Gray Hair Causes

At some stage in our lives, both men and women will experience the on set of Gray Hair. Contrary to popular belief it's not always related to one's age. Grey hair can occur as young as in our teens and range into our late 50's and even older.
Everybody is different but the pigment of our hair is generated in the same way. The cells our follicles called "Melanocytes" generate pigments the main one being Melanin. This gives it its "Color". When these Melanocytes stop producing the pigment the result is a transparent hair. This against your healthier darker hair gives the appearance of Grey. In reality not Grey but transparent.
The main reason for our hair behaving this way is heredity. If your mom or dad started going Gray at a young age then the chances are you may also suffer from premature Gray hair. This is not always the case. Age does play a large part in the graying process. The pigment in the hair shaft is generated from cells at the base of the root of the hair and as we get older these cells start producing less pigment until there is no pigment at all and we end up with the transparent hair.
Grey hair can also be the result of a medical condition. If you are deficient in B12 or suffer from a thyroid imbalance it can also cause your hair to go Gray.
The sudden appearance of Grey is not due to psychological shock or trauma. Studies have shown that if this does happen then it's typically due to Alopecia areata. What happens here is that the thicker, darker hair stop growing before it effects the growth of gray hairs, giving the impression of Grey overnight. Alopecia areata eventually causes round shaped patches of hair loss or complete hair loss.

Snack Ideas For Kids That Won't Wreck Mom's Diet

If you are a mom at home on a diet, you will probably related to a frequent situation I encounter as a weight loss consultant. Many of my clients with children are able to keep to a healthy eating plan through most circumstances except two. It all starts to go astray when the kids come home from school, or when they are preparing school lunches.
It's no surprise really. Kids love snacks we buy from the supermarket, and parents love them because they are quick and easy to throw into the lunchbox or for kids to grab from the shelves in the pantry. Small bags of chips, tasty bite size crackers, sodas and the like. No problem. Except when it comes to mom's weight loss program. Mom loves them too!
These products are high in fat, high in energy and high in refined sugars. And after one, two or three nibbles it is possible to wrack up an unwanted 500 calories. This single act will probably stall your weight loss or even worse!
To stop your kids from sabotaging your weight loss efforts, here are 20 snack ideas for kids that will do far less damage to your weight loss program if mom nibbles (just a little).
1. Chop up ½ tinned pear or other fruit in natural juice and set in 200mls of low calorie jelly. Make up into individual disposable plastic containers with lids.
2. Cut up crisp vegetable sticks with dipping sauce - ranch, peanut (satay), sweet chili or tomato.
3. Cut celery sticks 6-8 cm, fill with cottage cheese and top with sultanas or chopped nuts.
4. Combine a mixture of low fat hard cheese cubes, nuts and dried fruits in plastic wrap or a lunch bag.
5. Roll up thin slices of carrot and celery with grated cheese in a slice of cold meat. Secure with toothpick. Slice the carrot and celery with a vegetable peeler for really thin slices.
6. Cut oranges into quarters and freeze on trays. Put into plastic bags for a fruity ice block.
7. Meatball surprise. Next time you are making meatloaf, double the quantity and make a batch of meatballs. These are great in lunch boxes cold. Add a slice of pineapple with a toothpick to each meatball. Add dipping tomato sauce if required.
8. Mini quiches....make a batch of crust-less quiche and cook in muffin tray. Each 'muffin' will be a wonderful healthy snack for kids.
9. Chilled fruit surprise - slice a combination of strawberries, bananas, kiwi fruit, watermelon, grapes or in season fruit. Place in small resealable plastic container. Top with apple juice; do not overfill. Seal, freeze. When packed in lunch box, will keep sandwiches cool and prove a refreshing treat on a hot day.
10. Rice cakes spread with mashed avocado, mashed banana and cinnamon, or try mashed avocado, sliced tomato and sprouts.
11. Chopped hard-boiled egg served with low fat mayo, salt, pepper on a crisp bread.
12. Leaf wrappers: wrap a cheese finger, celery stick and carrot stick in a lettuce leaf. Wrap in foil and place in lunch box. Contents will be kept moist.
13. Yogurt tub.
14. Baby Bell Cheese and low fat cracker.
15. Creamy dates: slice dates length ways, remove stone. Fill with Philadelphia cream cheese (low fat).
16. Quick sausage rolls: wrap a skinned (good quality) sausage in several sheets of filo pastry. Brush pastry with beat egg to glaze. Cut into desired lengths. Bake in moderately hot oven for 15-20 minutes. Rolls can be frozen.
17. Same as above but use fresh chicken breast strips and cut to 2" - use tomato or favorite dipping sauce
18. After school hot snack attack: Spread a round of pita bread with tomato paste and herbs. Top with tomato, ham, mortadella, add onion, sliced mushrooms or pineapple. Sprinkle grated low fat hard cheese over pita bread. Grill to make a tasty pizza. If no pita bread is available, substitute a crisp bread.
19. Fruity kebabs: place bite size pieces of fruit in season on kebab skewers.
20. Pop top sandwich tuna tin, crisp bread, sachet of mayonnaise. Kids can put their snack together at school so that it doesn't go soggy.
Remember fresh is best both for yourself and your children. By substituting these ideas for some of the prepackaged snack food and cookies your kids eat you will be doing both them and yourself a favor.

Break The Chains Of Nicotine Addiction Forever

TOBACCO should be classified as a crime against humanity!

Believe me.. no other consumer product in the history of the world has even come close to inflicting this amount of damage on mankind. If anything else of this magnitude was to pose the same threat to life, whether it was human induced or naturally occurring - be it war, terrorist attack, genocide, ethnic cleansing, natural disaster or disease, it would as a rule command immediate international intervention!
Think about the current 'war on terror'. So why isn't it?

You would have learnt how to smoke from that very first cigarette, as you most certainly practised the draw-back and other styles of smoking until you finally achieved that great smokers status.

If you and I were born to be a smokers then maybe our noses would be upside down (like a chimney) with a little umbrella over it to keep the rain out! Firemen wouldn't need any breathing apparatus would they? We don't have a built-in filtration system for the Carbon Monoxide that's in the smoke.

Seriously now, you wouldn't pour toxic chemicals in to the fuel tank of your car, truck, motor home or bike - would you? So why is it we can suck in over 4000 toxic chemicals with every cigarette and not really think anything of it (until it's too late). Your life has got to be more valuable than your car or truck.

There are dozens of what I call 'Smoker Myths' associated with nicotine addiction, some of them are like this....

Myth#1. "I enjoy smoking, it makes me feel good" ever said something like that, or what about....

Myth#2. "I really enjoy the flavour of tobacco" are you kidding me!!!(Dog vomit would taste better)

Myth#3. "I'm just soooo stressed out, I need a cigarette"

These Smoker Myths become apart of the smoking culture or belief system. How many times do you think a non-smoker would make these statements?

NEVER!!

I take enormous pleasure at being a non-smoker (normal) and I'm proud of it. You don't lose anything when you quit smoking, as a matter of fact you gain life,health and money. Did you know that you can quit smoking anytime you choose to?

So How Do You Quit Smoking?

You simply LEARN NOT TO SMOKE, or you simply LEARN TO THINK as a
non-smoker "easy for you", you might be saying but the truth is just that EASY! Remember, you learnt to use tobacco in the first place - right! I know that are thinking that "this sounds too simple" and you're right, except it took me over 20 years to work it out!

Hi my name is Colin Williams and I passionately want to teach you how to destroy the nicotine addiction... forever. I was addicted to nicotine for 35 years. I lost count of how many times I tried to quit smoking. So I know where you're at and I know how you think as a smoker or tobacco user.
That's why I can teach you about....

Your Body...the health issues and scientific information you need to know.

Your Victory... know your enemy and how to kill the world's greatest deception.

Your Bank...the $$$ cost of smoking to you, and who's making the profit?

Your Past...how to bury the memory.

Measure Your Progress

An extremely important part of your fitness program is being able to measure your progress.
Body fat testing is not painful, nor is it expensive. You can get it done at most any gym or fitness center.
Simply ask if they have an expert who can measure body composition.
It's also a good idea to take before and after photos and post them somewhere you'll see them every day.
But most importantly, measure 5 - 10 different aspects of your progress.
My most successful clients measure everything in their life that's effected by their weight loss, normally on a simple scale from 1 - 10, such as:
- their daily energy level
- their attitude
- the way they feel when they look in the mirror
- the way they fit into their clothes
- the compliments they get from people
- their level of mental focus
- their waist, hips, and thigh measurements
- their body weight
- their body-fat level
- their endurance in their workouts
- etc, etc, etc...
Make a long list of ways you can measure your progress - but be sure to include things that are truly important to YOU. If having loads of energy is important to you, than you should be measuring your energy level every day to see if your diet and/or workout routine are doing their job.
On the other hand, if you already have a lot of daily energy, than you might not want to measure that - you might prefer to measure other things that are more important to you at the stage of life your currently at.
Take time to design your list, then chart your progress in a daily journal every day for each of the categories on your list. Then take an average for the whole day, and write that average at the top of your page.

11 Steps to a Body of Your Dreams

11 Steps that Absolutely Guarantee you'll have the Body of your Dreams in 90 days or Less!
Get these tips and more on Audio.
1. Persistence!
Violate this step and you'll never achieve permanent results. We recently concluded conducted a 10 year study which proves that persistence is the single most important aspect of any diet or exercise program. The study followed a group of people (group #1) who exercised and dieted very strictly, but sporadically and compared those results to a group of people (group #2) who exercised mildly and followed a very basic diet, but this group never varied from their routine. Even though group #2 exercised and dieted far less (but did so persistently) they got 68% better results than those who exercised and dieted VERY STRICTLY but only occasionally.
2. Workout around other people.
Working out with others will get you about 43% faster results!!!
3. Don't take bad advice.
Take ONLY the advice of those people who look strong & healthy themselves, and, whom you know to be knowledgeable about health & fitness!
4. ALWAYS keep an eye on your pulse.
When doing aerobic or cardiovascular training! Keeping your pulse inside your 80% target heart rate zone will burn up to 9 times more calories. Dropping below your target heart rate will not burn nearly as many fat calories, and going above your target heart rate may lead to muscle breakdown.
5. Surround yourself with winners.
One of the key qualities of all successful people is that they avoid negative people and they spend the majority of their time surrounded by those who have already achieved what they themselves seek to achieve. So if your goal is to weigh 135 pounds by eating healthy and living an energy full life - then seek out others who already live a healthy lifestyle and weigh 135 pounds. Hanging out with people who just talk about getting in shape but never take persistent action will ensure that you never reach your goal.
6. Know your outcome.
Have specific goals. Get a photo (or several) of what you WILL look like when you reach your goal, then focus only on that image. Quickly erase any negative beliefs or images that may enter into your mind during your day.
7. Increase you water intake.
Water is a key component to life. No living creature can survive without a fresh supply of pure water each and every day. If you do not consume enough fresh water every day, your body will age faster, appear fatter, be more susceptible to germs and colds, lose joint mobility, and much more. Generally speaking, most people who weigh under 150 pounds require no less than 8-10 glasses per day, those who weigh between 150-250 pounds require about 16 glasses per day.
8. Watch where your calories come from.
Without a doubt, we eat way too much sugar and fat. Moderation was the key in the past, now the key is moderation and the exclusion of junk food. One or two binges per year are generally OK if you are a normal healthy individual, but more is absolutely not OK.
9. Increase the number of meals consumed per day.
On average, you should be eating some form of protein and vegetable combination that's low in fat and high in fiber every 2 -3 hours of the day. Doing so will give you an almost unfair advantage over those who only eat the normal 3 meals (or less) each day.
10. Visualize Clearly and Often.
Design your new body in your mind first. You cannot achieve your idea of the perfect body if you don't have an idea of what the perfect body means to you. Take 10 minutes when you are sure not to be disturbed by people or phone calls, get comfortable, fully relax, then begin to dream about what you will look like when you have achieved your goal. Be specific, what will your calves look like, your legs, your butt, your lower back, your stomach, your chest, your upper back, your shoulders, your neck and your face. Then review this image as often throughout each day as possible (never less than 3x/day).
11. Cardio...Cardio...Cardio.
Cardiovascular exercising does more for the health and the appearance of the human body than any other form of exercise. Learn how much and what type of cardio is right for your particular body. Then refer to step #1 and do it persistently.