Archive for the ‘Tips for Healthy Life’ Category



Put your metabolism to work for you. Now’s the precise time to incorporate a little metabolic revving tips into your daily regimen to dodge gaining weight and enhance losing weight. We eat food for fuel. When we burn it for energy to run our bodies, the process creates heat.

Particular foods and nutritional supplements can assist the body’s engine to burn fuel efficiently, helping our metabolism to stay revved and functioning well.

Keep your metabolism revved with these few tips:

o Engage in 30 minutes activity each day to help decrease weight gain and to raise metabolic rate.
o Tone your muscles by weight training three days a week.
o Start small, try walking with 1/2kg to 1kg weights. Add a hill or up stairs.
o Never skip breakfast. It may slow down your metabolism.
o Nutritional supplements, such as green tea, can help boost metabolism.
o Have a supply of protein powered healthy snacks on hand as an alternative to carb-loaded junk food.

We hear a lot concerning metabolism and often blame our “slow metabolism” for our failure to keep our weight under control. So what is metabolism, exactly? And is there something we can do to alter our metabolic rate?

Metabolism basically refers to all the chemical processes that take place within the body in order to sustain life, allowing you to breathe, pump blood, keep your brain functioning and extract energy from your food. Resting metabolic rate refers to the amount of calories your body uses daily, at rest, solely to keep all your vital organs functioning. You burn additional calories through your daily activities and formal exercise. The amount of calories that you burn each day is directly associated to your body composition.

Think of your body as divided into two compartments. In one compartment is all the body fat, in the other compartment is everything that isn’t fat (eg: bone, fluid, tissue, muscle), that’s the fat free compartment. The size of your fat free compartment determines your metabolic rate. Since the fat free compartment contains muscle tissue, one of the greatest things you can do to boost your metabolic rate is to strength train to enhance your muscle mass. If you build up 4.5Kilos of lean body mass, that’s an extra 140 calories that you burn per day, not to mention the calories that you burn through working out.

Here are a few questions and answers regarding metabolism:

Question: Do all people tend to put on weight as they get older?

Answer: People have a tendency to exercise less, or less vigorously, as they age and that means fewer calories burned daily. As activity levels and intensity go down, loss of muscle mass can occur. This therefore shrinks the body’s fat free compartment and leads to a lower metabolic rate. Cardiovascular exercise will burn calories, and resistance training to preserve or build up muscle are a great protection against age-related weight gain.

Question: Are you stuck with the Metabolism you have or can you switch it?

Answer: We all seem to know folks who can eat whatever they want and never gain weight or those who just look at food and put on 5 kilos. But lifestyle plays a large part in determining the calories you burn per day. While it may appear that there are folks who eat all the time and never seem to gain, chances are they make healthy, relatively low calorie choices effortlessly. And many of these people burn more calories through ‘non exercise’ activity, not formal exercise. They move around a lot throughout the day. They might fidget more, get up from their desks regularly throughout the day to stretch, or walk down the corridor to talk to a colleague instead of emailing.

Next time You’re in a public place, become an observer. You may well notice that heavier folks sit quite still and hardly move. Leaner folk might use more hand gestures, or wiggle a foot or a crossed leg. The point is, build more muscle and then use it by moving around more during the day.

Question: If I cutback calories my metabolism will slow down, so is there really a benefit to excersing?

Answer: It is true that your metabolic rate can slow a tad when you cutback calories. After all, your body’s natural inclination will be to try to conserve calories as best it can. But these decreases are relatively insignificant, and if people become more active as they lose weight, this can off set these small changes. By dieting and exercising, you can help to preserve the rate at which your body burns calories.

Boost your metabolism in addition with protein. Your muscle mass works like a furnace, burning calories and stored fat for energy. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism, the faster you burn calories. Eating plenty of protein daily is essential to maintaining your muscle mass for good health, energy and efficient weight management. Find lean, healthy protein foods for snacks. Look at adding protein supplements and powders to your diet, they can as an added benefit be very low in calories.



During pregnancy, women do not usually feel good about their looks. This is the stage where women feel worse because of the physical changes that make them look unattractive. Some of the physical changes include skin discoloration, falling hair, their nose becomes bigger, acne and worst pregnant women have a high tendency to become fat. Weight issue during pregnancy is something that can be avoided and you can prevent excess pregnancy weight gain if you know how.

It is natural to gain weight during pregnancy because you have an additional life in your body which is your baby. But this doesn’t mean that you are allowed to have excess pregnancy weight gain. You should know the proper weight gain for you and your baby. Gaining too much weight might cause problems during pregnancy and delivery.

Here are some tips to help you prevent excess pregnancy weight gain and feel good about yourself:

Listen to your doctor. Different stages in your pregnancy required a certain weight gain and you have to listen to your doctor and follow the dietary recommendation to prevent excessive weight gain. It is easy to get lazy and eat all you want when you are pregnant but ignoring your doctor’s advice especially about weight gain might be dangerous for you and your unborn child.

Watch what you eat. Gaining too much weight is not only caused by overeating but choosing the wrong food will also make you fat. Processed foods, sweets and junk foods are not healthy foods and you will gain excess weight if you continue eating those kinds of food. Avoid too much fat, calories and unnatural foods to prevent excess pregnancy weight gain.

Eat healthy. Of course the best way to keep healthy and look good while pregnant is eating nutritious foods. A diet rich in fruits and vegetables is not only healthy but also good on your skin and a good source of fiber which helps in good digestion. Eating healthy foods will also prevent you from excess pregnancy weight gain.



With all the recent focus and media publicity on the alarming statistics of obesity throughout North America, and around the world, we tend to forget that percentage of the population who cannot gain weight. I was recently asked by a friend how she can gain weight. What an important question, so I decided to post this for those who are in the same situation.

What can I do?

In order to really provide specifics and action steps for healthy weight gain, it is important to learn more about a persons individual dietary lifestyle and overall state of health. What (if any) health issues a person is having are signs of nutritional and hereditary deficiencies.

Everybody’s body is different and everyone has specific nutritional needs, that is why the majority of people are prone to gaining weight, were a smaller number actually cannot.

First, you need to think about what you are eating and how you’re feeding yourself through the sources of foods in your diet. The key ingredient is the sources of protein in your diet and digestion of that protein; as you are trying to build muscle mass; not fat.

Understand protein

Undigested protein in your body actually leads to other health problems starting with intestinal toxemia; which then leads to inflammation throughout the body and a host of other health concerns.

Just about everyone knows that muscles are made of protein. Every single cell in the body has some protein. Protein makes up 50% of the dry weight of the body. Protein is made up of 8 essential amino acids and 12 non-essential amino acids. Are you getting all these? That is a question you need to consider. I can assure you with almost certainty that you are NOT getting all amino acids in your diet.

Change to improve

There are some things you can do and consider to change or enhance your dietary intake to make sure you are getting everything you need. I would recommend a few supplements to add that enhance your dietary foundation. From there, once you are feeding and fueling your body it will react with weight gain, and bring you to an overall healthier state.

If you want to learn more or discuss your dietary lifestyle and how to enhance your health and gain weight contact me today!

Doug Collins
Riverview, New Brunswick



So you’re thinking… the baby’s only 9 pounds. Where does the rest of that weight gain come from? Remember that your entire biology adapts to the life it is cultivating within you. Your body is increasing its blood and fluid volume, adapting a larger uterus, placenta and larger breasts as well increasing the vital amniotic fluid.

During pregnancy a few women experience the ability to loosen up on eating habits because it is normal to gain weight during this time and everybody acknowledges the cravings. Yet others quiver at the thought of gaining too much pregnancy weight. During this time it is best to discover a little of an in-between ground as weight gain is essential, but too much is not healthy either.

An individual may be consuming for 2 now, yet remember it is not two grownups. Without some rules of thumb it may become difficult to recognize precisely what consuming for 2 should imply. How much is too much and how much is not adequate? It is crucial to comprehend both ends of the spectrum.

Broadly speaking if you’re at a healthy weight, established by your height, when you get pregnant you ought to acquire around twenty-five to thirty-five pounds during a person’s pregnancy. The amount you should gain will depend on your personal situation though so it’s important to have a discussion about this with your doctor. (Always consult a physician before taking advice from a resource online.)

This may sound like a lot considering the baby will only weigh a fraction of that, but that only means eating around 200 extra calories a day in the first trimester and around 300 calories in the second and third trimesters. Steady weight gain is more important in the last two trimesters. To help support the growth of the baby you will want to make those healthy calories.

Women who are underweight when they become pregnant will need to gain a bit more, perhaps twenty-eight to forty pounds during pregnancy. But women who are overweight should gain less, perhaps 15-25 pounds. While losing weight can help with a variety of health issues, trying to lose weight while you’re pregnant isn’t a good idea. All women need to gain some weight while they are pregnant.

While it’s important to gain weight during pregnancy too much weight can cause more problems with things like varicose veins, excessive stretch marks, backaches and high blood pressure. Gaining excessive weight also makes it more difficult to get back to normal after the baby is born, and contributes to more stretch marks.

But not gaining enough weight can contribute to an underweight baby or the baby being born early. It’s important to gain a healthy amount of weight but not too much, both for your health and the baby’s.

It is a great time to take a good look at your food selections to determine where you are able to bring in a few improvements by supplying foods that contain more nutrients. For example instead of eating iceberg lettuce try a deeper green variety like spinach, then top your salad with beans and nuts instead of croutons and try eating a whole grain roll instead of a white one. Small alterations may constitute a large difference.

If you end up gaining thirty pounds during pregnancy and your baby is born weighing 9 pounds you may wonder where the rest of the weight is concentrated. Things that make up for that extra weight include the placenta, amniotic fluid, larger breasts and uterus and increased fluid and blood volume.

What you eat and the amount you eat during pregnancy is so important for the health of your new baby. It’s good to focus on eating a variety of foods and as many nutrient dense foods as you can. As long as your core diet is healthy giving into a few of those junk food cravings won’t be so bad as long as it’s within reason.

Your pregnancy diet is vital to the growth of your new child. Focus on variety and nutrient density as much as you can. Keep the core of your daily diet strong and wise so that giving into a few guilty pleasure cravings won’t be the end of the world.



Many people nowadays are very much conscious about their bodies and would do anything just to have a good body structure. The most common way to create a good body structure is by body building. To stay healthy, you must associate body building with proper diet and exercise. You have to eat the proper kind of foods and exercise daily to have a healthier body. You need to have better knowledge about body building before engaging yourself to it and you also have to know the proper ways on how to do it to avoid frustrations and get a positive results out of it.

Exercising daily will help your body achieve good shape. But when you want to build muscle, you must learn the basic tips on how to effectively do it. You have to gain strength first to allow you to start lightly and then do exercises that hit several muscles at the same time. You have to do it lightly at first and then increase the stress that you are putting on your muscles to make them grow. Never start at heavier weights especially when you are a beginner because it will result to muscle tensions. You must first do a full body work out to start a foundation for your muscles to handle. Then you can introduce body part splits with isolation exercises.

There are lots of benefits of doing weight training. It creates wellness, self-esteem and mind-body fusion. It also alleviates chronic health condition. Muscle building will help you prevent diseases and makes you physically and mentally fit. It will shape and tone your muscles and will keep you healthy as well. It will boost your self-esteem and your sense of well-being, so it creates a positive outlook of the self. Strong muscles will help you lose weight, hastens your metabolism and is also healthy for the heart. It promotes good circulation all over your body so it’s really a healthy way to have good weight training and build muscles. You just really have to start light and gradually increase the weight each workout to keep pushing your body to its upper higher limit and you will see the results in a few weeks. More weight is more stress in muscle, thus more muscle.

Every exercise must be associated with eating the right kinds of food with the right amount and really drinking lots of water. It is a well-known fact that the body needs constant supply of fuel to build up muscles, consuming more calories can help ti fuel muscle growth. You also have to include enough carbohydrates in your diet because it is the key source of energy. When carbohydrates are broken down by the body, the sugar glucose is produced. It is very important to help maintain tissue protein, metabolize fat, and fuel the central nervous system. You really have to work hard on it to be able to come up with your desired result.

Muscle building is not an easy task. You have to consider first your body and health condition before getting into muscle building. You also have to gain more knowledge about what you are entering and be responsible enough for your own health. You need to combine muscle building with proper diet; choosing the right kinds of foods and eating the right amount. Weight training is a better way to improve your health. It adds wellness, boosts your self-esteem and gives you a sense of well-being. It also includes a better body composition and immune system function, a faster metabolism to burn fats longer and faster and produce more fuel for body functions. Weight training is the ideal companion for any weight loss program because it helps maintain bone density while dropping weights. It also helps in reducing stress and enhances the quality of your life. Continue to live a healthy lifestyle by eating right and exercising daily to achieve a better looking body.

Everybody wants to achieve that perfect body. So let’s do the move by doing the right exercise, whether by body building or other work out programs, and combine it with the proper kinds of foods at the right amount and continue to live a healthy lifestyle to achieve the perfect body that you want and the life that’s clean and healthy.



Want some healthy weight loss tips? Well, it is never been easy to lose weight. It can take you hard work, time and you need to think in a new way. May be you have tried one diet after another only to be disappointed by more increase in your weight.

Fortunately, you can lose weight in few healthy ways and never gain it again. The healthy weight loss tips below will help you start on the road to lifelong weight loss success.

Tip #1: Be Creative with Your Diet Plan

Take a moment to think about your diet. Do you think that strict regimen diets are going to work with you when you are used to eat whatever you want whenever you want? Are diets that require ingredients that you have never heard of going to work with you?

Why not use foods you already know to your advantage, even those which you think that they will give you more fat? You just need to eat smarter not to cut them out.

Tip #2: Add foods rich in Protein to Your Diet

Another thing I want to tell you about is to add protein rich foods to your diet. You also can drink protein shakes as replacement meals or snacks.

Proteins help the body to burn calories that you so your body doesn’t store fat in unwanted areas all the time.

Tip #3: Drink Enough Water

Water is very essential to any healthy weight loss plan. Whatever the type of your diet is, make sure you drink about 6 to 8glasses of water every day.

Use the above healthy weight loss tips to take back control of your weight and live life to the fullest!