So you wan't to be a resolution master?

So you're thinking of, or setting a new years resolution. Since this is a (majority) a health blog, I'm going to go over a few things health related resolutions and how to approach them.

DON'T MAKE THESE RESOLUTIONS:

I want to give up bad foods.

I want to exercise more.

I would like to be X weight.

I'll try to give up smoking.

I want to be more successful.

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DO MAKE THESE RESOLUTIONS:

I will be more healthy by next new years.

I will fit in X item of clothing again.

I will quit smoking.

I will quit alcohol.

I will build the body I want.

I will achieve X goal.

*Notice the will , thisis because the words "Want" "Try" and "going to" are all approaching words not doing words. Telling yourself you WILL do something is more likley to result in positive subconscious approval over I'LL TRY, or I WANT.

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I want to be X weight by X date.

So you have an idea what weight you want to be, and while in most cases weighing less would indicate a healthy person this is not entirely true.

The real question isn't being X weight, it's rather "I want to be a lot more healthy by X date".
WARNING:
When setting any variables (dates, weight, size, anything that is reliant on a time frame) you HAVE to be realistic, most people fail this aspect I'll give an example:

"I want to lose 2 stones (28 lbs) in 2 months"

This is very unachievable without putting your health at serious risk, and since your health should come first. You will fail this goal, get disheartened and likely quit. However:

"I want to fit into X item of clothing again before summer."

This kind of goal is a lot better, even if to fit in said clothing you'd need to lose 2 stone (28 lbs), its not a giant number any more  its an item of clothing, something tangible. And also losing 2 stone within 6 months is doable at a healthy rate.

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SUMMERY:

Make resolutions:

• Precise and not vague.
• Achievable.
• Beneficial.
• Tangible (something real to you, something you can image how you'd feel if you achieved it)
• You would break your back (metaphorically speaking) to maintain, DO NOT even a little bit go back on what you set out to do.
• MOST IMPORTANTLY, because YOU want to do it, DO NOT do resolutions with friends under the illusion of support, the foundation has to be because you actually want to do this regardless of friends doing the same thing.

So you want to be healthy / lose weight / build muscle / tone / become fitter / become more attractive (yes).

Well the bad news is, no matter what you're goal is you can only BENEFIT a great deal by changing your diet.

Good news is that this is no where near as bad as people and the media make out, take it from me, I'm a hugely fussy eater.

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Little side note: while studies show the body only absorbs so much vitamin content from foods, you do still absorb an amount. I highly recommend taking Vitamin B12. It's a vitamin that increases serotonin output which is responsible for making us feel happy. Feeling happy is always a bonus when you do anything. 

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Do you suffer from heartburn or indigestion?

Well I used to, it's actually really easy to fix, eat less red meat (nobody is banning you, just limit your intake) and avoid meats that have been processed too much, more processing = more heartburn from the fatty stabilisers they add to processed foods (helps increase its shelf life).

My personal tip, always buy raw ingredients and cook from scratch, its not hard to learn a few recipes, if you buy batches of food and make large amounts to freeze and eat later or things that you can store in your fridge and eat over the space of a few days, you'll find yourself rapidly saving money.

AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE:

Processed ready meals.
Why:
They have high saturated fats and salt contents, the meat is heavily processed and the vegetables lacking in nutrition.

Low % pork sausages (I always aim for over 70% pork, you can look on the pack to see).
Why:
The rest of that % is the bad stuff, cartilage, tendons, guts, connective tissue, bits from the head and other parts of the pig. This stuff is lacking in nutrition and not great for you.

Non free range / organic chicken or eggs. (I know that it costs more for them)
Why:
Caged chickens have a terrible life, you must not ever forget to be thankful for the life you consume, and I just think if a chicken has to die for me it should at least have a life with dignity, not injected and modified and not feed altered food to make it grow abnormally fast. Chicken might be a great food source but it is also a living creature. Plus remember all the growth hormones and modifiers get absorbed by the animal and passed into the meat in one form or another.

Fast food:
Why:
Fast food has little nutritional value and is generally bad for you, sometimes its a nice treat but that is how it should be viewed, and if I'm honest, after having a prolonged period of not eating fast food or heavily carbonated drinks I actually realised just how disgusting and how unnatural they tasted.

Cheese:
Why:
This is a hard one for me, I love cheese and do have it now and then as treat. The problem is that it is mostly fat and a high percentage of it saturates, only one cheese is really good for you and that's cottage cheese, it has a high protein content and is great for people working out.

Carbonated (Fizzy) Drinks:
Why:
Carbonated drinks have a huge sugar content, this can help cause diabetes and will aid to terrible dental health. They offer very little actual hydration, and as for diet drinks, they have sweeteners in which are actually carcinogenic (indirect cancer causing chemicals).

HIGH SATURATED FAT FOODS:
Why:
High sat fat foods are very hard to digest, in my experiences you should't really eat anything that contains over 5grams of sat fat. Some foods will surprise you very much! I once bought a kids lunch box kit (came with cheese and ham slices and crackers) and it was over 10 grams of sat fat!! ALWAYS CHECK THE NUTRITIONAL VALUE OF FOODS YOU EAT!

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Next update I'm going to show you cost effective ways to buy raw ingredients and make healthy, good food that will help boost you in what you do.

I'm basically going to formulate recipes and foods that match the common goals people have!

On the next exciting episode of KIKOJUI EVOLUTION SAGA!!

"P o w e r  U p  M e a l s"
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Peace you beautiful, beautiful readers.

Late night RUMBLE!

Went to bed a bit earlier yesterday, to try and wake up at a normal time. over the last week I've been finding it very hard to wake up even after 10 hours sleep!!

Tomorrow I'm going to book an appointment with my GP, it might be from cutting my food intake down is causing me to become more tired.

Got a hold of multivitamins again to take with the ginseng and B12, also come Omega 3.

Cut my food intake as I've started "cutting" which is a process of increased cardio with less carbs, effectively cutting weight.

Had these a few days back, saw them in Tesco, and did the obvious idiotic thing and bought them for being pretty.

As you will know, producers make something look pretty for a reason, to sell it to dumb people like me, I checked the stats and it was not too bad, about 16% of your RDA in fat, for instant noodles is pretty good.

Anyway Once I got it home and opened it I noticed something, obsessive packaging!!

Once you open the box it peels away revealing another tub, with logo and same style inside, the outer packaging is pointless, you get a plastic fork with it, and the flavour powder and noodles.

When i added the boiling water to it I won't lie it smelt delicious, but this is not a positive review.

It only smelt good, it had no flavour, I mean that, none. It was so promising but it was just watery noodles.

In summery, nice design, pretty packaging, but ultimately a massive let down. I've only tried the Chilli beef flavour (what a joke... flavour). So I can't vouch for the other flavours in the range.

Taste: 0  Smell: 8  Texture: 5  *total* 13/30  (BONUS HEALTH: 4/10) *Bonus total* 4/10

RESULT: TERRIBAD

Been Working hard on making sure the products are as strong as possible, I need to go over al lthe organising and workflow systems as well as get my stock sheet up to date. as a Treat here is a teaser of one of the Designs:

Note the word "FATAL", some people did not notice at first.

These guys, at 6 pack short cuts are not always that good, and this video will only apply to people that want to lift weights and not do so much cardio.

The thing to remember is that abdominal muscles will never appear as long as there is a layer of fat on top of it. You need to lose the weight through cardio and once you get to the 10% body fat range you'll start to notice them.

Belly fat is the first area of fat to appear and the last to go, so don't get discouraged if you don't have the perfect abs, it takes time, and dedication.

That is all the time I have tonight, sorry it's a late night post, good luck you beautiful, beautiful readers.

Day 210: Preparing for change.

I'm going to post this under the "Adventure" section even if it is a health and fitness theme.
Today I bought some new products (Will be reviewed later in this post) these play into the start of my new adventure.
Getting fit! Stage 3: acceptance.


I have got to the stage of accepting that I will only achieve my desired results thought a lot more work, and more dedication, and while I have greatly upgraded my life style and general health, I realise now that it's only once it clicks that you can truly accept progression.

Originally I had great ambitions ans was making the easy mistake of taking on too much too soon, and after a while the hectic lifestyle started to grind down slower due to fatigue amongst some other factors. This made it very easy to not progress and in fact slow me down.
I blogged before about people not making it a big enough deal, and because it was not made into a big deal by them to their peers, it was not a big deal to them either, but on the flip side, make too much of it to your friends and the pressure to succeed can become immense.

So first steps to making any changes and making them lasting are:

1. Make it a big deal to you.
You need to be in a place to really want the changes you desire, and not just for selfish needs like appearance but also consider the beneficial health effects that tie in with it.

2. Let your peers know you want to do the changes, and make it important that they know.
When telling people you respect, you will get two kinds of reactions. The first type will be encouragement, offering advise or just wishing you luck, the second is dismissal. Dismissal is a reason a lot of people keep their changes to themselves, fearing that peoples negative attitudes might effect their own moral or hamper the progress. Personally I think dismissal is a good thing, this offers you the chance to prove them wrong, while at the same time benefiting your own life.
Remember, do not fear failure, because its a concept that can not exist if you learn from mistakes. True failure would be to just not try, to hope for the best, or to just flat out give up without learning anything.
If you fall at a hurdle, analyse it, why did you fall? was the goal or milestone over ambitions? was it thought a lack of knowledge? if so, learn the weakness and get back into the fight! as long as you are willing to win, you will do just that!

3. Knowledge is power!
Before you do anything, read up online, or in a library and magazines just what it is you are trying to achieve, be aware that magazines mostly have agendas to push products, take information from multiple sources and determine for yourself what is useful information.
You will discover that their are easy ways to achieve some things while others are a lot more difficult.

4. Do it NOW!
Nothing says I'm ready like taking immediate action! So go outside do your stretches and a light run, or plan you're diet, or even if you just want to quit a habit, look online and start gathering information.
A huge amount of people fail just because they don't take actions enough.
Knowledge - Action, and repeat, the only time you should not take action is if you are already reading up or physically can not take the desired action, in which case make that action as soon as you possibly can, use this to build momentum.

5. Keep a routine.
There are no key rules, but without this rule in place you will have a very hard time making results, and more importantly be able to keep track of them. Always keepo a record of your results, this way you can effectively track progress.

Ok now these basic steps to making lasting changes are complete, lets move onto some products I'm giving a go!

I'll start off with something not so much healthy, but more tasty.

I recently purchased some of this beautiful tea, I don't know about you readers but a cup of tea can put me in good form for the rest of the day!
if you're like me, and love citrus, lemons and oranges, you will love this tea, its supple and has a zesty crunch to it making it refreshing as well as delicious, I highly recommend a try!

Keeping on the tea trend...

I had a spate ofg difficult sleep, and while my normal remedy was a hot bath and some horlicks, I also found a less heavy drink.

Extrasensory explosion, it has a deep smell of herbs and tea, its taste is no fantastic to me, but I'm not a hardcore tea drinker, I did find restful sleep with this on every occasion that I tried it.

You can find out more about it here:
< HERE >

Now onto health and fitness related pills.

Ginseng has a multitude of benefits, and if I can get something from a natural source i'd rather do so.

Since I'll be running a lot more often, and since I've had a break from it for a while I figured I'd buy some Manchurian ginseng, it is great for maintaining high stamina levels, and since I've had a break from running I figure that if I take these 50 tablets by the time I've done so I'll be back to decent fitness levels and stamina will be a lot higher, this will make the transition of not running to running often a bit more manageable.

Remember me banging on about the Neuro bliss drink?
Well it was pretty tasty, and had 2500% RDA of Vitamin  B12, the happiness Vitamin, this drink was amazing, it drastically improved mine and my flatmates mood when we used to drink it, but at a pricey £1.80 per drink it was often more of a luxury. Well I discovered these tiny pills in holland and barett, they contain the same 2500% B12 content, but for a mere £3.99 (on offer from £5.29) Anyway that means for the equivalent of 100 bottles of neuro bliss, I can buy 100 tablets for just over £5, a obvious choice really.

If you think you could use a little mood "pick me up" then get yourself some of these!

Wellman, the Rolls Royce of vitamins contains a whole world of vitamins designed and for men, there is a female alternative surprisingly called Wellwoman. I've not yet taken this, so I'll write a better review later, it costs around £8.50 and as I open the box I'll write what you get for your money.its a cool design, time went into the packaging design, Two sheets of pills, with again nice packaging design. Inside is a leaflet  witha bunch of other products on it with a lot of detail as to what they do. Basically its just a massive advert, and oh my they have some products indeed!! From hair support to skin, prostate to over 50... a massive array of potions and supplements.

I'm still working on the graph for foods, I'm going to break it into elements, like protein, dairy etc instead of the original plan, anyway i hope there was some useful information in this entry, good luck readers and remember I love you all!!