Next step is check foe the portion sizes. When you are eating dried fruit, nuts or chips keep a portion in small cup and then keep the bag away. Minimal changes like this in your diet also help in cutting down your calorie count, reducing the size of portion inevitably reduces the intake of calorie..

Third step is to check the list again and cut down or reduce the foods that contain high calorie. For instance, daily in the morning tall latte may have 500 calories, replacing it with black coffee will help in losing a pound in a week.  Other items to cut down are candy, soda pop, butter and salad dressings by replacing it with acai green tea juice, pulp or supplements. When going for a weight loss program pay attention to the intake of saturated fats and high-sugar foods and have aci berry fruit that has low sugar content. If you reduce the intake of high-calorie and high –fat foods you will lose weight quickly.

Fourth step is substituting the unhealthy food with a healthier one. Drinking acai berry juice rather than drinking soda is one of the best examples.

Here are two real life heroes. They have worked hard despite their hectic schedule towards weight reduction. While one is a student another one is a journalist.

How did you lose weight?
a) I walked a lot. I had a hectic schedule. Going to college, completing my projects. I tried my best to avoid ghee. That had a very positive effect on me and I think this is the best way to lose weight.

b) I avoided junk food and even oily food. Though I got tempted a few times but if you see them as chunks of fat, I’m sure you will never touch them.

How fat were you earlier?

a) I was 58 kgs earlier and in a span of 15 days I lost 10 kilos however barring in mind that I have a tendency to lose weight quickly.

b) I was 75 kilos and I reduced to 62 kilos now.

What exercise did you do?

a) Like I said I walked a lot. Apart from that a healthy diet and I ate on time. That’s what helped me a lot.

b) Cycling and even did skipping. That’s the best way to lose weight since I work late in the nights, I find cycling ideal for me as I can do it whenever I find time and a skipping rope is always handy.

How do you feel now?

a) I feel amazing. And more than becoming thin, I’m glad about becoming fit and wearing all the clothes I always wanted to fit into. (Smiles)

b) I feel proud of myself and of course it feels amazing when people complement me on the hard work I have done to reduce weight.

Like I mentioned in the beginning, the method to reduce weight depends on YOU! So people go ahead and make your choice!!

More important than the rigorous workouts and the hungry diets.. more important than the starvation of your nasty tongue’s libido.. More important than even the promises you take to lose weight is. So the best way to lose weight is being sustainable

While we make plans for an entire week.. But we get tempted mid-way.. the plan looks neat to follow but sumptuous enough to break it…
Hence it is better to make realistic plans rather than idealistic..

Depending on your work schedule..
If you have a hectic schedule. do not plan for a rigorous 1 or 2 hour work out..you’re bound to be tired.. instead try walking for half hour.. Walking for 30 minutes everyday definitely kills your fat.. and to top it up..after having dinner..just take a walk around ..it will surely help!!

Avoid high calories food
While you’re exersice time may be lesser.. you can still reduce by avoiding high calorie food.. like mayonese, cheese, junk, biryani.. Howver you may indulge yourself once a week…

Have a fruit after meals.. having a fruit after meals, helps in digestion

Quench you hunger with water.. i.e in between lunch and dinner.

Don’t ignore your health.. even at work. .keep shuttling between floors using the stair case..
Streching yourself.. that’s the layman’s best way to lose weight

• Massage: Going for a massage is soothing and it works well too. For krishna Mohan a rela-estate Manage felt the desperate need to lose weight, he knew it walking or any other exercise was not his cup of tea. After a thorough investigation he zeroed on MASSAGE and for him it was the best way to lose weight.

• Try something fun : if you want to take it easy then chilling at the pool or a running race with your pals will do wonders..

• Drink coconut water :Coconut water also helps in losing weight as is contains lesser calories. So binge on the nearest coconut water centre.

• healthy diet: Eat more salads. Try eating the fruit itself rather than the juice. Try to take a healthy diet plan.It Is definitely the best way to lose weight

and while doing all these… take care

1. One of the most effective ways to reverse infertility is to cut on your caffeine intake. If you are taking in too much amount of caffeine, your body will have a hard time to absorb iron, and thereby adversely affecting your level of infertility. If you want to have a baby fast, you would need to get rid of all types of drinks with caffeine on it. This does not only refer to coffee and sodas, but for teas as well. To help increase your chances of getting pregnant, you must drink a lot of fruit juices and milk shakes.

2. Time your intimacy during the mornings. While it is a fact that engaging in sexual intercourse at any period of the day can increase the chances of getting pregnant immediately, it is more ideal to engage into intimate moments during the mornings. One of the main reasons behind this is that the sperm level is likely to be at its highest level at this point of the day. The more sperm cells that a man can make, the more possibilities that it will be able to reach the ova and get it fertilized.

These are some of the most natural and effective ways to reverse infertility and get pregnant faster. Keeping a healthy body less of the bad habits like smoking and drinking, as well as eating a balanced meal rich in organic vegetables and fruits can help a lot, too.

Regular exercise is also a good idea, but you do not want to go into any crazy exercise routines. Even walking can be helpful when preparing your body. You may be finding out that conceiving a child is not as easy as it seems. But, giving up is the worst thing you can do.

Find More Reverse Infertility Articles

Below are 3 simple strategies that will greatly increase your odds of conceiving that dream child.

1. Eat Plenty of Alkaline forming foods: One very easy way to enhance fertility and therefore get pregnant easily is to ensure that your body is in an alkaline rather than an acid state.

Many of us eat far too many acidic foods like sugar, fat, alcohol, caffeine, refined carbohydrate, carbonated drinks and artificial chemicals.

Indeed weight loss diets based on high protein foods (meat, fish, diary and eggs) are very bad for women trying to get pregnant.

These diets deprive the body of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium which the body needs in large reserves to buffer the it against over-acidity.

If you are looking to conceive that dream child it is important to include in your diet plenty of alkaline forming foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, certain nuts, seeds and grains.

It is also important that you drink plenty of clean filtered water to flush the body of toxins.

2. The Second easy way to get pregnant is to have intercourse at least every two or three days throughout your cycle and not just around the time you think you are fertile.

Very often couples fall into the habit of having intercourse only around the time when they think the woman is fertile.

This is really harmful on two counts.

a) If you are trying to get pregnant you need to maximize your chances by having a lot of sex.

b) Secondly if you are having intercourse during a short period of time each month, by the time you have sex again the following month, the sperm waiting to be released will be old.

The end result is that a higher proportion of the sperm will be less motile, abnormal or even dead.

It is better for a man’s fertility if sperm are regularly renewed through ejaculation. If ejaculation does not happen very often the chances of you getting pregnant will be affected.

The third and final easy way to get pregnant is to:

3. Attain a healthy BMI: Studies have shown that if you are significantly overweight or underweight you may find it harder to get pregnant.

If you are significantly overweight your fat cells release oestrogen which in turn tells the pituitary gland to suppress the release of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). Without this hormone ovulation will not occur.

So if your BMI is above 30, chances are your fertility is being affected by your weight.

Being overweight also has an impact on male fertility. Men tend to carry extra weight around their abdomen and genital area. This can cause an increase in temperature and therefore affect sperm production.

On the other hand women who have too little body fat can find that their oestrogen levels fall and this can lead to irregular periods or not having any periods at all.

So if your BMI is under 20 you need to find a way to put on extra weight in order to restore your hormonal balance.

We have discussed three easy ways to get pregnant but there is so much to discuss that it is impossible to discuss it all in one article.

Click on Easy Ways To Get Pregnant for more simple strategies and discoveries that will help you conceive that dream child fast and naturally.

Combined with the easy availability and low cost of unhealthy processed foods or ‘junk food’, then this can have an impact on children’s health, not only throughout their childhood but leading into adulthood causing serious health problems at a later date.

It is therefore important to make a concerted effort to ensure children lead a healthy lifestyle and maintain overall fitness. However it can be difficult to make a start and to inspire your kids to follow your lead, so we have compiled a list of ten tips to help you along the road to health and happiness.

Involve the Whole Family – Sometimes kids can be reluctant to take part in sports and games, especially if they think that they are being ‘forced’ to do them against their will. Children take their lead from their parents so if they see their parents taking part in sports and fitness then they are more than likely to want to copy. Ensuring that the whole family stay fit and healthy can provide the right motivation for the less reluctant child to get involved. Embracing a healthier lifestyle yourself can help teach a child that they need to do the same.

It doesn’t have to be all about playing ‘football’. For instance a family outing to the zoo, theme park or local attraction such as a ruined castle will keep kids on their feet, give them something interesting to see and do whilst keeping them fit at the same time. Making an effort to have days out where the whole family joins in can lead to a child having an overall healthier lifestyle.

Use ‘Active’ Transport – Ditching the car when possible and either walking or cycling instead can help keep the whole family fit and healthy. Perhaps this means walking to school instead of taking the car or maybe a trip to the local park or shops can be accomplished by cycling there instead.

Although it may not be possible for everyone to ditch the car so easily due to distance or time constraints the occasional journey can still perhaps be substituted. Not only is walking or cycling better for your health, it can save you money and help the environment- all great examples to set your kids!

Regular Exercise – The key to staying fit and healthy for both adults and children alike is to exercise regularly. Try to schedule exercise activities (whatever they might be) at regular intervals but do let your kids set the pace. As soon as a child feels they are being forced to take part in a ‘fitness’ regime then you may start to get some resistance and refusal to join in.

Pushing your kids beyond their limits may have a negative impact on them wanting to do anything at all. Forcing them to train to become better at a sport or activity can seem like the right think to do if they appear to have a talent for something, but it is important to ensure that your kids are happy and not resenting the activity, as long term this will end up becoming a problem.

Keep Fit Through Daily Chores – Lets be honest, no kid enjoys having to do their weekly and daily chores, but chores are a good thing to implement as they help teach a child responsibilities whilst helping them to ‘earn their keep’.

If your child isn’t that keen on sports and outdoor activities then a subtle way for them to get some additional exercise is by combining their chores with physical activities. For example washing the car, mowing the lawn or vacuuming the house all are great ways to burn some extra calories and to get your kid moving and keeping fit without them even realising it!

Keep it New and Fun!

Many of us can recall sports lessons at school when we were forced to do sports we didn’t enjoy, more often than not in the freezing cold, without proper clothes. These horrible moments cement a negative impression on sports and fitness in a child’s psyche. This negativity needs to be avoided so the buzz word to remember is ‘fun’. If you ensure that any activity you take part in is fun for your child then fitness doesn’t become a burden or a chore and soon becomes a normal, everyday part of their life.

Kids can bore easily so an activity they have enjoyed in the past may quickly loose its shine from one week to the next. Unless you are intent on turning your kid into the next sporting superstar then whatever activities they do to stay fit is unimportant as long as they enjoy it.

Introduce new sports and activities into a child’s routine can be a great way of finding new active hobbies so it’s worth experimenting and trying different things. How about crazy golf, trampolining, horse riding or kayaking? There are plenty of things to try!

Turn the TV Off – When you live a busy life and have a full time job to contend with then it’s easy to let your kids entertain themselves in front of the television. Years ago kids TV was limited to a few hours in the afternoon and morning, but now with the advent of cable and satellite channels, children have dedicated stations that they can watch all day. There’s nothing wrong with watching TV, it can be fun and educational, but it’s a very inactive pastime.

Try to limit screen time and turn off the TV after a few hours. There may be arguments to start with but your child will start to get into a routine and will also look for other things to do whilst the TV is switched off- ideally more active things to do!

Kids also love playing computer games which are traditionally thought of as being very inactive. Lately things have changed a little- with the release of games such as Dance Dance Revolution and Wii Sports, you can now get a workout in front of the TV. Where possible steer your child towards these ‘active’ games and then they’ll get the benefit of keeping fit and healthy, whilst doing something they really enjoy.

Try the Scouts & Guides – Not all kids are the outdoors types so may not suit absolutely everyone, but getting your kids involved with the Scouts, Guides or similar well organised groups can be a great way of ensuring your child lives an active lifestyle. For example the Scouts in the UK are open to young people from the ages of 6 to 25 and they take part in a wide range of activities from rock climbing, camping to sailing and hiking. Also there are a lot of creative and educational pastimes that these groups get up to making it a completely rounded experience.

Nutrition & Healthy Eating – To maintain a healthy lifestyle, exercise needs to be combined with healthy eating and good nutrition. Good nutrition doesn’t always have to be about boring foods that your child doesn’t like, so try to introduce a wide range of cuisines and styles to your child’s diet. You never know what they might enjoy eating.

Moderation is the buzzword for eating healthily. Minimise unhealthy snacks such as crisps, chocolate, biscuits and sweets and perhaps introduce them only as treats or for special occasions. Your child will not get used to having these ‘treats’ all the time and will appreciate them much more when they do have them. Unhealthy foods as listed above do not provide much if any nutritional benefit and can contain unhealthy additives which most nutritionists agree are not great for long term health.

Be wary of processed foods, they can sometimes contain unhealthy amounts of salt, sugar or other additives. Try to cook meals using raw ingredients, that way you’ll always know what goes into your food. It can be more expensive and time consuming to do this but the long term benefits to the whole family can be immense.

Team Games – If your child is showing signs that they enjoy sports such as: football, hockey or netball, then getting them involved in a local youth squad is a great way for a child to get all the exercise they need. Not only will they have fun and get fit, they may make friends with other kids on the team providing additional reason to go to team practice sessions. Adults can also get involved, perhaps by helping out with coaching or lifts to and from training sessions.

Again, having fun is key- if your kid stops wanting to go to practice, initially some light coaxing or persuasion may be necessary to get them back in the mood. However if this reluctance persists, long term you are better off letting your child dictate what they enjoy doing. As mentioned previously in this article, kids can get bored easily and can soon go off any activity, no matter how much they previously liked it.

Activity Holidays – Looking to kick start a new healthy lifestyle for the whole family? Taking an activity holiday where your child can get to try a wide range of sports and activities can be a great way of getting fit and finding new and interesting things to do. Venue’s such as Center Parcs offer the perfect weekend break escapes with a wide range of activities that suit all ages and they also run special offers such as ‘kids eat free’, which can save you money. Finding activities that inspire your children to become more active is the best way to ensure that they keep fit and healthy. Activity holidays are a great way on ‘hitting the bullseye’ and finding things that your child enjoys, that you may not have ever considered before.

I started out in Adult children of Alcoholics – a spinoff of Al-Anon. Both my parents were alcoholics. Seems like a logical place to start. I admit, at first I thought everyone else in the family had all the programs. Not me. Both my siblings had gotten into drugs. I never did. The whole family drank – to some degree. I never did. Well, very seldom. And if I did, as soon as I started to feel a buzz, I’d get uncomfortable. I didn’t like the feeling of losing control.

It was ACA (or ACoA as some states call it) that taught me that almost all ACA’s are “cross addicted.” Did I have any addictions? Well I had been overweight since childhood. Maybe my addiction was food. So I went to my first OA meeting.

I was surprised to see that people – most of them – were not so morbidly obese as I had imagined. They read the standard 12-step stuff at the beginning – about being powerless – but over food, not alcohol, and our lives had become unmanageable. Well, my weight was unmanageable, but the rest of my life would have easily classified me as ‘high functioning.’ Hmm.

One good thing – I met a friend who is still a good friend – Gladys. She is about my mom’s age, but when I started going to this group she had been in OA about 6-7 years. She lamented continually “I weigh 222 lbs” – she is about 5’4″. We fell out for a while, because I stopped going to OA. I told her something seemed weird, attacking this problem wholly from an emotional standpoint, with no regard for exercise, nor for any semblance of a “food structure” – (since diets don’t work I agree but one does need to look at the style of eating they are undertaking.) She told me that her cohorts in the program said, ‘No, OA is the only things that really works.” Their reasoning was, if you are eating emotionally, fix the emotions and you will stop eating emotionally and the weight will come off. Diet and exercise were immaterial to the problem that compulsive overeaters had. I told her, even if the problem did start out emotional, it seemed that it had transgressed into a physical problem, and physical problems had to be solved in a physical manner. Well, that fell on deaf ears. We’ve remained friends though.

The next step was something about “Made a decision to turn my will over to a Higher Power as I understood Him.” That was not a stretch for me. I believed in God. Why not summon Him for this?
The fourth step dealt with, “Made a searching and fearless moral inventory – and became willing to make amends…” Well, I’ve sinned, sure, like everyone else. But had I really done more than my share? I’m not saying I am perfect – far from it. But somehow this didn’t seem to fit. I was the peacemaker in all that chaos I grew up in. I was always trying to get everyone to get along. Making jokes. Smoothing things over. I was the one who, afraid of my sister’s violent temper, let her run all over me. Use me. Treat me with a lack of consideration. A veritable doormat. (Even into adulthood.) Yeah, I admit it – I was afraid of her. I was the one who didn’t confront but turned statements into a joke to keep my sister from exploding, or my mother from making one of her emotionally cruel, caustic remarks – you know the kind you remember for the rest of your life? Below the belt? Using your weaknesses against you? That’s my mom.

I had left home after college and pretty much never looked back. I was the one making excuses for them, like when my sister’s phone got turned off and she sent me to go in and talk to the phone company – as she was too embarrassed. And I did it. Again – didn’t want to confront. Home was a dangerous place.
So were my amends to others?
I’m sure I’ve hurt others too. I’m not perfect. And it’s always hard to see how you’ve hurt others, but easy to see how they hurt you. But I honestly didn’t think I had done more than my share. If anything – I’d been a doormat.

I kept going to OA, week after week, month after month. I met a lot of really nice, kind, wonderful people there. I also came to terms with the fact that, yes, I did have an addiction – mine was food. It was not just the rest of the family who had problems. They acted out. I acted in. It had started as a child – when I was pre-verbal. I have been overweight since 4 years old. OK so this is how it worked. I took all this crap from others, and never spoke up, and, since I had to put these residual feelings somewhere, I ate over them. Yes that fit me. That explained a lot. But I still didn’t feel it was accurate to say “my life was unmanageable.” And how was I in need of a moral inventory, because of all the people I had harmed? Was I missing something?

As weeks turned into months in that program, I got more zealous to learn everything I could about this food addiction thing. Month after month I went. What I liked was, we ladies (the program is almost all women) got to be close – like a little circle. Each week we would come and kibbutz – and gossip. I got to the point where I knew the in’s and out’s of everyone’s lives, and they mine. It was cathartic to share. And to boot, by doing the steps, and going to meetings, I was working on curing my food addiction, right? Well yes but there was one problem. I wasn’t losing any weight. And beyond that, as the months went on I saw few others lose weight either – save for the invited speaker for the week.

The theory was, we ate over our problems so if we come to this program and talked out our problems we wouldn’t eat compulsively. Sounds sexy. But it wasn’t working. Not for me – not for much of anyone. What was wrong with this picture?

Now it really started getting weird. And weirder with each meeting. By that time, I could not tell you how many people I saw taking 5, 10, even 20 year chips (you get a chip for length of time not eating compulsively) – and they were HUGE. Many even admitted, they had gained weight over the years, but they were ‘happily abstinent.’ Huh? What was up with this “fat abstinence?”
OA has no food plans. Apparently they used to have something called “the Gray Sheet” but that was thrown out with the “current administration.” So the theory was, if you worked the steps, went to meetings, got your emotions out, and tied up loose ends in your life by managing your interactions with people, you wouldn’t eat compulsively any more. I thought I was doing that, but my body size had stayed the same. And what of the lack of physical recovery all around me too?

So I decided to get a sponsor. Oh yeah, a sponsor. You are supposed to work with a sponsor from the start – just like in AA. Problem is, I found relatively few people had sponsors in OA. Why were so few people who went to this program so religiously, failing to work the program the way it is supposed to be done? Note too that I went to a variety of meetings- and though some were better than others, I can easily apply these generalities – like not having a sponsor – to all the meetings I attended.

Anyway, back to me. Maybe not having a sponsor was my mistake. An easy mistake to make, as so few around me had sponsors either. My sponsor was dynamite. She truly was. I was to call her every day to phone in what I would eat for the day and get out my feelings. My sponsor had lost weight. She was one of the few. And she had done it without formal dieting. They say in the Program, “stick with the winners” so I followed a basic food plan, and daily I called her and worked things out. I did start to lose weight. But I didn’t lose as much as I needed to. I still felt hungry a lot. The single best thing though I can say that I got out of OA was the benefit of those months working with her. She truly was an enlightened soul.

When I would go to meetings, I started sharing about the work my sponsor had me doing, and the things she was teaching me. A curious thing happened. People started coming up to me in drove, after meetings, in awe that I had a sponsor and called her regularly. (Um, wait – weren’t we supposed to do that?” It was like I had become a celebrity. “Who is your sponsor? Could she sponsor me? Can you sponsor me?” On and on it went, until it finally dawned on me, I was a rarity in OA, and so was my sponsor. For one thing, my shares were on point – not just gossip and kibitzing. And I was having (some) physical recovery. I was a unique individual in OA. The gals at my meetings, most of them anyway, still came week after week, but few had sponsors, and, save for invited speakers who were paraded around like a dog and pony show – neither did anyone much have physical recovery.

Long story short, my sponsor moved away to Nevada. Her husband’s job transferred her. I almost had an emotional upheaval. I looked around for other sponsors, but I could not find anyone who had abstinence, and physical recovery. No one. There were a few but they were all booked up as everyone wanted them as a sponsor, since there were so few of them.

The Program constantly harps on the adage, “It’s not about the food. It’s about getting well inside – emotionally,” as though to defend the scores of people not following a food plan, with no sponsor, and as for exercise – I don’t think I heard that mentioned more than 2 or 3 times the whole time I went to OA. Well, if it is just about feelings and not about working on things also from a physiological standpoint, then why go to OA? Why not just go to a general support group?

I couldn’t find another sponsor, though I tried. But I continued to attend meetings. I had done a 4th step (you know the moral inventory) with my sponsor. We had had a little ceremony to burn it when done. After I wrote it, what came out though was that most of my amends were to myself. We had gone all the way to the 12th step – after that – which I believe is ‘We must carry the message”. What was to come after that? Well, starting all over from the beginning and working the steps over and over. Huh?

As the months went on, the “sharing” I saw in meetings was starting to sound like gossip and drivel. It was like the meetings were little social hours for the gals. Almost no physical recovery, no one with a sponsor, no one following a food plan – or very few. Just endless drivel and whining. So I left OA and got into traditional therapy – my veritable “13th step.”

I explained to my therapist what had happened in OA, and to my shock, she reframed for me – boom boom boom – everything that I had experienced in OA. I found out that what I had experienced was well known in psychotherapy. Specifically:
- A lot of people in 12-step programs feel alienated because of their religion (this therapist was Jewish). The Steps don’t mention a religion or name for God, but they do say the Lord’s prayer often and the “tenets” mimic Christianity.

- Compulsive Overeaters notoriously have beaten up on themselves all their lives. Women with eating disorders are the ‘good girls’ of the world. Spreading peace, smoothing things over all the time. And to our own detriment. So we’ve been nice to everyone all our lives and not nice to ourselves. Then you enter OA and there is all this emphasis on all the people you have wronged and your ‘disease.” And how you need a moral inventory and to make amends. That scenario fits for alcoholics, but compulsive overeaters have little to no such experience of the sort. There are two ways to react to childhood trauma – you either act out or act in. Alcoholics act out; compulsive overeaters act in. Alcoholics leave a barrage of junk in their wake – affairs, domestic violence, smashed up cars, vehicular homicides, ruined invites to weddings as they get s&&&faced and vomit or make off-key remarks. In contrast, Not only do compulsive overeaters not have any of that, but, statistically, people with eating disorders tend to be higher – functioning than average. We were the good girls, who went to college, were in the school play and the orchestra, and who studied and made good grades. Anything to just keep the peace with the alcoholic parent(s).

- They say, rightly, that you stop developing at the age at which the addiction starts. Compulsive overeaters frequently start overeating in childhood, since food is readily available. Alcoholics don’t usually start drinking till adolescence. So alcoholics are like rambunctious teenagers, while compulsive overeaters are like children – who still have that childlike ‘magical thinking” – believing that “if I am just a good girl, don’t make waves, smile, etc., fortune will smile on me, people will be nice to me, and the alcoholic will stop verbally/emotionally/sexually abusing me and the family.”

There – she had said it in a nutshell. She was right on point. This explained why the “life is unmanageable” paradigm didn’t fit me. And neither did the idea that I “need a moral inventory to make amends to those we have wronged.”
She went on to say that there are people who are loathe to solve their addictions, in the 12-Step groups, because they get addicted to going to meetings. Some have criticized 12-step groups for being cult-like, telling members that you “must go to these meetings for the rest of your life” – “you will always need us.”

I often wonder how many others there are who are like I was in OA, with a program that is a match for an alcoholic but a total mismatch for a compulsive overeater. Sure there is such a thing as food addiction, and sure, I’ve got it. But OA is not the place to cure it. Not by a long shot. I hope the gals at the social hours – I mean OA meetings, come to realize that, before it’s too late.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering about Gladys? I have since known Gladys now for about 14 years, and she still goes to that meeting. Gladys is now 73. She has two blown out knees, she is completely incontinent from all the years of a burgeoning stomach pressing on her bladder/abdomen wall, so in the winter months when she gets a cold (and coughs and sneezes) she can’t leave the house because the tiniest cough and she completely loses her bladder – and adult diapers don’t help, except the kind that are so bulky you can see them beneath the stretch pants she wears. She developed diabetes about 6 years ago, and last year she was diagnosed with third stage kidney disease (from the diabetes). Gladys doesn’t wear tie-up shoes, because she cannot reach around her stomach to tie them up. She must wear slip on shoes. She now weighs 246. But Gladys still goes to the program because, she says, “At least there I can get all the emotions out.”

Below are 3 simple strategies that will greatly increase your odds of conceiving that dream child.

1. Eat Plenty of Alkaline forming foods: One very easy way to enhance fertility and therefore get pregnant easily is to ensure that your body is in an alkaline rather than an acid state.

Many of us eat far too many acidic foods like sugar, fat, alcohol, caffeine, refined carbohydrate, carbonated drinks and artificial chemicals.

Indeed weight loss diets based on high protein foods (meat, fish, diary and eggs) are very bad for women trying to get pregnant.

These diets deprive the body of minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium which the body needs in large reserves to buffer the it against over-acidity.

If you are looking to conceive that dream child it is important to include in your diet plenty of alkaline forming foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, certain nuts, seeds and grains.

It is also important that you drink plenty of clean filtered water to flush the body of toxins.

2. The Second easy way to get pregnant is to have intercourse at least every two or three days throughout your cycle and not just around the time you think you are fertile.

Very often couples fall into the habit of having intercourse only around the time when they think the woman is fertile.

This is really harmful on two counts.

a) If you are trying to get pregnant you need to maximize your chances by having a lot of sex.

b) Secondly if you are having intercourse during a short period of time each month, by the time you have sex again the following month, the sperm waiting to be released will be old.

The end result is that a higher proportion of the sperm will be less motile, abnormal or even dead.

It is better for a man’s fertility if sperm are regularly renewed through ejaculation. If ejaculation does not happen very often the chances of you getting pregnant will be affected.

The third and final easy way to get pregnant is to:

3. Attain a healthy BMI: Studies have shown that if you are significantly overweight or underweight you may find it harder to get pregnant.

If you are significantly overweight your fat cells release oestrogen which in turn tells the pituitary gland to suppress the release of follicle stimulating hormone (FSH). Without this hormone ovulation will not occur.

So if your BMI is above 30, chances are your fertility is being affected by your weight.

Being overweight also has an impact on male fertility. Men tend to carry extra weight around their abdomen and genital area. This can cause an increase in temperature and therefore affect sperm production.

On the other hand women who have too little body fat can find that their oestrogen levels fall and this can lead to irregular periods or not having any periods at all.

So if your BMI is under 20 you need to find a way to put on extra weight in order to restore your hormonal balance.

We have discussed three easy ways to get pregnant but there is so much to discuss that it is impossible to discuss it all in one article.

Click on Easy Ways To Get Pregnant for more simple strategies and discoveries that will help you conceive that dream child fast and naturally.

According to the Native American wellness circle, if we are physically healthy we are considered “fit.” Likewise, if we are spiritually well, we are considered to be “connected,” connected both to the Great Spirit (or God) and to the world. We can look at physical fitness as an analogy for spiritual connectedness, and use this as a model to understand, evaluate, and improve the spiritual aspects of our lives.

1) Regular Exercise. In the physical realm, daily exercise or a regular workout is needed to maintain conditioning and fitness. Taking time to pray and meditate each day is the comparable activity in the spiritual realm. If we lack a daily discipline of spending time in quiet reflection and gratitude to the Creator, we remain spiritually underdeveloped.

At a conference I once met a Native American elder who had a presence that radiated inner strength. He sat quietly and with dignity, and when he spoke everyone listened. Others noticed this and someone asked him if he was a medicine man. “No,” he replied, “but each morning I take time to pray. I welcome the new day by being grateful to the Creator for the gift of life and asking for wisdom and guidance.” This man practiced his daily spiritual exercise, and it showed in his wisdom and presence.

For some time now, I have been working on a meditation practice of my own. Each of us needs to develop our own form of prayer and meditation, one that allows us to open ourselves up fully to the Divine. Early in the day I sit near my sliding glass door and begin with a prayer and a song. Then, I meditate, sometimes focusing on a word, like peace or gratitude. Other times I picture myself receiving light from above. Afterwards, I like to read from books dealing with the inner life, and copy a few words from each in a journal that I keep.

Even if I pray and meditate only for a few minutes a day, it brings me an increased sense of well-being and peace. My energy is renewed. For this practice to be effective, it has to become a daily routine. We need a daily prayer or meditation practice to keep us spiritually connected and nourished from within.

2) A Healthy Diet. The second element of being physically fit is eating a healthy diet. There is a story of a Cherokee elder talking to his grandson. He tells the youngster that he has two wolves fighting inside himself. One wolf is goodness, love, kindness, joy, and peace. The other wolf is hatred, anger, envy, pride, and greed. The grandson anxiously asks, “Which wolf wins?” The grandfather answers solemnly, “The one that I feed the most.” Just as we feed ourselves physically by what we put into our stomachs, we feed our spiritual life by what we put into our minds and hearts.

Clearly, some of the music we listen to, TV programs we watch, or the material we read feeds the wrong wolf. This poor spiritual diet keeps us spiritually undernourished.

There are many ways to feed ourselves spiritually, including participating in religious ceremonies, attending church services, reading inspirational or devotional material, listening to uplifting music, spending time in nature, and helping those who are less fortunate.

3) Avoiding Bad Habits. Common lifestyle issues or habits that create obstacles to physical fitness include smoking and substance abuse. Likewise, there are three particularly harmful habits that block spiritual health and prevent connectedness. These are complaining, holding grudges, and worrying.

Complaining. Complaining is often our initial reflex when things don’t go the way we want them to. People who study these things say that 75 percent of most people’s daily conversation is negative.

Being grateful is the opposite of complaining, and with every complaint there is an opportunity to be grateful. The habit of complaining blocks spiritual connectedness, just as the habit of gratitude and trust opens the doorway to spiritual peace. Gratitude turns our so-called ordinary experiences into blessings

Holding a grudge. Refusing to forgive, carrying resentment, and being critical of others; all of these are traps. The bitterness resulting from holding a grudge poisons the spirit and closes the heart. Forgiveness, on the other hand, can be joyful and freeing, while also bringing great peace of mind. Forgiveness isn’t something we do for the one who wronged us; we do it for ourselves. Forgiveness opens the heart and allows new and better experiences to enter in.

It is just as important to learn to forgive ourselves for our perceived failures or inadequacies as it is to forgive others. As we let go of judging others, self-judgment becomes less likely. By forgiving, we open ourselves up to understanding and compassion toward those who have hurt us. And by doing this, we foster trust in the Divine and begin to open ourselves to its sacred work in our lives.

Worry. The third habit that blocks spiritual connectedness is worry. The opposite of worrying, of course, is peace of mind. And to experience peace of mind, we must be aware of our inner life, the life of our spiritual self.

How do we change paths from worry and anxiety to peace of mind? Thich Nhat Hanh, a Zen Buddhist monk, teaches a great exercise on mindfulness and peace that goes something like this: While breathing in, think of calmness and tranquility. While breathing out, smile. Think about the present moment on the next inward breath. Then, breathing out, declare to yourself that this is a wonderful moment!

Prayer can also move us from anxiety to peace of mind. In prayer we turn over our fears and worries to a power greater than ourselves: God, or the Divine Presence, or the Peace of the Universe. Prayer reminds us that there is a greater reality beyond our limited viewpoint. Ultimately, prayer brings us into a state of trust. We trust that we are in the hands of the Divine, and that in the end, all will be well.

6. Take it to the next level by lifting weights

Weightlifting isn’t just for muscle men and health zealots anymore. Lifting free weights such as dumbbells and medicine balls builds muscle mass, burns lots of calories, and provides the body with a superb cardiovascular workout.

Begin a weightlifting routine by lifting relatively lighter weights just above your comfort zone in slow and deliberate reps. Be sure to breathe in and out fully while lifting the weights, to give your cells all the oxygen they need. It’s not necessary to do a full cardio workout before lifting weights – simply ten to fifteen minutes will work fine. How much weight and how often you lift during your beginning months depends on your condition and age. Consult your doctor, and as with walking remember there’s no incentive to overdoing it or letting the work pile up.

7. Get serious about your diet

For all the good that exercise does your body, eating right in combination with all your other efforts is like putting booster rockets on your physical fitness plan. Your individual dietary needs will vary according to your age and other health specifications, but in general everyone needs to build a diet heavy on vitamin rich fruits and vegetables, a proper amount of protein to help build muscle and bone strength, and grains for energy.

Eating foods high in sugar and saturated fats adds fatty buildup to the body’s muscles and tissues. The American Heart Association recommends limiting saturated fats to about seven percent of your caloric intake. Taking the matter one step further, the World Health Organization asserts that saturated fats leave individuals dangerously susceptible to heart disease and should be avoided altogether. For specific help in building a proper diet, a free and complete overview of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ dietary recommendations is available at contents.htm.

8. Intelligently measure your progress – and don’t lose hope

Has this ever happened to you? After a week of strenuous dieting or scrupulously eating right, you climb on the scale and find you’ve lost not much weight at all. Depending on the individual, substantive weight loss usually takes months. You may wish to wait that long before measuring yourself, or you may want to measure at a specific preset time – say, every Monday morning before breakfast.

9. As you near your goal, take up a new activity

There’ll come a time when you’ve drawn near to your fitness goal. To maintain your new fitness, taking up a sport such as mountain biking, roller blading, or tennis offers you the chance to begin a new hobby or pastime that was previously impossible or harder to attain. Speak with a doctor first about what preexisting conditions might realistically bar you from some activities.

10. Encourage your children towards sports for whole family fitness

Sports offer incredible benefits to children not just limited to increased physical fitness. Both by playing on a team and competing in individual athletic competitions, children are able to build self-confidence and self-discipline and learn to work at achieving their goals. Training for sports requires targeting a specific sport and working the body towards peak physical condition for that particular competition. Pre-training and conditioning is essential in preventing muscle or tissue damage during the actual training. Experts recommend engaging the child in aerobic exercise several days a week, including bicycling, walking, and jogging. Children should stretch before and after the training, to keep the muscles and tissues loose and limber.

Proper hydration, especially during the spring and summer months, is a vital part of keeping the body healthy. With some variation for weight and age level, children should consume about one cup of water every 15 to 20 minutes when exercising. Over-hydrating can result in stomach cramps and queasiness, so it’s important for parents to assess each child’s specific hydration needs.

Michael Kabel is Senior Staff Writer for CornerStorkBabyGifts.com. Stop by for parenting and baby resources, unique baby gifts, baby gift baskets and baby shower favors.