Nutrition for me became a series of small, smart additions to my diet. I knew that if I wanted the prolonged benefits of a healthy diet, I could not start with any of the fads just promising fast weight loss. I needed to make changes that I could keep for the rest of my life, which hopefully will be a long time! My first good choice was to start taking Omega 3 fish oils daily. It was easy and not expensive.
Inflammation
Omega 3's promote the anti-inflammatory cascade and inhibit dietary inflammation. When inflammation is detected, the body sends its defenses to heal. Ultimately, if healing doesn't take place and the inflammation is chronic, the body needs to wall off the troubled area with - you guessed it - calcium! This is a major reason that blood vessels build plaque. The calcium hardens the vessel wall and begins to encroach the space, making blood flow in these areas more difficult. When there are many areas of chronic inflammation, the heart will have to work harder, hence a spike in blood pressure. Will taking a drug to thin the blood help? Probably, but this will NEVER address the cause.
Why such a rise in heart disease?
The opposite of omega 3 is omega 6, and these fats are pro-inflammatory. In 1900 the typical diet had an omega 3 to omega 6 ratio of about 4:1. The ideal is somewhere around 5:1. In the 1970's this ration was close to 1:1. The estimate now is 1:24, or 1 good to 24 bad. Processed and fast food are largely to blame for this rise. I bet you've heard that diet is largely to blame for a rise in heart disease, but have you heard why? Omega 3 oils will help to off-set this disparity, but we must also cut back on the pro-inlammatory, omega 6 containing foods.
Good Fat? Really?
What does fat do for our bodies? Most importantly, every cell in our body has what is called a lipid bi-layer membrane. This is where most of our fat goes - in making cell membranes for the new cells that we are creating every day. If we don't have the right building blocks for these membranes, the body will substitute with something inferior. We also use fat for most of our hormones. We NEED good fat, but it is scarce with the diets that we have today. Taking a few capsules of omega 3 oils per day is a great way to arm your body with correct ingredients to promote health.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Go for the Goal!
So, you're ready to be healthy! How do we define health? Is it just being free of symptoms? You know when I answer my own questions with a question that it can't be right! Many people say, "Well I don't feel sick, so I must be healthy!" How do we know? If you aren't sad, are you necessarily happy? There are many degrees of emotion, so why do we think it is different with our health? Just being 'not sick' is NOT healthy! Optimum health is going to now be defined as: Every function in your body working at 100% All of the time. Now that seems pretty hard to achieve, but we MUST know what the gold standard is so we know where we would like to get. If your body is working at 99% all of the time, that is really good, but it is not the healthiest you can be.
Every Function: If you need to know how I feel about the nervous system, see my first post! In short, the nervous system directs the actions of every other system in your body. Whether it is your heart, lungs, digestive tract, or any other system, the nervous system controls it. So, first we must get the nervous system working at 100%. Nerves can be interfered with (subluxation) so this interference needs to be cleared out by the only profession trained in removing nervous system interference - Chiropractors! Have you seen one yet? Get that nervous system checked so your other systems can start working at 100%!
All of the time: There is something you can do RIGHT NOW to make your body function at less than optimum - think about what you ate last! Think about what you ate for the last week - did you get enough fruits and vegetables? How is your omega 3 (anti-inflammatory and health promoting) to omega 6 (pro-inflammatory and health depleting) ratio? How are your thoughts? Any negative thinking on the highway during traffic? All of these things contribute to less function. Now, there are also things you can do RIGHT NOW to promote health and contribute to a higher functioning body. Are you taking fish oil every day? Probiotics? One of the best advice I ever got for my health was to eat a fresh piece of fruit or vegetable before EVERY meal! A study just came out about carrots - people who ate 2 raw carrots every day for 6 months lowered their colesterol by an average of 20 points, and they didn't change ANYTHING else in their diet! Think how much healthier you would be in one year if you did that small thing.
Health is a long term goal. You must be ready to make life changes. A friend of mine asked me how she could lose some weight. I tried to keep a straight face and told her to quit eating. Sound strange? That is the best way I know how to lose weight! If weight loss is the goal, there are many ways to acheive. How many fad diets are out there? How many don't work? You make a goal of 10, 20, even 50 pounds to lose, but once that goal is aceived it is too easy to fall into old habits and gain it all back. Is your goal to not be depressed? Using medication can do that for you. The idea here is that if your goal is something other than health, there are too many roads to get you there, and not all of them are health promoting. The goal MUST BE HEALTH first! When you are moving toward health, you are moving toward happiness, you are moving toward weight loss, and you are moving toward funtioning at 100% all the time!
So, if you are ready to make health your goal, start changing your life! Every time you exercise, you are impacting your health positively. Can you walk to the mailbox and back? That will help you. Can you eat a piece of fruit before every meal? That will help you get closer to health. Will you lose 20 pounds in one month? Probably not, but you will lose weight, especially the longer you do it. These changes need to be life long. Once health becomes the goal, the time frame becomes life! You will feel better and you will get sick less! Let me know if you need any other ideas to start your change. If you are already doing these things, there are more things you can do, so don't hesitate to take a look in the mirror and find out what more you can do for your health.
Once health is your priority, everything else in your life will fall into place, or fall out all together! But it isn't quick, and it requires commitment!
Every Function: If you need to know how I feel about the nervous system, see my first post! In short, the nervous system directs the actions of every other system in your body. Whether it is your heart, lungs, digestive tract, or any other system, the nervous system controls it. So, first we must get the nervous system working at 100%. Nerves can be interfered with (subluxation) so this interference needs to be cleared out by the only profession trained in removing nervous system interference - Chiropractors! Have you seen one yet? Get that nervous system checked so your other systems can start working at 100%!
All of the time: There is something you can do RIGHT NOW to make your body function at less than optimum - think about what you ate last! Think about what you ate for the last week - did you get enough fruits and vegetables? How is your omega 3 (anti-inflammatory and health promoting) to omega 6 (pro-inflammatory and health depleting) ratio? How are your thoughts? Any negative thinking on the highway during traffic? All of these things contribute to less function. Now, there are also things you can do RIGHT NOW to promote health and contribute to a higher functioning body. Are you taking fish oil every day? Probiotics? One of the best advice I ever got for my health was to eat a fresh piece of fruit or vegetable before EVERY meal! A study just came out about carrots - people who ate 2 raw carrots every day for 6 months lowered their colesterol by an average of 20 points, and they didn't change ANYTHING else in their diet! Think how much healthier you would be in one year if you did that small thing.
Health is a long term goal. You must be ready to make life changes. A friend of mine asked me how she could lose some weight. I tried to keep a straight face and told her to quit eating. Sound strange? That is the best way I know how to lose weight! If weight loss is the goal, there are many ways to acheive. How many fad diets are out there? How many don't work? You make a goal of 10, 20, even 50 pounds to lose, but once that goal is aceived it is too easy to fall into old habits and gain it all back. Is your goal to not be depressed? Using medication can do that for you. The idea here is that if your goal is something other than health, there are too many roads to get you there, and not all of them are health promoting. The goal MUST BE HEALTH first! When you are moving toward health, you are moving toward happiness, you are moving toward weight loss, and you are moving toward funtioning at 100% all the time!
So, if you are ready to make health your goal, start changing your life! Every time you exercise, you are impacting your health positively. Can you walk to the mailbox and back? That will help you. Can you eat a piece of fruit before every meal? That will help you get closer to health. Will you lose 20 pounds in one month? Probably not, but you will lose weight, especially the longer you do it. These changes need to be life long. Once health becomes the goal, the time frame becomes life! You will feel better and you will get sick less! Let me know if you need any other ideas to start your change. If you are already doing these things, there are more things you can do, so don't hesitate to take a look in the mirror and find out what more you can do for your health.
Once health is your priority, everything else in your life will fall into place, or fall out all together! But it isn't quick, and it requires commitment!
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