Best Life 3 (Cherish your Health)

To live your best life, you have to check your health, what is going inside your body and organs.

Do not take your health for granted, find a doctor, the right one for you, and have a check up. Take control of your health, do not wait for your doctor to suggest it. You’re the only one who knows if there is something wrong with your health/body.

To take care of your health, you have to deal with several issues:

1. FOOD


2. PHYSICAL TESTS


3. VITAMINS


4. SMOKING


5. EXERCISE


6. SLEEP

1- FOOD
Choose healthy food:

• Yogurt-fruit-oatmeal-for breakfast


• Salad-fresh vegetables as spinach-chicken


• Use OLIVE OIL, one table spoon for a day

Avoid 5 INGREDIENTS on food labels:

• High fructose corn syrup
  
• Sugar
  
• Enriched [white bread]
  
• Trans/Saturated Fat

Add healthy food to your diet:

• Antioxidants: 5 to 7 servings: tomatoes- broccoli
  
• Omega: 3mg daily: fish-salmon-walnuts-soybeans-squash
  
• Fiber: 25 mg daily: black beans-peas-roseberry-fruits vegetables
  
• Olive oil: 1 table spoon daily
  
• Iron: dark colored fruits and vegetables

2- PHYSICAL TESTS

• Blood pressure
  
• Blood sugar
  
• Heart beats
  
• Bone intensity
  
• Vitamins: iron, vitamin D for bones
  
• Thyroid Stimulating Hormone TSH
  
• Reactive Protein
  
• Breast Cancer
  
• Keep your health record organized

3- VITAMINS

• If your body is lacking some vitamins, take their supplements.
• Choose your health advocate: someone who accompanies you to the doctor and pays attention, listens and takes notes of what is said. It can be your friend or another doctor whom you trust. Do not go alone.
• Always have a second opinion from another doctor. Be sure of treating the cause of the disease not its obvious symptoms.

4- SMOKING

• Quit Smoking, it makes you 10 years older.
  
• First days are rough then it gets easily gradually.
  
• Replace the act of smoking by another one [put something like a straw in your mouth to replace the feeling/eat/drink healthy choices]


• You can put something smelly [have a bad smell] in your cigarette.


• Begin it when you are fasting [in Ramadan for example].


• It is normal to gain some kilos at the beginning, you will lose them.


• It depends on what is working for you, stop smoking all at once or reduce gradually the number of your cigarettes.


• Remember that the accurate description of the lungs of a smoker is the exhaust pipe in a car in which the black smoke goes out.


• It is not wrong that you can not stop smoking but it is if you do not want.


• Stop this cycle by your own will with God's help.


• Be healthy for your family and cherish your health.


• Just start and do it. YOU are worth it.

5- EXERCISE

• You must know that we are designed to walk.


• Try to walk half an hour a day for your heart.


• Train with weights to build muscles that help you to burn more calories and strengthen your bones.


• Do not use the elevator.

6- SLEEP
Not getting enough sleep makes you tired, hungry for carbohydrates.
To sleep well:

• keep a routine.
  
• keep your bed dark and cool.


• No caffeine 4 hours before bed.


• NO T.V in the bedroom.

After all, answer these questions:

1. Why are you worthy of getting healthy this year?
   
2. Write down 3 food choices you will stop buying?


3. Write down 3 healthy food choices you will buy?


4. Write down your commitment to Exercise?
   
5. What is the bad sleeping habit I'll change this week?

From Oprah Winfrey Show

Best Life 2 (Cherish your Body)

If you are overweight or have some kilos you want to lose, help yourself by looking at this problem in a deeper way.


Try to see it not as a weight issue but as a loving one . For some people food is their drug choice when they are feeling down or sad. It's their way to cope with the problems instead of facing them. A way to comfort themselves in bad times.

Definitely other people do not have such a problem, they just like to eat more than others, even, they want to eat when they are happy. Another group of people cope with sadness by eating less.

Using food as your drug choice in bad times leads to an overweight problem in which you feel as if Fat has won and you have failed – you can not control your own being.

To get better in shape you have to deal with what is really going inside. Ask yourself why am I overweight? You have to search on a deeper level.
Know what are you really hungry for? What is missing in your life?

Everyone differs in his answer, may be you feel unhappy in your carrier or you are living an unbalanced life.
Some feel overwhelmed in their busy life, doing so much that they lost sense of themselves. Others, still do not find their path/way in life, they are still looking.

You do not have to learn to embrace hunger which is hard to do, you need to go deeper-as said above-
Your plan is to ask yourself these questions:

1. Why are you overweight? [on a deeper level]
2. What are you really hungry for? [what are you looking for?]
3. Why did you fail before? [may be you have Lost your weight before, but when you think you made it, here starts your downfall. You go back to your old eating habits. You have to pay attention everyday to your diet .It is an everyday process.]
4. Why do you want to lose weight? [Is it really for your health or appearance or both? – you have to know that if you set for yourself a certain number to reach, you may not reach it and that makes you unhappy or even if you reach it, you may be still unhappy. This means the real reason of your sadness was not your weight, since reaching the weight you defined for yourself did not make you happy.]

God has blessed you with this precious body. Appreciate what you have been given. You need to realize how many times you have abused your body. Although, you do not feed it well or it is deprived of sleep, it is, by god's will, still functioning. Literally this body is baring you. Love yourself and take care of it.

• Have a balanced healthy diet.
  
• Plan for your life and your meals.
• Exercise: walk 30 minutes a day or as you feel comfortable- dance- train with weights aiming for a better shape for your body [building muscles make your body burn more calories and it is good for your bones.]

Know that life goes on, take lessons of life experiences, move on and get yourself together. Love yourself because it deserves to be loved.

From Oprah Winfrey Show

Best Life 1 (Cherish Yourself)

If you are feeling that there is something missing in your life; you are not happy because of things you cannot control; you want to live your best life, it all starts by being honest to yourself; you have to know who you are and appreciate your wonderful soul and body gifted by God.

Take a moment to embrace what is happening in your present life, then figure out what are you willing to change. Put yourself first on your priority list.

You should know that perfection can never be achieved and it is sometimes a burden to look for. It is better to seek your happiness by finding harmony with your life. When you love yourself enough you can take care of it. God has blessed you with this soul and body that you have to honor, and then you can take care of others.

You must be motivated to reach your own goals. Do not lose your zest for life. Loving yourself is never an ending journey. Choosing how to live your life is God's gift to us. Seek the balanced life you deserve.

From Oprah Winfrey Show

Busted Online

What will you do if anyone posted pictures of you on the Facebook?

Take care when dealing with the Facebook. Facebook pictures and information can be used against you. Dr. Phil in one of his shows, tackled this issue. A man who was applying for a job, he was accepted as far as his CV and interview were concerned. The manager checked his profile on the Facebook and found some inappropriate photos that costed him his chance for the job.

From Dr. Phil Show

It's TOO MUCH

DO YOU HAVE TOO MANY: CLOTHES?, SHOES?, PAPERS?, TOYS?, FURNITURE? THINGS YOU WILL NEVER USE. YOU ARE JUST KEEPING THEM FOR NO REASON.

THIS IS CLUTTER

A CLUTTER Expert {someone who helps you to organize your things and stuff } says: “Most people tend to keep unnecessary stuff, some are used to store things for so many years; either they don't know how to deal with them or they don't want to.”

He continues “For some people it's a habit .They are used to buy too many things and they don't get rid of their old ones.”

He adds “For others it's more emotional. It's hard for them to let go of that stuff, to them it represent dear old memories of their childhood.” For example, one of Oprah's guests was keeping a chest X-Ray that belongs to her father from about 20 years ago. Another example, a woman keeps a broken doll that her parents gave to her when she was young.

Oprah’s expert has plans for both sides; those who don't know how to get ride/organize their stuff and others who don't want to since it represents more than items to them; they symbolize special moments in their life.

The expert says they have to make a decision to honor their special stuff. They have to clean it out of dust and organize it in a proper way that allows them to look back at it from time to time , may be with their children , and remember those dearest memories. They can also get rid of stuff that bring bad memories [ illness- fights] and any unnecessary broken things. They will feel much better, happier, and more peaceful as organizing them, they honor their dearest memories in the only way that they deserve.

THE PLAN:

• THROW OUT anything you don't use for 12 months.


• Use a STOPWATCH, give yourself 5 minutes to organize every drawer or box.

• Arrange SIMILAR things together.

• LABEL your stuff and use containers and boxes.


• DONATE stuff that others may need; you can help them.


• CLUTTER INTO CASH stuff that you can't donate, you can sell.


• RECYCLE bottles-glass.


• Use CLEANING SUPPLIES to clean the dust.


• After organizing you can change the DESIGN of your place and refresh it up.

At the end, when your space is organized, you will feel better.

Decluttering your space helps declutter your life.

From Oprah Winfrey Show

Slow Down

You have a lot to do? You feel you have no time? You feel overwhelmed with many tasks? You lose concentration? Do you feel you need help? It is time to stop.

Slow down in your life, specially for a Mum. Stop being overwhelmed or else you will lose concentration.

Examples are many,

One of Oprah’s guest is a mother who was overwhelmed with doing everything herself. The woman was suffering the pressure to become the perfect mum, which made her lose concentration and along with the loss of concentration she lost her child. As a daily routine, the father was supposed to take his little girl to kindergarten. One day the mother had to take her daughter instead. What happened is that the mother was engaged in her daily routine; preparing breakfast, helping her children to dress and go to school, preparing herself to go to work….etc. The mother took her daughter in her car. BUT WHAT HAPPENED?
The mother went to work and forgot her daughter in the car. The girl died of high car temperature.

Another mother put her son for a nap. She started working in the house; she was already frustrated. She heard her son crying, she ignored his cries wishing he will sleep. After 2 or 3 minutes, she felt the sound was not right. She went to check on him, and what did she find?
She found a rope around the child’s neck. She saved him.

Both mothers wanted to be the perfect mums; mums who prepare breakfast, put hot meals on the table every day, take full care of the children..etc. They believe they should do every little thing themselves. They believe they should not seek help or rest. This made one of them say “I’m not getting any joy of my children”. Their children became a heavy burden.

These perfect mothers had the courage to appear on the Shaw. People (specially mums) are very critical towards each others. They give themselves the right to judge other mothers and call them imperfect. This adds stress on each mother to strive to be the PERFECT mother.

A family specialist in the Shaw gave suggestions to solve this issue of mother’s overwhelming state of mind:

Taking care of yourself is the highest priority:

• Take 20 to 30 minutes early in the morning to digest yesterday’s emotions.


• Ask for help. Say “I’m not doing well” without being ashamed of it.


• Focus on one task. Do not do so many things at the same time.


• Be pleasant with everything you do. Try to see the positive side.


• Whenever your CHILD is present, focus with him.

Taking care of yourself helps you to have a healthy state of mind and a better attitude towards others. Since every mother is trying to do the best she can, we have to help each others instead of taking the role of a judge.

From Oprah Winfrey Show