Begin with the End in Mind

Where do you envision your life in the next year?  Maybe the next 10 years?  What about your health?  Do you wanting to be climbing the mountains of Switzerland or are you just content to live your life in your home town spending time with friends?

Just as planning your financial future takes forethought and energy, so does taking care of your health.

If you want to remain energetic, healthy and vibrant then your diet and exercise regime needs to be managed on a daily basis.  If it does not matter all that much, stop reading this blog and hopefully your genes will carry you to where you want to go.

Daily I hear “I just don’t have time to fit in exercise” or “life is too short not to eat what I want,” or “I just want the brownie or fries or whatever I happen to come across.”

Let’s be real.  Some days are like that.  However, if one day leads to a concession of days your health may suffer the consequences.

Exercise cures a multitude of sins.  I know I sound like a broken record…but not being able to fit in 30 minutes of exercise a few days of the week?  Those 30 minutes exponentially leads to a substantially lowered risk of diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and Alzheimer’s.  A new study just last week showed women exercising just 1 hour per week showed positive results in their blood work and health.

Clean unadulterated food without a label is food the body can readily accept and use for your health.  Processed packaged food was never intended for the body – hence creating metabolic and health issues with long term consumption.

Take home message? 

If you want to be healthy and live out your current and later years with good health you can’t afford the time NOT to exercise and eat well.  We were designed to move and eat real whole foods.

I plan to visit as many countries as I can before my life is done with energy and gusto for culture, life and fun.  Let me know if you want to join me.

Obesity or Childhood Obesity in America - What is the Cause?

We all want to know- what is the cause of obesity in America?  Many years ago I heard a brilliant researcher Rick Mattes, Ph.D, R.D. speak to this subject.  He asked the audience “Is it fat in our diet, inactivity or something else?”  Since we have always had fat in our diet and people throughout the ages have been inactive it is neither one.  So what did Dr. Mattes think was the culprit?  Beverages.

If you look at the graphs of beverage consumption in America, it closely follows the rise in obesity.  When I was growing up all there was to drink was milk, water and the occasional soda at a party.  Now the industry has exploded with every kind of beverage imaginable and unimaginable.  Vitamin water, recovery drinks, sports drinks, mochas, sweet coffee drinks.  You name it – it exists.  And what do they use to sweeten these drinks to cut the price points – high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup and other cheap forms of sugar.  Are our bodies supposed to compensate for all this extra sugar?

In fat, our bodies were made to handle natural sugars attached to the form they were found in, according to Robert Lustig, a pediatric endocrinologist at the University of California-San Francisco.  A good example is fruit:  a natural form of fructose that has fiber built into it.  Nature made a way to help us handle the sugar in a food.  In fact, sugar cane is one of the most fibrous foods you can find and would be impossible to eat a large quantity of.

Dr. Lustig recommends the only beverages we drink are the ones I did when I was a child:  water and milk.  Drinking sparkling water with a squeeze of lemon, lime or orange can be quite satisfying and feel like a treat after your body gets used to natural sweetness, a process that can take several weeks and well worth the effort.

In an elaborate video of the cause of obesity in America and beverage consumption (and well worth your hour of watching) Dr. Lustig clearly outlines why fat is not the culprit.  He elaborately shows how manufactured fructose (a process that takes genetically modified corn to produce a cheap form of sugar for manufacturers to use in their products) in the diet actually causes obesity, heart disease and other diagnosis’ you would rather avoid in your lifetime.

Since the government subsidizes corn, wheat and other products, these manufactured fake foods and beverages are inexpensive to make and buy.  A family can feed themselves inexpensively on these “foods” versus eating fruits and vegetables which have become more costly.  Then, to treat the symptom of putting these manufactured foods in our body, we are prescribed expensive drugs for diabetes, high cholesterol, gout, and arthritis just to name a few.

Why treat the symptom, not the cause?  Why not STOP eating or drinking anything with these manufactured sugars and instead consume natural sweet foods of fruits, vegetables, and foods you find in the farmer’s market, or on the periphery of the grocery store?  Staying away from processed foods can make a huge impact on your health.  Remember, it’s prevention, not prescription!

The Omega-3 Index?

In today’s LA Times health Section, Chris Woolston gives an unbiased and helpful review on the Omega-3 Index, a new tool sold to measure 2 out of the 3 types of omega 3’s fatty acids in your blood:  EPA and DHA. For $149 you can prick your finger (much like a diabetic pricks their finger to measure their blood sugars), put your blood on a strip and send it away for testing.

Omega 3’s are vital for health (see blog 7/5/09) and are helpful for prevention of many health related issues such as insulin resistance, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, arthritis to name a few.  Is it really necessary to order this type of test versus just going out and purchasing a supplement that contains at least 1000 mg. each of DHA and EPA?  That depends on your particular situation.

If for some medical reason you are unable to take fish oil supplements due to an allergy or a medication interaction, this test may be a good idea to measure the levels of omega 3’s in your blood.  If you can take fish oil, skip the test and buy a good supplement.  They are a healthful addition to any diet and can assist immensely with lowering many types of inflammation in the body.