Exercise for Health

Exercise is a key component to a healthy lifestyle. There are some safety factors that should be adhered to when exercising. It is important to warm up first with a regiment of low impact aerobic exercise to warm up the muscles of your body. The warm up is the process of making your body work hard enough to increase your heart rate which in turn increases blood flow to the muscles of the body. After a sufficient warm up, it is then time to stretch the muscles of your body to prepare them for the workout session. I prefer a total body stretching routine rather than to stretch only the muscles you think you will be using in your workout. I train Tae Kwon Do and never know which muscle groups will get the most use in any given class as the training varies so greatly from class to class. To not follow the warm up and stretch routine is to invite muscle and connective tissue damage during the workout session. This applies to all ages of people not just adults.

Diet is Key Component to Health

There are many fad diets that have been developed over the years. Most of which were impossible to stay on and were only effective when they were being implemented. Many of them would turn out to actually cause health problems. I have never used a fad diet, and have never considered a special diet for weight loss. My diet is to use moderation in fats, sugars and meats; and concentrate more heavily on fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, and seeds, etc. There is still meat, fats and sugars in my diet, but to a far lesser extent than my past diet contained. My experience with moderation in these areas is that within 2 months, 15 pounds of useless unnecessary weight were removed. Within two more months another 10 pounds weight were gone. After that there has been small amounts of weight loss, but my health has been far better. My immune system is stronger with the less weight and better nutrition; my energy level has increased, and I feel younger and healthier.

These effects were realized with some very simple adjustments to my diet. I quit consuming soda pop and most sources of animal protein, and started eating plant based protein in greater portions. I am a hunter and was conflicted by the lack of meat eating, so I started innovating some of recipes. When sausage making time came this year, instead of adding fatty pork or beef trimmings to the venison, I added cooked pinto beans and brown rice. My wife and kids did not notice a lot of differences in taste and we enjoy a healthier meal. The texture and moisture content remain unchanged and the sausage can be pattied, or easily broken up for hot dishes, etc.

Is Diet Enough

In today's busy world, do we eat properly? Is the food we eat as healthy as it once was? How can we get all the necessary ingredients in the foods we eat?

The answer to these question have changed over the years. Most people do not eat properly in this microwave society. We all want what we want and want it now. Whether sedentary or active in lifestyle, most people do not take time to prepare healthy meals.

With the progressive farming practices that have cropped up over the last number of years, the soils have been depleted of many nutrients that plants would provide if the nutrients were available to them. Fertilizers do not replenish many of these soil based minerals that are also requirement for human nutrition. Plant based nutrition was the best and most convenient way to provide them. With the loss of these minerals in the soil, that is no longer the case.

Nutritional supplements are a necessity for healthy eating today. The consumption of mostly plant based nutrition is still a good diet plan, but supplementation is still necessary to provide all that is required to remain healthy.