Drink More Water

Water is such a basic and important aspect of human health that its discussion cannot be ignored. This post is linked to an extension bulletin designed for sports individuals, but the basic information about the importance of water in our bodies is relevant regardless of our level of activity.

Discover here the role that water plays in our bodies, the role in diet, the symptoms of dehydration, and the causes of dehydration.

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10 Reasons to Avoid Soda Pop

Here is a list of ten reasons to avoid soda pop complete with simplified explanations. There are subtle differences in brands of soda pop and the chemicals listed below vary in proportion from one formula to the next, but are contained is varying degrees in most soda pop formulas.

1. The phosphoric acid dilutes the hydrochloric acid in the digestive tract causing poor digestion.

2. The phosphoric acid spikes the body pH to an acid state from an alkaline state creating an excellent environment for disease to take hold.

3. Adding the extra phosphorous to the body sets off the 1 to 1 ratio of calcium and phosphorous required in the blood and calcium is removed from bones and teeth to restore the balance. This exchange action causes osteoporosis.

4. Carbonation irritates the stomach. The body calls for calcium to calm the irritation once again disrupting the calcium - phosphorous balance and removing calcium from bones and teeth.

5. Carbonation causes belching which in turn causes acids from the stomach to rise up past the esophageal value (acid reflux). The stomach acid dissolves tissue as is its purpose, causing lesions to occur. Lesions are tissue damage where cancer cells can take hold.

6. Caffeine causes dehydration thus causing a massive depletion of vital minerals.

7. Sugar also causes dehydration and a massive loss of vital minerals.

8. Sugar reduces the white blood cells ability to destroy bacteria. This low immune function can last up to 5 hours after sugar is consumed.

9. Sugar substitutes used in sugarless pops have not been adequately researched and have been linked to dangerous chemicals and environmental toxins.

10. Despite the plastic coating on the inside of soda pop cans, aluminum is still leached into the soda pop. Aluminum in brain tissue is linked to Alzheimer's disease.

This is the time of year when there is the most soda pop consumption. The information listed above has caused me to rethink my attitude about what I drink.


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Dodging H1N1 and others!

Are you concerned about Swine Flu or H1N1?

Prevention is more fun than treatment and lingering until it passes.

Support your immune system and contagious diseases can be avoided without vaccines. It is not difficult to understand that in order to stay healthy we need to take care of ourselves in many aspects of our lives. Diet, exercise, nutrition, stress avoidance, mental health all play a part in boosting boosting the immune system.

I used to get sick 5 or 6 times per year with sinus infections that would last up to 3 weeks. I have not been sick since December of 2007. Here's is what changed in my daily routine since then.

1. I remove environmental toxins and heavy metals daily with an activated liquid zeolite,

2. I balance the pH of my body with the same zeolite.

3. I prevent the replication of viruses with the zeolite product as well.

4. I eat less animal protein from all sources.

5. I supplement my diet with a whole food based multi-vitamin, multi-mineral, super antioxidant, and herbal liquid nutrition product.

6. I take an immune boosting liquid agarigus blazei mushroom and sasa bamboo supplement that regenerates the natural killer cells of the immune system.

7. Although I had regularly exercised, I now walk every day besides my martial arts training 2 days per week.

8. I am more careful about what I eat.

These 8 activities that I use to avoid getting sick are simple and work when nothing else has to keep me healthy.

See the side bar for more information on products and the webinar in immune support.


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On Recommending Exercise

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

There is a recently published study on how to recommend regular exercise to chronically ill adults.
Although this study was of chronically ill adults, the concepts should work for healthy adults as well. The study suggests that cognitive approaches to suggesting exercise does not work. Like the proverbial broken record, people have heard it enough. They already know that exercise in important to their health and recovery.

The solution may be behavior changing strategies. Then the question becomes what types of activities will stimulate exercise, or the mind-set to exercise regularly? One of the most obvious is to set goals. Set a reasonable goal for low impact exercise like walking 20 minutes per day. Increase the goals as they are achieved. To begin with, it is more important that we do something every day for exercise, the goal is to set the habit of exercising. Then increase the goals to sustainable activity with longer time periods. To begin with even 12 minutes of walking will achieve results, but certainly more is better in this regard.

Put your walking shoes by the door, write down your goals, get feedback from friends and family, invite people to join you, self-monitor your activity in a calendar, record you accomplishments.

I started TaeKwonDo when my children wanted to quit and I wouldn't let them. I saw many benefits of social, mental, spiritual, and physical nature that I wanted them to continue. By making it a family venture, it became more acceptable to them. Two days a week of this more strenuous exercise must be tempered with a lower impact form of exercise the rest of the week.

Recently Judy and I have formed a walking group that meets daily at one of two prearranged places for an hour of walking together. It is more fun to walk with friends and we motivate each other. It is more difficult to do these things alone. Among our walking group are cancer survivors, stroke victims and diabetics. They benefit from the group activity to stimulate their interest in exercise.

Try these ideas to help you exercise and help others as well.




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Plan Your Garden

It a good time of year to plan a garden. The snow is on the ground. I'm looking forward to spring, Cabin fever is living in me. I want to be outside again.

Sound familiar. Its time to plan the garden. An activity that takes me from now to planting time. There are so many items to plan and prepare. Everyone who gardens must decide what they will plant; how and where they will buy the seeds or plants; what varieties of plant will grow the best in their soil type, How they will prepare the soil and the list goes on.

The seed catalogs are arriving. That's a good place to start. After I have determined how much room is available, a seed and plant list can be formulated. I live in an area with high clay content in the soil and it is very difficult to prepare a good seed bed. Planning is required to find the necessary tillage equipment to break up more garden land and to amend the soil with the right organic matter to get and keep the soil loose for a good seed bed.

When choosing what plants to grow in my garden, I try to plant the most nutritious plants that my family will eat. Green beans, broccoli, tomatoes, onions, and peppers are a staple in my family's garden. When time and room allow cucumbers, squash and pumpkins are also favorites.

Will I grow the tomatoes, peppers and broccoli from seed in the basement or will I buy plants at a nursery? That decision depends on the varieties of plants I decide to grow. There is great flexibility and choice in growing your own plants from seed, and you can be busy with gardening from planning to planting. The draw back is the if you have a problem with damp off or something else you will not be rewarded for your extra time and planning because you will have to settle for what you find at the nursery anyway.

Whatever you decide, if you raise a garden you will be rewarded with the best possible quality vegetables and you have control over your own chemical exposure.

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New Year's Commitment

Resolutions are not generally for me. I don't care for the haphazardly set goals for the new year. That is why I say Commitment.

This year I have committed to a healthy lifestyle that includes exercise, healthy diet, and nutritional supplements. The difference this year is that I have developed a network of friends who are also committed to the same thing.

We meet every night to walk for an hour. We meet once per week to share healthy eating ideas and recipes, we all take the same healthy aging supplements. There is more to healthy aging than taking supplements. It is the diet and exercise component that excites me most. Good friends sharing healthy help and support for each other. Like AA it works when all else fails. There is no need to do it alone.

I want to exercise on that mountain again some day.