Sometimes we need to focus on our own instincts and what actually drives us to where we choose to be our lives today.

'Trust thyself' We welcome 'Change' as our best friend'

Now let us talk about you! Have you ever been asked this Question either by your family, friends or even by yourself? "What do I want to change in my life?" Sometimes we muddle our way through each day, sweating great tears, emotions and stresses hoping for some type of recognition or a sense of purpose and / or achievement and for What? and from Whom? One might ask.

We gradually come to a time in our life whether it be sooner or later when we do actually ask, "What do I want to change in your life?" which then rolls into the secondary question and "How did I get here?". Spend some time in the next 24 hours writing your answers down. Be as honest as you can and try not to leave anything out, include both negative and positive findings. Now, upon completion of that task, "What have you learnt"?

If you are truly happy with everything in your life then 'self checking' of current status is always a helpful task which simply gives you a great sense of validation. If you are not truly happy in your life then our new found friend 'Change' is entering your space, upon invite of course. Remember the old Saying I am sure you have heard this from many different sources 'If you continue to do what you have always done, you will continue to achieve the same results', something has to change in your life 'NOW" in order to grow and develop into the person you truly desire.

Sometimes seeking assistance can be most empowering and can bring about the change you seek. Living each day as you dreamt it to be can be most satisfying and rewarding. Take the courage to search for meaning in your life 'TODAY" Invite 'CHANGE'.

In preparing for the topic of emotional abuse, I found this list of basic needs, and thought it to be helpful and empowering for women who may be in an emotional abusive relationship. This is not a personal list created by myself, but nonetheless found it to be helpful and thought provoking when applying it to any relationship (mother, in laws, sister, friend, lover).

Basic Needs in Relationships

• The need for good will from the others.
• The need for emotional support.
• The need to be heard by the other and to be responded to with respect and acceptance
• The need to have your own view, even if others have a different view.
• The need to have your feelings and experience acknowledged as real.
• The need to receive a sincere apology for any jokes or actions you find offensive.
• The need for clear, honest and informative answers to questions about what affects you.
• The need to for freedom from accusation, interrogation and blame.
• The need to live free from criticism and judgment.
• The need to have your work and your interests respected.
• The need for encouragement.
• The need for freedom from emotional and physical threat.
• The need for freedom from angry outburst and rage.
• The need for freedom from labels which devalue you.
• The need to be respectfully asked rather than ordered.
• The need to have your final decisions accepted.
• The need for privacy at times.

People have some differing ideas of what “natural bodybuilding” means, but most athletes believe that building muscle mass naturally is the way to go, especially if you’re weight training for competition. How can you find the natural bodybuilding methods that are right for you? Should you use supplements, aerobic workouts, or a specific diet to help you achieve your bodybuilding goals? We’ll go over some natural bodybuilding philosophy here to help you figure out what natural bodybuilding techniques are right for you.

With the evolving technology of bodybuilding supplements, it’s becoming more and more difficult to define “natural bodybuilding”. Of course, everyone understands that using steroids is not natural bodybuilding, but what about the new supplements that affect how your body works, how you metabolize different components of your diet, and modify how you function in a variety of different ways? Is it natural to manipulate different bodily processes? Is it just a matter of exploiting the scientific advances and the in-depth knowledge that we’ve developed about the human body, and using the new information to help us control our own bodies and get the most out of our diet and exercise plans?

When it comes to natural bodybuilding, there are several different “schools of philosophy”. There are those, for instance, who believe only in sticking to a detailed daily nutrition plan that fills all of your basic needs and an intensive physical exercise program, but there are others who support supplementing your diet with various components to help you get the best results from any program and control some of your important physical processes. It’s really a matter of personal preference, unless of course you will be taking part in a bodybuilding competition that involves specific rules and regulations.

One simple method that can help you maximize your results with any exercise and diet plan, is to keep detailed records of your workouts and meals. You can use separate journals to organize all of this information, as well as your weekly measurements, fat loss or weight gain, and your results overall, to track and understand your progress. This is a great way to help you create and attain all of your fitness goals with any natural bodybuilding program, no matter your personal philosophy.

Another method of improving the results you get from any natural bodybuilding plan and increasing your muscle mass is to use Creatine supplements, or get more Creatine from your diet by eating more meat and fish. Creatine is a nutrient that your body can create within your liver by combining amino acids methioine, arginine, and glycine, but Creatine monohydrate supplements are often used. Supplementing Creatine can increase the Creatine content of your muscles by as much as 25% according to some experts, enabling your body to effectively store more energy for powering your muscle movements during weight training.

Other natural bodybuilding methods involve cardiovascular aerobic exercises, that many bodybuilders aren’t particularly fond of, to burn fat faster between weight training sessions. It’s necessary to keep a balance between working your heart and muscles, too much cardio can actually start to decrease the muscle mass that you’ve worked so hard to build.

Whatever your personal philosophy may be regarding what is or is not “natural bodybuilding”, it’s important to develop the right methods and techniques for you, and this process can require a lot of time and experimentation. Natural bodybuilding is also a constantly evolving process, you have to change your routines often to keep achieving the results you want and avoid hitting a plateau. So, don’t be afraid to try out new natural bodybuilding methods that comply with whatever you believe to be “natural”.

Let’s face it, not everyone has a lot of time to devote to an intensive physical fitness program. Between your career, education, family, and other priorities in your life, your exercise plan might have to take a back burner, if you have time to work out at all. In today’s economic climate, it can be hard to fit your gym membership, diet program, or home gym equipment expenses into your budget, so you need to make sure that you gets the results to make your fitness program worth your money. At some point after you start working your fitness plan, you’ll need to do more than aerobic exercise and cut your calorie intake. Turbulence Training can be an effective addition to help you get more from your program in less time.

Turbulence Training, in essence, is about consistently challenging your body, to stimulate the growth of more muscle mass and improve your fat burning power. It’s a valuable fitness program in itself, as well as a helpful method to change up your routine every few weeks so you don’t reach that dreaded plateau. The logic behind it is that by putting more stress on your muscles during your workout, your body will have to burn more calories and build more muscle to repair itself and adapt to the constantly increasing stress, and that is exactly what Turbulence Training will do.

With Turbulence Training techniques, you can drastically improve your metabolism and increase your resting metabolic rate, making your body continue burning even more calories after your workout. When you use Turbulence Training methods to burn fat and build muscle, you’re also likely to get more results from shorter workouts, since your body won’t have time to adapt to your fitness program and slow down your progress.

Studies in the past decade have shown that high-intensity interval training, such as the Turbulence Training methods, are more effective for burning fat than cardiovascular workouts alone, because while your body is recovering from a Turbulence Training workout it will replenish carbohydrates stored in your muscles while depending on fat stores for energy. Why sit on a stationary bicycle for an hour when you can burn more fat during and after just 20 minutes of Turbulence Training?

In fact be sure to read it yourself first. You are guaranteed to get some valuable information out of it, this just proves you are never to old to learn to valuable lessons of human behaviours.

Comments like: – "If you really loved me…" or " After all I've done for you…" or "How can you be so selfish?" are all "Emotional Blackmail" comments and we really should learn about them so as we know when people in our lives use Fear, Obiligation adn Guild to Manipulate You.

This truly is a MUST READ BOOK.

So how can you lose weight? First of all, to be clear, there isn't a miracle drug, or immediate fix. There is not a miracle way to shed tons of pounds and keep them off. Weight loss management lies in an individual's ability to develop a new way of thinking. You must train you brain. Success lies in your ability to develop and maintain healthy eating habits, integrate regular forms of activity and change to a healthy active lifestyle.

It is a choice to be made for your entire family. Unless you are the king or queen of will power, cooking two meals: one for yourself and one for the family won't work. You have to do everything in your power to curb temptation at every corner. Besides would it hurt that much for your whole family to integrate to healthier lifestyle? Imagine the benefits. First of all you'll be extending your life, that of your spouse and your children's lives. Secondly, you'll be giving your children the building blocks to promote learning, better sleep and decrease moodiness. Secondly, by beginning a family activity plan, you are not only promoting exercise and assisting in the development of important motor skills, you are laying the foundation for a lifelong love of activity and health.

Furthermore, family activities like riding bikes, walking, rollerblading or playing baseball, gives your family that all important time together to enjoy one another's company. It keeps you connected with your loved ones. Finally, you may even see yourself saving money, because you'll be spending less money going to the doctor, because your family and exercising more thus reducing the costs of your doctor bills. You will feel better because not only are you living healthier lifestyle, and weighing less because you are eating better, you can finally wear those "skinny jeans". But in the end, you have improved the health of your family unit.

Diets fail to succeed for many reasons, lack of effort, motivation and lack of exercise. Radio, television and even the internet are inundated with reasons for our failure. We see commercials for the quick and easy meal that the family will love. Chicken on the go grab a bucket today to make your family happy for dinner. There are so many reasons for diet failure. In the spirit of losing weight, we give up everything that we feel is "bad". We switch everything to low fat, no fat, no sugar, fake sugar, diet everything but we fail to integrate exercise. WE fail to ditch the fast food. WE FAIL TO CHANGE OUR LIFESTYLE.  The food industry doesn't like this solution. The food executives spend millions of dollars to pump their addictive, misleading foods into your home.

            We are addicted to sugars, to the fat, to sodium. When we purchase the quick fix foods for ourselves or our family, it serves the purpose of feeding the kids after work and alleviating the distress that we feel after long day of work, PTA, soccer and the daily activities that take place. They market the product in an appealing manner "Low Fat", "Low Carbs", "Fat Free", packaged in attractive eye and stomach appealing manner … YOU WANT TO BUY IT. But what are we really purchasing? The ad execs and food and diet industry are counting on individuals to not read that label, because while the easy fix dinner in a bag may be low in fat it might be high in sugar, and vice versa. We see the packaging and it says diet and automatically think that it's acceptable. The food industry takes for granted that most people do not take the time to actually read the label and if we did we wouldn't understand half the things that are printed on said label anyway. Many of the ingredients are long, complicated scientific names for sugar and fat, designed to trick us into continuing to eat their addictive, sugar and fat filled product. Furthermore, several items are low in calories if we stick to the portion indicated. But the portion is so miniscule that a mouse would still be hungry.

"Eat your vegetables" as mothers we say it to our children just as our mothers said it to us. I've never read about the important qualities that vegetables hold in the prevention or at least the reduction of risk for some diseases. I'd like to share some of those with you.

First of all, tomatoes. Tomatoes contain an antioxidant called Lycopene. Lycopene has been linked to the reduction of pancreatic and cervical cancer. Tomatoes are a tough one to "mask" for children, but as adults we can throw it into a salad, and have a daily serving.

Then there are the vegetables which fall into the Crucuferous famiy, also known as your broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts and tunips to name a few. There is an enzyme called Sulforaphane, which blocks the growth of tumors. My favorite variation with the broccoli is to throw some cheese on it, it takes away that scary green, and makes it different for the kids.

Finally, soybeans, yeah the thought of tofu doesn't register well, but there are several other ways to get a daily serving of this cholesterol lowering vegetable. For example, soy milk, and veggie burgers. Soybeans have also been linked to the prevention of certain types of cancer. It is a compound in the soybeans called genistein that prevents the growth of certain cancer cells. Amazing.

So at least now we know WHY mom always made us eat vegetables.

Psyllium Husk is becoming a well known dietary fibre for everyday use which has been a life saver for many. The fibre is purely Vegan and aids our daily relief of bodily functions. Psyllium seed husk comes from a common plant that helps increase movements through our bowel system leaving you a comfortable and natural response.

If you are looking for a more natural and comfortable fibre source for intake, Psyllium Husk is a wonderful experience for everyone who wants to feel balanced and regular every day of their life.

Phyllium Husk normally comes in a dry form which becomes soluble in water and other fluids, expanding up to six times of it's original volume. Psyllium Husk has no real taste however attaches itself to added items such as muesli, rice, oats, yoghurt and / or stewed fruit.

Simply sprinkle on cereal and foods or add to smoothies and milkshakes or even add to your baking adventures.

 Begin adding Psyllium Husk sparingly to your foods and / or drinks and see how this wonderful substance works in your body. If you need more then simply add more each day until you feel it works naturally for you.  Be careful don't use to much to fast, ease yourself in gently or you could end up with extremely over active movements and that can also be very unpleasant.  Start with no more than one teaspoon per day and gradually increase if required.

Supplied by our Vegan Consultant – Cas Willow.

Restricted by the Atkins diet, there are many alternatives to try and I would like to share this simple but yummy little cooking option for those who might be trying the Atkins approach to weight loss. Parmesan breaded chicken. Since all bread products are a definite no-no on the Atkins diet, you can coat your chicken with parmesan cheese instead.

It's a yummy, healthy meal that really fills you up.

Most times dieting is about healthy portions sizes, get into the habit of stopping before you feel that over full sensation. This is a good place to start.