You don't value your health enough to make it your number one priority

HELLO!!!!! This one is a wakeup call for so many. You think that you really value your health, but a wise man once told me that if you really wanted to see what you valued, look at your bank account. Where you spend your money tells what you value the most. Is it vacations or movies or cars? Is it retirement plans or bigger homes? Is it food or other forms of entertainment? What is it for you?

Our health is the most important thing we have. Without it we have nothing and I mean nothing. In this country we spend more money on medications just to keep us alive. Our health is declining so fast that not even modern science can keep up with it. If we go to the doctor and something is found to be wrong with us, the first thing we ask him is whether or not they have a pill to help us. Even doctors know that if we took better care of our health and exercised regularly we would not have at least 80% of the issues we now have. High blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, and even cancer are all at all-time highs. My personal opinion is that all this would go away if we could get one thing under control, obesity. Obesity leads to more issues then we really realize. I have seen so many people lose weight and then go back to their doctors and because of their weight loss they are taken off of the medications they were on. This has happened time and time again too many of the people I have personally trained.

We abuse our health on so many levels. We drink and smoke way too much. We don’t get the proper night sleep. Then we put ourselves on these ridicules diet plans thinking that it will get us back to the way we once were, only to find out that in the end we have gained an extra 10 to 15 pounds minimum. So many of us need to put our lives back into balance and we must first start with taking control of our health. This needs to be first in our lives. Put this first and everything else will fall into place.

Children in sports

Now your little darling is in at least 4 sports. He or She is in a winter sport and a summer sport, 2 spring sports and a fall sport and you wonder why they are so tired. Most of us believe that if we keep our kids busy that they will become well rounded athletes and that they will stay out of trouble. Whereas the latter may be true, the part about becoming a well-rounded athlete is just not true.
I truly believe that sports can and does play an important role in a child’s development. They learn team work, how to work hard, how to put team before self, they learn selfless play, they learn that for a team to succeed they must do their part, they also learn how to interact with all people whether they like them or not. They learn how to focus on the common goal and put emotion aside. I believe that every child should play some sort of a sport or be part of some team.
The problem that I see is that we have our kids in way too many things. In the winter Junior is playing basketball. In the spring Junior is playing soccer or playing baseball or both. In the summer Junior is part of the swim team and volleyball. In the fall Junior is on the cheerleading squad or playing football. What is wrong with this picture? What are we teaching our children? Don’t you know that because they are in so many activities they are more prone to injury and burnout? I believe the only thing we are teaching our children is that busyness is more important than achievement.
Ok so that last statement I made is a loaded one because I have a lot of parents that truly believe that their darling needs to be in all those activities. So let me further explain. Have you heard of the saying, “Jack of all trades master of none”? Well that’s what we would be developing if Junior stayed in all those activities. The average middle school child is in at least three different sports (this is a study done by me 2 years ago. My population group was both 7th and 8th graders from three different middle schools and I asked their parents about Junior’s participation in sports. My population sample totaled 386 families) and by the time they get to high school they are just burnt out. Most of them don’t even think about going out for a sport.
If you really want to see your son or daughters thrive in the area of sports, have them only go out for one or two sports. Why? Because then they can become the very best at what they do. They won’t find themselves overly stretched. They will give their bodies time to develop and keep from lots of injuries. It will allow them to concentrate on other parts of their life such as school work (education) and social development. I know that in my household my kids are only allowed to do two sports and each sport complements each other. I do this because I want their very best efforts on the field of play. They get it and it shows. Try it with your kid and see what happens.

9) You don’t get enough Veggies

9) You don’t get enough Veggies
Vegetables need to be a very important part of our daily diet. Vegetables are our best source of nutrients such as vitamin C. I know this sounds really bad but vegetables give us the roughage we need so that we don’t become constipated.
In the American diet today we have become a very starchy society. We love our potatoes, rice and pasta. We love our red meats and poultry and then on some rare occasion we may just sneak some fish in our diet. Whereas these food groups are not bad for us without our vegetables we are missing something important. Vegetables give our bodies the vitamins and nutrients that we just can’t get from eating our starches and meats. But most important, without them, well… can you say “constipation?” That’s right, if we ate more vegetables we would not need over the counter medications when we get constipated.
Vegetables need to be a main part of our daily consumption of food. We should be eating more vegetable and less starch. I truly believe that if we did that, we would see a huge difference even in our waist sizes. We eat too many simple carbs and not enough fiber and vegetables are very fibrous. I tell all my clients that at night we need to eat less carbs and more vegetables. My reasoning for that is because our body knows what to do with the veggies but with the starches, all our bodies will do is store them for later use.
Do you want more energy? Do you want to lose weight? Are you constipated sometimes? Do you feel run down or your stomach just doesn’t feel right? Eat those veggies and watch what happens.

Detoxification? Is it time?

Ok, I know that you think that you have heard this before. How many of us have either had a friend tell us that they have done some sort of detoxification or have tried to sell us on the idea or product to do some sort of a cleansing? How many of us have spent money on doing a detoxification only to find ourselves no better off than we were before we started it? How many of us have thrown hundreds of dollars away thinking that “this one is the right one for me”?

Well I am not going to sell you anything. My goal is simple, it is to help us simplify our lives, give us healthier bodies and bring back the energy we may have lost.

The average adult today consumes way too much soda and alcohol. We consume way too much junk food and processed foods. We eat way too much and way too late. The average adult is at least 50 pounds overweight. We spend way too much time on our electronic devises and not enough time with face to face communication. Our lives are very noisy. We have noise all around us from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep and to make sure that we don’t go to sleep in quite we keep the television on. My hopes are that after reading this I can motivate those who have read it join me in the fight a get our health back.

The average adult spends way too much time on our cell phones and computers. We spend way too much time in our cars traveling from one place to another. Our cell phones have become our life and in some situations we feel as though we can do nothing without them. You don’t believe me? Ever leave your cell phone at home? How do you feel when you realize that you left it at home? Kind of naked hay? Like you’re missing something “important”? Then what is the first thing you do when you get home? Exactly, find your cell phone and check your messages. Or have you ever text someone and if they don’t respond right away you feel as though they don’t care about you? Think about it.

So what is a detoxification any way? Well I believe it is a way to rid the body of the poisons that consume us on a daily bases. I believe that we need to help our bodies fight off disease and infections and by detoxifying ourselves, in the en , we will have stronger immune systems and much more energy to do those things that are most meaningful in our lives and much more time to do the things we have always wanted to do.

I must say that this is not a game. This is meant to begin the process of healing our bodies and our lives. My ultimate goal is to make whatever we do a lifestyle change. My goals is for us to get to a point where we begin to realize that most of the stuff we do, we eat, or we think we need, we really don’t need. So here we go…

The best way for me to describe my detoxification plan is to tell you what I have done in the past and what I am doing for myself now. Ten years ago I had a huge problem. When I looked at my diet, it was clearly obvious that I was spending way too much time at fast food restaurants and especially one in particular, McDonalds. My breakfast and lunch would revolve around McDonalds. I was eating at McDonalds at least 14 times a week. When I looked at it monetarily I was spending almost $20 per day just on fast food. I knew that this had to stop, so I made a conscious decision to stop all McDonalds fast food eating and for the last 10 years, I have not eaten at a McDonalds nor have I had a desire to. Even when I go on road trips I have not and I pride myself in saying that I have not eaten at a McDonalds in 10 years. I have found that I don’t need to spend that money and that there are better alternatives and because of that I have saved loads of money.

Now I have another problem, I spend way too much time with my electronic devises. I am on mu cell phone constantly texting one person or another. In one month I can accumulate over 10,000 text messages. Then there is facebook, well let’s not go there. I need to lesson my time on these devises and spend more time with my family and friends face to face. So effective on September 1st I will be reducing my time on these devises. Will you join me?

What are you willing to give up to better your health and total wellbeing? Will you join me on September 1? Your detoxification does not have to be the same as mine nor do I expect it to be. But why not get healthier with me in some way.

#8 You don’t sleep enough

Now this is one of the most over looked problems we have here in the States. We are so worried about keeping up with the Jones, that we forget that our sleep is a very important time in our life. Why? Your sleep is where the body repairs itself. It cannot do it while you are awake because at that time it is working. While sleeping your brain surveys your whole body and send our friends the red blood cells there to help mend any issues. This is the only time healing truly happens.
During the 1950’s scientists got to do in depth studies on sleep and what they found out is that we have four stages of sleep and they are:
Stage 1: This is the beginning stage of the sleep cycle and lasts around 5 to 10 minutes. In this stage we are between being awake and sleeping. Ever have your eyes closed and still hear things around you like the television or radio? This is that first stage. If a person is awoke at this stage they might report that they were never sleeping to begin with.
Stage 2: This stage lasts for about 20 minutes and your brain begins to slow your system down. Your heart rate begins to slow down and you’re the temperature of your body begins to drop.
Stage 3: In this stage our brain waves begin to slow down. During this phase of sleep we become less responsive to our environment and exterior noises. This stages acts as a go between from your light sleep to your heavy sleep or fast REM sleep. There is no time limit on how long you can be in this stage.
Stage 4: This is also known as the dream state. This state is also known as fast REM (rapid eye movement). This is when you will have rapid eye movement, increased respiration and increased brain activity. This is also the time when the body repairs itself and gets ready for the next day. In this stated our muscles are none responsive (paralyzed) to voluntary motion.
Now here is the kicker, we do not progress thru each stage of sleep and end up in the REM sleep and then stay there for the rest of the night. No we actually cycle thru each stage several times during our whole period of sleep. It is not uncommon to go from stage 1 to stage 2 and 3 and then back to stage 2 before finally entering into stage 4. This cycle takes an average of 90 minutes to go thru.
Don’t take your sleep for granted, it is really the most important part of your whole day.

Travel travel travel

Here I am getting ready to go to New Jersey. It's 914 miles of road that, without thinking about Pennsylvania in the mix, it would be a pleasant ride. Pennsylvania is over 340 miles long and it doesn't matter how fast you drive it takes you 4 hours to get thru.

Have you ever driven a long way, over 400 miles in a day, and gotten out of your car and felt tight and tired? I know that happens to me a lot and the question I wanted to finally answer is, what can I do to stop that feeling. So I did my own study on the way out to New Jersey.

First, we decided to drive as we (my wife and I) would normally. The only stops we were going to make were for gas and food and because I was driving the Camry I knew that I would not be making many stops for gas (maybe one. The night before I got good sleep and hit the road right after church. I drove thru Illinois, Indiana and then stopped in Ohio to fuel up and get something to eat. After fueling up and eating we then hit the road and struggled thru Pennsylvania. Once we made it over the Delaware Water Gap we then continued on to my dads house where we finally parked the car and got out and staggered inside and fell asleep. Throughout that trip, especially at the end, my back and neck really hurt and my legs, well they weren't liking me at all. They were stiff and sore. It took that all of Monday to get back to normal. By Tuesday I was able to get back to my normal activities.

Well, not to make a long story longer. On my way home I decided to do something different. I decided to try and fit exercise into my travels home. Here is the catch, I did not want to use any additional time nor did I want to get sweaty and tired. So this is what I did...

After driving thru Pennsylvania we stopped in Ohio to get gas. While the pump was on I went for a walk, exactly 200 steps and then I did two deep knee bends and then got back into the car and went on. A few hours later I stopped to get some food. After ordering I knew that I was going to have a few minutes so I got up and walked around the building a few times. It took 10 minutes and when I came back I was not sweaty nor tired. I sat down and a few minutes later my food was ready. Then my final stop was in Indiana and I got out for 5 minutes and repeated the 200 steps as I had done before. By this time we were into the trip for over 11 hours and by then I would be feeling tired and sore. However something strange was happening, I was feeling really good. My bones weren't hurting, my back felt great and my knees were yelling at me. My neck felt great and I wasn't even a little tired.

Well we still had a few hours left so I got into the car and hammered thru the rest of the ride. When I got home to my shock I was not tired at all and my body felt really good. I now believe that there is something to that whole notion that even a little exercise makes the body feel good. Next time you go on long trips think about incorporating exercise into the trip. You will feel so much better for it.