May 13, 2012
I read a very interesting article from an English newspaper this week.
(Daily Mail Tues April 24th 2102) I thought I would pass on the general information here in this article.
People who serial diet tend to put back their weight and more over a five year period. The more they diet, the more weight they pile on.
Most blame themselves because as soon and the target weight has been reached its easy to go back to normal eating habits and the weight piles back. Yet there is another scientific factor emerging from recent studies..
Scientists are now beginning to understand what happens to the body when it undergoes dieting or ‘starvation’ regimes. Cutting calories alters your metabolism and your brain chemicals. The change in metabolism means your body will horde as much fat as possible. At the same time your mind sends out signals magnifying food cravings. The more you diet the more these factors increase and break your will power.
Basic human biology is the greatest enemy to dieters.
Research by the University of Melbourne saw that dieters having lost weight reported feeling more hungry having finshed the diet than they did when on it. Most study subjects gained back their kilos as tests showed their hormone levels were making them react as if they were starving.
This study backs up other scientific beliefs that the body has evolved to deal with long periods of starvation. The human frame contains more fat storing cells than other animals for its body weight. Our bodies behave rather like Polar Bears who go for long periods without food.
This means our bodies are great at stopping weight loss and weak at preventing weight gain. Losing 10% of your body weight puts into motion the survival mechanism, slowing down the metabolic rate so you burn fewer calories. Going back to a diet with more calories means they will be stored immediatley as fat.
Four weeks into your diet and this survival system kicks in. The bad news is it can last for years, maybe even many as six years.
Studies at Colombia University state that the slowing of the metabolic rate can mean a dieter will need to eat 400 calories less per day after the diet has finished.
Added to this is the change in brain chemical releases stimulating the feeling of more hunger. After dieting brain scans showed that the areas associated the reward mechanism increase in activity whereas the self control function decreases.
Conclusion
Rather than yo-yo dieting, which puts huge stress and strain on the body, be Sensibly Selfish you may be better not dieting at all – no matter what your weight!
Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by on May 13th, 2012. Comment. 
April 2, 2012
A friend of mine once said to me that when your reach midlife if you did not get out of bed with at least one ache and pain, you needed to see a doctor as something must be wrong!
So now you have reached midlife, perhaps you want to make the next 50 years the best. Here’s my top ten tips to get to 100 and beyond!
1. Be conscientious The strongest personality predictor of a long life is conscientiousness, that is, being prudent, persistent, well organized and dependable.
2. Habit
Live by a strict routine, eating the same diet, do the same kind of activity, such as going to bed and waking up at the same time each day will keep your body in the steady equilibrium. As you age it is harder for the body to boune back if you disrupt its patterns making you more susceptible to viruses or bacterial infections.
3. Move your Body
It’s simple – rest and you rust! Exercise improves your body as a whole, bone mass, muscle shape and balance it also improves mood and mental agility.
4. Eat whole foods not Processed
Anything that flies, grazes, swims grows in the ground or above the ground is good to eat. If it comes in a box and has an E number in it – avoid it! Make sure your blood is high in selenium, beta-carotene, vitamins C and E for anti-aging benefits. The more colorful the better. As you age, sugar, and white food need to be avoided.
5. Floss
Flossing at least twice a day keeps down the the bad bacteria in your mouth which not only causes gum disease but is thought to enter the gut and blood stream causing artery and heart issues.
6. Get your Oats!
Getting a serving of oats, especially in the morning, helps maintain stable blood sugar levels throughout the day, which can help lower incidence of diabetes. And as for the other oats – yes sew them as often as you can too!
7. Sleep
Sleep is the bodies way of regenerating and healing make sure you are getting the most from your REM sleep – don’t miss out on it in order to get more done.
8. Get rid of stress
Get your daily dose of humor and find the way that allows you to deal with stress best. Yoga, exercise, meditation, tai chi, or just deep breathing for a few moments are all good. Being negative, eating TV dinners and binge drinking are all very bad.
9. Keep in Touch
Friends, loved ones or just general social interaction is key to avoiding depression, which can lead to premature death.
10. Don’t retire
Stopping work leads to obesity and fatal diseases. In Italy, the Chianti people have a high percentage of centenarians, because they never really retire – spending their new ‘leisure time’ working on their land.
Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by on Apr 2nd, 2012. Comment.
March 11, 2012
My son came to me this week and asked me to watch a You-Tube video, something he very rarely does unless its something hysterical and a few minutes long. This was serious and 30 mins in length! I wondered how he had managed to concentrate for such a long time.
I watched, I cried, I felt angry and sad. I felt uphoria and concern. I felt excited and frightened. I also watched the video go viral and my hair began to stand on end.
Let me explain.
I cried for the fact that until I watched the video I did not know who this person was. I cried for all the lives he had destroyed. I cried for the frustration of the people who had spent the last eight years attempting to get someone to listen to them. I cried that Western greed puts oil and precious metals above life iteslf. I cried as a mother who was blessed to live in the right place and know her children were safe.
I felt angry that adults were using children both in Uganda as battle fodder and in the West as a means to stop Kony. Why was it that my child had heard about this before me? What was wrong with us as adult human beings? Are we exploiting ALL children. Did other parents like me feel concern at the fact that my child was going to buy on-line the ‘Kony pack’ and join in the all night vigil in the city centre on the 20th of April. All decided with their friends on facebook, without consulting parents.
I felt sad that our children have to be subjected to becoming adults too early, that in order for the horror of adult behavior to be stopped we have to subject them to watching it all in minute detail – innocence is no longer.
At midlife realizing that there is now a possibility that war can be stopped in a new way causes uphoria – at last social media has a new meaning. Politicians no longer have the last word. The influence of the crowd now rules what happens in their country. Is this the new way forward for governing the planet?
Concern comes from knowing what is true and not. Kony exsits and I am sure so does his crimes against humanity just as did Adolf Hitler and yet there are people who believe the atrocities against the jews during world war two were a figment of the imagination. We believe all Wikipedia yet not all that is written there is true. Experiments and experience show us that despite what we know to be true, we can be influenced by the majority to believe otherwise.
Just how far will social media go into brainwashing the next generation? What are we not being told. What can you as a mother do to make sure no harm comes from this campaign to your own children?
So have you watched the video – what do you think?
Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by on Mar 11th, 2012. Comment.
March 5, 2012
This is a very short post this week as I am in the middle of organizing an event in Mallorca – International Women’s Day. It has been an interesting exercise and I am so please that I learnt this phrase last year in Malaysia.
Take a moment to read it and then use it. For me it seems even more relevant at midlife and it saves an awful lot of energy worrying about what others think…
"I look them in the eye
I tell them who I am,
and if the don’t like it,
F**K EM!"
What say you?
Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by on Mar 5th, 2012. Comment.
February 20, 2012
Manifestation is a really important word at the moment. Whatever you find in your life has been immediately manifested by you. If you are not happy with what is going on in your world at the moment and you would like to change it, all you have to do is think differently!
Simple – or is it?
In order to see things manifest differently you first have to be conscious of what you think.
Since you think on a constant basis, being actually aware of what you think can be difficult, unless you stop throughout the day and pay attention to what you think and make notes.
Even when you have the information in front of you, its all too easy to give in and go back to old ways.
Unless they find someone who can understand and help them.
You can find help even at midlife!
If you go to my other web page you will find a free gift there, a seven day plan that will help you create the world you want to create.
Its free! Enjoy and let me know what you think.
Also take a look at the kindle post whilst you are there you may want to enter!
Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by on Feb 20th, 2012. Comment.
February 13, 2012
It is that time of year again, the 14th of February and Valentines Day. It is the time many of us rush out to buy that special someone in our life, a card or gift. Perhaps we prepare a special meal or book a favorite restaurant yet, how many of us actually stand in front of the mirror and send loving thoughts in our own direction first?
In order to get the best out of Valentines Day the first person you have to be prepared to love is yourself. If you are happy, content and truly appreciate all your fine qualities, skills and talents, remember you are actually easier to love in return.
If you don’t love yourself first and foremost, it can be very hard to love others in the right way. You may doubt their intentions and this may leave a void in your relationship. In fact it may even leave you without a relationship!
Be Sensibly Selfish of February the 14th, spend a little time getting in contact with who you truly are, make sure you are not hidden underneath the impressions others have of you. Sieve through all those opinions and negativities until you find yourself again.
Make sure it is you who is putting the sparkle into your life, not anyone else!
Put yourself first so that you can be what you want to be. If you need help to do this, now is a perfect time to contact me. Sessions for this week are €50 only!
Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by on Feb 13th, 2012. Comment.
February 8, 2012
We are reaching an important stage in our worldly development, whether you are 20 or 40 or 60 years old it does not matter, we are all in this together. Yet, just maybe, just maybe at midlife we have a chance of getting this at last…
No matter who we are, no matter what sex or age, or where we live we all need to let go of our old stories. Every time we hold onto an old attachment which causes suffering we are sharing that suffering with everyone else. What we do effects everyone else, what we believe, see, perceive will become our world and everyone else too.
If we want to turn our dreams into reality we can do so immediately, we create our reality. If we do not believe this, we need to find out what is stopping us and work on it 100%! It is stopping all of us! Just remember, whatever we see with our minds eye, we will immediately manifest. We all need to take care of our thoughts anywhere at anytime.
Whatever you believe you will manifest immediately.
Find me at Sensibly Selfish to discover more
Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by on Feb 8th, 2012. Comment.
January 31, 2012
When you do something to help another human being you can achieve a great deal of satisfaction. It does not have to be costly in either time or money, just an extra big smile for the person who serves you coffee on a morning, or to help someone pick up something they have dropped, to open a door or say a few kind words.
The problem is that in today’s world we are often too wrapped up in our own life, short of time, often engaged in two or more things at once and we never give the other person a second glance. When you’re emptying your shopping trolley and talking on the phone to a friend what chance does the cashier have of receiving a smile or kind words?
So how can you help others?
By breathing and pausing for just one single second longer than you have today.
So let’s say you take in a deep breath and stop what you are doing for just one extra second. You create the space in which to see, smell and hear things as your attention is brought back to the now. As you do this not only do you connect to your surroundings, you will also connect to yourself.
Taking a deep breath will fill your body with energy and in turn you can energize another person with a smile. Smiling is infectious, smiling at everyone you meet will change your surroundings.
Come on, help others, it does not need to be a costly exercise in time nor money.
Just breath deeper and smile more!
If you would like help to smile more please contact me!
Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by on Jan 31st, 2012. Comment.
January 24, 2012
Listen to any conversation in a bar, at the bus stop, a group of best friends, work collegues and you’ll hear blame come into the conversation at soon enough. It is so easy to blame an outside force for whatever situation we find ourself in. Often at midlife we have fallen into a trap…
It may be the fault of the economy that our business is not doing so well. Perhaps our relationship is not working because our partner is not being attentive. Maybe our illness is due to the government adding chemicals to the water.
We are even great at criticizing ourselves and blaming our actions on the way things turn out in our lives. If we hadn’t done this… if we hadn’t done that…
So if we cannot blame someone else, or blame ourselves then what can we do?
What would it be like if you lived in a world where no-one blamed anything or anyone? What would it feel like if everyone was able to live without blame, judgement or criticism?
Is this really impossible?
It is not impossible. It does mean changing lots of though processes and watching the language you use. Be patient with yourself we have had blame, judgement and criticism engrained in us from a very young age. Be Sensibly Selfish and keep the energy you waste from falling into these types of conversation for yourself.
First be aware of what you say in every day conversation, watch those around you and learn how to speak in a different language. Stop a conversation when it begins to come from a place other than love.
Why not start today and begin to change the world.
Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by on Jan 24th, 2012. Comment.
January 12, 2012
We are all aware how easy it is to make New Years resolutions and then break them by about this date. A few blimps or excuses and we humans are so quickly off track.
Yesterday I hosted a Business Effective Workshop Clinic which was facilitated by Dr James Rieley, I was facinated by the different ways in which we all take on and use information, how we set ourselves goals and then follow through.
From the meeting it was obvious that some people had taken on bard the training from November and really applied it to their lives, others had done the work and found their comfort zones a stopping point, others had not applied the work to their own life but had used the material to help others, some had done nothing at all. At least they all showed – others didn’t even make it to the free clinic!
When ever I think of applying new information to my life, or decide to set goals, I always think of my recipe for making Mallorcan Almond cake. Living on 10,000mtrs of land here in Mallorca, means we have a few almond trees. I know the real work involved in making just one cake…
In order to make Almond cake you first have to grow, regularly feed and water an almond tree – about 10 years. Then in the heat of the summer, around August, the nuts are ready to pick.
You must first knock them out of the tree, remove their husk and then lay out to dry in the sun. Next the outer shell must be removed my banging each almond with an hammer. Followed by a blanching session to remove the skin, a drying or roasting period followed by a grinding period.
Next the cake must be baked, about an hour of work and then you can eat it.
Whatever you set your mind to do, whatever tools are in your tool box, it is only the constant work and continual re-assessment of your goals that will eventually bring them to fruition. You may have to take a few detours along the way, you may have to climb a few mole hills, yet if you are passionate enough – get there you must! Just think of the rewards!
Filed under Info, Kay's Musings by on Jan 12th, 2012. Comment.
