Post-Exercise Nausea...

Talk about learning from experience!

I normally do my morning workout at 5.30am, and that's usually the 30 minute cross trainer/interval training one.

Today being a bank holiday however, I booked a session with my Personal Trainer to happen at 8am. So didn't do the early morning session at home.

Had gone to bed later than usual last night (not a good idea so don't do this often) so woke up late this morning - at about 7.25am. So I really just had time to freshen up then go to the gym and be on time for my 8am session. No food, no drink.

Went to the gym, had a great (but intense) session, drinking water at intervals during the hour-long session...and then afterwards felt the most horrendous nausea...

Plus I felt wobbly all over. This has never happened to me after a workout session before (not even the 5.30am ones...) so I had to figure out why it was happening now. And I'm going to share with you the things I'd done (or not done), which contributed to how bad I felt. I don't want you making the same mistakes.

I feel great now, having corrected the correctable factors from the list below:

• Intense workout on an empty stomach. Yes I often workout on an empty stomach when I do my 5.30am sessions, but they're not as intense as what Craig put me through this morning. Plus, 8am is a couple more hours without food, after an overnight fast, than 5.30am. So basically I was a bit hypoglycemic.
  
  
• Dehydration. I normally drink 600mls of water on waking up, and a further 600mls during my 30 minute workout. Today however, because I was running late, I didn't drink that amount - after an overnight fast - I hadn't even had up to 300mls by the time I got to the gym, though I took my water bottle with me and drank some along the way as well as had some sips during the workout.
  
  
• Intense workout. It is possible that some of the things I did today were beyond my fitness level - there was definitely one workout which targetted the abs (and this morning, my abs were housing my empty stomach...): I did one level fine but the higher intensity level I couldn't do as well, found it too hard though pushed myself some. So if I'm to pick any exercise from today's session to blame as contributing to my nausea, that would be it!

Well, not all the above are correctable this morning after the workout, so I set about correcting the ones that are:

• Quickly reversed the hypoglycaema with some high glycemic fruit - grapes. Also then ate some banana and baked chicken. The protein is to help lower the glycaemic load of the meal so that the release of the sugar into my blood is sustained... Soon after I had a few grapes, I felt better.
  
  
• Reversed the dehydration by drinking, to start with, 600mls of filtered water. Now we're talking...
  

Nothing I can do about the fact the session was intense, as that's in the past. However I can do something about that in the future. I'd have been better able to cope with it if I'd had a little something to eat and drink about an hour before going to the gym. Which would have been possible if I'd woken up earlier today...which I didn't do cos I slept later than usual...which is a bit of a bummer!

Note to self: don't mess up the sleeping pattern! Early to bed and early to rise, makes a girl healthy, wealthy and wise. (from Benjamin Franklin) :D

IMPORTANT NOTE/ DISCLAIMER:

- Before you put down any nausea to just exercise, go to your doctor and have them check you out to rule out any other reason. Ladies, if you're sexually active, you want to make sure you're not pregnant, if you're getting morning nausea, for instance.

Have a fantastic, healthy day, dear reader!

Blessings to ya!

Power of Persistence: Lesson From The Conies

The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.

Conies are like badgers: they live in burrows which they've dug, often through wood but also through rocks sometimes.

This speaks to the power of persistence: ever tried to dig through a rock? No way you'll do that on day one.

But with persistence, consistency and sheer stick-to-it-iveness, (basically, with constant 'badgering'), you'll crack that rock eventually, just as the conies make their homes among rocks.

And an amazing thing is that such burrows can last for hundreds of years...this teaches the fact that the fruit of your labour, the labour of your persistence, is lasting fruit, not quick fix or here today, gone tomorrow results.

The reward of your efforts is here to stay. Think of that when next you are tempted to quit or give up: think in terms of how you oughta 'badger' the task at hand until it's done and your goal is achieved.

Have a fantastic week, dear reader!

Blessings to ya.

Kem
PS: A Proverb A Day Keeps Stupidity, Laziness, Foolishness and Failure Away. Pop on over to http://success-thru-christ.blogspot.com/ and take your dose of Wisdom for today!

How To Lower Cholesterol Without Drugs

I have had a lot of patients ask me this question. You may know someone with this dilemma. This includes questions like:

"How can I increase the level of my HDL (good cholesterol) in my blood?"

"My LDL ('bad' cholesterol) levels are fine but my triglycerides are high: how can I lower the triglyceride levels without drugs?"

If this applies to you or someone you know, read on.

The aim of this post is to cut to the chase and answer the question above - in another article I discuss why it is a concern when your LDL cholesterol (oxidised form) and triglycerides are raised, but the gist of it is that high levels of these substances put you at an increased risk of suffering from heart attacks and strokes. High levels are also found in type 2 diabetes and other conditions that make up 'Syndrome X' or 'The Metabolic Syndrome'...more on this later.


The most important weapon in your cholesterol-lowering strategy, is a healthy lifestyle.


The aspects of healthy living we shall focus on in today's post are:

• Nutrition
• Social Habits
• Exercise
  

1) Nutrition
Foods that can help lower your triglycerides and LDL ('bad') cholesterol (also raise your good cholesterol/ HDL) include:

• Cold water fish especially salmon
  
  
• Fresh water fish which are high in essential fats ('essential' because your body can't make them so you can only get them from your food)
  
  
• Fish oil supplements (not all supplements are created equal: you must take one whose purity and potency are guaranteed, and which is manufactured following Good Manufacturing Processes, to Pharmaceutical Grade quality; visit here to learn about the Fish Oil Supplement I use and recommend)
  
  
• Omega-3 containing nuts eg walnuts
  
  
• Avocado
  
  
• Garlic
  
  
• Low-glycemic carbs, many of which include veg and fruit
  
  
• Vegetables especially dark green leafy types
  
  
• Fruit (whole fruit, not processed fruit like juices)
  
  
• Foods that contain niacin (lean meat, poultry, fish, leafy green vegetables) and supplements. However do not take Niacin supplements in isolation without speaking first to your doctor. It important that you get it in the right amount, in the right combination with other vitamins and nutrients. The Essentials mega-antioxidant and mineral combination contains a balanced, bioavailable combination of essential vitamins (including niacin) and minerals. I highly recommend it, and suggest you make it your baseline source of multivitamin and mineral supplementation, to which you can then add the fish oil or other supplement.
  
  
• Soya
  
  

Foods to avoid or cut down because they raise your triglyceride levels

• Foods containing refined or processed, sugar (so always carefully read your food labels and avoid foods containing any of the '-ose' sugars eg sucrose, fructose, dextrose - any ingredient ending in '-ose' is a simple sugar, which gets converted to triglycerides in your body.
  
  
• White bread, white rice, white pasta
  
  
• Grain-based foods
  
  
• Excess saturated fats - saturated fats are not all bad - your body does need them to make vital components of your cell.
  

2) Social Habits

• Smoking is a no-no. Period.
  
  
• Alcohol - usually ok if you have the occasional drink but if you are already in the danger zone and have raised triglycerides, you should avoid alcohol altogether because the sugar it contains gets rapidly converted to triglycerides

3) Physical Exercise

• Regular exercise including cardio/aerobic and strength training exercise, helps improve your cholesterol profile.
  
  
• The Dr Kem Healthy Lifestyle program includes 4 weeks of FREE Personal Training with Malcom Martin, celebrity fitness trainer...
  

More on this to come...stay tuned!

Declutter Your Life...

Outward clutter is a reflection of a cluttered mind/inner clutter.

Ever noticed how it's hard to concentrate or focus on a task when you are surrounded by clutter?

Clutter is evil.
Clutter is not compatible with success.
Clutter attracts failure.

Clutter is the result of Laziness and Procrastination.

Procrastination is the opposite of Diligence and Discipline. So is Laziness.

You procrastinate because you're lazy.
Thus you accumulate clutter because you've fooled yourself into believing you'll take care of things another day.

"So declutter your life today."

Start by getting rid of all the clutter around your physical, outward environment. Yep, tidy that room, that office, that closet.

After decluttering your outward environment, you can then declutter your inner environment (your mind - sign up for one of the newsletters over at www.successeminars.com to discover how to do this - it's the most important type of clutter to remove because once you're mentally clutter-free, you can then maintain an outwardly clutter-free life.)

Get rid of everything you're tolerating. You should also get rid of every relationship you're simply 'tolerating' - but that's a topic for another blog post ;)
Get rid of everything you don't need.
Get rid of everything that's not pulling you towards your goal.

Be brutal with this: your life depends on it! The quality of your life depends on it. Your success or failure depends on it.

Clutter repels good things from you.
Clutter holds you back. You can't move forward in life if you're weighed down by clutter.
When you remove clutter from your life, you make room for the good things you attract.

A cluttered mind is not productive and indeed cannot be so.
A clutter-free mind is empowered to function at its peak at all times.

So get rid of ALL clutter today!

Blessings to ya!

Kem

Thoughts! Action!! Results!!!

This morning while studying the book of Proverbs I came across a verse that stopped me in my tracks because in that one verse, Solomon managed to condense the ENTIRE Personal Development industry's teachings. The whole 'law of attraction', Psychocybernetic, Neurological reprogramming, NLP industry stems from this verse.

King Solomon wrote (and remember, he was the wisest man ever, and the wealthiest man ever - so he must have known a thing or two about what he wrote): "The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness"


The words I want you to think about carefully are:
- Thoughts
- Diligent
- Only
- Plentousness.

Ever heard of the concept of 'Be->Do->Have'?

This is where that concept was born:
- Thoughts = 'Be' or who you are 'being'
- Diligent = 'Do' or what you are doing and how you're doing it
- Plentousness = 'Have' self explanatory.

I love that the only other word Solomon adds there is 'only' - which adds the meaning that there's only one possible outcome for you when you are 'being' a certain type of person and 'doing' things in a certain way. There's just no other option.

It's as precise an equation as you could ever get:

Thought + Diligence = Plentousness.

This is Personal Development, Motivational Speaking, Success Coaching, Wealth Attraction Coaching/teaching etc, in a nutshell: each of these wonderful fields, aims to help you cultivate the type of thinking skills that cause you to take the right actions so that your results are what you desire.

So today I'd love to share with you a few thinking skills you can start applying today, to put you track for success, victory, 'plentousness' in any area of your life you desire to experience it.

The Thinking Skills that create the perfect environment for you to take diligent action, include:

- Choice (and responsibility). You've got the power to choose the outcomes of your life and whether you're aware of it or not, you're exercising that power. Your current outcome in life screams out what choices you've made in the preceding days, weeks, months, years. To change the outcome, make deliberate choices in the direction of your desired result: choose to think differently (apply the rest of the thinking skills below), choose to speak differently, choose to act differently. Then take responsibility for the consequences of your choices.

- Decision: decide what your goal (intended outcome/result) is. Decide you've had enough lack, misery, ill health, mediocrity, abuse, low confidence, etc. Decide now. There is power in decision.

- Creative visualisation: you've gotta have a vision of the end result you seek, even before you take your first step. Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years? 3 years? 1 year? I could write loads more about this but I've gotta go through this list right now so I can go to work and not be late! There are lots of resources available online anyway, that teach this also. However I will send you a link when you sign up for any of the FREE newsletters over at www.successeminars.com .

- Creative bombardment: you've gotta literally bombard your senses with images of this desired vision: careful to filter out junk and distraction from your eyes and ears because these senses receive messages into your mind, where the goal-seeking mechanism operates. So you want to only allow and deliberately insert into your mind, thoughts, words, images that align with your desired end result.

If you desire wealth or health don't be watching tv shows where poverty, sickness and mediocrity are laughed over or focused on: watch shows that reflect wealth, prosperity, success; don't be hanging around people who complain and moan all the time about their ill health or their debts and such: hang around with people who talk about the good things in their lives and who are taking action to attract increase into their lives. You get the point here, dontcha. Read books, listen to cds, watch dvds or online videos which bombard your mind with the image of 'plentousness'.

- Forgiveness. Unforgiveness, malice, unresolved conflict - these are burdens that weigh you down so that you are unable to function at your best. Also, they block the channel for your blessings and 'plentousness' to get to you. So really, forgive anyone who's hurt you - you're doing it more for yourself than for them! - forgive, let go of all hurt or anger you're clinging to. And I don't say this lightly.

Watch my youtube video on 'How To Be Selfish To Succeed - aka Love Yourself', you'll hear my story and see how come I do not say this lightly at all. You will also discover how it was these same thinking skills that turned things around for me. Forgive. It's a powerful thinking skill. Forgive. It's not worth holding onto that emotional junk. Forgiving frees you to soar to greater levels than you'd possibly imagined.

- Love. The most powerful thinking skill. The actions that stem from love can only lead to success. Love God, love yourself, love your neighbour, love your colleagues, love your partner, love your kids, love your friends, love your job, love your vision; just be all about love in yourself. This topic is too huge for me to go into at this time so I'll leave you with Og Mandino's advice (from 'The Greatest Salesman In The World'): start each day saying 'I greet this day with love in my heart'; to everyone you come across today, whether or not you know them, say in your heart, but directed to that person, 'I love you'. Try it today and see what happens :)

- Gratitude. This one right here does various things: by being grateful for the vision you've got (you're grateful to God that it is coming to pass, for example), you are automatically focusing on what you desire - and what you focus on, expands, see! What you focus on becomes real. Not by magic, but by the fact that your focus motivates you to take appropriate action, and as we know, 'thought + action = results'. Gratitude sends an upward effect, and triggers a downward response right back to ya - 'when the praises go up, God's blessings come down'. Gratitude keeps you in the right frame of mind to do what you need to do, to succeed. Practice daily gratitude.

Start a 'gratitude journal' today; at the end of each day, write down at least 5 things you're thankful for (nothing is too small or too big to make the list) and read that list again next morning before you leave home for work or your day's activities. Be on the lookout for things to be grateful for throughout the day (seek and ye shall find, see.) Be grateful!


- Faith. Belief. Each of these thinking skills is a stand alone seminar topic(!) but I'll give you the gist of it today. Whatever you desire, believe you receive it and ye shall have it (according to Jesus Christ - and He don't lie...). Believe your vision is happening. Believe you can do whatever you need to do. You can do it. Yes you can. Believe that God - the almighty, Creator of the Universe - is on your side, that He is willing and able, not just to help you, but also able to do exceedingly, abundantly, worlds more than you could ever ask or even think, and He's wanting to unleash all this power in your life - if you let Him.

Believe in your product. Believe in your service. Believe in your book. Believe in yourself. Believe in others. Believe that what you say, comes to pass (which is why if you speak to a mountain and believe that what you have said will come to pass, you get what you say - again, Jesus said this, not me. I only know to [choose to] believe what He says and my goodness does it come true!)


Get your thinking skills right, then back them up with diligence (aka appropriate action) and your massive success is practically guaranteed.


Remember, as surely as 1 + 1 = 2, Thought + Diligence = Plentousness.


Have a phenomenally successful day, dear reader.


I appreciate you.


Blessings in abundance to ya!


Kem
PS: Would you like me to Speak to your group about these topics? Wherever you are in the world, it can be arranged ('virtual reality' :) ) - just drop me a line here: Contact Me

Be Proactive!

Be Proactive!
What does that mean to you?
What does it mean you should do or not do?
Why is it something you're encouraged to do?


I've been thinking a lot about the whole concept of being proactive. This has been even more so as I've been studying the book of Proverbs, and some recurrent themes there are those of Diligence, Initiative and Persistence.


Those 3 words encapsulate what it means, to be proactive, methinks.


Listen, if you desire to be successful in any endeavour: health, career, business, family, social, spiritual - you name it, you've got to make it happen. Don't just sit there wishing it'll happen to ya. You've gotta be proactive: take the initiative to do what you need to do, do it to the best of your ability (apply diligence to every act), and persist with it. You can only win when you do this!


Positive thinking is good.
Studying King Solomon's wisdom in the book of Proverbs is good.
Meditating is good.


But all of that amounts to nothing if you do not take the initiative to ACT on what you know to do. I like to tell people you can think positive until you're blue in the face (or until you get brain cramps) - if you don't back things up with APPROPRIATE ACTION, you're wasting your time cos nothing's going to happen. At least not what you'd like to have happen.


Being proactive, like the little ant, means you get the heck on with the task at hand - whether you're in the mood to do it or not, whether you feel like doing it or not. In fact, you might as well acknowledge from the beginning that you don't feel like doing a certain thing, but you're going to do it anyway because it brings you the results you want.


Don't think you can meditate your way to good health if you're not eating sensibly and exercising regularly. Every bite or sip that goes into your mouth either nourishes or kills you. There's no half way result here. Be proactive! Don't wait for someone else to come by and 'motivate you' to do what you know you gotta do. Motivate yourself! Who motivates the ant? Be proactive!


Don't think you can spend all your business hours on FaceBook or Myspace and the clients will come rushing to your door. While it may have been true in the movie 'field of dreams', in real life you don't just 'build it and they will come'. You've gotta be out there, prospecting, marketing, promoting, presenting, speaking, writing, etc. Whatever business you (think you) are in, your real business is a marketing business: having the best products or services in the world doesn't mean a thing if nobody knows about ya. You've gotta get the word out. Consistently. Be proactive!

Don't just sit there thinking your relationships will work out and endure by themselves: work on yourself! You're the only one you can work on, anyway. Don't ever think you can or should change someone else. Let them sort themselves out. (course this doesn't apply to the relationship between a parent and a child...your kids need you to guide them right.) No matter the relationship in question: personal, work, social, etc. Develop yourself so that you become the type of person who attracts the right sort of people into your life. Work on loving others genuinely, without expecting anything back. Grow as a person. Read the right types of books, seek and hang out with the right types of people, listen to the right types of material. Be proactive! Your life depends on it!

Don't think you can grow spiritually by wearing a label or answering to a certain title. It's not enough to say 'amen' to some inspiring post on someone's blog or comment. This is not the time for BS, folks. God is for real, and He's looking for people who will be real with Him and real about Him too. If you want to know the answer to the age old 'what am I here for/what is my purpose' question, if you really want your life on here to make sense and have meaning, you've gotta spend time in God's presence. Get to know your maker. Read and study His Word - it's the operation manual that came with you when you were designed. Talk to Him. Listen to Him. Obey Him. Talk about Him. Live like He says you should. Be proactive!


You want to have friends? Be proactive! Don't think friends happen by accident. Take the initiative to go out, be friendly (unconditionally). Love people, be kind to them. But you gotta go where the people are first though. Be proactive!


And with all your taking initiative, you've gotta cement your efforts by applying Diligence. I love this word. It sounds so bold, rich, regal. Love it, love its implications.


Stick with it. Keep doing the right stuff. Do it to the very best of your ability. That's what Diligence says. You only stand to gain when you apply diligence to every task.


The hand of the diligent rules
A diligent person gets to stand before people in high places
Diligence is what makes you get off your behind, take appropriate action, and actually stick to it! Diligence is an attitude that makes persistence more doable.
Be proactive!


Stick-to-it-iveness is another term for Persistence. This trait makes all the difference when combined with diligence and initiative. It's the quality that makes you not give up. It causes you to not grow weary while doing good cos you know that in due time you will surely reap a great harvest.
So go on and keep doing good in every area of your life. Be Proactive!


Let me leave you with this thought, this invitation: I invite you to D. I. P. into the waters of true, enduring, success by applying Diligence, Initiative and Persistence in other words, by being proactive!

8 Pillars of Lifelong Health: Part 1

Health is one of my big passions. Healthy lifestyles, teaching about them and helping people develop healthy habits, is a huge passion of mine. Personal Development is another, but that's for a different blog :D

By health I mean not just the absence of disease, but the lifestyle habits that make your body able to fight off degenerative diseases and function at its peak regardless of your age.

I love it when I help a patient get into healthy lifestyle habits that such 'side effects' as:
- Healthy weight loss
- Lowered blood pressure (in someone who had high blood pressure)
- Improved blood sugar status (in someone suffering from diabetes
- Lowered 'bad' cholesterol and triglycerides
... and so forth, all without prescribed medication and its attendant side effects.

It simply brings me sooo much joy when people take control, become empowered and proactive about their health, and start seeing the fruits of their labours - and believe me, when you consistently apply the information I'm sharing with you, you WILL see results, because 'In ALL labour there is profit'.

So today, let me begin to share with you an overview of what I teach my patients, then work with them to achieve. Future blog posts will expand on the following.

I give you...

The 8 Pillars of Lifelong Health
Part One

In Summary, the 8 Pillars of Lifelong Health Are:

1. Positive Mental Attitude (including Goal-Setting)
2. Healthy, Balanced, Nutrition
3. Adequate Hydration
4. Adequate Physical Exercise
5. Sleep. Adequate Rest
6. Correct Breathing Technique
   
7. Correct Posture
8. Adequate Support
   

1) Positive Mental Attitude.
Studies abound which confirm that this state of mind is conducive for health and healing. If you desire health, you need to be health conscious - don't keep focusing on your ailments and rehashing the whole bunch of symptoms over and over again; focus instead on what you can do to make you healthy. Your body does respond to your very thoughts, on a cellular level.

So be careful to hold thoughts and images of health.

Get the thought of 'losing weight' out of your mind. How? Replace it with thoughts of 'being healthy'. Being healthy has a 'side effect' of weight loss - a healthy body simply cannot hold onto excess fat - it releases it. So focus on being healthy, and the excess weight will take care of itself.

Now, because goal-setting is an important part of any achievement, when you set a goal to become healthy, you can and should set yourself some goals because then you can measure your progress.

Useful numbers for goal-setting are body fat percentage and waist measurement.

These are important because a healthy body does not hold onto excess fat - it releases it. That is why if you are overweight due to excess fat, you're not healthy and are at risk of developing a myriad of (preventable) chronic degenerative diseases.

The tables below give you a guide for recommended body fat percent range for health. To know your current body fat percentage, the quickest thing to do is pop into a gym or leisure centre and get a personal trainer to measure you using skinfold calipers.

Or go buy the calipers and measure it for yourself - only be sure you're using them correctly.

According to the American Council of Exercise:

Category	Women (% fat)	Men (% fat)>
Fitness	21-24%	14-17%
Essential Fat	10-12%	2-4%
Athletes	14-20%	6-13%
Acceptable	25-31%	18-25%
Obese	32% plus	25% plus

Body Fat Percentage For Men

Ideal body fat percentage for Men
Age(yr)	Excellent	Good	Fair	Risky
20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60+	10.8 12.8 14.5 16.1 17.5 18.6 19.5 20.0 20.3	14.9 16.5 18.0 19.3 20.5 21.5 22.3 22.9 23.4	19.0 20.3 21.5 22.6 23.6 24.5 25.2 25.9 26.4	23.3 24.3 25.2 26.1 26.9 27.6 28.3 28.9 29.5

Body Fat Percentage For Women

Ideal body fat percentage for Women
Age (Yr)	Excellent	Good	Fair	Risky
20-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60+	18.9 18.9 19.7 21.0 22.6 24.3 25.8 27.0 27.6	22.0 22.1 22.7 24.0 25.6 27.3 28.9 30.2 30.9	25.0 25.4 26.4 27.7 29.3 30.9 32.3 33.5 34.2	29.6 29.8 30.5 31.5 32.8 34.1 35.5 36.7 37.7

Healthy waist measurements are as follows:
- Less than 40inches (102cm) for men
- Less than 34.5 inches (88cm) for women

The more you think of 'losing weight', the more your subconscious hears 'weight' and the more you focus on 'weight' the more of it you attract...

Think 'health' and 'wellness' and 'fitness' from now on. Fill your mind with images that reflect this. Think in terms of the body fat percentage goal you're aiming to achieve.


2) Adequate Nutrition
Don't put the wrong fuel in your car and expect it to run perfectly.

Don't keep putting the wrong food into your body and expect it to function perfectly.

Every single bite or sip you take either nourishes and builds you up, or it poisons, destroys and kills ya.

Nutrition is a big big topic, and there is a world of information and misinformation out there so folks don't know who or what to believe anymore.

As a general guide, if the nutritional advice you receive is based on the way your body was made to function, then you can be sure it's sound. Any nutritional advice that doesn't sound natural or in line with normal biochemistry and physiology is stuff you should take with a pinch of salt. So in this blog I'm going to share with you in easy-to-understand language, information about how your body works.

This way you'll be empowered to make the right choices in terms of your food, regardless of the latest 'diet' craze. Oh by the way I'm not keen on the term 'diet' - each time you hear it, your subconscious thinks in terms of 'something with a beginning and an end'. So you're programming yourself to come off a diet right from the beginning, and what happens when you come off it? That's right - you're back to square one.

So again, when it comes to nutrition, think 'healthy eating plan' or 'healthy eating habits' or 'healthy eating lifestyle' - when it comes to your health, you've gotta be in it for the long haul, not just to slim down for a wedding or something like that. Set yourself up to succeed from the beginning, by programming your mind (using the right terminology) to steer you on course for lifelong health.

Check back here for more detailed information on nutrition, but here is a nutshell version:

Your healthy eating plan should be balanced and made of healthy foods plus nutritional supplements - no matter how healthy your diet is, current farming practices mean that by the time your vegetables get to your table, they're nutrient depleted so you are not actually getting what you need for optimal health, daily.

If you lead a very busy and hectic life, you need to supplement your diet even more because chances are you're not getting the basic healthy nutrition from your food.

In addition, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in 2002 which looked at The Use of Vitamins for Chronic Disease Prevention in Adults, concluded that "it appears prudent for all adults to take vitamin supplements." (JAMA June 2002).

Now, because it is now widely known and accepted that 'Chronic Disease' can start in children - according to the American Heart Association, "There is compelling evidence that the atherosclerosis (ath"er-o-skleh-RO'sis) (fatty deposits of plaque in artery walls) or its precursors begins in childhood and progresses slowly into adulthood."(changed in arteries, and changes leading to type 2 diabetes, have been found in children as young as 2 years old, for instance), one can extrapolate that 'it is prudent for all children to take vitamin supplements' also.

Especially in today's fast food, fast paced culture - it's amazing and scary how many parents send their children to school with 'breakfast' consisting of sweets, chocolates, cookies, crisps and coke. I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't seen it happening every single day when I used to take my son to school.

Visit http://www.trulyhealthykids.com (turn your speakers up for a brief message from me to you) to receive a free report on this vital issue, if you care about your children (or other children you are in contact with...).

The word 'supplement' does not mean to replace, however. So yes you should take supplements but this should always be in addition to a healthy, balanced, eating plan.

So, adequate nutrition for you thus includes:

• Healthy carbs (check back here for examples)
  
• Healthy proteins (ditto)
  
• Healthy fats
• Balanced, comprehensive, potency guaranteed, nutritional supplements
  
• Other nutritional and immune support like probiotics, etc.

Check back for details on the above...


3) Hydration
Your body is 70% water. You are made up of cells, and each cell needs at least 70% hydration for it to function optimally.

Anytime you are not drinking enough, dis-ease results because the cells give up their hydration to make sure the vital organs have enough. Your body is always seeking to achieve balance or equilibrium, see, and if you're not helping it by taking the right amount of water, some part or other, suffers - dis-ease. Dis-ease implies a state of imbalance or disturbance of your body's natural equilibrium.

The Healthy Lifestyle Program I teach, aims to help your body restore its natural balance without the use of prescribed medication. However in some extreme cases you may need medication temporarily.

Whenever a patient presents with a headache, when I've ruled out red flag symptoms and signs, I ask how much water they're drinking. Very often they're not drinking enough, and when they correct this, the headache often clears up. And there's no side effect with water either!

Other signs of dehydration, apart from headaches, include:

• Low back pain
• Heart burn/indigestion (so before you reach for the rennies, try filtered water.)
  
• Menstrual pain
• Water retention (paradoxical but true - so you find for instance, if you get bloated during your period, or as part of 'IBS', when you start drinking the right amount of water for your size, this symptom often disappears.)
• Chronic pain (not relating to infection)
• Depression
• Mental irritation
• Fatigue/tiredness
  

How much water should you be drinking then?

Varying schools of thought on this one. Some say (and I certainly agree that you should) drink anytime you're thirsty (drink filtered water ideally, that is). Others say you should just eat fruit and you'll get enough water from there. While I agree that you should eat fruit daily, I don't believe you should depend only on them for your hydration.

I also don't believe that 'one size fits all' when it comes to an individual's daily water requirement. This is because people are of different size - you can't need 2L of water per day if you're 5ft and the same 2L per day if you're a small child.

There is a formula for calculating recommended water intake (from the International Sports Medicine Institute), which I find very useful. Here it is:
33ml of filtered water/kg of body weight if you're not active
43ml of filtered water/kg of body weight if you're active, athletic.

If you think in terms of ounces and pounds, this comes to
1/2 ounces of filtered water per pound of body weight if you're not active
2/3 ounces of filtered water per pound of body weight if you're active.

If this sounds overwhelming, then break it up into baby steps: if for example using the above calculation your daily recommened intake is 2L/day, get a 500ml bottle of water (find a bottle made from plastic that doesn't leach into your drink - in other words, don't use bottles that are designed for once-only-use...) and fill it up 4 times in every 24 hours. Surely thats more doable?

It helps if you have your water bottle in sight all day - that way you can easily remember to drink it and fill it up throughout the day. Do this often enough and it'll become 2nd nature, habit, for you.

Now, you may be concerned that drinking this amount of water daily means you'll live in the loo...truth is, in the early days of your increased water intake, you will run to the loo often. However, your bladder tends to readjust and what you'll find is that eventually, you're able to hold your pee longer before you feel the urge to go, and when you do go, you'll pee larger amounts per visit.


4) Exercise/Physical Activity
You were not designed to be sedentary.

And anytime you behave in a way that goes against the way you were naturally created to function, dis-ease results.

There are sooo many benefits to exercise and I'm sure you're aware of many of them. I'll be listing them later on in this blog, so check back.

The purpose of today's overview is to tell you what to include in your exercise program, for health and fitness.

- Daily aerobic (cardio) exercise: aim for 30-60 minutes per day of aerobic exercise that gets your heart rate up, so if walking your dog is a leisurely paced-walk for you, it's not doing the job. If you don't have the time to workout for that long, then you can work out for shorter periods of time, BUT it must be interval training - few minutes of moving as fast as you possibly can, followed by a few minutes of moving brisk but slower than before. You should be able to just hold a conversation while doing your cardio. If you can't, then you're overdoing it and need to slow down your pace.

Add some extra zing to your workout, and burn more calories when you retro-exercise too: walk or run backwards! Studies show you burn twice the amount of calories when you retro-exercise. On weekdays, I spend 30 minutes on the cross trainer - 15 minutes forward and 15 minutes moving backwards. On weekends I spend 45-60 minutes per day on the cross trainer so I do 15 mins front, 15 mins back. And I've noticed that I do a lot more work in the same amount of time, when I do it retro. (Note, if you walk outdoors, don't retro-walk unless you're walking with a buddy who can be your 'eyes' - don't be running into cars now!)

- Strength training every other day, but at least 2ce a week. No exercise program worth its salt is complete without some form of resistance training using weights. If you don't know what to be doing, pop over into your local gym or leisure centre, and get one of the personal trainers there to advice you on what weight training exercises you need to do.

Very important if you're at risk of Osteoporosis (hint: women, take note, especially if you're approaching, or have gone past the menopause...).

- Stretching exercises are great to help you maintain your flexibility. Do them after your workouts. Yoga and Pilates are also great for this.


5) Sleep. Rest.
Your body needs adequate rest time to replenish nutrients, direct nutrients to where they're needed and generally refresh you.

You need an adequate amount of sleep on a daily basis, if you're to function optimally.

Sleep deprivation affects you in many ways (and if you're looking to shed some of your excess fat, you need to have adequate sleep, as studies have linked sleep deprivation with weight gain...).

How much sleep is enough sleep?

Again, I don't believe one size fits all, but there seems to be a concensus that 7 hours minimum per night are conducive for optimal health.

So really, beauty sleep is not a myth...


Stay tuned for more thoughts on health...there are a 3 more 'Pillars' that I consider paramount for optimal health (notice the focus is always on OPTIMAL health, not on mediocre or for 'settling for' health): I want the best for you, dear reader as I do for my clients, patients and myself.


Meantime have yourself a healthy week.


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