So here I am in beautiful Goa on an adventure to discover how the East approaches health and wellbeing, in particular, how they manage stress and stay so calm and happy.

I must admit that, although I am fairly fit and healthy in many ways, a peaceful mind has still eluded me. Recently, I became exhausted, adrenal fatigue they told me, which would also explain why I gained a stone in weight when i had changed nothing.

My diet was healthy, and I did more exercise in a day than most people did in a week. It just didn’t seem to make sense. Ok, I knew a little about the cortisol connection to weight gain, however, it is something hadn’t experienced first hand.

As I started to study more about this stress response, and research the people who had come on Fit Farms, it became more and more evident that the body’s biochemical reactions to our lifestyles was a huge factor in many weight problems.

Most of the men and women I speak to with weight issues, it’s not as simple as that they just started eating more, or stopped exercising. It’s a much more complex issue, and the weight is just a symptom of something being out of balance. This may be a lifestyle factor, a demanding job, or one the road all the time. It may be an emotional issue, we are dissatisfied with our lives, and as we have been brought up to reward with food, we are using food to give us pleasure. It may be the type of food itself that is causing the problem, as so many people rely on stimulants, most notably sugar to get them through the day.

Stress and other factors throw the body out of balance. This now seems to have reached epidemic proportions in Westrn society.

Through my own experiences, being let down and disillusioned by Western medicine, I have over the years looked outside of the norm for the answers. I healed my fractured spine with The Alexander Technique, and I believe that our health is in our own hands.

This time I wanted to find a cure, an antidote for stress, and what better way to learn that discovering it for yourself.

I had a feeling that yoga and meditation are a crucial element of this, and where better to learn than in India. So here I am, taking this journey, ironically after one of the most stressful weeks I have had at work in a long time.

By keeping this diary, and just sharing my experiences, I hope that my learning will help others take responsibility for their stress, and their health, and do something about it.

Without our health, we have nothing.

It is an interesting (and surprising) piece to read the article of Gina Kolata in New York Times. All the time we practice this school of thought that it is necessary to cool down after exercising.

However, it is cited in the article ‘Is the Exercise Cool-Down Really Necessary?’ that this particular subject is in fact understudied. There is no exact process on how to cool down or a concrete rationale as why it is necessary to cool down after exercising but there is one possible risk, a fact that is agreed by exercise researchers.

When we exercise, our heart beats faster and our blood vessels in our legs expand to send more blood to our feet and legs. A sudden stop in any exercise activity will result to slow heart beat and pool of blood in your legs and feet. This is the reason that sometimes you feel dizzy or even pass out after you suddenly stop from an intensive exercise.

Actually, those people who undergo intensive exercise such as athletes are likely to suffer from this because their bodies are conditioned with trainings and exercises. As a result, their heart rate is slow and if they abruptly stop from a physically rigorous exercise, the heart’s slowing down process is faster.

This information is really opposite to what we have been thought and practicing; nonetheless, there is no harm to do a cool-down after your exercise.

Read the full article, ‘Is the Exercise Cool-Down Really Necessary?‘ from NYTimes.com - Fitness and Nutrition.

By: Eric Wise

Health and fitness starts with a conscious choice, and the best place to start is…well, at the beginning!

In our aging society physical fitness is playing a major role in keeping people healthy. There are numerous fitness programs that are available to people. The main thing to consider with any program is to have a balance between nutrition and exercise.

Each physical fitness program claims to be the best. Not all programs are right for everyone. You do need to check with your physician to see which fitness program is best for you and your goals. Each person should develop goals that they want to achieve and review them with their physician. Keep your goals in mind as you are joining a fitness program.

Getting involved in a fitness routine does not mean that you need to spend money by joining a gym or purchasing equipment. There are many pieces of equipment that will improve your physical well being, but you can also achieve this without making purchases. Some people do find that purchasing equipment or fitness tapes are a way to motivate them to start using muscles that may need extra conditioning or to get started exercising. A variety of activities help keep you motivated with your quest for getting into shape. A variety of different exercises also help to condition all muscle groups. It is important to start out any exercise routine by stretching. This will help to avoid muscle strain and injury. A physical activity can be as simple as walking around the neighborhood, or biking on your favorite trail. By choosing to walk to do some of your errands or by parking further away from the door you can incorporate exercise into your routine without adding extra time.

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by: Gergana Ganeva

Can you acknowledge how many times in the past year you have openly told yourself, “from now on, I start working out every day so that I can get in shape, lose some weight, and look better?” Now, think of how many times you actually made this happen? I am almost sure that you have not had a serious reason for not starting to exercise, you were either lazy or tired, am I right? The truth is that laziness and tiredness are the top two opponents of fitness.

Is it a sin to be lazy?

I believe that there is not a single person in the world who would honestly say that he/she has never been lazy. Even people whose whole lives are surrounded around sports tend to get lazy sometimes. It is simply in our nature to get sluggish, and honestly it is very hard to fight this feeling. It is normal to relax and get lazy sometimes but we should not let it happen very often.

Many years ago in Christianity laziness was viewed as one of the top seven deadly sins. Although over time the nature of this concept has overcome a big change, today it is still perceived negatively. Psychology defines laziness as a mental problem, medicine as a medical condition, and biology defines it as an instinctively behavior of saving energy.The only positive effect that comes out of laziness is that we can relax by doing nothing. Relaxing is a great feeling but we do not want to make it a constant daily routine.

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By Andrew Martinez

According to the McKinley Health Center at the University of Illinois Student Affairs, people who engage in regular, consistent aerobic, resistance, and flexibility exercises gain many benefits. Everyone responds differently to exercise. Even if participating in the same program, benefits may vary from person to person.

Exercise can improve flexibility, cardiovascular & cardiorespiratory function, immune system functioning, strength of muscles and tendons, skin tone (making it more elastic), sleep patterns, self-esteem, ability to relax, personal satisfaction & self-image, perceptions of acceptance by others, productivity, and overall quality of life.

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We oftentimes blame our lack of will power for failed weights loss. In ‘Why We Eat Too Much, And How to Get Control’, Rachel Grumman features three factors that we can blame for over eating.

How many times we include weight lose in our New Year’s resolution?  We are actually quite effective in the first few weeks of our diet - no chips, midnight snack, ice cream, cheese cakes and fries.

Then one afternoon, we have a big argument with our boss. We go home very pissed off and start ravaging the fridge. And then you find a scrumptious rich chocolate cake.  You convince yourself to cave in for one day only and viola! You savour each spoonful of cake. Unfortunately, that one day is followed by another until eventually you slip from your healthy lifestyle.

Then months later we put on more weight and conclude that we don’t have the will power to lose weight!

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