Beautiful Life of Zig Zag Zoom

Getting healthy has many aspects. Losing weight is a one of the main keys to getting healthy but that alone does not always fix your health. Your bad habits can play a crucial role is your bad health. Kicking those habits can improve your health and your longevity.

One of the worse habits that people have is smoking. It is a nasty habit that plays a huge role in the decline of your health. Smokers say that they can not quit smoking because they will gain weight. This is only true if you replace smoking with eating. This is caused because you feel like you need a replacement and food starts to taste better as the effects of smoking leave your taste buds. One way to curb those desires to eat is to add a good fun exercise program to your life. The effects of exercise curbs your appetite while improving your overall mood. Smoking has no benefits, kick the habit now!

Another bad habit is junk food. We are all guilty of this. Many programs like the older weight watchers failed because people would use their points for crap food and then always be hungry. They lost weight only to gain it back because they could not stick to the diet. An alternative is to attempt to eat pure natural foods most of the time and have the bad stuff you crave once in a while. Take it from me, the cravings start to die when youa re not eating the junk everyday.

A third habit which seems like good one is over exercising. I am often guilty of this short term. You need to exercise everyday but not to the point that you are wrecking your body. Too much is as bad or worse than no exercise. You need between 30 and 90 minutes a day of walking or cardio. Mix this with strength training three days a week and you have a good mix. If you feel your body telling you to slow down, take a day off. Only you know your body and you need to listen to that inner voice. Keep exercise fun and change often to avoid boredom. However, do not overdo it!

I could list bad habits all day but I think the point is made. Your bad habits have more to do with your health than anything. Weed out those bad habits and your heath will improve and you may live a much happier drug free life.

Want to mention a bad habit that you need to kick, please leave a comment below.

Here’s to your great health!

First off, there are tons of reviews for the FitBit on the Internet. What makes my review any different? This review is from my personal use. It was not influenced by any outside source or any personal or financial gain.

I ordered my Fitbit Ultra from Amazon and received it on February 13, 2012. It cost me $93 but that was on sale most times it runes $99.95 everywhere. I have worn it everyday for every part of the days with the exception of showers (it is not waterproof). I even wear it during sleep time because it tracks you sleep and how often you wake up.

First let’s start with the main feature. It tracks your calories burned depending on how many steps (walking and running) you take and how active you are. It does track stairs and hills to see how many floors you take. To do this, you need to enter your weight, height and any other measurements you choice to enter in the website. I have found that the burn is not perfect but so close that it gives you a good overview of how you are doing for the day. It is a great motivator to get you moving.

Some activities it does not count correctly but you can add in the website are weight lifting, swimming, elliptical, house cleaning when not moving much, and a few others. When you do enter those activities, it corrects the calories for that time to reflect the activity you are doing. I find that I do not have to add much yet but may have to when I start swimming in the summer (again not waterproof).

The second cool feature is you can add everything you eat in the website software and it will show how much you eat and how much you should eat. One confusion and I say negative in this feature is that when you are more active early in the day, your allowed calories increase to reflect the chance that you are going to be that active all day. If you go by that, it would be easy to overeat. If you do not understand calories in and calories out, this could be a problem.

You can set a goal of maintaining, losing 1.5 or losing 2 pounds. When you do that, the website figures how much you can eat starting at doing nothing much all day. As stated above, it increases as you activity increases. I like this feature but again as stated above, I need to figure my own calories required per day to loose the weight I want to make sure I do not overeat.

The FitBit itself is very small and like a pedometer, it tracks the steps you take. Unlike a pedometer, it counts stairs and hills, and it figures your burn rate. This information is synced wireless to a little USB charger connected to your computer. The FitBit Ultra also has a display that you can check anytime even if you are nowhere near your computer. It also stores all your information for seven days just in case you are away for a few days.

You may or may not have seen the FitBit, it looks like a small clip and it attaches easily to a waistband or for females a bra. The package also comes with a belt clip that the FitBit slides into. There is also a wristband to wear while sleeping. This is very comfortable and does not affect sleep. Since the FitBit is so small and light, you do not even notice you are wearing it. The picture above is the FitBit attached to my sweat pants.

The FitBit Ultra is a great tool in weight loss. It keeps you motivated to do more. My wife and I both have one and we find ourselves up and moving while watching TV to get those extra steps into our day. We compete with ourselves and with friends to get fit. The free website awards you badges at different levels of steps, floors, and activity level. You can set your own goals to achieve better than you have ever done. If you use all the features, this will help keep you on track to your weight loss goal.

Do you need the FitBit Ultra to lose weight? No, there are free websites to track food intake, look up activities calorie burned,and any number of tools to track steps. However, I have found no tool so user friendly, easy to wear, and motivating. So far, I have loss an average of 1.5 pounds a week and I can look at my FitBit to see if I need to up my activity each day. In my opinion, the $100 price tag is a small price to pay to have all this from one simple little clip.

Is it perfect, 100% accurate? No technology can make that claim. However, in comparing it to other tools, it is much better and accurate enough to give you a good overall view of your fitness day.

If you have a FitBit, please share your opinion, or feel free to ask any questions in the comment box below. For all those trying to get healthy, good luck and keep on moving!

Every where you look, everyone is talking about a time for a change. Well, I am jumping on the band wagon. Blozzz needs a new look and new direction. I have started with a brand new header. Please comment and let me know what you think. It is time to start getting serious about blogging again.

I am in the middle of some changes in my life too. Last year I had built and moved into a brand new modular home, I am in the process of getting healthier, and I am trying to find a new job or a self-employment replacement. Life is up and down and that leads to the title of the new designed blog “Blozzz: Beautiful Life Of ZigZag Zoom!” Life never leads us down a straight road and when you get enough momentum, you zoom. However, if you stop to enjoy life, it is beautiful.

With a new redesign, the blog will usher out the old and bring in some new. Some old will stay but others will go. Since I no longer raise chickens, that part will be gone. In its place will be much more posts on fitness and health. This will include advice, reviews, and personal struggles. Jump aboard for a brand new ride.

I have been extremely busy with work this school year and have hardly even had time to check email. I have not had time to do much in the way of updating my blogs. Here is a quick update why.

First since the first of the year, I have been going to the YMCA gym to work out and get in better shape. This was tough at first but now I love to go to the gym and even got my wife to join. I lost about 29 pounds and packed on some much needed muscle. I now have some definition in my biceps and legs and I am still working on my abs. I am also trying to eat a bit healthier.

I am heading into summer vacation so I will have even more time to focus on my weight loss and health. I also am reviving my blogs with new and updated posts. This blog has suffered a wee bit from some Google voodoo but I am working hard to get back my rankings in both the SERPS and the Page Rank.

More updates soon about the new spring chickens and other happenings. Take care for now and please drop a comment or two!

I hate to take any kind of traditional medicine. People often take stuff for years only to find out that it was basically poison and causes other health issue. How many times do you turn on the TV and see class action law suits or recalls on medicine that was the prescribed for years? I see them all the time.

I try my best to find alternative medicines to treat all kinds of health issues. One that I swear by is Oregano Oil. I have found many illnesses that it treats and I have not had a full blown cold since I started taking it. Another item I love is Host Defense. However, it is quite expensive so I do not use it right now. There are tons of folk remedies that are out there that work. I am interested in finding some of them that are proven by real people like you and I.

If you have any remedy for anything and you have used it and it works, please leave a comment and share you remedy. With the flu and cold season about to take full bloom, this will be a great help for everyone.

Thanks for be a reader of my blog and your comments are what keeps me writing so please drop me a few!

I read both the Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You To Know About and More Natural Cures Revealed: Previously Censored Brand Name Products That Cure Disease by Kevin Trudeau. I am into natural medicine and herbal cures so I was excited to order these books. I was watching an infomercial and they were both offered for $19.99 total including shipping.

I called and was on the phone for ever why they tried to get me to buy many additional products. I went through all the sales pitches and ordered the books.

As soon as I received them, I started to read them. They were interesting reads but seemed to focus on me going to their website for more information. Of course, the website was for members and you had to pay to be a member. Neither of the books give much in the way of true cures. The first book just alludes to cures but you have to go to the website to see more. The book reads like a government conspiracy novel between the FDA and the pharmaceuticals companies who are working together to keep the true cures from the public.

The second book was more of the same. However, it did include a list of some possible ways to treat some health conditions with natural cures.

Neither book was what the infomercials sold them as and neither helped me improve my health or cure any health problems. Maybe if I had shelled out more money for the membership to Kevin’s website, I could have learned the real cures.

In my honest review, the books were pure hype and they were nothing but sales promotions to sell you more stuff. After doing a search of Kevin Trudeau on Google, it seems that many others share my opinion. I feel that reading the books was interesting if I was looking for a novel but as a Natural Health Care Book, neither one was worth the read.

My advice, if you can get them for free or borrow them , you may find them interesting to read. I do not advice you buy either book, save your money and buy a bottle of Oregano Oil, it will do more for your health.

I tried the Snickers Marathon Nutrition Bars for the first time today. I purchased one of the Dark Chocolate Crunch Bars. I have tried many high protein and high fiber bars before and I have never been very impressed. That was until now.

The Snickers bar contained 11grams of protein and 7 grams of fiber along with 4.5 grams of fat. It was also chocked full of vitamins including 100% vitamin B6, B12, C, Folic Acid, and Biotin. There were also many other vitamin and minerals of varying amounts. It had only 150 calories and nothing extremely bad in the ingredients like high fructose and hydrogenated oils.

I always try to include a lot of fiber in my diet when I am trying to lose weight but higher fiber bars normally mean chewing on hard cardboard like bars. Well that was not the case with this bar. It was like eating a candy bar. It had great taste and was a little more chewy than most candy bars but nothing like many other protein/fiber bars I have tried. It was not the gooey melt in your mouth candy bar like a real snickers but it did taste great. The price was reasonable. We paid 98 cents each at WalMart.

Both my wife tried the bars and they were very good and helped curb our appetite for a 8:30 PM  snack. We are heading back to the store tomorrow to stock up on these bars.

I can honestly say, Snickers impressed me with this tasty treat that is actually good for you.

Has anyone else tried the Snickers Marathon Nutrition Bar? What is your favorite protein/fiber bar?

I went to the local natural health food store a few weeks ago because I was getting sick. I was on the hunt for a good product to help fight off my coming cold. I had a sore throat real bad and that is always a sign that my cold is a day behind. I use to use a mushroom based product called Host Defense and it works great and keeps your immune system up to fight off illnesses. The problem is that it cost $35 for a month supply so I needed something less expensive.

I approached the herbal expert at the store, who had recommend Host Defense, and explained that I needed something less expensive. She claimed that oil of oregano cured her strep throat in two days. She really knows her stuff so I decided to give it a try. It cost me $22 for a one ounce bottle but you only need four drops at a time so it will last a long time. I took one dose at the store and one before bed and when I woke up, I did not have a bad cold and the sore throat was almost gone.

I have used Oil of Oregano whenever I was feeling like I was getting sick and so far, it has done the trick. I did some reading up on Oil of Oregano and it seems that there are many claims about its use as an antibiotic, an aid in digestion, and building up the immune system.

It is simple to use and you can either put 4-5 drops directly on your tongue and wash it down with warm water or you can mix it with warm water. Do not mix it with cold water because the oil will not mix well. Be warned, it has a spicy taste and has a slight burn going down. I do not mind the taste but my wife hates it. However, it seems to work and I normally get a few colds in the winter but Oil of Oregano seems to have kept them at bay. I also recently spent a lot of time with my niece nephews who all had strep throat and I just took a few doses of Oil of Oregano and I did not catch it.

I hate doctors offices and I think they way over prescribe pills. Whenever I can, I use herbal or other alternative medicines. I think if it does even a small fraction of what the claims are it is well worth the price I paid. I am convinced and I am curious what others think.

Has anyone else used oil of oregano? What is your opinion?