Do You Believe In Angels???

This morning I got to thinking about something that happened to me last year, it crosses my mind occasionally, I don’t know why it just does! So if I tell you about it now it might help me clear whatever it is up.

In February of 2007 my brother and I went over East to South Australia and Victoria to see a good friend. While we were in that area the three of us went to Lake Charlegrark a country music festival that happened there every year.

When we rocked up we went for a walk around, and singing in front of the open microphone crowd was one of my favorite people Dave Prior. A country musician, great poet and radio station guru.

I got inspired to go on stage but I didn’t have a guitar and had a few butterflies. This cute old guy came up to me and he seemed to be one of the organizers so he helped me find a girl to lend me a guitar and he pushed me on stage.

I did two of my own ballads and the crowd loved it, I was so thrilled! It was my first time singing in front of a non Western Australian crowd. Afterwards that guy came up to me and introduced himself as Ray. I couldn’t remember his name off the top of my head so I dubbed him “Ray from Charlegrark”. I gave him my name, address and phone numbers.

He said he liked that I sang in a relaxed Aussie country style like Sara Storer and could he send me some of his poetry for me to turn to song for him. I agreed even though I had never done that before.

Ray called me a few times over the next few months and we chatted a little but I hadn’t done more with his poetry than listened to it. I was annoyed at myself but time kept slipping away.

Nearly six months later we started having this beautiful hawk like bird hang around our backyard. We identified it as a Swamp Harrier, a bird more commonly found in cooler wet climates as they generally live on fish and small animals. I got a great photo of him.

That was one weird thing that happened, the other was that not many people had my home phone number so I hardly used it as a phone and it was permanently in the back of my dial-up computer. One day I bought a fax machine for my home business and switched to ADSL so my phone line was free.

I just happened to be walking past the phone at one point as it rang, normally I don’t answer it in case of telephone marketers but in that instant I did.

I heard “Is that… Anita”? I replied “yes” and the lady nearly burst into tears on the other end of the phone, she was the sister of Ray. Ray passed away a few weeks before hand and she was going through his paperwork looking for poems, she found a note by his phone saying “Call Anita in Meekatharra” that’s all it said but it stood out to her. Judy didn’t know how to contact any Anita’s in Meekatharra and so she started going through books.

In despair she sat down at her kitchen table and her elbow knocked a book off the table onto the floor and the page opened up at my details. In shock she phoned me, and just happened to catch me. We both agreed that it was divine intervention.

During the phone call we chatted for ages about Ray, he had passed away from Liver damage, and years before there was a house fire which burnt a lot of his poems. Judy was calling to see if I happened to have any of Ray’s poems that they might not have had. I didn’t, only the cd he sent me of a radio production which she already had.

She had found a few poems laying around but without any names attached and so she asked me if I thought they were his, they were beautiful talking about women battlers in the Australian bush, everything Ray was passionate about so I told Judy that I believed they were his, that made her really happy as if Ray was talking to her through them.

In the chat I learnt that Ray was a huge fan of birds and was always paying attention to them. That makes me believe that the Swamp Harrier was Re incarnate or a messenger or something, it was definitely strange to have that beautiful bird here in the desert so far from its natural environment.

I believe all this came about to remind me to write the songs in Ray’s honor, I still haven’t had time but I do believe these things happen when they are meant to. I will try and put some of his poems on here at one stage for you all to hear.

Thanks Ray for being a part of my life, even after death!

Hmmm! Before I finish this story, there’s another weird thing happening right now, just as I’ve been writing this it’s been raining! Not a normal occurrence.

Do you all believe in angels???

Developing Art Networks Online

Yesterday I had a visit from Julia, a student from University of Western Australia

Talking with Julia made me realize I could be doing so much more with my art than I currently am. Over summer my air conditioner broke down and so I couldn’t do any art in my house as it was just too hot.

For those people who don’t know where Meekatharra is, we had over 45 degrees Celsius for weeks on end and the months each side weren’t much better as we thought any day less than 35degrees c was a ool change!

So I focused my energy on my garden during the nights and did my studying and computing at night as my comp was overheating badly! My poor little fish were running at 34 degrees Celsius and I lost one big fish that was really disappointing.

Anyway incredibly off track!!! Julia got me thinking that I could be doing a whole lot more arty networking on the net, I have one month left to go on three courses I’m currently studying so when they are finished I will put some effort into developing some online art resources based from Meekatharra.

Meekatharra has a huge underground art community and I guess for travelers you wouldn’t come across it just passing through, so I can put in some effort and get our art out there as well as bringing some attention to artists who came before.

Here is a link to Julia’s UWA page.

Julia Anwar McHenry

Also for those people who are interested, I strongly recommend you make contact with Julia as her network of resources is huge and I’m sure she’d love to hear from you.

I will let you all know when i have done something with art online :)

First Impressions, Definitely Don’t Do These

I found this really good site which lists twenty things you should do if you want to ruin a first impression.

• Interrupting repeatedly
• Dominating the conversation
• Inconsistent eye contact
• Standing too close, invading "personal space"
• Taking a cell phone call or even letting it ring
• Chewing anything, unless you're at a luncheon
• Arriving late
• Being longwinded
• Risky humour
• Wrinkled clothing
• Checking your watch frequently
• Not listening, missing key points
• Poor table manners
• Boasting (I call it "I" disease)
• Looking and sounding bored
• Complaining about anything
• Distracting noises, such as tapping on a table
• Notebook or briefcase needing replacement
• Power Point that won't work
• Cluttered office when someone visits you

We all know people that do these things, aren’t they so annoying! At least I know it’s not just me that finds these people irritating. The site is worth checking out if you are in an organization where you need to be involved in interpersonal interactions.

Growth and Leadership

My Assesment Project

I am studying Effective Management through the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia. I’m about half way through my course and we need to think about our final project.

I have chosen to create an event celebrating Earth Hour @ Meeka FM this coming Saturday. There are a few reasons for it…

Firstly, Meeka FM is in dire need of new members, we are running on so few now, I’m worried that if our current members burn out or leave town then we will have no one and will have to close down.

That’s such a lame reason to stop broadcasting, especially when Meeka FM has been running for over eleven years.

So if I get people down there perhaps I can start a social club or something to get people coming regularly.

Secondly, I need to put all the new skills I’ve learned about management into effect and getting people inspired to participate is the best way to do this.

So we were supposed to have a meeting yesterday but I’m pretty sure only two people were going to come and it started raining really heavy and there was a huge storm throughout the night. So I postponed till Thursday.

I hate postponing meetings, it’s so easy to do, I wish people would just put in a little extra effort to be a part of something good. The problem with being flexible to suit everyone is that everyone will have a problem with what you organize.

So I’ve put in a bit more rigidity and set the meetings for every last Tuesday of each month so people could learn the routine. It was supposed to be yesterday, but walking downtown I learned that one of our volunteers had told everyone it was on Thursday, (thanks heaps!!!)

All the emails I sent to people with the date and time got no RSVP’s and people weren’t sure! I wish people would just play follow the leader for a change.

After all, having a vision and skills to implement that vision and putting so much effort into getting the team to just get along is hard enough without having your own team sabotage it for you.

I won’t let it stop me from being a good leader though, I WILL find a way to get people volunteering and getting along, I hope this course teaches me this lol.

So the plan at this stage is to turn off allt he lights at 8pm and turn them back on again at 9pm, I have lots of little candles and cups to place around the yard for atmosphere. We are pre-loading the playlist to suit the occasion and hopefully it will be a great event and I will pass my course.

I have made a website with notices of things around town which I have placed the Earth Hour celebrations on.

Earth Hour 2008

I have just joined Earth Hour 2008, please go and sign up if you haven't already :)

Give Your Baby A Healthy Obsession For Shoes!

I came across an Australian company selling the cutest baby shoes. As a self confessed "Shoe-O-holic" I am convinced this is a way for me to share my passion with my nieces. They have cute socks, leather shoes, squeaky shoes, comfortable shoes, ballet shoes, Teddy Bear Socks, baby trainer sports shoes, purple pink and white stretch socks. Oh there's just too much! If you want to check the cuteness out for yourself Go Here!

A World Class Friend

I just thought i'd take five minutes to write about my world class friend Robyn. I've known her for nearly nine years. I was living in a Homeswest house in our town and was successful in buying my current house. The day after i moved here i went back to clean up the yard of where i left and dazedly walked up the driveway wondering why there was a Land Rover in my driveway, then why there was a kids trike in my driveway and then... as i opened the back gate, why there was a dog in my backyard.

I was totally confused until i saw the family merrily sitting on the back veranda, and that was my first introduction to Robyn and her family.

Over the years we were involved in the same community groups and later in professional jobs. Recently Robyn inspired me to start my own online business, I had been wanting to for such a long time, I'm a bit of a stickler though when it comes to new territory, i am a follower, not a leader.

Robyn and i went to Perth and attended a Tony Robbin’s Unlimited Power seminar which was very inspiring. It pointed out a lot of things to me that i was stuck wondering why they had happened. Now i know! And i also learnt how to make some things happen in my life.

Robyn and i met again this Saturday a fortnight after the seminar to check if we'd achieved any of our goals and to go over some things we remembered from the conference. We traded music, it's always good to get new songs to motivate you through the day.

So i would like to take the time now to invite all of you wonderful readers to go and check out Robyn's blog and leave her a comment.


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This mornings walk

This morning i woke up at 4:30 after a fabulous sleep and decided to take my two dogs for a walk. It took exactly an hour and i even ran on occasions when the ground would permit it.

I walked out along the Gascoyne Junction road and then up Luke's lookout down the other side and along the Haul Pac Road until it met up with the Highway, then we crossed the highway and followed the southern ridge back to town. It was such a good walk.

By the time i was on the lookout the sky was just starting to colour behind the town's lights and by the time i got home the sun hadn't even broken the horizon. There weren’t even any flies to annoy me. I saw two trucks and a motorbike.

Singing to your baby

Sometimes i teach singing and i spend a lot of time researching better ways to do it, recently i came across a website that was really interesting.

It told of how you can sing to a baby and it will develop speech quicker and better than a child not sung to. It has something to do with them hearing complex vocal structures.

It is referred to as thePuccini Effect apparently a child can match your pitch at three to four months old.

Check out the site and start playing voice games with your baby.

Why do we put on weight in the colder months?

Are you one of us who complain about putting weight on over the cooler months? It seems that every winter we add a few kilograms, and come summer we don't lose them all again either. A few of them always stick around, making us a little heavier every year. They seem to be very hard to lose extra pounds! Why does this happen and what can we do?

There are many contributing factors. First, it seems likely that we have a genetic disposition to store more fat as winter approaches. Many animals do this and it was probably vital to survival for our ancestors. Extra layers of fat on the body protect us against the cold and then can be used as fuel in the late winter and early spring when food stocks would historically be very low. We probably have a tendency to eat more in Autumn, when food is plentiful after harvest time, to help this process along. We may also unconsciously choose foods that are higher in fat content at this time.

Hormone levels can also influence our weight gain. The interaction of hormones and other chemicals in the brain can bring about variations in appetite and cravings. Some neurotransmitters can also influence the way we eat. People who are overweight often have low levels of these neurotransmitters and the results can include excessive appetite, depression and sleep disorders. At the same time, the lack of daylight caused by the shortening days during late Autumn and winter can bring on seasonally affected disorder or winter depression. One of the quickest ways to give a boost to the energy levels and emotions is to eat high carbohydrate foods including sugar treats, chips and cereals that give us a fast blood sugar 'fix'. So people who feel low in the winter will tend to overeat or eat the wrong foods, leading to weight gain, more depression and a vicious cycle that is hard to break.

So altogether there are many reasons why we eat more high carbohydrate foods such as cookies, pies and chocolate in the winter, and of course most of these foods also contain high levels of fats. The best way to handle this is generally to substitute other foods that are also high in carbohydrate so that we get what our body craves, but which have low fat content and plenty of fiber. This means potatoes, wholegrain bread without butter, wholegrain rice, cereals, and fresh whole fruit.

It is also important to take more exercise. Often our physical activity levels drop in the winter and we have a tendency to want to stay home and rest. This is natural when it is cold outside. But we are not cavemen! We have heating in our homes and can be sure that there will still be plenty of food in the stores come February. We do not need to stow fat the way that they did. Sign up with a gym or get a stationary bicycle for the den. Transform those carbs into energy now instead of keeping it on the waistline until spring. Winter weight gain is easily avoidable this way. Don't forget to keep on drinking lots of water.

Visualization And Weight Loss - See The Kilograms Disappear!

The surprising fact is that many conditions can be improved by visualization and weight loss is one of them. It works like this: you keep an image in your mind of how you want your body to look, and subconsciously you will begin acting in a way that will go in that direction. You become much more positive about your body, more accepting of your diet or fitness regime, and you will reach your desired weight level more quickly and easily.

Effecting change through visualizing desired outcomes has become more and more acceptable in recent years. Psychologists do not understand exactly how it works but clearly the mind and body are not as separate as we often believe. It seems that if you truly want something it is more likely to happen - provided of course that it is something that is possible, and within your control. Visualization helps us to truly want to lose weight by creating a clear and happy picture of our fitter bodies. Without this we can often put psychological traps in our own path.

Many people who are overweight believe they cannot lose weight. Sometimes you may say it out loud, or hear friends say it about themselves. For other people this belief stays in the subconscious. But it is sure that it influences our behavior. Someone who believes it is impossible for her to lose weight will be constantly battling her own negativity when she is trying to diet. Her mind will be constantly telling her there is no point dieting, she cannot lose weight so she should just go ahead and eat everything she wants. Visualization is the strongest technique that we can use to overcome these negative thoughts and impulses.

If you are plagued by negativity either from your own mind or from the reactions of friends and family to your diet, go ahead and visualize yourself at your desired weight as often as you can. It works on the same level as all those negative voices and can annihilate their influence like nothing else can.

It is important to practice every day - morning and evening if you can. You just need to take a few minutes in a quiet place and keep an image in your mind of your body at its ideal weight. Some people can do this easily, others need some help. If you have a photograph of yourself at your ideal weight in the past, you may find it easier to look at that. Or use a photo from a magazine but cut off the person's face. You need to visualize your own body, but thinner.

You can also visualize from the inside. Close your eyes and let your awareness focus on a part of your body - for example, your right thigh. Imagine it slowly becoming thinner in your mind's eye. Then move to the other thigh, and on through the body. It may help to start at the feet and move up towards the head, or vice versa.

As you go about your work or daily chores, think of yourself as already at your ideal weight. Create your own affirmations and repeat them often, always in the present tense ("I am glad to be flexible, fit and slim", not "I will ..."). Enjoy the feeling of having a positive self-image. Over time, this will help you to keep to your weight loss plan. You will find that fatty foods are less attractive and exercise is more enjoyable.

While your weight loss will of course be gradual, the wonderful thing about visualization is that it gives you a new body image right away. Use visualization and weight loss to make you happier right now, today!

This is a picture i keep in my screensaver of how i want my body to look, it comes up on rotation and keeps me excercising.

Menopause And Weight Increase

Talking to most women over 50 you will quickly find that menopause and weight gain are linked in their experience. It is very common to put on weight at this time and while some of this may be due to lifestyle changes, that does not explain why suddenly we develop a tendency to put on weight at different parts of the body, especially the abdomen, while any weight gained when we were younger tended to be centered on the hips.

The truth is that hormonal changes do have a part to play in this, although the process is not completely understood. At menopause a woman stops ovulating, her monthly menstruation periods end, and her body produces much lower levels of the female hormone estrogen which is responsible for the ovulation process. Low estrogen has been shown to cause weight gain in animals and it almost certainly is the reason why our bodies change shape. While women of childbearing age store fat in the lower body, after the menopause they store it on the abdomen instead, like men. This leads to a greater risk of heart disease.

At the same time, both men and women tend to find muscle turning to fat as they grow older, and the metabolism slows down. This means that if you do not adjust your eating habits you will probably find that your weight increases. A person of 60 just does not need as many calories as a person of 40.

Hormone therapy with estrogen is sometimes prescribed to control menopausal symptoms. Many women will be surprised to hear that studies have shown that hormone therapy does not cause weight gain. Some women experience bloating and water retention in the early stages of hormone therapy but this is usually temporary and they have not gained any fat. Hormone therapy can reduce the risk of heart disease by preventing the changes in storage of body fat around the abdomen and lowering cholesterol. However, hormone therapy has been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer in some studies.

If you find that you are gaining weight around the menopause, there are several things you can do.

- Eat a healthy, low fat diet with plenty of fiber, avoiding sugar.

- Take regular exercise. As people get older their physical activity levels naturally drop. Work often becomes less physically demanding, there are no kids to run around after, we take less active holidays and do things more slowly. 30 minutes of moderate physical activity every day will help to balance out the effect of this.

- Maintain your muscle strength and mass. Use weights for arm muscles and walking or cycling for legs.

- Accept the changes to the shape of your body. If you are not overweight, but simply have a thicker waist and slimmer legs, that is fine.

Consult with your doctor before starting any exercise program if you have any medical conditions or your fitness levels are low. Your doctor can also help with symptoms of the menopause and weight gain.

Eating Low Carbs For Increased Weight Loss

Low carb dieting has become fashionable in recent years especially with the publication of the Atkins diet. Losing weight is a goal for so many people and everybody is looking for the quick and easy way to lose weight. Some people do not need to lose weight at all but still get stressed over a couple of kilograms. Others need to lose for medical reasons and may have one hundred kilo's or more that they want to shed.

There are many different diets out there including low carbohydrate diets and the truth is that most of them will achieve weight loss if they are followed correctly. This does not mean always doing what the diet says every moment of every day. What is more important is how you deal with the inevitable occasion when you eat too much or feast on foods that are not on the plan. If you can write this off and return to the plan without giving yourself a hard time, you are likely to succeed. Everybody has those days - the important thing is to let them go and accept them as just another step on the road to permanent weight loss.

It is also important to find a diet that you can easily follow. Low carb diets suit many people because the rules are quite simple. As the name suggests, the diet consists of avoiding or limiting foods that are high in carbohydrates. These include bread, pasta, potatoes, rice and other grains. Sugar is also a carbohydrate. Once you understand what these foods are, it is a simple matter to choose dishes that avoid them.

Most criticism of low carbohydrate dieting is based on the fact that the dieters will get most of their daily calories from meat, dairy and other high fat products. This can lead to high cholesterol and other problems related to a high intake of saturated fats. Medical advice is advised before starting this type of diet. Sometimes weight loss is good in the early stages but people cannot handle the restrictions in the longer term and start to deviate from the diet.

One of the problems that many people have with low carb dieting is the elimination of bread and pasta. No more toast, spaghetti or pizza! Many of the foods that are quickest to prepare are based around carbohydrates - burgers in their buns, fries, sandwiches, pasta and sauce. Beer and other alcoholic drinks are high in carbs too. It is true that alcohol is generally restricted on any diet, because it is high in calories and very low in nutritional value, but low carb diets put particular emphasis on this.

Still there are many foods that can be enjoyed on a low carb diet. If you are fond of meat you will relish the opportunity to consume beef, chicken and other animal products. The popularity of these diets is clear from the length of time that they stay on the bestseller lists. It is just a matter of what suits you. Low carb dieting works for many people.

Green Tea Can Help You Lose It!

Many people are now turning to inexpensive and natural green tea weight loss plans to help them in their weight control efforts. It is simple too. Green tea can be drunk like any other tea, usually without milk or sweeteners, or if you do not like the taste you can purchase green tea extract.

Research has shown that green tea helps to reduce weight by stimulating the body's thermogenesis process, which increases the expenditure of energy and the oxidization of fat in the body. Many compounds found in plants have this effect. The special thing about green tea is that it does not increase the heart rate, and is therefore believed to be safer than diet pills such as ephidrine that also work by stimulating thermogenesis.

A lot of people who are overweight have or are at risk of developing hypertension and other cardiovascular problems, so the fact that green tea does not put pressure on the heart makes it a good choice. Ephidrine is not usually recommended if you are in this group but green tea is considered a safe option. It means that you can gradually increase your exercise levels without increasing your risk of heart problems.

There are only two ways to lose weight: one way is by eating less (consuming fewer calories) and the other is by increasing expenditure of energy (using up more calories). Green tea works by increasing output and this can be by around 4%. Most scientists believe that this is caused by the high quantity of catechin that is in the tea and its extract.

Green tea has the added benefit of containing powerful antioxidants that may be beneficial to your health in many ways, strengthening the immune system and protecting against disease.

Keep in mind that green tea does contain caffeine so you should cut out coffee and other forms of tea while you are taking it. Decaffeinated green tea is not recommended because the chemical processes that are used to remove the caffeine may destroy the beneficial properties of the plant.

At the same time you will need to exercise control in what you eat. If you eat more to compensate for the calories that are burnt by the tea, you will not lose any weight. Keeping to the same calorific intake that you have now and taking green tea should result in gradual weight loss and better energy levels over a few weeks. You can of course increase the speed of this by reducing calorie consumption and/or increasing exercise.

Green tea is a simple, easy and inexpensive weight control aid that can easily be incorporated into any weight loss program. The choice of tea or extract offers something for everybody. Natural and safe, green tea weight loss should feature in your program if you want to keep the weight off permanently.

Garcinia Cambogia Extract - A Natural Weight Loss Supplement

Garcinia cambogia extract is hitting headlines throughout the western world as a natural weight loss supplement. Several studies have shown that it does help people to lose weight and although as always there are other studies that are less conclusive, it can be an effective weight loss supplement for many people.

Garcinia cambogia is the name of a small tropical fruit that grows in India and Africa. It is one of the citrus family like oranges and lemons. It is too sour to eat but the rind is used as a spice in Indian cooking. The correct name for the substance that is extracted from the fruit as a weight loss supplement is hydroxycitric acid.

Hydroxycitric acid is not a stimulant (like caffeine) or an appetite suppressant, both of which work directly on the nerve centers of the brain and can have undesired side effects, including causing food binges any time you stop taking them. Instead, HCA satisfies the body's need for energy and improves the signaling system that the body uses to tell the brain when it has eaten enough. This response is often delayed in overweight people, causing them to continue to eat more than they need.

Garcinia cambogia extract (HCA) seems to work best in combination with chromium, which helps to regulate the body's blood sugar levels. Chromium is a mineral that is often lacking in our diets as we get older and a chromium deficit can contribute to weight gain and possibly diabetes. However if you have diabetes already, you should see your doctor before taking any products containing chromium.

As with most supplements, it is best to be cautious and do not take HCA if you are pregnant or breast feeding. Consult a doctor before giving it to children. You may also want to avoid HCA if you suffer from migraine or arthritis which can be worsened by citrus fruits.

HCA seems to work best for people who overeat when they are anxious or stressed, as it will give the same calming effect that they get from food. Generally you do not need to eat any special foods when you are taking HCA, and there are no 'forbidden foods'. Choose healthy foods and you should find that you lose weight and fat slowly but steadily without really trying. You can take slightly smaller portions if you wish and choose fruit instead of sugary snacks but you should not need to go hungry. This is a very natural way to lose weight.

Unlike many other weight loss products, HCA has been extensively tested in research laboratories on both human and animal subjects and no side effects have been found. This natural weight loss supplement is available from many sources online and may be labeled either hydroxycitric acid or garcinia cambogia extract.

Negative Calorie Foods List

You will find a free list of negative calorie foods below, but first let's consider what this means. There is no such thing as a negative calorie - a calorie is a unit of heat and it cannot be negative. So when people talk about negative calorie foods, this just means a food whose calorie level is low enough that it takes more energy to eat and digest it than the food contains.

For example, if you consider water to be a food, then cold water is certainly a negative calorie food. It contains no calories at all and the body has to expend energy to bring it up to blood temperature. So every time we drink a glass of cold water we burn up a couple of calories and lose a little weight. But there are very few foods like this. Most foods that are on the list do not really use more calories than they add, or if they do the effect is negligible ... until you remember that at the same time the body expends energy just to keep alive and breathing. Celery for example does not give us enough calories to cover both the energy that it takes to digest it, plus the energy that we expend even when we are doing nothing. So that is why people call it a negative calorie food.

Negative calorie foods are most attractive to anorexics. A negative calorie diet would obviously result in starvation in the long term and nutritional deficiencies can occur surprisingly quickly. The calories burnt usually come from muscle mass, and the result is debility and wasting.

A more healthy way to use a negative calorie diet is as a form of fasting or detox. It is something you can do for one to three days right after the Christmas season or another time when you have been eating a over-rich diet. Provided you are otherwise healthy it can be a great way to clean out the system. However it is still best to take medical advice before attempting this.

If you decide to use a negative calorie detox, keep the following points in mind:

1. It is never a good idea to eat huge quantities of one type of food, especially fruits. A lot of foods contain substances that can be damaging if consumed to excess. For example, the acid in grapefruit and pineapple can damage your stomach lining. Other foods put an excessive burden on the liver or may cause diarrhea. So try to use all the different foods in small quantities.

2. Do not spend all day eating. You will just become bloated and feel sick. If you are only doing this for a couple days, you should not feel too hungry. Plan four or five salad meals each day, and let your digestion rest at other times.

3. You will feel more satisfied if you eat slowly and chew your food thoroughly. You will also use more calories that way. So if the foods can be eaten raw, that will be more effective than cooking them. Foods like carrots and beets will also be more satisfying if you eat them grated.

4. Schedule time when you do not have any important commitments. As with fasting or any kind of detox, you may suffer some uncomfortable symptoms including headaches, tiredness, depression and irritability. If these become severe, stop the diet and see a doctor.

5. When you end the detox, plan a gradual return to normal eating.

If all the above points are checked and passed, let's move on to the list of foods.

* Apples

* Asparagus

* Beets

* Blueberries

* Broccoli

* Cantaloupes

* Carrot

* Cauliflower

* Celery stalk

* Celery root

* Cranberries

* Cucumbers

* Eggplant

* Endives

* Garden cress

* Garlic

* Grapefruit

* Green beans

* Green cabbage

* Lamb's lettuce

* Lemons

* Lettuce

* Onions

* Papayas

* Pineapples

* Prunes

* Radishes

* Raspberries

* Spinach

* Strawberries

* Tangerines

* Tomatoes

* Turnips

* Zucchini

Please use this free list of negative calorie foods wisely.

Fad Diets: Why Are They Bad?

It is not surprising that many people wonder why fad diets are bad when they seem to get results. You will find many sites on the internet claiming significant weight loss in just a few days. That type of weight loss is always temporary. It is usually 90% water which will be put straight back on as soon as your body rehydrates, which it must do if you are not going to suffer severe health problems or die.

Other fad diets are not so obviously crash diets with outrageous claims but they are over hyped diet plans that tend to be fashionable for a while and usually make a lot of money for the inventor in associated product sales. In the best cases these are good nutrition plans which will help you lose weight, but which you could probably have gotten for free from your doctor. In the worst cases they will prove so difficult to follow that you will give up after a week.

The bad of fad diets

1. Diets that promise quick and easy weight loss are usually based on eating more of one food type and none of another. These do not give the benefits that you would get from a balanced diet. They may suggest you take supplements but many supplements are not absorbed by the body unless they are taken along with the foods that the diet has banned. After a few weeks, if you stick to it that long, you may begin to develop nutritional deficiencies.

2. Fad diets are often boring and over restrictive. After the novelty of the first day or two, you will not enjoy your meals. You will then start to crave food constantly and will break the diet. You may even feel guilty, thinking it is your fault that you did not lose weight.

3. Most fad diets do not follow recommendations of the American Heart Association and similar bodies for fat levels in the diet. Often the diet will recommend high fat foods and low carbs which if taken long term, could result in heart disease. The promoters may tell you that the diet is only intended to be followed for a short time. But you probably will not reach your goal weight in that time, and then what? You either continue with a plan that is not good for your health, or stop and probably gain back what you lost.

4. Many fad diets do not help you to incorporate enough servings of fruits and vegetables in your weight loss program, or give you the variety of foods that your body needs.

5. Quick weight loss diets are just a temporary solution and do not help you to make permanent changes to your eating habits. Permanent changes are the only way to remain at your target weight once you reach it. Fad diets encourage yo-yo diet-binge cycles of fast weight loss and equally fast weight gain. This is worse for your health and your self esteem than if you had stayed overweight all the time.

Whatever the publicity materials may say, these diets will not help you in the long term. The best way to sustain weight loss is to eat a varied and healthy diet, do not overeat, exercise regularly and avoid fad diets.

Does Conjugated Linoleic Acid Work?

Conjugated linoleic acid is a natural substance found in many of our foods that according to many studies can reduce fat and improve muscle mass in the body. Taken as a supplement with no change in eating or exercise habits, it would not make you lose weight but it could help you lose fat. It is often taken by men looking to lose weight and bodybuild at the same time, but it can also be useful for anyone who is overweight and under-exercising, as any increase in muscle will increase the metabolism, burning more calories.

Like many natural weight loss products, conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) combined with a flexible healthy eating plan can lead to gradual long term weight loss and help you get out of the yoyo dieting cycle where you are constantly losing and gaining the same 10, 20 or 50 pounds. Yoyo dieting is very bad for the health. It is better to remain overweight than to keep on losing and gaining, losing and gaining.

Most experts (unless they are trying to sell you something) agree that the diet that works best in the long term is the non-diet, where instead of eating special foods and banning others, you eat slightly smaller quantities of a normal healthy diet. If you are currently living entirely on pizza, fries and chocolate, then okay, some changes may be overdue. But you can still have small portions of all of those foods from time to time. If this is the kind of diet that you want, then CLA can help reinforce your plan by boosting your fat loss. Dr Michael Pariza of University of Wisconsin-Madison reported to the American Chemical Society that CLA "doesn't make a big fat cell get little. What it rather does is keep a little fat cell from getting big."

Many studies have been done on CLA. One study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that people taking CLA lost on average six pounds of body fat more than a group that took a placebo. The researchers discovered that you need around 3.4 grams of CLA per day for it to be effective. CLA is found in food, especially meat and dairy products, but supplementation is necessary for most people to reach that level.

Another study at Purdue University, Indiana, found that CLA improved insulin levels in about two-thirds of diabetics, and slightly decreased their blood glucose level and triglyceride levels, suggesting that it may help to maintain normal insulin levels. But see your doctor before taking any supplements if you have diabetes.

There are no magic pills for weight loss but if you are willing to commit to reducing your body fat permanently, CLA may help you. Keep in mind that its main effect is to convert fat to muscle, which by itself will not weigh any less. But your body will look slimmer and feel healthier if you do this, and combined with a good weight control eating plan conjugated linoleic acid can help you move toward your ideal weight too.

Does Alli Work?

Does alli work as a weight loss pill? The quick answer seems to be yes, but there is a downside, so read on.

Alli is the over-the-counter name for orlistat which is also available in prescription form as Xenical. If you are going to ask for it you may like to know that it is pronounced like ally, not alley. It is essentially a fat blocker. It works by preventing the body from absorbing the fat from the foods that we eat, and it is the one freely available drug that has FDA backing for its claims to aid weight loss. You might think you could eat all the fatty foods you liked and then take alli to negate the effect but sadly that is not true. It should always be used in conjunction with a low fat diet plan under the supervision of a doctor.

The amount of weight loss achieved with alli is variable. In one study involving one-year clinical trials, between 35.5% and 54.8% of subjects attained a 5% or greater decrease in body mass, although we do not know how much of this mass was fat. Between 16.4% and 24.8% of the subjects achieved a 10% or more decrease in body mass. In combination with a calorie controlled diet, the effects could be expected to be greater. It was also shown to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. The participants regained an average of one third of the weight that they had lost after stopping alli, but this is typical of most dieters.

The main disadvantage of alli is the side effects which center around digestive and bowel problems. The higher the fat content in the diet, the greater these side effects are likely to be, as the undigested fat is expelled from the body. Flatulence, loose stools and bowel incontinence can result, especially in the early stages before the body is accustomed to the drug. The manufacturer's website warns, "You may feel an urgent need to go to the bathroom. Until you have a sense of any treatment effects, it's probably a smart idea to wear dark pants, and bring a change of clothes with you to work." You really need to want to lose weight to take alli!

However these side effects are reduced if you stick to the recommended low fat diet and as the manufacturers hint, the potentially embarrassing side effects can even be helpful in encouraging you to keep to your diet. Always remember that alli does not claim to work without consistent efforts toward weight loss from you. What they do claim is that it can improve your weight loss by up to 50%. That would mean a person who lost 10 pounds without taking alli would lose 15 pounds taking it. It boosts your weight loss and rewards your efforts with better results than you could get by yourself. Note though that individual results will vary and are not guaranteed.

Sadly there is no magic diet pill that will melt away your excess pounds while you sleep, but alli is a pill that has documented results. If you are determined to lose weight and have been struggling with diets without much effect, it may be a good time to discuss it with your doctor and find out does alli work for you.

15 Great Ways To Lose Weight Fast

Want to lose weight fast? It's easy to say goodbye to 10 pounds of unwanted fat with these easy diet tips. Just pay attention to what you eat and be sure to have good tasting, fresh and healthy food including snacks, fill up on vegetables and keep your taste buds happy with fruit.

No need to make sacrifices! Just follow these simple guidelines to lose your first 10 pounds, last 10 pounds or give your weight loss program a boost when it seems to have stuttered to a halt. This is a balanced and flexible plan that you can use for as long as you want.

1. Keep a note of everything that you eat and drink. You do not need to estimate calories. Just write down what it was that you had and the approximate quantity. You will find that being more aware of what you are eating helps you to plan healthy meals and snacks.

2. Halve your intake of all pure or added fats. This means using half as much butter or spread on your bread, toast, muffins and potatoes; half the usual amount of mayonnaise or sauce on your salad; and half the oil in the frypan every time.

3. Limit treats containing sugar to three times per week. This includes chocolate, ice cream, desserts, cake, pastries, cookies, etc.

4. Include a lower fat source of protein at most meals: chicken, fish, beans, cottage cheese, or low fat yogurt. Have eggs, nuts and red meat occasionally but not every day.

5. Plan at least one lunch and dinner every week without meat or cheese. Build those meals around whole grains, vegetables and beans to increase fiber and reduce fat.

6. Reduce the fat content in your milk products. If you are currently drinking whole milk, reduce to 2% fat. From 2% reduce to 1%. Choose lower fat cheese and yogurt. When you buy yogurt, also check that it does not contain sugar.

7. Have at least two servings of fruit every day. This can be for dessert or snacks. Choose fruit that is in season.

8. Drink water instead of sodas, juices, milky drinks or alcohol. Avoid diet soda - the sweet taste only encourages you to crave sugar. Hot water with a slice of lemon can be very refreshing in the morning.

9. Include at least two servings of vegetables at lunch and dinner. If you are getting hungry, have more.

10. Eat slowly. The body is slow to register when you are full and it is easy to eat too much if you are racing through your meals.

11. Grated carrot makes a great snack. You will find that a grated carrot is much more filling than a whole carrot. Strange but true.

12. Use whole grains wherever possible. The fiber will give you a fuller feeling and also help your digestion.

13. Choose food that you can chew. Again this will increase your fiber intake, and the act of chewing will make you feel more satisfied too. This means eating fruit instead of drinking juice. If you have soup, make sure it is chunky.

14. Plan your meals and snacks ahead of time. Plan your shopping too - make a list of what you need and stick to it. If you just grab something when you are feeling hungry, you will probably choose high calorie food.

15. Always switch off the TV when you eat. That includes snacks as well as meals. Studies have proved that we eat larger portions in front of the TV, probably because we are much less aware of what we are eating. When you eat, only eat if you want to lose weight fast.

3 Bad Diet Mistakes To Avoid At All Cost

Even though there is so much information available about weight loss, the same diet mistakes are being made over and over every day. We are not talking here about little slipups where you ate a slice of pie that was not on the plan, but big mistakes that lead to failure to lose the weight that you want to lose. Understanding these errors can help you develop the attitude that will lead to permanent weight loss for you.

1. The All Or Nothing Attitude

All or nothing dieters will often pick out a complicated diet that is almost impossible for them to maintain. Before beginning, they will search the kitchen for anything that does not fit the plan and throw it in the garbage. They are planning to be the perfect dieter, and so they will be, for one day, three days, seven days or even a couple of weeks. Then, inevitably, something happens that means they cannot keep to the diet one time. Immediately the whole thing is ruined in their eyes and the diet is over. They go to the store and buy all the things that went into the garbage last week and proceed to gain back all the weight that they lost, as fast as possible.

If you are this kind of dieter you need to ask yourself some tough questions. Do you really want to lose weight permanently, or just lose a few pounds so that you can enjoy putting them back on again? The way forward is to make small changes to what you eat so that you have a slow but steady weight loss.

2. The Attitude of Sacrifice

Another common mistake is to view your diet as a period of sacrifice. You do not allow yourself the foods that you enjoy most while you are on your way to your target weight. You may have a great diet plan and be very successful in losing weight, but what happens when you reach your goal? You have not learnt to eat 'bad foods' in moderation so as soon as you start, you are likely to go out of control. It is better to include a little of everything in your diet and learn to enjoy it in small quantities. Yes, even chocolate!

3. Goal Failure

Setting achievable goals is vital in any weight loss plan. Goals should be clear, realistic and set out in writing. While you probably do have an ideal weight in your mind, unless you are only very slightly overweight it is probably too distant to be useful. A more useful goal would be to lose two pounds per week for the first five weeks and then one pound per week after that. Some weeks you will lose more and some less, some weeks you may even gain, but if you track your progress on a graph you will see that ups and downs are natural and do not stop you progressing steadily toward your major goal.

If you have been making these mistakes, do not worry. The most important point in dieting as in so many other things is to move on. Learn from your failures as well as your success and do not use a mistake as an excuse for giving up. The only way to achieve your goal permanently is to make a commitment to become a healthier person. Remember that eating normally includes eating more some days and less others. Learn to enjoy food in moderation and you have every chance of avoiding these bad diet mistakes.

Yum Organics

Lately I've been reading about how most of our foods we eat are covered in toxens caused by pesticides and sometimes age old poisons left in the ground from bad farming years ago.
Some toxens can mimick proteins and hormones and trick your body into believing it's doing something it's really not.

So in an effort to lessen the amounts of toxens i let into my temple of a body, i decided to go organic and went back for my second shop at Yum Organics and am happy to report the same great service that they gave me last time.

Now i have to mention that it's a huge effort what they do, they are based in Melbourne and i am half way up and accross Western Australia, a shipping nightmare but they are really organised.
I've reccommended them to all my friends. I am totally happy with service and products.

My other intention for writing this is because Jason said he was going to check out my blog and i'm a bit embarrassed about my other stories to i thought i'd take this opportunity to promote them lol

Keep up the good work Jason
:)

PCOS

Well here's me getting used to writing with Html codes lol! getting used to it all.

I had a thought today that it's funny how guys raised in households with women can cope with hearing about how painful having your period can be is, and guys that are raised in households with other guys are strongly allergic to the discussion.

Before i decided i would earn more money having my own internet business i was a secretary for a mechanical workshop where the arrogant German boss would come down on me pretty hard with things like "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU" and so i would answer in the sweetest voice i could muster, "I'm bleeding... Sir!" He would go all shy and leave me alone. He didn't realise that i had my period for three weeks a month.

Seriously though! it's not much fun dealing with your period let alone having all the added issues of Poly Cistic Ovarian Syndrome. It can be the most painful and depressing time of the month, sometimes even times of the month.

Other people don't understand, they can't work out why you just don't lose weight, or eat better foods, or excercise more. They treat you like you binge eat when no one is around, and there's the alcohol factor too!

It's so frustrating, you don't want to tell everyone about your business so you let them believe they know whats wrong with you.

Other PCO S challengers know what i mean! and that's another curious thought too! isn't there one in five women in the world with PCOS. No one i know of seems to have the same issues as me.

Anyway a few weeks ago i bought this book and tonight i finally finished reading it. there are many really good hints and some things that just make sense for me now, it is the most generous informative book I've read about PCOS so far.

The Natural Diet Solution for PCOS and Infertility"

Home Based Businesses

To find the best home based business ideas and opportunities so you can work at home visit:

http://www.PassionsInspired.com

Saint Patrick's Day

Today is Saint Patrick's day, it is also my best friends birthday!

Her name is Amber, she is my Meeka girl.

Born March 17th 1997 25 kilometers South of Meekatharra Western Australia at Flossy & Kingy's camp

Her mother was Mia a red cloud and her father was a beautiful longhaired red cloud

Collectively she has redcloud, rottshiler, ridgeback and dingo in her. she has beautiful long legs and the greatest disposition.

I never fussed her like people do to puppies instead i treated her like an adult and took her everywhere with me

she is so lovely though i have to fight my mother for her sometimes, Amber is so caring that she likes to know what everyone is up to

so seeing as i'm having a break from drinking i have juiced a bunch of celery to have a green drink in her honour!

To my girl Amber, cheers!

Blinded by the web lights

It just occurred to me that right now I am experiencing something that not many other people would have.

I'm all for capturing those magic moments in life and sticking them in a scrapbook or photo album, i'm not sure if what i am about to tell you will affect you in any way, shape or form nor do i know if what is happening right now is positive, or just positively baffelling!

I will start at the beginning to offer some vital background to the situation... We need to travel back to 1989, I was living in Port Hedland Western Australia and attending year 6.

My teacher was Mr Bruce Potter, He was great, I don't know what happened to him over the course of time.

I was the top speller in my class and read books beyond my age and had the neatest handwriting ever.

Suddenly one day i couldn't see the blackboard, over the next two years i spent nearly every school holidays travelling to eye specialists hoping to figure out what was wrong with me. As an eleven year old i didn't know what was happening, nor did i know what was wrong with me wasn't normal!

there are many tales to tell of this time but i don't want to stray from my original path...

in 1991 I was diognosed with Starrguardtz disease (please excuse the spelling, i will get it right one year, like i said i'm blind so it's an effort to read and remember these european words)

I've had many reading aids over the last seventeen years and a few years ago i discovered the power unleashing text to speech programs.

So the other night after trying for ages to join this blogger and getting denied because of the picture word and the difficult to understand disabled function i finally got signed up.

So just now i started browsing other people's blogs to find out what i could have to say and using the program it started reading out a french girls blog.

As i said, i don't know if that was positive or positively baffelling lol!

I can't understand french but i am amazed that in contrast to 1989 i have so much available to me now because of the internet and i am so grateful for this.