My Healthy Tidbits

Stress can zap your energy and shorten your life!  Don’t let stress get you down.  We all feel stressed at times.  How you react to stress will determine its affect on you.  Stress can leave you feeling depressed or anxious, which depletes energy levels.  Be sure to take time-out…relax…meditate or pray.

How much sleep do you need?  Is it 6,7,8 or 9 hours each night?  Sleep disturbance is a common problem as we age.  Too many of us have let our daily lives take over our night hours.  A majority of Americans have televisions in their bedrooms and a good number of people stay up late into the night Web-surfing or emailing.

Fight insomnia:  Drinking alcohol can suppress your ability to get a good nights sleep.  Try avoiding alcohol for a better night’s sleep.  Also avoid eating a heavy meal right before bed time.  Digestion takes energy, which can disrupt your good night’s sleep.

Meditation: Since we all get exhausted physically and mentally by the end of the day, it is important for us to learn the art of deep relaxation to help restore our body and mind with energy and vigor.  Since most of us spend our day rushed from the moment we wake up to the minute we go to bed, we often feel completely fatigued and exhausted throughout the day.

Take a few minutes, whenever possible, to breathe deeply and relax, letting your mind go silent.

Deep Breathing: There are many benefits of deep breathing.  However, very few of us are able to draw these wonderful benefits for the simple reason that we have become so used to shallow breathing.  As a result, shallow breathing doesn’t enable us to inhale enough oxygen and exhale enough carbon dioxide from our body.  Our bodies become permanently oxygen starved, resulting in permanent lack of energy.

Practicing a full complete breath:  1.  Suck in your stomach, drawing your belly button towards your spine.  2. Exhale thoroughly.  3.  Now expand your belly button outward, drawing in a full breath.  4. Then allow your ribs to open out.  5.  Repeat 5 to 10 times.

Do you want more energy?  Then exercise!  Regular exercise is one of the best things you can do to promote better health.  High levels of physical activity are defined as three intense 20-minute workouts per week.  A more moderate routine would be a brisk 30 minute walk, 5 days a week.

Within each of our cells we have an energy-maker called the mitochondria.  The mitochondria create energy by splitting off a phosphate molecule from an adenosine triphosphate molecule.  The more phosphate splitting that is taking place within the mitochondria, the more energy you will gain.  Being physically active encourages phosphate splitting, thus giving you more energy.

Physical activity can help to:  Reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke;  Lower your risk of type 2 diabetes; Increase lean muscle tissue; Keep bones strong and healthy;  Promote psychological well-being and mental clarity; Improve balance.

Choose an aerobic activity that you enjoy, such as walking, running, biking, swimming or tennis.  Begin by engaging in your aerobic activity about 10 or 20 minutes, 3 to 4 times for your first week and then increase your active time by 10% each week.

Your physical activity does not need to be strenuous to be beneficial.  Mix up your cardiovascular activity so you don’t become bored.  Also, listen to your body and don’t push yourself too hard.

Choose fiber-rich foods.  If it comes from the ground, it has fiber in it.  Fiber, found in complex carbohydrates, will help improve colon health, reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer, and help lower bad cholesterol levels in your body.  Fiber is the “garbage man” for circulating hormones, such as excess cholesterol and estrogens.  Fiber picks them up, and out they go.  Dietary fiber intake among adults in the United States averages about 10 to 15 grams per day.  The recommended daily allowance is 25 to 30 grams.

Fiber-rich foods include beans and vegetables, followed by fruit and whole grains such as oats, wheat, millet, barley and rye.  When choosing high-fiber cereals, look for whole-grain cereals with at least five grams of fiber per serving. 

Fiber comes in two sources, soluble and insoluble.  Oats have the highest proportion of soluble fiber of any grain.  

Soluble Fibers: Fruits (apples, pears, oranges, grapefruit, strawberries); Oats, barley, beans, lentils; Vegetables (brussel sprouts, broccoli), Psyllium.  Action in the Body:  Forms a gel in the intestinal tract.  Delays Gastrointestinal transit time (feel fuller longer).  Delays glucose absorption.  Lowers blood cholesterol.

Insoluble Fibers: Wheat bran, corn bran, whole-grain breads and cereals; Vegetables (cabbage, carrots, brussel sprouts); Flax seeds.  Action in the Body: Indigestible, does not dissolve in water.  Accelerates Gastrointestinal transit.  Increases fecal bulk.  Delays glucose absorption.

Spirulina is an incredibly nutrient-dense food, it contains nearly every nutrient we need to sustain our lives, except water.  Spirulina is an ideal food supplement for people of all ages and lifestyles.  Only 3 grams (1 1/2) teaspoons has more antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity than 5 servings of vegetables.  It is higher in protein than any other known food.  Spirulina contains 300% more calcium than milk, 2300% more iron than spinach and 3900% more beta carotene than carrots.  It is the best whole food source of gamma linolenic acid (GLA). It is rich in B vitamins (including B12), minerals, chlorophyll, enzymes and glycogen.

It  can nourish people who have digestion, assimilation and elimination problems.  It enables children (and others who don’t like vegetables) to eat their greens by taking a few tablets.  It delivers important nutrition to busy people who don’t have time for regular, balanced, nourishing meals.  It is especially good for the elderly, people recovering from surgery and people who need more energy.  People taking Spirulina report that they have more energy, they feel better and they have fewer colds and flu.

There have been over 200 scientific studies of Spirulina.  It has been effective to treat certain allergies, anemia, toxic liver, viral diseases, and immunodeficiency and inflammatory processes.  Imagine a food that can help regulate blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol, alleviate pain of inflammation, deliver antioxidant activity to ward off life threatening diseases like cancer, Alzheimer’s, heart disease and stroke.  A food that supports and protects the liver and the kidneys and can remove radiation from the body, improve the immune system, helps our eyes and brain and improve our digestion!

Choose your Spirulina carefully. Only Spirulina grown in the United States is recognized as safe by our government.  Because of inferior methods used by producers elsewhere, Spirulina grown outside the country is not recognized as safe by the FDA.

The FDA has issued a warning on the biophosphonate drugs, Fosamax, Actonel, and Boniva. (January 2008, they are not going public for 10 more months)  These drugs can cause severe and sometimes incapacitating bone, joint and/or muscle (musculoskeletal) pain in patients.  This pain can occur within days, months or years after starting bisphosphonates.  These drugs are highly inflammatory.  There is also a link between these drugs and atrial fibrillation (a potential life-threatening heart problem).  Merck’s study showed a 50% increase risk of A-Fib from Fosamax.  There are also problems with rotting jaws as another side effect.  In the January 2008, Annals of Internal Medicine, states that “there is insufficient evidence to determine the relative efficacy or safety of these agents”.  Why aren’t you being told of the side effects or the fact that after 15 years they don’t work?  This drug is making $4.3 billion for the drug companies.

To read the complete article on: The Delusion of Bone Drugs go to: www.newswithviews.com/Richards/byron46.htm