Worrying About Your Weight May Be Worse Than Being Overweight

A study, published in The American Journal or Public Health, found that the more weight men and women want to lose, the more unhealthy days they have each month. This means that worrying about the weight may actually be worse for your health than how much you actually weigh.

A Happy Marriage = A Healthy Heart

Researches studied married and single adults monitoring their blood pressure for a 24-hour period. Those happily married had consistently lower blood pressure throughout the day, with an average four points lower during sleep. Previous studies show that a lower blood pressure during sleep translates to greatly reduced risks of cardiovascular disease. Researchers suggest the cause for lower blood pressure among the happy couples is the emotional support they have with each other. Even singles with solid emotional relationships couldn't compare to those happily married.

On the flip side, the study also showed that unhappily married couples have much higher blood pressure than their single counterparts.

Detoxing your Body

In today's over-processed 21st century world, it's imperative to flush the toxins from our systems on a regular basis.

Fasting can be very beneficial to your body and provide a great boost to your overall health. Most nutritionists say that 1-2 20-hour fasts per week can be a great benefit both physically and mentally. While many different types of fast exist, the simplest is to spend a 20-hour period eating nothing and drinking only water. Some even take it a step further drinking herbal laxative tea from the health food store or soaking in a bathtub of Epsom salts to encourage removal of toxins from the body.

Olive Oil: The Fountain of Youth

Olive Oil: Spain

Olive oil has long been known to have great health benefits. Rich in antioxidants, just two tablespoons a day can help to reduce the risk of heart disease. Olive oil is also thought to lower cholesterol, and help to prevent heart attack and stroke.

Those in the natural remedy crowd also use olive oil in both their diet and on their skin. Jeanne Calment, who holds the title of the longest confirmed lifespan at 122 years, often attributed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance to olive oil both in her diet and on her skin.

Choosing a Multivitamin

With shelves of vitamin supplements on the market, it can be a daunting task to choose the right one for you.

First, it is ok to choose generic brands, oftentimes these brands are just as good as the ones with fancy advertising.

Also, there is a slight different in the multivitamins for men and women. Women's vitamins often contain iron, which is a necessary supplement, whereas men need little or no iron.

Lastly, test your vitamins by placing one in a glass of water. It should dissolve in under a half hour. Some vitamins can take up to two hours to dissolve and are therefore useless, as they won't absorb into the bloodstream.

Enjoying the Sunshine

Because the sun can have a devastating effect on our bodies no matter what age we are, it’s important to take a proactive role in offsetting the harmful rays when out and enjoying the nice weather. Some tips to remember are:

*Find a sunscreen that blocks both UVA and UVB rays and wear it even on the cloudy days.

*Avoid exposure to the sun in highly reflective areas such as the sand, water and snow.

*Stay far, far away from tanning beds!

*Try to avoid the sun when it’s at its strongest, between the hours of 10am and 4pm. Here’s a tip: if you shadow is shorter than you are, the sun's rays are very intense and you should seek shade.

Carol Alt: Supermodel and Raw Food Revolutionary

For anyone else watching The Celebrity Apprentice, you’ve no doubt noticed how stunning Carol Alt looks. The biggest secret she's hiding is that she's 47! It’s surely not possible for someone to look that good naturally at 47. But she does, and I think she's found the fountain of youth. It’s a raw food diet. She claims no needle has ever come close to her wrinkle-free face.

A raw food diet is different from vegan; raw-foodists eat raw meat and unpasteurized dairy. Shocking I know! I personally can't jump on board with the raw meat thing, but I’ve never been a great meat eater anyway, so considering a raw vegetarian diet is something I’m interested in.

Carol says that at the age of 34 and the height of her career she was feeling worn down and sick on a regular basis. Prescriptions for insomnia, headaches and sinus problems became her daily life. After nearly losing out on modeling jobs, she sought out a holistic solution. Thirteen years and two books later she's found it. It’s raw food and she swears by it. Studies have shown that as soon as food hits the heat the very enzymes and vitamins that make it so inherently good for us immediately diminish. It’s also harder for the human body to digest cooked foods.

Carol now says she feels better than she did in her twenties, and she certainly looks it! I’ve never been one to commit 100% to any one diet, I am very interest in learning more about this one and many incorporating some its principles into my own eating habits. While I’m not willing to reach for the raw chicken breast just yet, I think I will be seeking out Carol Alt’s book the next time I hit the bookstore.

Contaminated Water

As many of you may have heard, studies were released in the last week finding that many of the major metropolitan cities in the U.S. are drinking water containing pharmaceuticals. 24 cities were found to have one or more drugs present in the water supply, contaminating water for more than 41 million Americans. This is a devastating finding because we're just not sure how the drugs are finding their way into the water. It's ironic that all of the prescription drugs we take to make us healthy are seeping into the water supply and potentially making us sick.

Scientists have also studied the animals living in or drinking the water that’s affected. Fish were affected the most, with some showing stunted growth or even deformities. While many of the cities affected had only one prescription drug present, Philadelphia was the clear winner (or loser in this case) with a whopping 56 different drugs present. It’s unclear whether in-home filtration systems are helping to clean the water. While many people’s natural inclination may be to invest in bottled water, remember, last month studies showed links with plastic and cancer. Unfortunately, that's not a safe route for those citizens affected. The only way to overcome adversity is to stay informed. If you live near one of the major areas affected by the water supply, stay up to date with what local officials are recommend citizens do.

Beef. It's not what's for dinner.

I’ve always been an environmentally conscious gal. I was raised in a rural area, so I always had an appreciation for the plants and animals around me. My motivation for being environmentally friendly is purely selfish; I like this earth we live on. I'm sad when I see littered paths and the ever-constant condo construction sites. I want to share with you why it’s important to save the earth that sustains us. Kurt Vonnegut once said that humans are a disease on the earth. I think he’s right, but I also think it’s not too late for us to turn that around.

Beef. Just two pounds of beef is responsible for more greenhouse gasses than driving for three hours while leaving all of the lights on back at home. Seriously. Beef = bad. Greenhouse gasses from beef make up 18% of emissions, more than vehicles. And this is only counting the methane, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide released from the cow’s digestive system, not the raising and transporting of it. But, don't worry, you really don't have to cut beef out of your diet for good; cutting your consumption in half can greatly reduce the amount of emissions released. And when you are in the mood for red meat, try going organic. Organic beef raised on grass instead of concentrated food uses 40% less greenhouse grasses and 85% less energy. And when you’re in the mood for a burger, try something different and go vegetarian. Veggie burgers are really good and environmentally friendly. Plus they're better for you!

A Clean Home is a Happy Home

A battle I've always had is keeping my home clean. It’s ironic really, I grew up with a mother who was fanatically clean, spending hours every evening cleaning things she’d only just cleaned the night before. Perhaps I’m still rebelling from that. Regardless, one goal I always have at the beginning of the week is to make the effort to keep my house clutter-free. It's been five years and counting with little success.

Marilu Henner is a firm believer that a clutter-free home equals a clutter-free life. I’ve come to believe her. There is no greater feeling than being in a clean, clutter-free environment. I find that I really just get mad when my house looks like a tornado swept through it. People who live in that way are really only neglecting themselves. I've spent so much time in the past rushing to pick up the house before company arrives (I’ve been known to lie about not being home because my house was too dirty to whip into shape), but what about keeping my home clean for me? Someone once told me they like to keep their house spic and span because they have to live in it. Believe it or not, that was a revelation to me!

So in honor of spring, I resolve to keep my house a little cleaner than I have in the past. Martha Stewart offers just six things you can do every day to keep a clean home, starting with making your bed.

Yoga Me!

I've been known, once and a while in the past, to tune into FitTv for some feel good, healthful programming. I can’t say that I'm big into those crazy-defined, rippled bodies on the expensive machines, they just seem a little to vain for me, but I am into the shows that foster a sense of mental health and wellbeing along with a fit body.

So as I was flipping though the other day, I seen a yoga show and stopped to watch. It was cool! I've had a little experience with yoga, but this show is so much more. Of course the first thing I noticed was these great locations where they were doing yoga; on the beach, on a pier with the foggy ocean and boats floating by for a backdrop, mountaintops, and even a gritty warehouse somewhere in the city. It really makes you realize how much aesthetics plays a part in getting you in the mood. Just watching those scenes float by as these beautiful women were stretching and breathing and zen-ing was really inspiring. I feel the desire to want to stretch and bend and move my body like they do. They’re amazing! It makes me realize what a perfect body really is; not a 36-34-36 measurement, but a body that is in perfect harmony with the mind. One that can stretch and bend and adapt to its environment. It was inspiring and you should check it out.

Working Out

Your outlook on life is a direct reflection of how much you like yourself.

And working out and excersing can really help with our self view I think.  After a workout, I feel really good, so much so that I just want to meet up with friends and party!

A daily hit of athletic-induced endorphins gives you the power to make better decisions and offsets stress.

Working out also makes chicks like us more, because we're shedding that beer belly and developing some muscles!  One thing girls can't stand is laziness, and being outta shape implies laziness.

Simply put, working out makes us like life more, so just do it!!! 

The Pursuit of Happiness

I was reading a book on Buddhism recently.  And one of the most important tenents I took out of the reading was simply that desire is the root of unhappiness...

Think about that for a sec.

If we can shed our desires, then we have no reason to get upset... it's kinda true, don't you think?  If I could shed my desire to want, then I could find contentment in myself at this moment...

But, wow, that's really hard to do.  I want a smart, capable, and gorgeous girlfriend.  I want a bigger house and super-fly car.  I want a vodka martini right now but ran out of vodka!  

Well, there's another book I'm reading called the 4-hour Work Week - now this guy tells me to make a list of the things I want, but more importantly, the person I want to be and the activities I want to do - and to achieve them!  But to go after them with effectiveness, with a different perspective, and with a knowledge and wisdom that most 9-to-5'ers completely lack.

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imaginiation" - Oscar Wilde.

Yeah, I like this perspective, too.  I'll try to adopt the Buddhist philosophies, but I'm also an over-achiever, and I want to achieve some lofty goals to make a happier life.  Between both of these, I should be one happy dude!

I have much more to read and will keep the blog updated!

The blog is back! Long live the blog!

Well this blog has been reborn, recycled, and will now be real fun! On my blog, I'm the Master, and from now on, I'll be blogging about things that matter to me, about the world we live in and life in general!

First off, my vision for a better internet is to bring life back to dead blogs! So here I go...

The Master's teaching

I was planning to continue on through different accounts in the Gospel to show just how Christ set free the oppressed by casting out demons and healing diseases. But I have decided to take a look at some more of the Master's teaching as laid out in the Sermon on the Mount, and I plan to begin as soon as I find time.