Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Have a Healthy Body, Eat Right and Live Longer

It is near impossible to eat the required daily amounts of necessary vitamins, minerals and all that our bodies require for optimal performance in any one given day. Optimal performance means waking up in the morning fuelled with ample energy to take on every day with clear thoughts for managing our challenges effectively. A strong musculoskeletal system for good posture and circulation, as well as a clear communication system between the body and the mind.

We would need boxes of fresh fruit and vegetables picked fresh from our own backyard gardens on a daily basis. We would have had to start this diet plan when we were very young to avoid any free radical damage that happens over time as we are exposed to the elements of too much smog, too much smoke, too much chemical from cleaners, air fresheners, second hand smoke, dirty engines, paints, solvents, nail polish, preservatives and the list can go on. As the body is exposed, the damage starts and in most cases the problem begins very small inside the body and then by the time we feel or see the symptoms, the problem has grown to a point that the body itself can not heal on its own and requires support for the healing system to function and repair the damage. The human body is an amazing biological operating system. It will continue to function to the best of its ability, taking whatever resources that it needs from anywhere in the body and this results in system problems and difficulty targeting the cause, because ultimately if we do not give our body the tools it needs to operate in its ideal form, it will eventually begin to break down. There is no alternative. The cells in a human body are always regenerating or degenerating. It is imperative that we give our body the nutrition it needs, not only for maintaining a healthy body but also for growth and development of healthy new cells. The cells are the building blocks for the whole body. Healthy cells make healthy organs and from that we get healthy systems and ultimately an entire healthy body. We will not have a healthy body without healthy cells and we will not get healthy cells unless we are feeding our body with healthy cell food. Not food that is too sweet, or too salty, or too greasy, or too patsy, or too big.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Is Health at Any Size Possible?

In this newsletter edition, I will attempt to challenge your view of fat as being equal to unhealthy.

It wasn't until recently that I realized that all the information I had been fed about weight research was only one side of the coin. I didn't even recognize that the coin fell on the side of the diet industry. I ate all that I was fed and only felt bad about myself when I wasn't their "ideal weight".

No longer; I now see the other side of the coin. To start to reveal the other side of the coin, I will allow the words of Katherine Flegal to help me (thus, I will not be the only one preaching here):

Katherine M. Flegal, PhD, Senior Research Scientist at the National Center for Health Statistics, CDC, explains, "Although people think there's all this evidence out there showing a high mortality risk associated with (being) overweight, in fact the literature doesn't show it." Far from it. Flegal's research, analyzing 30 years of actual deaths in the US, corrected an earlier CDC report that indicated severe risks related to (being) overweight. She showed instead that being clinically 'overweight' is associated with a lower death rate than so-called 'normal' or 'healthy' weight. (JAMA 2005;293:1861-1867). It confirmed much earlier research that had been studiously ignored.

Further, I would like to point out that research telling us to lose weight isn't even working! Instead, the more we diet, the more we become more and more obsessed with food, our bodies and our failures. So, even if you do believe that being fat is unhealthy, is dieting really working for you?