I would like to offer you my best diet tips for weight loss that may be unusual but can boost your weight loss efforts.
Some tips are daily habits that can easily be incorporated into your lifestyle and will help you with appetite control and losing weight gradually.
Starting new habits
If you want things to change, then you must incorporate change into your life. If you are serious about weight loss. whether you choose to do it gradually or quickly over a shorter time frame, then you must start new habits. The habits I chose to share with you are simple and easy to add to your regime.
Tip 1
I substitute coffee and tea with water laced with lemon juice or lemon essential oil. Lemons are so expensive at the moment and, as my partner and I both use it daily, we use lemon essential oil ( just a couple of drops in our water container) It is thirst quenching-a lot of times when we think we are hungry, we are actually thirsty, so always have a drink before you go into the pantry.It is a simple habit that controls hunger and you should prepare a bottle daily for you to drink. I put it in the freezer when I wake up and then remove it when I go to work. Just the right temperature and keeps cool most of the day. I start the day with this drink, the first thing when I hit the kitchen.I noticed that when I drink tea and coffee throughout the day, I actually feel more hungry!
Tip 2
Apple Cider Vinegar-this is a wonderful product to have in your cupboard with many uses. I know some people shudder at its taste but it does not have to be unpleasant. I think people go overboard with the amount they use and any wonder they are not using it! I use it only twice a day and that is enough for me as it curbs the desire to nibble on something. There are a variety of ways to use it:-i) One teaspoon in a glass of water (or half a glass, if you want to drink less) with one teaspoon of honey. Some say one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar-do what you can tolerate as you won’t do anything that pains you! Even if you are on a diet, you can still have desserts, so allow honey to be your special thing. It has good properties so I don’t have a problem using it for weight loss.This drink has significantly helped in reducing my hunger pangs and tendency to reach for something to eat, and I drink it twice a day.
Tip 3
I read about turmeric for pain relief in joint pain and as a weight loss agent (as well as cancer) so I started incorporating it into our daily regime.Note: For turmeric to work, it must have 2 elements added to it- heat and black pepper. Honey also must be pure.We combined turmeric, a touch of black pepper, cider vinegar and honey with warm water. Hot water will take away the potency of honey and vinegar! Sometimes, we have this beverage straight or we may add it to tea or coffee, if we have a desire to have them.My partner went to the Home Show and brought home a large container of Tumerix.I wish we could be affiliates for this product as it is wonderful. It has everything in it that helps you with weight loss, as well as other ailments. It has black pepper, ginger, cinnamon….just to name a few spices.I also drink this twice a day sometimes, instead of the other drink. So I change it around with my mood but, either way, the drinks control hunger very noticeably.If you use Tumerix with tea, then it is like a chai tea. If you put it in coffee, it tastes like Golden Coffee. So versatile and delicious!And guess who throws it into her main meals, as well!
Tip 4
I read the Boiled Egg Diet online, which is only meant to be done for a very short time. After one week, I lost 10 centimetres off my hips and chest, and 11 centimetres off my waist. The funny thing was that I broke it so many times, sometimes not my fault!
Yes, I ate pizza and, on boiling hot days, I ate ice cream and I also ate crackers at night!
However, it works.
The reason I brought it up was that I wanted to share ideas that were more long-term habit-changing ideas.
I wanted to show how you can modify a short-term diet into a more long-term habit.
What I found with the Egg Diet was that I was never hungry in the morning.
This surprised me as I was used to having at least one slice of multigrain toast for breakfast and I thought I would be hungry with the breakfast of 2 boiled eggs and I orange.
I have adapted it to eating the breakfast of this diet now.
My habit now is to eat 2 boiled eggs and an orange for breakfast each day I work and I never feel peckish and can last comfortably until my snack and lunch breaks.
I can be a bit peckish in the evening so my splurges are a slice on toasted multigrain bread with vegemite or peanut butter or Salada crackers.
The habit of eating boiled eggs and oranges for breakfast has helped me with slow, gradual weight loss.
Tip 5
I'm lost without this in my fridge-natural Greek yoghurt, laced with garlic, chopped cucumbers and cumin.
Yes, a snack in the afternoon or during the day is wonderful for keeping hunger pangs away. I worked with a young Maltese girl who put me onto the cumin and I now love it!
I have shared just a few tips that you may like to try and add to your repertoire of healthy diet practices. I hope this post has been helpful to you.
I am interested in hearing what you find successful so pop a comment below.
I decided to find out how gratitude contributes to wellness as there are many memes and printables focusing on gratitude.
Have we ever thought about gratitude and its importance to us as a society?
What is gratitude?
Gratitude is a social emotion and it connects us to our social world.
It is directed at someone who has helped us in some way and it can range from a simple act of someone offering their seat on public transport to lifelong gratitude for an act of kindness that may have had grand repercussions to someone, such as an act that may have saved someone's life.
The power of gratitude is its ability to build repricocity in others so if you practise gratitude towards others, they are more inclined to reciprocate gratitude themselves.
Gratitude becomes a circular event that connects us socially, with warm feelings towards other human beings.
Scientific research has shown that practising gratitude, with you being the giver or receiver, stimulates the frontal cortex of the brain and this sets a chain reaction that ultimately leads to a boost in our mental wellbeing.
Practising gratitude helps us become better human beings by being less selfish in our wants and perceived needs, and develops humility in ourselves.
Instead of focusing on perceived deficits, such as the lack of material wealth, we focus on our blessings by actively thinking about the 'positives' in our daily and long-term life.
It is so easy to focus, for example, on one bad thing that has happened and not let it go.
That one thing masks the many good things that have also happened and we need a jolt in our thinking to put things in perspective as focusing on negatives can impact your mental wellness.
What prompted me to start thinking about gratitude?
As I spend a lot of time on Pinterest, I saw an idea that I loved. It was the Gratitude Jar, wherein you write one thing you are grateful for each day and place this note in the jar.
At the end of the year, you should have 365 memories of things you were grateful for throughout the year.
I thought it was a great idea and what a lot of lovely memories you would be reliving, that you would ordinarily have forgotten.
It is a great way of training your mind to think of something that was positive and uplifting, and that you are grateful for.
Throughout my life, I have seen others who spend most of their time ruminating on all the negatives in their lives and focusing on bad memories.
They were emotionally draining, unhappy people.
Should you make an effort to practise the art of gratitude?
As mentioned earlier, practising gratitude has a beneficial effect on our brain and mental and physical wellness.
On social media, time and time again, I have often read that if we ever saw the effects negative thought had on us internally, we would never have a negative thought again. I was listening to an audiobook prior to sitting down to write this part, and it was discussing the effects that negative and positive thoughts have on us and it made an astounding statement. Along with the claims that are perhaps expected, it said that when we are in a negative zone e.g. we are scared of bees that may be in our line of sight, we emit our anxiety so powerfully that a bee can actually pick up our vibrations, interpret our anxiety and sting us. I have never been scared of bees so that may explain why I have not been stung, even though there were plenty of bees around as I grew up.
I have decided to add this in as an interesting fact, and you may or not believe it!
One article went into depth about how a negative thought triggers a set of physical reactions within our body and it was staggering to read how many reactions our bodies experience, without us being aware of the potentially harmful chemical surges within our body.
Having negative thoughts sets a train of events inside our bodies that we cannot fully perceive as it is invisible to us.
So it is valuable to train yourself to practise gratitude until it becomes a habit.
I have witnessed a total lack of gratitude in others who are unable to say 'thank you' for a present or unexpected handout, for time spent helping them or mentoring them in a new job and they are negative souls and you can never get their loyalty. Needless to say, they have fractured relationships in life and this turmoil cannot be good for their mental or physical wellness.
If you feel you have nothing to feel grateful for or think that you are a 'half-glass empty' person who dwells on the negative, remember that :
Today
someone took their last breath
someone received news that they had a life-threatening illness
someone was just retrenched
someone lost a baby
someone didn't have enough money when shopping and had to put groceries back
someone suffers from depression in silence
someone had news that their partner had just died
someone who needs to work has a sick child but manages their family
someone has a child with a diagnosis that means lifelong special care
someone is in an abusive relationship but it is better than living on the street or being stalked
someone whose marriage has deteriorated and finding it hard to keep up the pretence
someone is having a breakdown and being judged by family
What to be grateful for each day:
Do you appreciate
someone you don't know smiling at you unexpectedly?
offering you a seat?
making you a cup of tea or coffee?
cooking dinner?
taking you out for dinner?
helping you with a project?
staying after work to talk to you?
a child bringing you a flower? (I get this sometimes from school children)
letting you go first in the queue?
someone picking up something you dropped?
So many possibilities!
The Benefits of Gratitude
The benefits of gratitude are twofold: physical and mental wellness. Some people are better at it than others so, for some, it is a habit to be acquired by practising with deliberate intention.
Without gratitude, we lose the 'glue' that binds us, not only to those we know but to the rest of humanity. Those who helped Jewish people escape from the Nazis, by hiding them in their houses, did so at their own peril.
The gratitude felt by those who were saved was a lifelong feeling towards those strangers.
Gratitude develops trust towards the humanity of others.
If people are kind to strangers, we feel safer and more secure in our place in the world.
How to start developing the habit of gratitude.
It takes 30 days to develop a new habit and this habit is a worthwhile, important habit for your overall happiness.
This Gratitude journal has 3 vital components in it, to help you focus on developing your road to a happier life through the practice of gratitude. You can see it here.
I decided to write about the healthy hair hacks I practice, and know of, as hair is your crowning glory and women are often admired for their hair.
When I was younger, I was lucky to have thick, healthy hair that did not need a lot of tricks to look good. It was healthy and I did not have to worry about split ends, dullness or dandruff.
As I got older, I noticed some grey hairs appearing and started dyeing my hair and this did not impact on my hair for a long time.
However, age dries out our skin and hair and I noticed that my hair started to dry out and be more unmanageable. I also read about the harmful effects of dyes entering our bodies so, as I am more intent on being as healthy as I possibly can, I decided to stop dyeing my hair.
But I was not ready to go 'grey' yet so I trialed something and it worked. I have nay-sayers but it works so give it a go and see if it works for you.
This is what I did and it is simple and also much cheaper than dyeing your hair.
I bought a hair rinse from the supermarket for a few dollars, the shade of my original hair.
Now, these rinses tell you to leave them in for relatively short times but I leave it in for one hour. That is as simple and as effective as you get: leave it in for at least one hour to cover greys and get the colour you want.
Now, others keep telling me that rinses do not cover grey hair but I have much more grey than the young nay-sayers who are only sprouting a few here and there!
The benefits of this healthy hair hack:
1. It lasts for 3-4 months while it covers my grey. True!
2. It gently fades so no ugly stripe on top of your head.
3. Hair is shiny and healthy as rinses do not have the harmful chemicals that dyes have.
4. It is much cheaper to buy a rinse for $5, which lasts for over 3 months. 5. If you have dyed your hair, you can use a rinse over the top when it is starting to fade and this will lengthen its life, as well as covering the tell-tale stripe.
Healthy Hair Hack Two:
If your hair is very dry or unmanageable, you can use olive oil.
Dampen your clean hair and apply warm olive oil throughout your hair. Massage it well into your hair.
Wrap glad wrap around your head and leave it in for an hour. Then wash out with shampoo.
As you get older, your hair does get drier and you get 'fly-away' bits sticking out everywhere. You can easily make them more manageable and sleek-looking by spraying the tiniest spray over your hair while it is damp, then brush it through. No more fly-aways and it doesn't have that stiff hairspray look. Just temember to brush it after you have sprayed.
Healthy Hair Hack Three:
Use essential oils in your shampoo. This will make your hair smell heavenly, and you can choose your favourite oils for their scent or you can focus on their beneficial uses.
You only need to add a few drops into your shampoo as essential oils are highly concentrated.
You can use peppermint oil in your shampoo as menthol helps control dandruff. The added benefit to using peppermint is that it is a brain stimulant and helps with alertness.
The citrus blends will help with oil control.
If you are interested in having a look at the oils I use, you can visit the doTerra website. I am not an advocate, only a user, and I would not recommend any other company.
The oils are the purest, and are also suitable for cooking and last for a very long time as you only use tiny amounts.
Another great product that is great for your hair. For all the lovers of nature-based products, you will love the multitude of natural oils in this product.
As an Amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
DoTERRA Essential Oils-Is It the Business For You?
Why you should be considering doTERRA as a business opportunity?
So you are obviously interested in essential oils, have used them with success, want a side hustle you can start from home or have heard the buzz around them, and want more information.
In general, people are impacted upon by unhealthy practices e.g. bad food choices, and environmental issues and are seeking more natural, holistic solutions outside of the more traditional pharmaceutical solutions. There is a trust in the old ways and a desire to work on wellness so it supports our journey to ultimate health.
Health is not just about going to a doctor or a pharmacy but it is about making daily choices that impact upon our overall wellness.
So you see, there is a huge niche out there looking for solutions and doTERRA is able to support those people looking for solutions to everything from skin care, hair care, dental care, general wellness, healing, and natural cleaning solutions for the home.
Is a doTERRA business a good fit for you?
Do you have the desire to have a more natural, chemical free lifestyle for you and your family?
Are you willing to continue learning about essential oils and support other people learning about them?
Are you willing to share your ideas and experiences with others? An example of this- the other night, my partner came home limping so I used Ice Blue on his heel etc. I passed this experience on to my groups( with more explanation, of course). SIMPLE AS THAT!
Do you like helping others?
If you already have a strong belief and passion for essential oils, are you willing to share your belief and passion?
Do you wish to work with products that are pure, high quality, therapeutic grade?
Do you wish to work with an ethical, generous company that provides you with great products at wholesale prices plus great incentives that help you get products free or much cheaper?
Do you wish to work with a company that has a passion for helping the communities from whom they source the products? DoTERRA leaves a huge imprint on communities by providing ethical employment, services, training and education in third world communities.
Would you like to work from home? Your sponsor can demonstrate a workshop, if you choose to have a one on one session with a client, or a small group of 3-4. It is not cumbersome, nor is a party expected as we don't wish clients to be out of pocket.
Or you can do most, if not all, of your work online so your clients order online and it is shipped directly to them. You just see your commission and accumulated points at the end of the month and you can choose to buy or put it in your bank.
DoTERRA provides you with a beautiful website that is a high quality website. It is up to you whether or not you have a blog, in addition to your doTERRA site.
How do you market doTERRA products?
You try to share your information every day- Facebook has doTERRA groups and you will automatically be invited to your sponsor's group, if you decide to join as a Wellness Advocate (not necessarily a sales rep).
You can build your own Facebook Page or group and put up some ads with your links, or just share your 'oily' thoughts.
You can share your links through other Social media. I do a lot on Social Media and am very willing to help you with the what's and how's of Social media advertising. I love graphic design and can help you a lot with your ads.
You can carry your business cards around with you and hand them out when an opportunity arises, while you are out of the house.
You can carry a small essential oils pack in your bag. There are different sizes- the smallest bags carry 6 or 8 products, and grab the opportunity to get them out and show others, when you are out and about.
OK I'm in! How do I get started?
To start a business does not require any payment as such but all sales representatives are Wellness Advocates but not all Wellness Advocates are Sales Representatives!
I'll explain:
When you buy from doTERRA, you can be a retail customer and pay full price.
You can pay $35 and become a Wellness Advocate which entitles you to 25% (wholesale price) of all products, plus points for products bought by you and your customers. This builds very quickly and enables you to get lots of free products.
For instance, for Peppermint, a retail customer would pay $34 while a Wellness Advocate pays $25.50 and 25 points towards another product.
I have another post you may like to read, with more background to this.
My daughter had no intention of doing it as a business but she is such a good wellness advocate that people are signing up with her. You know why???????
Because the products sell themselves! And if you have the passion and belief in the essential oils that just adds to your success.
After becoming a Wellness Advocate, you get a beautiful website and no other outlay. You can buy products, as you feel inclined.
Do you need to know about the different ways to use essential oils? Definitely, a big YES! As time goes on, knowledge changes so we need to keep up with the latest knowledge if we are going to get the maximum benefit from our oils.
Later, in this post, I will discuss how you can start taking responsibility for your wellness.
When I first came upon essential oils, it was when my older children were teenagers and, later, as a representative for Le Reve. (preceding post Part 1) At that time, essential oils were starting to appear in large department stores and oil burners were flying out the stores' doors.
My first bottle of essential oil was Rosemary and that was 21 years ago, for the princely sum of $37 at Myer. We had quite a collection of oil burners at home. So that's what I used and, in all honesty, the effects were immediately noticeable on me.
Later, with Le Reve at my fingertips, I had quite a collection of oils in my pretty box.
When I worked in a particularly stressful environment, I would come home and use my relaxing oils- often geranium, rose and lavender- and have a power nap before making dinner. It was so refreshing as I could have a short but deep, rejuvenating nap.
Since those days, the knowledge has changed. I signed up with doTERRA as one of my daughters suffers from a chronic condition, and she was seeking complimentary ways of enhancing her wellness.
She made up a mixture of oils blended with coconut oil for my never-ending throat tickle and with a half teaspoon of this mixture, I had relief for the rest of the afternoon and night.
That was the winning point for me!
How have the ways of using essential oils changed?
When I originally started using essential oils, I always used an oil burner. Today, the word is that, when you burn the oils, you are killing their potency and therefore not getting the full benefits of the essential oils.
So I defer to this knowledge and, although I did feel the effects of the essential oils using a burner, I want to get the full effect of the oil by using the different methods now advocated.
Different Ways of using your essential oils:
Aromatic Way- inhaling or using a diffuser to support your airways and affect your mood.
I use the doTERRA diffuser and it has cool vapour so it does not affect the potency of the oils.
I have a myriad of doTERRA recipes for making different concoctions as to what I want to inhale or diffuse.
As you become more knowledgeable about the oils, you start to make up your own recipes and many doTERRA groups share their experiences and recipes- like a devoted club of members helping each other out.
Topically-apply to the bottoms of the feet or specific areas of the body.
Did you know that if you massage essential oils into the feet, it only takes 20 seconds to filter into your body. It is also a safe method to use with children and babies, when diluted in the correct amounts.
Drop under the tongue, or put the oil into a gel cap, or in water to support digestion. DoTERRA is 100% pure and is certified as safe to ingest. Each batch can be traced to its source. If you are not using doTERRA, don't ingest unless the product has a guarantee as to its safety.
Safety message for you- ALWAYS make sure the essential oil you are using is a pure, therapeutic-grade essential oil. It must be guaranteed pure, natural, and free of synthetic compounds and contaminants.
Using essential oils can be life-changing but profoundly simple.
My partner has had 2 battles with cancer so he was very interested in learning all about the products to improve his immune system and increase vitality.
He was a truck driver and drove 12 hours overnight. He often suffered from fatigue. He always took a bottle of peppermint oil with him. He would wipe it onto his neck area or even take a whiff, when tired. He swears by it and never left without it.
I used to be very tired and foggy in the mornings so I got used to diffusing lemon and lavender in the car, on the way to work. It worked like magic and, after a 20-minute drive, my head was clear and I felt ready for the day.
I love essential oils and my partner and I have a lavender and coconut oil foot massage each night, and I also rub it 2-3 times a day into my eczema on my ankle, which is the result of an extreme allergic response to being bitten 16 years ago by sandflies plus a chemical burn from harsh steroid cream prescribed by a doctor.
I use Whisper (new product) as my perfume and my partner just keeps smelling me- we both love it!
How to take responsibility for your wellness with essential oils?
You can join as an advocate with doTerra. It just means that you are interested in learning more about essential oils and natural ways of caring for yourself and your family from doTERRA literature, websites, and from online groups on Facebook.
You pay $35 and get 25% of all products plus being allocated points value for each product I buy. Believe me, doTERRA is VERY generous in this regard and the points add up very quickly and, before you know it, it's time for you to choose a FREE product.
Why is it worth paying the $35?
I am not an affiliate for doTerra but I do have their oils and I believe them to be the best.
BENEFIT 1
Well, 25% is an extremely generous discount as, for example, I could pay $34 for peppermint oil or I could choose to pay $25. The maths. makes it an easy decision.
More maths.- 21 years ago, I bought a bottle of Rosemary for $37. I could pay doTERRA's price of $28.68 as a retail customer or, as a Wellness Advocate, pay $21.50.
My daughter is absolutely delighted as she said she can't believe all the FREE products they parcel out to her because of the Points Value she receives for purchases- she says she keeps on getting! The points value of what you buy entitles you to further percentages off the products.
BENEFIT 2
The sharing of mutual experiences and a place to go where you can ask questions means you are constantly learning.
If you buy from a shop, you walk out with the product and a few words from the staff, who may or may not know much about the many different uses and applications of the oil purchased, or you go home and do some research yourself.
But the chances are that you will probably not learn the range of uses and different applications that are possible with essential oils.
BENEFIT 3
Being a wellness advocate is not about being pressured to start your own business.
It is about being able to afford pure, therapeutic-grade essential oils through their generous wholesale prices and learning and sharing experiences in the doTERRA community (if you want).
You will automatically be invited to a doTERRA community online. How much you contribute is totally up to you. The opportunity is there if you wish to extend the offer to others in the community.
