1) A smile changes the way your voice sounds

I recently heard a good bit of advice: when the phone rings, smile before you pick it up. People will hear it in your voice. And it makes someone’s voice sound so much nicer - more friendly, more approachable, happier, comfortable with themselves - if your voice is cheery, the person you are speaking to will enjoy the experience.

2) A smile is infectious

It goes without saying really - a true, genuine smile should bring out a smile on your face. I like to walk along the road smiling in the hopes that some passerby will see and smile - and in turn pass their smile on. If we all passed 5 smiles on a day… the results are exponential. If I pass on 5, and those people pass on 5, that 25. If they pass on 5, its 125, which grows to 625, 3125, 15625, 78125, 390625, 1953125, and after it has been passed on 10 times, your smile will have reached 9765625 people. Don’t underestimate your smile!

3) A smile helps you walk taller

When I walk through the mall smiling, it makes me walk taller. And people notice. I’m just a normal person. Nothing remarkable to look at - yet a smile turns heads. I notice it so much. People look at me and wonder what I’m smiling at. I like it because I hope to pass on my smile! Occasionally they’ll smile back - but the main thing my smile does is make me walk taller, improving my posture and helping my health!

4) Smile lines are much more friendly than frown lines

Think about your favorite old people. Our favorite people are happy people usually - and if an old person is happy, chances are they will have smile lines. Smile lines are hardly noticeable. You definitely notice when someone has frown lines - but smile lines are friendly and make a person seem more approachable. They’re nice to be around! Smile more than frown - it will be better in the long run.

5) Smiling helps you enjoy life more

I’m the kind of person who doesn’t mind talking to herself. In fact often when I’m driving I’ll be commenting on all sorts of things - but it doesn’t really help me unless I’m smiling. Its easy to talk or raise your voice when you get annoyed, but talking to yourself about funny, happy things is a little more difficult. But if you can practise seeing something amusing and actually SMILING at it, then perhaps you will learn to enjoy life more. Smiles are actually relaxing. Try a smile now - a real, genuine, from the belly up smile. Doesn’t it un-crease your brow, loosen your shoulders and help you relax? Smile more!

6) A smile can be shared among people who don’t know each other

The amount of times I have witnessed something hilarious and have been able to catch a strangers eye and smile are countless. Its really special. Instead of just smiling at that brief moment, the smile continues. I find myself smiling all the way to my car, telling people about it, and thinking about it for a long time! In a way that could be a little sad as it shows how unsmiling society has become… but don’t hesitate to smile with a stranger!

7) A smile can make your day

A smile from anyone can make your day. If you’re having a rotten day and you see someone smiling or laughing or having fun - unscowl your face and put a smile on your dial. Resist the temptation to be a scrooge and let that smile break free. I loved the author L. M. Montgomery when I was growing up and she wrote about Emily - a strange child who had a beautiful smile. It was the sort of smile that took a long time to open. Montgomery tells of a situation where Emily is being whisked around a bunch of nosy old spinster relatives. She is feeling pretty down because she has just become an orphan - and she sees an Aunt she likes. Her smile begins, but she is whisked on to the next sour Aunt - who witnesses the full effect of her smile and is gobsmacked. I always wanted a smile like that! The kind of smile that people can’t help but be affected by.

I think a smile can change the world. Learning to smile despite severe circumstances is something that is priceless. In the Western World we grumble and complain about the price of petrol etc - while in tribal Africa, the bushmen who have bone dry wells, handfuls of grain to survive on, bony livestock and no money can show the biggest, happiest smile to a guest or stranger. Its humbling and we ought to learn from it! Smiling can change the world - its up to us to make it happen!

Why? Well, it would be pretty painful walking with a damaged calf. Muscles hold your skeleton together in a way and if they’re temporarily damaged or strained, then simple activities can be excruciating. And no-one likes to be in pain!

The calf muscle sort of has three heads. There are two muscles, the soleus and the gastrocnemius. The gastrocnemius has two heads in a way, that are at the rear of the leg, and the soleus goes around the front of the leg and the sides. Without these two muscles we’d have trouble walking. There has to be a certain amount of flexibility in these muscles so that we can perform every day activities. A test you can do to see how flexible you are is to place your toes 12cm away from the wall, then bend your knee so it touches the wall. If it touches, good! If not, you’ll have to work on it! Another test is to put your foot up against the wall with the heel on the ground at a 45 degree angle. You should be able to touch your knee to the wall or at least straighten it out.

I think it is important to train these muscles. It is essential that they are strong so that you can perform every day tasks. The most simple of calf exercises are the calf raises. Because there are three sort of heads to the muscles, there are three ways to do this exercise. Firstly, stand with your feet hip width apart and facing forwards. Rise up onto your toes about 6 times. You should feel something! Then turn your toes out (like a dancer) and do the same thing. Thirdly, turn your toes inward - think pigeon - and rise up 6 times again. By now you’ll probably be feeling the burn. The calf muscle is delicate, so take care not to overdo it! If 6 times is too many, take it down a few. After a few squats or other exercises, repeat these sets 2 more times. Doing this every day will ensure your calves stay healthy and strong - but in order to take ultimate care of them, make sure you stretch them out afterwards. Do this by putting your toes up against the wall and feeling the muscle stretch out. Even siting on the floor with your legs outstretched and pulling your toes back towards you is an effective stretch. Only stretch until you can feel it - not so that it hurts!

Taking care of your calves is much easier than the animals. A little bit of attention every few days can go a long way!

I love the smell of garlic. I put garlic in nearly all my food. I like mixing up a bit of cottage cheese, horseradish and crushed garlic for a tasty snack. Keeps all kinds of unwanted things away! Garlic (along with onion) is one of the most flavorsome natural foods that is easily available. But its not that cheap! If I buy locally grown garlic, it can cost about 75c a head! But if I buy a bag (10 heads) of Chinese garlic, that costs me about 30c. Go figure! One thing about the Chinese garlic is that has been fumigated with formaldehyde - which aint good news! But I figure the potency of garlic will outweigh the negative effects of formaldehyde so… I just can’t afford to buy locally grown garlic at the rate I consume it! Perhaps I should grow it…

Anyway, garlic! The benefits are numerous. Now my theories are just based on my experience. For coldsores, I’ve tried creams and pills to help heal them, but after years and years of coldsores and creams that make them WORSE, garlic is the only true remedy that kicks them every time. If I have a cold, I’ll up my garlic intake and feel better pretty quickly. But like I said, its just based on personal experience. So I did a bit of research and found out a whole lot of cool things about garlic.

1) Garlic lowers bad cholesterol. This is quite an amazing fact. How many natural things lower cholesterol? Well only really a combination of foods - like decreasing fatty foods and whatnot. So for this fact, I would consider garlic a wonder-drug!

2) Back in 1500BC, the Egyptians were using garlic to treat tumours. Wow - I find that pretty amazing. Garlic is an anti-cancer drug. Garlic attacks the cancer cells and boosts the immune system in order to help the body fight the cancer on its own.

3) Garlic is a natural antibiotic. I don’t know about you, but I hate antibiotics. They destroy the immune system. While they might attack the infections or whatever, they don’t do anything for your immune system. Now garlic is different! Yes it helps attack the infections, but at the same time it boosts the immune system. Benjamin Lau conducted a study on mice who had Candida - he injected the mice with a garlic solution and within 2 days they were free of Candida. Aaaamazing.

4) Skin problems. I’ve never tried it, but apparently rubbing garlic on zits a few times a day helps them disappear really quickly. Might try it! It also helps for infections and things like boils, acne, and other spots.

I could go on and on and on. There seem to be so many benefits of garlic - digestive system repair, blood pressure stabilization, reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and a whole host of other awesome things. Now garlic can be taken either in powdered form, oil form, fresh - raw or cooked. When cooking, crush or press it, wait for 10 minutes, then add it to food. The waiting allows all the benefits to fully develop. I like to add a bit of garlic when sauteeing onions, and then a bit more right at the end of cooking for that extra kick. A lot of people don’t like the side effects of garlic - bad breath, smelly sweat etc - so crunching some raw parsely or fennel seeds could help this. Garlic is also a little bit hard to eat if you’re at work - but try and get everyone into it so everyone’s sense of smell is numbed! Apparently people in Korea and other Asian countries eat between 8-10 cloves of garlic a day. Thats insane! But hey if it keeps you healthy… I’m definitely going to keep cooking with garlic - and probably will try to include a whole lot more garlic into my diet - especially during the winter months when immune systems go way down. Try cooking with garlic - you might see a change in your health!

1) The poor dogs need a safe home. Go and pick one up and show it some love. It doesn’t need to be a costly thing. Vet check every now and again, a collar and lead, pet food… the most costly thing is love really…

2) Safety. If you have a dog around you, its your automatic guard. S/he guards your home, your family, your possessions, you! Give your dog love and s/he will protect you. Simple!

3) Exercise. Every dog needs exercise. What better motivation for you? Don’t make it the kids job - make it a goal to take the dog for a walk every day. The more you walk, the more fit you’ll get and perhaps you’ll get to the stage where you can run with your dog.

So if those three reasons sound good enough - go get yourself a dog. If the first two reasons aren’t enough for you, then let the third be all the inspiration you need.

Walking is pretty easy for the average person. We don’t even think about it! We wake up, we get up, we walk to the bathroom/kitchen/wardrobe…. walk around the house getting ready for work, walk out the door, sometimes walk to work - or the busstop, but what I’m trying to say is walking is part of every day life - we don’t even think about it. Apparently the average person takes between 8000 and 10000 steps per day. On average this adds up to about 115,000 miles in a lifetime. That is around 4 times the circumference of the planet! That is without really thinking about it!

So, does the current walking from room to room, shop to shop and car to work keep you fit? Didn’t think so. Did you know, if your average amount of steps is 8000, and you increase your daily amount by 20%, you’re almost up to 10000 steps. If every step is on average 2ft, that would be an extra 3200ft a day. Thats more than an extra half a mile. So if before you were doing 3 miles, an extra 20% of walking is about 3.7 miles.

3 miles a day isn’t bad - but that extra 0.7 miles is what will make a difference. I’m talking about making walking a thing of effort - putting a little brain into it. So, say in your lunch time - go for a walk around the block, or the mall. It will make a difference! Park a little further away from your office. Take the stairs instead of the lift. When taking the kids to preschool, push the pram instead of taking the car. If you take the bus, get off a stop early. When you get home, or before you go to work, go for a quick walk around the block. Every little bit makes a difference!

So why walk? Well, walking is easy. Its accessible. Its fun. It can be enjoyed with lots of people - your kids, your parents, your grandparents. You can walk down the street or around the mall. You can take a short hike through the local national park. You can go on a multi-day trip through a national park! Walking doesn’t need to be tough. But walking counts. It is an aerobic exercise. You can decide on the pace - all that matters is the consistency of it. In so many ways walking is better than running - you can enjoy the view, it will take a lot longer for your feet to start hurting, and there is a relatively low impact on your joints.

But there are some other reasons walking is a great form of exercise…

It lowers cholestorol.

Walking controls blood pressure.

Reduces risk of type 2 diabetes, cancer and stroke.

Reduces risk of hip fracture and need for gallstone surgery.

So - walk a little more every day. It won’t cost you anything more than a bit of time. Better yet, invest in a pedometer so you can track your progress easier and walk your way to a healthier lifestyle!

Red cabbage - there are so many benefits of red cabbage. If you’re a fan of white/green cabbage, well, red cabbage is much more healthy for you. In what way? It has 6-8 times more Vitamin C - and contains a higher concentration of polyphenols. Testing of 100g of red cabbage produced 190 milligrams of polyphenols - while white cabbage only produced 45 milligrams of polyphenols. As well as being rich in Vitamin C, it also contains good amounts of Vitamins A, E and B. A is good for your skin and eyes, E is an antioxidant that helps burn fat, and B is great for boosting energy.

So when you hear the word ‘cabbage’ next, don’t go running a mile in the opposite direction. Instead, run towards it! Embrace it! This is how I make red cabbage:

Finely chop up a head of red cabbage. Chop up 1 onion finely and saute in olive oil - or butter - or your favorite. When it is see-through, add the cabbage. Put the lid on and let it wilt for a while. Then add about 3 tbspn vinegar, a few cloves or bay leaves, a couple of tablespoons of brown sugar or honey and let it simmer for 40 or so minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste - and enjoy!

For a fresher option, mix finely chopped red and white cabbage with grated carrots and sprouts to make a coleslaw. For a nice variation, use a vinaigrette dressing instead of the carb-loaded mayo!

Enjoy the benefits of red cabbage soon - better yet, try growing your own!

It sounds like the information is good – your metabolism is always in action and therefore it must be doing more for your fat loss efforts than if it was only activated when you ate a big meal.

Studies now prove that this belief is wrong.

Just this year a test was conducted in Australia where 179 obese people all put on a healthy diet with the purpose of losing weight. The same amount of food was consumed per day, just in different frequencies and
quantities per sitting. Those who followed the frequent small meal diet experienced no weight loss benefits compared to others who ate less frequently.

Measurements showed that there weren’t any differences in weight, waist measurement, body fat or blood sugar levels when comparing one group to the other.

Michelle Palmer, a dietitian from the University of Newcastle observed the results and commented, “There seems to be little benefit to changing how often or how regularly you eat if you’re trying to lose weight.”
Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23759295-12377,00.html

It’s time to debunk the myth that eating smaller amounts more frequently aids fat loss. The truth is it doesn’t. In fact in my experience and from the little I’ve observed in other people’s experience, changing the way you eat is more likely to have negative effects as far as weight loss is concerned.

Humans, like animals are designed to thrive on eating when we are hungry and continuing to eat until we reach satisfaction.  Our metabolism has also been designed to work best in this condition.

Humans are also hard-wired to enjoy eating (as we need it in order to survive). When do we most enjoy eating? Usually it’s when we are hungry and sit down in front of a nice big meal of one of our favorite foods, am I right? This is how humans have eaten for centuries without any problems with obesity.

Eating small meals throughout the day is not only ineffective for reducing one’s body fat percentage, but it is unsustainable. Continuing to snack on small meals throughout the day is impractical most of the time.  And don’t forget that it is also unsociable. Meal times are when humans have always enjoyed conversing and getting to know each other more - advising people to forgo this in order to lose more weight can be more harmful than it’s worth.

So rest assured readers - it’s not how often we eat during the day that’s going to help us keep the fat away, but rather it’s what we eat and how much of it that we need to be careful about.

Well I don’t know about you, but that image sounds kinda cool - except for the high-riding lycra gear! It was worsened somewhat in the 90’s - still highriding but less bright colours - just perfect manicures, etc. I have an aerobic video made in the 90’s. Hideous! There is a guy participating too and he just creeps me out.

Anyway - the topic of the day is aerobics. What is/are aerobics? Well the word ‘aerobic’ literally means ‘with oxygen’. Another meaning of ‘aerobic’ which I particularly like is when you perform an extended activity with large muscle groups that use regular movements, often to a beat, which raises the heart rate and causes heavy breathing. Like running for example. Its aerobic! You use oxygen and you’re hitting the pavement constantly one foot at a time - and boy is your heart rate skyrocketing.

The aerobics we’re all familiar with are probably the ones I mentioned earlier - stepping and performing all sorts of activities to a beat/music. I quite enjoy aerobics to be honest. Like I said before, I have a tape from the 90’s. Its pretty weird, but when you go through all the moves, you’re sweating - and get mad at the perfectly coiffed blond bombshell who looks like she just had a makeover even at the end! No fair - ah the skills of video editing. So, back to aerobics - yeah I enjoy it. Its hard work. You feel a little silly at times for lifting such piddly weights, but by the end of it, if you aren’t puffing, you just KNOW you haven’t given it your darndest.

So my top five reasons for including aerobics?

1) It improves your mood. Come-on, if you’re doing aerobics and you don’t start giggling at the thought of the original ‘aerobicers’, then you’re not doing it properly. Aerobics are FUN!

2) Aerobics burn fat. Its cardio, plain and simple. The more you do, the more you’ll burn. Don’t forget to combine it with weight training though. And it is nice and low impact so anyone can do it!

3) Improves flexibility. You’re doing all these strange movements with your legs and arms - all the reptitions help to improve your flexibility.

4) It improves your heart. The heart is a muscle and repetitive aerobic activity helps to stretch and tune that muscle, improving its performance!

5) Helps to reduce blood pressure. Repeated aerobic activity not only strengthens and improves the heart, it lowers blood pressure and gives you a healthier heart!

SO they are just 5 of my top reasons for including aerobics in your workouts. You don’t have to do it every day, but I reckon its a good alternative to other aerobic activity - say running. This morning it was too cold to run, so I spent a good while - about half an hour - doing all these aerobic movements. You may look silly, but if it works, it works!

During the 1970s there was much debate on the safety of MSG and whether or not it should be legal. People were complaining about severe headaches, stomach cramps and even brain tumors that were puportedly caused from consuming MSG. These claims were quashed by food experts who were only prepared to agree that for a few people it was highly allergenic, but for the majority of people it was completely safe to eat.

These days most potato chips, baked beans and a lot of other snack food will contain it, because quite simply, it makes food tastes better. Even people who vehemently hate the stuff agree that it does make whatever your eating taste better (albeit chemically).

The argument I want to bring to the table is this: Is an unnaturally good taste worth it, if it’s going to kill you?

“Kill you?” you ask? Yes, MSG is actually so destructive on our brain cells that it kills them.

Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills is a book written by Dr. Russell L. Blaylock that goes into detail on substances like MSG and aspartame which are excitotoxins - substances that actually kill neurons. Basically what happens is when a human consumes MSG the excitotoxins reach our brains and cause a massive surge of movement in certain neurons. This hyperexcitement is so extreme that when the neurons slow down and stop moving, they die.

Imagine giving a 2 year old heaps of chocolate and sugar and seeing them run around the living room twenty times, then getting after getting too tired and dropping dead on the floor lifeless. Thankfully not even sugar has that bad an effect on our brains - but disturbingly MSG does have this effet.

Obesity - How does MSG make us fat?

To be honest, I can’t give a scientifically proven answer as to why MSG causes obesity. But statistics do reveal a much greater level of unexplained obesity. And a recent study in Spain has showed that MSG will actually increase appetites of mice by as much as 40%.

The damage caused to our brains from MSG is not just causing obesity though, it is also linked to Parkinson’s and other neurodegenrative diseases (and even partial and full paralysis on some humans).

It is becoming clear that MSG causes brain injuries that can affect humans in many ways - included in these effects is obesity.

Stay way from MSG as much as possible!

But recently I’ve had a change of thinking. Sort of. While I’m not about to go sign up for a marathon, I wonder if perhaps signing up for something would make me workout better? If I had a goal in mind - one that was unchangeable by me - that a lot of people were striving for, would that help me to be consistent with working out? Well it worked for my sister.

She took Physical Education at school this year. For her it was more about keeping fit than wanting to pursue a career in fitness. Anyway at school they have a cross country run every year. It is compulsory to join unless you have some sort of proof - medical or parental - that you can’t do it. So she decided she was going to do well. Not win necessarily, but keep up with her friends and make a really good effort of it. For someone who never runs, it was a great goal. She was outside often, going for jogs around the neighborhood. The year before she came 40-something-th in the race. Nearly 50th. She was determined to do better this time around - especially as she was enrolled in P.E.!

So she had a goal in mind and set out to achieve it. She isn’t by any means a serious runner, but she wanted to beat her previous placing. On race day, she was running with over 100 girls from age 14-17. Aged 16 at the time, she did her best and came 32nd.

Now I don’t know about you, but that kind of achievement is outstanding. For someone who never runs - to step up and beat a score of the previous year - thats motivation!

So lets let it be a lesson to us. Lets go sign up for something we know we can manage, and then set out to achieve that goal! It doesn’t matter if we don’t come first, or second or third - just completing it would be achievement enough. What have we got to lose? A few dollars for a bit of motivation and a good lot of exercise? Go for it!