We all know that when switching over to a healthy lifestyle, it can be overwhelming. There are little things we can do to ensure we start off on a path that we can stick with.  A lifestyle change doesn't have to be a big change all at once.  Try these simple steps to make the change a little at a time.

These 10 simple ‘secrets’ can help you change your family's lifestyle so that you can all become fit and healthy.

1) Eat Whole Grain Foods

Processed and refined grains, such as white bread, white rice, cereal, pasta, and other foods made with white flour have a high glycemic index, low amounts of fiber, and less vitamins and minerals as foods made with whole grains. Making the switch to whole grain foods, including whole wheat bread, whole grain pasta, brown rice, and cereals made with whole grains, are an easy and healthy way to make your family's diet more nutritious. 

2) Limit Soda and Fruit Drinks

Soda and fruit drinks have low nutritional value and a lot of calories. At about 150 calories per 12 ounce serving, your kids will gain an extra pound about every 3 weeks if they drink just one can of soda each day. 

Cutting back or eliminating soda, fruit drinks, and even fruit juice, can be a good way to get rid of a lot of extra calories and leave room for your kids to eat more nutritious foods. 

3) Eat More Fruits and Vegetables 

Most children don't eat enough fruits and vegetables and that usually means that they are eating other less nutritious foods. With a high fiber content and lots of vitamins and minerals, fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet. And because they have lots of water in them, eating fruits and vegetables can help you to feel full and satisfied so that you don't overeat. 

4) Eat More Foods with Calcium

A common mistake people make when trying to lose weight is that they stop drinking milk, eating cheese and yogurt. Calcium is important to build healthy bones and to help you lose weight. You should encourage your kids to drink low-fat milk, eat portioned amounts of cheese and yogurt to help lose weight and maintain a healthy weight. 

5) Be More Active

Everyone knows that part of the cause of the current obesity epidemic is that people are much less active then they used to be. Getting kids involved in organized activities, which can be either team or individual sports, and cutting back on the amount of time in front of the TV, computer and playing video games will burn calories and improve fitness levels.

Family activities are also a good way to be more physically active. Even simple things, like walking across a parking lot, using stairs, and going for short family walks or bike rides, can make a big difference.

6) Know Where Calories Come From

While you don't necessarily need to do daily calorie counts, keep a diary of what your family eats for a few days can help you see where extra calories are coming from. Are your kids overweight because of the calories they get from a bedtime snack or those two glasses of Kool Aid or soda he drinks? Or maybe because his portion sizes are too large? 

If you know where your kids' calories are coming from, you will know where to make changes and how you can cut back, especially on foods that have a lot of empty calories. 

7) Learn About Carbs

Carbs get a bad wrap, especially with all of the proponents of high protein diets, like the Atkins and South Beach Diet. Not all carbs are created equal. While it is a good idea to avoid foods that have refined such as white bread, foods made with white flour, and foods and beverages sweetened with sugar, other carbs should be part of a balanced diet. 

Instead of avoiding all carbs, just learn about how to choose foods with ‘good’ carbohydrates, which includes fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grain foods. 

8) Learn About Fats

Like carbs, there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ fats. Instead of making the mistake of trying to stick to a low fat diet, and simply substituting other foods that are often just as high in calories, you should eat foods that have ‘good’ fat in them. This includes foods with polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. On the other hand, you should avoid saturated fats and trans fats. 

9) Choose Healthy Meals when Eating Out

Even if your family eats healthy at home, if you eat super-sized fast food meals a few times a week, they are probably still at risk for becoming overweight. If you eat out a lot, review the nutritional facts of the restaurant's menu and watch your portion sizes. Calories and fat quickly adds up when eating out!

10) Stay Motivated!

Most people know what they need to do to be healthier however, eating healthy and exercising is not easy.   Education about the specifics of a healthy diet, getting the whole family involved, and setting goals, can help your family stay healthy and fit.  Hire a personal trainer or seek the counsel of a dietitian to keep you on the healthy track.

Swimming exercise is one of the best forms of exercise that you can include in your daily schedule. Swimming works every muscle in the body and many people find it enjoyable and something to look forward to every day. If you have been looking for an exercise method that you can include that is both enjoyable and good for you, swimming is the perfect choice. 

Including exercise in your daily schedule is an important part of your continued good health as well as helping you to stay looking younger and fitter. It is a tremendous benefit to find an exercise type that you enjoy and that you are likely to return to every day for the most health benefits in your life. Swimming is an enjoyable pastime for many people and if it can get some people moving, it is a wonderful motivator.

Swimming exercise can take place in a gym that is equipped with a pool for swimming all year long. Those who enjoy swimming in their own pool for exercise should consider a health club membership for those days when the weather does not allow for swimming out doors. An indoor pool in the gym will allow you to go for a swim even when there is snow and ice on the ground.  

The local YMCA is a good resource that usually has an indoor pool for members to use for their swimming exercise. The pools are generally Olympic size and will allow you to get a good workout swimming laps.  Using various swimming strokes can allow you to focus on particular muscles in your body. There are some swimming strokes that will use every muscle and these are some of the most intense workouts that you will ever have. While it may seem as though swimming is a much less strenuous sport, it really is one of the most all encompassing workouts that you could use.

Swimming exercise can also be a part of a varied exercise routine. It is sometimes beneficial to include a number of different exercise types in their routine to avoid boredom. Swimming is a good choice for a few times a week along with weight training, aerobics, running, bike riding and many other activities. Varying your exercise routine is a great way to make exercise fun and something to look forward to every day.

With all of the exercises that are out there for you to include in your routine, it is a good idea to include as many as possible. Swimming exercise is just healthy for your body and can keep you coming back to the gym again and again. It is fun and many people find that swimming is much less damaging or hard on their joints.

Seniors might find that including swimming exercise in their routine is a way to keep on exercising when they are suffering from arthritis or other joint ailments. Water aerobics is another way that swimming can be incorporated into an exercise routine that anyone can do for some fun and strength training for the body.

Need to lose weight? Dreading the thought of another diet program? You don’t have to follow diets to lose weight. There are many people discovering this for themselves and they are the ones who are finding long term weight loss apposed to short term fixes. The key to weight loss is finding the right balance of what you eat, what you think, and what activity you do. It is not about following a perfect plan. It is impossible to be perfect every day! Finding the right balance helps you to decrease your calorie intake, increase your metabolism and keeps the self-sabotage at bay. 

Here are 8 steps to bring more balance into all corners of your life so you too can find weight loss success.

1. Eat more frequently during the day-
Skipping meals or waiting too long between meals can have a negative impact on your metabolism and results in overeating later in the day. It’s best to have 3 small meals and 1-2 snacks throughout the day. You will feel more satisfied and eat less. Plan to have a snack or meal every 4-5 hours.

2. Watch portion sizes-
Appropriate portion sizes are still quite misunderstood. Most Americans are eating 2-3 times the recommended portion sizes. Limit your grains, cereals, pastas, and rice to ½ - 1 cup serving sizes. Keep meat, poultry and fish to 4-ounce portion sizes. Restaurants are notorious for giving extremely large servings of food. Keep this in mind when eating out. Eat half of the food on your plate or take the rest home for lunch the next day. Studies show that when people are given large portion sizes, they eat up to 56% more calories without realizing it. To add insult to injury, our portion sizes are larger than they have ever been. Start to become more aware of the portions you are served wherever you are.

3. Eat the right fats-
Yes some fat is important. Omega 3 fatty acids are an important strategy for weight loss success and yet most Americans are not eating enough of these healthy fats. Some reports show these fatty acids may be helpful in increasing your metabolism. They are also shown to be a wonderful mood supporter and people report significantly less food cravings and triggers to eat when they incorporate omega 3 fatty acids on a daily basis. This is especially important for any emotional eaters out there. Omega 3’s are found in fatty fish such as salmon, mackerel, cod; they are also found in canola oil, walnuts, and ground flax seeds.

4. Increase fruits and vegetables-
Fruits and vegetables are not only packed with important vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, they are also loaded in fiber and low in calories. Include 5-8 fruits and vegetables every day. This is one of the most important diet changes you can make. When you fill your plate up with fruits and vegetables you eat less of the higher calorie foods. For example, let’s take a sample steak dinner.

Original meal:
8 ounce steak 
Whole baked potato with fixings 
½ cup steamed broccoli 

Meal Makeover:
4 ounce steak
½ baked potato with fixings
½ cup steamed broccoli
Side salad with mixed greens, tomatoes, and 1 tbsp dressing

By changing the balance of this meal to include more vegetables while decreasing the steak and potato we saved approximately 350 calories. Saving 350 calories daily can result in almost a 1 pound weight loss per week. Small changes are the key.

5. Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full-
Our bodies have an innate weight management mechanism. It performs this task by making you feel full when it is time to stop eating. Every time you eat past full you are taking in more calories than your body needs which will result in weight gain. Start to become more aware of your internal cues for hunger and satiety (fullness). You will be amazed how many times you wait too long to eat and how often you eat past full and enter into stuffed. It’s common for all of us to do this from time to time. However, it’s time to check in with yourself and see how often you are falling into these food patterns. Listen to your body, it will tell you when you are physically ready for food and when you are ready to stop.

6. Exercise regularly-
I know, this isn’t anything you haven’t heard before but it is a crucial part of weight management. It is important to engage in regular aerobic and weight bearing activity. The aerobic exercise helps you to burn the fat and weight bearing activity increases your metabolic rate. Muscle burns up to 90% more calories than fat. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you will burn in a day. By adding three to five pounds of muscle you could actually burn 100 - 250 additional calories a day. This combination of aerobic and weight bearing activity is what really kicks weight loss into gear.

7. Limit sugar-
Sugar becomes a major issue for many people wanting to lose weight. Not only does it add calories, it also causes insulin spikes leading you to store more calories as fat, it stimulates your appetite, and is a major food trigger for emotional eaters. However, it doesn’t mean you need to go all or nothing. When people try to omit all sugar from their diet they can become obsessed about sugary foods and end up in a binge. Find the right balance for sugar. Avoid daily use of sugar and instead have some guiltless treats once in awhile. A little cake at a birthday party or some ice-cream with friends is a good way to incorporate sugar once in awhile to avoid the negative outcomes.

8. Pamper yourself regularly-
Who wants to argue with that?! The reality is many people eat for emotional reasons. Food makes us feel good on many levels. The problem occurs when eating becomes the only coping mechanism your subconscious knows of. This is why that pesky urge to emotionally eat is so strong. It is hard to reason your way out of it. For many people food is the only thing they know that makes them feel better. When you start to do other things that make you feel good on a regular basis such as taking a hot bath, going for a walk, having a hot cup of tea; then your subconscious starts to register these activities as coping mechanisms as well. Over time this will decrease the constant urge to use food. You can’t expect to have a bad day, go take a bath and not have an urge to eat. It is something you need to do regularly and something you truly enjoy so your subconscious starts to recognize it as a new choice.

The most important picture you will ever change in your subconscious mind is the picture you now have of yourself right now. You will start with this image. You will start recreating your subconscious imagery by recreating your existing body picture. 

Before starting your imagery training, it is important that you become totally relaxed in order to focus your mind. Once you have accomplished this, you will find it is quite easy to engage all of your senses, making it possible for you to create a new body image. Once you feel you are completely relaxed, I want you to see a picture of your body in your subconscious mind. When you have your body in focus, I want you to reshape it, to exactly how you want it to look.

See your new body down to the smallest detail; make it become so real that it seems that you have already accomplished your weight goal. Once you have your new body picture completed, place yourself in a physical activity that you know you would enjoy and will be beneficial in helping you attain your new weight goal. This activity can be anything from a brisk walk to an aerobics class, to playing tennis, to completing an unfinished task. Your new body is now capable of performing any activity that you find enjoyable.

The emotional states that drive you to overeat or eat when you are not hungry are fear, guilt and anger. These emotional states are responsible for depression and low self-esteem. When creating your new self-image, you must exchange these negative emotional states for your most powerful emotional state. Love is your most powerful emotional state especially when directed to your new self-image. It is essential that you practice reproducing your new active body imagery on a daily basis. It is only through daily practice that your new body picture will become a permanent part of your subconscious, thus allowing you to reproduce this picture without a moments thought. The power of Burris MIND/FITNESS is in the ability to change programmed emotional states that do not work for you, for programmed emotional states that DO work for you.

Regardless of weather your goal is a change in diet for weight loss, an increase in your fitness program or to take control of an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. In the end the question you need to ask yourself is…Am I completely happy with the mind running itself or do I need to take control of it? If your answer is I need to take control of it, then Burris MIND/FITNESS is the answer.

The health of your body is dependent on your mental health and taking control of the subconscious is the key to lasting permanent change of any behavior.

Have you ever wondered what foods should I feed my Kid to promote health and weight management?  With all the fake foods trying to pass as healthy foods in the store, it is important to rememeber that most of the time simple is better.  If you must buy prepackaged read the labels.  Look for items with the shortest amount of ingredients where everything is all natural (if you can't pronounce it - chances are you should do without it).

Here is a list of the top 7 healthiest foods to feed your kid and why it’s so healthy:

1. Oatmeal: A fabulous breakfast food, full of B vitamins, iron, zinc and calcium. Old-fashioned oatmeal offers plenty of carbohydrate for quick energy and high fiber.  Add berries and honey to make it a delicious perfect food for those fast-paced school day mornings!  

2. Yogurt: Kick your child's dairy consumption up a notch and include yogurt on the menu. A great source of calcium, yogurt is easier to digest than regular milk, and the cultures (check the label to make sure they're in there!) are very beneficial to good colon health. Watch it on the sugar content though.  A great idea is to buy plain yogurt and sweeten it yourself with fresh fruit!

3. Broccoli: it is one of the best vegetables for anyone, especially growing kids.  It has loads of calcium, potassium, beta-carotene and a wide variety of the B vitamins.  If your child is not a fan of plain vegetables include broccoli in a casserole or put a little shredded cheese on top to add flavor.

4. Protein: One size does not fit all when it comes to protein. The fact is that growing kids need protein to keep growing. How you're going to give it to them can vary widely, according to your preferences. Good choices include legumes, beans (combined with a grain to make a complete protein), soy products like tofu, eggs or lean meat, fish or poultry. 

5. Whole Grains: The best nutrition is found in whole grains. Brown rice and whole wheat bread are a quantum leap over their white counterparts and offer necessary fiber, minerals and vitamins.  Choose grain products with the words “whole”, “unbleached” and “intact” or “ground”.

6. Nut Butters: Peanut butter and other nut butters are great fast and easy foods for kids. Kids need fat (it's a good fat if it doesn't have hydrogenated oils mixed in it) and they need the protein.  Try spreading almond or sunflower seed butter on crackers, toast or celery sticks for a quick and nutritious snack.

7. Fresh Fruit: My personal choice would be cantaloupe in the melon department. Vitamin C, beta-carotene, bits and pieces of B vitamins and trace minerals and calcium fill every juicy bite. Any in season fresh fruit is sure to be packed with healthy goodness!

Stress brought on by dieting is added to the personal and work life stresses that we face every day, often resulting in a "vicious cycle" of increased stress and increased food intake. If this sounds like you, read the following tips for managing stress-related overeating to help you check this unhealthy habit.

Is stress affecting your weight loss battle?

Stress brought on by dieting is added to the personal and work life stresses that we face every day, often resulting in a "vicious cycle" of increased stress and increased food intake. People under stress tend to engage in self-defeating and unhealthy behaviors such as binge eating and there is strong biologic evidence that stressed-out people may tend to put on the pounds faster. "I'm stressed, therefore I eat." Many people complain that they overeat in response to workplace or personal stress. If this sounds like you, read the following tips for managing stress-related overeating to help you check this unhealthy habit.

1. Practice waiting. Postpone your instant gratification when hunger hits. Tell yourself you'll wait 10 to 30, minutes to eat. Chances are good if your cravings are only stress-related, they'll disappear when you allow yourself to become distracted.

2. Write it down. Keep a food journal of what you eat each day. Knowing you have to write down every snack or nibble can be a good way to remind yourself to think before eating.

3. Enlist a friend's help - ideally one who also is tempted by stress-related cravings. When you feel like eating, write him/her a quick note or make a phone call.

4. Keep yourself nourished. Eat regular, healthy snacks to maintain your energy level. Skipping meals while under stress only prompts you to eat more, and unhealthily, when you do get around to eating.

5. Post it up. Post some reminder messages wherever you're likely to see them when stress-related cravings begin. Use any message that works for you. Examples might be "Are you really hungry?" or "Think about why you're eating."

6. Take away temptation. Physically remove tempting food items from your home or office. Never go shopping while hungry and always make a list of food items prior to shopping; bring home only what you feel good about eating.

7. Take time for yourself every day. Whether it's 10 minutes to reflect and relax, or whether it's some fun activity that will revitalize you, it's critical to do it. Health is not just physical, mental well-being is just as important, you deserve to mentally de-stress everyday!