Are you a Morning person?

Are you making the most of your mornings?  Does getting out of bed the hardest part of your day? Most people aren’t naturally what you’d call a “morning person”including myself. Do you long to be the type who is bright eyed and bushy tailed upon rising at the sound of their alarm clock?  Just because it doesn’t come naturally doesn’t mean it can’t happen, however. 

By following a few simple tips, you can train your body and up your A.M. productivity – and, in doing so, increase your health by sleeping more and starting your day without the stress of running
late.

1. Create a sleep routine – Don’t underestimate the importance of your circadian rhythm. This regulates how your body runs, and it craves routine. Ideally, you should wake up from a light phase of sleep, not a deeper stage. It’s that deeper stage that leads to a foggy head and lower functioning. If you set a bedtime and stick to it (within 30 minutes) and get up around the same time each morning, your body will reset to the routine. The hope is that eventually you will be able to wake yourself up without an alarm.
2. Relax - Don't work, text, or stay online too close to your set bedtime.   Let your mind and body start winding down naturally.  Make this a part of your night time ritual.  Bathe or shower before bed to further relax you.  Love yourself enough to get enough rest.
3. Get active – Working out first thing in the morning may not sound tempting, but the effects pay off. Even if it’s as simple as taking a half-hour stroll, kickstarting your morning with cardio will boost your energy levels throughout the day AND help you wind down at night, leading to a deeper night’s sleep.
4. Fuel your body – While a donut and a cup of coffee may be an easy way to get your blood sugar rising, it can also lead to a sugar crash a few hours into your day. Reach instead for some quality fuel – oatmeal, fresh fruit, or a veggie omelet. Always on the go? Make hard-boiled eggs that you can grab on the run for a protein-packed breakfast.
5. Light Sensitivity – Light has a huge effect on the body’s triggers to sleep or wake up. Switch on a bright light or open your blinds right when you wake up. Conversely, avoid bright lights – yes, including electronics – for that last hour before you plan to hit the bed. This will help your body begin to wind down from the busy day and slip into that deep sleep you need for rejuvenation.

Ciao for now!

The Lady J-Style

Create a relaxing sleeping environment

Christmas at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston

There is nothing as beautiful as a trained human voice singing.   The depth and range of emotions provoked for the listener.     This video was taken at Museum of Fine Art (Boston) Shapiro Family Courtyard on Saturday, December 14th, 2013. The performers were from the illustrious Berklee College of Music in Boston.  The soloist Mark Joseph is flawless, the full choir and string section heaven in your ears!

Please, enjoy and by all means share!!   You do not have to be Christian to appreciate the beauty of this singing, human spirit and video.

Merry Christmas!  A very joyous Happy Holidays to my non Christian readers!

Let 2016 be a year of celebrating the human spirit across denominations and religions.   Let's celebrate 2016 as the year of the Human Kind.   There is one race.....the Human Race.   Pass the love on and make 2016 the best year for all of us!!

Ciao for now!!!

The Lady J-Style

To Blog or Not to Blog?

We all have something to say, our views on the world, facts we know, things we want to learn.   With the explosion of the Internet blogging has become a forum for us to connect with others all over this planet.    Blogging is the free and open exchange of ideas, goals, and information.   A meeting of minds places to learn, be creative and share.   If we don’t like the blog we move on to the next.

The reason why some of your favorite blogs are your favorite blogs can be explained many ways:

• They write about topics you’re really interested about and want to keep up with
• They post new content regularly and every time you log in, you’re looking forward to check out what is the latest info
• They share their opinion and you even get to leave a comment and interact with the other visitors of that blog
• You like the format and that they remained consistent and authentic throughout the years

My goal is to be your favorite place to drop in so we can exchange ideas and impressions of the world we live in.  Let’s talk about everything from fashion, passions in life, travel, art, music and everything that makes this world wonderful…. and yes sometimes about the things we would love to see changed for the better too.

Come back again soon and share your ideas with me too.  Love to hear from you soon.

Ciao for now!

Janice - The_LadyJStyle
Instagram - @the_ladyjstyle
Facebook and G+  - JPKC - Welcome to My World

Are You Eating the "Right Foods" to Activate Your Metabolic System?

How do you know if you are eating the "Right Foods" to activate your metabolic system?

All calories are created equal where the numbers game of weight loss is concerned, right? Wrong!
According to a relatively new eating plan The Active Calorie Diet from Rodale Publishing and Prevention Magazine. Based on recent research, this plan works off the premise that certain types of food can affect metabolism and appetite. Eat the right ones, and you’ll be able to boost your body’s weight-loss abilities.  Sounds good, we all would love some help losing and boosting metabolism at one time or another.  None of us wants to feel hunger when trying to lose weight and inches so by eating better choices of food we can feel fuller, energized and also lose more quickly.

What makes those foods more effective for getting trim? 

Certain foods just take more work for the body to eat and then digest making your body work harder to process what you consume!  Yes, this means your body burns more calories in the digestive process!  Another benefit of food being slower to digest:  there will not be the spikes and drops in blood sugar that can create cravings and binge eating.  Even something as simple as chewing fruits, vegetables, lean meats and whole grains can up your calorie burning by as much as 30 percent.  

Proper chewing technique will also aid in grabbing all the nutrients from what you do eat. Your body craves nutrients and needs those as building blocks for a healthier active body. Food is the gasoline in the human engine...not the right fuel no ambition and energy to move!  The old maxim "You are what you eat" is a fact not just a saying.

Here’s a look at the eating plan's four “active calorie” groups and how each category improves your body burning calories more efficiently:

• Chewy – These foods make your body work from the moment they cross your lips, chewing items like lean meats, fish, nuts, and whole produce. The foods with the greatest impact are those in a whole state, like apples instead of applesauce, or peanuts instead of peanut butter. The higher the protein, the better the effect – high-protein foods take more effort to chew and more time to leave your stomach, which means you’ll eat more slowly and feel full sooner than with empty carbohydrates.

Nuts such as Almonds

Whole fresh fruit

Lean proteins like Salmon

• Hearty – Fiber is your friend in the quest for weight loss. While that’s nothing new, categorizing it in this way is a fresh take. Fiber-rich foods like fruits, vegetables, brown rice, whole grains, and cereal take up more space in the stomach, leaving less room for seconds. They also tend to take more effort to chew and to burn, increasing the food’s thermic effect.

Brown Rice, Quinoa and Freekah

Muesli

Granola  

• Energizing – Caffeine stimulates the central nervous system, and this boost carries over to your metabolism. Coffee and black tea include enough of this energizer to ramp up your metabolism by 5-8 percent. Green tea has less caffeine, but it offers the benefit of catechins, an antioxidant that ups your resting metabolism by about 4 percent. Dark chocolate boasts of both caffeine and catechins, making it a sweet addition to any diet – but in moderation, of course, since it also has plenty of sugar and fat.

Dark Chocolate

Coffee

Green Tea

• Warming – Spice up your diet with peppers, cinnamon, vinegar, bay leaves, mustard, cloves, garlic, and ginger. Not only do these add tons of flavor, but they also include chemicals that boost the body’s calorie-burning ability. For instance, capsaicin, the chemical that provides peppers’ heat, has been found to double dieters’ energy expenditure for several hours after eating. Adding these spices will fully activate the calories from all of the chewy, hearty, and energizing foods you’re consuming.

Chilis, Paprika, Chili Powder

Cinnamon

She.....The Essence of a Woman

I originally fell in love with Charles Aznavour, the most beloved French entertainer many years ago on my very first European trip. Hearing this the first time I immediately understood the lyrics painting the story of "She". It was spontaneous love of this song and the emotional story it weaves about those many varied moods women do experience.

Most likely men will agree that women are multi-faceted beings.  It's been said if you want to know what a woman is feeling, listen to the words of the music she's playing. "She" captures that diversity of moods women show or hide daily very descriptively. 

"Within the measure of a day

She may be the beauty or the beast

May be the famine or the feast

May turn each day into a heaven

Or a hell"

Charles Aznavour  has written more than 800 songs so far and performed well over 1000 songs in French, English, German and Spanish.   He is a treasure and still performs on tour even though he is now 90 years young.  "She" is one of Charles Aznavour's signature songs.

Hope you will enjoy this performance and the lyrics as much as I do.

Ciao for now!

The LadyJStyle

JPKC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O040xuq2FR0&index=27&list=RDQ1YipLB-rQQ

She

She may be the face I can't forget
A trace of pleasure or regret
May be my treasure or the price
I have to pay

She may be the song that summer sings
May be the chill that autumn brings
May be a hundred different things
Within the measure of a day

She may be the beauty or the beast
May be the famine or the feast
May turn each day into a heaven
Or a hell

She may be the mirror of my dream
A smile reflected in a stream
She may not be what she may seem
Inside her shell

She who always seems so happy in a crowd
Whose eyes can be so private and so proud
No-one's allowed to see them
When they cry
She maybe the love that cannot hope to last
May come to me from shadows of the past
That I'll remember 'til
The day I die

She may be the reason I survive
The why and wherefore I'm alive
The one I'll care for through the
Rough and rainy years

Me I'll take her laughter and her tears
And make them all my souvenirs
For where she goes I've got to be
The meaning of my life is She

SongwritersNOREN, CARL / NOREN, VICTORPublished byLyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, EMI Music Publishing, T.R.O. INC., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.

Read more: Charles Aznavour - She Lyrics | MetroLyrics 

So you think you don't have a Valentine?

Happy Valentines Day! 

If you don't have a Valentine, don't worry -- you always have moi. However, I forgot to buy you flowers and chocolates. Sorry And I'm not taking you out to dinner either. But I really am quite fond of you! Really!

Let's start a new movement.....365 Valentines Days a year!   Why not show the appreciation for the people we love everyday of the year? You care don't you?  Happy relationships appreciate each other every day of the year. 

The person you have to love first is yourself.   Accept yourself not being perfectly perfect. None of us are perfect and no one else is either.  We need to realize that to be happier.  Look at that person in the mirror and love that reflection of you. The most important love is yourself.  If you don't love yourself you will never find that someone special that will love you just the way you are.  

Ciao for now!!

Janice
#The_LadyJStyle