Friday, September 23, 2011

Words of Wisdom

Oh, it's been way too long.

I thought I would share some great advice about diet and exercise. It's mostly a note to MESELF!

You can find the entire article HERE.

Thank you, Dr. Mercola!


My Diet Plan—Summary of Basic Concepts

If you're still confused about what a "proper diet" is, I suggest reviewing my Insulin Diet Plan, which is designed to guide you through the dietary changes in a step-by-step fashion, moving from beginners to intermediary to advanced. When properly applied, it can improve just about anyone's health.

Following is a summary of the basic recommendations:

Limit fructose to less than 25 grams per day. Ideally, you'll also want to limit the amount of fructose from fruit to 15 grams per day, as you're likely consuming 'hidden' fructose if you eat even small amounts of processed foods or sweetened beverages
Limit or eliminate all processed foods
Eliminate all gluten, and highly allergenic foods from your diet
Eat organic foods whenever possible, preferably locally-grown
Eat at least one-third of your food uncooked (raw), or as much as you can manage
Increase the amount of fresh vegetables in your diet
Avoid artificial sweeteners of all kinds
Swap all trans fats (vegetable oils, margarine etc) for healthful fats like raw butter or coconut oil
To re-balance your omega-3 to omega-6 ratio, take a high-quality omega-3 supplement, such as krill oil, and reduce your consumption of processed omega-6 fats from vegetable oils (trans fats)
Drink plenty of pure water
Optimize your vitamin D levels, either through appropriate sun exposure, a safe tanning bed, or as last resort an oral vitamin D3 supplement
Five Principles of Exercise

Getting back to exercise, variety is the name of the game. You also need to pay attention to intensity or level of difficulty. When an exercise becomes easy to complete, it's a sign you need to work a little harder and give your body a new challenge.

There are five types of exercises that will turn your peak fitness regimen into a truly comprehensive exercise plan:

Interval (Anaerobic) Training: This really is aerobic and anaerobic, but the research shows that the anaerobic phase if far more important. The BEST way to condition your heart and burn fat is NOT to jog or walk steadily for an hour. Instead, it’s to alternate short bursts of high-intensity exercise with gentle recovery periods. This type of exercise, known as interval training or burst type training, can dramatically improve your cardiovascular fitness and fat-burning capabilities.

Another major benefit of this approach is that it radically decreases the amount of time you spend exercising, while giving you even more benefits. For example, intermittent sprinting produces high levels of chemical compounds called catecholamines, which allow more fat to be burned from under your skin within the exercising muscles. The resulting increase in fat oxidation increases weight loss. So, short bursts of activity done at a very high intensity can help you reach your optimal weight and level of fitness, in a shorter amount of time.

It also promotes the production of human growth hormone (HGH), known as “the fitness hormone,” which can help you add youthful vigor to your years, in addition to promoting weight loss and improved muscle building.
Aerobic: Jogging, using an elliptical machine, and walking fast are all examples of aerobic exercise, which will increase the amount of oxygen in your blood and increase endorphins, which act as natural painkillers. Aerobic exercise also activates your immune system, helps your heart pump blood more efficiently, and increases your stamina over time.

Just don’t make the mistake of using aerobic as your primary or only form of exercise, as you’ll forgo many of the most potent health benefits exercise has to offer if you do...
Strength Training: Rounding out your exercise program with a 1-set strength training routine will ensure that you're really optimizing the possible health benefits of a regular exercise program. You need enough repetitions to exhaust your muscles. The weight should be heavy enough that this can be done in fewer than 12 repetitions, yet light enough to do a minimum of four repetitions. It is also important NOT to exercise the same muscle groups every day. They need at least two days of rest to recover, repair and rebuild.
Core Exercises: Your body has 29 core muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen and pelvis. This group of muscles provides the foundation for movement throughout your entire body, and strengthening them can help protect and support your back, make your spine and body less prone to injury and help you gain greater balance and stability.

Pilates and yoga are great for strengthening your core muscles, as are specific exercises you can learn from a personal trainer. Even if a personal trainer is not in the cards for you right now, please watch these sample videos for examples of healthy exercise routines you can do with very little equipment and in virtually any location. Focusing on your breath and mindfulness along with increasing your flexibility is an important element of total fitness.
Stretching

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