Achieving Total Wellness Now

Diet and Exercise are mutually inclusive in a healthy lifestyle.  Each is good but without the synergy and balance of both we cannot come close to maximizing our potential.

If you had to choose between a sedentary lifestyle of a consistently good diet versus an active lifestyle of vigorous exercise and a so-so diet, which would you choose?   Personally, in the past I would probably have chosen the vigorous lifestyle with a poor to mediocre diet.  It was my “addiction” to sweets that would have swayed me in that direction.

I hate to tell you all the people I know who are active with terrible diets.  I know a lot of them…or I should say that I have known a lot of them.  Many of them are now dead, mostly before age 70, some even before age 60.  A few have made it longer in spite of the odds.

On the other hand, I know plenty of people who do not exercise but eat very healthy, watch their weight and seem to be doing fine.  What most people do not notice about healthy people with good diets is that they are a lot more active than even they realize.  They feel good, have good energy and therefore are more inclined to be “on the move” than people who neither eat well or exercise.

This is not an argument in favor of our choosing between diet and exercise because what we all know we should be doing is both.  Then the benefits to us increase exponentially.  We mentioned in a recent blog that our life spans are increasing three months a year right now.  In other words, every four years we are gaining, on average, an extra year of life.

If we do not drink to excess, stop smoking, eat right and exercise we can increase our life spans by twelve (12) years over those that do not heed this advice.   People who live to 100 use 2/3 less health care than people who die at the average age of 78.

It’s definitely not all in the genes, folks.  For most of us it’s about how we choose to live our lives.  If you haven’t done so well up to now, change your outlook, then your habits and start living well.

Sincerely;

Joanne & Paul

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The sum total of our well-being resides in the ability of our immune system to fight off disease.   Strengthen and support your immune system and you will win the battle.

There are endless supplements, herbs, concoctions and medicines to help our bodies fight the daily battle against the agents of disease and death that are constantly on the attack. 

Some people think that our success or lack of success against these diseases is all preordained by the genes that we inherited from our parents.  Others feel that if we take the right combination of wonder drugs and supplements we can ward off anything.

There is some truth to the gene theory.  Genes very definitely have a marked influence on certain things happening at particular points in our lives. There are also some good supplements out there that help ward off diseases.

As we look for that wonderful “bottom line magic bullet” the fact remains that it is the strength and well-being of our immune system that determines how well we fight off disease and how long we will live a healthy life.  How do we build up our immune system?

Good living habits such as proper diet and nutrition, exercise and enough sleep help a lot.  The elimination of bad habits such as too much drinking of alcoholic beverages, smoking, lack of exercise and poor diet help a lot also. 

If your genes are not the best, and some of us do have some unfortunate pre-cursors for some diseases, then there are medicines and natural supplements available to us.  There is a natural product available in most western countries that most people know little to nothing about that when taken regularly boosts the strength of the immune system by a large factor.

If you wish to receive more information about this product, email us at this site and we will send it to you.

Sincerely;

Joanne & Paul

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Every Mother takes great pride in the accomplishments of her children at every stage of life from the first step of walking to that child’s getting into college and beyond.

Here is the story of one child’s building confidence!

Emma Walas, is now 9 years old; but a few years ago when she was about 5 she was in a pre-school singing group that was scheduled to give a Christmas Concert.  On the day of the concert, when it came time to go out on the stage, Emma did not go out with the rest of the group because she was too afraid.

Last October Emma began to study the violin with a wonderful teacher, James Zhang.  A few weeks ago Mr. Zhang informed Emma that he was scheduling a recital to be held in early May for some of his students.  Even though Emma was just a beginner, he felt she could play well enough to participate in that recital.

Emma was adamant that she could not and would not do it.  The very thought terrified her.  After much conversation and persuasion she finally agreed two weeks ago to do it.   She practiced a piece over and over that was challenging for her at this stage of development.  An hour before the recital she still wasn’t convinced that she could do it.

Emma took a giant leap toward building her self-confidence in performing at that recital.

Here is a short video of her performance.  She is accompanied by her grandmother, Carol Mulready, on the piano.  See what you think!

Happy Mother’s Day!

Joanne & Paul

A recent British study of 5,000 people measured four factors in their lives and then followed these people over a number of years.

We talk all the time about what each of us must do to increase the quality and length of his life; but rarely have we found something that actually can put a number on the length of our lives.

In a British study of 5,000 people, the subjects, both men and women, were categorized and analyzed for four (4) lifestyle factors and then observed over several years to see how these four factors played into the length of their lives.

The four factors were: alcohol consumption (men more than 3 drinks/day and women more than 2 drinks/day), steady smoking, dietary habits and level of activity (exercise).

There were many subsections to the study depending on the level determined in an individual’s analysis; but here is the basic conclusion.

People, who regularly drink too much, smoke on a consistent basis, have poor dietary habits and do little or no exercise die on average 12 years sooner than people who only drink on occasion, do not smoke, eat healthy and get 2 to 2-1/2 hours of exercise per week.

If the average life span in America is 78 and you are shortening it by up to 12 years due to your bad habits, turn your life around and start getting on the track that is going up, not the one going down.  Here is why- It is estimated that due to better information about healthy living and better medical care, the life span of the average human being is increasing approximately 3 months for every year right now. 

That means that on average we are getting another year of life every four years.  That is much better interest on your investment in healthy living than banks are giving you on your money.

Sincerely,

Joanne & Paul

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At least 10 new studies are beginning to show that saturated fat has gotten a bad “rap” for a long time.

It often seems that information on nutrition is like the weather in New England.  If you don’t like it, wait five minutes.  Now it seems that saturated fat is going to be in that category.

Over the last sixty to seventy years; doctors, nutritionists and all form of health experts have warned of the dangers of saturated fat.  We were told to limit our intake of it to less than 25% of our daily total of fat.  Butter was bad, margarine was good.  In essence, we swapped the bad saturated fat in butter and other dairy products for the even worse trans fat in margarine.

For the moment trans fat is still very bad but saturated fat is not looking so bad anymore and might move up to almost good.   What are we to believe?

It all pretty much comes down to this.  Most “experts” believed through all these past 70 years that it was fat that made you fat.  Nobody bothered to ask the bodybuilders or their trainers for their opinion.  They knew for decades that it was not the normal ingestion of fats so much as the over indulgence in carbohydrates that made you fat.

When bodybuilders train for a show they cut way back on their “carbs” in order to “get ripped.”  In non-bodybuilder terms, they stop eating carbohydrates to lose water and fat weight in order to show off their muscle striations better.  They continue to eat lots of protein and a normal sensible amount of fat.

It is a fact that in countries that eat less saturated fat there is far less heart disease and cancer.  This is probably due to more than just saturated fat; such as the people in those countries tend to be slimmer, eat a lot more vegetables in their diets and maybe are more active. 

Until this latest bit of “fat” news is more understood we advise caution.

We do not think that you should see this as a green light to eat all the beef, butter, ice cream and cheese you can.  The evidence against this type of diet is still very powerful.  Just be aware that our bodies and their physiology are quite complicated.  It is a factor of many things that decides our ultimate health.

Our favorite mantra- eat healthy, exercise, control your weight and be positive; and you are doing most of what you can to influence the quality and length of your life.

The loss of flexibility in our arteries as we age is another factor in the onset of cardiovascular disease.  Arterial flexibility is directly related to body flexibility.

A benefit of our performing regular stretching routines such as Yoga or Pilates is that the body continues to be flexible.  Until recently we haven’t given much thought to the effect of stretching on our arteries and veins; and their need to remain flexible also.  

As we age our blood vessels as well as our muscles and joints start to lose their flexibility; especially if we become less and less physically active.  This lack of flexibility in our blood vessels can increase the onset of high blood pressure and lead to cardiovascular disease.

Now there is a simple test to see how flexible you are.  Sit on the floor with your back against a wall and your legs straight out in front of you.  Now try to touch your toes with your fingertips.

If it is a real struggle or impossible then you need to get busy correcting that. 

A Japanese study found that the there is a direct relationship between your body flexibility and you arterial flexibility.  The more limber you are the more flexible your bloods vessels are too.

Even if you exercise regularly stretching is still a benefit; and, of course, if you exercise not at all, then stretching is more important to your health.

If you tend toward high blood pressure you might want to take 1,000 mg of L-Arginine, an amino acid, each day.  It has been shown to make blood vessels more elastic.  You can find it in capsule form at any health food store or drug store.

Sincerely;

Joanne & Paul

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A study started in the late 1990’s by the Diabetes Prevention Program of 3,200 people who were at risk for diabetes dramatically demonstrated the positive effect of exercise on delaying the onset of diabetes.

If you are overweight or obese and have a fasting blood sugar level of 95 mg/dL you are at risk of acquiring Type 2 diabetes, which is a fasting blood sugar level of 126 mg/dL or higher.

The people were divided into three groups.

1. The people in the intensive lifestyle group were encouraged to lose at least 7% of their body weight and to exercise for at least 2 ½ hours per week.
2. The drug group was given an oral diabetes drug twice a day.
3. The placebo group was given lookalike but inactive pills.

The study was stopped in 2001, a year earlier than planned because the results were so clear.  The risk of diabetes was 58% lower in the intensive lifestyle group than in the placebo.  The oral diabetes drug cut the risk by 31% versus the placebo group.

A follow-up study over the next six years showed that the people from the original intensive lifestyle group maintained their lower risk of diabetes from the original drug and placebo group.

How much proof do you want?  Lose that excess weight and get moving. 

{Note: This article was taken from the “Nutrition Action Health Letter” published by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest.}

Sincerely!

Joanne & Paul

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Everyone has cancer cells in his body; but a strong immune system will prevent the cancer cells from growing and forming into tumors.  At present, cancer cells are undetectable until they have multiplied to a few billion cells. 

A diagnosis of cancer means that a person has multiple nutritional deficiencies which can be caused by diet, lifestyle, environment and/or genetics.   

Cancer has been treated for decades in the same way.  It is usually a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy; but can also involve surgery.  All three treatments are unpleasant to say the least and often just temporarily successful.   They also destroy lots of good cells along with the cancer cells and leave a residue that builds up toxins in the already compromised body so that the immune system is further weakened.

The alternative treatment being advised today is to:

• Get rid of the nutritional deficiencies by changing the diet and adding supplements.
• Starve the cancer cells of the foods that they need to grow on.  Such things as sugar, milk, table salt, caffeinated drinks and foods, distilled water and alcohol.
• Substitute small amounts of honey or molasses for sugar, sea salt for table salt, eliminate the milk completely for its mucous causing properties; and substitute green tea and alkaline water for beverages.
• Substitute fish and poultry for red meats.  Like so many other things, the red meats have lots of bad things including parasites, antibiotics and hormones; and cause the body to be acidic.
• Eat lots of vegetables, especially raw vegetables, and fresh fruits along with nuts, seeds and whole grains.
• Do exercise that causes you to do deep breathing.  Deep breathing will bring oxygen quickly to the cellular level.  Cancer cells cannot live in an oxygenated state.
• Alkalinize your water.  Most of the water we drink today is acidic for a number of reasons and not helping us maintain our body’s alkalinity. 

In our Blog 41 we speak of the importance of ridding the body of toxins and maintaining it in an alkaline state.  When we are able to do both of these things our bodies will begin to once again perform as the highly tuned, magnificent systems they were designed to be.

Here we are again providing you with the links that you need to find out more about good nutrition, cellular cleansing and alkaline water.

Sincerely,

Joanne & Paul

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Warts are unsightly, bothersome and difficult to get rid of permanently.  Over the counter remedies will freeze them or dissolve them but oftentimes they will return shortly after the treatment.   Even surgical removal is no guarantee that they will not return.

Here is a solution that you can try and get almost immediate results that should be permanent.  It is something that is so simple and natural; but you would never think of it.

Remove the wart with garlic.  Yes, the same garlic you use to flavor food, the same garlic that is known to be heart healthy and a natural blood thinner; and the same garlic with which you make a necklace to ward off vampires.

Garlic is a known, natural anti-viral…warts are caused by a virus… and is most effective against warts.  Here is what to do.

Cut up a clove of garlic into tiny pieces. You can also use garlic that is in olive oil.    Place the garlic on the wart and cover with a bandage.  Change it twice a day.  Do this until the wart goes away (usually in a week or two).

Best Wishes!

Joanne & Paul

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We wrote in a blog last year (Cost of Long Life) about how people who live to be 100 cost health insurers only 30% of what people who live to the national average of 78 cost the insurers.  The centenarians are healthy until about 6 months before their deaths while the people who live to the average life span can and often do have years of health problems.

Now a new study in Australia has shown that people who watch an average of 3 hours of TV a day, the national average in Australia, have an 80% higher chance of cardiovascular disease and a 46% higher risk for every other disease.  It is not the TV itself or the radiation it gives off that is the problem.

It is the lack of movement.  That is correct.  It is the lack of muscle contraction during that period of time.

We need muscle activity, that is-contraction, to keep the blood flowing correctly; and the contraction also makes many other lesser known and important things happen as well.

We all watch some TV.  Getting up and moving about a little during commercials (not necessarily to the refrigerator) helps a lot; but it might not be enough.  Here is why!

Many of us also sit in front of computer monitors for hours on end a day.  Then we come home and sit in front of the TV.  To remain healthy it is important to move around and keep the blood flowing on a regular basis.

The length of your life may well depend on it. 

By the way, here in America the national average for time in front of the TV is five (5) hours!

Sincerely,

Joanne & Paul

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