Bankruptcy Can Help Seniors Protect Assets

By CONSTANCE GUSTKEMAY 13, 2015. After work started to dry up and creditors began calling, George Maxey, 66, a retired nursery owner and plant consultant in Orlando, Fla., wanted his financial peace and quiet back. With his income dwindling, though, Mr. Maxey saw that the debt hole he was digging was only getting deeper, with no end in sight. So he declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy, which liquidates some assets to repay creditors.

Bankruptcy was a chance to hit the financial reset button, he said. “I wanted to leave money, not debt, to my grandchildren,” he said, “and begin rebuilding my life.”

Getting over the stigma of bankruptcy was the hardest part, Mr. Maxey added.

For some older Americans, bankruptcy can bring much-needed relief from debt brought on by medical expenses or helping needy children, and experts say it can be a valuable tool to protect retirement assets, after negotiating with creditors. But with reliable statistics on current bankruptcies hard to come by, anecdotal evidence suggests that shame at being in financial turmoil frequently prevents retirees from getting help early.

“People usually postpone bankruptcy for several years before filing,” said Deborah Thorne, an associate professor of sociology at Ohio University, who has studied older Americans and bankruptcy. “When finances head south, they should file right away.”

By spending retirement assets, Ms. Thorne said, retirees risk a downward financial spiral from which they are less likely to recover than younger people. A better strategy is to defend assets at all costs, she said.

Why? Retirement income and savings are usually untouchable during bankruptcies under federal law. Pensions, 401(k)’s and qualified profit-sharing plans are exempt from creditors, as are individual retirement accounts worth up to $1.245 million. Social Security payments are also exempt.

Retirees can usually avoid losing their homes by using a homestead exemption, intended to protect the equity of a principal residence in a bankruptcy. (Equity is the value of a property minus the amount owed on it.) Homestead exemption amounts vary by state, but some states, including Florida and Texas, do not limit the equity that is exempt. “This is a way to keep your estate intact,” said Eric Klein, a bankruptcy lawyer in Boca Raton, Fla.

Some debts like student loans and federal tax bills less than three years old usually cannot be discharged in a bankruptcy, said Walter Benenati, a bankruptcy lawyer in Orlando, Fla. The same goes for alimony and child support. So bankruptcy may not wipe the slate clean.

A means test helps determine which type of bankruptcy fits best. Chapter 7 usually works best for people without a lot of income or assets, specialists said, because they are usually used to satisfy creditors. High-income filers usually opt for Chapter 13, which is a repayment plan. “It lasts for a minimum of five years, and it’s a budget that’s created to pay back creditors.” said John Pottow, a professor at the University of Michigan Law School and a bankruptcy specialist.

But before going into a bankruptcy, try negotiating with creditors, said Johanna Sweaney Salt, a certified public accountant with Gray, Salt and Associates in Claremont, Calif. One place to start is credit card companies, by asking for reduced interest on outstanding balances. Even medical debt can be negotiated, she added. “In many cases, hospitals have even cut balances in half,” she said.

“A lot of people who jump into bankruptcy never know what settlement they could have had,” said Paul Kuzmickas, a bankruptcy lawyer with Luftman, Heck & Associates in Cleveland. “So it’s always better to negotiate first.” Retirees have leverage here because creditors know they cannot touch retirement money, he added.

Simply refusing to pay is another strategy. Retirement assets are off the table, and the retiree may have little else. Yes, creditors can take the retiree to court, and even get a judgment, but the money may be uncollectable. This is called being judgment-proof, Mr. Kuzmickas said.

Either way, credit scores do take a beating. A bankruptcy can stay on a credit report for as long as 10 years. But negative credit scores from mounting debt can be equally corrosive, specialists said.

After Mr. Maxey declared bankruptcy, his credit score dipped 200 points. “Now it’s slowly coming back,” he said. He is also working on rebuilding his credit by leasing a car.

People who declare bankruptcy must also take credit and debtor counseling classes that help them rebuild their finances.

“I’m so conservative now,” he said, “and careful with everything I do.”

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/14/business/retirementspecial/bankruptcy-can-help-seniors-protect-assets.html?emc=edit_my_20150803&nl=your-money&nlid=32663937

21 Ways to Be Healthier in a Minute or Less!

Healthy living tip #1: It only takes 60 seconds to prolong your life

You don’t have to overhaul your entire life to start living healthier. You can begin one minute from now, with these 21 easy health tips that take 60 seconds or less.
And for 2000 more fast-working tips and technqiues that will flatten your belly, sharpen your mind, and keep you healthy for life, check out The Better Man Project—an all new book from the Editor-in-Chief of Men's Health. It's a jam-packed user's guide to every aspect of man's health—fitness, nutrition, sex, and more!
1. The 3-Ounce HDL Booster
 
Instead of chips with your sandwich, switch to unsalted pistachios.
In research at the Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church, Virginia, people who ate two to three ounces of unsalted pistachios a day for four weeks raised their HDL cholesterol (the good kind) by 6 percent.
2. Dry-Brush Your Teeth
Before squeezing toothpaste onto your brush, take 30 seconds to brush your teeth with a dry toothbrush. Doing so cuts tartar by 60 percent and also reduces the risk of bleeding gyms by half.
Use a dry soft-bristle brush to scrub the insides of your top and bottom teeth, then buff the outer surfaces. Rinse, then brush normally with toothpaste.
3. Exercise Your Ears
Music can either be a sledgehammer or a tuning fork. If you want to be able to hear your great-granddaughter when you’re 97, fine-tune your ears with music.
First, turn down the volume to a sane level (you should be able to listen to the music and still carry on a normal conversation), then practice singling out a single instrument and listening to it.
This exercise will help you develop the ability to perceive more details in everyday sounds, says Gail Whitelaw, PhD, past president of the American Academy of Audiology.
4. Energize for Less
 
When you’re tired and need a lift, coffee isn’t the only drink you can turn to. Have a club soda with lime. The carbonation and aroma will energize you.
5. Don’t Forget Your Lunch
Thinking about what you ate for lunch could keep you from bingeing on afternoon snacks. In a study, subjects were told they were taste-testing three different types of salted popcorn. They were encouraged to eat as much as they wanted.
Interestingly, those who were first asked to recall exactly what they had eaten for lunch consumed 30 percent less popcorn than those who didn’t review their lunch menu beforehand.
The researchers say that taking a few seconds to remember what you had during a recent meal might enhance awareness of how satiating the food was, which then might reduce future noshing.
6. Kiss and Tingle
Before you plant a kiss on your partner, swipe on mint lip balm to engage your sensations of touch, taste, and smell.
“Menthol triggers the body’s cold receptors, and when that's combined with your warm breath, you'll feel a tingly sensation from your lips straight down to your genitals," says sexologist Ava Cadell, PhD.
7. Kill ANTS
ANTS are Automatic Negative Thoughts that trigger anxiety and flood the body with stress hormones. Whenever an ANT enters your mind, write it down and forget about it for now.
Later, review your ANTS, try to determine where they are coming from and devise a plan to correct negative thinking.
8. Compliment Your Spouse
One study found that an unhappy marriage increases your chances of getting sick by 35 percent and shortens your lifespan by 4 years. An easy way to instantly improve a marriage (and your health) is to regularly tell your spouse what you admire and respect about him or her.
“It takes less than a minute and it can have a profound impact,” says marriage counselor Mario Alonso, PhD, founder of the personality website PsychDNA.com. “Partners who feel secure and well-loved suffer from less depression.”
In a study sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, 74 percent of the happiest couples reported that their spouses “often” made them feel good about the kind of person they are (in comparison to 27 percent of moderately happy or unhappy couples.)
9. Slice Thin, Eat Less
Slicing thinly will make your portions seem bigger and more satisfying. In a study at Japan's National Food Research Institute, participants who compared equal amounts of sliced and whole vegetables rated the sliced piles up to 27 percent larger.
When you believe you're eating a larger portion of food, you'll trick yourself into feeling more satisfied with fewer calories.
10. Make the Medicine Go Down
A few seconds before swallowing bad-tasting liquid medicine, suck on an ice cube. It’ll numb your tastebuds and make the medicine taste less nasty.
11. Double-Team Your Headache
Drinking caffeinated tea or coffee after taking ibuprofen relieves headaches faster than taking ibuprofen alone. In a study of 400 headache sufferers, 71 percent of those who took ibuprofen and the caffeine equivalent of two cups of coffee reported complete relief, compared to 58 percent of those who took ibuprofen or caffeine.
12. Chew More, Weigh Less
Replace a glass of orange juice with a whole orange. A study in the International Journal of Obesity reports that people reduced their daily calorie intake by up to 20 percent when they substituted a piece of fruit for fruit juice with their lunch.
The researchers say that chewing stimulates satiety hormones, and whole food takes longer for your intestines to process, helping you to feel fuller longer and consume less.
13. Ask for Extra Vinegar
Hoagie, Grinder, Po’ Boy, or Hero—whatever you call your favorite submarine sandwich, make it a bit better by ordering extra splashes of vinegar. Nutritionists at Arizona State University say that the acetic acid interferes with enzymes that break down carbohydrates, keeping blood sugar levels from rising quickly.
You can also get the same result by starting a high-carb meal with a salad drizzled with vinaigrette.
14. Fight Your Pillow
Fold your pillow in half, then let go. If the pillow springs back, it’s in good shape. If it just lays there bent like a soggy potato chip, get rid of it. It’s not worthy of supporting your head and neck adequately while you sleep.
15. 10-Second Prevention
Avoid low-back pain on long car drives by tilting your rearview mirror up. Doing so will prevent you from slouching (which causes the pain) by forcing you to sit up straighter to see the cars behind.
16. Squeeze More From Tea
Squeeze a lemon wedge into your iced or hot tea. The acidity can boost antioxidant concentrations in green tea by 20 percent, according to a study in the journal Food Chemistry. Researchers believe the same trick works with all kinds of tea.
17. Place Fresh Cut Flowers On The Breakfast Table
Looking at a vase of fresh daisies, tulips, roses or other cut flowers while eating your morning oatmeal may improve your mood.
New research from Harvard University shows that even people who say they're not “morning people” report feeling happier and more energetic after looking at flowers first thing in the a.m.
18. Kill Those Krusty Krabs
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea? Sponge-bob Square-pants. Who lives in your kitchen sponge? Millions of bacteria. Moist and full of tiny food bits, your sponge is a breeding ground for germs like salmonella and E. coli., germs that you spread every time you wipe your counter.
Kill ‘em efficiently by zapping your sponge in the microwave on high for 30 seconds, or boiling it in hot water for 5 minutes.
19. Take Vitamin G
Improve your attitude with a dose of gratitude daily. Studies have shown that 90 percent of people say expressing gratitude made them happier people and more than 75 percent said it reduced stress and depression and gave them more energy.
Start by making an effort to thank people more often. Then advance to counting your blessings at least once a day for 30 seconds.
Need some suggestions? Be thankful for your health, your food, your family, and friends. Heck, thank your letter carrier even if all he brings is bills. He or she may be out of a job next month.
20. Go to Sleep Without Sheep 
Instead of counting fence-hurdling sheep to fall asleep, just wear socks. Swiss researchers found that people fell asleep quickest when their hands and feet were warmest.
This happens because warm feet and hands cause blood vessels to enlarge, allowing more heat to escape your body, which in turn lowers your core temperature faster and causes you to nod off sooner.
The researchers say putting on socks may help you fall asleep in half the time it normally takes.
21. Wait 60 Seconds
Take a minute to think about the consequences of your actions whenever faced with an important decision—from having a fourth glass of wine to contemplating quitting your job in anger, swallowing a pill to making a pass at a coworker, blaming your spouse to screaming at a child.
Sixty seconds of thought can prevent a world of hurt. And for even more great health hacks, check out The Better Man Project today!

Source: http://www.menshealth.com/health/ways-to-be-healthier?cid=NL_DailyDoseNL_2100876_03102015_WaysToBeHealthier_Module2Source: 

 

Could employer-provided health insurance be going the way of employer-sponsored pension plans?

Rick Lindquist, president of Zane Benefits, which specializes in individual health insurance reimbursement for small businesses, says: Not only could it happen; it’s happening already.

Lindquist and Paul Zane Pilzer (who founded Zane Benefits), argue that case in their new book, “The End of Employer-Provided Health Insurance.” As surprising as you may find the title, get a load of its subtitle: “Why It’s Good for You, Your Family and Your Company.”

Lindquist and Pilzer’s Salt Lake City, Utah-based company stands to profit if employers shift from traditional health insurance and toward their defined-contribution reimbursement system. In that model, employees are given a flat amount of cash from their employers — say $500 a month — told to buy a health-care plan with it and that their firms will cover their medical costs.

Still, I wanted to learn more.

I recently spoke with Lindquist about why he thinks employer-provided health insurance is the employee benefits equivalent of now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t Snapchat.


Next Avenue: Why are employers moving away from offering health insurance?

Lindquist: There will be a massive shift; in fact, we’re in the middle of it. People categorize this as employers dumping health insurance. Yes, they stop offering insurance but they don’t stop offering benefits. They’re just changing they way they deliver them and replacing them with defined-contribution plans. It could save millions of dollars for employees and employers.

How fast is this switch happening?

In our book, we project that by 2017, the majority of small businesses that now offer health insurance will switch to defined-contribution. This is being led by small-business owners. But it doesn’t stop there.

A few years ago, some big companies [Verizon and AT&T] leaked documents saying they were evaluating dropping health insurance plans. Some big companies will drop their plans and that will have a snowball effect. We project that 90% of all businesses will drop offering health insurance plans in the next 10 years.


Why don’t we see more big companies doing this?

They don’t understand it. Plus, there’s a cost to make the transition: To avoid a revolt, you need to educate employees, which is hard. It will happen.

Why is this happening?

Since the early 2000s, health-care costs for businesses have been growing faster than any other employee cost. And they’ve shifted the cost to employees over the last 15 years with higher deductibles, higher copays and higher premiums.

As costs rise, especially for small businesses, either the employees stop taking the plan or they go with their spouse’s or buy their own. This causes participation issues for the employer and the plan is then canceled by the carrier.

What small businesses are doing is saying: What are my choices? Because when a new hire says what are my health benefits, you need an answer. So that has led to the designing of these programs.

Why do you say they’re good for individuals?

Health insurance is one of the most important and expensive products we buy. But who’s in charge of picking it? Your employer. You could lose your job and then lose your insurance. Or your doctors can cancel participating in the middle of a health event for you.

This new system is a gift from the employer, especially when it offers a way to save money compared with the old plan. Now you have a choice: You can say: ‘I want that plan with these doctors’ and another employee can say ‘I want that plan with these doctors.’ You can change to another plan in a year and if you leave your job, you can take your plan with you.

How exactly does this new system work?

The easiest way is to provide a stipend. In your paycheck, you might get $500 a month as your health insurance stipend. The problem is that money is taxable; it’s not like group health insurance.

At Zane Benefits, we have a solution to that. We establish a formal reimbursement program that complies with federal tax rules. We say: There’s $500 a month but you only get it if you buy coverage and prove you bought it.

The key is that you can have whatever you want when you shop on the individual market. And now you’re required to be an educated consumer.


How much money does the employer give the employee?

It varies. But in every situation, it makes employees equal or better off than before. The policies can cost 20 to 60% less, depending on your age and location — up to 80% less if you’re a low-wage worker and your income is less than 400% of the poverty line.

Is coverage better than what the employer provided?

It’s up to the employee. Let me use a car analogy: You can buy a Ford or a Maserati; a bronze, silver, gold or platinum plan. You can find a policy with coverage that’s comparable to what you had.

What does this all mean for people in their 50s and 60s who aren’t yet on Medicare?

Health care is the No. 1 threat to early retirees. One of the messages in our book is that if you’re an early retiree or plan to retire and you’re counting on your employer to offer you health insurance in retirement, well, don’t plan on it. When they cancel health insurance plans, they will cancel retirement coverage.



How should employees faced with buying insurance this way do so wisely?

You can’t make a giant mistake because there are minimum standards that every plan must cover. The biggest mistake is not picking the right network of doctors. If you don’t go to the doctor much, you might take a bronze or silver plan. If you need a lot of health care, you’d want a gold or platinum plan.

Once you pick the coverage, do a provider lookup to be sure the doctors you want are covered by those plans.

What would you tell people who don’t like this idea?

The fact is, whether you like it or not, the current model of group health insurance is unsustainable. Something’s got to give. Just like it did with pensions.

Richard Eisenberg is the senior Web editor of the Money & Security and Work & Purpose channels of Next Avenue and Assistant Managing Editor for the site. Follow him on Twitter @richeis315.

Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/insurance/say-goodbye-to-employer-provided-health-insurance/ar-AA9SkZk?jid=50076&rid=13&FORM=MDU14R&OCID=MDU14R

6 Things Keeping You Fat

You’re filling up on healthy foods, exercising daily and still, the scale isn’t budging. It’s mind-numbingly frustrating. Luckily, it’s also fixable. Here are six common things that could be standing between you and your weight-loss goals – plus easy ways to bust through each.


1. You Aren’t Tracking What You Eat

“Most of the time, when someone comes into my office saying they aren’t losing weight, the problem is that they are eating a lot more than they think they are,” says Holly Herrington, a registered dietitian and clinical nutritionist with the Center for Lifestyle Medicine at Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation. “Almost every single person underestimates how much they are eating.” You can blame oversized restaurant portions, mindless munching and “health halos” for that, she says.

After all, French fries and ice cream aren’t the only things that are calorie-packed. So are healthy foods, including olive oil, avocado and nuts. For instance, 1 cup of almonds contains about 750 calories. If you’re snacking on them (a great idea), but without measuring and tracking those calories (a bad idea), you could easily end up gaining weight, Herrington says.

She recommends tracking everything you eat, at least for a couple months, with apps like My FitnessPal, which will help you learn proper portion sizes and how your favorite health foods measure up calorie-wise. In one American Journal of Preventive Medicine study, people who kept daily food records lost double the weight of those who didn’t track their food intake.

2. You’re Not Sleeping Enough 


A bad night’s sleep can wreck your weight-loss efforts through a two-pronged approach. For one, it makes you hungry and likely to overeat. “When you don’t get enough sleep, your levels of cortisol and also ghrelin, a hormone that increases the sensation of hunger, rise,” explains board-certified internist Dr. Patricia Salber.
For example, in one University of Chicago study, healthy young men who got just four hours of sleep two nights in a row (compared to their usual seven to nine hours) reported a 24 percent increase in appetite, along with cravings for candy, cookies, chips, bread and pasta. They also experienced an 18 percent decrease in leptin, which promotes fullness, and a 28 percent increase in the hunger-hormone ghrelin.
Second of all, not getting enough sleep could make your body store what you do eat as fat. For instance, a 2011 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutritionfound that just one night’s bad sleep caused healthy men’s resting energy expenditure – the number of calories they burned by simply being alive – to drop by 5 percent. The number of calories they burned after each meal also dropped by 20 percent.
“Sleep deprivation and sleep apnea may affect blood sugar levels and increase insulin resistance,” says endocrinologist Dr. Michael Bergman, clinical professor of medicine at the NYU Langone Medical Center. “Sleep disorders, namely obstructive sleep apnea, [have] been associated with the development of Type 2 diabetes.”
If clean-sleep habits – such as keeping your bedtimes consistent and not playing on electric devices in the hour before bed – don’t help you get eight solid hours a night, talk to your doctor about how you can sleep better and longer, he says.

3. You’re Eating the Same Number of Calories You Did on Day One of Your Diet 

Oh, the weight-loss plateau: At the beginning of your diet, you were losing weight and feeling great. But now, you’re doing the exact same thing, but with zero results. That might be the problem. “As you lose weight, your caloric needs will change,” Herrington says. “The smaller you get, the fewer calories your body needs, so the fewer calories you’ll need to eat to continue losing weight.”
If your weight-loss results have plateaued for one to two months, she recommends gradually cutting back on calories. Start by eating 100 fewer calories a day and see how the scale shifts in a couple weeks’ time. Don’t cut back too much, though. Most women shouldn’t eat any fewer than 1,200 calories a day and men shouldn’t eat any fewer that 1,700 a day. Meanwhile, you should never feel famished or low on energy, she says.

4. You’re Constantly Stressed

Acute stress – say from a looming work deadline or relationship drama – can cause your appetite to go MIA. But if the stress keeps up and becomes chronic, too-high levels of the stress hormone cortisol can increase your appetite, particularly for high-carbohydrate foods, according to Salber. “When stressed, people seek to comfort themselves and relieve the tension,” she says. “All too often, that means turning to sugar or starchy foods.” High-carb foods can cause a quick spike in blood sugar and feel-good serotonin levels. But both crash quickly, and put you in a vicious cycle of stress and overeating.
Meanwhile, by stimulating the production of insulin, cortisol also increases your body’s tendency to store calories as visceral fat. A type of fat that hangs out in the abdominal cavity and likes to hug your vital organs, visceral fat is associated with the development of insulin resistance and, in some cases, diabetes, Salber says.
If you can’t remember the last time you weren’t stressed, consider visiting your doctor or a therapist to help you manage your stress levels and get healthy. Mental health issues, including stress, are no different than physical health issues, she says. They deserve professional help.

5. You’re Using Artificial Sweeteners

Artificial sweeteners, whether you stir them into your coffee, get them from diet sodas or spoon them from your yogurt container, are an easy way to cut calories and sugar in the short term, but they could harm your long-term weight-loss efforts. Case in point: Research from the University of Texas found that over the course of 9.5 years, the average two-a-day diet-soda drinker puts on five times more belly fat than do people who abstain.
That could be because your brain responds to artificial sweeteners by telling you to eat more sweet stuff, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. Meanwhile, they may also throw off the balance of healthy bacteria in the gut, Salber says. A 2014 study from the Israel-based Weizmann Institute of Science’s immunology department found a significant correlation between the consumption of artificial sweeteners, gut bacterial configuration and a tendency to develop glucose intolerance, which contributes to the development of obesity and Type 2 diabetes.
Eliminate any artificial sweeteners in your diet and replace them with sweeteners that also contain vitamins and minerals, such as honey and maple syrup. Just make sure to count their calories.

6. You Have a Medical Condition

While rare, underlying health conditions can make weight-loss difficult to achieve on your own. For instance, Cushing’s disease, marked by excess cortisol levels, and polycystic ovary syndrome, a common endocrine disorder in women, can both contribute to glucose disorders, Bergman says.
Meanwhile, hypothyroidism, a condition in which the thyroid gland doesn’t produce enough hormones, can also contribute to weight-management issues. About half of thyroid disorder cases in America are undiagnosed, according to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists.
If you aren’t losing weight, but feel like you are following your body’s caloric needs and are exercising between two and five hours a week, Herrington recommends talking to your doctor about your weight-loss concerns. He or she may be able to run some simple tests to make sure a health condition isn’t behind your frustrations. If something is amiss, treating it will do more than help you lose weight.

Copyright 2015 U.S. News & World Report

Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/health/weightloss/6-things-keeping-you-fat/ar-AAa5ocN?jid=50074&rid=14&FORM=MDU139&OCID=MDU139#page=1

New Year, New You: How To Refresh And Renew Your Mind And Body In 2015

by Bradly Jacobs | on January 5th, 2015 |

The start of a new year is a good time to integrate some new practices for healthy living.
Here are ten tips for mental, emotional, and physical health that combine the best of modern medicine and traditional healing practices for your mind and body.

Mental And Emotional Health Tips

1. Adjust your attitude

People who see the world with a “cup half full” attitude have 50% lower risk for heart disease, recover from surgery faster, and have been shown to live longer.
If you are a “cup half empty” type, fear not: programs like Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Reflective Happiness can convert a pessimist to an optimist in eight weeks!
Related: 7 Reasons Why Positive Thinking Is Awesome

2. Unplug

Plan a device-free weekend, replacing gadget time with extra sleep, a big breakfast, dancing in your living room, or going for a walk with a friend.
For those of you who feel anxious at the thought of unplugging for the weekend, set aside just one hour on Sunday, preferably in the early evening, to scan your email. Do your best to limit your responses to only the most critical messages.
By setting aside time to check in but not fully engage, you’ll feel less anxious about Monday. You can then fall asleep Sunday evening feeling refreshed and prepared for the week ahead.

3. Practice mindful yoga on the go

Overwhelmed by your “to-do” list? Check out this yoga trick—on the go!
Root your feet firmly into the floor. Rock from your heels to your toes and find a stable place of balance in between. Align your knees and hips with your feet. Lift up and out of your pelvis. Draw in a deep breath. Notice the breath expand your rib cage. Straighten your back and roll your shoulders back. As the breath continues to travel up your body, lift your chin 90 degrees to the floor.
Hold the breath momentarily. Now exhale and allow the “to-do” list to dissolve with the breath. Repeat this process again with a new breath.
Related: 9 (Of Many) Amazing Benefits Of Yoga

4. Make peace with the past 

2015 is here – an opportunity to release the past and begin anew. If you are still challenged with any hang-ups or thoughts that are not serving your highest good, try Ho’oponopono.
It’s a Hawaiian problem-solving process to help release memories that are experienced as problems. The mantras are simple to learn and powerful to practice.

Nutrition Tips

5. Try bitters to enjoy your next decadent dining experience

“Bitters” are what your grandparents likely ate or drank before a meal to help digest delicious, rich foods. Bitters such as dandelion, gentian, yarrow, artichoke, and orange peel prime the gastrointestinal tract for the upcoming meal by stimulating gastric acids and pancreatic enzymes that digest food and aid digestion.

6. Get clear on calcium

New research challenges old recommendations! The latest research suggests 700mg of calcium daily from food sources is your best bet.
Related: The Real Truth About Vitamin Supplements You Should Know
Try low-fat and fat-free dairy products, green vegetables such as collard greens and broccoli, and calcium-fortified foods.

7. Go for a healthy candy fix

That’s right—healthy candy!
The health of your oral cavity – mouth, teeth and gums – plays an important role in your overall health. One proposed explanation is that poor dental hygiene causes chronic inflammation, which in turn has harmful effects on the entire body.
So in addition to brushing your teeth twice a day and regular flossing, try Kavidy Kops, an orange-flavored lollipop containing an all-natural extract from the root of the licorice plant (Glycyrrhiza uralensis) that has been shown to kill cavity-causing bacteria.
Related: The Top 5 Places Germs Hide In Your Home

8. Get to know the skinny on sugar

Whether it’s listed as “high fructose corn syrup,” “concentrated sugar,” or any ingredient that ends in “-ose,” there’s sugar in what you’re eating.
Try to find products with less sugar or lower it yourself. For example, did you know there is almost as much sugar in orange juice as soda? However, unlike soda, you can add one part water to two parts juice, reducing the sugar by one third, and still have a delicious and nutritional drink.

9. Know a serving size

Often, your idea of a serving size isn’t the same as the manufacturer’s. For example, if you drink 12 ounces of juice every morning, but the serving size is eight ounces, then every number on the label needs to be adjusted and multiplied by one and a half. This simple check can help you more accurately track precisely how much you’re putting into your body.
Related: How To Understand Food Labels In 11 Steps

10. Go for the goods (fat, that is)

Not all fat is bad! Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated are healthy forms of fat. Cooking with olive oil instead of butter or eating a handful of nuts or an avocado are great ways to get these ‘good fats.’
Omega-3 fatty acids are a particularly healthy type of these ‘good fats’ that you can get from walnuts, soy, flax, fatty fish like salmon, and health bars and drinks. Try to get half a gram of omega-3 fatty acids each day – and if you have heart problems, double up to one gram.
***********************
Dr. Brad is the medical director for Integrative Medicine at Cavallo Point Lodge. He offers complete solutions for healthy, vibrant living. His integrative health approach responsibly combines the best of modern medicine with established wisdom and traditional East-West practices. Recognized as a national leader in integrative medicine and health & wellness, he has held workshops for Oprah’s “O You!” event, the Gap and Harvard Business School. He is also senior author of “The American College of Physicians (ACP) Evidence-Based Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine.”

Source: http://inspiyr.com/mind-and-body/