So Many Supplements to chose from: which are good? what works?

THE TRUTH ABOUT SUPPLEMENTS…

…is that there are so many products out there and everyone claims theirs is the best. But how do we know it’s true? Everybody’s body is different and reacts different to chemicals. What might work for you might not work for me. Per example, someone told me that Hydroxicut worked great for him, but it definitely did not work for me. (Some other people also told me they did not have success with fat loss on Hydroxicut). The way you eat also makes a difference if anything will work.

Sometimes trial and error will tell you what works for you, but do you have the time to research all that yourself? Whatever you do, always make sure you follow the instructions on the bottle and the advice of your doctor. You also have to be very careful when combining supplements. Make very sure they can be taken together. Definitely do not take 2 supplements that have the same ingredients such as caffeine. You will overdose and the result will be opposite of what you want. You will stress your body out and release cortisol (stress hormones) and your body will store fat. You also do not want chemicals that have bad reactions with other chemicals. The best thing is to stick to the natural ingredients. Usually a fat burner can safely be taken together with a thermogenic because it usually targets water weight. Check with a nutritionist or personal trainer first when you chose which ones you want to combine.

Here are some supplements that are natural or also naturally produced by your body:

• CLA (fat burner)
• L-Glutamine (produced by the body, restores muscles, energizes)
• Green Tea (natural ingredient to burn fat and antioxidant, fights free radicals)
• Potassium (helps the muscle absorb the water and balance sodium)
• L-Carnetine (very effective with green tea to block fat and give energy)
• Dandelion Roots (diuretic, anti-inflammatory, prevents water storage)
• Holy Basil (calms your body down and reduces production of cortisol)
• Omega 3-6-9 -and/or the Omega 7 from New Chapter is a good one to take- (good for replacing bad fat with healthy fat, restores skin elasticity, lubricates joints, good fat is needed for the body to take up the vitamins)
•  BCAA's (amino acid chain; helps build lean muscle while burning fat)
• Joint Soother (combination of Glucosamine, Chondroitin, MSM for joint lubrication and repair)
• Ganoderma spore powder (very effective, brings oxygen to the muscles and helps with muscle retention and repair. Especially good for older people who have trouble retaining muscles) 

Here are some fat burner and Thermogenics that worked for me:

• Jet Fuel (also has a cortisol blocking ingredient, very effective for me) 
• AMP (give great energy) 
• Cutt and Cutt-2 (fast fat burner with weight training) 
• Tight (and Tight extreme) (fast fat burners with weight training) 
• Max Lean (helps cut fat and controls appetite) 
• TherminXX (thermogenic - this in combination with Jet Fuel is very effective) 
• Thermogize (stronger effect, made me more hungry though) 
• ZMA (testosterone booster that helps with strength in the gym and energizes to complete a good workout, also burns fat)
• *Hot Rocks (I would not recommend them but are effective if you exhausted other choices. However; too many chemicals and hard for your body to metabolize; reactive with other supplements)

We need nutrition in order for our body to function properly. Vitamin is one of them and is essential for breaking down protein in your body. Without vitamins, your body cannot use the protein and other nutrients you put into your body. Fruit has vitamins. But we also know that fruit contains a lot of sugar and sugar will turn into fat if it is not used as energy by our bodies. However, we still need the vitamins. When you go to a Vitamin Shop and find yourself some vitamins, make sure they are not hard pills. Hard pills are harder for your body to break down and your stomach acid will eat up most of it before your body can use it. What do you do? You could eat all the fruits or use liquid vitamins. Or you can juice your fruits or make smoothies. The trick to avoid gaining weight or not loosing weight from all of the sugar is to have your fruit before 2 pm. 

Any Questions? I will be glad to answer them to the best of my knowledge.

If you would like to try the Ganoderma Spore Power capsules, they are available at www.shelahmj.organogold.com They were a tremendous help in my last Figure Competition at Venice Beach Memorial day 2012. 

• Try some Ganoderma Coffee

                                 

Let's go do something......

We all like to plan to get together with our friends. We can go to the beach, or shopping, or to an amusement park, or - Hey, let's go out to eat.
But don't we already eat anyways? Since when did eating become a recreational activity?
I did not know what to do with the suggestion when I first came from Germany. Going out to eat is usually to celebrate an event. I learned that people do it here just to spend time.
I watched people grab a snack before they go out to eat because they don't want to get hungry waiting for their food. Isn't that ironic? Is it possible to just "cook together" as an activity and then enjoy what we created instead?
I think we put too much power into the hands of other people by allowing them to decide what ingredients and quality will be added to our dinner. I would like to have a say how much salt or which type of oil is added.
Knowing that American companies use sodium as a preservative, I would rather leave off the salt altogether. Most restaurants are serving meals with three times the daily recommendation of sodium. If you are unaware that sodium leads to high blood pressure, you have just been informed.
And oil in itself is not a problem, especially olive oil. But once it's heated, it becomes hydrogenated fat and a problem. Studies show that hydrogenated fat (also known as trans fat) is cancer causing. 
I just went out walking with my friend. She is a vegetarian and after our walk she wanted to pick up some food. We went into a Taco place and she ordered a vegetarian salad inside a Taco Shell. First ingredient she mentioned: Refried Beans. I guess she did not know that those are made with lard, which is a fat from Pork. 
I believe it is scandalous that consumers and customers are not properly informed about ingredients and how their foods were prepared. 
Although I am not vegetarian, I used to be one and still am a very picky eater. Since my competing in Figure, I added chicken and turkey to my meal plans. If any of my food had anything with pork in it, I would be very upset. (I can taste pork immediately.)
Call me spooked but I rather make sure I know what is in my food and prepare it myself. And if you want to get together and do something, let's bake cookies.  

Especially fun for Halloween =)

Referenced also 
http://www.headheritage.co.uk/uknow/features/?id=19&oo=0

• Guildfree deserts Click Here!

• Make your favorite Restaurant Dishes at home   Click Here!

....so much up against to stay sexy......ugh

So, from my other blog you just found out that cortisol caused by stress is NOT our friend. In fact, you tend to store fat in order to protect your body. Yes, the body is very smart how it heals and repairs itself. We have to understand the mechanisms so we can work WITH it and not AGAINST it. LIke my motto goes: Workout smarter - not harder!!
As we get older, we have more obstacles to get over in order to keep our perfect body image alive. There are hormones, muscle loss, energy loss, kids left-over foods we don't want to throw out.....LOL  But if we have that knowledge, we can do something about it. Year by year we go through a lot of hormone changes already, such as testosterone changes and estrogen levels lower at a certain age. Estrogen helps with the distribution of fat and also is something we have to be mindful of. When our stress level increases, cortisol level raise, which makes your body store fat. As our muscles deteriorate because we go up in years, our metabolisms also slow down. And if we get our own plate of food, we do not eat someone elses also.
Knowing all this now, we just have to adjust our lifestyle a little bit. Don't eat the kids left-overs, give them to the pigs or dog. Keep your stress down, that includes good stress, too. A hard work out elevates cortisol also. So keep your workout at a medium level and give your body time for recovery in between. With a heart rate between 65-70%  of your m/hr your body burns fat. Anything higher, your body first will burn the glycogen in your muscles and then your muscles. Frequent breathing exercises and yoga will help your body learn to relax and keep the cortisol down. You know what that means - better weight and fat management. You will keep your body happy and release endorphins creating a happy and content feeling.
Lift light weight to maintain your muscles and keep your skin from sagging (although there is more to sagging skin.....)
The main thing is to stay happy. With happy thoughts you attract more happiness into your life. Focus on the good things in life and enjoy the activities you get to participate in. I believe that is the main reason for life and the core to a happy one.

        

Shaping myself up

So I went walking again with my friend yesterday. I woman has to keep her shape up. Oh speaking of Shape Up, I have my heart set on a pair of Sketchers Shape ups. I have been browsing and looking and comparing. I like the pink/silver/white ones that you can also jog with. Well, I did not have a pair yet (and still don't) so I wore my Champions and brought my jump rope. That worked well too. I love jumping rope, the results are fabulous and it gets my heartrate up in increments which burns fat more efficiently. So, I am going to make sure I will have a pair of Shape ups by next week. It's now on my "To Do" list and my wish list. That means it's in my head in two spots and taking up a lot of brain space. This brain space has to be recovered very soon because I have a demanding job that needs all the brain space I have available. However you like to keep yourself in shape, just do not neglect your body because you will feel it later. By the way, my friend also swims in the ocean with the turtles. As some of you might know I live on Hawaii. Well, I am not as brave as she is. And during our walk yesterday, she told me how the turtle bit her in the finger. I am also leery about what's in the ocean, but if it bites me, I am out. hahhahahah But when she found that huge spider in the convertable, she freaked and all bets were off. hahahhaha We had to take my car to the walking park. So, Happy Shaping up day and walk. Wishing you all well and good health
Aloha
-Ulla


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So... you say have no time?

Well, since you don't have time for your health, you probably don't have time for exercise, right?

Americans are in such a rush and hurry to get no-where fast. But once they find themselves on their back, suddenly there is the time to think about how we used our time. We have to remember our main reason for life, and I do not believe that I was created to work harder and longer hours to make other people rich.
Yes, it goes against what most people say and have learned in school......

So, who has time to work out every day? Not many of us except those of you who are determined to get in shape. For the rest of us - how can we lose weight or make our hearts stronger? There is a reasonable solution…
If I told you, that there is a way, where you only need to train  twice per week…
Would you do it? How bad do you want to lose weight or get in better shape?
Our bodies count calories Per Week. It takes 3500 Cal to lose or gain one pound. If we then cut down our calorie intake and burn a lot of calories only one or two days per week, it will already make a difference in the total at the end of the week, provided that we do not eat more on the other days to make up for it. So, if we normally eat 1600 calories per day, that makes 11200 calories per week. This is the amount of calories (in this example) that we eat and keep our weight consistent. Now, if we only eat 800 calories once per week and burn a thousand calories that same day (which will come from our fat-tank), we
will have an intake of 10400 calories that week minus what we burned exercising. So, we will have 1800 calories less (or 3600 if you exercised twice) than we normally eat and burn. At the end of 2 weeks, we will have 3600 calories (or 7200 for twice a week)  less of our normal intake. (Understand that this is only an estimate. You can also work the Termogenic effect and burn more, all depends on WHAT you consume. ) Technically we will lose about 2 pounds or more every month. That is progress!! If you can have 2 fat-killer days per week, (Tuesdays and Fridays would be great), you can lose two pounds every other week. It would take you only 6 weeks to lose 10 pounds. And your heart would get a nice increase of demand, which will strengthen your heart (of course, you should consult your doctor first).  There are many 45 minute to an hour programs out there which are very effective. I have tried them myself. At first it seems impossible, but you will be surprised how quickly your body adjusts to the demand.
Now you have the knowledge, the rest is up to you.
What are you waiting for?

Suggestions:
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Tony Horton's 10 Minute Trainer -
The Workout Program for the Busiest People - Click here
Fatloss - Click Here!

How much time is left?

But I don’t have time for my health ….. WHAT?

12 Aug 
             Like every Sunday, I attended church last Sunday and carried my  container of alkaline water around with me. (Yes, I do that) I am very interested in helping people how to stay or become healthy. I really do feel compassion when I see troubled people  searching for answers. So I was carrying my container of alkaline water and decided to start a workshop about staying healthy or becoming healthy. I could start a workshop or a health information meeting and share information with people that doctors don’t tell us. So I asked a woman if she would be interested in attending. She told me she did not have any time. REALLY??? Wow!   Here is my thought process: When will you have time? When you are sick? Or someone you love is sick? No one on this world knows how much time we have, but don’t we all want to have quality time as long as we are here? I, for instance, do not want to be bed ridden and have to have someone change my diapers when I get older. I have plans after I retire, like climb mountains, go sky diving, skiing, and travel.
Anywho, there were some people who were interested. Most people who try my water keep coming back and want more. They really do taste and feel a difference. My Kangen alkaline water is truly amazing. My friend actually is concerned now when she travels, where is she going to get her Kangen water? Well, fortunately there are headquarters and other users who gladly share the water.  But what really concerns me is that doctors do not give us this important information. Instead they rather prescribe medication that sends them on a drug roller coaster causing a domino effect of failing organs and eliminating mobility.  I actually heard that it is child abuse if your child was diagnosed with leukemia and you refuse to do chemo therapy. Isn’t that insane? I would rather explore natural ways to help my child instead of killing all of her healthy cells along with her cancer cells. But if you are honest and look at reality, it’s all about money, not how to get you healthy! Doctors are not getting paid when you are healthy. But if they use expensive pharmaceuticals to “cure” you, then there are big rewards for them.  If you look around in this world, decide which people live the longest. The Japanese! And, do you know that doctors in Japan are paid when you are healthy? Yes. And that is exactly where the Kangen water comes from. The machine that makes that water is actually a medical device in Japan and has seals and endorsements from the Japanese Government.
Besides, I learned prevention is better than intervention. Would you rather avoid the hassle of trying to get better or not even get sick in the first place?
I believe the answer is pretty easy. And if one starts thinking about it after organs start failing, he or she missed the bus.
Check out this little demonstration. Only takes about 40 minutes. Is that worth your health?


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