Want to Get into juicing but aren’t sure what to look for? Follow these simple suggestions to get you started with a juicer that’s right for you!

Let’s face it. If using your juicer means mess, muck and much effort, you are not going to be using it very often. The juicer you choose needs to be easy to use and easy to clean. We all need as much encouragement as possible to keep up with healthy habits, so make sure you chose a juicer that is easy to dis-assemble and re-assembled and clean–ideally dish-washer safe. Also look for a juicer that is fairly simple to operate–you don’t want to get a juicer with a major learning curve, and have to be reading the manual just to make a glass of juice!

Also consider the strength of material quality of the juicer in question.  Look for a juicer with at least a partial metal body–the type of juicer that looks like it’ll have no problem chomping down through an apple core–this is the type you want.

A sturdy strong, lasting juicer body with a powerful motor and high RPM– it will cost more but will not break if you forget to chop up something really small, or put in more produce than usual. A powerful juicer will also save times as it’s faster and you don’t have to chop or peel as much– it’s strong enough to handle a lot of produce whole (additionally, look for a juicer with an extra-wide juicer mouth if you care about this–the  Breville BJE200Xl  is a great choice for this).

It’s also important to know what you’re looking for and what your juicing habits and needs are likely to be, and to buy a juicer that’s ideally suited to those needs. For example, there are three main types of juicer: citrus juicers, all purpose- juice extractors, and wheat-grass juicers.

Citrus juicers are designed solely for citrus fruits–with hard rind that must be removed before hand. You won’t want this unless you’re opening a lemonade stand or live somewhere where fresh, cheap citrus fruit is easily available and you have no interest whatsoever in juicing any other type of produce, ever.

Juice extractors (also known as centrifugal juicers), are what most people think of when they hear the word ‘juicer’. These can be used for just about any fruit and vegetable. They work by a spinning disk or mesh basket grating the produce into smaller parts which then turn into pulp, and then spin to separate juice from solids. Because they work this way, it’s necessary to purchase a stronger, higher-quality model if you want to be juicing harder veggies or fruits like carrots or beets.  This type of produce takes far more power to juice, so you won’t get away with using a cheap, flimsy plastic juicer for anything except mushy or watery produce like tomatoes, greens, and cucumbers.

A wheat-grass juicer must be bought specifically for that purpose, although this type of juicer can also make certain other things–nut butter, sorbets, pasta and pate–but note that you will not want this type of juicer unless you plan specifically to be making wheatgrass juice A LOT.

Most people will want a ‘normal’ centrifugal juice extractor, but before you buy consider what you want a juicer for: obviously, for citrus only, go with a cheaper citrus juicer. Likewise for wheatgrass. For those looking for juice frequently (at least once a day) you will want to get something heavy-duty, which won’t break down or crack under frequent use.

Note that while higher-end juicers like Breville and Omega cost more initially, they can extract up to 25% more juice than do lower-end juicers, so eventually your higher pay-out will seriously pay off in the savings you’ll get on produce–more juice extracted means more juice is coming out of that expensive produce you have to buy so often.
Finally, just make sure you know what you want. Consider time, clean-up, and ease of use. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that juicing will save you money or that it is better for you than eating fruits and veggies whole–it won’t and it’s not. Juicing is enjoyable, an amazing way to get loads of most of the benefits of fruits and veggies every day,but buy fresh produce is never cheap (although we obviously think it’s worth your while!) and you won’t get most of the fibre from th juice that you could get from eating produce whole and unjuiced.

So, here we are again at the start of a new year. Many of us will be making the same resolution we’ve been making for years, or possibly decades: that this year, you’ll really get into shape.

If this is a resolution that topped your list yet again in 2012, ask yourself this: if I really want to achieve this goal, what am I going to do differently this year?

If you have repeatedly made it a goal each January 1st to lose weight and get back into shape, why haven’t you ever been able to achieve it? This year, right now, grab a pen and paper and try to identify where you’ve gone wrong in the past.

Unless you identify what’s prevented you from reaching this goal in the past, you’ll continue to make the same mistakes this year and continue to fail at reaching your goal.

Here’s a check list of some things to ask yourself:

• Is my goal realistic?

If your goal reads something like “I will not eat anything fattening or delicious ever again until I lose the weight and I will work out two hours every night’, then you’ve got a big problem: you’ve lost your grip on reality! No one’s will-power can withstand the thought of never eating anything delicious ever again until you’ve reached your goal. By even having that thought, you’ve immediately activated your brain’s deprivation instinct, and you’ll compulsively reach for all the stuff you love because your mind is convinced you won’t have it again for a very long time.

Try to keep in touch with reality and make realistic goals. Aim for something like healthy meals with one or two small things a day that you really enjoy eating–this way, you won’t feel deprived.

• Is my goal healthy?

Make sure that your diet and fitness program is a healthy one, designed to nourish and strengthen your body, mind and spirit rather than breaking it down.

Avoid horrible starvation diets based on shame and deprivation. Base your fitness goals around an activity you really enjoy or feel stimulated by.

For a healthy good plan, a good start it so consider what healthy items you can add to your current meals, rather than focussing only one what to take out.

For example, instead of banishing bread from your diet, consider adding brown rice or more beans or legumes. Chances are you’ll end up eating less bread anyway if you add these items, but you’ll be nourishing your body instead of depriving it.

• At what point in the past have I given up and stopped trying to reach my goals?

This one is the kicker. Look back over your life. Maybe you’ve started out strong, then given up when you haven’t seen results as quickly as you’d like. Maybe you deprive yourself so much that you end up binge-eating, then giving up because you feel you’ve ‘ruined’ your diet.

Whatever it is that’s prevented you from reaching your goals in the past, try to identify it and make a different plan of attack to avoid the same pitfall as before.

The most important thing to remember is this: if what you did in the past has repeatedly not worked for you, chances are VERY slim (no pun intended) that it will work for you now.

This doesn’t mean you should give up and face a life of fatness or unhealthiness. It just means you need to try something different. The definition of insanity is repeating the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

I don’t know about you, but in my pre-success life, I was the Queen of Insanity. I thought by just adding more will-power to my old plan of attack, I would be able to reach my goals. Problem is, each time I failed, I seemed to lose more and more resolve, hope, and belief in myself.

So in 2012, I wish you all the best. I wish you the ability to let go of your old ways of thinking and start out again. Let 2012 be the year you drop everything that’s never worked before and start focussing on a program that will work for you. Base your program on reality, healthy goals, and a new attitude.

Here’s a quick

The Breville BJE200XL Compact Juice Fountain is one of Breville’s hottest-selling juicers.

This hugely popular juicer receives an average customer rating of 4 1/5 out of five stars on Amazon.com, making it one of Amazon’s most highly-rated juicer of any brand.

The Breville BJE200XL is a good choice for those wanting a top-of-the-line juicer for a slightly lower price.

While other Breville juicers like the Breville 800JEXL Juice Fountain Elite come with more bells and whistles, the Breville BJE200Xl has enough power and speed (700 watts) for the average person wanting a good-quality juicer without breaking the bank–with the Breville BJE800Xl you’ll be able to make an 8-ounce glass of juice in less the 5 seconds.

Features of the Breville BJE800XL

• Heavy-duty compact juice fountain with centered knife blade assembly
• 700-watt motor operates at 14,000 RPM for maximum extraction
• Extra-large 3-inch centered feed tube; stainless-steel micro-mesh filter
• Dishwasher-safe parts
• Custom cleaning brush
• Large size means you can make up to 1.5 litres of juice before emptying

Negatives

One Amazon.com customer who ordered the Breville BJE800Xl reported a slight defect, which is that there is a small seem around the spout in which pulp can be trapped and is difficult to remove. However, if you simply use the spiky part of a common bottle-cleaning brush you can remove any pulp before rinsing and washing in the dish-washer.

Ok, so here’s where I could simply repeat what I’ve already written in my post on the health benefits of juicing–but instead, I’m going to tell you some of the personal reasons that I choose to make juicing a big part of my life.

Let me tell you a bit of my story.

As you might expect, I was not always healthy and fit. Actually as a kid I was really over-weight; almost addicted to eating, you might say. I used it for comfort and just about everything else.

When I got older I started to develop some health problems, not the least of which was very severe depression and anxiety. Now while those things seem to (unfortunately) be a permanent part of my life, I’ve learned how to live with them pretty successfully, by which I mean I can manage the symptoms pretty well when they arise–and one of the main ways I do that is through healthy living, including–you guessed it!–juicing.

Why does it help so much with depression and anxiety? Well, I’m a firm believer in the body-mind-spirit connection.  Since depression and anxiety originates in the brain, I believe that to a certain extent they can be combated by changes in the body. Certainly we all know how peaceful and relaxed we feel when we exercise, and that’s because physical movement of the body triggers the release of endorphins in the brain–a chemical reaction in fact.

So I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that what we eat can effect our minds as well. Personally I find the eating tons of fruits and veggies  helps tremendously with my moods (among all the other fabulous side-effects, like weight-management, more energy, etc). One of the reason I juice is because it’s so much faster and easier to prepare and consume juice than it is to prepare, cook and eat produce.

Frankly, given the combination of health and convenience, I think juicing is one of the best choices anyone can ever make for themselves.

For me, it’s been life-changing. My entire outlook has changed completely since that first day I read some breville juicer reviews and went out and bought a juicer and made fresh carrot juice for the first time!  It helps regulate my moods and depressions, helps me feel energized and more alert, is fast and easy, and helps me maintain a health body weight and overall good heath.

If you’re wondering whether or not to start juicing, why not ask yourself  ‘What have I got to lose?’ You surely have everything to gain!

The Breville Juice Fountain Plus JE98XL is another very popular juicer from Breville. It’s got less power and torque than some of the more expensive Breville juicers, but it still packs quite a punch–as well as carrying a lower price tag.

The juicer is another Breville product that also got 4 1/2 stars out of 5 on Amazon, from an average of 50 consumer reviews.

The Breville Juice Fountain Plus is very compact, and a handy size and weight to easily store under cupboards or on your counter top.

It’s also fast, efficient and you will find that you get the highest possible amount of juice from your produce–that means that over time you’ll save money on your fruits and veggies because you’ll be getting the maximum amount of juice from them.

—————>Find the Best Price on a Breville Juice Fountain Plus<—————

Features of the Breville Juice Fountain Plus

This juicer features all the usual characteristics of any Breville juicer–a 3-inch wide juicer mouth for maximum speed (you can fit several items in at once to speed up juicing), a sturdy steel body, powerful blades and dish-washer safe parts for easy cleanup.

What makes the Breville Juice Fountain Plus unique is a few other features, including it’s 850-wattt two-speed motor, larger pulp collector, a 1-litre juice jug with attached froth collector and a separate cleaning brush.

Negatives

Some customers found if you’re making larger quantities of juice (for several people) that it’s necessary to clean out the pulp basket in between juicing to avoid liquid being retained in the pulp.

While the larger pulp basket of the Breville Juice Fountain Plus is probably designed to avoid repeated emptying, it is probably responsible for this. While not all customers reported this, if you’re planning on frequently making large amounts of juice, is may be wise to stick with one of the more powerful Breville juicers.

Two popular choices are the Breville Juice Fountain Elite 800JEXL or the  Breville BJE820XL Dual Disc Juice Processor–both are top-of-the line and have extra torque, power and blades to finely juice produce and avoid this problem.

—————>Find the Best Price on a Breville Juice Fountain Plus<—————

For information on other models, check out Breville juicer reviews.

The Breville 800JEXL is one of Breville’s newest and most popular juicers. This juicer is so popular that out of over 500 customer reviews on Amazon, it’s average rating was 4 1/2 stars out of 6.

The Breville 800JEXL sports 1000 watts of power (most other Breville juicers range from 600-900 watts) and 2-speed control for slower or faster juicing, depending on your preference.

It’s an attractive and powerful juicer made of solid chrome and titanium steel, so it your veggies and fruits get juice very quickly, powerfully, and efficiently–there’s little juice wasted as the items are thoroughly juiced to get maximum amounts of liquid.

————>Find the Best Price on a Breville 800JEXL<————

Breville 800JEXL Features

Apart from the 1000-watt motor and 2-speed option (13,000 RMP on high, 6,500 RMP on low), the Breville 800JEXL comes with a few other items, including a recipe book (included as part of the manual), a pulp container and a juice pitcher so the juice is automatically dispensed into the pitcher as you juice.

An extra feature of the elite is it’s 3-inch wide juicer mouth, that allows you to fit several items into the shute at once, like several carrots or two to three small apples. This can be a help if you’re short on time since it allows you to juice throgh your produce faster.

Although any Breville juicer or other top-of-the-line juice extractor should give you good results, the increase in wattage and speed give the Breville 800JEXL an extra advantage in raw power and efficiency, resulting in faster, smoother and more thorough juicing.

Negatives

The most obvious negative of the Breville 800JEXL is the price. While you’ll always pay upwards of $100 US for Breville juicer of any kind, the Juice Fountain Elite comes with a higher price tag, $400 if you choose buy it from the manufacturer.

Now if you’re interested in buying the Breville 800JEXL but are skeptical about the price, I do recommend that you check out Amazon. You can pick the Elite up for 25% off the regular price, plus free shipping if you live in the USA.

Here’s a cute video that shows you the Breville 800JEXL in action:

>Find the Best Price on a Breville Juice Fountain Elite 800JEXL<

If you are considering using a diet supplement (like tea, pills, or anything else that promises to help you lose weight) than it’s very important to understand how to use them correctly.

While there are many bogus diet products on the market today, there are some decent, effective products that can help you lose weight. Unfortunately, many people are still naive enough to believe that simply taking a pill or ingesting some sort of magical concoction is enough to take the extra pounds off.

Sadly, this just isn’t true. What product, no matter how good, is going to work if you are constantly sitting around on your behind doing nothing but eating? None of them!

People who do this end up blaming the product for their lack of success, even when the tiniest bit of effort of their part could have allowed them to achieve their goals.

No diet pill or product is magic, but they can increase your weight loss and help you achieve your goals much faster if you’re also doing your part.

So if you are thinking or trying out a weight-loss aid like Apidexin or other diet pills or supplements, make sure to check out these guidelines for success.

Keep Yourself Hydrated

Many diet products, particular diet pills, do contain caffeine. Although I don’t recommend using anything extreme like straight caffeine pills, caffeine has been scientifically proven to increase your metabolism and help burn calories, so most weight-loss pills do contain some caffeine.

Now because caffeine is a stimulate, it has the potential to make us feel dehydrated, anxious, and jittery. For this reason it is very important to drink plently of water and other caffeine-free liquids while using diet pills.

I personally recommend going above and beyond the eight recommend glasses of water a day. Aim for ten to twelve, and this should keep you properly hydrated.

If at any point you start to feel head-achey, anxious, jittery or just plain bad while using a dietary aid, this is most likely caused by dehydration. If this occurs, drink several glasses of water and up your liquid intake from there on in.

Diet Don’t Starve

What’s the most common complaint from people who are on diets? Hunger! We all know we should eat fewer calories when we’re trying to reduce, so we often make the mistake of eating less food generally. This can result in feeling sick, nauseated, depressed or light-headed.

While it is important to reduce overall caloric intake while using a diet aid, you must eat regular meals and continue to get your daily nutritional requirements. It’s possible to eat considerably fewer calories per day and still reduce your over all calorie-count for the day.

This is done by eating nutritionally dense, wholesome, lower calorie foods like fiber-rich whole grains and vegetables, plenty of lean protein like low-fat dairy, beans and legumes, chicken, turkey, or fish, as well as a small amount of fat (yes, fat!) each day to help you keep satiated.

Because wholesome food is more whole and contains more actual food-value than does higher fat and sugary foods, you can eat larger amounts of it while still feeling full and keeping your caloric intake fairly low.

So stick to a basic healthy diet full of wholesome, fresh, nutritionally dense foods (I personally recommend using a Breville juicer to make your own fresh fruit and vegetable juices) and you can avoid feelings of hunger or nauseated.

Eating well while you are using a dietary aid is also important, as it can prevent you from getting food cravings which may lead to a binge that could spoil your efforts for several days.

There are literally dozens of good reasons why a person might decide to start making their own juice.  Aside from the obvious benefit of having your own, delicious-tasting juice around, there are many health-related reasons that one might decide to juice.

As we all know, a diet rich in fresh vegetables and fruit is one of the best lifestyle choices you can make. Since time is an issue for so many of us, juicing your own vegetables and fruit can be a great way to ramp up your daily fruit and veggie intake without wasting valuable time.

It takes far less time to make up a jugful of vegetable juice every morning than to spend hours before each meal prepping veggies and fruit for breakfast, lunch and supper!

If you’ve got picky eaters in the family, making a vegetable juice with just a touch of fruit can be a great way to get them eating their veggies–without the usual complaints and hassle!

Raw Produce Is Better Than Processed

Eating fruits and veggies is great, but unlike many people believe, just how you eat your fruit and vegetables can make a big difference in how your body responds to them.

Cooking vegetables much past a very gentle steam can drain most of the vitamins and minerals right out of them. This is because too much heat can kill the enzymes found in fresh produce.

While some veggies, like carrots, can benefit from a very small amount of heat (not past the point when they turn from crunchy to tender), most produce is better eaten in its natural, fresh state.

Canned, pre-co0ked or frozen veggies, while better than nothing, have lost of lot of their nutritional value by the time the reach your dinner table. Canned fruits or vegetables are very poor nutritionally, as in addition to being over-cooked, they are always packed and canned in huge amounts of salt, sugar and preservatives.

Juicing with fresh (particularly organic) produce removes all these obstacles. With juicing, you will be sure of getting every last bit of the vitamins and minerals your produce contains–nothing is cooked or salted or processed out of them!

In addition, if you buy a high-quality, professional-level juicing (like a Breville juicer), the motor will be powerful enough to juice all parts of your produce (some exceptions here that must be prepared or peeled ahead of time)–skin, core, and seeds–which we normally do not eat but can contain valuable nutrients.

Juicing Increases Your Fiber Intake

Increasing your fiber intake is another great reason to juice. Fiber is a very important part of any diet. Among other things, fiber keeps us full longer (a great thing to keep in mind if you’re trying to lose weight).

Drinking a glass of fresh-made vegetable juice two or three times a day will give you most, if not all, of the fiber you should be getting every day.

Fiber also helps rid our system of unwanted toxins or other, less healthy foods faster, helps prevent constipation, increases energy, and helps maintain blood glucose levels and prevents blood sugar from spiking, so your energy levels remains constant throughout the day without that energy-rush-than-crash feeling.

As mentioned previously, with a powerful juicer, you’ll not only get all the fiber from the flesh of your produce, but some that is often contained in the parts  n0rmally we discard–the skin, core and seeds.

There’s a lot of fiber in vegetables that is more easily released and digested by the body in a pureed form that in, for example, a salad.

When eaten whole, dark leafy greens like kale, swiss chard, dandilion greens and spinach can often pass through our digestive tracts relatively unprocessed.

This can mean that a lot of the fiber and vitamins in the roughage are simply passing through our system without being absorbed. Juicing these greens will allow for all the fiber and nutrients to be released and absorbed by the body.

What’s Really In Your Store-Bought Vegetable Juice

Now you may be thinking, ‘Yes, I see the benefits of drinking vegetable juice, but why not just buy it in bottles?”  That’s a great question!

There are many reasons that making your own fresh juice is better than buying it pre-made. The most obvious one is the issue of ingredients–what’s really in that ‘juice’.

While there are some brands that do sell what is 100%-vegetable juice and nothing else, many so-called ‘juices’ are nothing but a lot of sugar and preservatives with a little veggie or fruit concentrate added.

For example, if you check the label on most brands of ‘vegetable’ or ‘tomato’ juice, you will find that the first ingredient is not tomato or vegetable concentrate or puree, but in fact, glucous fructose (ie, sugar, usually corn syrup)!  Then the second,  or even third ingredient will be the actual vegetable concentrate.

The same thing applies to fruit juice. You often have to spend upwards of $6 to get even a small bottle 100% fruit juice. Many other brands will masquerade as authentic fruit juice, but are actually ‘juice beverage’ or ‘juice cocktail’–these words mean that there may be a bit of actual fruit somewhere in there, but it’s not likely to be high on the list of ingredients.  Again, in most cases, the primary ingredient will be glucous.

Now as I said, if you’re willing to shell out $6 to $8 per bottle, you can get real fruit or vegetable juice.

But aside from the expense (which is considerable), there’s just no question that freshly-made juice is more nutritionally dense than juice that has been sitting on a shelf for a month or two.  As with any other food, a long shelf life can kill a lot of the essential nutrients.

In addition to this, even 100% vegetable juice that you buy often has components that have been cooked or processed before they become juice.

This is because cooking will help prolong the shelf-life of the juice. Think about it: try making a pitcher of fresh veggie juice and letting it sit around in your fridge or on your counter for a week–it won’t stay fresh very long!

And even juice that is 100% fruits or veggies (even organic juices) will usually have preservatives (and lots of sodium, in the case of vegetable juice especially) to help it last even longer–another thing you don’t really want in your body.

Reasons to Juice

Juicing is one of the best decisions you can make for your body and your overall health and well-being.  Here’s a summary of some of the main benefits you may experience if you start making freshly-made vegetable juice a big part of your diet.

• Helps you get the recommended daily intake of vegetables and fruit
• Saves time! Much faster than prepping and cooking produce for each meal
• Increases your fiber intake
• Helps you get the necessary vitamins and minerals you need
• Keeps you full longer without adding unwanted calories, so you’ll eat less
• Increases your energy level and overall feeling of wellness
• Can help eleviate mood disorders like depression, anxiety, and ‘the blues’
• Relieves constipation, keeps your digestive tract running smoothly and efficiently
• Many studies link higher intakes of fresh produce to lower rates of cancer and other fatal or chronic diseases
• Can help lower blood pressure and risk of cardiovascular diseases
• Can help you lose weight and keep it off
• Get more nutritional value out of your fruits and veggies, so more bang for your buck
• Much cheaper than buying pre-made juice
• You can control what goes into your juice, great for both taste and health reasons

BMI stands for Body Mass Index.  It is a overly-used, overly-hyped, now largely accepted method of measuring whether one is overweight, underweight, or like Goldilocks and her porridge, ‘just right’.

The problem? BMI is not’ just right’. It can be just wrong, and it is, much of the time, especially for a particular group of people or those with a particular type of body–ironically, athletes and those with low body fat but high muscle percentile–the people we’re all supposed to emulate!

BMI: Designed for National Averages, Not Individuals

Let me explain. Body Mass Index is a simple mathematical formula that is designed to measure or percentage of body fat.  It is an equation that ironically, was never intended to be used on individuals, but in fact was designed in order to find the average body-fat percentage of entire populations.

So when you hear the statistic “60% of Americans are obese or overweight”, you’re looking at BMI being used for the population of the US.  And, for a population average, this is really high. Americans are, generally speaking, a hefty people.

So what’s the problem here? BMI  is now used by physicians everywhere–who could be looking at Arnold Schwartzenegger during his body-building years and would still tell him he needed to lose a few pounds if his BMI said so (actually, Schwartzenegger’s BMI during those years indicated that his was morbidly obese–which tells you how useful BMI is for some people)–as an indication of health or unhealth, when it was never intended to be used on individuals and is, in fact, largely ineffective for indicating whether an individual is a healthy weight or not.

Why Your BMI Might Suprise You

Let me explain how BMI works. The equation cannot, of course, actually measure body-fat, because it is a mathematical equation, not a tool.

All BMI does is calculate what, on average, an inactive person of  average height and typical body composition should weigh–your weight divided by the square of your height. This is fine for people who are of average build and are inactive, but not everyone fits into that category!

Just because BMI calculates one’s weight does not necessarily mean it’s calculating weight that is composed of fat.

Our weight isn’t just fat–it’s a lot of things: bone, fluid, and of course muscle! And the more active, healthy and strong you are, the more muscle you will have! And as we all know–muscle weighs more than fat, mass for mass.

That’s why very active, heavily muscled people and athletes (and even tall, unmuscular people) often have BMI’s that would indicate they are overweight–often heavily overweight, in the case of body-builders or people with exaggerated  muscular composition.

So yes, if you’re extremely sedentary, of average height, have an average build (not narrow and slight nor muscular and strongly built) than having a high BMI can be a definite indication that you need to lose a few pounds.

But if you’re healthy and moderately fit and just happen to be on the muscular, taller, stronger side, you will probably be told you are overweight or obese. And if you’re healthy and moderately fit and just happen to have a narrow, slight build, you will probably be told you are underweight or even anorexic.

Better Ways to Measure

A better way to measure? Look in the mirror. Look around you. Look at the clothing you wear. Do you look fat? Do you look too thin? Do other people think you look fat (or thin)?  Are you healthy, do you exercise and eat right? Are you fatter, thinner, or the same size (not weight) as most other people of the same gender and height? Is it hard to find clothes that fit you because you are fatter or thinner  than most people?

All these things are a much better, much more reliable measurements than BMI. If you really want to know you’re actual body fat percentage, there is a method for doing this using your measurements, which I will try to discuss at some later point.

The BMI Equation

If you really want to know what your BMI is, then here is the equation:

BMI = weight (lb) X 703, divided by height (in) squared

What your BMI indicates:

Below 18: underweight

Between 18 and 24: ideal weight

25 and above: overweight

Above 30: obese

1. Drink More Water

We all know we should but few of us do. This is actually one thing that I do each and every day, and I believe that it contributes to good health and general feelings of well-being far more than most people imagine.

I also believe that most of us go around in a state of semi-dehyrdation, and that it’s a leading reason so many of us feel tired, weak and stressed so much of the time.

So just do it: start with a glass when you wake up, a glass before bed, and one glass every time you eat something.

If you eat three meals and two snacks per day, plus one in the morning and one before bed, than you just got seven glasses–add one for for the full eight! As time goes on you’ll become accostomed to all the liquid and actually crave it.

2. Eat More Fruits and Veggies

This is where the juicing comes in handy. Who has time to eat that many fruits and veggies? You can easily get all that and more by juicing even once a day.

Make some fresh juice every morning (mostly vegetables, remember) and have it with each meal, or even just in the morning if your life-style doesn’t allow for other meals to be eaten at home. You will feel fabulous and veg-ergized for the rest of the day!

Of course if you don’t want to juice than just make sure you include lots of fresh, lightly cooked or raw fruits and veggies into your diet.

It does take an extra effort (and extra time) to do this–that’s why I recommend juicing for people who are big on health but short on time, but simply taking the time to eat and cook with more fruits and vegetables is absolutely fin if you don’t like the idea of juicing or it’s not a viable option for you.

3. Get More Exercise

Yes, another no brainer, but a necessary one. It doesn’t have to mean long boring hours you don’t have slaving in the gym. If you do nothing now, than any exercise is better than nothing.

If you do a little now, than more is better than less. Just do it–run around with the dog or your kids outside, ride a bike, walk for 20 minutes and keep building more time, whatever it takes. You will feel immeasurably better, so make it a priority.

Exercise will be difficult at first, particularly if you need to lose weight. However, as time goes on, it will become easier, till eventually you’ll find yourself jumping with exercise-induced joy!

How to Implement These Ideas Into Your Life

I believe that making a full commitment to the three following ideas is enough to change your life dramatically for the better–these three things are the corner-stones of a healthy lifestyle.

None of these things are hard to do; they just require a tiny bit of willingness to wanting to feel better and living a healthier life–so just make them a priority  (try following the old suggestion: do them all every day for 21 days straight and they will have become a habit).