A calorie shifting diet is a specific weight loss technique that attempts to stop the natural process of your metabolism slowing down. Your metabolism slows down naturally when you begin to eat less as a result of a diet. This is why a calorie shifting diet can be so effective; when you proceed with a normal low calorie diet your metabolism grinds almost to a halt. This is due to the fact that your body is designed to store a certain amount of fats. When the fat you have stored within your body comes under threat by a diet; your metabolism will effectively slow down to help your body compensate for this.

Calorie shifting fights against this natural law by deceiving your body. It prevents it from learning that its fat stores are at risk.

Here’s how this works. Under a traditional diet, you would probably set a daily calorie for yourself — maybe 1,500. The calorie shifting approach, though, would have you eating perhaps 1,500 calories one day but 500 the next; 1800 one day, but 600 the next; and so on. This way, your body never knows what’s coming next in the calorie department. Because there are never two days in a row of extreme calorie deprivation, it never catches on to the fact that you’re after its fat supply. Therefore, it never adjusts your metabolism rate, and weight loss takes place more effectively and faster. And of course, the weight stays off.

Many people who have used a calorie shifting diet have raved about the results it produced. Another advantage to changing your calories is that you are less likely to snack as you can eat more some days than others. You can also have a wider variety of foods and snacks, so again you are less likely to abandon the diet only a few weeks later.

So let’s get practical and discuss how you can put the diet shifting approach to work. The recommended approach is 4 days on, 4 days off. This means that you spend 4 days of the week eating very few calories, and almost all should come from low-fat foods. The other 3 you can consider your reward days. On those three you eat a higher calorie amount from the foods you’ve come to knmow and love. Then go back to the 4 days of low-fat, then 3 days of more calories, etc. This will make sure your metabolism stays at peak level and will help you lose weight and keep it off.

Your body is smarter than you think; so make sure you are always changing the calorie amount on a regular basis; your body will soon learn to recognise that you eat less after a certain amount of time and will change to accommodate this. When you raise or lower your calorie intake; make sure it is different every time. Always keep track by writing everything down that you eat and the amount of calories eaten that day or week.

So if you have found that you lose little to no weight when on a regular diet, it is definitely time to start thinking about using a calorie shifting diet, you will not be disappointed with the results.

Oh and one more very important thing - drink lots of water! Yes, water is good. It helps to flush out toxic wastes in your body and ensures that your body is not retaining water because of the lack of it.

The most sensual and visual animal is known as the human. We react to what we see. And to a lesser degree, we are auditory. Sounds can cause a reaction too, and the combination of them can change our lives. But even one of the other can do the same, if, it changes our perception of things. Especially in the realm of humor.

Pertaining to zen, where do cartoons fit?

Laughter feels good, and there is a good reason for that. Many eastern philosophers and yoga experts believe that the laughing chakra is in the same area as the sex chakra. I guess the powerful lesson here is to use them wisely and not at the same time. In other words this could be very upsetting to a soul-mate unless you can tactfully explain that your laughter chakra short-circuited during lovemaking. Stranger things have happened I guess. One caveat: If you are the female partner and should this happen to you, please respond, without missing a beat, the predictable compliment/lie “But size doesn’t matter, it is what you do with it.”

Though men never buy this line, it feels better, and it lets you off the hook.

But back to cartoons. Cartoons are truly nothing more than a small piece of art, hopefully humorous, that tell a much longer story, using what I like to call “extreme editing”. Though we call ourselves writers, we truly are more editors than writers. Yes, we can write, and, though a cartoon may not have any caption or “word bubble” at all, generally some text is added to “drive the point home” Most cartoonists are instinctively aware, though, that if it can be done with no wording, a picture only, that is a triple bonus to the psyche, and, when we can occasionally do that, we get complimented way beyond our actual talents. But that’s ok. It’s good for the ego.

Comedians, cartoonists, actors artists and others impace our society greatly, we often think of them as “bigger than life”. I can assure you, being one, we are just like everyone else. We just don’t crave the limelight; but the limelight craves us, it appears. This fascinates people. When you mention names like Charles Schulz or Gary Larson, some wonder if they are even in the same species. They are. Most of us love people in general and love to make them feel good.

There is a zen to laughter and humor and it begins in that silly chakra. Always keep that chakra open, as, as long as there is life, there will be humor. And as long as there will be humor, there will be cartoonists.

There are various kinds anxiety disorder treatments that can be used. The most common kind of treatment is prescribed medication. But there are other more natural options that one can use instead. However a doctor will often prescribe medication and will then require their patient to undergo some form of therapy as well.

Generally a person will have undergo cognitive behavioural therapy or psychodynamic therapy along with the use of medication to treat their anxiety disorder. Yet as we have previously mentioned there are natural treatments for dealing with these conditions as well, but must only be used after agreement has been made with the patients doctor. A number of people who have chosen to use natural treatments rather than prescribed ones have found that they are far more effective when used in conjunction with some kind of therapy including massage.

Yet all doctors today when treating any kind of anxiety disorder are going to first prescribe some form of medication. This will help to bring the condition under control much more quickly and once the patients anxiety has become stabilized they can start to explore other ways of treating the problem. The first type of medication that a doctor will prescribe for a patient is anti-depressants such as Paxil or Zoloft. Also the doctor may prescribe some type of mild tranquilizer as this can help to get the person in a more relaxed frame of mind. This can be extremely helpful to those patients when one of their anxiety attacks actually happens.

It is only after the patient has found a dosage that is effective for bringing their anxiety under control will they then start on some form of therapy. One particular form of therapy favored for treating anxiety disorders is known as behavioral therapy. It is through a course of this therapy a person learns breathing techniques to help them to face situations which are causing the anxiety to occur. However, this therapy is only effective when the person puts as much effort into achieving the right results, otherwise they will gain no benefits from them whatsoever.

Along with behavioural therapy, a doctor may choose to get their patients disorder treated using cognitive behavioural therapy instead. This is a form of therapy that goes into more depth and helps the person to recognise those situations or patterns, which is causing them to suffer from anxiety attacks. As well as recognizing the triggers, a person will learn ways in which they can change the situation in order to prevent an attack from taking place. So what they are in fact doing is learning of different ways they should be reacting in a particular situation.

The other form of therapy that a doctor may choose for treating a person with an anxiety disorder is that known as psychodynamic therapy. During the sessions with the therapist the person will discover what are the underlying causes for their disorder. Once they are able to identify these that ways can be found using certain techniques that allow them to resolve the issue and so alleviate the problems that they suffer when they are feeling anxious or worried.

As we have mentioned previously there are plenty of natural remedies that can be used in treating any kind of anxiety disorders. But these are still not considered by many doctors to be a mainstream way of treating such disorders. Certainly extracts of passion flower and Valerian root along with Kava Kava have proved to be effective for some people, but often they have again used them in conjuction with other some form of therapy. Many people are turning to using natural remedies simply because they find that there is much less chance of them suffering from side effects when taking them plus they often pretty easy to get hold of. However, if you are considering using extract of passion flower you should be aware that it does cause some health problems for some people. Some people notice after taking this particular extract they feel nauseous and in some they find that their heart rate becomes faster.

Certainly, for those people who do suffer with any kind of anxiety disorder if its not controlled correctly it can be a very crippling condition. Yet as mentioned, there are plenty of different types of anxiety disorder treatments now available, so there is likely to be one or two that can help a person alleviate the problems that they are suffering from. But if they are choosing to use natural remedies then they need to discuss the matter with their doctor first in case they have an adverse effect on their current course of treatment.