I recently had dinner with a friend in a quaint, waterfront community. Being portion-conscious, I had part of my dinner boxed up to go. After eating, my friend and I took a long walk up and down the lake’s shore.

It was a beautiful, balmy night. The sun was mostly gone and the lights of the evening reflected brilliantly off the water. Couples snuggled on benches, mothers walked their babies in strollers and joggers pounded by, their skin glistening with sweat. The walk should have been perfect, but was marred by one thing: my box of leftovers.

The Burden of Carrying Stress

As I walked along in conversation with my friend, that box became more and more annoying. I shifted it from hand to hand, lifted it up and down. Nothing I did with it was comfortable.

Our lakefront loop lasted about two miles. We decided to sit for a while and visit some more. Next to our stone perch was a garbage can. Without thinking about what I was doing, I threw my box of leftovers into that can.

Suddenly, I was uplifted, liberated. My hands were free from the burden of that box and so was my mind. I no longer had to think about new ways to hold or position the box to be comfortable.

In reflection, that box of leftovers symbolized the leftover burden I carry every day. The burden of work and family and of feeling less than perfect. The burden of carrying extra weight and constantly trying to find a way to be comfortable in my skin.

Releasing the Stress that Weighs You Down

The simple act of throwing that box away freed me from that particular burden and made me realize that I have the power to release anything that weighs me down.

Now, when my work day is done, I visualize throwing out the excess “trash” before turning my attention to my family. And when I worry excessively about my  weight or some other issue, I stop myself and take those unproductive thoughts off my shoulders and dump them where they belong - with those leftovers.

NutriSystem has been around for a very long time - 35 years according to the official Web site. I actually used the program 20 years ago when work and stress made healthy eating a challenge. Since then, the food quality and choices have improved dramatically.

The question is, why does the NutriSystem diet plan work?

For starters, this weight loss system combines healthy eating in regular intervals throughout the day with portion control. When you do the math to lose weight, the basic formula is calories in vs. calories burned. NutriSystem takes the guesswork out of the ‘calories in’ portion of the equation. (This is especially helpful if you hate to cook.)

But that’s not the only reason why the NutriSystem diet plan works.

NutriSystem removes the temptation to make un-healthy food choices by outlining your meals and snacks for the entire day ahead of time. By knowing exactly what you’ll be eating all day long, you’ll be less likely to cheat.

Lifelong Weight Loss Begins with the Basics

Lifelong weight loss is all about learning to how to eat properly in order to maintain a healthy weight. And I truly think that programs like NutriSystem help you learn the basics of a balanced meal, how much food you should consume at any one time, and how to distinguish between being full and being stuffed. (Eating until you’re stuffed is one of the reasons why you need to lose weight in the first place!)

Once you reach your goal weight, the challenge becomes how to maintain that weight after transitioning off of the NutriSystem foods and back to “regular” eating. Hopefully, you will have learned a thing or two about healthy eating while you’ve been on the program. But if you pick up your old, bad habits right where you left off, the weight you lost will come back faster than you can say “Marie Osmond.”

Overcoming the Gain-Back Challenge

Some people overcome this challenge by continuing to eat NutriSystem meals one week out of every month or two days out of every week. Or if they creep up a few pounds, they jump back on the system to nip the gain in the bud.  

If you’re overweight, making a commitment to a weight loss plan is one of the best health choices you can make. Although NutriSystem is just one program on the market today, it does work if you follow it.

If you need help selecting a diet plan for your needs and budget, or just want personalized support during your weight loss journey, head on over to 5 Minute Self-Help. The life coaches will be there for you every step of the way.

Have you ever said to yourself, a friend, or a loved one, “My life is great. I have nothing to complain about, but I just feel so sad!” Everyone experiences feelings of depression, anxiety, and sadness once in a while. Although most people can pinpoint the cause of their blues, such as experiencing hard times, needing more money, receiving bad news, living with rainy weather, or even having hormonal changes, some people feel sad or depressed without really knowing why.

I recently had lunch with a friend and when I started listening to the negative stories I was telling her about the current state of my life, I had an epiphany: I was stuck in a sad cycle that was creating a steady stream of negative thoughts in my mind!

When feeling sad leads to day after day of feeling blue, it’s time to take self-help action before full-blown depression sets in. So I created a plan for breaking my sad cycle in just three days.

Day 1

One Day 1, I decided that, instead of being sad, I was going to be wealthy! In a small notebook, I wrote down a list of the many ways that wealth touches my life:

• The money in my bank account
• My beautiful family
• My lovely home
• My home-based business
• My generous clients
• My just-for-emergencies credit line

Throughout the day, every time a negative thought crept into my mind, I stopped what I was doing and read through my wealthy list. By the end of that day, my veil of sadness was beginning to lift.

Day 2

On Day 2, I decided that, instead of being sad, I was going to be wealthy and grateful! In my notebook, I wrote down a list of the many things that I’m grateful for.

Just like Day 1, every time a negative thought crept into my mind, I stopped what I was doing and read through my wealthy and grateful lists. By the end of Day 2, I realized I was no longer wallowing in sadness. In fact, I was beginning to feel hopeful about my future again.

Day 3

On Day 3, I decided that, instead of letting sadness creep back into my life, I would focus on sharing joy with everyone I came in contact with. In addition to reviewing my wealthy and grateful lists, I looked for ways to spread joy to others. Here are some things I came up with:

• I waved to the neighbor getting her morning paper and to the kids waiting at the bus stop by my house
• I held the door for an elderly woman at the post office
• I smiled randomly at strangers (and they smiled back!)
• I hugged my kids and told them I was happy to be their mom
• I answered the phone with, “Good morning!” and “Happy Friday!” instead of simply, “Hello.”

By the end of Day 3, I actually felt lighter in my body, as if the weight of the world was no longer sitting on top of my shoulders. I was also eating healthier because I didn’t crave comfort food.

Each day since then, I choose another positive aspect of my life to focus on and look for new ways to uplift others. Sure, the bills keep coming in and the housework still needs to be done, but worrying about them only makes me feel sad. And I would rather feel wealthy, blessed, abundant, and grateful! Depression is a serious illness that should be treated by your doctor. But if you’re feeling blue, try my 3-Day plan for breaking the sad cycle - before depression sets in!

Hay House and TUT are two great resources for books and DVDs that can also help you break the sad cycle. And if you need a little one-on-one mentoring to put this 3-day plan into action, the personal life coaches over at 5 Minute Self-Help are awesome. the cost is only $5 and they can help you stay on track and truly beat the blues forever.

Stress at work presents a significant challenge because you have very little control over the environment and the anxiety it causes. Stressors can come at you from a variety of sources, including the people you work with, your physical office setup, and the type of work you do. Short of changing jobs (and probably finding yourself in a similar situation even if you are making more money), avoiding everyday stress at the office just isn’t possible.

So, how do you cope when you feel like you’re at the end of your stress-at-work rope? It’s easy. Just incorporate these three simple strategies into your work week.

1. Take a Walk

One of the most basic strategies for stress relief is physical exercise. But you don’t need to go out all for exercise to be effective against work stress. A brisk 20-30 minute walk up the street or around the parking lot will work wonders for relieving a stressed out state of mind. When walking, avoid planning your next task. Instead, allow your mind to relax and your thoughts to float by like the clouds in the wind. When your walk is finished, take a few deep belly breaths and perform a few stretches. You should feel relaxed and re-energized. Oh, and before heading back to your desk, grab a tall glass of clean, fresh water to hydrate your body’s cells.

2. Catch a Catnap

Power napping is another strategy that provides almost instant stress relief at work. But the key is to not sleep too long or you’ll end up feeling worse instead of better. On your lunch or afternoon break, slip into a quiet conference room or out to your car. (Make sure you won’t be disturbed.) Set the timer on your cell phone for 15-20 minutes.

Sit back, close your eyes and allow your mind to go blank. If you have trouble stopping your thoughts, try focusing on a single word or simple phrase, such as Relax, or I am relaxed. The point is to doze off just long enough to give your mind and body a much-needed mini-nap. But if you aren’t able to fall asleep, the short meditative break will be almost as refreshing. Give yourself a few minutes to snap back to reality before heading back to your desk.

3. Stay Away from Stimulants

When you experience stress at work, it’s common to reach for an extra cup of coffee, a diet soda or a candy bar as a pick-me-up. But those quick fixes are doing your body - and stress level - more harm than good. The stimulant effects of caffeine, chocolate and sugar increase your heart rate and cause your muscles to contract. They actually add a heaping helping of tension onto your body before they wear off with a crash. Avoid artificial energy bursts by preparing healthy snacks to take to work and choosing bottled water, caffeine free herbal tea or vegetable juice as your drinks of choice. By avoiding caffeine throughout the day you may even sleep better, which allows your body to recuperate from the day’s many stresses and prepare for the next round of stress at work.

For many women, stress management is a life long endeavor. You can get some really great tools for managing stress, including the full length e-book, Less-Stressed NOW!, for just $5 over at 5 Minute Self-Help.

We live in a toxic world. From the air we breathe and the water we drink, to the artificial ingredients and preservatives in our food supply, our bodies have to work overtime just to eliminate enough toxins to continue operating smoothly.

When your body gets overloaded with toxins, your immune systems becomes weaker and you become more vulnerable to everyday viruses or even more significant health issues like cancer or liver disease. That’s why it’s important to cleanse your body by incorporating simple daily detoxification practices into your life.

When people hear the word detoxification, or detox for short, they often think of treatment programs for drug or alcohol abuse or spa retreats that only the wealthy can afford. But there are simple things you can do each day - no matter how much money you make - to detoxify your body.  

Below are three daily detoxification techniques you can perform each day to help eliminate toxins and beautify your body.

Lemon Water

Fresh lemon has amazing internal cleansing properties. Not only does it help eliminate water retention, but it also helps detoxify the liver. Plus, it’s high in vitamin C.

Each morning, before you eat or drink anything else, heat six to eight ounces of pure, clean water and squeeze the juice from half a lemon into the water. Sip slowly, giving your body at least 30 minutes to digest the warm lemon water before having coffee, tea or breakfast.

Beauty Bonus: As an added detox boost throughout the day, squeeze a thin slice of lemon into each glass of water you drink.

Dry Skin Brushing

The skin is the largest organ in the human body and plays an important role in the body’s ability to eliminate toxins. Before you shower or bathe each day, add dry skin brushing to your skin care regiment to unclog pores and clear a path for elimination.

Using a dry loofah or a natural bristle brush, gently brush your skin using short, upward strokes in the direction of your heart (to assist the natural flow of your body’s blood). Start at your feet (make sure you brush in between your toes!) and work upward toward your belly. For hard-to-reach areas like your back, try using a long handled loofah. Avoid sensitive skin or areas where the skin is broken (like a cut) or rashy (as with eczema).

Beauty Bonus: Daily dry skin brushing exfoliates skin and increases circulation, leaving your body smooth, glowing and touchable!

Fiber Up Your Diet

Fiber is an important nutritional element that helps the body naturally detoxify and eliminate waste. As it moves through the digestive track and intestines, fiber absorbs toxic waste and carries it out of the body through the bowels.

The problem is, with our over-processed food supply, most people don’t get anywhere near the recommended daily requirement of 20-25g of fiber each day. With low fiber intake, our intestinal track can get congested and actually release accumulated toxins back into the bloodstream!

Getting adequate fiber each day does require a bit of planning. To get a jump start on your RDA, begin your day with a high fiber breakfast such as fiber-rich cereal and a piece of fruit. Snack on things like nuts, seeds, baby carrots and dried fruits. Make sandwiches with high fiber bread. Add beans to soups, stews and taco meat. And serve a green salad with chunky vegetables with dinner each night.

Health Note: Because fiber absorbs water as well as toxins, make sure you increase your water intake when you begin eating more fiber.  

Beauty Bonus: Increasing fiber intake has been shown to help promote weight loss. So if you need to shed a few pounds, adding fiber to your diet should help.

There are many nutritional supplements and fiber preparations on the market designed to detox your body and it’s not a bad idea to follow a more significant cleansing program from time to time. But for easy daily detoxification, the three things listed here will help you cleanse and beautify your body every day!

If you want to learn more about detoxifying your body or get answers to your specific detox questions, the personal life coaches over at 5 Minute Self-Help are really helpful.

In any given year, an estimated 13 million to 17 million Americans will suffer from some form of depression. Women are twice as likely to be depressed as men. And, in fact, one in every five women is expected to develop clinical depression at some point in her lifetime.

With startling statistics such as these, it’s no wonder that the drug companies continue to pump countless resources into developing new drugs to treat depression. But with a myriad of side effects, prescription antidepressants aren’t always the answer for people suffering from sub-clinical depression.

Although it’s always best to seek appropriate medical treatment when you’re depressed, for symptoms of mild to moderate depression, which is sometimes characterized as “the blues,” there are several self-help steps you can take to feel better fast. By focusing on these things each day instead of your sadness, you will be better prepared to battle the blues.

Step 1: Get a Complete Physical

Sometimes an underlying health condition, like hypothyroidism or a vitamin D deficiency, can induce or mimic feelings of depression. That’s why it’s important to get a complete physical with comprehensive blood work before you begin a depression self-help regimen.

Step 2: Exercise at Least 30 Minutes a Day

Exercise is your body’s built-in antidepressant. Just 30 minutes of mild to moderate activity a day (such as a brisk walk) will prompt your body to release hormone-like chemicals called endorphins. Endorphins create a feeling of euphoria and well-being in the human body and can even mask mild pain. If you’re feeling particularly blue, instead of wallowing on the couch, get up and get some exercise!

Step 3: Eat Healthy Meals and Snacks

Fluctuations in blood sugar can intensify feelings of depression. Because of this, nutrition is an important component of your depression fighting self-help system. To give your body the energy it needs to feel good and face life’s daily challenges, eat three small meals and two or three small snacks each day. Make sure you get plenty of lean protein and at least seven servings of fresh fruits and vegetables each day. If you need a sweet treat, dark chocolate (in moderation) has been shown to have depression-fighting characteristics. Hate to cook? Consider a food delivery service such as NutriSystem or Bistro MD to ensure that you’re getting healthy, balanced meals.

Step 4: Take Dietary Supplements

No matter how well you eat, it’s hard to get the recommended daily requirements (RDA) of all vitamins and minerals. At a minimum, take a high quality, high potency multi-vitamin each day. You may also want to take extra vitamin C and consider taking additional nutritional supplements that are known to have mood stabilizing properties (St. John’s Wort and 5-HTP are two examples). Not comfortble talking to your local health food store about supplements that fight depression? Online resources such as Swanson Health Products let you shop in the privacy of your own home.

Step 5: Avoid the News

If you’ve watched the news lately or checked the headlines on CNN.com, then you know there’s enough negativity in the world to make even the happiest person sad. If you’re battling depression, the news will only make you feel worse - so avoid it! If you need to check the weather report, try one of the online weather agencies because they don’t give you a helping of doom and gloom along with your forecast.

Step 6: Get Fresh Air and Sunshine

Depressed people tend to hibernate, shutting themselves off from the world. But this only makes them feel more sad and isolated. A great antidote to feeling blue is spending time with Mother Nature. Go to the park, the beach or your backyard. But get a little fresh air and sunshine each day.

Step 7: Get a Daily Dose of Spirituality

Doing one thing (or more) each day that lifts your spirits is essential when you’re fighting depression. Need a few suggestions? Watch your favorite feel-good movie, laugh out loud during a half-hour sit-com, read a few pages from a spiritually uplifting book, listen to a spirit-based instructional CD or DVD, spend 30 minutes playing with your pet or call a friend to catch up. Choose an activity that feeds your soul and leaves you feeling joyful. Two great resources for all-things-spiritual are Hay House and TUT.

Although severe depression should always be treated by a qualified health care professional, only 20 percent of depressed people actually receive the treatment they desperately need. By following the simple, self-help steps outlined in this article, you may be able to turn around your state-of-mind before clinical depression sets in.

The steps outlined in this article are the just the beginning when it comes to self-help for depression. To get more tools and resources designed to help you beat the blues naturally — and gain access to a personal life coach 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, visit 5 Minute Self-Help.

Losing weight feels great and can help prevent serious health issues like diabetes and heart disease. But with so many weight loss diets to choose from, it’s hard to know which program is right for you.

To put this in perspective, let’s look at jusAt some of the different diets that are on the market today.

Low Carb: This type of diet combines high protein (and high fat) with a minimal amount of carbohydrates and is very successful, at least in the short term, for many people. I like the protein choices at Bistro MD.

40-30-30: Similar to the low carb approach, this eating lifestyle focuses on balancing protein, fat and carbohydrate ratios each time you eat. Not sure how to balance your meals? You can  get perfectly portioned, gourmet 40-3-30 meals delivered to your door.

Portion Control: This diet teaches moderation in meal sizes and often focuses on adding larger portions of fruits and vegetables with moderate amounts of protein and minimal intake of starchy carbs like potatoes and white bread. NutriSystem is a great diet that promotes healthy eating and perfect proportion control.

Points System: Assigning different point values to foods helps these dieters meal plan by the numbers. No food is off limits here, but a piece of full-fat cheesecake might take most of your points for the whole day! Weight Watchers is the most obvious choice here, but I also like NutriSystem as a similar option because it provides easy meal planning without all that math!

Calorie Counting: This could be thought of the old fashioned way to lose weight. A specific daily calorie intake is set and you count the calories consumed throughout the day in order to meet, but not exceed, this number. The Medifast diet is one that you should check into when calories count.

High Fiber: This approach to weight management focuses on eating a high fiber diet filled with whole grains, beans/legumes and fruits and vegetables. The general theory here is that, if you focus on eating high fiber foods, you will naturally eat fewer empty calories that contribute to obesity. Dr. Siegel’s Cookie Diet is one to watch for high fiber intake. (Plus, who wouldn’t love to eat cookies as a weight loss tool?)

Exercise / Muscle Building: Using aerobic exercise and muscle building techniques is yet another approach to weight loss that involves less focus on what you eat and more on what you do with your body. I like the home exercise option offered by Bodylastics because it’s small, portable and extremely affordable compared to other home gym setups or club memberships.

Diet Pills / Supplements: Diet pills and weight loss supplements are available in many different formulas, with or without stimulants such as caffeine, and can be used alone (with healthy eating and exercise) or in conjunction with a structured weight loss program. You can shop online for weight reducing nutritional supplements at Swanson’s Health Products — they have fantastic prices.

The truth is, ANY diet that combines healthy eating with exercise has the potential to promote successful weight loss. Yet many dieters fail time and time again - no matter what program they choose.

The Reason Why Diets Fail

Although most diets have solid nutritional elements that result in weight reduction, they are missing the secret ingredient to permanent weight loss success: personalized SUPPORT.

The best way to understand how support can help you succeed at losing weight is to look at the reality television show, “The Biggest Loser.” Why are the candidates on this show so successful at achieving life-changing weight loss? Because they aren’t just put on diets and exercise programs, they also have a personal coach working with them side-by-side, day-after-day to keep them motivated and on course!

The journey to lasting weight loss is filled with pitfalls, distractions and plateaus. In fact, many people give up before ever reaching their goal weight (and gain every pound back - and more!). That’s why it’s so important to have someone supporting you every step of the way. Someone that will keep you on track when the going gets rough, talk you through weak moments, provide encouragement and motivation when you’re ready to quit and to share your joy as you reach each milestone.

Finding the Best Support

Your best support system will be a friend, spouse, parent or other loved one who is willing to provide motivation and encouragement as you lose weight - and provide tough-love (or a kick in the butt) when needed! However, many of us don’t have someone who can that kind of support. Those that are close to us may be too emotionally connected to us or simply too busy to provide the honest and ongoing support we need. Or they may have their own personal issues to deal with and won’t be able to fully commit to our support.

The good news is that there are Web sites, like www.5minuteselfhelp.com, where you can connect with a personal mentor that will keep you on task and make you a success at weight loss. There are other services like 5 Minute Self-Help available online and in your area, but they are usually pretty pricey. 5 Minute Self-Help is only $10 per month and comes will unlimited coaching support that can work with any diet program you choose.

Any diet can help you lose weight. When choosing a program, make your choice based on the foods you enjoy and the lifestyle you lead - and make sure you add personalized support to ensure your success.