Exercise: How Much and How Often

Regular exercise is a given if you want to stay fit and healthy. Exercise impacts every part of your health from weight loss and management to cardiovascular health and blood sugar management. You may wonder just how much exercise you really need and how often you need to exercise.

According to the Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, adults should shoot for at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) to 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity. It is also recommended that strength training be included two days a week.

While these numbers are not set in stone – you can do more or less as your schedule, goals and routine permit – it is a good baseline to consider.

In Today is Still the Day I share strategies to incorporate short periods of activity throughout your day, which is extremely important. I believe the bottom line is not so much spending a specific amount of time at the gym or working out at home as it is to build activity into your day. The more sedentary you are and the less you move throughout your day the fewer health benefits you enjoy. (Watch for a blog on this subject in a few weeks!)

Obviously it will also depend on your goals. If you are trying to lose weight, build muscle and increase strength, you will want to create a different routine than if you simply want to maintain healthy weight or improve your circulation or heart health.

One caution: yes, you can exercise too much although for most people the opposite is the issue. Overtraining can result in muscle soreness, injury and increased inflammation. So being sure to have the right combination of exercise as well as rest and recovery is key. Creating inflammation will cause more problems. So keep in mind more is not always better.

Finally besides choosing activities you enjoy and will keep doing consistently, be sure to vary your routines. Your body is extremely intelligent and if you do the same type and amount of exercise day in and day out, your body will stop responding and you won’t make any progress. You want to vary the type of exercise, amount, duration and intensity regularly to keep your body surprised and getting the most benefit from your efforts.

How often do you exercise?

Want to see more articles like this?   Subscribe to this blog (just click on “Follow”) and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader.  To follow me and get even more tips on how to live your life in 3-D, including improving your diet, choosing cutting edge nutritional products and effective weight loss strategies be sure to like me on Facebook here and here, sign up for my FREE weekly No-Nonsense Nutrition Report (and get a free gift!), follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!

Make gradual changes. Boost health, vitality and energy. Become your best YOU

Diabetes: Coffee and Green Tea

Happy New Year! As we begin this new year I wanted to share some exciting research on two of the most popular beverages – coffee and green tea. Both coffee and green tea have numerous health benefits of their own. I wrote about some of coffee’s benefits here and here. Green tea is another nutritional powerhouse and I wrote about some of its benefits here and here. And many studies have been conducted on their health benefits on the general population.

I was excited to see a recent Japanese study demonstrating those with diabetes who drink green tea and coffee experience a reduction in all-cause mortality. What’s interesting here is the study showed that those who drank both seemed to get the best results as opposed to just drinking one or the other.

While I do not have diabetes and don’t ever intend to, this made me especially happy because I have been combining those two healthy beverages, along with some others, in my morning elixir. It’s delicious, satisfies me until lunchtime and provides numerous health benefits. I always try to combine as many nutrients as possible to get the biggest bang for my nutritional buck. This was a very nice confirmation as to what I have been doing for years,

Do you drink coffee and green tea or just one or the other? Would you consider drinking both after reading this?

Want to see more articles like this?   Subscribe to this blog (just click on “Follow”) and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader.  To follow me and get even more tips on how to live your life in 3-D, including improving your diet, choosing cutting edge nutritional products and effective weight loss strategies be sure to like me on Facebook here and here, sign up for my FREE weekly No-Nonsense Nutrition Report (and get a free gift!), follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!

Make gradual changes. Boost health, vitality and energy. Become your best YOU

New Year Wishes

2021 is days away. Most, if not all of us, are not sorry to say good bye to 2020 and are more than ready to turn that calendar page.

I just wanted to wish you a truly happy, healthy and blessed New Year. My prayer for us all is that we experience blessings, peace, love and joy in our lives in a greater measure than ever before.

 

Want to see more articles like this?   Subscribe to this blog (just click on “Follow”) and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader.  To follow me and get even more tips on how to live your life in 3-D, including improving your diet, choosing cutting edge nutritional products and effective weight loss strategies be sure to like me on Facebook here and here, sign up for my FREE weekly No-Nonsense Nutrition Report (and get a free gift!), follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!

Make gradual changes. Boost health, vitality and energy. Become your best YOU

 

Christmas Blessings

This has been one of the most chaotic, frightening, confusing, frustrating and stressful years I can ever remember and I know many people for whom it has been much more challenging than it has for me.

I just wanted to take a moment and say a genuine, heart-felt thank you to everyone who takes the time to read and comment on what I share. It means a lot to me and I do not take it lightly. Time is our most precious resource so I am truly grateful to each and every one of you.

And I wish you and your family a blessed, healthy and joyous Christmas and Hanukkah – regardless of the events of this year.

Want to see more articles like this?   Subscribe to this blog (just click on “Follow”) and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader.  To follow me and get even more tips on how to live your life in 3-D, including improving your diet, choosing cutting edge nutritional products and effective weight loss strategies be sure to like me on Facebook here and here, sign up for my FREE weekly No-Nonsense Nutrition Report (and get a free gift!), follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!

Make gradual changes. Boost health, vitality and energy. Become your best YOU

Oral Health: Should You Use Mouthwash

Every system of our body has its own microbiome. This includes the mouth. Maintaining a healthy balance of the friendly bacteria housed in our mouths improves overall health, including cardiovascular health.

New research reveals that a balanced oral microbiome helps maintain good cardiovascular health via the conversion of nitrates into nitric oxide (NO), a signaling molecule that helps maintain normal blood pressure. This study also shows that chlorhexidine, an antiseptic substance in mouthwash, may kill NO-producing bacteria, which in turn, may raise systolic blood pressure.

To further complicate this, other research seemed to show that Sars-Cov-2 viruses can be inactivated using certain commercially available mouthwashes. These are preliminary studies and the mouthwashes don’t treat or protect against catching the virus.

Personally, I only use flouride and antibiotic-free mouth rinses made either with natural ingredients or I simply oil pull and rinse with green tea. Drinking green tea is known to help reduce blood pressure and may boost the antibacterial capacity of saliva. Rinsing with it was found to be more effective in reducing gingivitis than chlorhexidine. Without increasing blood pressure.

One other simple thing you can do to improve your oral microbiome is to scrape your tongue first thing each morning, and then rinse your mouth. When your tongue isn’t cleaned regularly, it creates a low-oxygen environment where bacteria like Klebsiella can thrive. The majority of the microbes in our mouths live on our tongue.

Do you regularly use mouthwash? Does this information change your thoughts on that? Do you practice any of the other things mentioned?

Want to see more articles like this?   Subscribe to this blog (just click on “Follow”) and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader.  To follow me and get even more tips on how to live your life in 3-D, including improving your diet, choosing cutting edge nutritional products and effective weight loss strategies be sure to like me on Facebook here and here, sign up for my FREE weekly No-Nonsense Nutrition Report (and get a free gift!), follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!

Make gradual changes. Boost health, vitality and energy. Become your best YOU

Health: An Overlooked Cause of Inflammation

I’ve shared numerous times in the past that inflammation is at the root of most, if not all, chronic disease. We know eating packaged, processed, fake foods increases inflammation as does using vegetable and seed oils, trans fats, gluten, sugar and high fructose corn syrup and processed meats.

However, here is something else that drives destructive inflammation that you may find surprising. Anxiety.

According to Dr. David Hanscom: “Anxiety is a physiological response to a threat. Your whole body is on fire. You need to decrease anxiety, decrease cytokines, decrease that stress response. If your body’s inflamed, you’re going to feel anxious.”

Every cell in the body has cytokines. The term “cytokine” is derived from a combination of two Greek words – “cyto” meaning cell and “kinos” meaning movement. Cytokines are cell signaling molecules that aid cell to cell communication in immune responses and stimulate the movement of cells towards sites of inflammation, infection and trauma.

By reducing or resolving stress and anxiety, you lower levels of inflammatory cytokines. Not only does this allow your immune system to function better, it also relieves pain. Anxiety is a symptom of inflammation. Inflammation is a symptom of anxiety. Quite the vicious cycle. They are directly connected.

The antidote to anxiety is control. When you lose control, your body secretes more stress hormones, more cytokines, which trigger anger and anxiety. When you’re angry or stressed out, you’re in a constant state of threat. When you’re trapped by anything, especially chronic pain or even trapped in your house from COVID, you’re frustrated, which increases your inflammatory cytokines.

Your sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) is activated in response to threats, whereas your parasympathetic nervous system (rest and digest) is activated through the relaxation response. As I detailed in this newsletter, the vagus nerve is the connection. The newsletter details simple ways to activate your vagus nerve, triggering the relaxation response.

Does it surprise you to learn that anxiety triggers inflammation in your body which can compromise your immune function?

Want to see more articles like this?   Subscribe to this blog (just click on “Follow”) and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader.  To follow me and get even more tips on how to live your life in 3-D, including improving your diet, choosing cutting edge nutritional products and effective weight loss strategies be sure to like me on Facebook here and here, sign up for my FREE weekly No-Nonsense Nutrition Report (and get a free gift!), follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!

Make gradual changes. Boost health, vitality and energy. Become your best YOU

 

Exercise: 2 Ways to Promote Longevity

Exercise is important in weight loss and maintenance as well as cardiovascular, brain and overall health. It is also important if one of your goals is to live a long, healthy life. Exercise physiologists have identified two exercise tips that promote longevity:

First of all engaging your fast-twitch, explosive muscles are a powerful way to promote longevity. One of the best ways to do that, and one I use twice a week, is HIIT workouts. These workouts boost cellular processes that make new proteins, which in turn support protein synthesis, reverse some effects of aging and increase muscle mass in older adults. In fact, according to this study, of 1500 participants between the ages of 70 and 77, doing a high intensity workout a couple of times of week may provide the most health benefits.

Other ways to activate these fast-twitch muscle fibers are through exercises using kettle bells, lunges and plyometric training, which involves jumping. I include jumping jacks daily and I also do one HIIT workout that includes plyometrics as well as strength training and walking outdoors on my local trails.

The second tip is to switch up your workouts regularly, which I have always recommended. It’s one of my strategies in Today is Still the Day. Use a combination of exercise strategies. Some days do weight training, on others HIIT, include long slower cardio like walking on a treadmill or local trails, jogging, swimming, rebounding or Pilates.

Including different types of exercise promotes healthy aging by improving cardio-respiratory fitness and slowing the loss of muscle mass that naturally occurs in the aging process.

Do you include a variety of different types of exercise in your program in order to promote a long, healthy life?

Want to see more articles like this?   Subscribe to this blog (just click on “Follow”) and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader.  To follow me and get even more tips on how to live your life in 3-D, including improving your diet, choosing cutting edge nutritional products and effective weight loss strategies be sure to like me on Facebook here and here, sign up for my FREE weekly No-Nonsense Nutrition Report (and get a free gift!), follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!

Make gradual changes. Boost health, vitality and energy. Become your best YOU

Thanksgiving Blessings 2020

Simple November 2020 calendar decorated with pumpkins on wooden background. View from above. Top view

I wish you and your family a truly blessed Thanksgiving. I am very grateful that you take time out of what I know is a busy day to read what I have to share and I hope you will continue to do so.

This has been a challenging, chaotic, frustrating, frightening at times, crazy, upside down year for all of us.

My prayer is that we can all take time out to be with those we love, offer gratitude and praise to God for all our many blessings despite of all the difficulties and challenges of 2020.

We are still here and breathing, let’s find the good, share it and make the most of this and every day.

I also wanted to share that my newest book. Tips for Staying Healthy; During the 2020 Pandemic and Beyond is now available on Kindle. It will be available as a print book later this week. I have compiled the best research and info from credible sources over the past 9 months that I hope and pray will help you and your family stay healthy during this challenging time.

Want to see more articles like this?   Subscribe to this blog (just click on “Follow”) and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader.  To follow me and get even more tips on how to live your life in 3-D, including improving your diet, choosing cutting edge nutritional products and effective weight loss strategies be sure to like me on Facebook here and here, sign up for my FREE weekly No-Nonsense Nutrition Report (and get a free gift!), follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!

Make gradual changes. Boost health, vitality and energy. Become your best YOU

Mindset: How is Negativity Bias Shortcircuitig Your Results

Insults, criticism, bad news. Have you ever noticed how much easier it is to focus on the negative? We tend to remember traumatic experiences better than positive, joyful ones; we recall insults more readily than praise; we think about negative things more often than positive things; we respond more strongly to negative events than we do to positive ones and we react more strongly to negative stimuli.

Apply this to your personal experience. Even if you were having a wonderful day and everything was just flowing along smoothly, if one thing went wrong – a coworker unintentionally made a remark you felt was critical. If your spouse asked you how your day was, you may be likely to focus on that one negative thing.

This is referred to as “negativity bias.” No matter how positive a person you are, you experience this to some degree. We all do.

I apply this to health and making habit and lifestyle changes. Psychology suggests people seem to be less motivated to complete a task when it is presented as a positive means to gain something. When it is presented as something that will help them avoid the loss of something, motivation is increased. So most people, instead of focusing on what they will gain by continuing to work toward a goal, are more likely to focus on what they may have to give up in order to achieve that goal.

It made me wonder if instead of being able to focus on their goal of more energy, healthier aging, resolution of serious health issues, most people are just automatically defaulting to focusing on having to cut back on sugar, give up some foods they are addicted to and start exercising more as things they are giving up, therefore focusing on the “negative” aspect.

It isn’t rational since those very things may be keeping them sick, but it may be the underlying, subconscious reason.

Do you think negativity bias could be keeping you from following through on your health goals?

Want to see more articles like this?   Subscribe to this blog (just click on “Follow”) and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader.  To follow me and get even more tips on how to live your life in 3-D, including improving your diet, choosing cutting edge nutritional products and effective weight loss strategies be sure to like me on Facebook here and here, sign up for my FREE weekly No-Nonsense Nutrition Report (and get a free gift!), follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!

Make gradual changes. Boost health, vitality and energy. Become your best YOU. 

Health: Change is Hard and How to Make it Easier

I have struggled with why clients find it so difficult to make the healthy changes they so desperately want and need to. Here are some eye-opening statistics:

• Only 6% of Americans consistently engage in the top five health behaviors
• Only 8% of people follow through with their New Year’s resolutions
• Between 80 and 95% of people that lose weight gain it back

In fact a medical study showed that when heart doctors told their seriously ill, at-risk patients that they would literally die if they didn’t make changes in diet, exercise and smoking habits, only one in seven succeeded in making those changes! That is astounding to me. I can’t imagine all those people did not want to live long, healthier lives. Perhaps they just refused to believe it could happen to them? I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine here.

What that says to me is that while information is important in order for us to understand the issue, what we are being told to do and why, it is not enough by itself. I’ve always said we have to stop trying to just manage symptoms and get to the root cause of any issue.

Making changes to your diet, sleep or exercise habits is not as simple as knowing what you need to do and then just doing it. There’s more involved than that. It has always seemed people are looking for that “magic pill” they can just take and it fixes everything. Problem is, there is no such thing!

Making gradual, targeted, intentional changes to diet and lifestyle are powerful ways to address root causes. But they require effort, time, patience and perseverance. These are what are termed “adaptive challenges.” We can’t just start eating broccoli or take a multivitamin, walk 2 miles a day and be done with it. They require a transformation in mindset and behavior.

This is why I provide information and resources as well as accountability and support as clients take one baby step at a time toward greater health and wholeness. It is a process and adjusting and changing your mindset is as, if not more important, than the gradual, incremental physical steps you must take to address the root cause of the illness.

Are you willing to make changes to your lifestyle and habits, including your mindset, in order to address the root cause of any health issue you may be facing?

Want to see more articles like this?   Subscribe to this blog (just click on “Follow”) and get each new post delivered to your email or feed reader.  To follow me and get even more tips on how to live your life in 3-D, including improving your diet, choosing cutting edge nutritional products and effective weight loss strategies be sure to like me on Facebook here and here, sign up for my FREE weekly No-Nonsense Nutrition Report (and get a free gift!), follow me on Pinterest and Twitter!

Make gradual changes. Boost health, vitality and energy. Become your best YOU.