Empowered Pathways Newsletter
February 3, 2003
...your link to better
living
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Welcome!
... to your “Empowered Pathways”
newsletter!
It is my hope that through this newsletter, you will
receive information
that will improve the quality of
your life. Included in each issue will be
information about health,
nutrition, herbals and supplements,
simplifying life, living more frugally, fun,
faith, and joy!
It’s
all about empowerment, stuff that helps you be in
control of your life, your
own pathway to better living!
If you haven't been to our website lately, there
have been some
fun additions! Check it out!
Gen (-:
In this Issue:
- Health, Nutrition, and Supplements:
- Frugal Tips
- Casseroles and Higher
Deductibles
- Gen's Soapbox
- Bible Verse
- Remarkable Quote
- Reader Feedback
- Subscription Information
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Health,
Nutrition and
Supplements
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Enzymes - The "Life Force"
In my never ending pursuit for information, my
research this week has
been surrounding a basic and essential part of
health and life- enzymes.
Though I have successfully avoided studying much
about chemistry in
my school years,
this basic building block of our bodies biochemistry
is worthy of some
further study.
What are enzymes?
It is surprising that despite research on enzymes
for decades, many
of us know very little about them. Basically,
enzymes are proteins.
Enzymes function as
catalysts in a body, which help to speed up
biochemical reactions and make cell function possible. They are
involved in every process of the body, and there are thousands of
different enzymes. Enzymes are involved in all biochemical reactions
including things like energy production and metabolism, the immune
system, the reproductive system and the digestive
system. Without
enzymes, these processes and systems would cease to function
and life could not exist.
Diet and Enzymes
Your diet effects the function of your body's
enzymes critically! Poor
nutrition and toxins
interfere with proper functioning of enzymes,
and without sufficient vitamins and minerals enzymes will not function
optimally. Most "diets" do not provide enough essential nutrients to
keep the body's metabolic systems running at optimal levels. The
body is then forced to slow it's metabolism and find sources of nutrients
elsewhere, usually from your lean muscle. This results in fatigue,
irritability, and reduction in lean muscle
mass. Weight loss comes
to a stop- the plateau we are all so familiar
with. When we return to a
"normal" diet, the weight is regained as the body
struggles to find balance.
It's a vicious
cycle...
unless we nourish our bodies properly, and optimize
our metabolic
enzymes. The faster our metabolic enzymes
work, the more calories
will burn. And regardless of what the latest
fad or diet guru says, the
basic equation of burning more calories than you
consume for weight
loss to occur cannot be ignored.
Break the cycle!
It's up to you. It's your body, the only one you
will get! It is your choice
what you put in it, what you fuel it with, and how
well you provide it
what it needs to work efficiently.
For more links to
research I have done and information I have found,
email me:
Please feel free to pass this newsletter on to
friends or
family who may benefit from this
information!
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Tips for Frugal
Living
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* Protein
is the most expensive part of the food bill, and the average
American consumes twice as much protein as she
needs. Serve small
portions of meat and fill up on potatoes, rice and
salads. A great way to
systematically reduce your meat consumption is to
serve stir-fries, casseroles
and soup entrees twice as often as you do
now.
* Just 50% of
Americans with health insurance have employer-paid insurance.
The rest pay more than $300 a month to insure
a family of four. The simplest
way to reduce that is to raise your
deductible to $1,000 and invest the money
you would have spent on premiums in an
emergency fund. Most frugality books
have sections on navigating the confusing
world of health insurance and saving
50% or more on this expensive item.
Many people, including those that are
self-employed, underinsured, or have
gaps in their insurance coverage, are
finding ways to reduce out of pocket expenses and cover deductibles
through
discount plans. Here is one that
everyone is eligible for and is easy and
affordable-
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Gen's Soapbox
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Goal Post
In my previous life as a regional director for a
large non-profit social service agency,
one of the things each employee was required to do
at the time of their annual
performance appraisal was to set goals for the
upcoming year. Through the years
in my career there,
I found this to be an increasingly difficult task to do for myself.
At some point, I realized this and tried to
figure out why.
The answer did not come all at once, but gradually
I got it. I, like so many others
I talk to, had gotten to a point that I needed
to set goals for myself, and not my
career. All the years I had worked so hard to
get "what I wanted" left out a very
important piece of the puzzle.
Me.
I had never set goals for myself, not really. Lots
of them for my career, how much
money I wanted to make, where I wanted to
live. But none about the really
important things.
Once I had come to this epiphany, I knew I had
to take some action. Part of what
I needed to do was to formulate some outcomes for
myself. Outcomes are a very
trendy thing these days, especially in the
non-profit world, and it was time that I
had to turn the
tables a bit and apply what I had learned at work to my
life.
What are Outcomes?
Outcomes are the by-product of other things.
It is what happens after you do other
things. In the non-profit world, an outcome
is what happens to the people you
serve as a result of
the services you provide. On a personal level, if your goal
is to lose weight,
the outcome is that you will be healthier and
have more energy.
If your outcome is
to have a perfect life, the goals are found
within what you
define as that
life. Outcomes are the bigger picture. Seems simple enough, huh?
Baby Steps
One of my husband's favorite movies is "What About
Bob?"- if you haven't seen it,
it is a hoot! Anyhow, in this funny,
funny movie they talk about "baby steps", and
I think of it every
time I think of goal setting.
Baby steps are seriously the best way to work
towards a goal. Any goal you want
to reach is best approached by breaking it down in
to tiny, easily digestible pieces.
There are a multitude of reasons why this is so,
but two reasons are the most
important-
1. It keeps you from
being overwhelmed by a huge and seemingly unattainable
goal.
2. You get a payoff or reward sooner along
your path.
Both of these keep you motivated toward your
goal.
Here are two tips on reaching your goals
faster and with less effort:
I will have more to come in the next
issue!
I would welcome your feedback and opinions on
this topic!
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Bible
Verse
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"Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!"
Psalm
46:10
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Remarkable Quote
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Whatever you can do or dream you can begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic.
- Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
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Reader Feedback
I would love to know more about you and your
opinions!
If you have comments or questions, your
feedback is greatly appreciated!
Please let me know if it is okay to share
your comments with other
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