Posts Tagged ‘self help’

Helping Clients as a Creativity Coach

Thursday, January 28th, 2010

One of the essential roles of a Creativity Coach is to offer support and accountability and it’s support that a client needs most from a coach. Support feels most like compassion and kindness. Its hard for people to be kind and compassionate to themselves. They tend to beat themselves up and say tough words to themselves, especially if they have been failing in life for a while.

Clients normally have no one to talk to about there work or the fact that their dreams are fading or their goals are not being realised. They often have no one to talk to about their struggle or the gap between their dreams and reality. Many clients are looking for someone to say, “You have it in you and I will help.”

Support is a broad church and what it involves exactly is dependent on the kind of Creative work the client is involved in. Support is a general attitude on the part of the Coach but it also includes actions like coming along to see a showing at a gallery or a first night performance. It might include supporting issues a client has with making meaning from their work or it might take a more psychological nature and include work on procrastination or performance anxiety.

One way a coach may offer practical support to Creative is by speaking with them about starting a new routine. For example writing in the morning before the emails are looked at.

Getting a client to embrace their anxiety is another way a Creativity Coach can be very supportive. Creative anxiety is not often talked about and it’s something that even the most experienced creative might not be aware of.

Other support could take the form of encouraging a client go deeper when thinking and reflecting. Encouraging a client to forgive themselves and Letting them know that it’s not too late and they have still got a chance to get it right.

For better written information about Creativity Coaching get in touch with Tom Binns at the Creativity Practice.

Is There an Atkins Grapefruit Diet?

Saturday, November 7th, 2009

The Atkins Grapefruit diet is a diet plan, not endorsed by the eponymous Dr. Atkins company, that hopes to play on the popularity of the grapefruit diet and the Atkins diet name. However, a closer look into this diet reveals that it may not be all it claims to be.

First of all, it’s pretty hard to any find information on the Atkins grapefruit diet plan at all. Clever people realize that when someone is perpetrating a con, they will often skim over the facts. This is what the Atkins grapefruit diet appears to be doing while trying to get people to associate it with two seemingly effective diets.

Is the Atkins Grapefruit Diet part of the Atkins Diet or support by the estate of the late Dr. Atkins? The answer is no, not only is there no mention of the Atkins Grapefruit Diet on the Atkins web site, but there is no fruit of any kind mentioned in the list of allowed foods in the Atkins diet Induction phase either.

The induction phase allows the following foods: fish of all kinds, all fowl such as turkey and chicken, any shellfish, any meat such as beef or pork, eggs cooked in any style including fried, cheese, vegetables, herbs and spices, fats and oils, low carbohydrate beverages including diet soft drinks.

Please, notice one thing – that fruit is not on that list at all! Later phases of the Atkins diet do include small amounts of fruits such as cantaloupe and even lemon juice, and the pre-maintenance and maintenance phases even allow small quantities of grapefruit, but when looked at in comparison with the amount of Grapefruit recommended on the Atkins Grapefruit Diet there is a massive discrepancy.

The Atkins Grapefruit Diet suggests a cup of grapefruit juice or a cup of grapefruit sections, with 8 and’ carbs respectively. Even the most generous phases of the Atkins diet suggests limiting consumption to below 8 carbs per day, when it comes to grapefruit. That’s a direct contradiction from one diet to the other.

Most sensible people would turn to the Atkins website itself the moment they heard of the Atkins Grapefruit Diet and when they found no reference of that diet on their site, a red light would flash and an alarmbell would sound.

In general, remember that any plan that relies too heavily on one type of food, such as grapefruit on a grapefruit diet, is unhealthy for any but very short periods. The Atkins Grapefruit Diet is not associated with the Atkins diet, and could interfere with the results of the Atkins diet, especially in its early phases.

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See Weight Loss News Today

Monday, October 5th, 2009
by Gloria M Cook

Many folks want to drop weight these days. Obesity and being overweight has reached widespread proportions. There are many visual reasons why folks want to lose weight as they would like to look good and fit into their jeans but the most critical basis to lose weight is for health reasons.

Dissimilar bodies store up fat in a different way. A person who stores all of the surplus fat in their thighs and butt has distinct problems than a person who stores all of their surplus fat in the center or the abdominal section. When you carry your fat in your thighs and butt you are shaped like a pear and when you carry your excess fat in your abdominal region you are shaped like an apple. The way that you carry your fat has a great effect on your health.

The pear-shaped women, who hold all of their excess weight in their butt and thighs, are at a health advantage over the apple shaped women. While they may have more difficulty finding “jeans that fit” and they may fight with body image just as much as the apple-shaped woman, they do not have the same health issues to contend with. The fat they carry on their butts and thighs is not necessarily damaging to their wellbeing.

On the other hand the fat that accumulates around the mid section puts the person at risk for such things as heart disease, diabetes and other health risks. The predicament is that the fat in the middle collects around the internal organs. This prevents their organs and their bodies from optimal function. Pear-shaped individuals do not have this same problem because none of the internal organs are found in the butt and thighs.

To find out is you are an apple-shape or a pear-shape you will need to compute the ratio of your waist to hips. Divide your waist measurement in inches by your hip measurement in inches. If the resultant ratio is 0.8 or more you are shaped like an apple, but if it is more than 0.8 or less then you are shaped like a pear. An instance would be a 28-inch waist divided by a 38-inch hip gives a ratio of 0.73 or a pear-shape while that same hip measurement combined with a 32-inch waist is a 0.84 or an apple shape.

Both shapes may have body image issues but the reality is that the pear-shapes are not really facing grave health risks. If you are shaped like an apple it is imperative that you do what you can to release the excess fat. Step up your cardio exercise and make sure that you are eating a fiber-rich diet consisting of more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and legumes and include lean protein sources like fish and skinless chicken.

When it comes to weight loss an apple shaped individual does have an benefit because weight that accumulates in the abdominal region comes off faster than the fat that accumulates in the butt and thighs. Butt and thigh fat is quite stubborn and it will take much more struggle to get it to finally come off.

The type of body that you have is not something that you can control but you can do whatever is needed to lose the excess fat or even better, of course, is to not gain it in the first place.

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Continue Your Superior Health With Good Quality Nutrition And More

Saturday, September 12th, 2009

Consuming a high nutrition diet is one of the top things you can do to achieve and keep up great health. Our bodies have not evolved enough to acquire our nutrition from the nutritionally bare foods that currently line our supermarket shelves. Our bodies are intended to consume the wholesome foods found in nature.

One of the greatest things that we can do to realize and increase our overall healthiness and well-being is to have a diet that is balanced and nutritious. Nonetheless, in this day and age the amenities of prepackaged and overly processed foods over and over again trump the diet of real foods.

But it can be quite simple to get a proper dietary balance if you simply take into account a few things. For example, you ought to always shop around the border of the grocery store first. The healthiest foods are all found around the edges of the store. The produce section, the butcher block and the dairy case are all along the edges while the boxed, processed and packaged foods are in the center.

You ought to establish your regime on the foods that are found on the perimeter of the grocery store and reduce the consumption of the things in the center. Consider about this. If your great-great grandparents couldn’t have eaten it you in all probability should not eat it either.

Begin with the organic foods found in natural world and try to incorporate a nourishing range of diverse fruits, vegetables, beans and lentils, lean meats, poultry and fish and low-fat dairy. If you choose a vegetarian or a vegan plan you will still need to try to get a healthful variety but of course, you will remove most of the animal products.

All foods, even the healthiest ones, should be consumed in moderation. Any food can cause some troubles if they are eaten to overindulgence. There are actually people who have had their skin turn orange from eating too many carrots! Of course it is poorer for your health to eat too much chocolate cake than to eat too many carrots but neither should be eaten in surplus. Moderation is a relative term, however as chocolate cake and the like should actually be eaten sparingly. Use your common sense.

Take a multivitamin. The majority of our diets do not supply enough of the healthiest nutrients that we need and a first-class multivitamin can fill in the difference. There are also other beneficial supplements that you may want to consider such as green drinks or products made from acai berries, which have been verified to be one of the most healthy foods on the earth.

For excellent health you must also take the time to restore by getting your slumber and day by day exercise is also critical for optimum health. A nutritional diet, good sleep and exercise are all fundamental for great physical condition.

Details about acai berry supplements and get more information about buy acai. Discover nutritional supplementation for good health. Your health is essential for a happy life.

Low Carb Vegetables

Sunday, July 12th, 2009
by Joy Mitchell

Any diet that asks you to go low carbohydrate and use only low carbohydrate vegetables is saying that you need to search for vegetables that are low in carbohydrates. You need to use these vegetables in stead of your regular vegetables. There are many great tasting meals that you can make with low carb vegetables.

They can be used in your various diet recipes or used in salads. They are great by themselves as healthy snacks and you can also blend them for a nutritious drink. The many websites that give recipes for low carbohydrate cooking and meals might have some recipes that will let you use your low carbohydrate vegetables in meals.

Imagine producing a magnificent meal using only low carb foods. You can give a magnificent side dish full of low carbohydrate vegetables that have been transformed into a delicious salad. This salad can be garnished with various interesting foodstuffs that are also low in carbohydrate but taste great by themselves too.

For instance, you could make a salad from low carbohydrate vegetables and boneless beef, top sirloin steak, fresh lemon juice, gourmet salad greens, medium plum tomatoes, ranch or blue cheese dressing. You have the choice of making a seasoning for this salad from dried oregano, garlic cloves and pepper.

As you can now see, there are many ways that you can mix your low carbohydrate vegetables with many other foods in order to make delicious meals for you and others to enjoy. The main thing to remember is not to put things like a heavy French dressing on your low carb vegetables. This will turn your nutritious low carb vegetables into something heavy.

There are instances in your low carb cooking when you can make use of only one of the low carb vegetables to give you a magnificent dish that looks mouth-watering. This type of low carb recipe will call for only a low carb vegetable like an aubergine. This vegetable is very versatile and you can use it in very many ways.

When you decide to eat low carb vegetables in this way, you take your cooking experience into another dimension of good food. The many low carb meals that you can find on the Internet, will let you make great dishes with your low carb vegetables. After all, low carbohydrate just means eating other types of vegetables and showing your taste buds low carb meals.

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The Atkins Diet and Me (part 1).

Thursday, June 4th, 2009
by Owen Jones

When I first encountered an Atkins Diet book, I was working in an office. I had been working there for five or six years and had accumulated a fair bit of excess weight. I had never been active in sport, but my previous job had been working on site, which brought with it a certain amount of physical activity ” just enough to keep me in reasonable shape. After five years of pen-pushing, I weighed 18 stone 12 pounds (264 lbs or 120 kg), up three stone and neither I nor my doctor were happy about it.

One day a representative of some accounting firm came in for a scheduled appointment, and, while we were awaiting the other directors, we got to talking about working in an office and its tendency to make one put on a stone or two. He said that he had had the same problem before this new, more mobile, job that he had and that now he made sure he got out of the office regularly and walked everywhere he could, time permitting. He also said that he’d read an interesting book on dieting while on holiday in the United States and that he would send me a copy when he got back to his home town. I didn’t think anything more of it and never saw the man again. I think his name was Mr. Blackwell.

One day the book arrived out of the blue, but it remained on my desk unread for months and months, until one day, I had a dentist’s appointment. I had forgotten to take a book to work to read while I was waiting ” something I nearly always did/do because the magazines are always so old and boring. Anyway, I read 50 or so pages that day and I was really impressed. I had never been on a ‘proper’ diet before and I thought I should give it a a go. I had stopped eating pastry, cakes and chocolate months ago, but it hadn’t had much effect and my weight was still on the up, albeit slightly more slowly.

It appeared to me that it was a ‘thinking person’s’ diet There is a huge amount of scope for individual tastes and lifestyles and self-discipline did not seem to be much of a problem because for that reason. The book warned of addictions and fads and how best to overcome or prevent them. These did not seem to be an issue for me. I liked coffee, but could take it or leave it and I had already given up chocolate. I knew that maybe beer and bread could be a problem.

The only requirement in the seven-fourteen day induction phase is to eat not more than 20 gram of carbohydrate per day. The book has a clear list of almost every foodstuff and their carbohydrate content. I found it really very easy. In fact, I was eating in a more healthy way in the induction stage than I had been eating before it! I bought a carton of Ketone sticks from the local chemist to make sure that the Atkins Diet was working and I found that I was in ketosis on the third day. It was very gratifying to know that I would be slimming down whatever I did and wherever I was all day long from now on.

I gave up bread (and beer!) for a fortnight and felt great. I actually felt ‘bouncy’ or ’springy’ as you see a boxer in the ring before a fight. I had no trouble whatsoever staying within the 20 gram limit, although I missed fruit more than I’d expected. But I found ways to compensate for everything. The book has loads of recipes and suggestions so I won’t go into them here, but I started eating breakfast before I went to work and in the evenings, took great care and attention over preparing a lunch box for work the next day, usually consisting of a salad, some cheese and various nuts to snack on. You can eat a few strawberries too. In the evening, I would cook up something like a curry (no flour) eating it with green beans instead of rice; or a traditional British meal without potatoes followed by cheese and strawberries and cream. I lost 18 pounds in two weeks and felt wonderful.

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Enhance Your Appearance With Cellulite Reducers

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009
by Cathy Tidwell

Cellulite is a name we have heard before. Some of us even have it. We know that because we have seen pictures of it. There are those who care and want to use cellulite reducers to get rid of it. There are those who don’t, although it can be embarrassing to us. The medical description for this ugly appearance is a regular condition where excessive big cells of fat are locked in the layer of our skin. It causes wrinkles and dents or dimples in buttocks and legs.

Many of us thought you have cellulite due to being overweight or because we don’t eat healthy. It’s not because we have a lack of exercise or activity. That is not the case. It is caused by physical or hormones or tissue changes. It could be genetically obtained.

There are effective ways to remove cellulite and rid your self of it. Scientist has conducted studies to find ways for years to provide cures. There are several cellulite reducers, jellies and cream products being sold. Sometimes these products are effective and sometimes not.

With the advanced technology and developments, creams can assist with diminishing cellulite, but it has been suggested that light and frequent massages with a tool and the use of the creams will have a better effect. This will help tighten the skin and firm it up reducing the appearance of cellulite.

Another cure is liposuction. This is a medical surgical treatment and could be risky. This is where they go in and suction away all of the fat. This is an expensive method and has after effects.

Other treatments can come in the forms of pills that shrink away fat cells. There are several forms of affordable cellulite reducers. Just read the active ingredients if you have allergic reactions and give it a try.

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Atkins Diet Basics

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009
by Michael James

The popular name for the ‘Atkins Nutritional Approach’ is the ‘Atkins Diet’, which was the brainchild of Doctor Robert Atkins. Dr. Atkins had gained a lot of surplus weight while he was studying in medical school and after reading about a new diet in a medical journal, he decided to refine it and release it as his own.

Atkins, in his Atkins Diet, stated that he believed that the prevalent theories about weight gain were all wrong. First, he dismissed the idea that saturated fats were bad; instead he said it was it was carbohydrates that led to the weight problems Americans have. Atkins declared that our obsession with fat actually worsened the problem. He pointed to all the low-fat foods that were high in carbohydrates, which meant that people on a diet often ate foods that were worse for them than what they normally ate.

The Atkins diet shifts the focus. Atkins said that by cutting out carbohydrates, people would consume their stored body fats. And, of course, if you lose the fat, you lose the weight. He said it was not only a matter of eating less. Atkins held that a diet could actually help you burn calories and that The Atkins Diet supposedly burned more calories than were being consumed everyday. But the claims were disputed.

Dr. Atkins also touted the positive influence that his diet could have on suffers of type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is a disease you get early in life, but type 2 is often closely associated with diet and surplus body weight. So, it should follow that any diet that helps reduce weight, will help people with Type 2 diabetes. The Atkins diet is low in carbohydrates, which ought to be avoided with type 2 diabetes regardless of the caloric intake, so because of this aspect of the diet, Atkins claimed that those who suffer type 2 diabetes would no longer need medication such as insulin. In general, doctors disagree with Atkins on this point, although they do agree, however, that a lower carbohydrate intake helps control Type 2 diabetes, but there is no proof that carbohydrates cause diabetes.

What are the procedures one has to follow to do the Atkins diet? It goes in four phases – Induction; On-Going Weight loss; Pre-maintenance; and Lifetime Maintenance. Here follows a brief precis of the most important phase – The Induction Phase.

The Induction phase is the most difficult of the phases in the Atkins diet. Atkins is flexible about how long it should last ” but recommends it lasts for two weeks. During this phase, carbohydrate consumption is severely curtailed ” you can only consume up to 20 grammes per day. The goal is to enter a fat burning metabolic phase called ‘ketosis’ wherein the body, starved of glucose, starts to convert stored fat into the fatty acids needed to power the body. Weight loss during this phase is often large ” some Atkins dieters reported losses of 5-10 pounds a week or more.

The purposes of the three final phases in the Atkins diet are the learning of the ideal carbohydrate levels for the next two phases: continued weight loss and weight maintenance. Millions of people are still losing the weight they want to on this diet ” but be aware of the dangers of taking in too much cholesterol.

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The Atkins Diet (part two).

Sunday, May 10th, 2009
by Owen Jones.

Some people have to try to make your life miserable, if you let them. It was obvious to everyone that I looked and felt better, but some people just have to try to spoil it. I was told: lots of people have died of kidney or liver failure after being on Atkins I read it in the newspaper; you will have a heart attack, it’s not natural; your cholesterol will climb sky high and you will need your toes amputated or you will have a stroke; it will affect your eyesight. All sorts of rubbish. So, I went to see my GP, who admitted that he did not know anything about the Atkins diet, but he also added that he had heard nothing bad about it either. He sent me for a series of tests at the hospital and the results were all satisfactory. He was happy that I’d lost 18 lbs and so was I. Six weeks later, I went for another cholesterol check-up, because of the high fat levels in the diet and, although my cholesterol level was up very slightly, the doctor said there was no cause for concern at all.

The book warns that you might suffer from bad breath (halitosis). I don’t know whether I did or not – no-one mentioned it, but I started brushing my teeth four or five times a day just in case. I guess that’s another benefit of Atkins: increased awareness of oral hygiene. It also warns of constipation. I didn’t get that either, although I didn’t give up black coffee, which has always had a laxative effect on me. But how can you become constipated if you’re allowed to eat well over 1lb of greens a day? I wasn’t eating that well before the diet! So my two main concerns were unfounded.

After a couple of weeks I was getting bored not going out so much. Not with the diet, but because I’m single and am used to going to the pub (and drinking beer). So, I decided to treat this scientifically. One day, after work, I had three pints of Guinness and felt merry. Before the diet, I would have drunk five or six pints to feel the same. To my delight, the next morning the ketone stick told me that I was still ‘on the diet’. Over the following weeks, I really enjoyed finding out what would ‘work’ and what would not. I discovered that cider had to be avoided at all costs; some beers and some lagers were all right; red and white wine were OK. Consuming alcohol does not knock you off the diet, but it slows down your rate of progress. However, even slow progress is progress, I say. Better than giving up the diet or giving up going out.

Be very wary of people encouraging you to ‘just try a little bit’. They don’t understand or don’t want to understand the trouble they’re causing you. Your body can hold two days worth of carbohydrates. One chocolate, one slice of bread, a bowl of cornflakes or one sugar in your coffee will cost you TWO days to put right. Don’t let them do it to you. This is not a diet for the weekends, in fact I think that it probably could be dangerous to keep ‘falling off the wagon’, because of the high fat content of the diet, which is not dangerous if you stick to it, because you body devours fat and cholesterol in the absence of carbohydrates.

The story ends at this pont, with me having got down to under 16 stone and keeping it there, until very recently when I moved to the Far East to live. Once I get used to the food and have my own house and own kitchen, I will get down to 15 stone, I’m sure I will ” with very little effort.

Anyway, thank you, Mr. Blackwell, wherever you are, you changed my life and my understanding of food and thank you, Mr. Atkins too.

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Obesity in Oregon

Saturday, April 25th, 2009
by Sara Mendez

Obesity has taken center stage during many different discussions both nationwide and at the local level. From education to healthcare costs, people want to talk about it and find a solution. According to Obesityaction.org, in 2004 more than 21% of Oregon’s population was considered obese, that number rose to more than 23% in 2006. The causes for this upward trend are unlimited.

The idea of an American family and dinner time has changed. Americans lead busy lives, in a typical family home, both parents work a forty hour week, most arriving home late. Most of those families would rather relax than think about making a well balanced meal for everyone. Usually they will grab what it closest or easiest such as a microwave dinner, take out or order a pizza. We all want to spend time with our families and watch our favorite TV program. The last thing anyone wants to think about is cooking after a long day at the office.

Eating out was once thought to be expensive, now because of places like Jack in the Box and McDonalds, you can get a meal that is affordable and fast. You can go to McDonalds and feed a family of four for less than twenty dollars. It is fast, easy, and most of all cheap. To feed a family of four a balanced meal, for example chicken with rice and a vegetable, costs more in both time and money something we are all short on. Fred Meyer, a local grocery store chain in Oregon, which usually has pretty good deals, but look at what it costs to feed a family of four. I went to Fred Meyer hoping to spend less than $20.00 on a well balanced meal. Foster Farms offers three chicken breasts in a package for around $9.00, but you would have to buy two in order to feed a family of four. One package of Uncle Ben’s instant wild rice only has two to three servings per container for $2.50 which means again you would have to buy two packages. As for a vegetable, a bag of organic baby carrots cost about $2.00. When it was all said and done, a healthy home cooked dinner for a family of four costs about $25.00. This is not including the time spent making the dinner and doing dishes afterwards.

Lack of health choice at restaurants makes eating right difficult. According to Foodfacts.info, in 2005 fast food chain, Wendy’s, pulled their fruit salad option after only ten months on the menu, sighting low sales. Many fast food chains have started to offer healthier choices such as Subway which offers raisins and yogurt, and Wendy’s offers mandarin orange fruit cups in place of fries. Some sit down restaurants have followed suit such as Red Robin which will allow you to order either a petite hamburger patty or a Boca Burger substitute for any of their burgers. Unfortunately other places do not offer alternatives or the alternatives are not well advertised by the prospective restaurant. Red Robin might offer a Boca patty substitution but it is in fine print which is barley visible at the very bottom of their menu.

Serving sizes are something you are not in control of when eating out. Most restaurants fill your plate with fries and a giant burger. When the food comes, the presentation is nice and the food smells good, and since we are all in such a hurry, we devour the whole plate before we know it consuming double the empty calories.

Gastric bypass surgery is the second only to breast augmentation, as the most common surgery among young adults. The time is now for us to start setting a good example for all people and start making smarter choices of food, make the effort to cook healthy meals, and rethink what a serving size is. Sure it might require more effort and more time and sacrifice but when you look at the health risks and concerns associated with obesity, it just makes sense to spend a few extra dollars, a little more time and make a few better choices in order to make a better future for you and your family.

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