I love watching the changing colors of autumn. The trouble is that this time of year there’s not always a lot of extra time to sit and enjoy the view. The kids’ school activities are in full swing. Summer vacation is a thing of the past. And, before we know it, the holidays and all those activities will be upon us.

When things get busy it’s so easy to take what seems to be the easy way out. Fast food beckons from every street corner. Convenience foods holler at us from the grocery aisle shelves and freezer sections. Our days fill up with work, appointments and activities so we leave ourselves little time to exercise.

Yes, these options seem like the easy way out—but they are not. The time you save today by choosing these options will—not maybe—but definitely will be lost at some point. Fast foods, sugary foods and junk foods do not provide your body the nourishment it needs. In addition, the chemical additives in these foods can actually make you sick. And, when you choose not to exercise, you don’t just grow a little paunch; you actually deny your immune system the activity it needs to keep on its toes.

Yes, fall is a busy time. It’s also the time when colds and flu attack. However, if you and your family choose to eat healthy and get your exercise, you’ll be ahead of the game. Even if you do come down with a bug, you’ll find that your body can throw it off more efficiently. That means less missed school, less missed work and less money spent on doctor visits and medicines.

You and your family will also be ahead of the game when it comes to mental acuity. The same healthy routine—good foods and exercise—keeps the mind sharp and better able to focus on the tasks at hand. That means the kids do better in school—and you do better on the job.

What do I mean when I say “good food?” Fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, 100% whole grains, lean meats, nuts and seeds and for a beverage of choice, eight to ten times a day, a large glass of pure water. And, to make sure you and your family are getting all the vitamins and minerals that human bodies require, include It Works!’s It’s Vital™ multi-vitamin and mineral supplement in your diet every day.  It’s Vital™ gives your body the super-nutrient building blocks you need to achieve and maintain optimum health throughout the cold and flu season.

Vital contains the immune boosting minerals zinc, calcium and magnesium in forms that are well absorbed and extremely effective.  Your body needs the vitamin C boost found in It’s Vital™ to combat all the stress.  Keeping the body free from infections requires an enormous amount of additional vitamins and minerals, all of which are found in your daily dose of It’s Vital™.

Rest time is restoration time, and these days most of us have no idea what it’s like to wake up feeling restored after a proper night’s rest. Actuarial figures from insurance companies show that people who go longer than seven days on five hours or fewer of sleep a night increase their risk of death from all causes by 700 percent! It has also been shown that people who sleep fewer than six hours a night don’t live as long as people who sleep seven or more hours. Not getting sufficient rest can literally kill you.

Our bodies require between six and eight hours of good rest every night, and consistency and timing make a world of difference in how you feel and how you function when you wake up in the morning. Studies show that the hours from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m. are the most healing, restorative hours to rest—don’t miss those hours of sleep. From 10 p.m. until midnight your sleep is four times more restorative than the hours you sleep after midnight, so try especially hard not to miss those hours.

It’s worth noting that your stomach needs good rest every night too. If you get plenty of sleep but still wake up tired, maybe you aren’t letting your stomach rest when you rest. Have you ever noticed that eating a big meal right before bedtime can disturb your rest or even keep you awake at night? Don’t load up your stomach before bed so that it has to keep working hard all night through to digest your late-night snacks. Instead, follow the maxim “Eat like a king at breakfast, a prince at lunch, and a pauper at dinner.” It will do your stomach and your sleep habits a world of good.

Rest and relaxation (R&R) Some people feel guilty if they take time for R & R, whether that means getting enough sleep at night or allowing for a day of rest on the weekends. Stress, financial worries, or the hectic pace of modern life so overwhelms them that they cannot slow down enough to let their bodies (not to mention their minds and spirits) be restored.

God felt so strongly about R & R that He declared the Sabbath holy and decreed, “Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death” (Exodus 31:15). These days, if that law were in effect we’d all be dead. However, it illustrates how crucial R & R is. If God Himself took time for it and made it law, don’t you think we ought to make it a priority as well? We’ll actually be more productive body, mind, and spirit if we are properly rested.

A good night’s sleep Do the worries, cares and stress of the day keep you lying in bed awake? ItWorks Confianza™ is a naturally based supplement that increases your energy levels while reducing stress and fatigue. Take a couple before bed to calm those alarming thoughts. Its special blend of herbs was developed to provide a safe way to enhance your ability to cope with a stressful life.

It’s true that many people choose to be vegetarians rather than eating meat, It’s also true that we were not originally designed to be meat eaters. The Bible’s first chapter designates fruits, vegetables and whole grains as our food. However, that doesn’t mean that we have to eat an exclusively vegetarian diet.

White bread is unhealthy, but white meat is just the opposite. If you choose to eat meat—and most of us do—then choose white. At our house we like fish, chicken, and turkey. Fish is packed with nutrition and with the good fats and oils that lubricate your joints and boost your immune system and brain function.

Fish, chicken and turkey are lower in fat. Excess fat is where the toxins accumulate. For that reason, by the way, meat preparation is nearly as important as meat choice. If you leave on the skin, where most of the fat is, and fry the meat, you’ve greatly increased the fat content. Lean, skinless cuts are the way to go!

What about beef? An occasional meal of red meat is all right—lean, hormone-free beef can actually be healthier for you than cage-raised chicken with the skin left on. But beef still shouldn’t be part of every main meal. If you were brought up on beef, as many of us were, try to limit your beef consumption to once a week. Once every two weeks is even better, and once you’re used to that, try once a month. That may seem extreme in our beef-crazed culture, but when you’re eating a healthy, tasty variety of other meats, you won’t be asking “Where’s the beef?” nearly as often as you think.

Pork is definitely not “the other white meat.” Pigs eat anything and everything, so they accumulate astronomic levels of toxins in their tissues. Pork meat actually rots from the inside out, not the outside in!

Limiting your overall consumption of meat and also dairy products is a good idea anyway. Believe it or not, 60 percent of all the antibiotics used in the United States are given to animals. That means when you eat a lot of meat and dairy products, you’re getting way more than you bargained for.

Another reason to avoid fatty meat, fatty whole-fat dairy products and empty carbohydrates is unhealthy weight gain. And, if you are trying to lose weight and need a little boost, I recommend It Works Advanced Formula Fat Fighter with Carb Inhibitors. Fat Fighter is an effortless way to decrease up to one third of the fat absorbed from your highest fat meal. The all natural cactus fiber literally soaks up unwanted fat and keeps it from being taken into your body. It’s actually most effective taken 15 minutes to 60 minutes AFTER the meal ... so it's not too late when you blow it on the wrong foods or your favorite desert. Fat Fighter also contains some of the world's best "foods for your pancreas" to help the body balance blood sugar and fight diabetes and pre-diabetes.

Vegetables are incredible! We’ve found that the easiest way to get our family to eat vegetables every day is to make the veggies attractive and available. My mom is good at cutting up veggies and setting them out to just be available for grabbing. If you’ll cut up some celery, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and even broccoli and cauliflower into small, snack-sized pieces, you’ll be amazed at how fast those veggies will disappear from the tray when you leave it sitting out on your counter.

Susan likes to start the day with our kids by letting them make fruit and vegetable faces on paper plates. The faces change every day depending on what’s in the refrigerator, and it’s a great way to expose the kids to different foods. Cucumber eyes look great with carrot pupils, green or red peppers make perfect mouths, celery works well for ears, and an almond or walnut makes a nice nose. Don’t forget to slice some fruit in thin strands or sticks for the hair!

Vegetables give you nutrients you can’t get anywhere else. Did you know cabbage is the only known food source of vitamin Q? Did you even know about vitamin Q? Eat your cabbage and you’ll get it. Cabbage, broccoli, carrots, Brussels sprouts, and cauliflower are some of the cruciferous vegetables, which are major cancer fighters. They’re full of vitamins A, C, and E, the trace mineral selenium, antioxidants, and anti-aging nutrients. What a lineup! You can’t win good health without them.

When you compare the one-fourth of the U.S. population who eat the fewest fruits and vegetables to the one-fourth who eat the most fruits and vegetables, you’ll find that the one-fourth who eat the fewest have double the cancer rate of those who eat the most. Double the cancer rate! That’s a shocking statistic!

Which group would you prefer to be in? I don’t know about you, but I know which group my family and I prefer to join. We’re eating our fruits and vegetables every day. We enjoy them, and so will you with a little creativity and training of your palate. You’ll be much healthier as a result, too.

Renewing your health and vitality by making vegetables a major part of  your diet can add energy to your days and years to your life. If you need a little more help, try ItWorks New You 3.0.  This one-of-a-kind longevity formula is designed to stimulate and support the production and release of the body's own human growth hormone. New You 3.0 aids in building lean muscle mass, enhances exercise endurance and helps provide better sleep and memory.