Fruits and vegetables are the dieter�s best friend: apart from being excellent providers of vitamins and minerals, they are also wonderfully low in both fat and calories. Check out this week's article on Opting for slimline shopping.

Enjoy good health,
Namita Nayyar, AFI

In most women the abdominals muscles gradually begin to join together a few days after the delivery. But if the mother has not trained her abdominals after a previous pregnancy, has had a large baby or has carried out strong abdominals exercise then there is a possibility that her abdominals will not join at the centre and she will develops a pendulous abdomen or big tummy.

You can check if your tummy muscles have come together by doing the two - fingers test. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Raise your head off the ground as if to do a curl-up. Take two fingers and place them just below your tummy button. If there is a hole wider than two fingers then your abdominals have not come together yet. In this case you need to train them to join back together again and  avoid strong abdominals exercise until this occurs.

The Stairway to Your Goal

Envision your goal at the top of a stairway and yourself at the bottom. Now look way up at the top, and see your goal. Then look at the next step down from the top. That would be the last step you need to take before you accomplish your goal. What is that step? And what is the step before it, and the one before that?

Identify the steps, all the way down to the very first one, the one that's right in front of you. That is the step you can take today. Stand up tall, focus on the top of the stairway, and take that first step. You're on your way! Now all you need to do is just keep taking those steps, one after one.

Don't waste your time waiting for the stairway to turn into an escalator that will carry you effortlessly to the top. It won't happen. You've got to take those steps yourself.

Take one step at a time, and you are certain to make it. You may occasionally slip, and you might want to sit and rest every now and then. The important thing, though, is to keep on climbing. Every moment, every day. Each step will carry you closer to the top.

And on that happy day when you take the last step, give yourself a little break. Relax for a moment, and look down the stairway at how far you've come. Squint your eyes and see if you can make out the people down there, the ones who are just now starting to climb.

Then take a deep breath, pat yourself on the back, and go look for the next stairway.

Note: WF Members receive motivation like this in their e-mail box every Monday morning! Those of you looking for added motivation, can go ahead to download Free motivational Wallpaper Changer at http://www.womenfitness.net/downloads.htm

"Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach. Check your road and the nature of your battle. The world you desired can be won. It exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours."
-- Ayn Rand

Opting for Slimline Shopping

Bad planning can be the downfall of many diets, so make sure your fridge and store cupboards are stocked with a variety of healthy ingredients so that you'll always have the makings of a good nutritious meal or snack. Foods can be divided into five main groups � you need to eat some food from each of the groups each day � but the key to a healthy diet is getting the balance right.

Here's some useful advice for a 'well-balanced' shopping basket. And a tip to start with is never go shopping on an empty stomach!


FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
These are the dieter's best friend: apart from being excellent providers of vitamins and minerals, they are also wonderfully low in both fat and calories. It's no coincidence that in Mediterranean countries, where people eat almost twice as much fruit and vegetables as compared to western countries, tend to live longer and healthier lives.

Look for recipes and ideas for new ways of cooking them � try poaching. Baking or grilling fruits as an alternative to eating them raw.

Although fresh are best, frozen and canned fruits and vegetables and dried fruits are also useful. The vitamin C in both fruit and vegetables is easily destroyed during storage, preparation and cooking. To help preserve the vitamins, buy little and often. Buy from a shop that you know has a quick turnover and stores vegetables in a cool dark place, ideally for no more than three days. Boiling vegetables in large quantities of water can destroy up to 70 percent of their vitamin C, so choose cooking methods that require little or no water. Aim to eat at least five servings a day.

STARCHY CARBOHYDRATES
This group, which includes bread, grains, rice, breakfast cereals, pasta and potatoes, should provide at least 50 percent of our daily energy requirements. Unfortunately many people still believe that these foods are fattening, which is simply not the case. It's only when they are eaten with lots of fat - a rich sauce with pasta or thickly spread butter on bread � that they become so. Choose fibre-rich varieties, such as wholemeal bread and wholegrain cereals, whenever possible, as they provide slow-release energy, which helps keep blood sugar levels stable. High-fibre foods are more filling than their fibre-depleted counterparts: they will help you feel full more quickly and will stop you feeling hungry for longer.

Click here, to read the complete article on Opting for Slimline Shopping.

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