The One New Year's Resolution To Make (And Keep)!

Written by Melanie Jordan


2002--another year, another chance to make a fresh start. What resolutions will you make this year? And, more importantly, which ones will you keep? After all, making resolutions is easy, keeping them can be tough after your initial good intentions start to fall byrepparttar wayside and old habits start to kick in.

Every year I seerepparttar 115893 same thing. The gym suddenly becomes more crowded withrepparttar 115894 "newbies" who have admirably decided to begin a regular exercise program. Not to worry, most of them will quit by Washington's Birthday weekend. Also, everyone you talk to is on a diet after having too much ofrepparttar 115895 holidays. This too shall pass. I'm not trying to be cruel, but good intentions don't turn into lasting results forrepparttar 115896 majority of us.

Wouldn't it be great to make a healthy resolution this year that you can actually keep? Well I have one for you, it's called "gradual lifestyle change". If you really pay attention torepparttar 115897 top health experts, notrepparttar 115898 "fad ofrepparttar 115899 day" diet gurus—-it's a change in lifestyle, not a quick fix, that helps you achieve your health goals--losing those pounds or maintaining your weight; increasing your stamina; lowering your cholesterol, blood pressure or blood sugar; etc. This concept is not new, but what may be new to you is how you approach it.

In my own personal experience, and that of my coaching clients, when you make a lifestyle change, it'srepparttar 115900 result of making gradual changes that fit in with who you are, rather than ones that force you to fit yourself into food or activity choices that go against your preferences, that lead to success.

I successfully adoptedrepparttar 115901 gradual lifestyle change approach myself after years of yo-yo dieting, emotional eating and seeing my possible health future before me in my own family's struggles with diabetes, heart disease and cancer. My solution was to take my already pretty healthy lifestyle up another notch to what I callrepparttar 115902 "NMP" eating style--on a part-time basis for starters, which then evolved nearly three years ago to a full-time, permanent change.

Ghee-licious!

Written by Shubhra Krishan


Chhhannnggg….

The sound is familiar-- like a curtain of raindrops descending on a tin roof. I am about to partrepparttar curtain and look out ofrepparttar 115892 window, whenrepparttar 115893 aroma floats in. Conjuring images of twilight, soft breeze,repparttar 115894 cows coming home--repparttar 115895 bells jingling around their necks… dinner laid out on a chatai (straw mat) onrepparttar 115896 kitchen floor--light yellow rice peppered with mustard seeds and soaked in home-made ghee…

I am led byrepparttar 115897 nose…intorepparttar 115898 kitchen in vaidya Ramakant Mishra's home. A symphony of flavour is playing there. The big round wok onrepparttar 115899 stove, with curry leaves and cumin seeds crackling insiderepparttar 115900 clear golden ghee, sending outrepparttar 115901 sound that I mistook for rain. Andrepparttar 115902 aroma. Againrepparttar 115903 aroma.

I don't mean to sound dramatic. But don't blame me if I do. There are smells that send you crazy. The first whiff of rain that rises offrepparttar 115904 earth. The fresh scent of water-sprinkled cilantro. Ocean-mist. Daffodils. And ghee.

"Almost everything I like is either sinful, illegal or fattening" said Oscar Wilde. And isn’t that true of most things in life--chocolate, fries and streaking onrepparttar 115905 beach, to name a few. Happily, ghee isn't among them. It's delicious and it's actually good for you.

Ghee is everywhere in Indian life. For centuries, Indian women have used carbon from ghee-lamps as a protective eyeliner. Mothers massage their newborns with it, to make their skin supple. The no-fail Indian remedy for an upset stomach is ghee-bhaat (boiled rice) with a pinch of salt. Because ghee can transport particles into cells, many Ayurvedic formulations use it as a base. Ghee isrepparttar 115906 fat that lightsrepparttar 115907 lamps of temples--no other fat is considered more auspicious.

But superstition is not just whyrepparttar 115908 Indians love ghee. Renowned vaidya Dr Ramakant Mishra, who heads product research at Maharishi Ayurveda International, says Ayurveda discoveredrepparttar 115909 role of ghee in well-being centuries ago. So beneficial is this fat that vaidyas have given itrepparttar 115910 status of a “rasayana”, or pre-eminent healing food.

Ghee is:

Light: That rich, creamy look. You would imagine ghee is a heavy fat. It's not. What is ghee, you may ask. Dehydrated milk-butter without its solids. To make ghee, technologists heat milk butter on a slow fire. Allrepparttar 115911 water slowly evaporates. What's left ofrepparttar 115912 butter is a clear golden liquid, withrepparttar 115913 solids settled atrepparttar 115914 bottom. The liquid is ghee. Bonus: ghee is so flavorful that just a teaspoon will do more than four tablespoons of any other cooking oil.

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