My name is Catherine Morgan, I'm a writer, nurse, and mother. This is a blog about women's issues, health & wellness, and inspirational thoughts. If you like this blog, you will love BlogHer.com where I am also a contributing editor.
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Find out all the places I blog at Catherine Blogs.
I am a firm believer that the number one thing any of us can do to promote good health…Is to eat a healthy, well balanced diet. Regardless of your weight (even if you are thin or at an ideal weight), it’s important that we all try to eat healthy. Unfortunately, that is sometimes the hardest thing for many of us to do.
It can be overwhelming for someone with “questionable” eating habits to make the changes necessary for good health. But, it’s also the best thing you can do to reduce your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, and chronic illness. So, what can we do? Well, I recommend you take it slow, and not put too much pressure on yourself.
Don’t decide today to make radical changes in your eating habits. If you do that you are setting yourself up for failure. Instead, let’s look at what I believe are the top three changes you can make that won’t be hard for you to stick to. Once you have conquered these three things, you will become empowered to continue taking a step at a time toward healthier eating habits and a healthier life. So, let’s give it a try.
#1 Increase your water intake. It’s amazing how easy it is to get busy with our work day, and totally forget that we haven’t had a glass of water all day. More than likely, even if you drink water, you are not drinking enough. Here is a great Hydration Calculator from About.com, that can help you pinpoint just how much water you should be drinking.
Hydration Challenge: If you already drink enough water, then take healthy hydration to it’s next level. Stop drinking soda (even diet soda is bad for you). I know that may sound radical to many people who are soda junkies, but aside from drinking pure fructose syrup, soda is just about the worse thing you can drink. Sorry about that. So, if you only drink soda occasionally, stop cold turkey right now. If you drink several cans of soda a day, then start cutting back gradually.
#2 Cut back on cookies, candy, and ice-cream. We need sugar for good health, but not the kind of sugar that is in these yummy dessert treats. And this type of sugar really is addicting…the more you eat it, the more you want it. Even if your preferred dessert has no fat, it is still fattening, and that is because unused sugar in our bodies turns to fat. I know it’s a bummer, but it’s true.
So, how do we cut back on desserts when they are soooo yummy? Try starting a list (nothing fancy), and write down what and when you eat one of these sugar filled treats. Now go back to your list…Is there any way you could consider replacing one of those items with a healthier sweet treat? Make one change at a time, with your goal being, to eventually change to healthy sweets altogether.
High Fructose Challenge: If you already turn your nose up to cookies, and candy (good for you), now take it to the next level. Make a conscious effort to monitor your intake of sugar and high fructose syrup, by always checking labels. You would be surprised how much of this stuff is sneaking into our diets. For example, you may think eating canned or jarred fruit is good for you, but many (for reasons I can not understand, considering fruit is naturally sweet), add tons of sugar and fructose. Always check and try to get only fruit without added sugar. Other items that seem healthy but you should check the ingredients before you buy are…cereal, yogurt, and all packaged treats that claim to be low in fat and/or calories.
#3 Cut back on high fat snacks and fast food. Use the same method I have mentioned above for sugar, and do the same thing with your high fat intake. Figure out what you are eating, and then gradually make changes. Just noticing what areas you could make changes in, will make it easier for you to find ways to eliminate or reduce the amount of fatty foods you ingest.
High Fat Challenge: If you already eat very little high fat junk foods, then try taking it to the next level. As with sugar, fat is sneaking into foods in greater numbers than you may realize. Try to make it a habit to check labels and compare. Make choices that have zero trans-fat (as this is the fat that is the worst for you), and lower in fat.
So, there you have it. Don’t be overwhelmed. Just make a commitment to yourself that you will be aware of what you are putting into your body, and gradually make changes. Once you have been successful with one change make another, and so on, and so on. Before you know it, you will be eating healthy. As you make these changes, you will also begin to notice that you feel better and have more energy, making it easier for you to continue replacing unhealthy foods for healthy ones.
Are you making significant life decisions from a place of fear or anger? Most of us do. When we make choices and respond to people and situations in our life, in reaction to fearful and angry emotions, we are choosing unhappiness. From the little responses and decisions in our life, right up to the big ones.
You can read this full post at my new blog - CatherineBlogs.com (my first attempt at a blog with ads), I’d love to know what you think. Thanks. And, don’t worry…I still plan on continuing my blogging here and at all my other blogs.
Hi everyone, I’m back from the BlogHer conference in Chicago. And, it was GREAT. My plan is to write a whole post about the conference, the people, the experience…and more. However, I have been extremely ill since I have been home (I’m certain I picked-up something on the plane, I always do).
I decided to re-post “Finding Empowerment Through Adversity”, from back in January when I first began blogging. Many of the bloggers I talked with in Chicago, seemed to have similar stories of hardships that were the catalyst to their personal empowerment, and brought them to blogging.
Dieting and Weight Loss — It’s all about eating healthy foods, not starvation. — by Catherine Morgan
Successful dieting and weight loss comes from one thing, and it’s not a bottle or a book. Being successful at weight loss takes only one step…A commitment to eating healthy foods. Here are several posts I have done on the subject of dieting and eating healthy, and also many links to other bloggers blogging on the same subject.
IS IT EVER TOO LATE TO FOLLOW OUR DREAMS? — by Catherine Morgan
With the pressures of daily life, do any of us really have time to think about our dreams? Do we even know what our dreams are? Kids know what their dreams are, just ask them…What do you want to be when you grow up? It is always such an easy answer for them. But once we do grow up, then what? Is is too late for us?
HOW WE CAN CREATE PEACE AND LOVE IN OUR LIVES - BY LETTING GO OF ANGER AND HATE - by Catherine Morgan
If we wish peace for ourselves, me must first wish peace for others. How do we do that? I think a good place to start is to take “hate” out of our thoughts and mind. It’s easy to say you’re not a hater, but to truly live a life without hating is not that easy. Here are a few suggestions….
COLORFUL MEDITATION - For meditation and stress reduction is 6 mins of continuous highly complex computer generated kaleidoscopic imagery with an original New Age ambient music soundtrack….from www.cinemandala.com
I found this video, and I thought it would make a good post. I hope you like it.
If you liked this video, you should also check out what I put up on my other site…..It is a video of inspirational quotes set to the song “Starry Starry Night”. It is really beautiful. You can see it at BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN YOURSELF
WHAT ARE LIFE’S GREATEST LESSONS? — by Catherine Morgan
“When we begin to take our failures non-seriously, it means we are ceasing to be afraid of them. It is of immense importance to learn to laugh at ourselves” — Katherine Mansfield
What I think this quote is saying, is that the importance of failures in our lives, will only be revealed to us, once we stop looking at them as failures. What we learn from our so-called “failures”, are usually the greatest lessons in our lives, and we need to open our eyes so we can see that.
If You Want To Attract Love, Be A Loving Person — by Catherine Morgan
Did you ever notice that angry people tend to attract other angry people? That greedy people, enjoy the company of other greedy people? Just like we choose to associate with people in our lives that have similar interests as we do, we are also unconsciously choosing people that are putting out that same emotional “frequency” as we do.
So, who cares? Well, you should. That is; if you are interested in “attracting” people into your life that are kind, caring, and loving, and not angry, bitter, and hateful.
It’s all about awareness. If you are attracting negative people into your life, it is most likely that you are putting out negative “energy”, and you are most likely doing that because you are feeling negative “emotions”. If you are aware of that, you can work on putting out more positive energy, by choosing to feel more positive emotions. It is really very simple.
Tips for Happiness in Daily Life — by Remez Sasson
Daily life can be made happier. It is a matter of choice. It is our attitude that makes us feel happy or unhappy. It is true, we meet all kinds of situations during the day, and some of them may not be conductive to happiness. We can choose to keep thinking about the unhappy events, and we can choose to refuse to think about them, and instead, relish the happy moments. All of us constantly go through various situations and circumstances, but we do not have to let them influence our reactions and feelings.
This is an e-mail that was sent to me a few months ago, since it still applies, and is important for all women to know, I decided to post it on this site.
Because of recent abductions, in daylight hours,refresh yourself of these things to do in an emergency situation…
FINDING EMPOWERMENT THROUGH ADVERSITY — by Catherine Morgan
When we are suffering it is very difficult, if not impossible, to see the “light at the end of the tunnel”. But, it is there. You will get through it. And, in time your wounds really will be healed.
Can something good come out of adversity? Often in the face of adversity, we are unable to see anything through our pain. The only thing we can think about, are questions. Why is this happening to me? How will I go on? How will I survive? These are all reasonable questions, and in the depth of your pain you will ask them, and more. But, there are no answers to these questions. Only after you realize this, will you be able to go on, and let go.
WOMEN AND HEART DISEASE — KNOWING THE FACTS COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE — by Catherine Morgan
You should know that…Women are at a very high risk for heart disease and heart attacks. In fact, heart disease is the leading cause of death among women over 65. American women are 4 to 6 times more likely to die of heart disease than of breast cancer. Women are also less likely to survive a heart attack than a man.
The biggest factors that contribute to heart disease are smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, family history and age. Take some time to look at your lifestyle, family history and your general health. Even though you can’t do much about your family history or your age, you can make lifestyle changes to avoid many of the other risk factors. Here is a list of what doctors recommend:
“Be the change you want to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi
Are you making significant life decisions from a place of fear or anger? Most of us do. When we make choices and respond to people and situations in our life in reaction to fearful and angry emotions, we are choosing unhappiness. From the little responses and decisions in our life, right up to the big ones. So, who cares? Why does this even matter? I genuinely believe we all want peace in our lives. Peace on earth would be great too. The saying; “Be the change you want to see in the world”, suggests that by making positive changes in our own lives, we contribute to a wave that can flow from us, to our family, to our communities, and to the world. It is such a sweet thought. Even if you don’t believe that minor changes you make in your own life can make a difference in the world, there is no doubt that the way we feel emotionally greatly affects our overall personal happiness.
If we all just took a little stock in our daily reactions, and paid attention to our responses and decisions, and most importantly noticed when we are responding from a place of fear or anger. If we did this, we could then choose to take more time before we respond to such things, and think them through a bit more. Why is this important? Well, it’s important because once you realize what you are doing and how it affects your life, you can then take the steps to make changes that bring you to a more happy and peaceful place. When you catch yourself reacting out of fear or anger, take a minute to think about how you would react to the same situation from a place of peace or love. If you can’t do that, at least try to find a “neutral” feeling and respond from there. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this is an easy thing to do. It is by far, the harder thing to do. But, just try it. Start out by choosing one aspect of your life (ie: work, family, husband, etc.), and consciously decide to take fear and anger out of your decision process and out of your reactions. See how it makes you feel. You will be happier, and the people around you will be happier too. This is because when you react to someone in anger, they will most likely respond back to you in anger. Of course the opposite is also true. If you respond to someone in a kind way, they will most likely respond back to you in a kind way.
Did you ever respond to someone in an angry way just because something else had made you mad? Did you ever wonder how your reaction may have caused that person to react to the next person they encountered? It’s a vicious cycle, but luckily it works both ways. It seems to me, that we are all being a change that can be seen in the world. The question then becomes; are the changes we make affecting the world for better or for worse?
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