A Healthy You is a Happy You!

Welcome to the first posting of our new weekly topic dedicated to health and fitness for the mind, body and soul.....A Healthy You is a Happy You!

Sooooo .... have you ever heard of FitClick? If you haven't, you should definitely check it out today! I HIGHLY recommend it for those of you who desire a healthy lifestyle. This fantastic, free online service offers tons of great options and guides to help you with your goals...no matter what stage you're in with your diet and exercise. It really is a great source for free weight loss programs, diet plans, workout routines, recipes and more.

One of my favorite features is the calorie counter and food journal, where you can track everything you eat and it will add up your calories automatically without you having to do the math yourself.

Customize your profile and set your goals, so FitClick can calculate your targets and progress. They even have a feature where you can track your exercise and see how many calories you are burning.

The possibilities are endless on this site and you are sure to find something that will help you reach your weight loss goals. So what are you waiting for? Check it out now and get on the path to the new healthy and happy you!

Help animals for free

You can help every day by clicking on the purple button at The Animal Rescue Site. When you click on the purple button, the sponsoring advertisers make a donation to feed and care for animals in shelters.

Looking to buy a something for your pet or possible searching for a great gift for your animal-loving friends? Check out The Animal Rescue Site store for an array of options! Every purchase made at The Animal Rescue Site store helps fund food for animals in shelters at no extra cost to you.

Help our lovely animals today - It’s super easy and FREE!

With warm thoughts,
~Ami

Reusable is what they are....

"Next time you go to toss a reusable sandwich bag, think to yourself: Can I rinse out and resuse? They don't call them reusable for nothin', honey"
~Healthy Bitch Daily

Revitalize Your Health

Here are a few articles I wanted to share:

A Little Planning Can Lead to Big Weight Loss

You Can Eat Great and Still Lose Weight

Self-Sneaking: How to Trick Yourself into Eating Healthy Food

Revitalize Your Health

A few articles I wanted to share:

10 reasons why women need to lift weights

10 fit foods in season for the fall

Boost your metabolism all day long

Earthlings - Intense!

The trailer to this documentary called Earthlings is why I am a vegetarian. Please prepare yourself before watching this trailer. It is intense - AND real! I've read a bunch of details about what we are doing to our animals and could barely get through each word, but actually seeing some of it goes way deeper. The cruelty and inhumane torture of animals is beyond my comprehension. Please take the time to watch this....it's hard to watch, but if we can eat it, we need to see it .... we need to know.... we need to be aware of what we are promoting by what we eat. So please have the courage and the heart to watch this and help spread awareness by sharing it with others.

Earthlings - watch the trailer here

Person to person advocacy

Put that compassion into action for the animals! By spending just a few hours handing out literature and talking with people one-on-one, you can educate countless people about the exploitation of animals. The Animal Rights Foundation of FL (ARFF) needs your help to leaflet at the following events:

• Maitland Art Festival, October 2-3.
• Winter Park Autumn Art Festival, October 10-11.

If you can help please contact: ArffCentralFl@arff.org

Help needed at ARFF Information tables

Information tables are a great way to educate the public and provide them with literature and information they need to be informed about animal exploitation and abuse.

Animal Rights Foundation of Florida will have a booth at the Central Florida VegFest on Saturday, October 24 in Orlando's Loch Haven Park.

If you would like to sign up for a shift for one of the following events, please contact: ArffCentralFl@arff.org.

McCruelty: I'm Hatin It!

In the U.S., chickens killed by McDonald's suppliers are slaughtered using an outdated method that results in extreme suffering. As the biggest seller of chicken meat in the U.S., McDonald's has the responsibility and the ability to reduce this abuse. They can demand that their U.S. suppliers use a less cruel method of slaughter available to them called controlled-atmosphere killing, or CAK, and it would cost the corporation nothing to demand that its suppliers use it. CAK would eliminate the worst abuses currently suffered by chickens killed for McDonald's.

Please help Animal Rights Foundation of Florida speak for the chickens and educate the public at our McMurder protest.

Date and time: Saturday, October 3 (for World Farm Animals Day), starting at 6:00pm
Location: 2535 Howell Branch Road (SR 436 & Howell Branch Road), Casselberry 32707

If you can make it to the protest please RSVP to ArffCentralFl@arff.org

Ask IHOP To Let Hens Out of Their Cages

When IHOP serves its pancakes and eggs, you can be sure the eggs come from hens crammed into wire cages so small the animals can barely move for their entire lives. The restaurant chain most known for its breakfasts refuses to take make a change and buy their eggs from cage-free farms that don't cruelly confine hens in barren battery cages. Major restaurant chains such as Denny's, Burger King, Wendy's, etc. got on board earlier this year…. Why can’t a restaurant as large as IHOP make the same changes?

IHOP's refusal took on new urgency this week with the release of this undercover video that reveals shocking abuses at IHOP's primary egg supplier. As you can see, the footage reveals filthy conditions, sick and injured hens, and birds forced to live in cages with the decomposing corpses of dead birds.

You can help to move IHOP away from this cruelty. Please urge IHOP to follow its competitors' lead and start switching away from battery cage eggs. Here's how:

TAKE ACTION
Please make a brief, polite phone call to Argonne, a company that owns hundreds of IHOP restaurants, at 404-364-2984 (if voicemail picks up, press '1' for Argonne President Michael Klump). You can say something like this:

"Hello, my name is [your name] and I am calling to ask IHOP to start using eggs that don't come from hens crammed into cages. I just watched the undercover video of your egg supplier, and the images of animal cruelty are appalling. Please start switching to cage-free eggs. Thank you."

After you make your call, please follow up with an email to IHOP headquarters to let them know that customers care about animal welfare.

Revitalize Your Soul! - Healthy lifestyle

Most of you who know me well are aware that I have made some big changes recently to live a healthy lifestyle. I quit smoking, barely drink alcohol, no longer eat chicken and rarely eat red meat. I also work out a lot at home and love going to the gym! My life has changed for the better in so many ways. I feel strong, emotionally balanced, healthy, fit and just all around blissful. I just want to spread my happiness to everyone and let you all know what a great blessing these changes have been to my life.

For those of you that are trying to make some of the same changes in your life, I wish you all the will power, motivation and encouragement you may need to carry you through. You will definitely reap all the benefits of taking care of your mind, body and soul. I know I am :)

Here are a couple of articles I read today that you may want to read:
Eat your way to great abs
Does exercise matter for weight loss?

Much Love and Peace to all!
~Ami

Healthy school lunch options for our children

Congress will shortly be considering revising what children are fed in schools, as part of the Child Nutrition Act reauthorization. As this occurs, the meat, dairy, and junk-food lobbies push hard to keep their products front and center in schools. As it stands, children are eating more of these unhealthy products than ever before, and childhood obesity is at its worst levels ever.

ARFF (Animal Rights Foundation of FL) are now pushing Congress to mandate vegetarian (vegan) options in schools. Currently, most schools do not offer anything along these lines.

Add your name on a petition to Congress

Remember to also spread the word to others so that they also have the opportunity to be a part of this important change for our children. The more names on the petition, the batter chance we have to win this battle.

Stop Canada's Cruel Seal Hunt

Dear Friend,

The 2008 Canadian seal hunt left more than two hundred thousand
seals dead -- almost all of them were babies as young as 12
days.
Stand with me today to stop the seal hunt forever by joining the
Canadian seafood boycott.

Seal hunting is an off-season activity for Canada's east coast
commercial fishermen. They earn a small fraction of their
incomes from selling seal skins to the fur industry: less than
$7 million (Canadian) in 2008, compared to the nearly $2.5
billion taken in by the Canadian fishing industry from seafood
exports to the United States.

The connection between the commercial fishing industry and the
seal hunt gives consumers all over the world the power to end
the cruel slaughter of seals.

The Canadian fishing industry has suffered a $750 million
(Canadian) decline in the value of snow crab exports to the
United States since the boycott began. That's more than $200
million a year.

Once you've signed the pledge, you'll be able to identify
Canadian seafood by using The HSUS's downloadable pocket guide.
You can also find out which restaurants and other businesses
have also signed the pledge -- and which ones to contact to ask
them to sign on.

Thanks for joining me in ending this cruel hunt. Here is the
link to sign the pledge:
https://community.hsus.org/campaign/protectseals?rk=HdsX1i71JQF1W

Confused about eggs?

Hi everyone,
My boyfriend sent me this link recently that gives some information about how eggs can affect your health. There are also some guides on what kind of eggs you should buy.

EGGS!!!

I do try to be health conscious whenever possible, but I feel very mislead with so many mixed messages out there on what you should and shouldn't eat. I try to read these articles whenever I can in hopes that they will all produce similar "facts". So I thought I would share any interesting information that I might come across.

Since I am not a vegetarian, I do try my very best to purchase food that promotes the proper treatment of animals. This can get very expensive, but my peace of mind is worth it in the end. I totally love eggs for breakfast! .... but realized after reading this article that I was buying the wrong ones. Soooo, out with the cage-free and in with organic. I am starting to realize that organic is pretty much the best way to go when buying meats and poultry as well.

Well, that's all for this random posting :)

Have a great day!
~Ami