Live a Longer and Healthier Life!

You should balance your activities with the proper amount of rest. Some of the leading experts and guides in the field of aging now believe that regular exercise along with the proper amount of rest may actually add years to the life span. Results from a number of tests indicate that speed and muscular strength of many of the elderly can be extended.

A Best Way To Start

A sure-fire way to fail in your re-dedication to weight loss is to skip meals or eat so little during the day that you allow yourself to become super-hungry by nightfall. When you don't eat well-balanced meals during the day or forgo them entirely you will end up so famished by the time you do eat that you're far more likely to binge. A reliable way to keep your appetite from getting out of control is to incorporate good sources of protein into your meals:

• Breakfast will stick with you until lunch if you include cottage cheese, eggs or yogurt.
• Working poultry into lunch will keep you away from the vending machine mid-afternoon. Perhaps a turkey sandwich with lots of veggies on the side or add sliced grilled chicken to a salad with reduced-fat dressing.
• At dinnertime, making lean meat or fish your entrée will fill you up and prevent the midnight munchies from sneaking up on you.
• Legumes are a great side dish for lengthening any meal's staying power.
• Snacks serve up a protein punch with yogurt, legumes or peanut butter.

Go Halves

One of the most crucial steps in losing and maintaining weight is to master the skill of portion control. If you've slipped back into old eating habits, a really useful way to start managing your portions again is to cut normal servings of your usual fare in half. Not only does that mean boxing up half of your entrée as soon as it's served or splitting your deli sandwich with a co-worker, there are also sneakier ways to meet your weight loss effort halfway:

• use only half your normal creamer in your coffee
• drink 1/2 your bottled soda now and 1/2 tomorrow instead of downing the whole bottle in one sitting
• use 1 slice of bread halved when making a sandwich instead of two slices
• use 1/2 as much mayo as usual on your sandwich
• use half as much oil as usual when you sauté veggies for dinner tonight

These may sound like small things, but they really do matter in the big picture of making changes you can stick with. Couple them with your bigger changes and it all adds up to pounds lost!