give your muscles tone and increase bone density.
• Walking results in increased HDL (the “good” cholesterol).
• It has shown to lower blood pressure and LDL (the “bad” cholesterol).
• It can result in increased volume of plasma in blood, which in turn thins the blood and reduces the risk of clotting.
• Walking can, as research suggests reduce the risk of coronary artery disease, some cancers, osteoporosis, and other serious or even fatal diseases.
• Walking helps reduce stress.
• Helps people achieve and maintain a healthy body weight!

PCOS, also referred to as Stein-Leventhal Syndrome, is one of the most widespread endrocrine disorders among women of reproductive age and can be diagnosed as early as one’s teenage years. This condition affects about 5%-10% females – as many as 1 in 10 women. Unfortuantely, the cause of PCOS is still unknown, but the effects are significant and devastating for many women, as it is considered one of the leading causes of infertility. This is due to excess male hormones and other hormones that affect the cycle for women to produce eggs.

PCOS SYMPTOMS

PCOS is an autoimmune condition in which a woman’s ovaries and, in some cases, the adrenal glands produce more androgens (a type of hormone) than normal. High levels of these hormones interfere with the development and release of eggs as part of a woman’s ovulation. As a direct result of this scenario, fluid-filled sacs or cysts can develop on the ovaries. Because eggs are not released, most women with PCOS have difficulty getting pregnant.

Other symptoms may include:

- Menstral disturbances (absence of menses for more than three months, delay and/or irregular monthly periods)
- Obesity
- Hirsutism or excess hair growth on the face, chest stomach, thumbs, or toes
- Male pattern baldness or thinning hair
- Acne, oily skin, or dandruff
- Patches of thickened and dark brown or black skin
- Excessive dandruff
- High insulin levels
- Insulin Resistance
- High cholesterol levels
- High blood pressure

PCOS and Diabetes

As a result of PCOS, women suffering from the condition typically have a malfunction in their insulin system — which is responsible for regulating the body’s blood sugar. This results in the body’s ability to properly utilize blood sugar, resulting in an increased risk of acquiring diabetes. This is due to the insulin in the blood stream not being effectively utilized, thereby causing a spike in glucose levels.

The Cause of PCOS As aforementioned, the exact cause of PCOS is not completely understood. Many experts consider that there are several aspects which trigger PCOS syndrome. One of these is considered to be the genetic or hereditary factors. A woman who’s mother, sister or other family member has PCOS may have a greater possibility of acquiring the syndrome as well.

PCOS Treatment As one would ascertain, the most effective method of treatment for Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome will most likely depend on the signs and symptoms a woman is experiencing. Unfortunately, there is no cure for POCS, but many of the symptoms can be managed. It is important to have PCOS diagnosed and treated early on to help prevent further complications.

There are certainly medication that can help control the symptoms, such as birth control pills which may help to regulate menstruation, reduce androgen levels and clear acne. Other medications can help control blood pressure and cholesterol and reduce some of the more cosmetic problems such as hair growth.

Lifestyle changes such as regular exercise can aid weight loss and help reduce blood sugar levels and regulate insulin levels more effectively. Weight loss can help reduce many of the health conditions associated with PCOS and can make symptoms be less severe or even disappear in many cases.

For some women, surgical treatment may be an option but certainly not recommended as the first course of treatment.

Education is the key to most effectively understanding PCOS and how to manage and ultimately eliminate many of the symptoms of this devastating condition.

There’s nothing worse than not believing in yourself. You don’t think that has anything to do with growing taller myths? You’d be surprised about how many people stay frustrated and have a low self-esteem, only because of their height. I blame all these myths about how to grow taller naturally that so many people cling to, eventually never realizing that they can do something about their height. That’s why I started to write about myths. In this article, we are tackling probably the biggest myth of all them all: can we stretch our bones to grow taller?

Let me state this absolutely clearly to begin with: You cannot stretch your bones – period. This causes major confusion and keeps so many people from taking the first step because it feels like people are contradicting each other, thus losing all credibility. I know this because I used to be one of them. Unless you are still a child at the time you are reading this, your bones are of solid mass. There is no way you can stretch solid bone, it’s just not possible. However, there are two exceptions, and this is what’s responsible for all this confusion. First of all, children can stretch their bones because their bones still consist of cartilage, a mass that is not of solid bone but of connective tissues. These connective tissues are not as flexible as muscles, however. Ever heard of a child that fell from a very high ground and survived with hardly any blessings? Sometimes you can read these stories in the newspaper. The reason for that is, besides a lot of luck, that a child’s bones consist of these just mentioned connective tissues, the cartilage. The second exception is that even adults still have cartilage in some places, namely in their spine. That’s why your spine is so susceptible to stretching exercises.

So, from now on, when you hear someone talking about stretching their bones, keep in mind that they don’t mean that you can actually stretch your solid bones. For lack of better words, that’s what it’s mostly called and causes a lot of confusion in the beginning. It gets even worse when you read about exercises that can stretch your legs. The reason here is that in your thigh and shin areas, there are gaps between your bones. When you do exercises to stretch your leg bones, you don’t stretch the actual bones. What is meant is that you make use of these gaps to lengthen your legs.