Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/CAW6emsSE2Q/

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” ~John Lubbock

Do you ever fear taking breaks?

Maybe you think that if you stop working, everything is going to come crashing down?

Sometimes it feels like you’re riding a train of momentum, and if you try to stop or slow down you’re just going to come off the tracks.

I know the feeling. Believe me, I used to feel the same.

I wanted so badly to achieve everything I could, and would beat myself up if I didn’t. Coffee would fuel my mornings, deadlines and adrenaline my afternoons.

At the time I wasn’t completely oblivious to the problems with my lifestyle. No matter how tired I would get, I still wasn’t sleeping well, and I’d often spend weekends thinking about work.

I could be out at lunch on a Sunday, only half engaged in a conversation with friends because I was already mentally rehearsing Monday.

I knew that I was always just a little bit too stressed. And to make it worse, I was confused, caught between the fear of slowing down and the fear of allowing stress to damage my health.

The problem is, it already wa…

Source: http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/04/07/473371279/is-samoa-s-obesity-epidemic-a-harbinger-for-other-developing-nations?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=thesalt

A view of the lush Samoan vegetation in American Samoa, Tutuila Island.

LCDR Eric Johnson/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

The tiny Samoan islands have among the highest rates of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in the world — and diet and weight-related health issues have been rising in these Pacific nations since the 1970s. Now 1 in 3 residents of American Samoa suffers from diabetes.

Of course, the Samoan islands aren’t the only countries coping with increasing rates of obesity and diabetes. A pair of studies published this month in The Lancet found that rates of diabetes all over the world have gone up by 4 percent since 1980. While about 100 million people around the world had diabetes in 1980, that number quadrupled by 2014.

In the Samoan islands, these trends have been especially pronounced. The average Samoan’s weight has shot up — and health declined — so steeply that these islands have caught the attention of epidemiologists around the world.

Why?

Some researchers have speculated that genetics are a factor…

Source: http://www.karpfitness.com/getting-to-the-gym-is-half-the-battle/

Motivation plays a huge role in a successful exercise program, but it is often difficult to find the inspiration to exercise regularly. Here are four great tips to help when your motivation fails: 1) Variety: Try a combination of different activities to find a balance of activities that you enjoy. Ideally, this should be a balance of gym workouts and physical … Read More

The post Fitness Motivation – Starting is Half the Battle! appeared first on Personal Training Vancouver.

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Source: http://www.fannetasticfood.com/2016/04/07/abstainers-vs-moderators-do-they-exist/

Does the concept of abstainers vs. moderators really exist?

I’m in the mood for something a bit deeper today – care to join me?

Last week, I saw a really interesting post about abstainers vs. moderators on my friend Julie’s blog. In the post, she writes about a podcast she listened to by Gretchen Rubin (author of The Happiness Project) that talks about the idea that everyone is either an abstainer or a moderator. As the name implies, moderators are people who avoid absolutes and defined lines. In the case of food, that would be an everything in moderation approach – nothing is off limits. Abstainers, on the other hand, make things black and white. In the case of food, this would mean placing something off limits because once they start eating it they struggle to stop.

I found this concept fascinating and immediately emailed my Joyful Eating, Nourished Life Program co-authors, fellow intuitive eating dietitians Rachael and Alex. “Do you think there’s really such a thing as abstainers and moderators?” I asked them. “Or do you think it’s more a function of diet history?” R…

Source: http://greatist.com/eat/where-does-chocolate-come-from?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=feed_http–greatistcom-

Looks like we won’t be DIYing chocolate anytime soon. As this video from How to Make Everything explains, chocolate doesn’t come from heaven—it starts off as the slimy beans inside the fruit of the cacao tree, which looks like it belongs inside a Thanksgiving cornucopia. The beans turn into our favorite sweet treat after a complicated process that involves fermenting, drying, roasting, and, of course, adding sugar. We know, we know, added sugar is one of those bad-for-you buzzwords, but seeing how sugarcane and cacao turn into a perfect chocolate bar is pretty cool.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/tinybuddha/~3/ct-4Gt51XP4/

“Ordinary riches can be stolen; real riches cannot. In your soul are infinitely precious things that cannot be taken from you.” ~Oscar Wilde

Does the race for riches leave you unfulfilled?

Does the thought of constantly chasing ever more cash leave you stressed, depressed even?

Does the whole idea of measuring your personal worth in terms of your personal wealth leave you deeply dissatisfied?

It did for me.

Poor in possessions and somewhat fiscally challenged, I never fit in with my richer friends.

And no matter how much I told myself that money didn’t buy happiness, I still felt worthless because I was worth less … financially.

So in my thirties, I finally caved in and chased the money dream.

Five exhausting, stress-filled years of ruthlessly pursuing more money.

But when I got there, it meant nothing to me. It didn’t make me happy. It made me miserable.

In those five years, even to the small extent I succeeded, the so-called riches that money can buy actually left me poorer in happiness, health, and relationships. My heart and head were as full as my work schedule, but not with the people and things that really mattered.

I discovered that rocking a 24-carat rock didn’t rock my world. And bling defini…

Source: http://www.theminimalists.com/t/

By Joshua Fields Millburn & Ryan Nicodemus · Follow: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram April 1, 2016

The most frequently asked question we receive is about our minimalist wardrobe. It seems everyone wants to know where The Minimalists get their T-shirts. And we’ve always kept it a secret—until now.

Today we’re introducing the official minimalist T-shirt, an iconic masterpiece with clean lines and a classic crew neck, available for men and women in black or white (the only true minimalist colors).

Click here for additional photos.

Each internationally sourced, 100% combed-cotton tee is woven by hand by a small group of enthusiastic young shirtmakers in the Longhua Town area of Shenzhen, China.

After the final stitch is in place, the finished garment is packaged in an individually numbered, velvet-lined box and shipped to your door, ready to wear.

With its precision, its unabashed attention to detail, and its timeless design, this artisanal tee will replace every shirt in your wardrobe. This is the only T-shirt reco…

Source: http://romanfitnesssystems.com/articles/power-training-fat-loss/

Fat loss is a cruel bastard.

I’ve talked to hundreds of men and women who want to maintain their athleticism while getting shredded, but they continue to train the same way they always have.

Most of the time, they end up building muscle and getting good at major movements.

But here’s the thing:

We’re not after pretty good; we’re here to piss excellence.

There’s a reason the tagline for Roman Fitness Systems is where mediocrity goes to die.

Mediocrity is a cop out. We’re after otherworldly results.

To hold onto lean mass while preserving athleticism, you need to start with heavy and explosive training, and then hammer training density for accelerated fat loss.

Heavy and Explosive Training in the Fat Loss Puzzle

Few people associate heavy and explosive training with fat loss programs.

We associate the incredible burn of high-rep sets and screaming lungs with fat loss. Heavy and explosive training plays a different role, including an increased nervous system activation for better muscle recruitment and retention.

Every muscle in your body is composed of bundles of muscle fibers with motor neurons attached to them. Think of motor neurons as an electrode hooked up to each muscle. When the electrode receives a signal…

Source: http://www.foodpolitics.com/2016/04/berkeley-vs-big-soda-the-video/

Watch the Ecology Center’s video: Berkeley vs. Big Soda, and learn how Berkeley voters won a soda tax.

The blurb says “This tells the story of how a community stood up for children’s health against one of the world’s most powerful industries – and won.   See: www.BerkeleyVsBigSoda.com.”

Yes you can do this at home.  Do it in your town!

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Source: http://www.runningonrealfood.com/carrot-cake-oatmeal-cookies/

So I might be on a cookie bender but I figure these coconut carrot cake oatmeal cookies are healthy enough that they barely classify as dessert. Right? Ya, that’s what I thought. So, it’s all good… Cookie monsterrrrr!! I can’t stop and I absolutely won’t stop. But maybe I should…lol…I love cookies.  Let’s see what…
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The post Healthy Coconut Carrot Cake Oatmeal Cookies appeared first on Running on Real Food.

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