Tag Archive for: focus on your dreams

How Moving More And Sitting Less Can Increase Your Productivity

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Have you ever been hunched over your desk, glued to your chair for hours on end trying to finish a project on time? When we’re working hard, or facing a tight deadline, our instinct is to put as much time as possible in, working fast and furious. And it works, for a while…

Then it starts to catch up with you. Your mind is tired, the work doesn’t flow the way it did in the beginning. This is when you have a choice to make. You can walk away for a bit, clear your head and come back refreshed and ready to get back to work. Or you can tough it out and keep plugging away. You may be surprised to learn that walking away, going for a walk, and just moving around will help you work faster and better when you sit back down at your desk.

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And this isn’t just true during crunch time. Moving more and spending less time sitting at your desk can help your productivity throughout your work week. Anytime you take a break to do a few stretches and exercises, go for a stroll through the building, or even leave for a quick walk outside, you come back refreshed and with more focus. Additionally, “losing” time that you spent moving around forces you to focus and get things done. Work has a tendency to expand to whatever amount of time you give it. By taking away some of that time, and using it to workout and move more, you’re simply making yourself work more efficiently when you do sit at your desk. In other words, it can be in your best interest to spend less time in your office chair.

Give it a try the next time you’re stuck on a task, or the work simply doesn’t flow as it should. Get up and move around. Go for a walk and clear your head. Get your body moving and blood pumping through your body including your brain. Then come back to your work task. You’ll notice that suddenly the work goes much smoother and you have no trouble getting into the flow. You’re able to focus and concentrate much better and your productivity soars.

There are two reasons for this. The first is that the exercise as mentioned increases blood flow and more oxygen is transported to the brain. More importantly, though, during the time you spent moving around, your brain didn’t really stop working on the task you set it. Your subconscious and possibly also your conscious mind where working things out, allowing you to sit down and take care of business upon your return.

Good Diet and Exercise Work Hand In Hand

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Let’s talk about diet and exercise and how they work together. To clarify, by diet I mean the food you eat, not necessarily eating a low calorie or restricted diet. To make sure you stay fit and healthy, both at work and in your life in general, you have to get at least some exercise and eat a fairly healthy diet.

Let’s look at why it is so important to take care of both and how they complement each other.

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If you’re wanting or needing to lose a bit of weight, you’ll see the quickest and best results by combining exercise and eating a healthier diet lower in calories. Not only will the exercise help you burn more calories and thus burn more body fat, compared to cutting calories alone, it has other benefits. Endorphin and other “feel good” chemicals released by your body when you workout will help you stay in a good mood and motivated to work on losing weight.

They can even suppress your appetite at times, making it easier to eat less. Additionally working out will help you tone and strengthen your body. That helps burn more calories overall as you increase muscle mass and tones and tightens as you start to lose those extra pounds.

If you’re an athlete, you know how important it is to fuel your body with the right types of foods. A healthy diet can help you perform better, not just during your workouts, but also during your regular work day. If you’re having trouble focusing and staying productive, try cleaning up your diet and going for a daily walk. You’ll see some results quickly when you start to feed your body with the nutrients it needs.

Interestingly as you start to work out and work on getting fitter, both in the office and at the gym after work, you’ll get more interested in the proper diet to fuel your workouts and keep you on top of your game. This works both physically and mentally. On the flip side, eating healthy gives you the energy to go out and move more.

Maybe it’s being motivated to go for a quick walk after eating a fresh salad for lunch instead of feeling like an afternoon nap at your desk after a heavy lunch. Maybe it’s feeling energized and walking over to talk to a co-worker instead of emailing after a healthy breakfast. Or maybe it’s finding the willpower to hit the gym after work thanks in part to a healthy pick me up snack instead of heading home to cook dinner.

Easy Ways To Get Into A Healthy & Productive Work Mindset

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You want to stay fit and live a healthier lifestyle. Since you spend a large chunk of your day at work, it’s important to make an effort to work in a way that’s both healthy and productive. There’s a lot you can do from packing your lunch, to hitting the gym on your lunch break and moving around more throughout your busy workday.

You start out with the best of intentions to change your work habits, but without the right motivation, it’s easy to slip back into old habits. That’s why working on mindset is just as important as proper diet and exercise. The good news is that everything you do to stay healthy and active throughout your workday will also help you stay more productive.

healthy

A healthy body and mind can work better, faster, and longer than one plagued by various aches and health issues. This is an important concept. When you take a few minutes out of your busy day to stretch, do some yoga, or go for a brisk walk in the fresh air, it’s not actually a waste of time. You’ll come back refreshed and ready to work with a clear mind. You’ll easily make up the time you spent taking care of yourself. Once you realize this, it becomes easier to allow yourself to take care of your body at work. That alone isn’t enough, though.

It’s easy to fall back into old habits and behavior patterns. Set yourself up for success with constant reminders. These could be email alerts that pop up on your phone reminding you to choose healthy food or go for a walk. Or it could be a vision board or inspirational picture that hangs over your desk. Post-it notes on your computer can also be helpful to remind you to move more. If you’re struggling with finding the time to workout during your busy day, set a few alarms throughout the day. Get up and do some sort of exercise anytime the alarm goes off.

Last but not least, build in some accountability and a way to track progress. This could be a co-worker becoming your workout buddy, or it could be as simple as keeping an activity and food journal. Knowing you have to tell someone about that donut or writing down that you didn’t go for a walk at lunch is often enough to help you make the right choice.

5 Simple Ways To Move More During Your Work Day

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When you’re working an office job, it can be a bit of a challenge to get enough physical activity in. After all, there’s only so much you can do after work and on the weekend to balance out all the sitting you do at work. The key then is to make an effort to move more during your workday. Here are five easy and simple ways to do just that.

One of the easiest things you can do is to simply take breaks throughout the day and move around. Use them to walk to the break room, to walk over to a coworker’s desk, or just stroll around the office building while figuring out the best way to tackle your latest work project.

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Here’s another idea. Make it a habit to walk around during phone calls. There’s no reason to sit at your desk while you talk. Stand up, grab the phone, and stroll through our office. Not only does it help you move more and sit less, you’ll sound more energized and enthusiastic to the person on the other end. Give it a try.

You don’t have to wait until you get to your desk to make an effort to move more. Start your day by parking a little further away and walking into the office building. Once there, take the stairs instead of the elevator. Taking a few extra steps here and there may not seem like much, but all those little steps add up and they add up quickly.

Another great strategy is to go for a short walk during your lunch break. If you bring your own lunch, it will leave you with plenty of time to head out to a local park, or a quick walk around the block. Not only will this help you boost your daily activity, walking at lunch time will also leave you energized and ready to tackle the rest of your workday.

If you’re feeling really adventurous, consider taking walking meetings. Instead of sitting across a desk from your client or colleague, suggest the two of you take a short walk while you talk things over. There’s a long tradition of these types of meetings. They can be both pleasant and productive.

As you can see, you can make some small tweaks and changes to your workday that allow you to move more. If you’re curious to see how much more you end up walking, put on a pedometer and start keeping track of your daily steps.

Wonderfully Fit

Disadvantages of Veganism – What Must be Avoided

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While most people are quick to tout all of the benefits of Veganism, there are several key disadvantages that are quite common. Some people are able to overcome these disadvantages easily, while others struggle immensely with the needed changes. Everything that occurs within the Vegan lifestyle is typically working to improve the overall quality of life, which can make it extremely complicated to get the most stubborn people to actually change. Vegan is not a lifestyle, which will typically permit very small changes, such a diet would be similar to vegetarian but not something that Vegan quite permits.

For the people who have a difficulty accepting vegan there are several key reasons why the lifestyle tends to fail. It is not only difficult to find accurate information, but the changes that are required can be very unforgiving. Working to overcome these difficulties is possible, but it will require a large amount of effort, plus a great support network to help you through the difficult times.

veganism

The biggest problem that most people have is giving up meat. This includes all meat, beef, pork chicken, fish, lobster, shrimp and so forth. This also includes meat products such as hot dogs and other similar foods as well. There is no place for meat in a vegan diet at all, unlike some vegetarian diets that permit some small amounts of meat as long as they fit certain guidelines. For someone who is used to eating steak and cheeseburgers this can be a rather rude awakening and quite complicated to handle.

Another frequent disadvantage is the inability to eat dairy products. This includes milk, yogurt, cheese and even the beloved summer favorite ice cream. Many people have grown up with such foods their entire life and trying to give them up entirely can be extremely difficult. There are of course some alternatives such as rice milk but these are typically a bit more expensive, and does not have quite the same flavor that regular cow’s milk would provide.

Aside from giving up specific types of food, a true vegan there are some other disadvantages as well. Clothing and other items made from silk and even leather are not permitted. This is due to the animals that are used to create leather as well as the silkworm, which is used to create silk fabric. There are of course other products such as alligator skin and other similar materials that are not permitted as well. If you are a true fashion maven, this might be an extremely hard adjustment to make.

Regardless of how difficult it might seem to become a true vegan every year more people change over to the lifestyle. It is important to note that if the idea of becoming a vegan sounds exciting for a short period of time then it might not be the change that you are looking for. Not everyone is suited to be vegan, but some people find great success with a vegetarian lifestyle instead. Picking the best solution for your needs is very important so that you can make some changes that you are actually thrilled and pleased with. With this in mind, it is very important to avoid rushing into any decisions so that you are fully aware of all of the changes that will be required of you, rather than shocked once they occur.

3 Great Reasons To Pack Your Lunch

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When was the last time you packed your lunch? It may have been a while, but today I want to inspire you to get in the kitchen and come up with something delicious that you can take to work with you tomorrow. Packing your own lunch has a lot of benefits. Here are three of the main reasons why you should start bringing your own food.

You Control The Ingredients And Portions 

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There’s a problem with both prepackaged food and restaurant food, particularly the dishes served in fast food places. You don’t know what’s in it and much of it isn’t particularly healthy. When you pack your own lunch and prepare the food that goes into your lunch box yourself, you know exactly what you’re eating. That means you have full control of not only the ingredients but also the quality of produce.

You can put together a healthy lunch that will give you the energy to make it through the workday. Since you’re fixing it yourself, you also control how much food you’ll have. This prevents overeating and the dreaded afternoon slump.

It Saves Time (and Money) 

Going out for lunch can eat up a lot of time. When you prepare your food at home and bring it with you, you can sit down, eat, and still have plenty of time leftover to go for a relaxing walk, read a book, or make a few personal phone calls on your lunch break. As an added bonus, a packed lunch is almost always cheaper than eating out.

Since you’ll be eating lunch every workday, the time and money savings quickly add up over the course of a week and month. Just think about how much more you can get done, and what you can do with the extra money you’re saving by packing your lunch.

It Makes Eating Healthy Easier 

Finding healthy food on the go isn’t always easy. Add to that the fact that you may be tempted by not-so-healthy choices on the menu and it’s no wonder eating a healthy lunch while out and about is hard.

Make it easy on yourself by packing your lunch. You can make healthy choices for yourself in the morning when your willpower is strong. Come lunch time, you simply dig into that delicious salad, sandwich, or wrap that’s actually good for you. I hope I have inspired you to give packing your own healthy lunches a try. I’m sure as you put this into practice you’ll find all sorts of other advantages to bringing your own food to the office.

Wonderfully Fit

Benefits to Eating Vegan

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With a large number of people being swept up into the ideas of a greener lifestyle it is no wonder that many people are turning Vegan as well. For the vast majority of people a Vegan lifestyle is aligned to going back to the old ways, which is also considered much healthier. If you are still not sure whether the idea of a Vegan lifestyle is perfect for you there are several things that you should thoroughly consider first. If you are just rushing out to get a healthy lifestyle without considering all of the benefits of eating Vegan you could be in for a rather alarming surprise.

Many people discover Vegan eating through their quest to eat healthier. By doing this it is possible to find a healthier lifestyle and ensure that you are getting the biggest benefits for not only yourself but also the environment. Many environmental groups claim that Vegan is the ultimate way to go green with your eating habits. In many ways, they are very correct and because of this, many people are turning to a Vegan lifestyle like never before. While many people might only claim to life a truly green lifestyle those who are eating Vegan as well are really living the lifestyle instead of just talking it.

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Other benefits to eating Vegan is the decrease in blood sugar levels. This is something that is extremely beneficial for diabetics because it can substantially lower the need to use insulin and other medications to control blood sugar levels. However, if you are being treated by a doctor for any reason you should talk to your doctor before changing your diet significantly to ensure that you are getting all of the nutrients and benefits that you really need. Making changes without talking to your doctor could have devastating consequences and will only take a few minutes of your time to ensure that you stay as healthy as possible.

People who avoid eating meat are also often able to lose weight much faster. Many of the reasons for this is due to the increase in carbohydrates in vegetables as well as the decrease in calories and fats. Plus many of the fruits and vegetables that are common in a Vegan diet also assist in weight loss due to their negative calorie effect. While this is not a huge benefit for all people, it is something that can be a massive help if you are trying to lose weight. Of course, working to eat only fresh fruits and vegetables as opposed to highly processes foods will help to really maximize the negative calorie impact.

A Vegan diet also has a huge perk of providing a substantially lower fat content to your diet as well. Consuming excessive amounts of dairy products as well as meats tends to be closely accompanied by fat; by omitting substantial amounts of fat from your diet, you can make some substantial differences to not only our physical health, but also make great improvements to lower your weight. This can provide you with ample reasons to lower your intake of meat if you have been struggling to actually manage your weight.

A final benefit is that you are consuming far more carbohydrates on a Vegan diet. This has been considered good because it provides a great source of energy all during the day. Foods such as meats tend to be extremely low on carbohydrates, while being much higher on protein. While protein is an essential part of your diet it can take much longer to digest, which will allow you to pack on weight faster and have lower energy levels. If you are instead looking to increase the amount of fruits and vegetables that you consume you will find that your energy level will go up significantly. However, you should still ensure that you are consuming ample protein to fully protect your system and receive all of the nutrition that you need.

Nutritional Couch | Wonderfully Fit

Changing How You Eat

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As you may know, not fueling up with the right nutrients can affect how well your body performs and your overall fitness benefits. Even though healthy eating is important, there are myths that hinder your performance if you listen to them.

Below, you’ll find some myth busters on healthy eating.

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Working out on an empty stomach.

If you hear a rumbling noise in your stomach, the rumbling is trying to tell you something. Without listening to them, you are forcing your body to run without any fuel. Before you exercise or do any physical activity, always eat a light snack such as an apple.

Relying on energy bars and drinks.

Although they are fine every once in a while, they don’t deliver the antioxidants you need to prevent cancer. Fruits and vegetables are your best bets, as they are loaded in vitamins, minerals, fluid,and fiber.

Skipping breakfast.

Skipping breakfast is never a good idea, as breakfast starts the day. Your body needs fuel as soon as possible, and without it, you’ll be hungry throughout the day.

Low carb diets.

Your body needs carbohydrates for your muscles and the storing of energy.

Eating what you want.

Eating healthy and exercising doesn’t give you an all access pass to eat anything you want. Everyone needs the same nutrients whether they exercise or not, as well as fruits and vegetables.

Not enough calories

Although losing weight involves calories, losing it too quickly is never safe. What you should do, is aim for 1 – 2 pounds a week. Always make sure that you are getting enough calories to keep your body operating smoothly. If you start dropping weight too fast, eat a bit more food.

Skip soda and alcohol.

Water, milk, and juice is the best to drink for active people. You should drink often, and not require on thirst to be an indicator. By the time you get thirsty, your body is already running a bit too low.

Changing how you eat is always a great step towards healthy eating and it will affect how your body performs. The healthier you eat, you better you’ll feel. No matter how old you may be, healthy eating is something you should strive for. Once you give it a chance, you’ll see in no time at all just how much it can change your life – for the better.

Nutritional Couch | Wonderfully Fit

Becoming A Healthy Eater

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Being a healthy eater requires you to become both educated and smart about what healthy eating actually is. Being food smart isn’t about learning to calculate grams or fat, or is it about studying labels and counting calories.

Healthy eating is all about balanced and moderate eating, consisting of healthy meals at least three times per day. Healthy eaters eat many different types of foods, not limiting themselves to one specific food type or food group.

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Eating healthy requires quite a bit of leeway. You might eat too much or not enough, consume foods that are sometimes more or less nutritious.However, you should always fuel your body and your brain regularly with enough food to keep both your mind and body strong and alert.

A healthy eater is a good problem solver. Healthy eaters have learned to take care of themselves
and their eating with sound judgement and making wise decisions. Healthy eaters are always aware of what they eat, and know the effect that it will have on their bodies.

When someone is unable to take control of their eating, they are also likely to get out of control with other aspects of life as well. They could end up spending too much, talking too much, even going to bed later and later.

You should always remember that restricting food in any way is always a bad thing. Healthy eating is a way of life, something that you can do to enhance your body or your lifestyle. If you’ve thought about making your life better, healthy eating is just the place to start. You’ll make life easier for yourself, those around you, and even your family.