Feel Good Friday is a small collection of the inspiring stuff I’ve discovered around the web.  It’s all about good health, happiness and the stuff that makes us feel good!  Please leave me a comment if you have a great article or blog post to share in next week’s round-up.

Melbourne seems to have skipped Autumn and jumped straight to Winter, and a bunch of my colleagues have succumbed to colds & flus already.  So I was pretty amused to come across Blackmore’s useful article about the colour of your snot!  I wonder if I should put this next to the coffee machine in the staff room…

I love Pip’s Eleven uber-healthy noodle recipes!  We love Pip, we do.

A garlic ingredient is 100 times more powerful than two popular antibiotics at fighting one of the leading causes of food poisoning, say scientists.  The compound, diallyl sulphide, is able to pierce a protective “biofilm” employed by the food bug that makes it hard to destroy.  Plus, fewer vampires.

Eating well by keeping good ingredients in the house.  Without planning ahead it’s too easy to reach for something naughty!

Should you immunise your children?  It’s a contentious topic, and I thought this article explained both sides of the debate pretty well (though it does take a side).  For me it all comes down to risk assessment; I’m more concerned about the damage caused by preventable illnesses than the claims about vaccines.  What do you think?

Source

Do you run “naked”?  My iPhone is my soundtrack, but also a really good motivational tool.  I use it to track my pace and distance (and even the location of the nearest zombie horde!) and that data helps me know whether I’m on track to meet my goals.  However, I see the appeal of ditching the gear and simply running for running’s sake.

10 ways to lunge, by Fitnessista

I’ve discovered a few new health & fitness blogs lately, and been loving them!  Check out the inspirational Andie Mitchell from Can You Stay for Dinner and add Fitsugar to your RSS reader too.  So much great stuff there.

Something to make you smile: Jon Hamm offers advice to teenage girls about love, fashion and dating.  And he looks incredibly freaked out by the entire experience, which somehow makes it even more awesome!

Image source: beachboysbeauty.tumblr.com

It’s been a long week, and this weekend all about suiting ourselves.  We have a breakfast date with our  lovely soon-to-be-married friends (eek, I only have one week to find a dress!) and aside from that I’m just itching to draw and paint.  I’m super happy about the cold and rainy forecast too, so as an apology to my Summer-loving friends I offer you the picture above.

Have a happy, happy weekend.  I’m SO ready for this one!

Feel Good Friday is a small collection of the inspiring stuff I’ve discovered around the web.  It’s all about good health, happiness and the stuff that makes us feel good!  Please leave me a comment if you have a great article or blog post to share in next week’s round-up.

First of all, a link from my friend Ralf (hi Ralf!) about “Ego Depletion”.  Turns out willpower is not just a metaphor, it’s actually a finite resource.  This is a really worthwhile read and made me think.

A great deal of your thoughts and behaviors are automatic and unconscious. Blinking and breathing, for example, need no help from the conscious part of you. Much of your behavior, like driving to work or toweling off after a shower, just happens while your conscious mind drifts off to think about Game of Thrones or how you’ll approach your boss for a raise. If you touch a stove you recoil without thought. Your desire to avoid dark alleys and approach embraces occurs without your input. When moved by a song or a painting or a kitten, the emotional rush comes without volition. Much of your mental life is simply not under your conscious control, and Baumeister’s research suggests once you take the helm every act of volition diminishes the next. 

It is as if the mind is a terribly designed airplane. As long as the plane flies in a straight line, it burns very little fuel, but as soon as the pilot takes over in any way, to dive or bank or climb, the plane burns fuel at an alarming rate making it more difficult to steer in the future. At some point, you must return the plane to autopilot until it can refuel or else it crashes.

Read the rest of the article here.

This is why chocolate is my favourite vegetable!

15 Things you should give up to be happy.  These are the things we should try to quit for a happy and stress-free life:  from needing to be “right”, to living your life to others’ expectations.

This week I learned of a new hazard related to smoking: Third-hand smoke.  Researchers have warned that toxins from cigarette smoke remain in the environment and build up over time.  Like we needed more to worry about!

The chemistry of tea.

What if bone health has more to do with our Vitamin D intake than calcium and dairy?  This study suggests that calcium may only be part of the picture.

Much Too Complex Carbohydrates by Rick London.

And so ends another week!

I’ve been feeling pretty stretched lately, and after a couple of weeks of trying to ignore the problem (and eventually admitting that it’s not going away) I’ve spent a little bit of time trying to figure out why.  Turns out I’m not really doing anything more than usual, I’m just making terrible use of my time!

My suitcase isn’t unpacked from our trip to Apollo Bay two weeks ago.  My laundry is being stored on top of my suitcase instead of being put away.  The whole house needs a vacuum and my bathtub needs a scrub.  We also have a car load of stuff to donate, and we keep shifting it all from the car to the laundry because we can’t organise ourselves to drop it all off!  Ridiculous, right?

So this weekend I have two goals:  sort my house out (if I crank up some music this will take 2 hours, max) and see The Avengers.  Probably in that order, so that I don’t go rewarding myself prematurely.

Hopefully by getting these jobs out of the way my brain will have a little more space for the stuff that really matters – like drawing or painting or tackling one of the 91 uncompleted things from my 101 list!  I haven’t really made any ground so far this month, so it’s time to get serious again.

What have you got planned for your weekend?  If you’re in Melbourne it’s going to be a chilly one, so find a good book and remember to pick up marshmallows for your hot chocolate!

Feel Good Friday is a small collection of the inspiring stuff I’ve discovered around the web.  It’s all about good health, happiness and the stuff that makes us feel good!  Please leave me a comment if you have a great article or blog post to share in next week’s round-up.

Some clever cookie has put together a great guide to improving your posture to reduce back pain (and look hot!).

• As somebody who resisted organised exercise throughout my twenties, Learning to love exercise is an article I related to!
• The debate about the addition of permeate to our milk heated up this week, when it was revealed that the major Australian brands add up to 16% of this cheese waste product to fresh milk.  Nobody is really suggesting that it’s harmful, but I do question whether milk manufacturers should be messing with our food without disclosing it on the label.  What’s your take on it?
• Former palliative carer Bronnie Ware wrote a wonderful article (and then a book) called Regrets of the dying.  It’s attracted a lot of attention lately and is well worth reading.  Most of us are lucky enough to have the time to do something about these deathbed regrets now, but will we?
• If you start the day with a flat belly but feel bloated by bedtime, there’s a good chance you’re a woman (you lucky thing!)
• Loving Angela’s tips for using lemons – especially the lemon sugar hand scrub!  Plenty of great information about the many health benefits of lemons and limes at WHFoods.org as well.
• A reader called Annelies (hi Annelies!) emailed me about a great little running app called Endomondo.  It tracks your distances and pace in real time, and seems to be publishable as a widget on your site too!  There’s lots of community support and competitions to keep you motivated too.  I’ll be checking it out over the weekend.
• 10 foods for a healthy, beautiful smile, and how to eat to reverse tooth decay.  There’s some conflicting information in these articles, but they both show that diet plays a big role in the health of our teeth.

I think I speak for all of us when I say… TGIF, baby! It’s been a reaaaaaally long week over here at Casa Scarlet, and although we’ve had a fun time we are BEAT.  Somehow I’ve managed to limp along until the end of the week, and I’m so excited about getting home after work today and getting into Tim’s track pants.

I’m planning to spend a couple of hours restoring our house to some sort of order, and then there will be as much resto relaxo as I can muster!

I’ve thought about this place heaps over the past week, and I hope you weren’t lonely during the radio silence.  I’ll be making it all up to you in a day or two with lots of photos of our trip to Apollo Bay & The Twelve Apostles last week.

Happy Friday (and happy WEEKEND!)

Feel Good Friday is a small collection of the inspiring stuff I’ve discovered around the web.  It’s all about good health, happiness and the stuff that makes us feel good!  Please leave me a comment if you have a great article or blog post to share in next week’s round-up.

A few minutes at Cyanide & Happiness will make you feel good – guaranteed!

Yikes!  I haven’t posted all that much since my last Feel Good Friday have I?  I was blessed with a beautiful five-day weekend over Easter and it was wonderful to relax without a whole lot of screen time.

The Easter bunny was especially good to me this year, and now that it’s all over I’m looking forward to a week of cleaner eating and getting my blood pumping.  Here are the best links I’ve found in my online travels this week – enjoy!

A little proof that making something fun can affect behaviour for the better.  Great idea!

• Angela from Oh She Glows has shared an excellent post about the staples that make up her vegan pantry.  Although I’m not vegan (or vegetarian!) I’m really interested in all types of healthy eating, so this is a really useful post.
• Carbs without a cause: 8 foods worse than white bread.
• Gentlemen, please avert your eyes while we discuss these core fitness tips for women.  (You’ve been warned!)
• According to fitday.com these are the 8 powerhouse foods you should be eating.  (Raise your hand if you knew what a cruciferous vegetable was before today.  Anyone?)
• I loooved this fun experiment from Charlotte: the surprising science behind happy.  Grab a pencil and get ready to smile!
• And also?  Why laughter is the best medicine.
• Could an apple a day really keep the doctor away? Maybe – but it may also be coated in pesticides.  Here’s what The Huffington Post has called the Dirty Dozen: The 12 fruits and vegetables with the most pesticides.
• Supplements: should we take them?  This is one person’s opinion on an incredibly complex topic, and I found it really interesting.  I’m not taking any supplements at the moment, are you?
• It’s a very big claim, but James McWhinney says that these six powerful questions will change your life forever.  Certainly very thought-provoking.
• Ever wondered about the real sugar content of the drinks you consume?  I don’t recognise all of these brands, but  Red Bull and Mountain Dew are scary!  Why do we do this to ourselves?  (The image below has been circulating a bit lately, but I’ve had trouble finding the original source.  This is where I found it.)

• And finally, try working this exercise from shape.com into your routine this week.  I don’t want to brag or anything, but I can do at least one rep in a row!  haha…

The two point plank (via shape.com)

Assume a push up position, making sure your body forms a straight line from your shoulders down to your toes. Raise your right hand and left leg out to form a straight line with your body, hold for two counts, then return to plank position and repeat with the other arm and leg. That’s one rep.  For best results, do 2-3 sets of 10-20 reps several times per week.

Hope you have a very happy Friday, and an excellent weekend!  As you’re reading this post I’ll be driving down the coast toward Apollo Bay where we’ll be staying for the next couple of nights.  We’ll be hanging out with my brother and his girl, catching up with friends, gazing at the stars and snuggling up with our pup.  I can’t wait!

Do you have plans?

Make sure you do something that makes you feel good!

Feel Good Friday is a small collection of the inspiring stuff I’ve discovered around the web.  It’s all about good health, happiness and the stuff that makes us feel good!  Please leave me a comment if you have a great article or blog post to share in next week’s round-up.

I’ve discovered that quinoa divides people into two groups: those that love it, and those that haven’t tried it yet.  Here are 12 things you should know about quinoa!

An excellent summary of the pros and cons of the paleolithic diet which has become so popular.  It’s not for me, but it seems to work for a lot of people.

20 quick and healthy snack ideas (looove apple and peanut butter together, but watch your portion sizes!)

I loved Sarai’s post about cultivating friendships.

40 ways to unwind and relax.  Perfect timing for the long weekend, right?

We all know we should be eating fish, but it’s hard to know which ones we’re supposed to be choosing for ourselves and for the planet.  Here are 6 of the healthiest fish (and 6 fish to avoid, but that part of the article is very US-centric)

Whistle while you work?  An interesting article about RMIT University’s instruction to its staff to be enthusiastic and positive in the workplace, despite obviously trying times for its workers.  Is it a good idea to insist upon positivity on the job?

At an individual level, the power of positivity can’t be denied.  These 21 ways to define a positive attitude made me think about how I can develop my attitude and be a better version of myself.

More on the topic of happiness: a study has shown that people aren’t at their happiest until they reach the age of 33.  (I’m really looking forward to my next birthday now!)

31 ways to brighten your day!

Here’s a guaranteed way to put a smile on your face.  Barry Morgan, from the World of Organs!

Don’t forget to get the t-shirt!

Don’t forget to tell them Barry sent you
Barry Morgan – World famous in Adelaide

Happy Easter long weekend, everybody!  I’m planning a MAJOR de-cluttering exercise here this weekend, but I plan to fit in some drawing and running as well.  Maybe also some top secret work on a Top Secret Project.

Hope your Friday’s good!

Feel Good Friday is a small collection of the inspiring stuff I’ve discovered around the web.  It’s all about good health, happiness and the stuff that makes us feel good!  Please leave me a comment if you have a great article or blog post to share in next week’s round-up.

Cooking Light has identified 42 of the most common cooking mistakes.  Heaps of great advice here!

Earlier this year I was briefly interested in the concept of barefoot running, although I wasn’t ready to take the plunge myself.  The more I’ve read on this topic, the less I believe that barefoot running is a good idea for most people.  Have you tried it?  What do you think?

Last weekend I had a horrible head cold that was threatening to move to my lungs, but I was also due for a run.  This article helped me decide what to do: should you run when you’re sick?  (In my case, probably not – but I took a short run anyway!)

Speaking of colds, I was happy to read this list of 7 healing foods to fight colds & flu.  Now I know why garlic does such a good job at clearing out the germs!

Do you have a green thumb?  I love keeping plants on my desk at work.  They break up the sterile environment, encourage conversation (“This is my fern, Laverne!”) and they also mop up some of the nasties that end up in our air.  As long as you have a natural light source or a desk lamp there’s a plant that will grow in your workspace.

I really enjoyed nutritionist Kathryn Elliott’s article about the danger of over-sentimentalising butter, and what the manufacturing process really looks like in Australia.  Worth a read.

Did you hear the good news this week that chocolate lovers weigh less?  There are all sorts of theories that discuss the whys, so my advice is to make sure you have plenty of chocolate within reach before you begin your research!

I received an email this week about MoodGYM – an innovative, interactive web program designed to prevent depression. It consists of five modules, an interactive game, anxiety and depression assessments, downloadable relaxation audio, a workbook and feedback assessment.  It looks like fantastic interactive resource which uses Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) techniques to explore negative emotions – and it’s free!

And finally…

Jo Goddard came up with 4 foolproof ways to make a baby laugh. If you can watch this video without grinning like an idiot please consult a cardiologist immediately.

Happy Friday!

Feel Good Friday is a small collection of the inspiring stuff I’ve discovered around the web.  It’s all about good health, happiness and the stuff that makes us feel good!  Please leave me a comment if you have a great article or blog post to share in next week’s round-up.

A big thanks to Kate for reminding me about this gem: women laughing alone with salad!

Simple tips and reminders about living in the now from Tiny Buddha.

Top 25 healthy fruits.  Most of my favourites are on that list.

Confessions of a personal trainer.

Biochemically speaking, your spin class looks an awful lot like a heart attack.  A small study has revealed that an hour-long session triggers the same chemical indications in the body as a heart attack.  (So I guess it’s not a coincidence that I think I’m about to die every time I try a spin class?)

Good news everybody!  We should all be eating chocolate cake for breakfast to help us lose weight.  (Pleasepleaseplease let this study be true?!)

Evidence is building that meditation strengthens your brain.

Here are 3 superfoods for a long life.

Reasons why you shouldn’t have more that 364 Facebook friends.  They forgot to add: Because you’ll never get anything important done!

Can’t function without your morning coffee?  Me too!  See how well you do at the caffeine quiz.

If you’re tacking Couch to 5K with an iPhone, this is the app you need.  Tim’s been using it to get back into running, and after watching the  introduction video I’m a little jealous that it wasn’t around when I went through it!  All the information you need is presented beautifully, and it guides you through your workout with audio prompts.  Very cool.

Speaking of C25K, make sure you’ve got the printable chart to track your progress!  Nothing feels better than crossing off each run as you complete it.  This post also has a bunch of tips for new runners that I wish I’d known when I got started, such as where to keep your key and how to strap down “the girls”.  I am such a fan of this program, and you can probably tell by the way that I never shut up about it.  Sorry!

I found these great DIY hair treatment remedies at Marie Claire this week.  I’m looking forward to trying one of these over the weekend.

I’ve been meaning to spread the word about Active Feet for a while now.  I went there after suffering through two pairs of painful running shoes – blood, blisters, the works.  They assessed my feet and running style on a treadmill before recommending the shoes I wear now – Asics GT 2170.  It’s been 6 weeks and not a single blister!  This place is owned and run by podiatrists and I recommend them for anyone Melbourne runners who need new shoes.  Plus, they’ll let you try them for 30 days and return them if they suck.  (Do I need to say that this isn’t a sponsored post?)

Oh, and there’s plenty of good advice over here about buying new trainers, too.

Happy Friday, everyone!  I’m looking forward to putting it behind me as fast as possible so that I can get on with my weekend.  Is it just me, or did this week have an extra day?

Feel Good Friday is a small collection of the inspiring stuff I’ve discovered around the web.  It’s all about good health, happiness and the stuff that makes us feel good!  Please leave me a comment if you have a great article or blog post to share in next week’s round-up.

5 ways to find happiness in nature from Tiny Buddha

Give brussels sprouts a second chance!  This recipe looks amazing, and until reading this article I had no idea that these cute little guys are such a great cancer-fighting food.

Speaking of vegetables, my lovely friend Marieke shared these tips for cooking and storing a week’s worth of veggies in a single afternoon.

Another gem from Marieke: 101 Cookbooks by Heidi Swanson.  Lots of great vegetarian, whole food recipes with gorgeous photography and food styling.  I especially love the way that the posts are categorised – it’s an excellent resource for people who care about food and eating.

Strength training for beginners – not only is this excellent advice, but it’s funny too!

Studies have shown that people work out longer and harder when they have company.  Here are some ideas for workouts for couples.

Lots of good information about nature’s perfect powersnack – nuts.

Last week I reconnected with an old schoolmate of mine (thanks, Twitter!), and we discovered that we’re both bloggers!  Kate had a dig around my list of 101 Things in 1001 Days and she told me that it inspired her to refocus her goals.  Amongst other things, her brand new blog House of Goals is full of stories about her running journey, including the training she did for her marathon last year.  (That’s right, I said marathon.  Way to put my 5km to shame, Kate!)

And finally… this video by Mikhael Paskalev is bound to leave you feeling good this Friday!

Happy weekend, everybody.  Tomorrow is my birthday, so my weekend is looking pretty good already!

Hope you find time to do something that makes you feel good.

If you’re anything like me, you are a genius procrastinator.  At any given moment I can produce two dozen reasons for why I can’t work out today.  Some of them are even true.

So that’s why I’ve decided to print out this handy chart from Cranky Fitness and stick it up where I’ll be forced to read it daily.  Like  the fridge door, for example.

(Spoiler alert: if your leg has fallen off, it’s totally ok to skip a day of training.)

Excuse me, please.  I’d better go put my runners on.

Feel Good Friday is a small collection of the inspiring stuff I’ve discovered around the web.  It’s all about good health, happiness and the stuff that makes us feel good!  Please leave me a comment if you have a great article or blog post to share in next week’s round-up.

The biggest diet and exercise mistake you can make.  Been there!

The talented couple behind Sprouted Kitchen are getting ready to launch their new book.  In the meantime, go and drool at the delicious whole food recipes and excellent food styling & photography.

The best healthy foods on a budget.  This list is very USA-centric, but there’s still plenty of  good advice for those of us in the Southern Hemisphere.

One great reason to smile is this cute blog, 1000 Reasons to Smile.

Nine ways to become a morning person.  I’m a mostly-reformed night owl, and it wasn’t an easy transition.  However, it can be done!

C. Jane’s article To My Over-Eater really resonated with me.  It’s about trusting your body to tell you when it is hungry, and when it is simply lonely, bored, anxious etc.

This week I discovered heaps of free resources available through The Happiness Institute.  I especially liked this article by Dr Timothy Sharp [PDF] – 20 simple tips to be happy now.

I loved this article by The Organic Geek, full of advice for new runners.  I found myself nodding as I read this!  If you are learning to run with Couch to 5K (especially if you are my awesome little cousin named Trisha) you should definitely read this one.

How to do the perfect plank exercise.  It’s better for your core than sit-ups, and it just takes a minute! It’s also much harder than it looks, but so worth it.

Source: Daily Mail