Free from the bondage of poor health (final part)

Habit of Health # 5 is to be active.

Again, I use a car analogy…Even the most expensive, luxury car won’t run after being left in a garage for too long without use.

The batteries will go dead, the tires will go flat.

Similarly, a person whose heart, lungs and muscles have gone flat isn’t going to be able to do much.

So, keep yourself in shape!

The body adapts down in capacity if we are inactive physically.  Muscles become smaller, bones become thinner, hormone production decreases, cellular conversion of energy gets lazy — if we are inactive, nature chooses disintegration.

To avoid this, keep your self active… by keeping your body engaged in life and demanding performance out of it.

We’re not talking about extreme exercise, but we are talking about regular activities that promote deep breathing, sweating and that keeps our muscles toned. Walking (especially uphill), swimming, bicycling, weight training, even just deep breathing are all good activities.

As you know I am a huge proponent of exercise.  There are 100’s of reasons to keep active.  Most of my posts have to do with exercise and physical activity.  Find your reason, the best reason that makes sense to you and start moving!

Free from the bondage of poor health (PART 4)

Habit of Health # 4

Maintain the nutrient levels in your body

 

The nutrients your body needs come in this order of importance:

1. minerals
2. enzymes
3. vitamins
4. protein
5. all other nutrients

Nutrients are needed as spare parts for repair of cellular tissues and to ensure your cells operate correctly.

When your nutrient levels are low for a particular nutrient that your body needs, it starts to malfunction.  Cellular repair can’t be done right, certain processes in the body no longer occur correctly, and free radicals can’t be neutralized. As more and more things go wrong, cellular deterioration escalates.

There are two important concepts to nourishing your body. These concepts are:

1. Variety of Food
2. Nutrient Denseness of Food

Variety of Food

No single food contains all the nutrients the body needs. If a person gets in a habit of eating only a few foods that he or she likes, it is virtually guaranteed that this person will run low in the nutrients that are missing (or low) in those particular foods. So, mix up your diet, try new foods, and do a winter, spring, summer and fall rotation in the foods you eat by EATING WHAT IS IN SEASON.

Nutrient-Dense Food

We should eat only foods that contribute to our health and happiness. We should have the discipline to not eat foods that undermine our health and don’t add to our happiness.

Nutrient-empty foods aren’t worth eating unless they taste so good to you that your happiness is very positively affected… and even then, unless you really are willing to throw away a future of health for the pleasures these foods bring to the moment, you must save these celebration foods for “rare occasions”:

I recently read an article that categorized foods like this:

1. Celebration Foods
2. Fuel Foods
3. Nutrient Dense Foods.

These are Celebration Foods and should not be eaten frequently, but should be reserved for parties and celebrations:

• Processed grain products, white flour products (cakes, pastries, and noodles), white-rice, etc.
• Sugary foods such as ice cream, soda pop, syrups, etc.

 

These are Fuel Foods. They are nutritious and important to provide energy for activity and exercise. If you are completely sedentary, they actually provide more calories for the amount of nutrients provided. So make sure that you are doing some kind of physical activity to get the benefits from Fuel Foods.

• Grains (whole grain bread, whole grain rice, etc.)
• Most Fruits

 

These are your Nutrient Dense Foods and should be eaten daily by everyone:

• Vegetables
• Nuts
• Fish
• Good fat foods such as Avocados and Olives
• Uncooked oil extracts of all the foregoing
• Organ meats
• Eggs

Free from the bondage of poor health (PART 3)

Habit of Health #3

Keep your internal system clean.

Okay, so I have to make the car analogy here.  The most important thing to extend the life of your car engine is to KEEP IT CLEAN.  Engine cleanliness is important to avoid damaging the engine internals. That’s why cars have oil filters, gas filters and air filters and why we change the oil and oil filter frequently.

To avoid trouble with our human engine, we likewise don’t want sludge or contamination inside our circulatory system, gastrointestinal system or individual cells. Keeping our own engines clean also ensures that all of our hard work to eat healthy and exercise is not sabotaged by other harmful substances.

Here’s an important list for keeping internally clean:

#1 Avoid Sugar!

Table sugar is not the only offender with the insulin effect on the body. Refined carbs such as mashed potatoes, white rice, white bread and pasta are quickly converted to sugar in the body since your pancreas can’t tell the difference.

Sugar in not nonnutritive but it is anti-nutritive. When sugar is found in whole foods such as apples, berries and even sugarcane it comes complete with the vitamins, minerals and enzymes needed for complete digestion. When it’s found in your sugar bowl or in chemical compounds such as high fructose corn syrup, your body has to borrow from its stores of nutrients in order to process it. Sugar contains no minerals or vitamins. Metabolism of food takes the expenditure of nutrient tools, especially minerals. Since eating sugar results in the expenditure of more minerals than are obtained in the sugar, it is a net negative proposition — the more sugar you eat the more your body is depleted of health sustaining minerals. That is one reason why sugar is considered an immune system depressor.

#2 Avoid Free Radicals!

 Free radicals are a PRIMARY culprit in aging. The free radical theory of aging states that our bodies “age” or become altered (for the worse) at a molecular level because of contact with corrosive, unstable molecules called free radicals.

Another important topic regarding the goal of minimizing free radical damage to our cells and molecules is to AVOID FREE RADICALS where possible.

To minimizing free radical exposure:

Avoiding chlorinated water. Water used to bathe or drink or do laundry should be filtered to remove a major oxidant or free radical called chlorine. (This is a tough one for those of us who live in Phoenix)

Avoiding deep fried foods. You are better off to not fry foods in oil, unless you use coconut oil. Coconut oil can handle the high heat without being changed into a free radical. This is a good example of new and improved health information.  A few years ago, coconut oil was on the “bad” list.  Now it is on the “must have” list.

Avoiding polluted air. Many free radicals can be breathed into our lungs, including of course, cigarette smoke.

#3 Avoid Harmful Microorganisms!

The human gastrointestinal tract (the stomach and small and large intestines) are the first engine of the body. They should be colonized 80% or more by protective bacteria. These are like oil in a car engine. They protect it from damage.

In many people, however, this ratio is reversed with 80% pathogenic organisms. Pathogenic organisms produce a constant supply of health-robbing toxins.

Human parasites are just about everywhere in our environment, so it is easy to come in contact with them. My husband and I do an “internal cleanse” about once a year to flush out any lurking organisms.  There are several cleanses on the market to choose from ranging from hard core fasting to light core drinking a mixture before breakfast.

The following are just some of the ways people can acquire parasites.

• insect bites
• animal feces, and especially handling soiled litter pans (cats)
• walking barefoot in areas animals where animals may deposit their feces
• eating raw or undercooked pork, beef or fish
• eating contaminated fruits and vegetables
• eating meals prepared by infected food handlers
• drinking contaminated water

 

#4 Avoid Heavy Metals! 

 Heavy metals are potent free radicals and disrupters of human health.

The three most common are mercury, cadmium, and lead.

Heavy metals cause all of the following problems:

• Damaged or reduced mental and central nervous function
• Lower energy levels
• Damage to blood, lungs, kidneys, liver, and other vital organs.
• Physical, muscular, and neurological degenerative processes that mimic Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, and multiple sclerosis.
• Allergies

 

Sources of mercury include dental fillings, eating of large fish, contact with fungicides and pesticides, cosmetics and medicines

Sources of Cadmium include cigarette smoking (30% of cadmium from cigarettes goes into the smoker and 70% into the air for others to breathe). Cadmium also leaches out of older water pipes, and comes from air pollution from factories, soil fertilization and eating of grains and root vegetables grown in such fertilized soil. Cadmium is concentrated in the inner core of wheat and rice, hence eating white bread and white rice tends to concentrate cadmium in the body.

Sources of lead include leaded gasoline, paint, tin cans, earthenware pottery and food grown in soils that have been fertilized with fertilizers containing lead

Internal Cleanliness will be one of the next greatest advancement in health. A clean intestinal tract is the one of the most important factors for creating one’s overall health, so as you choose the right kind of foods for good health, also avoid the harmful substances that lead to poor health.  Cover all your bases.

Free from the bondage of poor health (PART 2)

5 HABITS of HEALTH #1 and #2

 

#1 THINK ABOUT YOUR HEALTH

Most people stop learning about how to be healthy with their last health course in High School. Health knowledge is doubling every few years. You need to be informed of the current understanding about health, not the past understandings. Hopefully my blog will give you current information on nutrition, fitness, and a healthy lifestyle.

One thing is certain — today’s health information will be replaced by better health information tomorrow. So, make sure you stay current with the science of health. The reward could be many more years of enjoyable, healthy life.

Only one hundred years ago, one out of two people died from infection. Then entered the miracle of antibiotics. That’s why the parents of baby-boomer learned to place too much trust in medicines. Their parents had just witnessed the miracle of medicines stopping the leading causes of death of the last century.

The current generations beginning with baby-boomers and their children understand that medicines are wonderful for trauma and infection but aren’t the cure for degenerative diseases that are today’s leading cause of poor health. Degenerative diseases are combated and even cured through a lifestyle of healthy eating, nutrient rich diets, and exercise.

#2 BE A FAT BURNER

This next concept is something that we all “kind of  know”, but it is so important that we really understand the impact of it.

Health and life span are determined by the proportion of fat versus sugar people burn throughout their lifetime.  The more fat that one burns as fuel, the healthier a person will be, and the more likely he or she will live a long time;  and the more sugar a person burns, the more disease ridden and the shorter a life span a person is likely to have.

The above sentence is perhaps the most IMPORTANT statement you will  read/hear in regard to health and longevity.

Most people are sugar burners, so how do you “fix” yourself and become a fat burner?

 *** We become sugar burners by eating sugar and carbohydrates.

*** We become fat burners by not eating sugar and carbohydrates.

Sounds simple enough, and there is a big trend these days to give up sugar and bad carbs.  I have several friends that have cut sugar out of their diets.  This is so important, but it must be done correctly to achieve the best results in good health.

To break our cells’ habit of eating sugar we have to completely stop the supply of sugar and carbohydrates (which are quickly converted into sugar). Do this for one month! No sugar of bad carbs for ONE MONTH.

BEWARE: When you stop eating sugar and bad carbs your cells will crave that sugar and “rebel”. The cells start to break apart your bones and muscles to make sugar.

What is left when we stop eating the sugar and carbohydrate foods we are accustomed to?

We have left:

• Good Fats
• Proteins
• Vegetables
• High Fiber Carbohydrates

 

To break your sugar habit without effecting your bones and muscles you must simultaneously:

• Exercise
• Eat a nutritious diet that is high in good fats.

First, When we exercise (this includes vigorous muscle-building exercise such as walking up hills or weight lifting) in addition to some aerobic exercise, the body will not allow the breaking down of muscle and bone. The muscle-building exercise tells the body to build more muscle, and the stress on the bones tells the body to make the bones stronger. This is your insurance policy against losing bone and muscle density.

Second, when we eat good fats our body will, if it has no other access to sugar, burn fat as fuel. As we continue to enforce this habit, our bodies will switch back to fat burning mode, which will enable our body to function far more efficiently.

Free from the bondage of poor health (part 1)

This is a multi part post.  The first part is about the bad habits of health which leads to poor health.  The next part (or parts) will be about the FIVE HABITS of HEALTH which allow us to take good care of the one and only body we have on this earth.  (This information is so important, that I want to present it in the best way possible.  Right now I am not sure if I will do five seperate posts or one post which includes all five habits)

As anyone experiencing poor health knows – poor health takes away one’s freedom to fully participate in life and to fully enjoy the relationships that make life precious.

We must constantly evaluate the direction in which our health is going in order to not experience the bondage that is part of low-quality health.

One of the most important words in the English language is HABIT. Habits bind us or they enable and free us.  In this way of looking at it, healthy habits are the key to freedom from poor health.

Before discussing THE FIVE HABITS of HEALTH in part 2, here are the unhealthy habits that will lead you to poor health. Do not let them be part of your operational mode:

• Not thinking about your health — and not believing that the person in the coffin, hospital bed or wheelchair “may likely be me” unless I act wiser than others are acting.
•  
• Trusting others too much —You need to understand the truths regarding health and how diet, nutrition, and exercise are key… and be in charge of your own health.
•  
• Not understanding your own health risks and strategizing to minimize those risks through exercise and the appropriate nutrition.

• Failing to plan your life to establish THE FIVE HABITS of HEALTH. The old saying is true: If one fails to plan, the result becomes the same as if one had planned to fail.

True and False

I love chatting with people about fitness and nutrition, and often people make statements about tricks to lose weight.  There are three that I have heard several times in the past few weeks, so I thought that I would give it to you straight! 

MYTH #1: Eating after 6 P.M. puts on the pounds.

TRUTH: Your body doesn’t know what time it is. Eating later is only a problem if you’ve already consumed your calorie requirements for the day, and for most people this is the case.  Most people have already eaten  1500 – 2000 calories during the day, so they can’t afford to eat anymore (it doesn’t matter what time it is).  Remember, it is all about the math not about the time of day.  

 
MYTH #2: Some superchewy and spicy foods may help the body burn more calories.

TRUTH: Sorry, chomping on celery or gulping down jalapenos may give you an upset stomach, but it won’t make you lose weight any faster. For weight loss to occur, calories in must be less than calories burned. So incorporating low-cal items like celery and peppers into your diet is fine,especially if it replaces a high calorie snack, but it’s the amount you eat and exercise that really makes the difference! 
 
MYTH #3: Fat-free foods are better for you.

TRUTH: Many fat-free foods have as many, if not more, calories than their regular counterparts. Carbohydrates typically replace the fat, resulting in something that doesn’t taste quite as good, is not as satisfying, and leaves us wanting more. People also think that they can eat a bigger portion because it is fat free which leads to more calories in. Fat provides between-meal satiety, so you’re not as hungry as soon. So rather than inhaling half of a box of fat-free cookies, sit down and savor a great piece of Godiva.

Do you count calories with your eyes?

So my dad is trying to drop a few pounds, and he decided to have all his meals on a salad plate instead of a full size dinner plate.  This keeps his portions small.  Since portion control is one of the best ways to lose weight, changing the size of your plates and glassware might be just the thing to curb your eating and appetite.

Research conducted at Cornell University found that people rely on how much food remains on a plate or in a bowl to determine when they have eaten enough.  I read where researchers designed bottomless bowls that could refill without the subjects’ knowledge. Subjects who unknowingly ate from the self-refilling bowls consumed 73% more soup than those who ate from normal bowls. Yet those who ate more soup did not believe they had consumed more and did not feel any fuller than those who ate from normal bowls. So what does this mean.  ….The size of the plate or bowl can greatly influence the number of calories consumed, as people tend to use their eyes to “count” calories.

My dad is definitely on to something. Try using a salad plate or one of your kid’s plates for all your meals, and for drinks use tall, narrow glasses. Research indicates that decreasing plate and glass sizes may make people believe they are getting a larger portion simply because their dish or glass is full.  Also, eating everything on a plate (even a smaller one) indicates to the brain that it is the end of an eating episode. People may assume they have eaten enough and stop eating before consuming too much. This simple act of using smaller dishes at all meals may help you easily decrease portion sizes without feeling that you are eating less food.

Blah Blah Blah… Tell me something I don’t know

I am constantly reading about fitness and diet and nutrition and weight loss to learn as much as I can and get all the new information that is out there.  In the last few months, it seems like everything I read is the same old stuff.  I find myself saying “yea yea yea, I know that along with everyone else.”

We know that healthy eating is one of the best things you can do to prevent health problems, such as:

Heart disease

Stroke

High blood pressure

Type 2 diabetes

We know that exercise is one of the best things for the following:

Longevity

Stamina

Weight loss

Disease prevention

Stress reduction

So with all this knowledge why is it so hard for many people to lead a healthy lifestyle by eating a low calorie, low fat, high nutrient diet?  I think that most people say “yea, yea, yea, that won’t happen to me, heart disease (or whatever condition) happens to old people or other people”, so there isn’t a compelling reason to take action.  But there is.

So …. Here it is.  The reason to choose to eat a healthy diet.

NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS FIT and HEALTHY FEELS!

 

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So….how is YOUR New Year’s Resolution going?

 Well, it is 15 days into 2010.  How is your resolution going?  My resolution has nothing to do with weight loss or fitness, but when I have a disappointing day, it is just as bad as blowing your diet.

My New Year’s resolution is to be a better mom by being more patient, listening better, being present, and not yelling as much.  Well, 15 days into the new year, I blew it.  I feel like I “fell off the wagon”. 

At this point I have two choices.  I can expend a lot of energy reliving my morning as the wicked witch of the west, feeling guilty, and beating myself up.  The big problem with this choice is that I am spending a lot of energy on something that I absolutely cannot change.  I cannot change what has already happened.

My next choice is to spend my energy thinking about how I should have handled the situation, and how I will do better now and next time. Much more productive and beneficial to my kids.

It is an obvious choice, but also a difficult one.  I think that human nature leads us to choose option one, and it takes some serious effort to really choose option two.

If you have “fallen off the wagon”, whatever your resolution, please choose option two.

Instead of feeling disappointed about where you are, think optimistically about your potential to do better and where you are going.

I hope that those of you who are reading my menu are getting a feel for healthy eating habits.  Every day I try to eat the right amount of calories at the right times, but as you can see, it doesn’t always work out that way.  I have been making notes on the menu about what I should have done better or different, and I hope that you can learn from some of my “mistakes” each day.  I also hope that you can approach your own menu in a more mindful way.

The Big 5

**Know thyself. One of the problems people have with losing weight is that they
set unrealistic goals. Consider your own tendencies. Think about your strengths
and weaknesses and cater to them. Don’t set yourself up with a plan that will
prove to be unworkable. What will very likely happen in that scenario is that
the whole thing will seem overwhelming, and you’ll ditch the idea of fitness in
its entirety and head for the fridge. Set reasonable goals for yourself. Start
small. Think big, but start small.

** Exercise! Exercise! If you haven’t already developed the habit, this is the
last thing you want to hear, but in your heart of hearts you know you must do
some type of exercise. Some of us would rather do anything else than sweat in
front of strangers. In keeping with the above tip, then—don’t. If you’re not
going to go to the gym, don’t bother buying the membership. Instead, get some
exercise routines from the internet or buy yourself a mini-contraption to help
you burn those extra calories. I recently bought a DVD, and I love it. Just
don’t expect results immediately, and don’t overwork yourself too soon. Whether
you’re jogging, doing leg lifts, or using a treadmill, start with 100 calories
per day and slowly increase your quota.

** Small, frequent meals are great. When you eat, your metabolism raises, but it
doesn’t necessarily raise just enough to digest the amount of food you’ve eaten.
Because of this, it’s almost as if you’re tricking your own body. If you eat six
half-meals a day instead of three whole ones, you’ll actually burn more
calories, simply from the act of eating and digesting. This only works with
half-meals, remember. Sometimes I forget.

** Nutrition Facts! Always, always check out what you’re eating. Even if you
don’t have a strict diet plan in mind, being aware of what you’re putting in
your body on a regular basis is the first step. Also, be mindful of the fact
that most of those numbers represent a 2000-calorie diet, but most people need
to stay somewhere between 1200 and 1700 calories a day to actually lose weight.
Check my links for websites that can give you a good estimate based on your
height, age, current weight and other specifics.

** Fiber is important. High fiber content in foods makes you feel more full,
because it expands within your stomach. As a result, you’ll eat less, and foods
will pass through the rest of your system more quickly, which is just healthier
in general. Also, and this is the best part, it keeps your lower stomach feeling
flatter.