Reasons not to take a Walk

I have heard a lot of reasons not to take a walk. They are reasonable reasons but not insurmountable reason. Once you apply a little out of the box thinking, they turn from reasons to excuses.

Reason 1. I might have to go to the bathroom and with no bathroom readily available, I would have an accident.

Valid -- Do you have a potty problem? It could be either bowel or bladder -- makes no difference.

First, does taking a walk make your bowel more active. It should and in fact could eliminate the need for those laxatives you have been taking. I can understand not wanting to be a mile from home when the need to move your bowels strikes.

You could go for a walk after your normal elimination.

You could go for a walk in a mall, making small circuits that keep you close to the bathroom until after your bowel has moved.

You could walk in your home. Can't get much closer than that. Just keep moving through the rooms for at least 10 minutes. You could set the kitchen timer. Don't stop to pick up anything. If you feel the need to go to the bathroom, you are right there and can pick up your walk again. Or at that point you could go outside and walk around the block.

Reason 2. This is also valid - I might stumble and fall. Or I might slide and fall on the ice.

I can easily understand reason 2. I have taken 2 pretty nasty falls in my neighborhood. The sidewalks are so uneven that tripping is a real problem. I now walk in the street. I can't do that with the grandchildren, so some sidewalk walks are necessary.

Wear good shoes that are closed front and back to reduce the incident of slides and stumbles. Tennis shoes are a good choice.

Much as you would like to just look at the scenery - keep an eye on the ground in front of your feet.

The safer option is to walk at the mall. But you can't drive to the mall -- ok back to walk around the house. Set the timer and just know that you will keep walking until it dings.

Go for 10 minute walks - I find that longer than that in a house-walk is just too boring. If you are lucky enough to have a treadmill, so much the better and the longer if you want. You will get just as much benefit from three 10 minute walks as from a 30 minute walk.

Treadmills are good if you have the available floor space. That might be as good Santa present.

You can throw in some aerobics in your house-walk if you have some steps. Put on some music and you can do a few dance steps and swirls if you have the floor space. You don't want to knock over a lamp. If you just can't miss that TV show, hey how much will you miss walking around the rooms near the TV.

A 19th century Jesuit priest called Anthony de Mello wrote a book called 'One Minute Wisdom' that upset the church. They didn't like that it mixed Eastern and Western philosophies.

Here is a short quote from that book

To the disciples who were always asking for words of wisdom the Master said, "Wisdom is not expressed in words. It reveals itself in action."

But when he saw them plunge headlong into activity, he laughed aloud and said, "That isn't action. That's motion."

courtesy http://www.kickstartdaily.com


Well your house-walk may not bring you wisdom, but it will bring you health with motion. And the action part - that is putting an exercise plan into practice. Wisdom would indicate the need for health.

until next time Smile
Sharon
AnswersForYourHealth

HFCS The Good the Bad the Ugly

If you are a fan of western movies you know that phrase. If not you may be under the impression that anything labeled good is actually good without any reservations.

I was just sort of watching TV yesterday, you know when you are doing housework and stuff and the TV is on. A commercial caught my eye. Two teenage brothers are sitting at the breakfast table and the younger (nerd) is eating cereal. The older (football jock) is telling him that he is eating junk cereal loaded with HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) and everybody knows that is bad. The football jock cannot tell him "who said" it was bad and ends with everybody knows.

The slim younger boy proceeds to tell his brother that HFCS is good for you. That it is the same as sugar. That the body processes it as sugar and that eating it is not bad for you. The older brother immediately steals the bowl and eats the cereal.

The older boy was presented as a dim witted unthinking football player. Sorry but my grandson is a high school football player, and an A student. He knows more about nutrition than most kids and yet his information is still lacking. His coach has him on a regimen to bulk up and is pushing protein.

The younger slim boy was presented as being knowledgeable without giving any backup to his statements. He quoted no sources or statistics. It was the same sort of visual imagery that women face everyday - Buy this or that product and you will be young beautiful and desirable.

Facts that you can verify --

"Natural Sugar" processed first to syrup and then dried, has a higher glucose percentage which our body burns as a source of immediate energy. The glucose is stored in muscles and liver for later use, and also signals for the release of insulin.

HFCS is higher in fructose rather than glucose and fructose does not signal for the release of insulin.

Insulin is a naturally occurring hormone that helps to metabolize our foods by pushing carbohydrates into our muscle cells to be used as energy, and allows carbohydrates to be stored in our liver for later use.

Glucose also stimulates production of another hormone, leptin, which helps to regulate our storage of body fat and increases our metabolism when needed.

These two hormones regulate our body fat and tell us when we are satisfied when eating and sends the message to our brain to stop eating.

These two hormones are influenced by glucose but not fructose.

Therefore --


HFCS - good - a cheap sweetener in manufactured products. Originally kept the cost of the product low. Since the US government sets the price of sugar to protect USA growers, sugar costs more here than anywhere else in the world. Cheap sugar is one reason the rest of the world still consumes more "natural" sugar than HFCS.

HFCS - bad - distorts the body's ability to process sugar, causes the appetite controlling hormones to ignore the intake of this sweetener thereby leading to eating more. This form of sweetener has more fructose which is basically ignored by your body.

HFCS - ugly - some claim fructose is addictive like MSG- the more you eat, the more you want. This can lead to excessive eating and insulin problems,which certainly contributes to disease and early death. Again, the fructose in comparison to the glucose.

I am sure when the manufacturers first came up with HFCS as an alternative sweetener it was a boon. It was created using "natural" ingredients. More and more manufacturers found HFCS a cheap way to add flavor to prepackaged foods.

Why is it necessary to put HFCS in canned vegetables? Then again why is it necessary to put regular sugar in canned vegetable. Same reason you add salt - take away the salt and the sugar and canned vegetables would taste like - nothing.

Can you become obese with regular sugar? Sure - diabetes and gout have always been part of society. Don't most people prefer something sweet to anything else? The sweet stuff usually has no redeeming value just empty calories - but it tastes good. Parents know that babies must be given the less appealing vegetables before they are introduced to the tasty desserts. And what busy parent can resist the temptation of giving the children a box of cereal and milk rather than cooking a high protein breakfast.

The big controversy here is fructose (yes found in fruits but balanced by the entire benefits of the fruit) and glucose. Fructose, more than sugar, contributes to your overweight problem. Natural sugar is just as processed as HFCS, but the difference is the balance of fructose and glucose. One the body can't cope with and the other is used.

Researchers at the University of Michigan found that men who consume very high levels of fructose elevated their triglyceride level by 32 percent. As triglyceride enters our blood stream, it makes our cells resistant to insulin, making our body’s fat burning and storage system even more sluggish.

In 1966 per capita consumption of high fructose corn syrup was zero – in 2001 that rose to 62.6 pounds per person per year. Yes, we consumed more sweet stuff knowing it was fattening, but we also consumed the HFCS because we didn't know it was in the prepackaged products. Then again we probably didn't know about the sugar and salt either. MSG is another one of those lovely taste enhancers that leads to obesity.

That small but significant difference in sweeteners can help to explain why we are, as a nation, becoming obese. The same amount of exercise cannot accomplish the same fat burn because of the nature of what we eat and drink. Add to that the fact that we are all becoming more sedentary and using less energy -- the result is overweight and diseased bodies.

Wait you say, I know people who consume vast amounts of sugar and HFCS and fats and they never gain any weight. They have no health problems. They don't do lots of exercise.

Our genetic nature is so diverse that there will always be people who do not fall into the general statistics of any society. My mother ate sweets like there was no tomorrow and never gained a pound. Why oh why didn't I inherit that gene?

until next time -- smile

Sharon
AnswersforYourHealth.com

What is Harder - Starting Over or Starting New

We have all been there. The new project, the fear and anticipation, the excitement of something new.

We have all been there. Trying to breathe life into an old project, the boredom, the failures, knowing in your heart that it is just no good. Knowing that you are just not good enough to do it.

These words bring to mind all the diets, exercise programs, eating healthy resolutions and promises to yourself and others.

It is the promise to mow the yard and plant some flowers that keeps getting put off until tomorrow.

It is the vacation that goes wrong from day one and has to be salvaged rather than enjoyed.

IT is the sub conscious knowledge that is working to protect you from some unknown fear that is holding you back, making you sleepy and forcing you to put off starting over. So much easier to start new. Problem is, eventually you reach a point that there really is nothing new.

Vacation to a new place still starts as a vacation - plan or no. Did you learn from the last one to pack differently, to have a larger budget, to buy tickets in advance?

Your first attempt at a diet was probably a vague I will eat healthier. I'll have more salads and stay away from sugar. When that failed you had to start over with a specific diet, Atkins, cabbage or what ever. When that failed you were too afraid to start again. You fell back on the statement - everyone knows those diets don't work.

Maybe you eventually tried a meal plan diet where your meals are delivered to you and all you have to control is how many you eat every day. Yes if you eat 2 days of meals in one day the plan won't work. And by the way, did you learn to count calories or recognize portion size.

Have you reached the point of realizing that the only way to control your eating habits is to control what is available to eat? Do you accept that you must plan menus and alternate menus and buy only for those menus? Does that food delivery plan look more appealing?

Have you reached the point of realizing that no food plan alone will get you to your true health goal? Without the exercise to build muscle and burn fat you are just washing dishes in cold water without soap.

Gloom, despair, what is the point of trying, I will just fail.

It is buried deep in our subconscious, the will to live. That subconscious desire to live keeps us from doing some of the things we need to do to live well. Sounds strange doesn't it. How could our minds keep us sick and fat and weak when the mind is supposed to be keeping us alive and well.

The mind can be tricked with drugs and with memories. Otherwise how could any one say they can't live without a cigarette or a drink or a fix from cocaine or sugar.

EFT can be a valuable tool in the detox of the mind to free you to go on to a healthier life. But freeing your mind does not change the fact that losing 40 pounds will not happen this weekend. That falls into the category of life goal - once you lose the weight you have to keep it off.

The body has to go through a period of cleansing -- detox if you will. In a hospital, they use drugs to help the body go through a withdrawal from cocaine. If they didn't you could be looking at heart failure just from the stress and toxins released.

Your personal addictions to sugar or cigarette may not require hospitalization to overcome, but they do put a strain on your body and mind when you take them away. Since your mind wants the body to feel good, it will demand those things that are not good for you. Your mind may be confused about what is good or bad, but it remains strong in the demand for what it is use to on a daily basis.

Every day you must start over. You may add some new experiences to the mix, but basically you are working from an existing starting point. Habits are now just unconscious actions. You don't think about brushing your teeth in the morning, you just do it. You do what you do every day because that is what you do every day.

Getting healthy does not fall into the category of new project or starting over project. To be healthy falls into the category of habit, each day doing the same things, eating well, exercising moderately, sufficient sleep and managing stress. Remember that the managing of your stress is a great place to insert strength training - punching a speed bag will do more to remove your stress than a cigarette and it will build muscle which will burn more fat.

Curtis Grant said,

Having the world's best idea will do you no good unless you act
on it. people who want milk shouldn't sit on a stool in the
middle of a field in the hopes that a cow will back up to them.

So maybe it is start new or maybe start over, but take some action today to build the habits that will take you to a long and healthy life.

until next time smile
Sharon

Grapefruit the Super Food

Eaten by millions loved by few and usually thickly covered in sugar with a cherry on top.

Still the grapefruit carries on in the quest for good health especially a healthy liver.

It is one of those habits you need to make that introduce grapefruit as the breakfast item you always eat or at least eat 4 times a week. Yes I know, it makes the coffee taste funny.

Grapefruit has a low GI of 48 and that means it is good for you. Studies have shown that it protects the liver from damages from toxins.

I believe there is a grapefruit diet for losing weight. No diet is good if it limits you to eating only certain foods. But adding grapefruit to your diet is a good way to increase weight loss.

Since it is going into winter as I write this, remember that grapefruit is a good source of vitamin C and that means fewer colds.

There are different types of grapefruit and each is touted as the best. There is the plain yellow vs the ruby red. Some experts will tell you that the red is better for you. I say just eat one. Actually eat one of each and then decide which you like better because if you don't like it you won't eat it. I think the red is a little bit sweeter. Don't buy a bag of grapefruit until you determine what you like and will eat. Most grocery stores have bins with individual fruit.

You don't have to eat a whole grapefruit each day. You can share half with your mate or cover it tightly so it doesn't dry out and eat the other half tomorrow.

OK, so you have never eaten a grapefruit and don't know where to start. You slice it in half, just as you would an orange. Then you need to use a knife to cut next to each membrane and around the outside edge. Each wedge should then just pop out with your spoon.

Alternately you can squeeze each half and just drink the juice.

If you are going for the juice, use both halves of the grapefruit. Just as with oranges, the thinner the skin, the more juice you will get. If you are going for juice, roll the grapefruit on the counter for a few seconds before you cut it.

Yes the after affect is that your milk or coffee with taste strange. Just give it a few minutes and you will be able to enjoy your milk or coffee or tea.

The main thing is don't cover the top with sugar. In an effort to get me to eat grapefruit my mother would put sugar on it. Yes, as a child I was fed lots of sugar.

Some children like the tart taste and some do not. Do not make the sugar mistake. Let the child grow up and develop a taste for tart. It is the same with onions, mushrooms, asparagus and tomatoes. Most children need to grow up a bit before they can learn to like these fruits and vegetables.

Laugh for today

The Safari

A big-game hunter went on safari with his wife and mother-in-law. One evening, while still deep in the jungle, the Mrs awoke to find her mother gone. Rushing to her husband, she insisted on them both trying to find her mother.

The hunter picked up his rifle, took a swig of whiskey, and started to look for her. In a clearing not far from the camp, they came upon a chilling sight: the mother-in-law was backed up against a thick, impenetrable bush, and a large male lion stood facing her.

The wife cried, "What are we going to do?"

"Nothing," said the hunter husband. "That stupid lion got himself into this mess, let him get himself out of it."

Overeating and Fear of Loss

EFT for overeating and panic attacks – and interesting similarities between the two issues

You may or may not have put over eating problems together with a fear of not enough money or not enough love or any other not enough ------ that you have.

The issue of holding on to tightly to what you fear losing is very much related to being over weight.

Our brains have been compared to a computer and that logic requires that you acknowledge it's limitations. Yes your brain is multi-tasking at this very moment. You are reading this, your body is doing all it normal functions (heart beating, breathing) and you may being dealing with an outside distraction as well.

Simple things get priority. Your heart will continue beating, your digestive system will continue to work on that bagel and some part of your brain will remind you to send that birthday card.

But, just as you can lose a file on your computer by inadvertently saving it in the wrong place, you can confuse your brain. The fear of loss is one big file. In that file you have family, money, possessions, health, your car keys and by default your weight.

By putting weight loss in the same file as car keys, you prevent your brain from allowing that weight loss. It will try to hold on to that fat just as it tries to hold on to the placement of your car keys.

EFT is probably the easiest way I know to move that weight loss file into another place called good health.