All posts by R.C. Liley

I'm an ex-mutual fund accountant who left the cubicle world to be a stay-at-home dad to my beautiful little girl, Avery, who entered our life on 11/15/13 and handsome little boy, Wes, who joined our family on 11/19/17. Also happily married to my wife, Kelley, as of 8/17/07. Sorry ladies... :) Fitness and nutrition is of the utmost importance in our family and we strive to reflect this in our daily life. I always prepare our meals at home and only go out if it's a special occasion, and even then I tend to not get much. Food should be fun and a joy to eat, not something quickly consumed from a fast food chain or scarf down before the next meeting. I have come from strictly logging high miles to train for the next marathon to keeping exercise varied and focusing more on strength. I still enjoy going for a run when I can, but nothing crazy, and I prefer hill sprints while pushing my daughter, Avery in the stroller. She loves it and I get a great workout! I want to show the world how to appreciate their body and feed it real, wholesome food while moving more throughout the day. In doing so, everyone would be healthier, happier, and we'd all live in a better place as a result. I blog mainly about my life as a stay-at-home dad and frequently include reviews, participate in campaigns, and share my thoughts on fitness and nutrition. If you ever have any questions or thoughts to share, please reach out as I'm always open to listening or helping others however possible. That is, when I have free time since Avery is and my wife are the number one priorities!
Going Healthy, Life, Parenting

Easy Ways Men Can Prevent Hair Loss: Strategies To Stop Hair From Falling Out

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If you are a man, the chances are that you have experienced some degree of hair loss. While it is entirely normal for hair to start thinning out as you get older, it can be much more difficult if the hair loss starts happening at an earlier age. But don’t worry, this article is here to help. From considering hair loss treatments like scalp micropigmentation to using hair products and reducing stress, there are many ways men can take care of their hair and prevent it from falling out. So, keep reading to learn more!

Reduce Stress

Stress can trigger hair loss, and men who feel stressed show breakage, dandruff, and itchiness. Try to take care of yourself by getting enough sleep, exercising regularly, practicing mindfulness or meditation techniques, and finding ways to reduce your stress levels on the job or at home. Try to avoid stress as much as possible, and if you feel pressure, try to deal with it healthily.

Consider Hair Loss Treatments

Hair loss treatment for men is a way to stop hair from falling out. There are many different types of hair fall treatment options available, including drugs and surgery. Visit your doctor or a hair loss clinic birmingham (or wherever you are) for specific recommendations about which type is right for you based on the cause of your hair loss. 

In addition, your healthcare provider can help determine whether over-the-counter remedies or medications may help treat your condition.

Be Gentle With Your Hair

Being gentle with your hair is one of the top ways that men can help to prevent hair loss. Gentle brushing supports healthy growth and reduces strain on your scalp, which promotes new hair growth. In addition, brushing with a wide-tooth comb is very helpful for shampooed dry or wet hair. 

Additionally, applying oils such as coconut oil or jojoba oil will also reduce any damage from harsh products you put into your hair during styling by helping them coat individual hair strands without clumping up together!

Be sure to turn around sections of hair while brushing, so no single strand becomes overworked. If possible, brush before conditioning for extra protection of fragile strands.

Start Using Hair Products

There are different hair products you can use to help stop your hair from falling out. One of the most popular products is using hair loss shampoos that contain caffeine or saw palmetto extract, both of which prevent the scalp from absorbing the hormone DHT.

Consider using hair styling products that are free of alcohol. These can dry out hair, cause split ends, and make the follicles weak.

It would be best to consider using supplements like Viviscal or Nutrafol to help increase your body’s natural collagen production, strengthening existing strands and encouraging new growth.

When you’re considering trying any supplement, it would be best to speak with your doctor beforehand, who can ensure that what you’re choosing is right for you and won’t interact with anything else in your system negatively. 

Eat and Drink Well

Your diet is an essential part of the prevention plan. When you eat healthily, your body can produce vital hair growth cells.

Nuts are a very nutritious snack with many minerals like zinc, magnesium, and vitamin E, an essential antioxidant for the skin. Antioxidants protect your body by blocking free radicals produced when you exercise. Thus, they leave you healthier & they also work on slowing down the aging process of the skin, allowing men to retain their youthful look longer than average.

Other foods rich in antioxidants include avocados, tomatoes, dark chocolate, green tea, red grapes, and papaya. In addition, make sure you drink enough water throughout the day to keep your cells moisturized and healthy. Also, try drinking more green tea; studies have shown that it is better than minoxidil treatment at growing back thinning hair in men with Androgenic Alopecia.

Conclusion

In conclusion,  there are several ways to prevent hair loss. However, if you start with the above insights now, you will be able to see the results soon enough!

Life, Lifestyle, Tips

Burnt Out and Overwhelmed? Having a Poor Business Structure May Be the Reason

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Everyone has heard the advice that it’s better to work smart than to work hard, but many business owners assume it doesn’t apply to them. More often than not, they assume that working 60-hour weeks and finding themselves constantly busy is a sign that their companies are becoming more successful. Unfortunately, constant work can leave entrepreneurs feeling burnt out and overwhelmed, and poor business structures are the most common underlying cause of this problem.

The Importance of Delegation

Delegating tasks to competent employees or third-party contractors is the best way to improve a business structure and reduce stress, but few business owners know how to do this effectively. Those who find themselves stuck doing too many tasks that fall outside the purview of general managers need to recognize the problem before they can make any changes.

To get an idea of whether this is a real problem, keep track of 100% of the time spent at work for one to two weeks. Analyze the resulting timesheet to see how most of that time is getting spent. If most of the tasks on the list are things that business owners don’t enjoy and aren’t very good at, it’s time for them to start finding ways to delegate those responsibilities.

Making Use of Outside Resources

Some tasks can be delegated effectively to existing employees. Others are best left to outside specialists. Bookkeeping Services are a perfect example.

Most small to mid-sized companies don’t have it in the budget to hire full-time bookkeepers. Instead, business owners either take on this work themselves or delegate it to managers who don’t have the specialized training required to do the work well.

Not all tasks can be delegated to just any employee. Delegating tasks to employees who don’t have the skills to complete them efficiently can still create extra work for business owners since they’ll have to check every step of their managers’ work for accuracy. It makes far more sense to hire an outside specialist.

Stop Making Excuses

Many business owners put off changing the structure of their companies until they are already overworked and overwhelmed, making up excuses about why they should be doing 100% of the work themselves. Being too busy all the time is not a sign of success, but of poor business structure, and making excuses for it can hold business owners and their companies back from reaching their full potential.

Try a Stress Test

It’s common for business owners at successful, growing companies to assume that their companies could not survive for even a moment without them. Sometimes, unfortunately, that’s true. A company that can’t operate for even a week without the business owner at the helm is not structured correctly, and things will only get worse for the already overworked owner as it continues to grow.

To see if the company’s organizational structure is up to snuff, put it through a stress test by taking some time off. Aim for at least a week of no contact. Take a vacation and avoid taking a single email or call, and see what happens. If things keep running smoothly without the business owner at the helm, that’s a good sign that the company’s organizational structure is solid.

The Bottom Line

Everyone from office workers to business owners deserves to have a life outside of work. For the average employee, managing work-life balance is relatively easy since the entire company’s success does not rest on his or her shoulders. While business owners inevitably have more responsibilities than the typical office worker, they still deserve to get enough time off to have meaningful lives outside of work. Restructuring can help them avoid burnout without risking damage to the company’s bottom line.

Going Green, Lifestyle, Tips

5 Ways to Prepare Your Home for Fall

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As the days get shorter and the nights become longer, you’ll soon be thinking of ways to keep yourself and your family warm and happy as you begin transitioning from the summer. Aside from that, you’ll need to carry out some fall-related chores in your home.

Doing so will ensure that your home and loved ones are ready for the cooler season and that you won’t have any household-related problems when you eventually transition into winter. Here are five ways you can prepare your home for fall starting from today:

1. Mow Your Lawn

It doesn’t matter whether you’ve got a small patch of grass outside your home or you have acres of lovely lawn you can admire from your abode. Even though it’s getting cooler and the days are getting shorter, your lawn will still grow, albeit not as much as during the summer.

With that in mind, it makes sense to keep your lawn trimmed until it gets to the point where it won’t grow much until next year. If you do not have a lawn mower already, now is the time to get one so that you are not falling behind with your grass cutting. You might want to think about getting a robotic lawn mower as it can be less work than using a traditional lawn mower. However, you will need to assess the size and positioning of your lawn before choosing.

2. Have Your AC System Serviced

If your home has an air conditioning system, there’s no denying that it will have been in constant use throughout the summer. As fall approaches, it won’t get used as much until temperatures start rising again next year.

It’s worth getting your system serviced; otherwise, you may need help from a 24 hour AC service if it suddenly decides to stop functioning as usual. Plus, getting it serviced now will be cheaper than potentially getting the system replaced due to a complete system failure.

3. Deep Clean Your Oven

It’s no secret that the oven is the least cleaned of all appliances or areas in your home. You undoubtedly use your oven on a regular basis, and you’ll likely use it quite a lot for cooking up feasts towards the end of the year.

The beginning of fall is one of the best times of year to deep clean an oven. That’s because it won’t be getting much use at the moment, giving you ample time to scrub any baked-on grease and food away and ensuring that internal components of your oven are also clean.

4. Prepare Your Fireplace

It goes without saying that when the darkness sets in early each year and temperatures drop, you’ll want to use your fireplace every evening. As you can imagine, you need to ensure your fireplace is in good condition and won’t cause any accidental chimney fires.

Have a professional sweep your chimney to remove any soot, and clean out your wood-burning stove so that it’s ready to use. Also, stack up some logs ready for use in winter or to use instead of your home’s heating system during fall.

5. Get Rid of Any Unwanted Junk

Last but not least, you’ve probably accumulated some items throughout the year that you’ve meant to discard.

One task you should do during fall is throw away, recycle, or sell any unwanted junk. Your home will feel more spacious, and you’ll have an enormous sense of achievement.