Have you heard that expression “The more you give, the more you get”? I think it is a phrase that just doesn’t get said enough or practiced enough in our society. Collectively we are becoming more selfish, more entitled, less considerate, and generally disrespectful of each other’s needs.

When we take an hour (or more!) each week to give back to the community, we take back the power to be good to each other. Some of us may have to put in a few additional hours to offset the negative impact of the selfish in society.

Fortunately volunteering has recently been seen as a good thing, which provides a huge relief in this age or people seizing opportunities.

With the increasing rate of hungry and homeless people, there are that many more opportunities to serve locally. But you don’t just have to work at the homeless shelter. You can connect with troubled youth, homebound elderly folk, non-English speakers, provide service cleaning up nature, hosting exchange students, serving in schools, donating blood, or building houses.

Giving money is one wonderful option people choose to help their community, but I believe that by getting your hands dirty and sacrificing your even more valuable time is a way to truly give. Here are three sites that will help you find a place to start volunteering:

Just Serve is an online service organization that helps link up volunteers with like minded organizations. While this site is organized by Church of Latter-day Saints, it works with all types of organizations, from food pantries to senior centers to libraries.

Volunteer Match allows you to search for just the right fit via location. You can search your hometown for opportunities to serve, or you can look at your next vacation destination to see if there are chances to help for an hour or two. Non profit organizations list their needs and you can find just the right match.

Habitat for Humanity allows you to learn while you give. Habitat for Humanity works with volunteers to build homes for families in all 50 United States and in 70 countries around the world. Habitat homeowners work alongside volunteers to build their homes and pay an affordable mortgage.

You can also find apps to log and track your volunteer hours. These are useful for youth who are building up service hours, for non profit organizations to track how much work individuals are doing for them and reward them as such, and for those who find a reward system makes them inclined to do more good.

Reward Volunteers provides a great tracking system, as do Track it Forward and Volunteer Mark.

Collectively we can do so much good in the world, we can overpower the negativity. Finding the goodness in volunteering, in helping others, seeing the positive change we can make in the world makes the good stronger.

With just one it is 10 hours. With hundreds doing the same, it becomes thousands, and then millions. Let us join hands to help one another as best we can in order to make our society collectively stronger, better, and more full of love.

If you already serve, please share your experiences below.

I love learning about (new to me) alternative natural remedies, especially when it is something really simple, easy to find, relatively inexpensive, and nearly miraculous in all the benefits it provides.

The tea tree is native to Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, and for at least 100 years has been used by Aborigines to treat common ailments from coughs and colds to bacterial and fungal skin conditions.

Essential oil can be extracted from the leaves, and applied (in low doses because it is toxic in high quantities) to the skin. It is known to help reduce inflammation and to be a bacteria killer. It can be used to help treat acne, fungal nail infections, athlete’s foot, lice, and ringworm, and has many other beneficial uses.

Natural Deodorant

It isn’t your sweat that stinks, it’s the bacteria on your skin that gets broken down into acids. Your armpit has a lot of sweat glands, which is why it can get so smelly there. Tea tree, as mentioned, kills bacteria and can keep those smells at bay. Check out this nice natural deodorant recipe using tea tree oil.  

Fight Acne

Again with the bacteria killer. Tea tree oil comes also in the form of an acne gel and has been shown to be as effective as benzoylperoxide in treating acne. It is possible to make your own acne-fighting solution by combining one part tea tree oil with nine parts water and use a cotton swab to apply the mixture to problem areas one or two times daily.

Hand Sanitizer

There are many conveniences of hand sanitizer, but who wants to keep rubbing alcohol on their skin?! Studies of tea tree oil have shown it “has the ability to kill a wide range of medically important micro-organisms,” (source) which makes it a natural at sanitizing. Here is a great recipe to make your own tea tree oil hand sanitizer.  

Fight Toenail Fungus, Ringworm, and Athlete’s Foot

Again the bacteria killer strikes! Even abolishing smelly feet! Use a clean cotton swab and put 2-4 drops of undiluted tea tree oil on the affected area. Apply a few drops every day for a month and you’ll see the effects. Here is a tutorial on how to make it work.

Dental Plaque

The natural disinfectant strikes again. This time in the mouth. Tea tree oil can be used to prevent plaque, eradicate bad breath, and guards against gum disease. It can also help fight against mouth sores! You can make your own mouthwash by adding 4 drops of tea tree oil into a small glass of water and swish in your mouth once or twice a day. You can also apply a few drops onto your toothpaste before you brush your teeth. And here is an article that outlines how to banish toothaches for good!

This amazing stuff can also be used as insect repellent, antiseptic for minor cuts and scrapes, kill mold around the house, relieve cough, freshen laundry, improve hair health, treat stye, helps prevent bladder infections, strengthens nails, treats ear infections and vaginal odor, help remove make up , and more! This extensive article includes instructions on how to make tea tree oil at home.

If you decide to buy tea tree oil, be sure to look for 100% pure essential oil, and in addition to choosing an organic label, ensure that the bottle lists the correct species name – Melaleuca alternifolia. Keep creative and natural in keeping yourself healthy year round!

Over the last decade, several brands of natural laundry detergent have gained traction in the super store market. We are no longer bound only by options such as Tide, Gain, and All. We can now choose quality products from Seventh Generation, Pure, Mrs. Meyer’s, Common Goods, and more!

This is great for those of us who prefer to use plant-derived materials to wash our clothes. The “mainstream” brands do a great job of demolishing stains, but they also include synthetic organic chemicals to make it happen, also used in pesticides. Need I say more?

Fortunately many customers are supporting a more natural approach, and this is great. Not only do our clothes stay free from unnatural ingredients, we reduce the negative impact of introducing unnecessary substances into the water system.

If you want to take the next step and get even more natural, it is totally doable to make homemade laundry detergent! Here are three versions from two sites.  

With Borax

This recipe for a 5 gallon supply uses only a cup of Borax, a cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, half a cup of grated Fels Naptha soap, water, and essential oil as desired. Fels Naptha soap is a stain pre-treater that’s been around for 100 years. Other Borax and Washing Soda recipes online suggest using soaps with natural scents instead of Fels Naptha and essential oils. Melting the soap in water takes about 10 minutes, then all you have to do is mix the remaining ingredients in a bucket, let sit for 24 hours, and you have 5 gallons of detergent made for cheap and ultra naturally. Use ¼ cup per load of laundry.

Borax-free

One recipe calls for Liquid Castile Soap, Super Washing Soda, Baking Soda, and water. This great technique is so easy. Just boil water, add ingredients, stir, add more water, let cool, mix. Use ⅓ cup for each load. The second recipe calls for Dr. Bronner’s Sal Suds Biodegradable Cleaner with Super Washing Soda and water. Boil water, mix in ingredients, let cool. ¼ cup per load. It doesn’t get easier than this, and wow, it actually works – it was the first one I tried!

If you plan to use natural homemade laundry detergent in your HE machine, you might note that HE washers require detergents that are low foaming, and the ingredients in all these recipes are low foaming. One recommendation is to run an empty cycle with some citric acid every 2-3 months to keep the washing machine clean and smelling fresh.

For those of you interested in learning more about how to limit toxin exposure, read Dr. Axe’s article on the Best Natural Cleaning Products.  

Happy cleaning!

If you are like 20% of the world, you have traveled in a plane in the last 12 months. Which means you were in an airport. As one of those travelers, on trip day you spent an average of 10 hours away from home, and your refrigerator. This means you either planned ahead very well, and have enough good, nutritious food until you reach your destination, or you are like the 90% of us who didn’t. We take the opportunity to use the extra time we inevitably have at the airport waiting for a connecting flight to buy food. Fortunately there are increasing options at the airport for the vegetarians among us.

Restaurants are recognizing the need to provide quality meat-free alternatives and most are willing to please the masses by subbing out chicken for avocado, for example. Current statistics show that 80% of restaurants in the USA have at least one vegan option. And airport restaurants are no exception. In fact, in my recent airport travels, I’ve noticed that menus that feature one or two vegetarian options; either by asterisk or, better, it is highlighted by a box, maybe under the “healthy options” section.

It wasn’t that long ago that I dreaded walking through airports, hungry and tired, with few possibilities of something to eat with my “restricted” diet. But now, what joy I find in walking past the mini markets in airports and seeing wonderfully delicious-looking chickpea curry salad, vegan dumplings, or a falafel wrap. You don’t even have to go to a restaurant to eat! Wow!

Vegan Chana Masala at the Chicago O’Hare International Airport

I wasn’t even hungry when I bought the chickpea salad. I just couldn’t get over that a delicious, healthy vegetarian option was right there for the taking. I saved it for later, and it was seriously very good!

My message here is embrace this change, and help the movement grow! We can all agree that airport food is vastly more expensive than it should be, but make the investment in buying vegan to help ensure even more healthy selections are available. Tell the people you are paying that you are pleased with the positive change; such compliments are usually met with a smile.

Yoga, running, and lifting weights are the physical activities I most enjoy, but I will always love walking. It is a seriously simple thing to do, and seriously effective in keeping our bodies in good health and good form.  

Walking is well known to help strengthen bones and muscles, to improve balance and coordination, it can improve your mood, help you be more creative, burn a few calories, lower blood sugar, and best of all, walking has been shown time and again to decrease your risk of chronic disease.

Just imagine, walk your way to pain-free joints, reduced risk of cancer, lowered blood glocuse and insulin resistance, and probably the best benefit: reduce depression and anxiety. Getting your body moving with just a simple walk (it doesn’t have to be a power walk) will make huge long-term benefits in your life!

To maintain a healthy body (and mind!) it is recommended that we walk 10,000 steps each day. That’s around 4.5 miles. That’s a LOT. Especially if you aren’t a particularly fast walker. I think that is part of the challenge… to take that much time each day to break away from the daily stressors in life.

This article isn’t meant to be about the benefits of walking, though I can’t help referring to them since they are pretty amazing. What I want to share with you, in case you don’t already know about this, is the tool freely available at https://www.google.com/maps to help you track your walking goals. If you go to this page, it should default zoom into your current location. You can do a right click on your mouse and a popup window will appear that offers directions to/from here. At the very bottom of that list is the tool Measure distance. When you select this, a black ring will appear at the spot where you clicked. Go to another point on the map and click again and a dot will appear. Click one more time to make another dot and you will see a line appear with the distance from starting point to ending point. If you keep putting dots at turn points, you will see the distance add up and will clearly see how many blocks you need to go to get to your 4-5 mile point. If you make a mistake, or decide to take a different street, no worries… just click once on the dot that you want to remove, and it goes away, instantly recalculating your distance.

Google Maps’ Measure Distance feature lets me find 3 bridges to cross while amassing 10,000 steps

I really like using this tool before I set out for a run especially so I know which streets to take to make up my mileage. I also really appreciate this tool when I’m walking or running in a city where I don’t live, where I don’t know the streets so well, so I can get a sense of where I’ll be and try to find the more visually interesting route. If you click on the little box at lower left of the map page, where it says “satellite,” you can see the terrain as well. This is great for when you want to see some nature along the way as well. You’ll see in my screengrab illustration for this post that I was eager to cross as many bridges as possible for this walk. I was also lucky that day to have glorious weather and as it was spring time, I saw many trees blooming, and loved the sound of water rushing under me so often.

A hot tip for those of you with tracking apps: you can pre-plan fun drawings and designs using Google Maps, then set your app to track your route as you walk it. Afterward, you can take a screengrab of the app with the red line in a fun shape over streets. Great social media content right there, folks!

Your measured distance route might take you 10,000 steps, it may take more steps, or maybe you have a way to go to build up to that. See how far you can keep going; continue the positive impact you are having on your body and mind, and challenge yourself to go a certain distance daily. You will love the results no matter where your map takes you!

I don’t usually talk about this, but after I was unexpectedly fired from my job of 18+ years, I felt the stress. 

Where will I come up with the money for the mortgage? How will I find a job locally that will pay the same as I was making? Will I be able to make it? 

It isn’t surprising that I was losing hair and losing sleep.

During that time, I tried several techniques to help me sleep, and the need for trying was serious as on many days I was waking up at 4 in the morning and just couldn’t get back to sleep.

One of the methods I tried, and I found worked best for me, is the 7-4-8 breathing method. Simply put, you breathe in while counting to 7, then keep your breath in for 4 counts, and finish by slowly breathing out for 8 breaths.

It takes some practice to go slowly but then you can absolutely reap its benefits.

This method was apparently pioneered by Dr. Andrew Weil, who recommends exhaling completely before you start and make a “whoosh” sound from your mouth as you do so. Then close your mouth and breath silently 7 inhalations, keep the breath in for 4 counts, and then 8 exhalations. Do this 4 times total, or repeat until you fall asleep.

The movement of your body will send a signal of relaxation and calm to your mind. The regulation of your breath also helps relax your muscles as oxygen fills the lungs deeply.

Being truly focused on the three part count means your mind can’t get distracted by our daily burdens such as bills to pay, mouths to feed, or lessons to teach.

Using this method, I find that by concentrating on the count that my body feels heavier and if I can be really still, I start to perceive my mind moving in rhythm to my breath and then fade screen.

This breathing technique has been shown to provide calm for overly anxious people.

When exposed to a triggering situation, anxious individuals can benefit from slowing down their breathing to help them keep focused on, well, nothing.

At least hopefully not whatever was making them anxious.

Some people say if you are using this for anxiety (and I guess when you are alone!), that each time you finishing exhaling to blow out your mouth so that your lips flap and make a fluttering sound. I haven’t seen why this is suggested, but my guess is that it gets the anxious energy out all the more fully.

If you are experiencing difficulty sleeping, try this method and see if it helps you fall asleep more quickly.

Download Heather’s free 15-minute guided meditation to help you sleep!

I’m a bit of a hypocrite. I admit it. I’m not a vegan, though usually my recipe searches use that adjective mostly because I don’t really like to use applesauce or mix up egg replacer. The other day I made a comment on Facebook that pointed out that a vegetarian product someone was raving about included eggs. Somehow I’ve never understood how someone can be a vegetarian and eat eggs, though I do know this type of diet exists. Some people seemed to be upset by what they must have interpreted as my saying they are not true vegetarians. That wasn’t my point at all. I was really just feeling sorry for myself that I am unable to try the product they were touting.

But sometimes the table is turned. Like when I went out to eat in Colorado last week. Wow! Colorado loves vegetarians! We had “veggie wings” – O.M.G.!!!! Pieces of seitan in a bowl with optional sauce. Wow!! There is a glimmer that I’m just like everyone else!

Actually, it surprises me that our society, our nation, our world, still consumes so much meat. It doesn’t make sense on so many levels: health risks, implications of world hunger, not to mention that terrible lives that processed animals must endure. It is especially surprising to me considering how many yummy, nutritious, wholesome vegetarian options there are out there in the world. As I’ve been experimenting with some new recipes lately, I see that there are even more possibilities for variations to meat. I’ve been really impressed with creamy gratin alternative recipes I’ve found. Making comfort food from whole foods is one of my favorite things, especially when I cook that comfort for others. It isn’t about tricking the eater, I’m not looking for a meat-alternate. I want people who eat my food to know they are eating whole, fresh food that keeps their stomach full and mouth happy.

Vegetables and fruits provide so many nutritional benefits. My recommendation is to aim to make your diet as whole as possible. I saw a meme the other day: “Love your body. Eat whole foods.” I can absolutely relate to that!

Whether it is a lacto-ovo vegetarian frozen product at the store or yummy veggie wings at an awesome brewery, these products are made to ensure we have some extra protein, needed fiber, and of course good flavor. So long as we eat them in moderation, I think they are a wonderful addition to our grocery stores and menus.

I think as a society if we can get past vegetarians being seen as wanting to eat something that looks like meat, it would help open minds of those who think it is unhealthy to not eat meat (cancer prognosis be damned!). But in the meantime, let’s give some love to the chick’n nuggets and seitan wings out there, and encourage more restaurants and grocery stores to help support the market. The more money that goes into the industry, the better the products. I, for one, would like to see way lower sodium levels and fewer additives in future products. But for now, I eat these items like everything else not whole… in moderation.

#lovetheveganlife

I’ve never been one to worry much about wrinkles or sagging skin as I’ve gotten older. I tend to see wrinkles as an indication of wisdom and life experience. But furrowing my brow is something I don’t like the look of on my face, and it started to bother me when I started to see lines form between my eyebrows. I didn’t even know how much I furrowed my brow until my mom said something about it to me as I was getting my wedding dress fitted years ago. As I stood there in a small dry cleaning shop in Brooklyn, she said to me, as I was looking at myself in the mirror, “You know, you should really work on that scowl.” I wasn’t irritated and didn’t even feel all that stressed, but I finally realized that this was one of those unintentional habits I’d formed. Though I can’t stop time, I can be attentive to moments when I scowl and see if it is possible to just stop myself. A few years ago I learned about face yoga (which earlier I didn’t even know was a thing.) What I walked away with most from trying it out was that it really helped me recognize when I am scowling just purely because I felt the muscles I’d been working out during the exercises. I want to share with you some tips for face yoga, otherwise known as face exercises. There are people trained in this form, so I won’t pretend to be an expert, but I’d like to share a few tips that I learned to get you started.

The Owl helps keep the forehead firm, and reduces lines and wrinkles.

Form a “C” shape with your thumbs and index fingers and place the edge of your hand around your eyes – with your index fingers just above the eyebrows and your thumbs on your upper cheeks. Look up as you open your eyes wide. Pull down slightly your index fingers as you try to raise your eyebrows at the same time. Keep the resistance going for two seconds. Repeat 3 times.

The Frown Buster helps reduce lines between eyebrows and firm the forehead, while also relieving tension.

With your fingers slightly spread, put your fingertips on your forehead, with your index finger nearest your hairline and your little fingers just touching your eyebrows. Allow your eyes to open wide, but don’t raise your eyebrows. Gently pull your fingertips away from each other (to the side). Hold the tension for for 10 seconds and then repeat two more times.

Shifty Eyes gives the optic nerve a workout and firm up the muscles around the eye that cause wrinkles. This exercise also helps boost circulation. Standing (or sitting) while relaxed with your shoulders back and spine straight, look ahead. Keep your body position and move only your eyeballs. First look as far to the right as possible (again without moving your head) and then look straight ahead. Then look as far to the left as possible and then back to center. Next look as high up as you can, move through the center ahead of you, and then look down as far as possible. Close your eyes for 2-3 seconds after you have looked in all four directions and then repeat again two times.

I would suggest you start with these easy moves to help your face muscles to naturally keep wrinkles away. It has been a long time since I’ve done these exercises regularly, but recall that if you do a full face yoga routine six times a week, you will see results on the seventh day. People who do this regularly say you will easily look five years younger. While I don’t do a full face yoga routine often, by performing these exercises with some regularity helps me much more quickly catch myself from scowling, or wrinkling my forehead in general.

In a future post, I will also share some tips for eye yoga. Back when I was doing eye yoga on a regular basis, my eyesight improved so well I was able to stop wearing glasses! It is amazing what your body is capable of in really a very short amount of time, and with almost no effort!

The media has helped us see now that olive oil is an important component in a healthy diet. Olive oil, and especially extra-virgin olive oil, has many beneficial qualities. I have been using olive oil in my diet and in recipes for almost 20 years, since I met my ex-husband.

While my marriage didn’t last like I thought it would, I was really lucky to have married into a Greek family who owned a field of olive trees. Annually we would go to Greece to help with the harvest. It was in the mountains of Arcadia that I first experienced the deep pain of carpal tunnel in my wrists. But the pain was far trumped by the amazing landscape, the smell of nature, and the beauty of the harvest.

You may have seen studies that show people who consume a Mediterranean diet have lower risks of some cancers, and researchers believe that in large part it has to do with the olive oil consumed in the diet. Olive oil is extremely rich in antioxidants, which helps on many levels. I read that virgin olive oil’s antioxidants include mostly hydrophilic phenols, but also tocopherols and carotenes. It is a nutraceutical, a food that contains health-giving additives and has medicinal benefit.

But, um, back to what olive oil can do for you. It can help your heart. It is a monounsaturated fat, which improves the endothelial function of your arteries, making your heart stronger. Incorporating 3-4 tablespoons a day of the liquid gold (as a replacement for other fats) can reduce the amount of blood pressure medication for hypertension! (according to this study) Olive oil is also suspected to help prevent blood clotting.

Impressively, your brain is also better off when you consume olive oil. Apparently oleocanthal, a polyphenol found in EVOO, “has the potential to reduce cognitive decline that comes with aging, including Alzheimer’s disease.” (according to California Olive Ranch)

Oleocanthal has also been shown to reduce inflammation, which we know is a leading cause of cancers. A group in 2005 shared the correlation between olive oil and ibuprofen. In short, they suggest that 50 g of extra-virgin olive oil is absorbed, it is as effective as taking 9 mg of ibuprofen (about 10% of the recommended adult dosage).

Olive oil has also been suggested to help reduce inflammatory markers and inhibit oxidative stress, which in plain terms means that people with rheumatoid arthritis could benefit from increasing their olive oil consumption. (read the study abstract)

When we eat a diet rich in whole foods, and avoid excessively sugared, processed, fried foods, that’s already a step in the right direction. Introducing a little more olive oil into your diet will help promote a healthy eating lifestyle, and will apparently give you many, many health benefits.

I remember years ago, when my (ex)mother-in-law was teaching me her Greek village recipes, I was always amazed by how much oil she included. On everything. I was living in New York City at the time, when a half liter bottle was at least $12. But this stuff came from her backyard, which made it seem like there was an endless supply.

She used olive oil as a moisturizer for her face and hands. When she had constipation, she drank a shot of it. She even used it to keep her votive candle burning! That woman lived to be a very healthy and strong woman into her 80s, with smooth skin.

You don’t have to move to the mountains of Arcadia, Greece, to heal your body. You can find Extra Virgin Olive Oil just about anywhere these days. Use it instead of butter in a recipe; use it as a dressing in your salad; add a little to your veggie or pasta dish. When I make waffles or pancakes, I always add oil to the batter and I never need spray to get the waffles or pancakes off the griddle.

These are just a few tips of how to incorporate oil into your diet. What other ways do you increase the amount of EVOO in your daily life? Please comment below!

Here are some ideas to get you motivated to lose a few pounds. As always, you have to keep up the positive habits to see positive results. Keep up the good work, and please let me know your most powerful tip or trick in the comments below!

1. Up your Interval Training

It really helps to mix up your routine. If you are a runner, don’t always go the same speed or distance. Make some runs long and slow and others short and quick. Incorporate resistance training into your cardio routine. When you

2. Consume Olive Oil

You probably already know how much I love EVOO from my post The Many Benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. According to this site, consuming 2 tablespoons of olive oil will help “improve your blood pressure, your glucose levels and your good cholesterol.” And when you make it up to 3 tablespoons a day, you will start to see the effect of weight-loss. Use olive oil as part of your salad dressing, and use it in place of butter or margarine in your favorite recipes.

3. Hydrate with water

Seems a lot of people have trouble getting enough water. We don’t all need the same amount of water. How much we should drink depends on our activity level, the weather if our activity is outside, and how much we weigh. The recommended formula is to take about 60% of your body weight and drink that many ounces of water daily. If you weigh 150 pounds, you’d need 90 ounces. Don’t drink too much, but don’t drink too little. One of the benefits of drinking water is that you fill up more quickly and don’t need to eat as much.

4. Get enough sleep

Getting enough rest is really important to your body. When we don’t get enough sleep, our body produces higher levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, that increases our appetite. Allowing your body to rest calmly will naturally allow that belly to trim down. Another tip to reducing body stress is to keep a regular sleep schedule, even on the weekends.

5. Keep moving

I know, a no brainer, but it is certainly effective. Do small things to start like park at the far end of the parking lot when you go to the grocery store, if you have stairs in your home, walk up and down them 10 times in a day even if you split it up throughout the day. Go for a walk around the block, or more!

6. Vinegar

Probably by now you’ve seen an ad for the apple cider vinegar diet. The acetic acid of apple cider vinegar lowers your blood sugar levels, decreases insulin levels, improves metabolism, reduces fat storage, burns fat, and suppresses appetite. https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/apple-cider-vinegar-weight-loss  Apple cider vinegar isn’t the only vinegar you can use to benefit your health, but it is certainly is a popular one that is easy to find.

7. Reduce Stress

Basically this is the same issue as not enough sleep, in that high cortisol levels get you off balance. Incorporating meditation, yoga, and light exercise (like walking) into your day can have a massive impact on reducing stress, thus showing up in a slimmer waistline.

8. Don’t eat after dinner

This works wonders for many people. One great rule of thumb is not to eat after 8 pm. Allow your body to digest your food before you start eating again in the morning. When your body is resting at night, it isn’t able to burn as many calories when you are up and moving, so you give your body a break by not filling it up in the evening before you sleep for 8 hours.

9. Eat smaller meals more often

It is important to keep a reasonable portion if you want a trimmer mid section. Many people like to eat 5 mini meals a day to keep their metabolism active and their stomach organ a moderate size. By eating more frequently your appetite will be suppressed more often, which helps stabilize your blood sugar, thus providing the slim factor.

10. Drink green tea

The beneficial components of green tea are its flavonoids and caffeine. These help elevate your metabolic rate and increase fat oxidation (you burn fat quicker than normal). Green tea is also rich with antioxidants that help boost your brain and keep you healthy. Incredibly, studies have shown it also has an impact in helping our bodies fight and prevent cancer. Green tea supplements are also available for those of you who don’t care for the taste of green tea.