Approximately 80% of your body’s composition is based on the foods that you consume. In the last posts, I have suggested the ones that should be eliminated, the ones that should be included, and some possible supplements that have merit. Here is the rest of the story and more…
Physical Activity:
• Aerobic Exercise for about 2 hours a week helps burn fat and stabilize hormones. These exercises should be performed at 55% to 75% of your estimated maximum heart rate, which is determined by this formula: 208 – (age x 0.7). As an example, if you were 50 years old, then your maximum heart rate would be (208 – 35) = 173. Your aerobic routine should be performed between a heart rate of 95 (i.e. 55% of 173) beats per minute and 130 (i.e. 75% of 173) beats per minute. If you go below 95, there will be no exercise benefit; if you go above 130, the exercise becomes anaerobic – not what you want to do. Adequate rest between exercises is critical for healthy results.
• Brief and Intense Strength Training builds muscle strength and improves hormone efficiency that allow your body to function optimally and speed metabolism. Science has shown that doing four simple movements taking as little as 10-20 minutes twice a week can get your body in shape. These movements are squats, pull-ups, pushups, and planks.
• High Intensity Interval Training is the ultimate beneficial exercise for your heart, your muscles, your hormones, and your weight. You could perform this once a week for 10-20 minutes in total. You would start with a warm up of 1-2 minutes. Each cycle might consist of (1) 7-30 seconds of all-out-to-exhaustion pedaling on a recumbent bike, and (2) rest for about 90 seconds to regain your normal breath. This cycle should be repeated for 2-8 cycles. Then, finish with a 1-2 minute cool down.
• Non-Exercise Movement is just walking or moving about. Your goal should be to take approximately 10,000 steps per day. A pedometer is best to register these steps. Today, pedometers can be carried in your pocket, worn around your waist or wrist, or even worn around your neck.
• Standing rather than Sitting has recently been shown to be important for overall health, and the health of your joints and stabilizing muscles. It has been postulated that sitting most of the day may be as unhealthy as smoking.
• Restorative Sleep is not actually physical activity but rather physical inactivity. Sleep is critical to maintain normal hormonal repair in your body. But restorative sleep is not haphazard; it should be based on the natural circadian rhythm that is a result of the sun rising and setting at different times in the year. On average, it is best to get at least 7-8 hours of sleep each night starting from the hours of 9-11 PM in a dark, cool setting.
• Total Stress Load is physically demanding and must be reduced. Stress can build internally from physical causes, emotional causes, and chemical causes. All these will accumulate over time and become detrimental to your overall health. Physical causes could be the result of over-exercising. Emotional stresses could be the result of how you deal with life itself. Chemical stresses could be the result of toxins in foods, bacterial infections, and environmental toxins. Environmental toxins are abundant like aluminum in antiperspirants, heavy metals in water and other foods, and insecticides inside and outside of your home.
I am living proof that you certainly can teach an old dog new tricks! I only began these changes for myself in 2013 when I was 67 years old. I have personally improved my life and my health by making these lifestyle changes. It is never too late to start.
NOTE:
I DO NOT RECEIVE ANY COMPENSATION FROM ANY OF THE COMPANIES I HAVE RECOMMENDED.
Healthier Mouth … Healthier Lifestyle … Healthier You
Longevity is Good; Quality is Better!
Statistically, we are living longer in the US today than ever before, but we are developing chronic diseases that significantly interfere with the quality of our golden years. Some of us are in distress and pain for decades before succumbing to these chronic diseases. This is not the way the human body was designed or evolved to be.
We were not born deficient in prescription drugs. We were not born to have to go to the physician every year to stay healthy or to see a dentist twice a year to prevent and treat gum disease and cavities. We were not born to require supplements of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients for our bodies to function properly.
We were born to be healthy. We were born to retain our adult teeth throughout our lives until we die. We were born to move and jump and run and exert our bodies. We also were born to have pleasure and relax with nature.
Imagine this: Think of sitting on your four-legged dining room chair, and notice what happens. You are comfortable and stable. Now what would happen if one leg suddenly were removed? You’d topple over. How about two legs? Three Legs? You need all four legs of this four-legged chair to give you the support you need. Your healthy, productive body needs stability too. And, your mouth is just an extension of your functioning body. Your mouth is not an island unto itself; it is intricately and intimately connected to everything that happens to each cell in your body.
Just as there are four legs to this dining room chair, there are four pillars to a healthy “you”. Chronic disease occurs when one or more of these are broken. The four pillars are:
• Nutrient-dense real foods
• Restorative sleep
• Efficient exercise
• Stress reduction
Here is a brief description of each pillar:
• Nutrient-dense real foods provide the energy sources that every cell in your body needs to do its thing. These foods consist of wild-caught and free-range animal products from nose to tail along with their wonderful fats, all veggies, some densely colored fruits, as well as nuts and seeds in moderation. These foods also support your good gut bacteria, which are critical for health.
• Restorative sleep allows important systems of your body to replenish themselves. Your body needs at least 7-8 hours of sleep every night ideally in a quiet, cool, dark space. Your body can’t function properly if you try to catch up on sleep over the weekend. That’s not how it works.
• Efficient exercise helps maintain and build your body with the least amount of effort for the maximum effect. A science-based, practical routine could include (1) a 10 to 20 minute workout of high-intensity sprinting once every 7 to 10 days, and (2) a 10 to 20 minute workout of strength-training exercises twice a week including squats, pushups, pull-ups, and planks. Also, science has shown that non-exercise movement throughout the day may be as important as efficient exercise. Standing as much as possible and sitting as little as possible should become routine. Simple walking is good movement, and a realistic goal to strive for each day should be 10,000 steps. A good tool to record how many steps you take everyday is a pedometer – a good brand is Omron.
• Stress reduction includes removal of toxins from internal and external sources as well as removal of psychological stresses. Stresses from any source are toxic to all cells and eventually to all organ systems. As these stressors build up in the body to overload the system, clinical manifestations can appear like the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. These manifestations of toxic overload frequently are expressed differently for each individual.
Your body was designed to be a finely tuned machine. These four pillars of health assist every cell in your body to perform as it was meant to perform to create longevity and most importantly quality of life.
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Have Respect for What is Right
When you think about things changing over time, you might compare how things are today related to a time in the past. For example, a gallon of gasoline today costs about $3.35, but a gallon of gas when I started driving in Baltimore in the mid 1960s cost $0.23 a gallon. Styles of clothing have changed decade after decade. Food preparation certainly has changed from when our grandparents were cooking compared to how we cook today. Everything is relative. Some things are better today; some things were better in times gone by.
Old is also relative. After my wife and I moved to Charleston over 40 years ago, we were impressed with the city’s history and homes that dated back several hundred years. I thought that was old. Years after moving to Charleston, my wife and I traveled to Israel. We were shown and told about buildings that were built several thousand years ago. We thought that was really old. Sometimes old is good; sometimes old is not so good. But several thousand years is not that old.
Really old is when you go back 2.5 million years and look at our evolution. During that period of time, our bodies slowly adapted to our environment and the foods that were available to us for nutrition. Our bodies developed a method of using nutrients for our growth and survival. It took 2.5 million years for our cells and organs to slowly evolve. We need to respect what our bodies need.
Degenerative diseases today can be traced back to the insults from certain foods that we began to eat about 10,000 years ago and which our guts were never designed to digest completely. Also, toxins we ingest as well as toxins we create internally are related to these degenerative diseases.
We need to understand what was right about the diet and lifestyle of our primal ancestors. We shouldn’t condemn modern life; we should make progress where progress leads to betterment. Change usually is for the good. Yet, we never should lose sight of what our bodies essentially require. Nutrient-dense foods are always going to be the right things for us. That will never change!
So what are nutrient-dense foods? These are foods that have an abundance of the things we need with little or none of the things we don’t need. Specifically these are:
• Free range and grass fed animal products from nose to tail including all their wonderful fat and organs
• Wild caught seafood
• All kinds and colors of vegetables including seaweeds
• Fermented foods
• Most fruits with an emphasis on the deeply colored varieties
• Some nuts and seeds in moderation
Don’t get confused with all the processed products on the grocery shelves that have been filled with chemicals and artificial ingredients that can only harm our individual cells. Always keep in mind that you want to eat what is natural – not what has been transformed and processed into cutely packaged goodies. Amazingly, your overall health is at stake here, and your mouth will be the healthy recipient.