Every single cell in the body needs energy to function, from pumping oxygen to the lungs to delivering nutrients to your brain and everything in between. That energy comes from the foods you eat. Your metabolism is what converts those calories to energy, which is why it’s important to maintain a healthy metabolism.

1. Proteins

Proper nutrition is the best way to keep your metabolism up. Evidence shows that adults need more protein, which can help reduce age-related muscular degeneration. Your muscles help support a healthy metabolism, so you want to make sure you have those muscles as you get older. Aim for around 30 grams per meal, or more if you love a lot of carbs.

2. Breakfast

A good breakfast is the first step to supporting a healthy metabolism and keeping your weight in check, try this new supplement named Leptoconnect, there are many positive reviews online which explains its benefits.

3. Get moving

If you really want to keep your metabolism on track, you need to keep moving. Nothing’s better for torching those calories than exercise, and the benefits keep going even when you stop.

Besides the energy it takes to perform physical activities, your resting metabolic rate gets a powerful boost for up to 2 hours after your workout. The smaller, residual effects can last as long as 48 hours after your session.

What’s more, you can build more muscle, in turn burning more energy. That’s because muscle cells use a lot of energy, so they burn more calories, even when you’re sitting down.

4. Rest

Links between adequate sleep and a properly functioning metabolism have been proven. A lack of sleep can inhibit your weight loss efforts and running on fumes only slows down your metabolism as your body works harder to conserve energy when it’s exhausted.

That should be reason enough to aim for your quality 8 or so hours of sleep a night. This also helps keep hormone levels balanced, including cortisol. High cortisol levels due to a lack of sleep and rest result in weight gain, insulin resistance, and a slower metabolism.

Another way to keep your hormones balances is to get adequate rest between your workout days. Believe it or not, training too much repeatedly leads to a lower metabolic rate, muscle loss, and fatigue. Exercise has a great impact on your hormonal status, and intense, overly frequent workouts stall your body’s ability to recover, damaging those processes that build and repair healthy muscles.

5. Strength training

Strength training can offset age-related muscle mass loss. It also boosts your metabolism. When you’re working out, your muscle tissue is stressed. When you recover, it’s repaired, raising your metabolism. For the best metabolic benefits, choose exercises that engage the large muscle groups, like your back and legs.

6. Drink cold water

Adding a couple of ice cubes to your glass of water, or keeping a bottle in the refrigerator, can provide great benefits. Researchers have found that drinking a minimum of 48 ounces of cold water every day can boost your metabolism enough to burn extra calories.

7. Healthy fats

Eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids can help amp up your metabolism. That’s because fish like tuna, salmon, and herring help balance your blood sugar and reduce inflammation. This, in turn, helps to regulate your metabolism. If you prefer to get your omega-3 fatty acids in supplement form, experts recommend 1,000 – 1,200 milligrams per day. Not a fan of that fishy after taste? Try eggs, walnuts or flaxseed oil instead.

8. Take care of you

With a lot of focus on your body moving and getting the right nutrients to keep your metabolism in line, don’t forget that your mind also needs downtime to keep everything balanced. Listen to your body. If you’re stiff and tired, take a break. Always stretch after a workout and add meditative practices or yoga to your self-care routine.

Recovery time comes with metabolic benefits. For instance, regularly practicing yoga can help your body recover faster, stabilizing your nervous system and boosting metabolic efficiency.

Keeping Your Metabolism On Track

Making small lifestyle changes, like getting the right nutrients and moving more than you sit still can increase and stabilize your metabolism.

A healthy metabolism helps you keep your weight off and gives you more energy while encouraging more restful sleep.

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It takes 66 days to form a habit.

It’s the brain’s way of establishing a pattern for your neurons to follow. It’s a way of being put on autopilot.

But habits can be amazing, or they can be bad.

Think about how much time you spend on your phone instead of doing work. Or how much you struggle with your weight or health because you just can’t ditch the bad eating habits.

Sure, your habit may feel so good at the time. But how bad do you feel afterward?

How often have you promised to break a bad habit, only to find you can’t resist temptation?

I know I’ve said “I’ll stop tomorrow” or “I’ll start on Monday” depending on the habit.

But here’s the thing. Even the smallest of bad habits, when piled up, can have an adverse impact long-term. In fact, your bad habits could be denting your productivity, in any facet of life.

How to break a bad habit

The good news is that you can break bad habits. However, you can’t change something until you accept that something needs to change.

Not quite sure what your bad habits are? Below, I’ve outlined a few of the most common bad habits and how to break them, in the hope that it gets you on the path to better habits in 2019.

1. Smoking

Even if you just have “the odd social smoke,” it’s bad for you. And it’s never too soon to quit. Best of all, it doesn’t even take that long for your body to reap the benefits of kicking this bad habit. In fact, the benefits start as soon as 20 minutes after your last cigarette. Many people succeed in quitting by setting small goals and cutting back slowly before totally giving up.

2. Not getting enough sleep

Not getting enough sleep can be detrimental to your health. Research tells us that chronic sleep deprivation can increase the risk of obesity, diabetes, depression, high blood pressure, and stroke. Adults typically need 7 to 8 hours of sleep, so you need to start putting in the effort! If you want to know how to get more out of your sleep, check out this post I wrote a little while ago.

3. Not exercising

You might not think of a bad habit as not doing something, but not exercising is a really bad habit. If you’re too busy to hit the gym, or really just don’t fancy it, you can still get plenty of benefits from exercise. Best of all, you can break it down into small chunks through the day. Getting in 15 minutes in the morning, at lunchtime, and after work is just as a good as a continuous 45-minute workout.

4. Slouching

Most of us spend the day hunched over some sort of screen. But routinely slouching can lead to lower back pain. If you do spend a considerable amount of time hunching, stand up regularly and walk around. If you’re dealing with persistent discomfort, consider a hospital bed designed for home use. These beds can help alleviate pain, and you can explore advanced comfort technology for home care to find a solution that works best for you.

5. Looking at screens at bedtime

If you want to get more sleep (see point 2), it’s time to break the bad habit of looking at a screen right before bed. It’s thought that the light from smartphones, tablets, laptops, and TVs can affect the hormones that help you to sleep. Instead, put these things away about an hour or so before bed.

It’s Not All Bad

Is your bad habit on the list? Maybe you can think of others?

No matter what your bad habit may be, here’s how you can break it, starting right now.

1. Positive Reinforcement

Treat yourself! No matter how small the change towards breaking your habit is, reward yourself. Use the time, energy or money you’ve saved to do or buy something nice for yourself.

2. Identify the Change

I said you can’t change something unless you accept something needs to change. So, identify why you want to change. Write it down. Do a pros and cons list. Keep the list and use it for motivation.

3. Replace the Bad Habit

Research shows that replacing bad habits with other activities is a great way to break the habit. Instead of biting your nails, clench your fists. Instead of lighting up a smoke, go for a walk.

4. Get Support

It’s so much easier to break a habit when you have a network of support. Why not get together with a buddy to break a habit? Or share your plan with your family and ask them not to engage in the habit around you. You can also try CBD at https://intrinsichemp.com, as it helps extensively in calming people and it also helps people who are suffering from anxiety Read – Can CBD help diabetes? to learn all about how CBD helps with various health issues.

You’ve Got This

Once you commit to breaking a bad habit, I bet nothing can stop you. Okay, we’re human, and lapses are normal, but instead of using a setback as an excuse to give up, see it as a chance to figure out what went wrong and get back on track.

You’ve got this!

 

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It’s pretty hard to avoid toxic people. Sometimes they pop up in your family or work life. They’re the naysayers. The negative types. The type that put you down and has something to say about everything you do.

How to Spot a Naysayer

So, what exactly does a toxic person look like?

Well, some people are just a drag. They’re demanding, difficult, annoying, and downright unpleasant. They’re just not very nice and you may want to distance yourself.

Toxicity is sort of like a spectrum. One the one end, there are those old buddies who keep going on about how you don’t make time for them. On the other, there’s that ex-partner who can still manipulate you into a fit of rage. While your friends are annoying, your ex is toxic.

Of course, we all tolerate toxicity differently. It’s up to you to figure out if someone needs distance and when you should cut them out of your life.

Let’s look at the types of you should purge:

1. The control freaks

Often, people who battle to control their own lives want to control yours. They look for ways to manipulate you and it’s time to kick them to the curb.

2. Those with boundary issues

If you find you’re always telling a certain someone to stop behaving in a certain kind of way and they carry on, they’re probably toxic. Well-adjusted adults naturally respect boundaries. A toxic person thrives on pushing them.

3. The takers

Give and take is an adulthood fundamental. Sometimes, you need a little help, and sometimes your friends do, too. But it all evens out. Not with toxic people who are just there to take so long as you’re giving.

4. Those who are always right

Toxic people find ways to be right even when they’re not. They’ll never admit to messing up or misspeaking.

5. The dishonest

White lies are one thing, but repeated and blatant patterns of dishonesty are a completely different story and often a tell-tale sign of naysayers.

6. The victims  They will go out of their way to find ways to put you down and feel oppressed, be it excuses, blaming, and even rationalizations.

These probably sound familiar, so how do you go about removing yourself from the naysayers? Say Goodbye to Toxicity

1. Stay firm

You need to stand your ground. Toxic people don’t often respond to a simple “go away.” In fact, they usually dig their claws in deeper. Don’t let this put you off. Be extremely clear and then keep your distance to ensure your message is not misconstrued.

2. Put up boundaries

Stick to your guns. Fail to stand firm and naysayers will use any weakness they spot to sneak back in. If you decide you’re not going to respond to their texts, do not. Block them in every sense of the word. Don’t check up on them down the line. When you make the decision to end things, it’s up to you to keep the guidelines clear no matter what.

3. Do not feel obligated to be nice

Well, not too nice. Toxic people take advantage of kindness. Understand that these people get energy from draining your good nature. They thrive on kindness and trust. You don’t need to be nasty, but don’t go out of your way to accommodate them, either.

4. Saving them isn’t your job

Naysayers and toxic people always pop up when they want something. It’s a ploy for your attention. Never give in!

5. Done is done

Toxic people are going to keep coming back given the chance. When you decide to part ways, it’s got to be permanent. They’ll keep trying to find ways to create a problem or some sort of drama, so move on for good when you’re ready.

Purging naysayers is hard work, I’ll admit. But if you set those boundaries and stand your ground, you can do it. And you can free up your time and headspace to move on to more positive pastures.

 

Find more tips on living your best life today at marksalinas.com.

 

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One goal the US government has is to help guide us to be as healthy as possible. One way to do that is with the food pyramid.

I know people who blame the old food pyramid for our obesity epidemic. So, the evolution of the food pyramid has been a welcome progression.

Old Food Pyramid

We were first introduced to the food pyramid in 1992. It seemed simple enough at the time, but a lot of us misunderstood the serving sizes and ranges for the different food groups.

For example, the old pyramid said we should have 6 to 11 servings in the Bread Group, which meant people thought they could eat as much as 11 servings and still maintain a healthy diet.

But here’s what we didn’t account for. The amount of servings we eat should be determined by our calorie requirements and activity levels. So, let’s say you’re pretty sedentary and need around 1,600 calories a day. That means you should only consume 6 servings from the grain group, while more active individuals could enjoy up to 11 servings.

Another problem with the old pyramid is that we didn’t really get servings in those days. A serving isn’t what you eat in one meal. So, if you ate a sandwich with 2 slices of bread, that’s 2 servings from the bread group.

What’s more, the old food pyramid didn’t teach us a whole lot about whole grains, leading us to eat the wrong grains, like refined white bread.

So, diets were based on starches and carbs like pasta and bread. Few people moved upwards in the pyramid to include the recommended servings of fruits and veg.

How the Food Pyramid has changed

In 2005 we were introduced to a new food pyramid. It really wasn’t that much easier to figure out. Each food group was represented by colors, and you needed further explanations to figure out servings.

One main difference, though, which still stands in 2019, is that we don’t really talk about servings. Rather, we talk about recommended daily amounts in ounces, cups, and even fists!

Another big change was that the food pyramid became interactive so you could personalize it based on your activity level and age. This is really important since how much you consume from each food group depends a lot on your daily calorie requirements, which can range anywhere from 1,000 calories a day for a toddler to 3,200 calories a day for an extremely active adult.

The new Food Pyramid 

Using the new food pyramid was pretty simple. You entered your age, gender, activity level, and created a customized plan. This presented you with an estimated calorie requirement along with recommended amounts you should eat from each of the food groups.

You could then learn more about the different groups, print out your personalized pyramid and print a worksheet to help you keep track of everything.

The emphasis of exercise was also a welcomed part of the newer food pyramid. This is when we started to realize just how important it is to be physically active for at least 30 minutes a day.

Bye Bye Pyramid, Hello MyPlate

The newer food pyramid was simple enough, but many people still misunderstood the ranges in servings for the food groups, or just had no idea what a serving ought to be. That led to overeating and oversized portions.

The food pyramid was finally put to rest in 2011 and we were introduced to MyPlate, a much easier to follow place setting that helps us visualize a healthy meal complete with the five food groups:

• Dairy
• Protein
• Grains
• Fruit
• Vegetables

Now, it’s easier than ever to determine just how much of each group we need per meal. Instead of following dietary fads, you can use the MyPlate option to make sure you’re getting the right servings of all the right foods (which no longer include “bad” grains and now focus a lot more on whole grains, fat-free dairy and lean as well a plant-based proteins).

Do You Get Your Portions Right?

So, while white carbs are out and plant-based everything is in, are you trying to get your portions right? Do you still use the old food pyramid concept or are you more of a MyPlate kind of person?

 

Check out my latest health tips at marksalinas.com

 

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