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Three Easy Yoga Floor Exercises To Lose Belly Fat

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Three Easy Yoga Exercises For Losing Tummy Fat And Losing Weight

Fat stomachs can be a problem for many. Women after childbirth often need to do stomach-firming exercises to flatten their tums. Others, because of poor diet and not enough exercise, may also develop unwanted belly fat.

Even men, both young and old, often develop flabby bellies from consuming too much sugar, farrinaceous foods and dairy products, or over-indulging in beer or fizzy drinks.

With the right kind of exercise, and sensible eating, belly fat can easily be reduced.

Here are some very easy and straight-forward exercises which you can do to firm up the stomach muscles and reduce fat. They come from the teachings of Satyananda, who had a yoga ashram in Auckland in the 1980’s. I studied yoga at this ashram for three years, which is when I learned the Satyananda style of Yoga, which includes these marvellous exercises.

You will find that by doing these tummy exercises on a regular basis, even if you do no more yoga than this, a beneficial effect on your nervous system and digestion and sense of well-being will be experienced. They will help by enhancing your breathing technique, as well as in a physical sense.

Try to practice them every day. Start with five minutes, and build up the time gradually. Before long, you will be wanting to add other asanas to your yoga practice.

These yoga exercises for reducing tummy fat will also help you to trim your waist, hips and buttocks. They are also very good for toning up the thigh muscles.

First Exercise: Rowing The Boat

Nauka Sanchalana. A Shakti Bandha energy block exercise.

This exercise frees up the energy flow. The prana, or energy, can get stuck in parts of the body, such as the joints and muscles, or vital organs. An energy block can cause problems with digestion, with constipation, rheumatism and the like. I have used these Shakti Bandha exercises to cure earache caused by congestion. They also help to relieve congestion in the lungs.

Rowing the Boat exercise massages all the muscles and organs in the stomach area. It helps to remove constipation, helps eliminate toxins, and restores a natural energy flow around the body. This exercise is supposed to be great for enhancing the endocrine functions.

Here is how you do it:

The main thing to remember is not to rush the exercise, but build up a smooth, even movement which co-ordinates with your breathing, which should be slow and deep.

Sit comfortably on the floor with your legs stretched out in front of you. The knees should be straight if you can do that, with the feet together.

Now ‘row the boat’ by moving the hands forward to reach over, or towards, the toes. As you move forward with the arms, you breathe out. As you come back with the arms, rowing your boat and holding imaginary oars, breathe in.

Lean back with those imaginary oars so that you stretch the tummy muscles.

Breathe out again as you come forward with your arms to stretch out towards the toes.

Repeat until you have done ten rounds in this fashion.

Then do ten in the reverse direction. Simply reverse the movement, so that you are breathing out as you move the hands close to the legs, reaching out for the toes, then breathing in as you take the arms upward while you bend back with the imaginary oars.

This exercise can be done by expectant mothers for the first three months only of pregnancy.

It is an excellent exercise to do AFTER childbirth. It will help the stomach organs return to their proper places and develop muscle tone. Note: Do not do too many to start with, and not too soon after having your baby. You should wait for at least a month before beginning an exercise programme, in my opinion. Ask your doctor or naturopath for advice on when you can safely begin doing stomach-reducing exercises.

Exercise Two: Churning The Mill

Chakki Chalana is another sitting Shakti Bandha exercise to remove energy blockages.

For this exercise, the same breathing applies as above. Take your time with the exercise, and breathe out slowly as you come forward, and breathe out as you move the body back.

Sit with the legs outstretched for this one. Clasp the hands together.

Now – Take a deep breath and then exhale as you move the clasped hands forward over the right leg, down towards the toes.

Keep the movement going, heading towards the left foot.

Then, touch the left foot with the clasped hands and, breathing in, arms outstretched, bend backwards as you bring the hands up the left leg to the thigh.

Move the hands down the right leg again, as you breathe out.

Continue in the fashion, making a big continuous circle with the outstretched arms and clasped hands.

Breathe out as you move the arms forward and bend the body forward.

Breathe in as you move the body backwards, coming up from foot to upper thigh with the arms stretched outl

Try to keep the arms straight, as this means you have to bend back a good way with the arms at the top of the legs. This bending back movement gives the stomach muscles a really good stretch.

Exercise Three: Leg Raises.

Now, after having done the two Shakti Bandha exercises as above, lie down on the floor.

Arms loosely at the side of the body.

Legs out straight on the floor. Releax. Take a few breaths and watch the tummy rising with each inhalation, and falling back as you exhale.

Now take a deep breath in and hold the breath.

While you hold the breath, lift both legs slowly off the floor.

Still holding the breath, keep raising the legs upwards until the toes are pointing to the ceiling.

Now, while you keep the feet pointing to the ceiling, let the breath exhale.

Still holding the legs upward in this position, take a breath in and out.

Then take another deep breath in and hold the breath.

Slowly, very slowly, bring the legs down bit by bit until they touch the floor.

Keep holding the breath until the feet are down on the floor again.

Let the breath out, then take another deep breath in and hold the breath while you slowly lift the feet upwards again.

Do this exercise three times then stop.

This one is not recommended for people with high blood pressure or heart problems. If you have health problems of any kind, then leave this exercise out and just do the first two exercises.

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Recipe Leek and Ginger Soup Good For Colds and Flu

Gluten Free Recipe For Lentil-Leek and Ginger Soup

WOW. Nothing like having a hot, freshly-made soup in the winter to antidote the flu. This is my own peppered-up version of leek soup which helps to drive those bugs away.

Note: If you are on blood thinners such as Warfarin, then you should not indulge in this soup. Leeks and Ginger are both natural blood thinners, so if you have any quantity of these foods and combine them with artificial blood thinners, you could end up being over-dosed on blood thinners. A nose bleed may result. Far better to get your health requirements from your diet, in my estimation, than to take the artificial replacements. It would be a better thing if doctors would work out an appropriate diet which includes the remedial substances that their patients need, rather than resort to prescribing artificial blood thinners, etc, instead.

Leeks Are Good For The Immune System: The vegetable basis of this soup recipe is leeks, which are a classic herbal remedy for colds and flu, as well as being an anti-cancer food, and good for the eyesight because of their high Lutein and Zeaxanthin content.

Fresh Ginger Roots Are Good For The Immune System: This soup also contains another great remedy for colds and flu – ginger roots. The active ingredients in fresh ginger are the Terpenes and Gingerols which have powerful germ-destroying properties. Ginger is also noted as an anti-cancer agent, as an anti-inflammatory for arthritis, a remedy for nausea, and an enhancer of the digestion.

Gluten Free Brown Lentils Are Nutritious and have Anti-Cancer Components: The main protein content in this gluten free soup recipe comes from the brown lentils whcih also have anti-cancer properties. They are one of the few foods which have good quantities of Folic acid, and Zinc.

Lentils are a favourite food for vegetarians and for people on gluten-free diets. They are not only delicious, but are rich in nutrients such as protein, fibre, B Vitamins, Folate, Iron, and Zinc. Their high Zinc content boosts the immune system so that your system can fight those bad germs better. Lentils also contain Isoflavins and Lignan, which help in keeping cancer at bay.

This recipe also uses one unpeeled grated apple, seeds and all. Apples are another healing food, rich in pectin, Vitamin C, and fibre.

Recipe For Leek-Lentil-Ginger Soup

You will need: Dry Lentils, One Leek, Fresh Ginger Roots, One Apple, One Carrot, Sea Salt, Red Paprika, Mild Curry Powder.

Take One and a 1/2 cups of dry lentils.

Add Lentils to a litre of water.

Bring to the boil. Simmer gently for half an hour.

Add one whole chopped leek to the lentils after half an hour of cooking.

Peel a good chunk of ginger.

Chop the ginger up finely – enough to fill two tablespoons.

Add the ginger to the soup.

Chop up three cloves of garlic and add to the soup.

Grate the carrot and add to the soup.

Add also one desertspoon mild curry powder.

Add half a teaspoon red paprika powder and one teaspoon sea-salt.

Cook altogether for another half an hour on low heat.

Add one whole grated apple five minutes before the end of the cooking, as well as a half teaspoon of cinnamon powder.

You may need to add a little more water to the soup after the leeks have been added. Use one or two cups of extra water – enough to make it soupey and not too thick.

The soup can be served as it is, or with an added lump of butter or some grated cheese.

Alternatively, ground sesame seeds could be added to substitute the dairy food.

If you have the flu, or a cold, then it is best to eat the soup without any dairy added.

I think that this is a great food for people wanting to lose weight. If it is eaten as the main meal, without added dairy, or bread, then you can eat as much of it as you like without fear of putting on weight.

Recipe For Vegetarian and Gluten Free Potassium Protein-Rich Soup

Nutrient-Rich Adzuki Bean Soup Is Entirely Gluten Free and Vegetarian.

This is my own recipe for gluten-free vegetarian broth which I have found is an excellent sustaining food, being rich in protein and healthy carbohydrates. It is a great protein food, and is an excellent source of important minerals and vitamins. It has just about the whole range – iron, potassium, iodine, magnesium, manganese, traces of the other minerals, depending on where the vegetables were grown, and where the kelp was sourced. It is also very high in Vitamins, especially beta-carotene, the essential ingredient which the body uses to make Vitamin A. Vitamin A helps protect the immune system, helps fight off infections, and is important for the health of just about everything in the body, including skin, hair, nails, bones and the nervous system.

This broth makes a great meal, perhaps in combination with some gluten-free cornbread, or rice, or raw or stewed fruit, or salad to follow. You can also use this gluten-free broth as part of your cleansing programme, and to help you on the road to losing weight, and that unwanted fat.

It can either be used for several days as a mono-diet, to help detoxify the body, or in combination with raw salads. If you were to have a bowl of this soup three times a day, wih a salad afterwards, and ate raw foods the rest of the day whenever you were hungry, your body should reward you.

How To Make Adzuki Bean Soup – Protein Rich, Vegetarian and Gluten-Free.

Take 2 cups of dry brown adzuki beans. You could use dry green mung beans if these are not available, but I like the brown adzuki beans for this soup.

Put these into a large saucepan, large enough to hold a couple of litres.

Cover with one litre of water.

Now chop up one large onion. Add this to the adzuki bean pot.

Chop up two medium sized carrots and add these also.

Chop up one large potato, or a couple of medium sized ones, into walnut sized pieces. Unless the potato has started to sprout, or is green, leave the skin on the potato. Potato skin is a rich source of potassium, Vitamin A and other nutrients, but it is no good to use the skin if the potato is green or sprouting, as the solanum in green potato skin is slightly poisonous and will make your soup taste bitter.

Bring the pot to the boil, then turn down to the lowest heat so that the soup mixture is just simmering.

Leave to simmer gently for two hours with a lid lightly over the pot to keep the steam in.

After two hours, take off the heat and allow to cool. Then blend up the soup in your blender. Put back into the pot and add another half litre of water. Bring to the boil again, then turn the heat off.

At this stage, just before serving, chop two or three organic tomatoes into the soup. Add 1 teaspoon sea salt or kelp to taste, and a few dashes of sweet, red, powdered paprika pepper.

Pick two nice young silver beet leaves from your garden and, using only the green part of the silver beet, chop it very finely. Chop a little freshly picked parsley and coriander, if you have it. If not, it does not matter, as the soup will still taste good. It is important to have some fresh green leaves in the soup though. You could use some celery tops and some Chinese cabbage such as bok soy, or spinach, instead of the silver beet. Tip the silver beet and herbs into your soup pot.

These greens should be chopped nice and fine. Do not cook the soup any more once the tomatoes and chopped greens have been added. They will wilt nicely in the soup, but because they are not directly exposed to stove heat, will still contain many of their nutrients.

Serve immediately. Of course, any remaining soup can be let to cool and then stored in the refrigerator for a day or two, but fresh is always best. Try to use the soup up on the day that you make it.

Qi Gong for Weight Loss

Simple Qi Gong can be effective in helping you to lose weight. Anything which raises your qi levels, or your vital energy force, will help you to overcome health problems and addiction problems.

The art of Qi gong has developed from the ancient martial arts of China and other areas. It combines movement with meditation. This Qi gong exercise is from Professor Yu’s system for generating Qi in the body, and promoting harmony in the mind. However, the exercise included here is an adaptation of his original teachings.

Here is the simple Standing Qi gong exercise which will help to build up strength in your nervous system. The more you practice the exercise, the better things will be, as your perseverance and determination will be strengthened as well as your physical body.

Although it appears as if you are ‘doing nothing’, the exertion from holding this posture helps to remove toxins from the body. You will find that, with extended periods of holding the posture, that you begin to sweat. This aids elimination of toxins from the body, invigorates the vital organs, and cleanses the skin.

If you persist with this exercise and practice good eating habits: eat brown rice with vegetables and protein; resist all those problematic foods such as wheat products, bread, dairy, and sugar; then you should lose some weight.

So now – get ready to perform the exercise.

Step One: Make sure your bowels and bladder are empty, and the phone is off the hook. Eat something light before you begin, such as a bowl of porridge or rice, or some fruit.

Step Two: Simply stand with your feet apart, so that the feet are level with the shoulders. The hands hang loosely at your sides at this point.

Step Three: Slowly bring the arms up in a fluid movement in front of you so that the palms face downwards to the floor. The arms are fully stretched out in front of the chest now, palms down. Your knees are still bent. Make sure the posture is erect. Your back should be nice and straight with your nose in line with your navel.

Step Four: Simply stay in this position whilst you breath normally, watching the breath flow.

Just do the exercise for as long as is comfortable. Even a couple of minutes will do to begin with. Try to perform the exercise twice day. Do in the morning, and again in the evening before bed. Build up the time you spend on the exercise, increasing gradually.

Finish the exercise by gently stroking the face, from the temples downward. Then stroke the arms from the shoulders down to the fingers.

The next step is to getly massage the abdomen in a circular motion with the right hand. Do this just three times.

Next, rub your back with your clenched knuckles. Just half a dozen rubs over the kidney and back area.

Now sit down ad massage the legs briefly, from the thigh area down to the calves to the ankles.

Detox Diets

Fasting and Cleansing: It is very important to regularly cleanse the body by a fast of some kind, especially in this modern age, when so many people die of cancer and other degenerative disease. These diseases can be helped, or even cured, by different diets which are really types of cleansing diets to help the body eliminate the toxins which are causing the disease.

In the case of treating cancer, arthritis, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or even conditions like irritable bowel syndrome, cleansing diets are adapted to become maintenance diets. These diets give maximum nutrition to sustain the body and build the immune system so that it can stave off the disease. At the same time, the cleansing diet maximises the elimination process so that toxins are expelled quickly from the body. Enemas are an important part of the treatment if you have a serious disease like cancer. These are also very helpful if you undertake a simple cleansing diet such as one of these given below, especially if your body is in a toxic state and/or you have never folowed a cleansing diet before.

If don’t want to use an enema, you could visit a colonic clinic. They will rinse out the bowel for you. Colonic cleansing by a professional is not cheap, but it is well worth the money to have most of the poisons washed away. It really gives you a new lease on life. If you opt for this, then I recommend going to the clinic on the third day of your fast or cleansing diet.

If cleansing diets are new to you, then it is best that you do your chosen diet for just one day to begin with, especially if you are not going to use an enema. This is because you will be carrying poisons in the body which have been building up over a lifetime. The sudden release of these toxins from the liver and other organs, into the intestines and into the bloodstream, can make you feel sick, and this is why elimination is quickened by the use of an enema in treating disease or even when following a cleansing diet.

Three days is a fairly standard time for a cleansing diet, but you can build up to this by doing your cleanse in steps: Of course, if you have a serious disease, then you will need to follow a maintenance diet over a long period of time until you recover. Details of maintenance diets will follow this post on ‘Detox Diets’. Also look at my posts on ‘Ridding the Body of Cancer’ and ‘Preventing Cancer” for information regarding maintenance diets.

A DETOX DIET-TO START WITH: Follow the chosen method for one day to begin with. This will be, for instance, one day on the grape diet. Then eat fairly normally for two or three days, but omit dairy foods, sugar and wheat including bread. Then do two days in a row on the diet. Then two or three days again on the no-dairy, no-sugar, no-wheat diet. Then do three days at a stretch back on the cleansing diet.

There are numerous different ways in which you can cleanse the body of toxins. Here are a few easy-to-follow cleansing diets with which you can experiment. There are enough to choose from so that you may never get bored by following just one approach. See which one you might find easiest to tackle.

THE GRAPE DIET. This is a favourite of mine and many people I know. Bernard Petersen, an extremely talented psychic healer who lived on Waiheke Island in New Zealand used this diet frquently. Bernard lived to a great old age, into his 90’s, and was still active as a healer until the end. Incidentally, Bernard didn’t believe in using enemas. Grapes were enough for him. He loved grapes, and ate them daily when they were in season. This was easy, because they grew all over the underceiling of the roof in his porch, so that you could sit there in the sun, chatting to Bernard, and munching on grapes to your hearts content.

The grape diet is very simple: All you do is eat as many grapes as you fancy, whenever and as often as you like. A diet purely of grapes can be sustained for many days, but you need to build up to this. Grapes are very nutritious – high in IRON and Vitamin C, and they are high in ROUGHAGE which cleanses the whole digestive system very effectively. They ideally should be like Bernard’s grapes – unsprayed and totally organic.

THE APPLE DIET. You need to have a supply of, preferably, organic apples. Granny smiths are good, or you might prefer a sweet red apple. The method is the same as that for the grape diet – you eat as many as often as you like. You won’t get fat on either of these diets. In fact, they are very good for people who are losing weight. You will lose weight if you were to regularly use either the grape or the apple cleanse, especially if you follow the prescription of no-dairy, no-wheat, no-sugar when you come off the cleansing diet.

Apples , like grapes, are very cleansing and healing. They are rich in Vitamin C and potassium. If your teeth are not good, then you can grate the apples up, skin and all, just before you eat them. This is just about as good as chewing the whole apple: all the goodness of the apple is still there if you eat it immediately after grating, and the volume of roughage just the same.

POTASSIUM BROTH. For this one, you eat no solid food. Instead, you take the vitamins and minerals from cooked vegetables into the body via a broth. On the morning of your fast or cleansing diet, take a large saucepan and cut up several potatoes with their skins on. Add onions, leeks, greens such as cabbage, broccoli, or brussels sprouts, garlic, beetroot, carrots, in fact any vegetables you can find. Try to use some roots as well as greens. Don’t use aluminium. Cover the cut up vegetables with water, bring to the boil, and simmer slowly for an hour. Leave the vegetables in the broth for a few hours before draining off. You can start drinking it after an hour of simmering. Drink one or two cups every hour, on the hour, for the whole of the day – and nothing else.

This is a radical cleanser which provides the necessary vitamins and minerals to heal the body. Build up with the Potassium broth fast by doing a day at a time. Ask your doctor or health practitioner about this one if you are on any type of medication or if you have a heart condition.

MUNG BEAN BROTH. This is used in ayurvedic medecine. Mung beans are easy to digest. They act as a gentle cleanser of the liver, gall bladder and intestines. Take two cups of mung beans and soak for three hours in a litre of water. Simmer until soft. Take the broth with its cooked beans whenever you feel hungry .Cook more beans if you are doing more than one day on this diet. Eat nothing else except for the mung bean broth.

THE LEMONADE DIET: We call this simply the lemon diet in New Zealand. Lemons are very cleansing. Lemons act as an antiseptic within the body and contain lots of Vitamin C which helps in detoxing the body and in healing.

Simply squeeze half a dozen lemons into a large jug. Put quarter of a teaspoon of cayenne, half a teaspoon of powdered ginger, and two teaspoons of powdered garlic into the lemon juice. If you are not diabetic, then you can add half a cup of honey or maple syrup. Dissolve with one cup of boiling water. Add two litres of water. Stir well. Drink one large glass every hour on the hour through the day. Don’t drink any tea or coffee, and don’t eat at all for the whole day.

The lemonade diet is very effective in treating colds and flu. It is antiseptic and breaks down mucous. It helps also in strengthening bone and dissolving bone deformities when done on a regular basis, say one or two days a week, with the maintenance diet to follow.

CASTOR OIL. Castor oil has the ability to attract harmful poisons such as petrochemicals, insecticides, etc. For this reason, it is used by many healers for the treatment of cancer, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, arthritis and other disease. Two tablespoons of castor oil are taken in the morning with one cup of black coffee. This must be made from real coffee grounds.If you would rather, you could use Chamomile tea instead. This works just as well as coffee in stimulating the liver into expelling toxins. If you feel sick after the castor oil, then sip on peppermint tea until you feel better. An enema is recommended with the castor oil treatment. This should be taken within five hours of taking the castor oil. Castor oil is most effective if, after taking the castor oil, you eat only raw apples, whole or grated, or grapes, or drink fruit juice or carrot juice at hourly intervals.

CARROT JUICE. If you have a juicer, then you can fast for a day or so on carrot juice and other vegetable juices. Try to get organic carrots, especially if you are juicing, as agro-chemicals are concentrated in the juice.

Carrot juice is often used in the treatment of cancer and other disease. However, carrot juice is best avoided if you are treating candida. Stick to greens for cleansing if you have candida.

The APPLE AND POTATO CURE. This is a great one for people who don’t feel they can sustain a fast or a detox diet for even a day. With this diet, you can eat more or less what you like, within reason.You simply grate one medium apple with its skin on, plus one medium-sized potato. Mix the two together, and eat half an hour before breakfast.

Follow the same procedure for dinner – one apple grated with one medium-sized potato. Eat half and hour before each meal.

Follow this diet for anything from three days to several weeks. It is extremely healing for the bowel walls because of the pectin, vitamins and alkaline nature of raw apples and potato. It is effective as a cleanser because of the quantity of pure roughage in the mix.

Preferably, avoid dairy, wheat and sugar while you are cleansing on this diet. If you follow this treatment for a week or two, your bowels will not only be clean but be well regulated. It is good for the treatment of any bowel problems such as irritable bowel syndrome and colitis. Many people have reported success in treating bowel disorders with this detox diet.

The ONE-DAY BEETROOT AND APPLE DIET. This is all you eat for the whole day. All you do is grate apples and beetroot together, which makes a very palatable combination. Use the same amount of each.Some olive oil can be added if you wish. Make up enough so that you have plenty to munch on throughout the day. Whenever you are hungry, eat a helping of the grated beetroot and apple. Beetroot is helpful in treating cancer and other diseases. It is high in iron and other minerals and vitamins.

The ON-GOING BEETROOT AND APPLE DIET. For a slower-acting detox you can use the beetroot and apple combination as an ongoing addition to your everyday diet. Preferably, avoid dairy, wheat and sugar if you are doing a week or so on this diet. You can follow the same procedure as for the apple and potato diet. Eat a quantity of the beetroot and apple combination half an hour before breakfast and again half an hour before dinner. This is very nourishing, will help your digestion and tone up the bowel if it is done for a week or so. It is a great cure for constipation, as is the apple and potato diet.