Keeping It Healthy

As I mentioned last week, fitness and healthy body mass are at the top of the list of common New Year's resolutions.  After laying around eating chocolate for the last six weeks of the year, people don't like what they're seeing in the mirror.  So, what to do about it?

You hear everywhere that to lose weight you need to eat less and exercise more.  Phooey!  First, you need to make certain that your hormones are in balance and that your liver isn't choked with fat deposits.  I am trained to help you determine your status in those areas.

Second, you need to see if your system is overloaded with toxins coming from the environment, cleaning chemicals, personal care chemicals, water, and even food.  If your toxic load is too high, your body is unable to handle the cellular waste that results from weight loss or exercise.  If fitness is your goal, you have to keep your body running clean, just as you do your car's engine, for maximum performance.  At our clinic, we can help you determine your toxic load to see if that needs to be cleared before you begin.

Third, whether you are trying to regain a healthy body mass or get fit, you need to eat RIGHT!  Look back through my blogs and reread the series on eating right.  In that, we learned about low glycemic foods and proper hydration.

Now, let's talk about exercise.  Exercise is essential for physical, mental, and emotional health.  The basic purpose of our brains is to move our bodies,  The more we move, the better our brains function.  Almost all kids with ADD and ADHD are inactive kids.  This condition doesn't seem to affect the kids who run, jump and play.  Exercise helps with depression and other mood disorders.  It is good for the mind, body, and soul.

We discussed last week the need to maintain the machine that we call our bodies.  If we don't, it won't work right and it's performance will be impaired.  Now, let's learn about good exercise and bad exercise (no, not all exercise is good).

As I mentioned last week, if you expect to form a new habit of exercise, it needs to be a form of exercise that you enjoy.  If it's not, then you won't persevere.  Personally, I hate running.  If you see me running, please call 911 because something behind me is chasing me, burning, or about to blow up!  On the other hand, I love weightlifting, hiking, and dancing.  And that is my weekly exercise routine.  Weightlifting 3 hours, dancing 1 or more hours, and hiking, 6 or more hours.  That's on top of an average 55 hour work week.  I only add that to say that exercise can be fit into a long work week.

Is that much exercise necessary?  No!  We need at least 3 1/2 hours of exercise per week.  Now, other things also count as exercise.  House cleaning such as sweeping and mopping is a good workout.   Mowing the lawn is good exercise.  The "act of intimacy" is exercise. Basically, any activity that raises your pulse and makes you breathe hard and sweat is exercise!  The amount of time that you spend at those activities can be deducted from that 3 1/2 hour exercise need.

So, move, sweat, and breathe hard for 3 1/2 a week every week.  That's another step to help you

Live Healthy, Stay Active, and Fulfill Your Dreams