Combat fear by developing self-confidence

Here are few guidelines:


1. Emphasize your strengths. Focus on what it is that you are capable of achieving and praise yourself for your strength and your struggle than focusing on the results. Beginning on a foundation of things that you are capable rather than what should you be doing will help you live and work within your limitations.


2. Talk to yourself. Examine yourself and practice how to handle situations as well as counter negative ones. Know when to stop when you catch yourself in a negative assumption.


For instance, when you find yourself demanding perfection, tell yourself that everything can not result perfectly. This will allow you to believe in yourself at the same time that you are striving to get better.


3. Evaluate yourself. Practice how to independently evaluate yourself. This will let you avoid the persistent sense of confusion that results when you are relying completely on the opinions and judgment of others.


4. Take those risks. When you face and accept experiences as instruments for learning than possibilities to lose or win, new opportunities can be unlocked and this can develop your self awareness and acceptance.


Remember, self-confidence can be developed, not inherited; and fear can be overcome because you have the trust and the faith in yourself to do so.

Here are some factors that contribute to one’s fear:

1.  When we feel separated, fear increases.  A fact is that one does not fear those he is familiar with (people and surroundings).  Fear arises when there is a certain feeling of estrangement, which exhibits overall sense or impression of suspicion.

2.  Attachment to individuals as well as material things associated with one’s
security cause one to fear that one might loose them, so one will do everything
in order to protect one’s relationships, possessions or his self-image.

3.  Strange surroundings and unfamiliar people bring about fear. Unfamiliar
situations threat one’s security and usually one reacts with extreme caution and
at times, defensive behavior.

4.  One’s negative memory of past experiences where one had either suffered or
witnessed loss, harm or death aggravates fear. The subconscious retains memories of the past and at certain circumstances, these are ignited.

5. Imagination at times can create or invent images of trouble, suffering or pain
outside physical truth or reality.  Note that Imagination is never negative,
however when misused and abused, it can bring so much fear in oneself.

Secrets of Looking and Feeling Younger

The truth is we begin the aging process just as soon as we pop out of the womb. Every day of our lives our bodies slough off and regenerate new cells. The speed at which that process takes place when we are children is vastly different as we get older.


For years explorers searched for the illusive “fountain of youth.” Unfortunately, it does not exist or you wouldn’t be reading this.

Every day you are bombarded daily with commercial messages that attempt to lure you into believing that the most recent miracle drug is just what you need to fight off the ravages of Mother Nature.

At times it seems as though there are more miracle methods than ever being flashed in front of your eyes each day. . .and there are. Ask any advertising executive and they will admit that there are more advertisements than ever touting everything designed to cash in on a huge market. What is that market? It’s the aging Baby Boomers.

We are living longer as a whole. Singularly, that can be a curse or a blessing depending on your perspective. In this book we will explore low and no cost methods you can use to help in the anti-aging process.

Some of our material may be new and some serve as reminders of things we may have forgotten. We may not have had much say in how we arrived on this earth, but we can certainly determine how and when we will depart. Just remember, YOU are in control.
 
To the readers watch out for the next post, it will be about the factors that affect aging.

Factors that Affect Aging

LIFESTYLE

We have to discuss it. You’ve heard it before but it must be repeated. You ARE what you eat. There are over 13.5 million Americans alive today who have a history of heart attacks, angina or a combination of both. 50% of them are age 60 or older and 83% who die of heart attacks are 65 or more.


Today, many doctors rank fat intake right up there with smoking for leading cause of death. What can you do about? Plenty.

Fat – Americans love fat. We love fat so much that we eat the equivalent of 1 ½ cups of butter every week! Yes, that’s correct. Walk to your refrigerator and pull out 6 sticks of butter and imagine them placed at different points in and out of your body. Pretty scary, isn’t it? Excess fat intake is directly attributable to:

• Elevated cholesterol
• Elevated triglycerides
• High blood pressure
• Diabetes
• Excess weight.

 Taking control of just this single area of your overall health will substantially reduce your chances of heart disease as well as reducing the risk of stroke. Stroke occurs when blood clots block arteries that supply blood to the brain.

Cancer is another possible by-product of excess fat in the diet.

In fact dietary fat is credited with playing a role in as much as 40% of cancers in men and 60% of cancers in women.

Red meat is considered to be one of the biggest culprits, increasing the instance of colon, rectal and prostate cancer in men.

For women the results are colon and possibly breast cancer. And, researchers are now beginning to believe it may play a role in lung cancer as well.



So why do we still eat it?


Yes, it is true that dietary fat exists for a reason. It does provide us with the fatty acids we need to control our body temperature, give us healthy skin and hair and protect nerves and our vital organs.


The problem is that not all fats are created equal and many of us just don’t understand the difference.

 

Continuation Factors that Affect Aging

Fats


Monounsaturated fats such as olive and canola oils and polyunsaturated fats like corn and safflower oils are considered somewhat healthy when taken in moderation.

Saturated fats that we find predominantly in meat, eggs and dairy products are attributed with causing major health problems especially when consumed in large amounts.

Trans-fatty acids are another type of harmful fat. These are unsaturated fats that food manufacturers use to solidify certain foods like margarine and vegetable shortening. In addition to being harmful they have no dietary value at all.

It is unfortunate that a typical American meal does not consist of one type of fat or another but a combination of several so that when we eat we can consume a large amount of bad fat.

Switching to a low-fat style of eating mostly unsaturated fats you may very well quickly feel rejuvenated regardless of your age. No matter what your age or medical conditions might be, diabetes, high cholesterol, gout or heart disease a low-fat diet is the way to go.

Limit saturated fat to less than 10% of your daily calories and cut back on the fatty acids and the benefits will increase life expectancy.

Continuation Factors that Affect Aging

Fiber – If there was one element of our diets that we would ‘wish away’ it might be fiber.  Fiber is what is left over after our bodies have squeezed every bit of nutritive value from the foods we eat. Don’t discount fiber, however.  It is a very important part of a healthy diet.

Sadly, most older Americans get no more than 14.8 grams of fiber a day when you actually need 25 to 35 grams to protect against disease!

You can make up the difference by changing dietary habits and do it easily.  Researchers have found an astounding 33% drop in cholesterol in some patients who did nothing more than increase fiber
and reduce fat. And, there is research being conducted that indicates the perillyl alcohol contained in fiber shows promise of actually slowing down the growth of certain cancer tumors.


Before we take a look at how fiber can combat cancer, we need to explore the two different types of fiber – insoluble and soluble.  Each type works differently to fight disease.

Insoluble fiber comes from a substance that forms in the cell walls of plants.  The reason it is called insoluble is because your body does not break it down as it passes through the digestive system.  It is what gives your stool its bulk helping it to move faster through your system.  This is why certain foods that are high in soluble fiber like bran are said to be natures laxatives.


Grain products and vegetables have loads of fiber.  While at first look it appears more as rabbit food than cancer fighting, studies show that insoluble fiber helps to fight colon cancer and researchers believe it also helps to fight breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers as well.

In Finland low rates of breast and colon cancer are linked directly to diets rich in cereals.


Certain parts of Africa where people consume lots of high fiber foods the incidence of intestinal disease is practically nil.

Let’s take a look at how it works. Insoluble fiber will soak up water as if it were a sponge thereby

making stools bulkier.  That excess bulk spreads out cancer causing components over a larger area preventing them from grouping together to do damage.


Fiber is the equivalent of a super highway through the intestines  that gets things moving faster so there are fewer opportunities for any interaction between cells lining the colon and any cancerous agents.


Fiber works with the levels of acids in the intestines changing the  way that certain bacteria do the job.  The result is increased  fermentation.  Yes, it may cause gas but it also makes it harder for  carcinogens to get in your body.  It also plays a role in regulating the  levels of intestinal bile acids that play a part in the beginning stages of  colon cancer.


The “stuff” that causes breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers latch onto fiber like a magnet which means that those carcinogens are  carried away with other body waste.

Researchers believe that insoluble fiber also contributes to  reducing levels of harmful estrogen that can contribute to the  beginning of breast cancer.  Experiments appear to suggest that  doubling fiber intake and reducing fat can reduce the tumor rate by  50%.


If you can imagine eating foods that can actually stop or slow the growth of tumors wouldn’t you want to eat it?  Well, you can.

Whether canned or dried, Beans in any form contain large amounts of fiber.  Reduce the amount of gas by soaking them overnight in clean, clear water.  Rinse again thoroughly before cooking.

Oat bran added to cereals or eaten as bread is a great source for additional fiber.

Try eating brown rice instead of white.  Brown rice will supply 3.32 grams of fiber per cup while white rice contains only 0.74 grams per cup.

Whole grain bread products are a must.  You can receive 3 grams or more of fiber per slice.  Refined wheat loses fiber and removes trace minerals.


Read the labels in the grocery store, especially the fine print.  The labels will tell you the fiber content of the food per serving.  If the first three or four ingredients listed are grains it means that the product contains more grains than anything else.

Learn to balance the benefit of fiber versus other ingredients.  If a granola bar has one or more grams of fiber it is only a good deal if the fat and calorie content are low.  A snack bar with 100 calories, 2 grams of fat and a single gram of fiber is probably okay.  But if the bar contains 300 calories and more fat that’s way more than you need.

Introduce fiber in your diet one step at a time, gradually increasing and setting goals you can realistically attain.  Storing easy to prepare foods in your pantry can help.  Stock up on low-fat soups, canned beans and cereals that are all easy to prepare.  Keep your freezer filled with vegetable that can be quickly steamed or zapped in
your microwave.


Keep the liquid from canned beans.  There’s a lot of soluble fiber there that may just go down the drain.  Save it to use in soups.

Don’t peel fruits and vegetables.  The skins of apples, pears, peaches and potatoes are rich in soluble fiber.  Eating the white rind of oranges and the membrane in grapefruit also provide extra fiber.

Eat fruits and vegetable whole rather than as juices.  You may get concentrated nutrients from the juices but you lose the fiber in the fruit.  The 14 grams of fiber you get from eating six carrots outweighs
the 2 grams in the juice you created with those 6 carrots.

Some people prefer taking a fiber supplement.  There are many on the market, but be aware that most contain psyllium.  While it is a source of fiber and a natural laxative it can interfere with certain medications you take.  Be sure and check with your doctor.