Category: Fitness


Brought to us by Elizabeth Carrollton of Drugwatch.com

Exercise and Diet are Important to Diabetes Health

In this day and age, there seems to be a pharmaceutical solution to every problem. Even diet and exercise can purportedly be replaced with a pill or a shake or some other solution. While there are many medications available for diabetes health, including the drug Actos, some of these medications carry serious risks. So while a patient might be helping themselves in the short term, the long-term implications of certain drugs could be serious and cannot be ignored. The well-known diabetes drug Actos has been linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer. This begs the question: Can the need for diabetes medication be reduced through a healthy lifestyle?

Exercise and good nutrition are absolutely essential for a patient with diabetes. Not only can they increase lifespan and improve diabetes health, but they can also reduce the need for diabetes medications and can even help a patient avoid diabetes complications. Both good nutrition and exercise can help to control blood sugar on a short-term and long-term scale.

  • Good nutrition. This is the foundation for diabetes health management. Someone with diabetes will need to work with a nutritionist to develop a good eating plan for blood sugar management. Patients with diabetes need to create a balanced diet providing the right nutrients without cutting carbohydrates out entirely. While lower-carbohydrate diets work well, cutting all carbohydrates out can create an imbalance, causing other problems along the way. Working with a nutritionist is key to striking up the right balance among calories, fat, carbohydrates, protein and fiber, along with other vital nutrients.
  • Cardiovascular exercise. The benefits of cardiovascular exercise are numerous, and the list is even longer for patients with diabetes. On both a short- and long-term basis, cardiovascular exercise can help to lower and control blood sugar levels. Improving physical fitness can also benefit the health in other ways. Increasing blood flow can fight against neuropathy and other vascular issues caused by diabetes complications, for example.
  • Stretching and yoga. Stretching, practicing yoga and similar activities can also benefit diabetes health. Patients who practice yoga on a regular basis decrease their stress levels, which can impact blood glucose control in a big way. Because stress and sleeping issues can affect blood sugar management, both in the short term and long term, finding ways to balance the mood and deal with stress can be extremely beneficial, and yoga is an excellent way to achieve this.
  • Strength training. This is another extremely beneficial form of exercise. Building strong, long and lean muscles is key to weight management and can also help with blood glucose control. Strength training using weights, weight machines or other forms of resistance training can improve overall health while having a profoundly positive impact on diabetes health management, making it an essential part of the lifestyle for anyone who has diabetes.
  • Weight loss. Not every patient with diabetes needs to lose weight, but those who do can benefit from good nutrition and plenty of healthy exercise. These are the two most important building blocks in developing a healthy lifestyle for anyone, not just those people who have diabetes.

Good diet and nutrition, paired with regular exercise, are two essential keys to diabetes health management. Patients with diabetes who want to decrease their Actos dosage and overall reliance on pharmaceuticals can gain some control over their health through nutrition and exercise considerations.

Elizabeth Carrollton writes about defective medical devices and dangerous drugs for Drugwatch.com.

Exercise

Here is another wonderful article compliments of Whole Living Magazine showing the powerful combination of green tea and black pepper and its aid in weight loss.  Cynthia Sass, a Registered Dietician, discusses a recent Rutgers University study that showed that consuming green tea along with a meal containing black pepper assisted in weight loss.  The spice Black Pepper created an increase in absorption of  EGCG in the tea by 130%.

We feature many recipes with freshly ground black pepper.
To jump start your weight loss you may want to begin implementing this simple trick combining green tea and a meal with black pepper.

 

 

The Alkalarian Approach
to Optimal Health
by Dr. Robert and Shelley Young

OUR BODIES WERE DESIGNED TO BE HEALTHY, slender and energetic. We were intended to have smooth, supple skin and a quick, alert mind.
Instead we are overweight, tired, and sluggish. WHY?

The New Biology™

Dr. Robert O. Young’s New Biology™, most simply stated, is that the over-acidification of the body is the single underlying cause of all disease.

In contrast, the old biology, based on the work of Louis Pasteur in the late 1800s, stems from the idea that disease comes from germs which invade the body from the outside. Dr. Young has found that when the body is in healthy alkaline balance, germs are unable to get a foothold.

Think of Your Body as a Fish Tank.

Think of the importance of maintaining the integrity of the internal fluids of the body that we “swim” in daily.

Imagine the fish in this tank are your cells and organ systems bathed in fluids, which transport food and remove wastes. Now imagine we back up a car and put the tailpipe up against the air intake filter that supplies the oxygen for the water in the tank instead of a quality water machine. The water becomes filled with carbon monoxide, lowering the alkaline pH, creating an acidic pH environment, and threatening the health of the “fish,” your cells and organs.

What if we throw in too much food or the wrong kind of food (acid-producing food like dairy, sugar, and animal protein) and the fish are unable to consume or digest it all, and it starts to decompose and putrefy? Toxic acid waste and chemicals build up as the food breaks down, creating more acidic byproducts, altering the optimum alkaline pH of the water.

Basically, this is a small example of what we may be doing to our internal fluids every day. We are fouling them with pollution, smoking, drugs, excessive intake of food, over-consumption of acid-forming foods, and any number of transgressions which compromise the delicate balance of our internal alkaline fluids.

Some of us have fish tanks (bodies) that are barely able to support life, yet we somehow manage to struggle from day to day, building more sever imbalances until there is the inevitable crash and debilitating chronic, disturbing and disorganizing symptoms to deal with.

The pH level (the acid-alkaline measurement) of our internal fluids affects every cell in our bodies. Extended acid imbalances of any kind are not well tolerated by the body. Indeed, the entire metabolic process depends on a balanced internal alkaline environment. A chronically over-acidic pH corrodes body tissue, slowly eating into the 60,000 miles of veins and arteries like acid eating into marble. If left unchecked, it will interrupt all cellular activities and functions, from the beating of your heart to the neural firing of your brain. In summary, over-acidification interferes with life itself leading to all sickness and disease!

How do you know if you’re overly acidic?

Fat is an Acid Problem so Drink Your Greens!

Perhaps one of Dr. Young’s most well known discoveries is his theory of the cause of obesity—the overweight. He has shown that fat is actually an over-acidification problem. What does that mean? The body creates fat cells to carry acids away from your vital organs, so these acids literally don’t choke your organs to death. Fat is saving your life! Fat is actually a response from the body to an alarming over-acidic condition. So how do you lose weight? Alkalize and Exercise, beginning with the health and diet plan outlined in The pH Miracle, by enjoying an organic greens drink product that is loaded with chlorophyll, like Doc Broc Power Plants, and by drinking purified, alkaline water from one of the quality water ionizers we offer, such as the Chanson Miracle Water Ionizer.

Alkaline Water and Food to Maintain a Healthy Weight

At the other end of the health spectrum, the yeast and fungus produced within an overly acidic body can feed on your nutrients and reduce the chemical and mechanical absorption of everything you eat by as much as 50%. This causes many people to become excessively thin, which is no healthier than becoming overweight.

Without protein, your body cannot rebuild new tissues or produce enzymes, hormones, or hundreds of other chemical components necessary for cell energy and organ activity. Fatigue, illness, and body weight changes are the results. When an underweight person begins to follow the alkaline health and diet lifestyle they may initially loose a little more weight as their body chemistry stabilizes; but, as their body normalizes, they will begin to gain towards their ideal weight. Healthy bodies are not overweight or underweight. A healthy body naturally maintains its own ideal weight. You can begin to restore health, balance, and harmony to your body with pH Miracle brand nutritional supplements. As alkalizing and oxygenation begins to take place, the body naturally begins to seek its own ideal weight.

Allergies Signify Over-Acidification

The toxins produced within an overly acidic, oxygen deprived body may contribute significantly to what are often called the symptoms of allergy. In addition, the absorption of undigested proteins is a major cause of allergy conditions. The digestive system is weakened, which prevents the total breakdown of amino acids—often causing food allergies. This alone may produce a wide spectrum of severe allergic reactions. When you alkalize and exercise, beginning with an organic green drinks loaded with chlorophyll and purified, ionized water from a quality water machine/water ionizer, these allergies will begin to subside. This is because these products introduce oxygenating and alkalizing elements into your body—helping to balance the conditions that may lead to hyper-sensitivities.

The Fatigue Due to an Acidic Diet

Fatigue is probably the major symptom suffered by an overly acidic body. The toxins produced in an acidic body environment reduce the absorption of protein and minerals, which in turn weakens the body’s ability to produce enzymes and hormones. This also interferes with the reconstruction of cells and other necessary components of energy production. The result is fatigue, poor endurance, an inability to add muscle tone, and general weakness. To abolish your fatigue and become the energetic person you want to be, begin by alkalizing with greens drinks like Doc Broc Power Plants and alkaline water from one of the excellent Chanson water ionizers we’ve made available.

Doc Broc Power Plants, greens drink powder, is formulated to bring you vital nutrient elements and easily digested protein. This alkalizing, energizing, and nourishing green formula begins oxygenating your body.

Alkaline Water and Water Ionizers

The most important thing you must learn is to hydrate the body with alkalizing water. Like the earth on which we live, our bodies are 70% water. Food cravings are often the body’s cry for water. A thirst for water will begin as one begins to hydrate with water.

A diet high in acid foods such as meat, dairy, grains, high sugar fruits, and bread causes acid wastes to build up in the body. When acid wastes enter our blood stream, the blood system will attempt to dispose of these wastes in liquid form through the lungs or the kidneys. If there are too many wastes to handle, they are deposited in various organ systems like the heart, pancreas, liver, colon, and other locations.

The breakdown of this disposal process of acid waste could also be called “the aging process.” To slow down and reverse this process, one must begin by removing this over-acidification of the blood and tissues by including liberal amounts of alkaline water in the diet. Alkaline water has a pH between 9 and 11, and will neutralize harmful stored acid wastes and gently remove them from the tissues. And the best alkaline water comes from water ionizers, that produce many more positive effects than just alkalizing the water. You can Learn more about Water Ionizers Here.

List of Alkaline Foods

Are You Getting Enough Alkaline Foods in Your Diet?

Your health depends on an alkaline environment, created by eating foods such as tomatoes, avocados and green vegetables…striking the optimum 80/20 balance and regulating your body’s acid/alkaline chemistry through simple changes in diet can result in weight loss, increased stamina and strength, a stronger immune system and a greater sense of well being.

How Did We Become So Out of Balance?

After years of societal changes, millions of dollars of marketing spent and technological advances, we, as a race, are now facing more dietary based health challenges than ever before. It is no coincidence that the rapidly growing numbers of cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes correlate almost exactly with the rise in consumption of acid forming foods such as sugars, saturated fats, and white breads. At the same time our consumption of fresh vegetables and essential fatty acids has decreased dramatically, making way for convenience and a generation hooked on sugary treats.

Becoming Alkaline With a Simple and Healthy Diet

This is not as difficult or as technical as it sounds. When we talk about eating alkaline foods or starting an alkaline diet we are referring to consuming those foods and drink which have an alkaline effect on the body. This effect is based upon the ash residue that remains after our foods are consumed. Some foods leave an acid ash, whereas others leave an alkaline ash. Conveniently for us, our bodies have been designed to categorize which foods leave which kind of ash into neat and easy to remember groups.

Of course, everybody is different – but most of us should aim to eat 75-80% alkaline foods and a maximum of 20-25% acid forming foods.

The following guides and articles are intended to give you all of the information you need to successfully begin and maintain an alkaline lifestyle. If there are any resources that you would like to see here in the future, please do not hesitate to get in touch: info@phmiracleliving.com


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ALKALINE FOODS ACID FOODS
VEGETABLES
Asparagus
Artichokes
Cabbage
Lettuce
Onion
Cauliflower
Radish
Swede
Lambs Lettuce
Peas
Courgette
Red Cabbage
Leeks
Watercress
Spinach
Turnip
Chives
Carrot
Green Beans
Beetroot
Garlic
Celery
Grases (wheat, straw, barley, dog, kamut, etc.) Cucumber
Broccoli
Kale
Brussels Sprouts
Greens
FRUITS
Lemon
Lime
Avocado
Tomato
Grapefruit
Rhubarb
MEATS
Pork
Lamb
Beef
Chicken
Turkey
Crustaceans
Other Seafood (apart from occasional oily fish such as salmon)

DAIRY PRODUCTS
Milk
Eggs
Cheese
Cream
Yogurt
Ice Cream

DRINKS
Fizzy Drinks
Coffee
Tea
Beers
Spirits
Fruit Juice
Dairy Smoothies
Milk
Traditional Tea

DRINKS
Green Drinks
Fresh Vegetable Juice
Pure Water (distilled, reverse osmosis, ionized)
Lemon Water (pure water + fresh lemon or lime)
Herbal Tea
Vegetable Broth
Non-sweetened Soy Milk
Almond Milk
OTHERS
Vinegar
White Pasta
White Bread
Wholemeal Bread
Biscuits
Soy Sauce
Tamari
Condiments (Tomato Sauce, Mayonnaise etc.)
Artificial Sweeteners
Honey

FATS & OILS
Saturated Fats
Hydrogenated Oils
Margarine (worse than butter)
Corn Oil
Vegetable Oil
Sunflower Oil

SEEDS, NUTS & GRAINS
Almonds
Pumpkin
Sunflower
Sesame
Flax
Buckwheat Groats
Spelt
Lentils
Cumin Seeds
Any Sprouted Seed
CONVENIENCE FOODS
Sweets
Chocolate
Microwave Meals
Tinned Foods
Powdered Soups
Instant Meals
Fast Food
FATS & OILS
Flax
Hemp
Avocado
Olive
Evening Primrose
Borage
Oil Blends
OTHERS
Sprouts (soy, alfalfa, mung bean, wheat, little radish, chickpea, broccoli, etc.)
Hummus
Tahini
FRUITS
All fruits, aside from those listed in the alkaline column.

SEEDS & NUTS
Peanuts
Cashew Nuts
Pistachio Nuts

General Guidance:
Stick to salads, fresh vegetables and healthy nuts and oils. Try to consume plenty of raw foods and at least 2-3 liters of clean, pure water daily.
General Guidance:
Steer clear of fatty meats, dairy,
cheese, sweets, chocolates,
alcohol and tobacco.Packaged foods are often full
of hidden offenders and
microwaved meals are full of
sugars and salts. Over cooking
also removes all of the nutrition
from a meal.

What a beautiful path I stumbled upon today.  The flowers sure are beautiful, the prickly cones and pine straw on the path, beautiful green tall trees all nestled upon a gorgeous spring day sky.  What more could one need.  I had a nice brisk walk in nature that really recharged me and a wonderful break from the busy of the day.

Do your best to get out and about and go for a walk.  This time of year is just beautiful and really refreshing to the spirit and soul.  Nature sure is a blessing and it is something healthy you can do for yourself that costs you nothing.  Something you don’t see often.

Enjoy the day and week and make it GREAT!

If you have a place to walk in your area go out and pack a lunch, take a hike and relax in the setting of perfection where nature and beauty collide.  The air was crisp and clean, the birds were singing on high, the flowers, trees and bushes were stunning sights – it was super peaceful and rejuvenating.  I felt like it was away without getting away, much like the feeling of a vacation all nestled close by.

It should be called natures getaway.

Make it great and take good care!

If I could give you all the walk and a picnic I experienced today it would be all yours.
I really hope you find one near your home.

 

FINDING FUN IN YOUR AREA FOR LOW TO NO COST

There are so many wonderful things to do very inexpensively.  Regardless to the town, city or state you live in, do a simple google search for free activities in your area, and you will be surprised at how many fun attractions and enjoyable things there are at little to no cost.

Recently we had some family in town for a visit and we found a wonderful science center in town that had so many wonderful things to explore within it.  While doing the simple search we found over 100 free activities in town and learned of many new ones we hadn’t yet experienced.  The day was filled with many beautiful sights including roaming peacocks, amazing pictures, and so many educational exhibits.  We called ahead to see if food and drinks could be brought into the center and ended up packing a delicious, healthy and inexpensive lunch, snacks and drinks.  We all had a great healthy day filled with walking the facility getting in some great low impact exercise. The trip cost a couple miles of gas to get there and $2 to park, and everyone including the youngsters had an amazing day. Find the fun in your town!

Get out and about inexpensively and have a GREAT day!

Look around in your area and explore and see what you can find.  You will be surprised at how many wonderful and fun experiences you can find that are near to nothing in cost.  If you plan ahead by calling and can bring your own food or eat before you go, you can cut the costs substantially and really have a fun time at little to no cost.

The Costs: 

The total trip ended up being 5 miles in gas and $2 for parking.  All 12 of us had a great day preparing our healthy inexpensive lunch.  We didn’t sacrifice our healthy diet by planning ahead.  We took pictures and videos, which we printed when we got home making some great souvenirs rather then spending money in the gift shop for trip memories. If you plan you can do some wonderfully fun trips for the whole family at a fraction of the cost of other things.  This trip was also a healthy learning experience going through the many exhibits put on by many local sponsors.  Get involved and find your free fun today!

 

Fatigue & Weakness

To overcome fatigue, you need to be sure to learn a balance between exertion and relaxation in your daily life.  Exercising in the morning is a wonderfully effective way to increase energy and vitality.  A healthy diet also plays a big role in how you feel.  Making sure you get plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables will supply you with the nutrients you need to combat fatigue over time.

If you are looking for a great way to improve your core strength and muscle tone, but haven’t the chance to get over to the gym, don’t worry.

There is a wonderful weighted ball you can pick up at most retailers like target.com or specialty stores like Gaiam.com. These weighted balls, also referred to as medicine balls, allow you to do many core and strength training moves quickly developing, lean, tone muscle mass.  Gone are the days of the big, bulky, heavy weights.

Pick up a weighted ball and fit your crunches in today!

I have found after short use of my crunches with the weighted ball my abs toned up and leaned out much faster then previously with standard sit ups.  With the weight doing the majority of the work you barely need to move much to do this exercise correctly.  Incorporate side to side moves for a nice quick oblique exercise.  Of all the fancy training I do, and have done at the gym, this small little weighted ball seems to have won me over.  If you are looking to quickly trim your mid-section in time for summer, add these simple moves into your week.   Incorporating these simple moves just 3 times per week will lean out your mid section with results you will see right away.   This exercise is also much safer then big, bulky, heavy gym weights.  These balls also travel well and can be found with a pump so that you can easilly inflate and deflate for simple portability.

**If you are not in a position to buy another item just yet, don’t worry find something with some weight to it and use it the same way.  Before I got my weighted ball I used a large can of organic tomatoes which wasn’t as comfortable but worked the same muscles. You can also find a used ball online to get the workout you need without the heavy expense or burden of a gym pass or other expensive equipment.**

Where there is a will….you can find and make a way!  Excuses only excuse you from your success, don’t interrupt your progress, simply find what works for you and make it happen now!

There are so many wonderful sights to view while taking in the fresh air of a morning hike.

Explore your area, and get your exercise during a hike.  There are many fitness paths near you, find out areas that you can have an outdoors day.  Find a place where you can exercise, and see some great landscape during your exercise trail.  Be sure to bring water and stay hydrated.  Trails are much fun and often difficult to climb as the terrain ebbs and flows with no particular method to its path. This rugged terrain makes a great environment to test your core strength throughout the trail while it provides a resistance measure.  A hike can help you break up the monotony of an ordinary day, refreshing you with a clear view and fresh air.  The expanse outdoors are great for clearing your mind and taking the steam off the busy week.  Enjoy nature and plan and outdoors day.

**Packing a simple lunch and planning a hike is a great way to enjoy your exercise and the beauty of nature that surrounds us.**

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