Archive for June, 2011

Walking Is Man’s Best Medicine

Walking Promotes Health

Walking is man’s best medicine. Hippocrates

Walking is awesome exercise and a great way to maintain your health. There are so many benefits of walking but I have just picked a few for you to consider. There is always time for a short walk so don’t make excuses, just get going and you will see and feel the benefits of walking right away.

For beginners, please start out nice and easy and just go for 10 minutes or so. The important thing to remember is that you are making a commitment to yourself to get moving. Plan to walk a couple times a day for 10 minutes and gradually increase the time as you get stronger. This is the best way to start and it gives you the motivation to do it because you are achieving your goals. If you stay on track, then pretty soon you will be able to go for longer walks and you will have more energy!

Here are some of the key benefits of walking.

• Lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol)
• Raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the “good” cholesterol)
• Lower your blood pressure
• Reduce your risk of or manage type 2 diabetes
• Manage your weight
• Improve your mood
• Stay strong and fit

Before you jump off the couch and get going, you need to get prepared for a workout. First, you will need the proper walking shoes. Make sure to choose shoes with proper arch support, a firm heel and thick flexible soles to absorb the shock from walking. There is no need to go out and purchase the most expensive footwear. Find something that fits right, is comfortable and feels great when testing them out in the store. Be aware that certain brands offer wider options so take the time to get a shoe that fits you perfectly.

It is always important to warm up prior to the walk. You can walk in place, do stretching exercises and start out slowly to get your muscles nice and warm. After about five minutes of slowly walking, then increase the pace but make sure to maintain a pace that fits your level of fitness.

When you walk, pay close attention to your form and posture. Stand tall, chest up and swing your arms to help you increase the intensity of the workout and to build muscle in your arms.

After the walk, it is always a good idea to cool down by walking slowly for five minutes. Also, do some more stretching exercises and make sure you drink lots of water to maintain proper hydration.

Remember, to set your walking goals so that you can easily achieve them but gradually readjust the goals to match your level of fitness. Please do this for your health and stay committed to your plan. You will look and feel terrific and have so much more energy.

Antioxidants Promote Weight Loss

Antioxidants Promote Weight Loss

To maintain a healthy body and a natural body weight, you must eat nutritious foods and eliminate free radicals and toxins. Eliminating free radicals is a foundation for optimal health and wellness! Eliminating toxins from the body with antioxidants can help prevent the production of fat cells, resulting in weight gain prevention.

Why?

Toxins not eliminated from the body are stored in fat cells, in an effort by the body to prevent damage to our organs. By encasing the toxins in fat cells, they are isolated from the body’s more vulnerable parts. It’s a natural defense mechanism, but with an unwanted side effect – weight gain. As the toxins accumulate, they fill up fat cells, and our body produces more fat cells to store the additional toxins. The end result is weight gain. This process does not get better as we age, and it certainly plays a large role in the difficulty of losing weight after passing age 30. After so many years of storing these toxins, it becomes very difficult to expel them from their fatty storage.

This natural phenomenon is the basis for a common misunderstanding: contrary to popular belief, detox alone does not result in weight loss – but there is a crucial link between toxins and weight gain. Rather than resulting in weight loss, detox and eliminating free radicals can help prevent weight gain by preventing toxins from being stored in fat cells. Detox and free radical elimination also provides the additional benefit of countering oxidative stress and its well known negative impact on health and speeding of the aging process.

What’s the best way to prevent toxins from causing weight gain and damage to your body?

Regular intake of potent antioxidants and a diet that limits toxin production are the best solutions. Antioxidants are the scavengers of circulating toxins. Taking antioxidants daily eliminates toxins as they come and before they become harmful or encased in fat cells. The more toxins eliminated by antioxidants, before they become harmful or stored in fatty tissues, the less potential weight gain.

Another great way to eliminate toxins is to use an infrared sauna. Far-infrared radiant (FIR) has the ability to penetrate, refract, radiate and reflect. The human body can absorb FIR because of its deep penetrating ability. When FIR penetrates through skin to the subcutaneous tissues, it transforms from light energy into heat energy. The thermal effect within the deep layers of the tissues causes bloods vessels and capillaries to dilate, promoting a better blood circulation, and the heat so produced helps to get rid of body toxins and metabolic wastes through sweating.

Eliminating Free Radicals is the Key

Once we recognize the process employed by the body to deal with the toxins we ingest and produce, it is easy to see why eliminating free radicals is so important. Toxins are everywhere, and no matter how clean a life we try to live, we ingest and produce more of them than we should. From the fruit we buy at the market to the water that comes from our taps, we are assailed with toxins. Add in air-pollution from small particulates (think buses and trucks zooming by), toxins from the well deserved drink after a stressful day, and second-hand cigarette smoke, and you begin to see that it is impossible to avoid the host of pollutants that are a part of our everyday lives. The modern-day world is a toxic environment. Pesticides, technology, environmental pollutants and urban living ensure this. With all these toxins surrounding us, it’s no surprise that the body must regularly produce fat to counter the toxins.

It is easy to see why antioxidant rich foods and antioxidant supplements can be so important to your health, and to your efforts to prevent weight gain.

Taking antioxidant supplements daily combats this daily inundation of toxins, serving as the foundation for optimal health and wellness. By incorporating antioxidant rich foods like blueberries or black beans, with their powerful blend of natural antioxidants, into your daily life, you can prevent the buildup of toxins in your body. This helps to avoid your body producing fat cells to store the unwanted toxins, and helps you avoid weight gain – just one of the many health benefits associated with antioxidants.

Green Drink Recipe

Green Drink Recipe

Green drink has been described as swamp water and it really looks like it too but this is a great way to get your daily fix of greens without having to chew like a cow all day.

This drink will take some getting used to but there are some alternative ways to sweeten the taste to make it easier to go down. You can add apple to give it a more sweet flavor or even replace the water with apple juice but if you are trying to cut out sugar then just grin and bear it because you know this is going to make you feel great and boost your energy. This is a variation of Dr. Oz’s green drink recipe.

Green Drink Recipe

• 1 apple cored (this is optional but it definitely helps with the taste)
• 2 big handfuls of spinach or about 4 leaves of swiss chard
• 1/4 cup of chopped parsley or cilantro
• 1 celery stick, chopped
• 1 lemon – juice only
• 1 medium cucumber chopped
• 1 small zucchini chopped
• 1 avocado

Put all the ingredients in a blender and add spring water just below the top of the ingredients and puree quickly for about 1 minute. This will make 2 glasses of lovely green drink that is satisfying and nutritious. I use a Vitamix but if your blender is smaller then you may have to adjust the size of the ingredients to make sure it all fits. Some people prefer to drink it cold so you can either add ice or put it in a glass jar and let it sit in the fridge for an hour before drinking it.

The green drink has a strong flavor that will take some time to get used to especially if you are used to drinking soda, juice or sweet tea. If you make a commitment to drink this every morning, you will start to fill better and eventually lose the cravings for unhealthy processed foods.

Green Drink Optional Ingredients

• More cucumber
• Raw carrot
• Unsweetened fruit juice (apple works well)
• Banana

Enjoy this recipe for green drink and let us know if you enjoy it. We love to hear about your success!