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Health Habits: Watch The Hidden Calories

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: Americans love their snacks, and June's edition of the journal of the Institute of Food Technologists reported that the trend is not only continuing, but growing. If you're an average American (no such thing, right?), the Institute says you get about a fourth of your total daily calories from snacks....

Health Habits: Watch The Hidden Calories

Snacks - Especially Beverages - Can Sabotage Your NEWSS You might want to grab a can of pop, or a bag of chips, to enjoy while you're reading this.

Then again, you might not.

Americans love their snacks, and June's edition of the journal of the Institute of Food Technologists reported that the trend is not only continuing, but growing. If you're an average American (no such thing, right?), the Institute says you get about a fourth of your total daily calories from snacks.

That's 580 calories a day... just in the "hidden" intake of snacks! And, according to the journal, you're spending around seventy minutes of your day - over an hour! - grabbing those snacks.

Here's the really sneaky part: you are drinking about half of those 580 calories. Every day. The journal states that most people don't equate beverages with calorie intake, and are less likely to take those beverage calories into account. I know this to be true... I used to drink coffee constantly throughout the day and evening, and loaded each cup with synthetic coffee "creamer" and spoonfuls of sugar. When the weather was hot, I'd drink cola like it was water. I'd never go to the golf course without a good supply of ice - and pop. I finally learned that my "drinking problem" was about the worst thing I could do to my body, and learned to like decaf coffee, black or with a little real cream (and no sugar). And pop is now an occasional indulgence (and only the better diet kinds), not a continuous part of my day.

Another good move I made was to make sure I was drinking at least two liters of water a day. Not only does that water bring lots of good health benefits, it makes me less "thirsty" for other beverages.

Drinking water is only one of the five key daily health habits I call The NEWSS: Nutrition, Exercise, Water, Sleep, and Supplements. Even if you own your own business and are crazy-busy, you can improve your energy - and your life - by starting with a little discipline in these five areas. Cut the garbage out of your diet - if you must snack (and you must, of course), try popcorn or fruit. Exercise vigorously at least three times a week (it only takes about a half hour a day). In addition to getting your two liters of water every day, make sure you also get your eight hours of sleep every night. And take at least one good multi-nutrient supplement... your body can't get everything it needs from today's convenience diet alone.

Don't forget those "hidden" calories. Offset them. Account for them. Don't let them sabotage your good work on your personal vitality and energy.

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Article Tags: health habits, health wealth and happiness, personal responsibility, successful entrepreneurs



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Re: What I'm reading this weekend - Sept 10, 2010 - Glad you liked it David! I only managed to get partway through the list today because my one year old was looking for some playtime but I did read the Zen Habits one - I love reading Zen Habits while relaxing at a coffee shop!
Re: Top 50 Lists - Hi Evan, How about "Top 50": -Inventor Blogs To Watch -Franchising Blogs To Watch -Business Book Review Blogs -Women Entrepreneur Blogs -Young Entrepreneur Blogs
Re: My 3 best business books - 1. Think and Grow Rich - Napoleon Hill 2. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey 3. Permission Marketing - Seth Godin Think and Grow Rich seems more powerful each time I read it or dip into it. The 7 Habits not only offers some very effective ways to organize your life (which I have yet to master!), but also some great quotations and thought provoking statements including this by Nazi concentration camp survivor, Viktor Frankl: [i:2naxzsom]Between stimulus and response, man has the freedom to choose.[/i:2naxzsom] Seth Godin's Permission Marketing is a good read for anybody seeking to understand how to approach doing business on the Internet in the right way with regard to winning people's trust.
Re: Books for the Entrepreneur - I like "A Whole New Mind" by Daniel Pink, and "Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces that Shape our Decisions" by Dan Ariely.
Re: What I'm reading this weekend - Sept 10, 2010 - I was also interested in the Zen Habits affiliate programme as it might mix well with my business/japan blog...


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