Although strength training and spot toning are important, cardio should always be included in your routine to achieve a full body workout. However, many people tend to put off cardio due to the amount of time that is required to receive maximum benefits. If you struggle with working cardio into your fitness routine, then you may be relieved to know that even short bursts of cardio can add up to a full workout when spread out over the day. Here, are three simple ways that you can fit cardio into your everyday life without sacrificing your other responsibilities.

Wake Up Early

When the morning alarm goes off, it can be tempting to hit snooze and catch a few more minutes of sleep. Interestingly, sleeping late can often lead to a decrease in your mental focus as well as grogginess. To arrive at work energized, wake up early and take a brisk walk or jog. By getting your cardio in early in the morning, you will be able to enjoy the benefits all day.  You can read about how Dr. Oz recommends morning exercise here.

Turn Lunch into a Power Walk

In today’s competitive work environment, you may be tempted to work through your lunch at the desk. However, sitting for so long at a time can actually lead to a loss of productivity. Instead, plan to take a walk or jog on your lunch break. If your gym is not nearby, then head outside to a local park or walking trail. To avoid excuses, make sure to store everything you need in your office. Then, all you will need to do is put on your StrengthTape athletic tape, some walking shoes and hit the pavement.

Make it a Social Event

Have you ever wondered why so many of our social events revolve around going out to eat? While this may be an enjoyable way to spend the evening, it adds up to more calories and contributes to an unhealthy lifestyle. To do something different, try inviting your friends out for a spontaneous soccer match, or you can meet up at the gym and chat as you work out on the treadmill. For work meetings, invite your colleagues for a walking brainstorming session. Families can also head to the park and fit in some cardio as they play together. By making it fun, you will hardly notice that you are working out.

Finding ways to fit cardio into your day may be challenging, but with a little creativity you can find fun ways to burn calories and strengthen your body. By waking up early and turning exercise into a social event, you can always fit in a workout so that you will meet your fitness goals.

3 Simple Ways to Fit Cardio Into Your Everyday Life is a post from: Jessica's Health Blog

Everywhere you turn, the advice is always the same. Eat more fruits and veggies. Doctors, nutritionists and even the federal Government are advising us to eat at least five servings of fruit and veggies a day. If we can eat more than that, then that is even better. The problem is that many of us are not eating anywhere near that many servings a day. Instead of fruits and veggies, we grab processed convenience foods that are probably not as good for us.

Fruits and veggies contain many vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. Fruits and veggies are also high in fiber. Eating many servings of fruits and veggies every day will help you to feel healthier and look better. They will provide a steady source of energy and nutrients. There are some quick and easy ways to add extra servings of fruits and veggies to your daily diet.

Fruit Smoothies

Fruit Smoothies are an easy way to add several servings of fruit to your daily diet. You can purchase fruit smoothies, but make sure that they are all natural and have no added sugar. However, it only takes a couple of minutes to whip up a delicious, frothy fruit smoothie at home. All you need are several different types of fruit and a blender. Add a banana, some strawberries, a kiwi and a little all natural apple juice to your blender. Hit the button and in a few seconds you will have a great tasting fruit smoothie. If you want to you can add some whey protein powder or yogurt to your fruit smoothie for a high protein smoothie.

Serve Fruits and Veggies as Snacks

Instead of serving chips with a sandwich, try serving some carrot and celery sticks. If you want to make them more appealing, try serving them with some salsa or low fat ranch dressing. Keep a bowl of fresh fruit on the kitchen table so that it’s very convenient to grab a piece of fruit as a snack. At your next party, serve a colorful tray of carrot sticks, celery sticks and cut up sweet peppers.

Have a Fruitful Breakfast

Add some extra fruit to your breakfast is a great way to get in some of your five servings a day. You can add strawberries or blueberries to your morning yogurt or cereal. If fresh berries are out of season, frozen berries are just as tasty and nutritious as fresh berries.

3 Easy Ways to Get Your Daily Fruits and Veggies is a post from: Jessica's Health Blog

When most people think about health, they might think about getting proper exercise or eating a nutritional diet. They might think about seeing a physician regularly or drinking plenty of water. Most people don’t think about wearing comfortable shoes as a way to be healthy. However, having proper foot support is a great way to prevent injuries and to make walking more aerobically efficient.

A lot of people—both men and women—will go to crazy extremes to make their feet look good. Women will often wear super high heels or shoes with uncomfortable pointed toes that actually do damage to a woman’s feet and back in the long run. Men also often wear dress shoes with suits that do not offer their feet the proper support that they need. Most people don’t think about these things as being unhealthy, but wearing these kinds of shoes can do a lot of damage over time.

Wearing comfortable shoes that offer your feet the support that they need is a great thing to do for your feet, your back, and your body in general. It’s easier to avoid feet, toe, ankle, leg, and back injuries if your feet have the support that they actually need instead of flimsy flip-flops, extreme high heels, or flat dress shoes. It’s also easier to get more exercise and walk more if your shoes are actually comfortable. When your shoes are pinching your feet and giving you blisters, you are a lot less likely to go walking. There are other unwanted side effects associated with wearing uncomfortable shoes. For example, your stress levels may increase and stress can do all sorts of damaging things to someone’s health.

A lot of people think this is all well and good, but they still don’t want to wear comfortable shoes with proper support because they think of these types of shoes as being unattractive. Comfortable shoes have gotten a reputation for not being fashionable, but there are several brands of comfortable shoes that are starting to pay more attention to style and attractiveness like Mephisto shoes and Clarks shoes. Both of these brands offer many different styles–from boots to sandals to heels–for both women and men.

The important thing to keep in mind is that in order to have a healthy body, you can’t neglect one important part of the body like the feet as many people do. Wearing comfortable shoes that offer your feet the proper support is the best way to accomplish this.

Wearing Shoes That Are Good For Your Feet is a post from: Jessica's Health Blog

Apparently, the Rachael Ray Show is being suied for overworking a teen for weight loss. According to www.eonline.com, “The suit alleges that Viskovicz “was aware that, as a result of heavy workouts earlier that same week, [Pagliarolo's] legs had become extraordinarily weak and painful.”

It also claims that though the trainer knew of the teen’s “generally poor physical condition,” he made her keep running after she told him she couldn’t and “yelled and screamed” at her “in a manner that caused Plaintiff to feel anxious, demeaned and threatened.”

Pagliarolo also alleged Viskovicz made her exercise on a Stairmaster “and continually increased the speed” despite her requests to stop. The teen also claims that she fell off the machine and was “yelled and screamed at” again, “causing her to feel even more anxious, fearful, and threatened.”

Then, according to the suit, the teen was “coerced” to begin a hike, during which her “legs, did in fact, give out on her” and caused her to “fall in a manner causing serious injury to her legs.”"

Do you think she was overworked and was treated unfairly? Or do you think she got what she deserved and just needs to suck it up to lose the weight. Click here to read the lawsuit.

Rachael Ray Show Being Sued for Overworking Teen for Weight Loss is a post from: Jessica's Health Blog

Have you been struggling to lose weight? Have you been looking for a simple exercise that will help you painlessly reach your weight loss goals? If so, then you should definitely consider giving cycling a try. Cycling is an exercise that can help you burn anywhere from 600 to 900 calories in one hour. Below are some tips for losing weight with cycling:

Start Off Slowly

Studies have shown that the people who get the best results with weight loss are the ones who lose weight slowly. That is why you should start off riding your bike slowly. For example, you can start off by cycling for 20 minutes per day and then add five minutes to your time each week. As you get adjusted to bike, you can try to cycle faster so that you cover more distance in less time.

Increase The Intensity

If you increase the intensity of your workout, then you will be able to burn more calories. This will allow you to lose more weight. Once you have gotten adjusted to riding your bike, you should try cycling up a hill. That will not only help you burn more calories, but it will also allow you to tone up your muscles.

Interval Train

Interval training can help you burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time. Interval training involves alternating low intensity exercise with high intensity exercise. For example, you can cycle very fast for five minutes and then cycle at a slower pace for five minutes. You keep alternating fast cycling with slower cycling until you have completed your workout. You want to make sure that you warm up and cool down properly.

Eat A Healthy Diet

In order to get the best results, you will have to follow a healthy diet while you are cycling. You should try to eliminate foods that are processed, sugary, fatty or fried. You should replace those foods with whole grains, vegetables and fruits. It is also important for you to drink healthy. If you drink sodas and other sugary beverages, then it may be harder for you to lose weight. That is why water should be the drink that you consume the most. 

An Easy Way To Lose Weight – Cycling is a post from: Jessica's Health Blog

If you are looking for an effective way to get a good workout, then you should definitely consider investing in a bike. There are several health benefits that you can reap from regular bicycle riding. Below are some of those benefits:

A Reduced Risk Of Heart Disease

Bicycle riding is a form of aerobic exercise, so it can help strengthen your heart. Studies have also shown that it can reduce the risk of heart disease. In fact, there was a study done in Britain that involved 10,000 civil servants. The results of the study showed that the subjects were able to cut their risk of heart disease by 50 percent by riding their bicycle on a regular basis.

Weight Loss

Bicycle riding is great for burning calories. You can burn up to 300 calories in 30 minutes by riding a bicycle. This means that if you cycle every day for one year, then you can potentially burn up to 11 pounds of fat.

Helps Build Up Stamina

Cycling has been shown to be very effective for building up stamina. Many people cycle without even realize that they are working harder and going a longer distance than they did the last time that they rode their bicycle.

Great For Toning The Muscles

Many people believe that cycling only works the legs and thighs. However, it also works the muscles in the core. Therefore, it is great for toning the muscles.

Cycling Can Help You Live A Longer Life

Bicycle riding has been shown to increase lifespan. Researchers believe that cycling helps people live longer by strengthening the immune system.

Great For Reducing Stress

The next time that you have a very stressful day, you should consider going for a bike ride. Bicycle riding helps the body release more endorphins. Endorphins are hormones that help alleviate stress, depression and anxiety.

Very Easy Way To Exercise

If you are like most people, then you probably learned to ride a bike when you were very young. Bicycle riding is one of the easiest forms of exercise there is. Cycling is for everyone. It does not matter whether you are someone who has played sports all their life or just started exercising. Furthermore, bicycle riding is an exercise that is very low impact.

Top Seven Health Benefits Of Bicycling Riding is a post from: Jessica's Health Blog

Our world is full of brands and advertisements yelling at us. Drinks claiming they can revitalize us and medicines claiming they will cure us. Well I have news that may shock you: Sometimes it doesn’t take a $100 pill or lotion to cure or alleviate whatever it is you may be struggling with. Very often the common ailments that plague us can be easily remedied with some not-so-common cures. Here are a few:

Bad Breath:

We’ve all had it. Most of the time without even knowing it. Well you don’t need to be at your home sink armed with toothpaste and Listerine to rid yourself of the stinky air coming from your mouth. Nor do you need to gobble down half a pack of gum. Here are two easy ways to brighten the day of those near your face.

1. Raid your kitchen for a cheap and all natural breath enhancer. Assemble a tiny plastic bag of cloves, fennel, or anise seeds. Throw some in your mouth after a stinky meal and you’ll be breathing freshness in no time.

2. Brush your tongue whenever you can. Yes this may require you packing a toothbrush for an after-lunch-scrub-down but the freshness this little trick will provide is well worth the work.

Toenail Fungus:

Your once clear and beautiful nails have turned yellow and overgrown. The disgusted look on people’s faces when they catch you shoe-less should be reason enough to run to your doctor and beg for help. Chances are they will want to give you some expensive prescription pills that pack a “will damage liver” warning. Ummm… seriously? You can actually beat those sickness-inducing monster-nails with a topical cream. I can personally vouch for this simple guide to remove toenail fungus.

Sore Throat:

Just writing about this one makes me anxious. The time of the year when swallowing hurts. The dreaded sore throat. Thinking about the pain makes you swallow again just to test if it is still there – and it usually is. Well stop moping up and down the aisles at CVS and get yourself a home remedy guaranteed to at least reduce the sore throat’s unwelcome duration. Throw some salt into a small glass of water and gargle with it for 1 full minute. Rinse and repeat 3-5 times a day. It will help.

I’ve got a ton more of these coming. In the meantime give them a go and tell us how it worked for you in the comments.

Not-So-Common Cures To Common Ailments is a post from: Jessica's Health Blog

Gardens are in a hot trend these days. Some people have grown a little uneasy with the soaring food prices lately. Other folks just want to get back to their roots. Whatever the reason is, growing a garden is definitely in. For those who are still on the fence about starting their own pumpkin patch for that pumpkin seed nutrition then consider these top four reasons to give it a green light.

Growing food is like growing money

The price of food has shot up quickly just within the last two years alone. This has put a tremendous burden on families that were already struggling. These aren’t the only prices going up either, and that’s been cause enough for some people to take a hard look at the areas they could be improving on with their budget. Growing vegetables is an excellent way to start saving a substantial amount of money.

Get to know the food

There seems to be an awful lot of whispers going around these days about the quality of food people are getting from the big grocers. Growing vegetables right at home is a good way to ensure the family is getting as many nutrients as possible. More importantly, the gardener knows exactly what their food is made of and what chemicals may or may not be in it. All around, it’s a healthier way to put food on the table.

Rediscovering independence

There is certainly a piece of mind that people inherit when they no longer have to depend on the stores for their primary source of food. Independence takes on many shapes and sizes. Having the ability to produce one of the few necessities that all people need is an awesome feeling. This can build character and do wonders on the self-esteem of the gardener.

Who said all work and no play?

Lastly, some people start a garden simply for the hobby of it. There is definitely something therapeutic about the labor of growing your own food. It’s a good way to keep the young gardener in shape, and people simply love the time spent outdoors in the sunshine. This makes it a very rewarding pastime. Despite the hard work and sacrifice it takes to grow a vegetable garden the benefits are clearly worth it. Whether it’s for saving a little extra money or a good excuse to be outside, a garden is a worthy endeavor for anyone.

4 Reasons Why Growing Your Own Vegetables is Beneficial is a post from: Jessica's Health Blog

Proper Body Alignment

Getting a comfortable pair of shoes can prevent certain health problems from developing. Even though people often sacrifice comfort for style, it is important to buy shoes that are properly fitted and give the feet and toes enough room.

Why Comfortable Shoes Are Essential to Overall Health? is a post from: Jessica's Health Blog

Almost everyone encounters clutter problems at some point. Not only is it an eye sore, but it can negatively affect your health as well. It’s time to decide what is trash and what you want to keep. Do the right thing for your health and toss that clutter.

Poor Diet

Is your kitchen so crowded that you don’t even have enough room to prepare a meal? There may be so much junk on your counters or kitchen table that you can’t find the room to make a healthy meal. This forces people to simply grab the quickest item of food they can, which is usually junk food. Some people with too much clutter overeat because they are depressed about their messy living space. Others will even neglect eating for similar reasons.

Financial Problems

Clutter is often caused by impulse buying. You see something that you may not need, but you think you’ll find a use for it eventually. Later, when you actually could use it, it’s long forgotten. You could take the money you wasted and put it towards something healthy. Buy a gym membership, see a doctor, or buy a treadmill. Worrying about financial problems can cause depression, overeating, and other stress related problems.

Stress

Clutter can be stressful. Stress can lead to severe health problems. It can cause you to gain weight, lose sleep, develop diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, and dozens of other issues. The lack of space, trouble finding items, and worry over the vast amount of stuff that has accumulated can be very stressful. Declutter your house to relieve some stress in your life.

Mental health

Your mental health can suffer from clutter. You probably feel ashamed and embarrassed when people see your home. This has an affect on your self-confidence and self-esteem. It can even interrupt your concentration and lead to depression. When you finally decide to clean up your clutter, trash the junk and use Memphis TN storage units to store what you think needs to be kept. You will feel much better with that clutter out of sight and out mind.

General Illness

With all of that junk laying around, you never know what germs or bacteria are lurking around. Moisture can cause mold that you may not see. Rodents may have made their way into your possessions and die. Clean up that clutter in your home to improve your health now.

How a Cluttered Home Can Affect Your Health: 5 Reasons to Get Organized is a post from: Jessica's Health Blog