Here is a basic nutrition program that we use with our bootcamp clients to help them shed pounds, reduce inflammation and generally improve their health and wellness!!

Weight Loss Nutrition:

This nutrition program is designed to help you lose weight, help you have greater energy and vitality, decrease the effect of inflammatory conditions, as well as to protect yourself against cancer and heart disease.

Ground rules-

• Calorie poor and nutrient dense is the theme of this eating plan. Remember a healthy body loses weight better than an unhealthy body. Vegetables are the main meal; make sure you are eating at least a pound of salads and leafy greens per day. If you are not meeting this target cut other non vegetable matter back until you are achieving this. 1 pound of green vegetables contains all your daily vitamin and mineral requirements, yet only has 100 calories.
• Eat all nuts and seeds raw
• Eat as much RAW vegetables and fruit as possible.
• Dairy once per week only-no more than 2 oz(this is included as animal protein). Cultured dairy such as kefir and yoghurt is best.
• No Wheat (Ezekiel bread is ok twice per week only, because all grains are sprouted in this)
• Eat animal protein once per day only (fish and eggs included), or instead of having a standard serving of 4 oz of animal protein with a meal have 2 oz twice per day.
• Do not limit the amount of leafy greens and green vegetables. Eat as much Leafy greens and Green vegetables as you want (target per day is 2 pounds of vegetables-starchy vegetables such as potatoes not included). If you are not full after a meal eat more greens and vegetables until you are full (consume more vegetables only, not protein)
• At least one Large salad  (minimum half a pound) per day
• At least 5 serving of fruit per day
• No more than 2 oz of nuts and seeds per day.
• Never add salt
• Limit dressings
• Fish 2-3 times per week (Fresh salmon especially).

Breakfast-

1) Apple, blue Berries, pineapple, or any fruit of choice (at least 4 times per week)

2) Breakfast alternative 1- Oats (preferably steel cut) with blue berries, pumpkin seed, flax seeds, raw almonds, raw walnuts, wheat germ, desiccated coconut, teaspoon honey or maple syrup. (2-3 times per week only)

3) Breakfast alternative 2- 3 whole organic eggs (2 x per week only)

4) Ezekiel bread with organic 100% peanuts, almond butter  (once per week only)

Lunch- Salad (minimum half pound of vegetables) containing Spinach, Romaine, cabbage, onion, tomato, ¼ avocado, cucumber, carrot, Kale, ginger, garlic.

• For flavor add Apple, almonds, pecans, walnuts, tablespoon olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar,
• If you can’t go without some sort of animal protein add 2 oz of fish, Turkey, Shrimp, Shell fish, lamb or Beef. (Must be organic)

Dinner- Salad (minimum half pound of vegetables)  containing Spinach, Romaine, cabbage, onion, tomato, ¼ avocado, cucumber, carrot, Kale, ginger, garlic.

• For flavor add Apple, almonds, pecans, walnuts, tablespoon olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar,
• If you can’t go without some sort of animal protein add 2 oz  of fish, Turkey, Shrimp, Shell fish, lamb or Beef. (Must be organic)

Option 2- stir-fry with spinach, broccoli, cabbage, onion, ginger, garlic, carrot, peas, 1/2 ounce sliced almonds or pecans or walnuts, cucumber, mushrooms, peppers

Most preferred protein choices-

Fish (especially Salmon) 2-3 times per week)

Eggs (organic cage free)-1 per week

Turkey- 1- 2 per week

Beef or lamb – 1-2 per week for iron and vitamin b12.

Most preferred vegetables-

Spinach, Broccoli, Kale, Onion, Garlic, Romaine, ginger, cucumber, parsley

Most preferred fruits:

Apple, Pineapple, Blue berries, Avocado (half per day), raspberries, lemon, orange, grapes

Most preferred nuts & seeds:

Flax seeds, Pumpkin seeds, Walnuts, Almonds, Pecans

Most preferred herbs, spices and flavorings-

Black and cayenne pepper, dill, basil, parsley, mint, curry powder, oregano, ginger, garlic, Mustard, tomato puree (no sugar salt or additives), Raw olive oil (tablespoon only), chili,

Sweeteners (use very sparingly)

Honey, agave, stevia

Follow this and get on the path to weight loss today!!

This equates to a weight gain of 19 pounds in 30 years. Fortunately, this drop in metabolism is preventable through regular strength training.

In the March/April 2006 edition of ACE Fitness Matters magazine, Chief Exercise Physiologist Cedric Bryant stated that “The average person (following a strength training routine) usually gains about 3-5 pounds of muscle mass every 3-4 months.”

During the course of a year, a person who strength trains will build enough muscle mass to increase their metabolism enough to burn an additional 54-120 calories per day. At first this doesn’t seem like much, but it adds up over time. Taking into account only muscle mass, compare the metabolism of two 180 pound people with very different body compositions:

Person 1 — Sedentary

• 180 Pounds
• 20 Pounds of Muscle Mass
• Number of Calories the muscle burns per day: 120

Person 2 – Strength Trainer

• 180 Pounds
• 35 Pounds of Muscle Mass
• Number of Calories the muscle burns per day: 210

The strength trainer will burn 90 calories per day more than the sedentary person, amounting to 32,850 more calories burned per year or 9.4 pounds of potential weight loss. In addition, these numbers don’t take into account any muscle the strength trainer will continue to add throughout the course of a year.

Now I know what a lot of you ladies that are reading this are thinking, “I don’t want to bulk up and I don’t want to look like one of those female bodybuilders”. Ok first of all look at the picture below!

The picture above shows the exact mass of 5 lbs of fat and 5 lbs of muscle. The mass difference is muscle is 3 times denser than fat, hence fat takes 3 times more space than muscle. So your weight can stay the same, and you can reduce your dress size dramatically by replacing fat with muscle. You will actually look SMALLER than before by resistance training!!!!! Not only that you will increase resting metabolic rate to keep burning fat, even at rest, and keep it off. Another minor point to note is that women have a very hard time gaining “to much muscle” without supplements and/or drugs! Resistance training is essential to getting in shape!!!!!!

Compound Exercises

Although most strength training workouts will do the trick, it’s best to focus on exercises that maximize the body’s ability to build muscle, such as compound exercises. Compound exercises are exercises that move the body through more than one joint movement.

For example, lunges require movement of the ankles, knees and hips and simultaneously build muscles in the legs, hips, abdominals and the back. By comparison, an isolation exercise, such as leg extensions, affects only one joint, the knee, and builds muscle primarily the quadriceps.

To get the same muscle building results of lunges from using traditional, muscle isolating equipment, a strength trainer would have to do the leg extension, leg curl, total hip machine (all 4 exercises), back extensions, and abdominal crunches. For someone who’s crunched for time, compound training is the way to go.

Another very important point is that the bigger the muscles, the more muscles used in an exercise, and the heavier the weight used, the more growth hormone and testosterone are released. This is important for BOTH men and Women if you want to stay lean and toned!!!! Both men and women have these hormones, and the people from both genders that have higher blood levels of these hormones experience lower body fat, and superior health and vitality.

Finally when using ultra compound exercises (using multiple joints in the upper and lower body) such as Squat presses, Lunge rows, lunge presses, Bent row dead lifts, power clean and jerk, the cardio vascular system is taxed immensely, which increases calorie burn, minimizes excessive muscle growth due to cardio vascular failure limiting specific local muscular failure (providing the weight is correct- should allow 10-30 reps for weight loss). Normally when one exercises a specific part of the body, nor adrenaline (nor epinephrine) and adrenaline (epinephrine) is released- nor adrenalin causes vasoconstriction (narrower blood vessels) in the parts of the body that are not being used, adrenaline causes vasodilatation (widening of blood vessels) in the parts of the body being used. So in a heavy squat the arms will face slight vasoconstriction, the legs vasodilatation. During Ultra Compound training the body cant do this due to the use of all moving limbs, hence this is the mechanism by which the cardio vascular system is pushed to greater limits!

Getting Started

When beginning a compound workout routine, it’s essential to choose enough weight so that 12-15 repetitions are challenging, but can be done with perfect form. This rep range will build muscle at a steady rate without building bulk.

Beginners should start with 1 set of 12 repetitions of each exercise, then, throughout the course of a few weeks, gradually progress up to 3 sets of 15 repetitions. When 3 sets of 15 repetitions become easy, then it’s time to increase the weight and drop back down to 12 repetitions. To ensure success and prevent injuries, be sure not to increase the weight by more than 2-5%. Also, always stretch after the workout.

A Sample Beginning Compound Workout

Frequency: 2-3 times per week on non-consecutive days.

Do 12-15 reps for 1-3 sets.

• Squats
• Lat Pull Downs (try these while standing in a lunge position) or Assisted Pull-ups
• Moving Lunges
• Pushups
• Assisted Triceps Dips
• Seated Row
• Planks

Ultra compounds:

• Squat press
• Step Back lunge row
• Bent row dead lifts
• Caterpillars

Some other factors to consider are:

Significant Alcohol Use: (its not just the calories, but liver stress, estrogen, and the killing of probiotics and stomach enzymes that makes alcohol a quadruple whammy when it comes to weight gain)

Use of Certain Drugs: Such as corticosteroids, cyproheptadine, lithium, tranquilizers, phenothiazines, some antidepressants, and medicines that increase fluid retention and cause edema.

Emotional Factors: Such as guilt and anxiety.

Quitting Smoking: (I’m not saying don’t quit smoking, the spill over benefits of stopping smoking will help you lose weight in the longer term)

Lack of Sleep

Underlying Medical Concerns

The extra pounds you add on may be what seems most concerning in your mind, but there are cases where the worry truly is something greater. Weight gain can also be a symptom or the result of certain medical conditions. These can include:

• endocrine diseases (Hormonal Diseases), such as Cushing syndrome and hypothyroidism
• Excessive estrogen and estrogen mimicking compounds in our body (often caused through eating to much processed foods)

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS)

Depression

The good news is that weight gain, regardless of its cause, can often be combated with consistent lifestyle and dietary changes and an increase in physical activity. Your physician can help you determine whether or not these underlying causes may be leading to weight gain in your own personal situation. Many Hormonal and endocrine issues such as hypo-Thyroidism, and organ issues such as digestive problems, liver and kidney problems and even sexual disfunction are cause by many of the toxins in our food, our air and our environment. In todays world we are bombarded by Pesticides, toxins from plastics, artificial Flavors, and we are lead to believe that these are safe. It is more important now than it has ever been to be aware and educated on theses issues and to learn how to protect ourselves against these dangers using diet, exercise and CORRECT health   supplementation.These factors can be very easily helped with correct diet, but it is hard to cut through a lot of the information or misinformation out the today. Auri Hofmeklers’ books, ”the Warrior Diet” and ”The Antiestrogenic Diet” address these issues very well, and gives some great nutrition advice on how to protect yourself, your children, friends and loved ones from a lot of the toxins in our food and our environment today using correct diet and natural supplementation. I personally Use these books when considering nutritional programs for my clients.

One of the critical pillars of physical wellness is proper movement. And by that I mean that you move and use your body in a way that supports the strength inherent to an aligned and balanced body structure. Back and body pain, for example, are usually caused by unconscious movement patterns. Often the most obvious and last “cause” happens the moment of injury. The patterns of ones habitual movement over years or over a lifetime create strong and weak points in the body and after which  the injury is just waiting to happen.

This is really, really powerful because what I am saying here is that we are basically all unaware to some extent of how we are moving and using our bodies and many times, most of the time, this is directly affecting how we feel as well as affecting our body structure itself.
You know you’ve heard the saying “form equals function” right? Well, in the human body there is some truth to that saying because form does dictate function. But form is also dictated by function. This is a reciprocal relationship with a feedback loop. The body will accommodate to the way you are using it. And, over time, it will change its structure to better accommodate patterns of use (and stop accomodating patterns of non use). This is why when you try to do something at a level that you once did it as a youth, you are not able to and often get injured. Its not that your body isn’t capable, it is that the body has changed from the new patterns that you have put into it since you were a youth! So your body is no longer set up neurologically or muscularly, for this type now foreign movement and the thing that you were trying to do as a weekend warrior and got injured doing, simply applied stress to an already weakened spot.

Many, many times clients will come to me with say, symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome- the burning, penetrating concentrated pain in their wrists, heels of their hands, fore arms, etc. They are swollen up, all inflamed, and because of this they have become weak and unable to perform even the most basic tasks with their hands and arms because of the swelling and the pain. Another, more subtle, version of this is the folks who have started to have tingling sensations in their hands (or sciatica and tingling in the feet for that matter).

What has happened is that for years (usually) these people have typed away at a computer or some repetitive task, moving their fingers rapidly, while holding the rest of their body in place without movement. This creates a movement pattern in the body and after awhile it becomes unconscious- that is they do it without thinking, without being aware. This pattern of use leads them to the problem (carpal tunnel, sciatica, back pain, ankle sprains, etc.)  Yet when they arrive at the pain, they are unaware that their whole structure has changed over the years to accommodate the specialized non integrated movement of typing ( or whatever movement). So, in essence, the movement pattern is now reinforcing the problem, because, you see, even when they are not typing, their holding pattern persists, the forward rolled shoulders, the collapsed support in the lumbar spine, etc.

This pattern is actually causing their symptoms to become worse and the conventional treatment is treating only the symptom but ignores the root cause which is the unconscious movement and holding pattern! (in carpal tunnel this involves wrist surgery, sciatica may use disc surgery, etc.)

So the moral of the story is to become aware of your movement and how it is directly affecting your body. Become aware of your own holding patterns. And the way to do this is to train yourself to really feel in your body…to really feel the holding patterns and the movement patterns. There are many ways to do this. You can meditate and then move, or study something like yoga or tai chi or Alexander technique, or film your self and analyze the movement, but the best way is to hire a teacher to help you discover and develop, in bite sized chunks, the skill of body awareness, of kinesthetic awareness. This is critical to really gaining full control and mastering your body and physical health.

When Most of us go shopping we look only at the basic macronutrient profile of our foods (Fats, Protein, Carbs) we figure that if we adhere to what the majority of nutritional literature out there tells us to do, we will be healthy an in shape.  That is cut out Saturated and Trans Fats, sugars, and high glycemic carbs.  This is a good start but it is only scratching the surface.  Now unfortunately due to the lack of regulation in the food and supplement industry, people have to nearly be chemists to be able to make healthy buying decisions at the supermarket.  We are bombarded by products that we think are helping us stay healthy and they are doing the opposite.  Diet (zero Calorie) products that contain Asulfame K, Aspartame and sucralose may actually make us put on weight and increase our risk of inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, asthma. They are also thought to mimic estrogen in the body and irritate the liver, causing weight gain. Monosodium Glutamate, a flavor enhancer that is in a multitude of supermarket items from soups to fried chicken to beef jerky is injected  into lab rats to make them obese for certain studies, and we eat products containing this compound of our own free will. We are not even safe when we consume many fruits and vegetables that have been treated with pesticides that are endemic.

So how do we protect ourselves? Firstly education.  Unfortunately because governments and large corporations care more about the bottom line than the welfare of the public we must educate ourselves. We can not rely on regulations to protect us; we must do our own research to learn how to avoid harming ourselves with what we eat.  We must also learn what foods protect us against some of the unavoidable dangers in the environment.

Eat organic, whole foods as much as possible, the fact that there is zero processing, and minimal exposure to chemicals such as pesticides. It also means you are getting all the food enzymes that the body requires to function optimally, and ensures maximum nutritional benefit from the foods consumption (excess processing and cooking destroys many nutrients).

Eating a diet consisting of Mainly whole foods goes much deeper than simply calories in and calories out, or adhering to the Glycemic index. It is in our biology, it is the way our bodies are programmed to be fueled. If you can understand one fact, then you have taken a large step towards unraveling the “mystery“ behind the obesity epidemic in  western countries and behind the increasing rates of  terminal and degenerative diseases. The fact is this, we are still cavemen!  Well Biologically at least. The first Homo sapiens (Modern Humans) have been dated back about 195,000 years ago. Now we live a lot differently from the way early humans did, but we are biologically tuned exactly the same as they were, and our bodies are still tuned to be fed the way they were fed! Early Homo Sapiens lived of a diet consisting mainly of whole Fruits, Whole Vegetables,  nuts, meats and fish. These foods were eaten mostly raw by early humans, although eventually meats were cooked by our ancestors. This meant that all the enzymes in the foods were preserved, as well as micro-nutrients and phyto-nutrients. It also means that there were no toxic food additives, artificial flavors,  preservatives or colors in their food. So what does this mean?  well it means that today we are hit with a double whammy, well actually a triple whammy.

We eat a ton of processed foods, that are full of artificial Flavors, Colors,  sweeteners, preservatives and flavor enhancers. In some cases thinking we are making a choice that is better for our health (diet and sugar free drinks vs. Non Diet drinks) but we are actually doing serious damage, an there is mounting evidence that diet products may even facilitate weight gain by stimulating appetite (for example MSG ),interfering with the livers ability to function and therefore break down xenon estrogens, and causing the pancreas to release excess insulin.  To add to this these artificial products may increase the severity of inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, psoriasis and acne. Lab rats are injected with MSG to facilitate obesity for obesity studies. MSG makes the pancreas produce more insulin than normal,  facilitating weight gain and causing pancreatic failure (diabetes). This can be found in thousands of items we consume everyday, from Soups, to Take away food, to restaurant food to beef jerky. The artificial ingredients are not the only problem. Refined sugars, Starches, and gluten are all ingredients that we eat everyday that our body has not biologically been programmed to process efficiently. We haven’t evolved passed the dietary programming of our  early ancestors. So these refined products over many years of consumption may contribute to a range of problems from Bloating and weight Gain, to more severe issues such as inflammatory conditions, celiac disease (chronic Gluten intolerance) and even cancer.

Even when we do eat whole foods, mass production and genetic tampering and the desecration of much of the worlds top soil have led us to a point where produce is so lacking in vitamin and mineral content compared to even 60 years ago that we cant get what we need from them anyway. In 1952 you had to eat 2 peaches to get your daily requirement of Vitamin A. Now you need to eat 52!!! Wow!!! That is frightening. That means that your average supermarket fruit or vegetable is only 4% as Nutritious as it was in 1952? As most readers are aware I am originally from New Zealand, and found out recently that the New Zealand Government have just launched an initiative where they are asking people to bring in the seeds from fruit trees on their properties that are from trees older than 50 years. The idea is to re-inhabit New Zealand Commercial orchards with “genetically older” plants, to try and restore some of the nutritional value to New Zealand Produce to the levels they were in the early 1900’s. New Zealand’s health and agricultural organizations are now beginning to realize the problems that nutritionally inept foods are posing to the well being of the public.
This is the kicker, We are also exposed to toxins In our environment. Pesticides, estrogens, Petrochemicals and the list goes on. We are now looking at a society that eats a ton of processed and artificial foods, that is exposed to a huge amount of toxicity in the environment, and this is compounded with a  decline in the nutritional content of the good foods that are being eaten. If it was important before to eat a diet rich in whole foods 50 years ago, its twice as important now.

So what’s the answer. Simple, eat whole, eat Clean! I personally shop organic from Establishments like Whole Foods Market. I try to eat a diet consisting mostly of whole, organic foods. The more I am diligent about this the better my health and energy is. I also take health supplements such as digestive enzymes.

Digestive enzymes are contained in all raw foods, especially raw fruits, Nuts and vegetables. Cooking and processing destroys or deactivates the majority of digestive enzymes. The biology of Our body,  is 200,000 years old, the exact same biological blueprint of our ancestors that lived in caves and ate a diet consisting  mostly of raw foods. Hence we rely on our diets being rich in raw foods to provide us with the necessary enzymes for our bodies to function at optimum efficiency. Our bodies are biologically programmed to function this way.

So why are digestive enzymes important, and what are the implications of the under consumption of enzymes in the majority of the modern population’s diets?

Digestive enzymes are responsible for the breakdown of foods that enter the digestive system, and therefore the successful breakdown of  macronutrients, Fats, Proteins, Carbohydrates. Digestive enzymes include proteases, amylases, lipases, pancreatin, cellulase, and lipase. They also play a role in the absorption of vitamins and minerals Cooking and processing of foods causes these enzymes top be destroyed or deactivated. So if we do not eat adequate raw foods, and hence do not get an adequate intake of digestive enzymes then we do not break down our foods properly. There are two major consequences of this.

1: We do not absorb adequate nutrients from our food, and therefore suffer the consequences of malnutrition. I doesn’t matter how good your diet is (In an orthodox view of  ‘a good diet’, eating raw foods is often overlooked, the focus is on macronutrient profiling-fats, carbs, proteins) If you ado not have an adequate intake of digestive enzymes then it doesn’t matter what nutrients you ingest, or if you only consume a limited amount of calories, or if you follow the glycemic index. If nutrients cant be processed properly they cant be utilizes, and if the cant be utilized they are rendered useless. If we don’t digest the foods we eat efficiently we will in the long term suffer from malnutrition, and the consequences of Malnutrition- Disease. For example Proteins and fats are key for many metabolic and hormonal processes, if these nutrients are not absorbed well then these processes are less efficient. This can lead to weight gain, lethargy, fatigue, Hypothyroidism, hormone deficiency or imbalance,  and any one of Numerous Inflammatory conditions that are now common occurrence.

2: If food in inadequately processed it causes a backlog in the digestive system and therefore a build up of decaying food matter and therefore toxins. Over time this problem compounds itself and can contribute to many disorders, from IBS to weight gain to Chronic fatigue.
A double-blind, crossover study confirms the efficacy of digestive enzyme supplements in optimizing digestion. Healthy volunteers consumed a high-calorie, high-fat meal, either with pancreatic enzyme capsules or with placebo. Gastrointestinal symptoms were recorded for the next 17 hours. Pancreatic enzyme supplements significantly reduced bloating, gas, and the feeling of fullness. These findings demonstrate that even healthy individuals can experience greater digestive comfort through the aid of digestive enzyme supplements, and suggest a role for digestive enzymes in those challenged with irritable bowel syndrome.

As we age our ability to produce digestive enzymes decreases. Because of this we are especially at risk of developing vitamin, mineral, and trace element deficits; all of which may seriously impact immunity and overall health. A recent study conducted in France, for instance, found a high prevalence of vitamin, mineral, and omega-3 fatty acid deficiencies among men and women aged 70 and above., and vitamin B12 deficiency, which may lead to a serious condition known as pernicious anemia, among other pathological conditions, is all too common among the elderly.
Given the potentially devastating consequences of inadequate nutrition, it is imperative to optimize digestive health in older adults.

In addition to enhancing digestive health, digestive enzymes may play further beneficial roles in the body, such as in reducing autoimmunity and inflammation and speeding healing after surgery.
In autoimmune diseases, immune complexes, which are large aggregations of antigens (molecules that trigger immune responses) and antibodies (immune proteins that neutralize foreign invaders), lock together in a tangled embrace. Their deposition in tissue results in tissue damage. They are believed to play a role in immune system diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus erythematosus, and glomerulonephritis, a form of kidney disease. Some scientists believe that supplemental enzymes may have immunomodulatory activity and could play a role in reducing the incidence of these immune complexes.

Oral enzymes have also proven popular in Europe as substitutes for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs. They are used to treat conditions ranging from osteoarthritis to rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammation-related conditions. The results of various studies (placebo-controlled and comparisons with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) in patients with rheumatic diseases suggest that oral therapy with proteolytic enzymes produces certain analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects. Generally, these commercial enzyme preparations have been found to be equally as effective as standard anti-inflammatory drugs, but with better tolerability

So the answer is two do one or both of the following. Eat a diet rich in whole (if possible organic) foods, especially raw fruits, vegetables and nuts. You can also take a comprehensive digestive enzyme supplement, I personally use one made by Nutrilite that I get from www.blwstore.com. If you can do both then you will hedge all bets and help ensure optimal digestive health.

The content of this article has links to substantiate its claims – Scary stuff. This article focuses on MSG but other artificial flavors that are toxic and May cause internal issues include artifical sweetners (such as Assulfame Potassium, Aspartme, sucralose).

MSG (a slow poison) – Very interesting

The food additive MSG (Mono-Sodium Glutamate) is a slow poison.  MSG hides behind 25 or more names, such as Natural Flavoring.”  MSG is even in your favorite coffee from Tim Horton’s and Starbucks coffee shops!

I wondered if there could be an actual chemical causing the massive
obesity epidemic, and so did  John Erb.  He was a research
assistant at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada, and spent
years working for the government.  He made an amazing discovery while
going through scientific journals for a book he was writing called The Slow
Poisoning of America ..

In hundreds of studies around the world, scientists were creating
obese mice and rats to use in diet or diabetes test studies.  No strain of
rat or mice is naturally obese, so scientists have to create them.

They make these creatures morbidly obese by injecting them with MSG when they are first born.

The MSG triples the amount of insulin the pancreas creates, causing rats (and perhaps humans) to become obese.  They even have a name for the
fat rodents they create: “MSG-Treated Rats.”

Go to any house in America, look in the kitchen and check the cupboards and the refrigerator.  MSG is in everything — the Campbell’s soups, the Hostess Doritos, the Lays flavored potato chips, Top Ramen, Betty Crocker Hamburger Helper, Heinz canned gravy, Swanson frozen prepared meals, and Kraft salad dressings, especially the “healthy low-fat” ones.

The items that didn’t have MSG marked on the product label had something called “Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein,” which is just another name for Monosodium Glutamate.

It is shocking to see just how many of the foods we feed our children everyday are filled with this stuff.  MSG is hidden under many different names in order to fool those who read the ingredient list,  so that they
don’t catch on.  (Other names for MSG are “Accent, “Aginomoto,” “Natural Meat Tenderizer,” etc.)

But it didn’t stop there.

When your family goes out to eat, start asking at the restaurants what menu items contain MSG.  Many employees, even the managers,will say they don’t use MSG.  But ask for the ingredient list, (which they grudgingly will provided), and sure enough, MSG and Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein are everywhere.

Burger King, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell, every restaurant — even the sit-down eateries like TGIF, Chili’s, Applebee’s, and Denny’s — use MSG in abundance.  Kentucky Fried Chicken seemed to be the WORST offender: MSG was in every chicken dish, salad dressing and even the gravy.  No wonder we love eating that coating on the skin — their secret spice is MSG!

So why is MSG in so many of the foods we eat?
Is it a preservative, or a vitamin?

Not according to John Erb.  In his book The Slow Poisoning of America, he said that MSG is added to food for the addictive effect it has on the human body.

Even the propaganda website sponsored by the food manufacturers lobby group supporting MSG explains that the reason they add it to food is to make
people eat more.

A study of the elderly showed that older people eat more of the foods that it is added to.  The Glutamate Association lobbying group says eating more is a benefit to the elderly, but what does it do to the rest of us?

“Betcha can’t eat [just] one,” takes on a whole new meaning where MSG is concerned! And we wonder why the nation is overweight!

MSG manufacturers themselves admit that it addicts

people to their  products.  It makes people choose their product over others, and makes
people eat more of it than they would if MSG wasn’t added.

Not only is MSG scientifically proven to cause obesity, it is an addictive substance.  Since its introduction into the American food supply fifty years ago, MSG has been added in larger and larger doses to the pre-packaged meals, soups, snacks, and fast foods we are tempted to eat
everyday.

The FDA has set no limits on how much of it can be added to food. They claim it’s safe to eat in any amount.  But how can they claim it’s safe when
there are hundreds of scientific studies with titles like these:

“The monosodium glutamate (MSG) obese rat as a model for the study of exercise in obesity.”

Gobatto CA, Mello MA, Souza CT , Ribeiro IA. Res Commun Mol Pathol Pharmacol 2002.

“Adrenalectomy abolishes the food-induced hypothalamic serotonin release in both normal and monosodium glutamate-obese rats.”

Guimaraes RB, Telles MM, Coelho VB, Mori C, Nascimento CM, Ribeiro. Brain Res Bull. 2002 Aug.

“Obesity induced by neonatal monosodium glutamate treatment in spontaneously hypertensive rats: An animal model of multiple risk factors.”
Iwase M, Yamamoto M, Iino K, Ichikawa K, Shinohara N, Yoshinari  Fujishima.  Hypertens Res. 1998 Mar.

“Hypothalamic lesion induced by injection of monosodium glutamate in suckling period and subsequent development of obesity.”

Tanaka K, Shimada M, Nakao K Kusunoki. Exp Neurol. 1978 Oct.

No, the date of that last study was not a typo; it was published in 1978.  Both the “medical research community” and “food manufacturers” have known about the side effects of MSG for decades.

Many more of the studies mentioned in John Erb’s book link MSG to
diabetes, migraines and headaches, autism, ADHD, and even Alzheimer’s.

So what can we do to stop the food manufactures from dumping this
fattening and addictive MSG into our food supply and causing the obesity
epidemic we now see?

Several months ago, John Erb took his book and his concerns to one of the highest government health officials in Canada.  While he was sitting in the government office, the official told him, “Sure, I know how bad MSG is. I wouldn’t touch the stuff.”  But this top-level government official refuses to tell the public what he knows.

The big media doesn’t want to tell the public either, fearing issues with their advertisers.  It seems that the fallout on the fast food industry may hurt their profit margin.  The food producers and restaurants have been addicting us to their products for years, and now we are paying the price for it.  Our children should not be cursed with obesity caused by an addictive food additive.

If you are one of the few who can still believe that MSG is good for us and you don’t believe what John Erb has to say, see for yourself. Go to the National Library of Medicine at www.pubmed.com <http://www.pubmed.com/> . Type in the words “MSG Obese” and read a few of the 115 medical studies that appear.

I do not approve of food that makes us into a nation of obese, lethargic, addicted sheep, feeding the food industry’s bottom line while waiting for the heart transplant, the diabetic-induced amputation, blindness, or other obesity-induced, life-threatening disorder!!

It takes up fully a third of our life-span (at least it should), but have you ever wondered why you need to sleep? Did you know it is only us humans who deprive ourselves of sleep? No other animal does this – not even those that are nocturnal.

Philosophers as far back as Plato and Aristotle had their ideas, but Dr. James Krueger, professor of neurobiology at Washington State University, is as close as anyone has ever come to providing real answers. Krueger, a scientist who studies sleep, says adequate slumber appears to be a key factor in our ability to prevent and fight off illnesses.

Acknowledging that sleep is an area that is largely understudied, Krueger found that deep sleep, taken within a short period after infection, helped animal research subjects fight off illness and recover. Subjects with similar infections that did not get adequate sleep had more serious symptoms and did not recover.

Weight Loss and Sleep

Lack of sleep can ail and hamstring us in a variety of ways.  One such way is to make us fat, or make it difficult to lose weight despite your best attempt. Science is now able to explain some of the mysteries behind sleep and weight-gain, and our inability to lose weight.

Growth hormone testosterone and other androgens:

Growth Hormone is a protein that plays a large role in the control of metabolism.  Growth hormone stimulates cells to break down fat and suppresses their ability to accumulate circulating lipids.  It also helps the body maintain blood glucose levels.  Our levels of growth hormone decrease when we do not get enough sleep, thereby lessening the opportunity to lose fat and build muscle.  Testosterone is the most significant androgen (Anabolic Male Hormone), and it is largely produced at night, especially between the 2^nd hour and 8^th hour of sleep.  These two hormones are essential for both Men AND WOMEN to stay lean and fit, and to slow the process of aging.  Now ladies I know when you hear “growth hormone” and “Testosterone” you think giant veiny gorillas sweating profusely and grunting in the gym, but this is merely a distraction from the physiological fact that women and men have these hormones, and women and men who maintain healthy growth hormone and Testosterone levels within their natural limits will stay leaner, fitter and younger looking. Adequate sleep is essential to facilitate this!!!!

Leptin is a protein hormone produced by fat cells which regulates body weight and metabolism.  Leptin acts as your body’s own appetite suppressant because it causes fat loss and a decrease in appetite.   People who do not get an adequate amount of sleep have lower levels of Leptin so they are not reaping the weight loss rewards of this  wonderful hormone.

Ghrelin is a hormone produced by the stomach which stimulates hunger.  If you have higher levels of Ghrelin, your desire to eat will be stronger.  People who do not get an adequate amount of sleep have higher levels of Ghrelin, therefore the appetite is increased.  In a nutshell, in order to diminish your appetite, you need to get better sleep.

Another related hormone is called cortisol, which is released into the bloodstream in response to some type of stress.  Sleep deprivation, a form of stress, causes an increase in the level of cortisol which makes us feel hungry whether or not we really are.  Over a period of time, sleep distress can cause weight gain because of this increase in appetite.

John Winkelman, MD, PhD, medical director of the Sleep Health Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital says:  “What most people do not realize is that better sleep habits may be instrumental to the success of any weight management plan.”

…RELATED STUDY…

In a Nurses’ health study which began in 1976, the sleeping patterns and weight levels of 68,000 women were monitored over a course of 26 years. The study reveals that women who get 5 or 6 hours of sleep gained more weight than women who sleep 7 hours a night.  The women who slept 5 hours a night were 32% more likely to experience significant weight gain (as much as 33 pounds!) and 15% more likely to be obese.  Those getting 6 hours of sleep had a 12% likelihood of significant weight gain and a 6% chance of becoming obese.  While there may be several contributing factors to these findings, the bottom line is there is a definite correlation between sleep and weight.

Some research has directly tested the idea that sleep deprivation leads to weight problems.  For instance, in a Japanese study of six-and seven-year olds, children who slept nine to ten hours a night were compared to those who only slept eight to nine hours.

The latter group was almost twice as likely to be overweight.  Children sleeping less than eight hours a night were almost three times as likely to be overweight.

Changes in hormone levels have been linked to sleep deprivation in several studies.  One hormone, cortisol, regulates metabolism of sugar, protein, fat, minerals and water.  Physical or emotional stress raises cortisol levels. Lack of sleep may also raise levels at certain times of the day.

Second, higher levels of insulin, a condition known as insulin resistance, have also been linked to a shortage of sleep in several studies.  Excess cortisol could be the link. Since insulin not only controls blood sugar, but also promotes fat storage, extra insulin makes weight loss more difficult.

Less Sleep = Weight Gain

Why?

Because while you are sleeping, your body is acting as the finely tuned machine it is, busy doing its own repair work that it could not accomplish during waking hours.  This includes regeneration of damaged cells, repairing tissue, allowing the mind to mend itself and an overall renewal process for the entire body so that upon wakening, you feel fresh and ready to tackle the day.

When we rob our bodies of this much-needed healing time, our bodies respond negatively in the form of fatigue, irritability, emotional problems, weight gain, poor health, etc.  And that is just in the short run. Longer down the road, after a build up of sleep deprivation, the cumulative effect becomes more serious and potentially life threatening.

Losing some shut eye is not considered as harmless as it used to be.  More research is continually being done to confirm the association between sleep debt and an assortment of health problems.  Incidence of sleep deficit has risen to epidemic proportions and most folks don’t even know that have it!

Next time you think about cutting back on sleep, think about this……

• Increased Risk of high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other serious illnesses

• Sleep disorders that remain untreated for several years are linked to a host of serious illnesses such as heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, obesity and psychiatric problems because sleep disruption affects crucial hormones and proteins that play roles in these diseases. Lack of sleep is serious business!

• Lack of sleep elevates substances (prostaglandins, cortisol etc)  in the blood that are responsible for increasing inflammation in the body, which has recently been discovered as a major risk factor for heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes and obesity and can even predispose you to a shorter life span.
• Insulin sensitivity is a result of sleep deprivation because of disruption to hormones and this condition is a trigger for diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease.
• Blood pressure drops during sleep, therefore less than 6 hours of sleep can contribute to an increased risk of high blood pressure.
• It is believed that a sleep deficit can increase the production of stress hormones which drive up blood pressure, which is a major risk factor for heart attacks and stroke.

Weight Gain

• Raging hormones…When your body does not get enough rest your hormones fly into chaos. One of many results is glucose intolerance which sets in and tells your hunger receptors that you want to eat more. Sleep deprived are more likely to reach for sweets and starches over veggies and fruit when that hunger sets in, thus throwing the body into a terribly unhealthy cycle. Studies also reveal a tendency to replace sleep loss with extra calories. While trapped in this cycle, the foods you eat are not metabolized as well because of the hormone imbalance, basically setting off a domino effect of weight gain, poor health, more sleep loss and the potential for serious diseases down the road. The body is so carefully tuned that when one aspect is thrown off-kilter, the rest goes with it.
• Today 2 out of 3 adults is overweight; almost 1 in 3 is obese
• Generally we do not burn as many calories when functioning on less sleep and the body’s reaction is to hoard calories as fat, making our weight loss goals more difficult than they need to be.
• After just a few days of denying yourself decent sleep, the hormones that regulate appetite can cause you to be hungry even when you’re not. And we all know what that leads to….weight gain!!!
• Studies have shown that those getting an average of 5 hours of sleep are over 70% more likely to be obese that those with 7-9 hours.

Tendency to make mistakes and errors in judgment

• Losing just 1 ½ hours of sleep in one night can decrease your alertness by 32% the following day.
• A 2002 poll taken by the National Sleep Foundation found that a whopping 37% of Americans are so sleepy during the day that it interferes with daily activities.
• Studies have shown that the off-balance effects of sleep deprivation can be similar to the effects of having several alcoholic beverages.

Crankiness, irritability, aggressiveness and paranoia

• Anyone who has missed sleep has noticed there is a tendency to be irritable, short of temper, cranky and generally not so pleasant to be around. Chronic sleeplessness can, overtime, not only wear on our own nerves, but on those around us.

Appearance

• Sleep is required in order to have glowing skin. During sleep the body goes into repair mode to regenerates skin, muscles, blood and brain cells. There is a reason they call it beauty sleep.
• Dark circles under the eyes can be caused by sleep deprivation.
• When you are more awake and alert you have an overall fresher and brighter appearance than when you lose sleep.

Depression and Mood

• Depressive illnesses are almost always linked to sleep disturbances; for those with anxiety it may be difficult to sleep because of obsessive worrying, intrusive thoughts, inability to relax and “turn off the switch.”
• Many test studies find that those without adequate sleep are generally more depressed, tense, moody, stressed and irritable than good sleepers.
• Lack of sleep can cause an over-emotional state and mood swings

Immune System

• When we fall asleep, the immune system begins the business of restoring, detoxifying itself. Even one night of sleep deprivation can suppress the immune system significantly.
• This is the time when your body does major housecleaning, taking care of wastes that have accumulated during the day and repairing cellular damage.

Energy Level

• Sleep deprivation zaps energy. If you have gotten used to a daily lack of energy, you may not realize that you could gain more energy and feel much better.

Relationship problems

• Humans generally take out their stress and irritability on the ones they love.
• Different sleep habits might cause one person to change bedrooms.

Cognitive Function and Intelligence

• During sleep the brain is busy regenerating neurons in the cerebral cortex so that it may continue to function properly. The brain’s cerebral cortex can only accomplish this during sleep, not during wakefulness. After periods of reduced sleep, neurons may begin to malfunction, causing observable changes in a person’s behavior, such as slurred speech, slowed reaction time, focus, logical reasoning etc.
• Sleep helps to restore and rejuvenate your memory processes, energize your nervous and immune systems, and stimulate overall growth and development.
• A brain that has not had adequate rest has to work harder and accomplishes less. Some parts of the brain don’t even function when not enough sleep has been acquired.
• If you sleep only 6 hours per might you lose the most important hour of REM sleep that your mind uses to heal itself

Injuries and deadly accidents

• Driver fatigue is responsible for an estimated 100,000 motor vehicle accidents and 1,500 deaths each year. Lack of sleep can be dangerous because it can impair our ability to drive by slower response times, not being alert, general drowsiness and bad judgment.
• The U.S. Department of Transportation reports that 20% of all drivers have dozed off at least once behind the wheel.

Poor Health

• Sleep deprived individuals generally do not pay as much attention to their health as those with good sleep habits.

While you are sleeping, your body is acting as the finely tuned machine it is, busy doing its own repair work that it could not accomplish during waking hours.  This includes regeneration of damaged cells, repairing tissue, allowing the mind to mend itself by processing all the new data, and an overall renewal process for all bodily functions so that upon wakening, you feel fresh and ready to tackle the day.  When we rob ourselves of this much-needed healing time, our bodies respond negatively in the form of fatigue, irritability, emotional problems, weight gain, lack of judgment, etc.  And that is just in the short run.  Longer down the road, after a build up of sleep deprivation, the cumulative effect becomes more serious and potentially life threatening. Lack of sleep contributes to overall poorer health, makes you appear fatigued and haggard.

Sleep experts recommend at least eight hours of sleep a night for most adults. Yet Americans average just under seven hours during the workweek, according to the National Sleep Foundation.  In fact, a third of adults reportedly sleep no more than six-and-a-half hours nightly.

Shutting off the TV an hour earlier means an hour less munching time.  It could also shift your metabolism to make weight control easier.  It could even leave you with more energy to exercise.  Definitely, these are propositions to sleep on.

But what if all you’ve read about soy is nothing but a multi-million dollar marketing strategy based on scanty facts, half-truths and lies?

Soy is a cheap filler and poor substitute for more bio available, and health promoting proteins (whey, meats, eggs).  It is used in health bars, some protein powders and other products because it is cheaper than higher quality proteins such as whey, hence increasing the bottom line of companies selling these products. The Marketing Machines of these companies of course spin Soy off as “the new healthier alternative” or as a Vegan and hence more ethical choice of protein.

Red Meat and Eggs have been vilified for their alleged contribution to heart disease as well as the ethical issue surrounding consuming animal products. Since Red meat and Egg phobia Rates of Anemia and Alzheimer’s have risen significantly.  Haem Iron (Iron from Meat) is 6 times more absorbable than Iron from Vegetables, there is also a synergy of absorbability of Iron when Vegetable iron and haem iron are consumed together.  Eggs are the best know source of phospholipids, more specifically the yolk.   Phospholipids have been linked to the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of Dementia.  Since Egg phobia and the vilification of eggs ram rampant in the 80’s and 90’s, rates of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia have sky rocketed. This shows us how irresponsible marketing, inadequate regulation by food and drug authorities and media hype can mislead us, and why it has become so hard for the average person to be able to shop safely for themselves and for their families.  Soy and the “BS” surrounding its so called health benefits is another example of this, and how the all mighty dollar has once again been put before the welfare of the public.

Most people remain unaware that soy is known to contain an array of potent chemical toxins.  The modern manufacturing processes of high-profit industries make no effort to remove these potent toxins.  High levels of phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors, toxic lysinoalanine and highly carcinogenic nitrosamines are all present in soy products.

Phytoestrogens that disrupt endocrine function and are potent antithyroid agents are present in vast quantities in soy, including the potentially devastating isoflavone Genistein. Infants exclusively fed soy-based formula have 13,000 to 22,000 times more estrogen compounds in their blood than babies fed milk-based formula, the estrogenic equivalent of at least five birth control pills per day. Premature development of girls has been linked to the use of soy formula, as has the underdevelopment of males.  Infant soy formula has been linked to autoimmune thyroid disease.  Soy has been linked to the blocking of Iodine absorption, a mineral we already struggle to consistently obtain enough of (especially women).

Soy is linked to infertility, breast cancer, hypothyroidism, thyroid cancer, and many other disorders.

“Imagine drugs that are known, by years of scientific documentation, to be both carcinogenic and to also cause DNA and chromosome damage being prescribed and administered through the food supply to populations of many countries around the world without the knowledge or consent of the individuals consuming these foods … with no way to track dosage, individual reactions, or harmful side-effects … and without any concern for some people’s increased vulnerability to these drugs, such as cancer patients. It sounds crazy, but that is exactly what is happening around the world when Soy is added to our food supply. Soy contains the scientifically documented carcinogenic and DNA damaging and chromosome damaging natural chemicals genistein and daidzein.”

- True Health, the magazine of Carotec Inc., Naples, Florida. May/June 2004.

“(Soy foods) are not nutrients. They are drugs.”

- Dr. L. White, Honolulu Aging Study.

How could anyone get away with this?

The answer is simple; given the soy industry is one of the worlds most wealthy and powerful multi-billion dollar industries.

“Despite an impressive array of scientific evidence that soy is not a fit food for man nor beast, the soy marketing mastodon has marched through the American market like Sherman through Georgia – and likely doing about as much damage as Sherman’s Union Army did. In our opinion the widespread use of non-fermented soy is part of the chronic disease problem since soy is known to wreak havoc with the human thyroid and other hormone systems.”

- True Health, the magazine of Carotec Inc., Naples, Florida. May/June 2004.

Soybeans are widely known to contain a gamut of natural toxins – and it makes no difference whether they are organic, “Round-Up Ready”, or in any number of modern products. The trouble with modern soy products is that fast industrial processing does not equate to historical methods of fermenting “for two summers” or boiling “for the length of an incense”. The method of modern get-rich-quick corporations is simply to leave these well-known natural toxins in our products.

“Among the Hawaii study conclusions: that tofu accelerates brain weight loss in aging users, that the more soy you use the more it impacts your mental abilities, that soy acts like a drug, not a food.”

- True Health, the magazine of Carotec Inc., Naples, Florida. May/June 2004.

In short, Soy is a cheap filler, and a poor substitute for quality proteins such as eggs, whey, meat, fish and nuts.  At one point eggs and meats, mostly red meat were being smeared and pin pointed as causes of disease and Soy was touted as the healthy Savior.  Unfortunately we have been mislead on both fronts and rates of certain serious diseases, as well as the acceleration or even creation of new ailments have risen from both the use of Soy and the malnutrition suffered due to the avoidance of the aforementioned foods.  The use of Marketing and media hype as well as biased and circumstantial research has led to Soy being hailed as a health product and miracle answer to many problems such as high cholesterol, PMS and Lactose intolerance. Soy is not only an inferior protein (Whey Isolate has a bio availability of anywhere from 110-130, whole eggs are 100, soy is 32) but is high in Estrogens- strong enough to stop boys going through puberty.  If the health issues surrounding Soy aren’t enough to convince you here is an easy one- The amount of phyto-estrogens in Soy protein will make you as fat as a cow- Irony intended!

and in my opinion is one of the fundamental reasons why many people undertake a fitness regime with disappointing results!  Women especially are guilty of neglecting or even ignoring resistance training.

If a client came to me with a black and white choice- cardio or resistance training (this is purely hypothetical, everyone has time for cardio) I would say resistance training over cardio!  Why?  But Resistance Training burns calories as does cardio.

There are 2 major differences.  When you stop cardio Training (unless it is ultra high intensity sprint work) the body stops burning calories once you stop exercising.  After a resistance workout you can continue to burn calories for up to 14 hours.  This is mostly due to EPOC (excess post exercise oxygen consumption) as well as the body’s need to repair the muscle tissue after resistance training.  Resistance training also builds lean muscle.  Every  pound of lean muscle you build burns 50 calories extra per day with no extra exercise needed.  So 10 lbs of extra lean muscle is equal to 7lbs per year of weight loss with no extra exercise. Keep in mind that when you do exercise this extra muscle will ramp up your calorie expenditure exponentially.  So you can see how building lean muscle over there course of a year can seriously eliminate fat from your body. 

Now Ladies I know what you are all thinking, and I hear this day in day out from Female clients- “But I don’t want to Bulk Up”.  First of all, it is extremely hard for women to bulk up, even when they intend to.  It can happen however.  Women who do “Bulk Up”  do so because they gain Muscle AND Fat due to incorrect resistance training and incorrect nutrition in conjunction with their weight training program.  Before I go any Further Take a look at the Pictures Below.

Muscle is three times more dense than fat.  Therefore 5lbs of Muscle takes up one third the space of 5lbs of fat.  If you replace 5lbs of metabolically inactive fat, with 5lbs of metabolically active muscle your weight stays the same, your inches have dropped and your metabolism is permanently elevated.

Correct resistance training with correct nutrition and cardio will guarantee both men and women optimal results.  The equation is simple- Calorie expenditure comes from exercise and metabolism.  Calories in comes from food.  If Calories out exceeds calories in then you lose weight.  So if someone is following a regular resistance training, cardio and nutrition program and they are not losing weight it can only one thing- a metabolic disorder.  This can  mean hypothyroidism, excess estrogen, adrenal fatigue etc.  If you are reading this and can relate to what I am saying it is worth visiting your endocrinologist to get our hormone balance tested.  Metabolic or hormonal disorders aside, resistance training combined with correct nutrition and cardio vascular exercise (High intensity cardio is the most effective) will guarantee that you lose fat, and lean muscle gains will help you keep it off.

Golf Injury Certified, Advanced Sports Nutrition Specialist

Active Release Technique Provider

The following are four “secrets” to help you manage

stress in your everyday life.

1. Prioritize your daily activities:

Putting your activities in priority from top to bottom is a great way to keep the important things from being overlooked.  It also puts down, on paper, what you need to remember so that you don’t have to lay awake at night worrying about forgetting.

2. Breathe:

Deep breathing is a great way to get fresh, life giving oxygen into your lungs. Breathe in deeply through your nose for a count of ten then slowly let it out through your mouth for a count of 30.  The extended exhalation will help to push all of the “stale” air out of your lungs and replace it with fresh air.

A study published in The Lancet found that cardiac patients who took 12 to 14 shallow breaths per minute (6/min is optimal) were more likely to have low levels of blood oxygen, which could “impair skeletal muscle and metabolic function, and lead to muscle atrophy and exercise intolerance.”

3. Write Down Your Goals:

A study was done at Harvard University in 1979  that asked the graduating class how many of them had goals for the future and how many of them had actually written them down.  Only three percent had actually written them down; 13% had goals in mind but not on paper; and 84% had no goals at all.  Ten years later, the same people were tracked down and a startling discovery was made.  The people that had written their goals down were making over ten times the income of the other two groups combined.

4. Count Your Blessings:

Being grateful for what you have is one of the best ways

to fight off stress.  If you don’t think you have anything to be grateful for, the following are a few things to consider. You live in America where anyone can decide what they want to do with their lives and are free to pursue it.  You have the blessing of sight to read this article.  You have the capacity to understand the ideas in this paper.  You may have children and/or pets that make you happy.  Acknowledging all the wonderful things in your life and being grateful for them will make the other things seem less important.

For more information contact Dr. DeWitt at drjohndewitt@gmail.com