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| Hello |
I have just emerged (relatively) unscathed from four weeks of daily swimming lessons for Miss 7 and Miss 5 at Waterman’s Bay beach where I grew up. It was just like being a kid again, with a few more responsibilities of course and rather than someone chasing me down the beach, I was doing the chasing of Master 4. I won't lie, we did have tears and I did have to pay one of them $1 per day to do the lessons. I get it; the beach can be and was rough at times and scary when the waves are bigger than you. Nevertheless, swimming lessons must go on. At $1 per child per day, with a heap of energy burnt in the water plus the playground, it is summer bliss.
Meanwhile January has snuck past and with it for many people, New Year Resolutions. I don't make New Years Resolutions but as I spent NYE on the shores of the Swan River running 5km with my family and then enjoying the sunset, it did seem like a good time to make some being the beginning of a New Year and all.
Speaking of personal pledges, a national survey across the US recently found some interesting stuff. They found that among those people who have made resolutions in the past, nine out of ten of them have made health-related goals. These goals included losing weight, eating less junk food and fewer calories. But when it comes to making these resolutions work, 88% of the people surveyed indicated that they had failed with more than two thirds calling it quits within three months or less. The December/January issue of Marie Claire produced a Festive Season Survival Guide with some comments from me, why not take a look and see how many boxes you ticked.
Check out some tips for 2011 in this months newsletter plus the lowdown on detoxing and wheatgrass which are ever so popular in January.
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Give a Valentine's gift that lasts!
Get this. I do hope that Australians are not quite as commercial but 200 million roses and 35 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolate were sold last Valentines Day in the US alone. I had to ponder that figure for a while myself. The worst thing is, a week later the romantic gift is dead or in the rubbish or somewhere on your loved ones waistline. Either way – not ideal.
Everyone loves a gift that lasts and a good book certainly does that.
Truth, lies and chocolate was packaged up with some quality chocolate, as a special offer prior to Christmas and it was a hit. I will make the same offer for Valentines Day this year. This means that at no additional cost, your copy of ‘truth, lies and chocolate’ will be gift-wrapped with a block of quality chocolate. Last orders will be taken on the 11th February to ensure delivery on time for a gift.
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| My Top 3 Tips for Keeping Health Goals on Track for 2011 |
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1. Map out your path
What are your goals, what do they look like and how will you get there?
2. Buddy Up
Having a friend to walk with or meet on early mornings or just someone to chat with when you need inspiration is the secret weapon to success
3. Be a Scribe
W
rite things down and keep a diary or journal detailing your journey, it makes you accountable too.
I dare you to break through the 3-month barrier.
Go on, you can do it.
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Sleep, oh sleep, where art thou? |
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A few years ago, pharmaceutical giant sanofi-aventis sponsored an anonymous, Web-based survey of 4,200 workers at four health care, transportation, and manufacturing companies. The first part of the survey included 55 questions about health and sleep.
The second part was the 25-question Work Limitations Questionnaire, which aims to measure the affect of health-related problems on job performance and productivity. Survey participants said they needed an average of 7.6 hours of sleep a night — but got only 6.4 hours. About 10% reported having insomnia, 45% said they had some trouble sleeping, and the remaining 45% were good sleepers.
Performance and productivity, as measured by the Work Limitations Questionnaire, was significantly lower among workers with insomnia and other sleep trouble than they were among those who usually slept well. Writing in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the researchers estimated that lost productivity due to poor sleep cost $3,156 per employee with insomnia and averaged about $2,500 for those with less severe sleep problems.
Across the four companies, sleep-related reductions in productivity cost $54 million a year. Wow.
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Do you need to detox your body regularly? |
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The human is body is very clever. So clever, that it rids itself of toxins whenever they come by, using helpful organs like the lungs, liver, kidneys, also aided by our gastrointestinal tract and our immune system. The liver plays a leading role as most of the end products of digestion of food are transported directly to the liver and poisons and drugs are metabolized and detoxified in the liver. You do not need to externally detox your body and there is no scientific evidence to suggest that detox diets actually work.
Detoxifying the body is not new, but every New Year detox diets are really quite fashionable. Apparently, if you are feeling a bit low and lacking in energy, a spot of detox will do the trick.
There are many detox diets around and all fit into the ‘fad diet’ category. These diets often remove whole food groups or may rely on liquids only, and if followed for any length of time can actually be quite dangerous. This is especially so for children, teenagers, pregnant or breastfeeding women and the elderly.
If you want to gain energy and get revitalized it is far easier and more effective to reduce  your intake of cigarettes, alcohol, saturated and trans fats, sugar and sugary foods. Plus, think about boosting your intake of fruit, vegetables and whole grains and, of course, get your body moving.
The other really popular thing to do is have a wheatgrass shot when swanning past the local juice bar. It’s the beautiful looking green grass on the counter. You will love it if you have the appetite of a cow and don’t mind the flavour of grass. There are many touted benefits of wheatgrass and I think the only thing it supposedly doesn’t do is wash your clothes. None of the claims have ever been proven.
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Have you heard? |
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For those of you who are able to listen to talkback radio in the mornings, my segment on 6PR has moved to alternate Wednesdays (on air this week) at 10am with Paul Murray. We will be talking about the latest nutrition hot topics and answering listeners questions. Just turn the dial to 882AM ...
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The last word |
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Have you ever walked through your office around 3pm and noticed your staff gazing into space or getting up close and personal with the desk? Many businesses are surprised to learn that their staff may be productive for only 2 hours each day and certainly not after 3pm. The health and performance of your employees increases your bottom line. Give me a call and I will tell you how.
Yours in health and performance,
Julie
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