Your-Best-Life.blogspot.com is becoming VibrantHealthyU.com

We are becoming VibrantHealthyU.com! I'm very excited about the name change, but I guess I should also apologize for any inconvenience that our readers might incur during the transition. However, in the end, our name change will be a good thing! Your-Best-Life.blogspot.com is a lot of name to remember, so I decided to purchase a custom domain that will make it easier for our new readers to come back to, time and again. The title Vibrant Healthy U, was selected after considering a few factors. First, I knew using Your Best Life was out of the question, since Oprah pretty much now has the market on that term. So, I wanted to make it something with the word 'health' in the name. Second, this blog is here to help you (U) gain vibrant health. And once I had narrowed it down to VibrantHealthyYou or VibrantHealthyU, I thought the U would be more fitting since a university (U) is an institution of learning of the highest level, and I hope that our health, fitness, and nutrition tips are to you a source of higher learning to help you gain vibrant health. It seems that the change should be seamless for our subscribers. However, the transition will not be complete for another 48 hours or so and I can't be sure until it occurs. I will try to get as many URLs changed (such as at Entrecard and Blog Catalog) as quickly as possible once the transition is complete. Fortunately, the old name will still redirect to the new one so there shouldn't be a problem visiting us, except that it may take a few seconds longer to get here. Thanks for your patience, there will be many good articles to get you to vibrant health coming in the near future... and let me know what you think of the new name.

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Try Pilates For Killer Summer Abs

Are you working hard to get your body ready for summer? I am. But, if you're like me, you may bore of doing the same workout routine day-in and day-out. I've been doing the 8-minute abs workout, but it's time for something new. I went in search of that 'something' this morning and I found a Pilates workout that is just like the class I love to take at our local gym! While I was debating about posting it, I read at Health Nut Wannabee Mom's Blog, that, "Drew Barrymore prefers to burn calories with a workout that includes Pilates," and Diet-Blog.com is reporting that "core training is one of the top 10 fitness trends of 2008." Reading these posts confirmed to me that this was definitely something my readers might find useful. I'm only posting this one video, but if you visit YouTube.com, you'll find others that are related. Be sure to check out 10 min pilates sculpting-full, for a Pilates workout that will also tone your arms; and 10 min pilates bum & thighs-full, to work you glutes and legs. Remember to keep your tummy pulled in tight the entire workout. I've found that Pilates, when done correctly, never seems to get easy. You can always work on improving your form. If you've never done Pilates before, you'll be sore!

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Drink L-theanine Water To Help De-Stress

L-theanine is a natural amino acid that comes from green tea. It may seem odd that something from tea, which is known as a stimulant, could help with stress and anxiety but this amino acid has been proven to create a sense of relaxation and calm in just 30 minutes, without making you drowsy. It apparently stimulates the production of alpha brain waves, leaving you feeling like you would after deep meditation, a hot bath, or a massage, deeply relaxed but mentally alert.

L-theanine also may also positively effect dopamine and serotonin levels, affecting your mood positively and increasing memory and learning ability. It's also suggested that it may help lower blood pressure and enhance the anti-tumor activity of chemotherapeutic drugs.

Based on the results of clinical studies, L-theanine is most effective in the range of 50-200 mg taken at the first signs of stress . You can purchase it in pill form or additionally, many companies are realizing the demand, in our stress laden world, and are adding it to water, energy drinks and more. Blue Cow, The Original Relaxation Drink and Amp Energy Elevate, are two that can be found in your local supermarket or health food store.

For more information:
http://web-us.com/l-theanine_anxiety_reducer.htm
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16930802?ordinalpos=15&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

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A Link Between Blood Sugar And Alzheimer's?

By not controlling your blood sugar levels you put yourself in line for a whole host of problems including thirst, blurred vision, slow to heal cuts and bruises, kidney disease, nerve damage, heart disease and more. Now, it seems, there is another problem to add to that list. According to a long-term study published in the April 9, 2008, online issue of Neurology, men who develop diabetes in mid-life appear to significantly increase their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease.

The study, which tested the glucose levels of 2,269 Swedish at age 50 for diabetes, found that during an average follow up of 32 years, 102 participants were diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The results indicate that men with low insulin secretion capacity at age 50 were nearly one-and-a-half times more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than people without insulin problems.

One of the researchers, Dr Elina Rönnemaa, says, "A link between insulin problems and the origins of Alzheimer's disease emphasizes the importance of insulin in normal brain function." She contemplates that perhaps insulin problems lead to damaged blood vessels in the brain, which causes problems with memory and Alzheimer's disease, but she emphasized that further research was needed to discover the detailed underlying biology.

Whatever the reason for the connection, it means that you need to keep your blood sugar levels in control. If you are not sure if your blood sugar levels are normal, The American Diabetes Association encourages people to take the Diabetes Risk Test and, of course, be sure to follow up by speaking to your physician regarding your results.

Source: Diabetes In Mid-life Linked To Increased Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease

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The Invisible Ailment - A Look At The Spoon Theory

Are you someone who is fighting a disease, going through the ups-and-downs, but to those on the outside you may look fine? Last night I ran across an article that I just had to share with my readers. It's entitled The Spoon Theory and can be found at http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/navigation/BYDLS-TheSpoonTheory.pdf. Please take a few minutes to read this if you, or anyone you know, has Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus, or any other 'invisible' disease. It will help you to make sense of how different doing everyday tasks are for someone who is sick verses a healthy person.


I, personally, have a neuromusular disorder that affects my feet and eventually, possibly, my hands. If I'm sitting no one would realize I have anything wrong. When I'm walking, most people do notice that I have a strange gait and trip easily. This is caused by the odd formation of my feet (high arches and instep and my ankles roll outward) due to the nerves not functioning correctly. But what they don't realize is that because my nerves are twice as slow as a normal person's, it takes me twice as much energy to do the same task. When I was younger I just pushed on and ignored my limitations. Today I realize I can't do that or I'll pay for it later! That is why I found Christine Miserandino's personal story and her analogy of what it is like to live with sickness or disability, through The Spoon Theory, so on-the-spot and compelling.


Christine's website at http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/, also has some great information, valuable resources, and even a store that has items with cute sayings like the one to the right, for anyone who wants to live life to the fullest with any disability, invisible disease, or chronic pain. She is a writer, blogger, speaker and patient advocate, who also happens to be living with Lupus. She started her advocacy due to consistently being told, by both well-wishers and doctors alike, “But you don't look sick.” as if that was some kind of compensation for being chronically ill.


I hope you find Christine's Spoon Theory as helpful as I did!

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