Empathy is a great trait to have, but it's equally important to be able to protect your energy. When external energy starts to encroach, Herstik recommends a protective meditation. And as water signs are some of the more imaginative signs in the zodiac, that imagination can be used to your advantage in this meditation.

"Imagine a sphere of protective light around you," she says. "It can be any color you wantbut I like to imagine it's mirrored." Visualize your sphere, along with the intention: "Only that which is serving my highest good and helping me evolve can move through my barrier. All negative energy is deflected."

Herstik says this is a powerful visualization to help foster feelings of protection and control over emotional states, especially in emotionally strained environments. Some other practices to incorporate in your day-to-day for extra emotional support include journaling, breathwork, and burning sacred herbs.

Whether you're actually a Pisces, Cancer, or Scorpio, or you just feel more emotional than usual, these tips can help get you out of an emotional tailspin and back on solid ground. It's always important to honor what we're feeling, but when it gets overwhelming, having go-to practices on hand never hurts.

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Here's A Calming Meditation Ideal For Overwhelmed Water Signs - mindbodygreen.com

In his textThe Weird and the Eerie, Mark Fisher found a profound confluence of the weird with the grotesque in the music of The Fall.Pointing to the groups work between 1980 and 82, Fisher writes: The groups methodology at this time is vividly captured in the cover image for the 1980 single, City Hobgoblins, in which we see an urban environment invaded by emigres from old green glades; a leering, malevolent cobold looms over a dilapidated tenement. He continues: But rather than being smoothly integrated into the photographed scene, the crudely rendered hobgoblin has been etched onto the background. This is a war of worlds, an ontological struggle, a struggle over the means of representation.

On Mouse on Mars member Jan St. Werners new record Molocular Meditation, the ghost of the late Mark E. Smith escapes Hades and materialises in St. Werners studio as that hobgoblin on the cover of the City Hobgoblins single. Though the album finds St. Werner re-editing a set of songs that were originally recorded in 2014 at the Cornerhouse, Manchester, in the guise of a multi-channel installation (as well as unreleased new material partly written around that same time), its nigh impossible to not hear the album as a voodoo ritual calling to Smith beyond the grave, demanding he make his physical presence, his voice, and his words known once more.

On this record, Smith becomes the cobold a material spirit of Germanic folklore that will typically play tricks if insulted or neglected that uses the ethereal and alienating nature of St. Werners wobbly synths, fractured melodies, and spectral keys to offer his disgusted observations on what humanity looks like to him now as a subterrestrial being.

This, like the cover of City Hobgoblins according to Fisher, is a war of worlds and an ontological struggle. Though its difficult to imagine Smith as ever truly part of our plane of existence, on Molocular Meditation hes an invader of reality. Its almost like St. Werner has rendered Smith as one of the Lovecraft or Arthur Machen characters that Smith so fetishised when he was alive. As in a Lovecraft story, Smith is a force from outside our world and beyond our material understanding gifting us with forbidden knowledge.

The difference? Smiths forbidden knowledge reveals aspects of our world that should be obvious. Initially it seems like the perfect place. However, they quickly find that their ridiculous goddamn lives are caught up. Its inexplicable, muses Smith as St. Werner modulates his last syllable into a dropped beat that fades out of concrete reality on the eighteen-minute opening title track.

The album is atypical sonic terrain for both its respective artists. Musically, it shares little in common with St. Werners work in Mouse on Mars, which generally trades in lush, spacious, and heady electronic beats, and more in common with producers and musicians that have been associated with hauntology: Philip Jeck, Aseptic Void, and Leyland Kirbys slightly more beat oriented work as The Stranger. The music is cryptic, otherworldly, and uncanny. The dislocation of Smiths voice from The Fall is jarring and thrilling at times.

Whereas in The Fall it often sounded like Smith was channeling the ghosts of Stefan Grabiski and Wyndham Lewis through the terrestrial terrain of his bands distinct working class modernist rock n roll hybrid, Molocular Meditation finds Smith himself as the spirit being channeled through the bizarre nature of St. Werners production. Though Im sure the project was worthwhile and interesting on its own when it premiered in 2014, it is true that Smiths untimely demise in 2018 brings to the fore a level of narrative subtext that the listener can read into. Smith isnt here anymore, but he is here in some form or another on this record.

On second track Back to Animals, a muted techno beat propels the intro through the first minute into a breakdown of synth swirls that sounds like AI having a panic attack. Smiths voice is lower in the mix than in the opening track. Everything else is slow, muses Smith before the rumbling bass kicks in and a bricolage of disjointed electronic sounds overwhelm the brain space. This is a synaptically confusing album, and it becomes more gripping with each listen.

On the closing track VS Cancelled, a track that refers to Domino Records shady handling of the sole album by Smith and Mouse on Mars collaborative project Von Sdenfed, Smith reads from a dismissive email from Dominos then general manager Jonny Bradshaw. Smith cant be escaped. From beyond the grave, he materialises as the hobgoblin to further admonish, embarrass, and expose his enemies. At the end of the track, Smith says, I think thats the lot Jan thanks. As the music lingers on, its easy to envision Smith walking away, slowly fading from reality as he blurs back into the otherworldly dimension that his spirit has claimed as his home in his peculiar afterlife.

Link:

Features | The Lead Review | I Think That's The Lot: Mark E Smith Signs Off On Jan St Werner's New Album - The Quietus

Perhaps youve plunked your backside on a cushion and given meditation the old college try, only to have your mind spin off into a cacophony of thoughts.

You got up, tossed the cushion in the closet and said to heck with that. OK, fair enough (though it couldnt hurt to try again). Dont give up on meditation altogether, though. It could be your beautiful mind simply needs a little something to hang onto. Handily enough, music and sound can help still your mind and stop the crushing mountain of thoughts.

Yoga Studio Satya will offer its first meditation sound journeys at Cave of the Winds on March 21 and May 17. Its also the first time an event of its ilk has been offered at the tourist attraction. Space is limited, and reservations are required.

The acoustics of the environment will enhance the sounds of the wide variety of instruments Amanda Neufeld and her husband, Colten Peed, will play inside Canopy Hall, the first cave visitors explore on many of the tours offered at the cave.

Often peoples minds have a hard time stopping, and meditation is elusive, says Neufeld, co-owner of Yoga Studio Satya and an E-RYT 500 (experienced-registered yoga teacher with 500 hours of yoga teacher training). When you bring in layers of sounds, your thoughts start to dissipate. When thoughts dissolve and were totally within ourselves, its a state of oneness.

During the 90-minute sound bath, the duo will play meditation and crystal sound bowls, harmonium, gong, didgeridoo, hang drums, a rain drum, egg shakers and more. Attendees are encouraged to bring camping chairs or warm blankets to sit on. Though the ground is concrete, its cold in the cave about 55 degrees.

For those who fear feeling claustrophobic, Canopy Hall is fairly large, about 200 feet by 30 feet by 60 feet, says Ann Miller, Cave of the Winds operations manager. But if it begins to feel like too much, people can exit easily and quickly.

Sound healing is thousands of years old, says Neufeld, and works through vibration. Without even realizing it, we use sound to stir up different emotions and mindsets. We might listen to certain songs or artists to pump ourselves up when we exercise. Or listen to sad love songs when were brokenhearted.

Consider how different genres of music make you feel: How does the sound frequency of heavy metal or rap music affect you? It can be agitating to some nervous systems. What about wind chimes and rainfall sounds? Those are sounds many find soothing.

If it all sounds like malarkey to you, a 2016 study on the effects of Tibetan singing bowl meditation on mood, anxiety, pain and spiritual well-being might change your mind. The study found that following the sound meditation, participants reported significantly less tension, anger, fatigue and depressed mood.

We are all energy and also a lot of water, says Neufeld. The impact of sound goes into every cell and tunes the instrument of our own being. Its a powerful thing to work with sound.

Even if youre a nonbeliever in the healing power of sound and vibration, its still worthy of experiencing.

Instruments sound really pretty. (The cave) has great acoustics, says Miller. Weve done choirs in the cave for that reason. I know it sounds great.

Contact the writer: 636-0270

Contact the writer: 636-0270

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'Sound bath' coming to Cave of the Winds in Colorado Springs | Live Well - Colorado Springs Gazette

Framed as a series of tableaux, in which the residents of a seaside town on the Galician coast appear to be stuck in timeunmoving against the changing scenery, yet constantly thinking through voiceoverwriter/director Lois Patios gorgeously trippy Red Moon Tide oscillates between fairy tale and visual essay creating an uneven narrative that is often overshadowed by the films compositional beauty.

Mourning the loss of Rubio, a diver whose main job is to retrieve the bodies of those who died in shipwrecks, the unnamed town has become stuck. Bodies crowd the streets, homes, and shorelines, but never move. All stuck in a limbo, Patios main narrative unfurls through voiceover as the residents fill in the backstory of Rubio, and the fight that he had with an unnamed mythical creature. In doing so, Rubios death has frozen the town, leaving residents with only their thoughts as time goes by, without anyone ever being sure if theyve been there a few days or a thousand years.

Purposely fragmentary, Patio appears more concerned with amassing stories of loss, rather than collecting these individual moments into any type of coherent narrative. Repeated cycles of narration, either focusing on Rubios death or the purposeless of time, begin to strain after a while. Eventually invoking Macbeth, three witches show up, the only ones able to move through the town, and set about attempting to unstick the people. How they go about this is anyones guess, despite covering the villagers with white sheets for some purpose. Yet all of these developments are wordlessly portrayed, as Red Moon Tide focalizes mood over method. What the rules of this curse are is anyones guess.

Patio, who also serves as cinematographer, has crafted a visually arresting film, creating a series of moments that foreground the stillness of the town and the people who reside in it. We witness he repeated cyclical progression of days into nights and tides pushing up against the coast. Life appears to go on around the villagers, but how much of that life is movement forward versus closed loops? In contrasting the two, the film appears to argue for the interrelation of progress or regression. What it means to move forward, and how trauma and grief impede that development.

Where the film falters, however, is in its invocation of the mythical. Who Rubio is, and what significance his fight has on the town, is too opaque. Patio eventually retreats into, paradoxically,over-explanation and under-development, as the witches descend and Rubio becomes the focal point, as if not trusting the audiences attention to be held on a series of feature-length still lives. That sentiment may have a tinge of truth as the successive series of voiceover narration based around ideas of loss and temporal manipulation can feel a touch repetitive. In its latter moments, the film plunges into the inexplicable, both in regards to what is actually happening on the screen, and what significance they have in relation to the narrative that preceded it.

The film is then bifurcated into two sections, pre-arrival of the witches and post. The earlier section is a profoundly beautiful reflection on grief, coupled with a tantalizingly under-explained sci-fi concept. The latter section serves as a corrective, not only going into too much detail about the rules behind the supposed mythical curse, but also frustratingly leaving behind the thematic undercurrents of the earlier section in favor of an entirely new protagonist in Rubio. Red Moon Tide is obviously the work of a director willing to push the boundaries of visual narrative, but he doesnt see that work fully through.

Red Moon Tide premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival

Grade: B-

BerlinaleFestivalsLois PatioRed Moon Tide

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Berlin Review: Red Moon Tide is One-Half of a Beautiful Meditation on Trauma and Loss - The Film Stage

Central Hall

The Commons at Central Hall in Dover-Foxcroft

The Commons at Central Hall in Dover-Foxcroft

Beth Ranagan, Special to the Piscataquis Observer March 1, 2020

At 1 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11 at The Commons at Central Hall, NAMI Piscataquis County will host a video presentation entitled, Meditation and Prayer: How Spiritual Practices Can Be Powerful Tools to Overcome Depression and Anxiety.

Whether you are a Christian, Jew, Buddhist, Muslim or Hindu, chances are that you engage in the spiritual practices of prayer and meditation, especially during times of physical and mental pain or illness. By practicing religious or spiritual activities, you tend to become depressed less often and recover from any depression more quickly, Dr. Harold Koenig, MD, of Duke University reported in his Handbook of Religion and Health after surveying thousands of studies on the effects of prayer and meditation on health.

Why is this so? Dr. David Spiegel, MD, psychiatrist at Stanford University, found in studies of MRIs that, Praying involves the deeper parts of the brain (specifically, the cortex). These parts of the brain are involved in self-reflection and self-soothing.

Dr. Loretta Breuning, PhD., professor at California State University, found in her research that when we pray, neural pathways are activated to release the feel-good hormone oxytocin.

Author of the 1993 book, Healing Words, Dr. Larry Dossey, MD, ignited the interest and practice of prayer by doctors and nurses following his deep dive into the research literature of the last half of the 20th century. Since that time, Dossey has pointed to the existing positive evidence of prayer use with patients to enlighten his fellow professionals to include spiritual practices in their medicine.

More recently, there have been more and more supportive studies. Research from Columbia Universitys Teachers College, spearheaded by Dr. Lisa Miller, PhD, professor and researcher, found that prayer and meditation may bring about better depression treatment outcomes because the brain cortex actually thickens as a result of spiritual and religious activities. A Baylor University study published in the Journal of Religion found that praying to a loving and protective God can relieve anxiety-related disorders, while researcher Matt Bradshaw, PhD, found that emotional comfort is experienced through prayer. Research by S. Jain and associates, reported in the Annals of Behavioral Medicine (2007), found meditation reduces stress and promotes positive mood states.

At 1 p.m. on Wednesday, March 11 at The Commons at Central Hall, NAMI Piscataquis County will host a video presentation entitled, Meditation and Prayer: How Spiritual Practices Can Be Powerful Tools to Overcome Depression and Anxiety. You can learn how people have used their connection with a higher power to help themselves through their mental health challenges and how having a positive spiritual belief can lower the risk for mental illness. While previous video presentations have looked at resources from without, such as supplements, food, detoxification, medications, and cognitive behavioral therapy, this presentation explores the resources within yourself for spiritual development.

If you would like to attend this presentation, please register at 207-924-7903 or at nami.piscataquis@gmail.com.

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The role of spiritual practices in healing depression and anxiety - observer-me.com

Pixar specializes in tales of people, animals, and artificial intelligence coping with loss: of a spouse (Up), of human contact (the Toy Story films), of love (WALL-E). But like a lot of Hollywood dream-workers, Pixars storytellers also believe in believing. And faith in something, anything, is essential to the studios latest feature, Onward, as the heroes of this comic fantasy are two teenage elves who go searching for the magical gemand the self-assuranceneeded to briefly resurrect their departed and sorely missed father. On the occasion of the films release, join us in revisiting the Pixar canon, ranked from worst to best. Mark Jenkins

Editors Note: This entry was originally published on June 21, 2013.

The effect of the Toy Story films is practically primal. They appeal to anyone whos ever cared about a toyone they outgrew, gave away, or painfully left behind somewhere. These films, with scant manipulation and much visual and comic invention, thrive on giving toys a conscience and imagining what adventures they have when we turn our backs to them. Conversely, the effect of Cars and its infinitely worse sequel, toons about dudes-as-cars not quite coping with their enormous egos and their contentious bromances, is entirely craven in the way it humorlessly, unimaginatively, and uncritically enshrines the sort of capitalist-driven desires Pixars youngest target audience is unable to relate to. Unless, that is, they had a douchebag older brother in the family who spent most of his childhood speaking in funny accents and hoarding his piggy-bank money to buy his first hot rod. Ed Gonzalez

Maybe its my general aversion to Nascar, or anything chiefly targeted at below-the-line states. Maybe its that Larry the Cable Guys Mater is the Jar Jar Binks of animated film. Or maybe its just that a routinely plotted movie about talking cars is miles beneath Pixars proven level of ingenuity, not to mention artistry (okay, well give those handsome heartland vistas a pass). Whatever the coffin nail, Cars, if not its utterly needless sequel, is thus far the tepid, petroleum-burning nadir of the Pixar brand, the first of the studios films to feel like its not just catering, but kowtowing, to a specific demographic. Having undeservedly spawned more merchandising than a movie thats literally about toys, Carss cold commercialism can still be felt today, with a just-launched theme park at Disneyland. And while CG people are hardly needed to give a Pixar film humanity, its perhaps telling that this, one of the animation houses few fully anthropomorphic efforts, is also its least humane. R. Kurt Osenlund

The Good Dinosaur has poignant moments, particularly when a human boy teaches Arlo, the titular protagonist, how to swim in a river, and there are funny allusions to how pitiless animals in the wild can be. But the film abounds in routine, featherweight episodes that allow the hero to predictably prove his salt to his family, resembling a cross between City Slickers and Finding Nemo. Theres barely a villain, little ambiguity, and essentially no stakes. There isnt much of a hero either. Arlo is a collection of insecurities that have been calculatedly assembled so as to teach children the usual lessons about bravery, loyalty, and self-sufficiency. The Good Dinosaur is the sort of bland holiday time-killer that exhausted parents might describe as cute as a way of evading their indifference to it. Children might not settle for it either, and one shouldnt encourage them to. Chuck Bowen

Its perfectly fair to walk into Monsters University with a wince, wondering what Toy Story 3 hath wrought, and lamenting the fact that even Pixar has fallen into Hollywoods post-recession safe zone of sequel mania and brand identification. Whats ostensibly worse, Monsters University jumps on the prequel, origin-story bandwagon, suggesting our sacred CGI dream machine has even been touched bygulpthe superhero phenomenon. But, while admittedly low on the Pixar totem pole, Monsters University proves a vibrant and compassionate precursor to Monsters, Inc., the kid-friendly film that, to boot, helped to quell bedroom fears. Tracing Mike and Sulleys paths from ill-matched peers to super scarers, Monsters University boasts Pixars trademark attention to detail (right down to abstract modern sculptures on the quad), and it manages to bring freshness to the underdog tale, which is next to impossible these days. Osenlund

Cars 3 is content to explore the end of Lightning McQueens (Owen Wilson) career with a series of pre-packaged sports-film clichsan old dog trying to learn new tricks, struggling with a sport that seems to have passed him by, and facing, for the first time in his career, a sense of vulnerability. The template turns out to be a natural fit for the Cars universe, organically integrating racing into the fabric of the film and rendering it with a visceral sense of speed, excitement, and struggle. Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo) is a welcome addition, a plucky foil to McQueen whos also a three-dimensional presence in her own right, much more richly developed than one-joke characters like Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) and Luigi (Tony Shalhoub). Cruzs presence also allows the filmmakers to bring some social conscience to this sometimes backward-looking franchise, exploring the discouraging pressures placed on young female athletes while also nodding toward the historical exclusion of women and racial minorities from racing. Watson

For those who waited patiently for the first Pixar film to be led by a female protagonist, its understandable that Brave might have been a disappointment, arriving after the studio hit its artistic peak, and suffering from a handful of authorship woes. But the feminist fable remains the most underrated of this revered brands lot, not least because of Princess Meridas eye-popping head full of aptly unruly hair. The movie may enchant with its focus on Scottish lore (an element arguably explored better in How to Train Your Dragon), and it may deserve a hand for its girl-power, who-needs-a-husband trajectory, but the distincitve bit that puts the lump in your throat is the mother-daughter story. From Aladdin to The Little Mermaid, Cinderella to Tangled, princess tales almost always deal with the heroines link to a father or an evil mother surrogate, never an actual mom who imposes relatable, resonant rules. This far more interesting dichotomy gives Brave an especially fresh and expressly female perspective. And while Meridas mothers transformation into a bear may seem gonzo and random, its actually perfectly appropriate: Together, mother and daughter must fight to undo a beast of a burden, one thats historically, symbolically masculine in nature. Osenlund

Onward doesnt have a distinctive visual style, but it does showcase Pixars trademark mastery of depth, light, and shadow. As in Dan Scanlons Monsters University, the fanciful and the everyday are well harmonized. Thats still a neat trick, but its no more novel than Ian (Tom Holland) and Barleys (Chris Pratt) experiences. Animated features often borrow from other films, in part to keep the grown-ups in the crowd interested, but the way Onward recalls at various points The Lord of the Rings, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Ghostbusters feels perfunctory and uninspired. And it all leads to a moral thats at least as hoary as that of The Wizard of Oz or Peter Pan. While Onward begins as a story of bereavement, it soon turns to celebrating the payoffs of positive thinking. That you can accomplish whatever you believe you can is a routine movie message, but it can feel magical when presented with more imagination than Onward ever musters. Jenkins

The gentle counterpart to Dreamworks Animations Antz, A Bugs Life deals in a wealth of familiar themes and narratives, peddling the importance of community inherent to ant populations, positioning unlikely hero Flik as a fish out of water when he seeks help for the colony, and reinforcing the tyke-targeted notion that being small isnt so bad (a maxim preached to young ant Dot, voiced by a very young Hayden Panettiere). But when Flik, a country bug, goes searching for warriors to combat the ants oppressive grasshopper nemeses, and instead returns with a ragtag troupe of circus insects (think the gang from James and the Giant Peach performing amid the carnival debris of Charlottes Web), a more intriguing theme emerges. As the actors and acrobats help the ants to craft a massive bird (a salvation-bringing idol that will hopefully scare off the enemy), they also introduce art as an alternative to fear and violence, and the film presents entertainment as something not just diverting, but heroic. Osenlund

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Review: Days Is an Unsentimental Meditation on the Need for Reciprocity - slantmagazine

Weight loss is not easy to achieve but a diet and exercise plan will help kick start results. One woman lost a remarkable 10st 1lb and seven dress sizes after making a huge change to her lifestyle. What diet plan did she use?

Holly Hague, 27, had always struggled with her weight and would comfort eating to deal with insecurities.

Over the years, she noticed her weight creep up to 21st 5lb and she squeezed into a size 26.

Two years ago, the dieter decided enough was enough and signed up for her local slimming group.

Since then, Holly has transformed her diet and exercise regime and managed to drop an impressive 10 stone.

READ MORE: Best diet plan to boost your workout: From running to yoga, what to eat before exercise

She said: I know this is clich but at the end of 2017 I was in the mindset of new year new me.

"I knew I wanted fast weight loss that really would change my eating habits for good.

I spent my childhood being chunkier than others in my class and far too many years comfort eating to drown out the mean remarks. It was time I found my self-worth.

The dieter signed up for the LighterLife plan which focused on eating calorie-controlled meals.

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Holly added: The LighterLife Total Plan was perfect for me because it took food out of the equation.

I didnt have to obsess or worry over the number of calories or if Id unknowingly eaten the wrong thing.

Each day Id have four products which were around 800 kcal: breakfast was a Vanilla Shake with coffee, Chocolate Raisin Bar for lunch, followed by a Chicken Noodle FastPot for dinner and a Toffee Bar.

By changing her diet plan, Holly dropped to 11st 4lb and a slim size 10/12 in just one year. She has since kept the weight off.

Not only did healthy eating help her stay in shape, the slimmer has added exercise into her regime.

This past year Ive found this enjoyment for exercise which I never imagined Id have, Holly added. Ill be keeping up my gym membership!

After losing weight, Holly explained the transformation had helped boost her confidence as well as change her appearance.

She said: Since losing almost 10 stone I feel like a totally different person both physically and mentally.

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Weight loss transformation: Woman shed incredible 10st in 12 months - what did she eat? - Express

Diet and exercise are each vital components of a healthy lifestyle. While these components tend to be looked at separately, diet and exercise are actually interconnected.

According to the American College of Sports Medicine, adequate food and fluid should be consumed before, during and after exercise. Following that advice can help men and women maintain their blood glucose concentration during exercise, which allows them to maximize their performance and improves their recovery time.

Some people understandably may feel that eating before exercising seems counterintuitive, as food may contribute to feelings of sluggishness that would make it hard to maximize a workout. But what people eat, and drink, prior to working out is important, as the right foods can make a positive impact while the wrong foods can have the opposite effect.

The American Heart Association and the ACSM recommend hydrating with water prior to working out. The ACSM recommends drinking between two and three cups of water two to three hours before exercising. Adults accustomed to working out in the early morning can try to wake up earlier so they can give their bodies time to hydrate before they begin exercising. Its also important to continue hydrating during a workout, as the ACSM recommends drinking between 1/2 and one cup of water every 15 to 20 minutes during a workout (amounts can be adjusted based on variables such as the weather and individuals body sizes). After a workout, the ACSM recommends drinking two to three cups of water for every pound lost during the exercise session.

Food also plays a vital role in maximizing a workout and improving recovery time. The AHA recommends fueling up on healthy carbohydrates, such as whole-grain cereals, whole-wheat toast or low-fat or fat-free yogurt, two hours before exercising. Doing so might pose a problem for early morning exercise enthusiasts, and in such instances the AHA advises eating a piece of fruit such as an apple or banana five to 10 minutes before beginning a workout. Avoid saturated fats and a lot of healthy protein prior to working out, as it takes longer for these fuels to digest in the stomach. Until foods are digested, muscles may not get all of the oxygen and energy-delivering blood they need during a workout, so its best to stick with foods that the body can digest more quickly.

The Mayo Clinic notes that its also important to make food a part of your post-workout routine. Eating a post-workout meal that contains both carbohydrates and protein can aid muscle recovery and replace glycogen stores that help increase energy levels after working out.

The most effective way to exercise involves healthy foods, which can improve performance and lead to quicker post- workout recovery.

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The Relationship Between Eating and Exercise - Longview News-Journal

Eating can be a vibrant and therapeutic experiencewhen it isnt bogged down by a checklist of limitations. The most effective alternative to popular restrictive fads is The Volumetrics Dieta weight loss plan that operates best in the space between cravings and hunger.

When we adopt a regimen to address a specific health goal it becomes increasingly difficult to ward off temptations once said goal is achieved. Moreover, research has shown that abstaining from foods on principle typically increases our appetite for them.

No food groups are excluded in The Volumetrics Diet and even junk food is permitted a place on the table within reason. The diet works by maximizing calorie intake gained from healthy foods and negotiating trade-offs to allow for the not so healthy ones.All you need to properly adhere to the regimen is a journal and time designated for physical activity.

Developed by health experts at Pennsylvania State University, this diet stresses thinking of new, fun ways to eat more fruits and vegetables, and upping how much water you consume without thinking about it. Since its based on the volume of your meals, people often feel like theyre eating quite a lot, which is good fordieters who cant fight hunger pangs, nutrition reporter, Zee Krstic recently wrote of the regimen.

The Volumetrics Diet is made up of four distinctgroups ordered by energy density. Foods belonging to the lowest end can be consumed in excess while foods belonging to the highest end require moderating.

Group 1 is comprised of foods very low in energy that are able to be consumed at any time. Think non-starchy fruits and vegetables, nonfat milk and broth-based soups.

Group 2denotes foods that are calorically denser than those in group one which means moderate portion control needs to be employed. This group encompasses starchy fruits and vegetables, grains, breakfast cereal, low-fat meat, legumes, and low-fat assorted dishes

Group 3 refers tofoods that can be consumed if calorie trade-offs and exercise are enacted in kind. These foods include meat, cheese, pizza, French fries, salad dressing, bread, pretzels, ice cream, and cake, etc.

Group 4 is very similar to group 3 except they offer even less nutritional benefits and are typically higher in calories.

The goal of the diet is to ensure subscribers feel full after every meal. Many of the foods in groups one and two are high in water content which enables them to fill us up with very few calories. Water-rich produce can be consumed in excess with very little health drawbacks.

With the help of a food journal assign a daily calorie threshold based upon your BMI and age. If you are nearing the threshold consider either cutting elements from a meal later on in the day or set aside time for moderate to vigorous exercise.

By emphasizing whole foods and personalization of the diet rather than cutting out entire food groups or placing strict rules on food consumption, the Volumetrics diet is likely to be a more sustainable eating pattern than popular, quick-fix fad diets,The International Food Information Council reports. In addition to the food component, the Volumetrics diet provides specific plans for increasing exercise to at least 30 minutes per day most days of the week, an amount supported by the2018 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans.

Not only did Stefani Sassos, MS, RD, CDN, a registered dietitianfrom the Good Housekeeping Institute, rank the Volumetrics diet as one of the best to try in 2020, previously conducted literature has identified the regimen as a preventive measure against Type 2 diabetes, obesity, breast cancer, and many cardiovascular diseases.

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A dietician says this is the best diet of 2020 (and it includes pizza) - Ladders

05 March 2020 5 ways to choose a diet that is right for you If you make a conscious decision to achieve a healthier weight, you will need to choose a diet that is right for you.

Someone is classified as obese when their body mass index (someone's weight-to-height ratio) is more than 30.

And while the body mass index has been criticised by medical experts in recent years as not being an accurate portrayal of someone's total health, an unhealthy weight can, however, take its toll on your health as it increases your risk for chronic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes type 2.

Unfortunately, losing weight isn't as easy as it sounds. We are inundated by so many fad diets and weight-loss products that it's easy to become confused. We also want to see quick results and tend to reach for anything that offers the promise of quick weight loss.

However, it's not only a healthy weight that is key to optimum health. Your lifestyle as a whole needs a complete overhaul.

Here are some pointers to help you choose the best lifestyle for you:

Unless you have chosen a diet or eating plan that you can follow indefinitely, you are likely to return to your bad old ways when you've reached your goal with the new diet. Before you know it, you will be back at your old weight.

What you really want is to start a diet that isnt really a diet at all, but rather a lifestyle change. Weight loss is very exciting and motivating, but once you get to weight maintenance, the novelty has worn off and it may become a challenge to stick to the changes you made.

Your new weight is only viewed as "permanent" once you have managed to keep it off for an entire year. The National Weight Control Registry is a long-term study which currently observes over 10 000 people who have lost a significant amount of weight and managed to keep it off. This is what they did to maintain their weight:

A "healthy diet" needs to adhere to a number of principles. The most important is that most of your food should be minimally processed (eaten as it is found in nature) and be predominantly plant based.

Here are some more practical suggestions to promote good health:

It's important to be able to maintain your diet, not only from a mental perspective, but also an economic one.

We tend to think that a healthy diet should consist of expensive superfoods. A healthy lifestyle can (and should), however, be cost-effective.

To save on your food budget, try focusing less on grass-fed, organic and "free from" foods (free from gluten/wheat/lactose etc.), and rather include minimally processed whole foods that are seasonal, that can be bought in bulk (and shared). You can also start a vegetable garden.

Small changes in your shopping list can have a significant effect on the weight of your wallet. Take for example swapping your fillet of salmon, for a few pilchards (the omega-3 content is similar). The cost per portion will drop from R40 to R3.50.

A similarly easy swap with very little impact on health outcome is swapping your olive oil (R150/L) for canola oil (R22/L).

Is your diet one that can only be followed if you dedicate all your time to preparing intricate meals? Is socialising difficult because of all your restrictions?

Although you may be able to follow a complicated and restrictive for a short period of time, eventually your need to socialise and be with others will take over and adherence to your diet will wane.

Find a way of eating that doesnt just suit you, but also your family, and allows you the flexibility to eat with others.

If the new diet you have decided to embark on has one or more of the following characteristics, you may be chasing a fad diet which is both unsafe and unsustainable:

If you need help on your journey to a healthier weight and lifestyle, our nutritional experts at Nutrition Solutions are there to help you. Ask them a question here, or visit their website.

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Jade Seeliger

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5 ways to choose a diet that is right for you - Health24