Fitness Made EASYYY

This programme is designed to fit your life, and our take on fitness is no exception. We've built this fitness routine with 3 levels of intensity so you can select the one that's right for you.


Level 1

Follow This If You:

• Live a sedentary lifestyle 
• Currently do little to no exercise 
• Consider yourself to be out of shape 
• Are considered obese by medical standards 

Recommended Activity:

• Walk at least 10-20 minutes, 3-5 days a week, moderate to low intensity 
• Dynamic stretching at least 5-10 minutes, 3-5 days a week

Level 2

Follow This If You:

• Have moderate to low activity
• Consider yourself to be somewhat in shape
• Started out at Level 1 but have graduated after following it for at least 6-8 weeks

Recommended Activity:

• Interval Cardio: a walk and jog/ run combo for 20-30 minutes, 3-5 days a week, moderate to high intensity
• Begin walking for warm-up (about 3-5 minutes) and then jog/ run until breathing hard or feel the need to stop. Return to walking then jogging/running again before you are able to fully catch your breath. This exercise is intended to maximize fat burning potential.
• Dynamic stretching at least 5-10 minutes, 3-5 days a week

Level 3

Follow This If You:

• Have high to moderate activity
• Consider yourself to be physically fit
• Started at Level 1 or 2 and have graduated Level 2 after following it for at least 8 weeks

Recommended Activity:

• Interval Cardio (see Level 2) for 30-45 minutes, 3-5 days a week, high intensity
• Dynamic stretching at least 5-10 minutes, 3-5 days a week

STEP IT UP!

If you want to step up these workouts and feel you are ready for it, add some body weight calisthenics, plyometrics, or weight training to your routine.

For more helpful fitness tips, visit the NeoLife Blog.

Move In For The KILL!

Take Control! [Part 5]

Take Action

So, it's time to take action: to purge our bodies of toxins, replenish our systems with essential vitamins and nutrients, rebuild our bodies at the cellular level, and lose weight naturally, while slowing the effects of aging and curbing degenerative disease. We can live longer. We can have more energy. We can look younger and feel better. And once we do, our family will notice, our friends will notice, everyone will notice. And they'll want to know how, why, what's changed in our life. It's our duty to tell them. Sharing the secrets to better health really shouldn't be an option; it should be an obligation. We should be the first-responders on the frontline to take action. Yes, we are in a state of emergency. But now you have an incredible opportunity to change it!

Checkpoint

So far in this 5-part series, this is what has been covered:

• Take Control! [Part I] Humans live most of their lives being tired, sick, and virtually defenceless to many other life-threatening diseases.
• Take Control! [Part II] And, although very undesirable, many still neglect the 3 main factors (rest, exercise, diet) which determine health and quality of life.
• Take Control! [Part III] These unhealthy choices expose individuals to lifestyle diseases, which can only be reversed by making healthier choices, especially with regards to rest, exercise, and diet. Diet, the most important of the 3 elements, has been neglected the most, as persons tend to eat the reverse of what is required by the body. And, since the body requires the GROW-GLOW-GO foods for proper function, then giving it the wrong proportions of these nutrients only puts it in a dangerous state. 
• Take Control! [Part IV] If unhealthy persons wish to change their fate, then they are highly advised to feed their cells with the correct intake of Whole Grains, protect their cells with the correct intake of Fruits & Vegetables, balance and regulate their cells with the correct intake of fish and plant-based Protein, limit their intake of Fats & Sugars, while giving their body adequate amounts of rest and exercise.

No citation is needed for any of this. It is the same chorus that is chanted by the leading health organisations worldwide. Give your body what it needs, and it will be able to do what it should. God made human in His image; He designed the human body, and nothing He creates is supposed to be sick and tired. Stop taxing your body; stop taxing yourself from a lifetime of good health, energy, and vitality, and you'll start feeling, seeing, and living the difference.

Now, to bring this series to an end, some strategies to achieve good health will be explored.

Strategies

1. Rest
• Set apart 8 hours of each day to rest, relax, and rejuvenate. An 8-hour period for rest alone sounds very mind-blowing, especially for those who spend much of their time working. Indeed, most of that time could be used for more productive activities. But you have to watch the game more closely. Limited rest stunts your overall productivity in the short run. And, a lifetime of this negligence overtime wears your body; you age faster, and the extended productivity you could've earned from a healthy lifestyle would pretty much be non-existent.
• If you look even further, you'll realise that humans are supposed to spend 1/3 (one-third) of their time resting [animals are far less productive than that!]. This means that with every 2 hours you deplete your body, it asks for only 1 hour to recover. Can you imagine reducing that recommended sleep time from 8 to 4 hours? The body would be out of balance, as it would have to use that same hour to now repair and recover from every 5 hours of depletion. Dead end!
• You have 24 entire hours in each day. Find 8 hours to dedicate to replenishing the resources of your body. It will literally thank you for it, and the baseline for your both your short- and long-term performance [whether at school, work, or hobbies] will improve considerably.
• Additionally, try to keep periods of rest as closely knit as possible, and consistent. A straight 8 hours of rest will do you much better for a number of reasons, particularly because it's the natural process. Furthermore, exercising some level of consistency, for example a 9pm to 5am resting schedule for the entire week, would allow your body to naturally prepare for each sleeping time, as well as each awakening time. Whew! Time to give the snooze button a break. After all, you won't need an alarm clock anymore!
2. Exercise
• Now, exercise is an activity that is highly versatile. You can go from as little as walking to cycling to swimming to even as much as mountain climbing. Of course you'd wonder why people can tolerate such consistency and intensity. Part of it mainly has to do with your physical ability, but another great deal of it comes from the mind. If you find out that you need to do something, don't look at it as if it's compulsory. Fix that mindset; make it lovable, something to look forward to. If walking is boring, change the activity; try jogging. If both are boring, find something to make it more appealing. Go get your friend to come along with you, so that you are distracted from the activity. Just be creative: add purpose, add fun, add challenges, and you'd have already won half of the battle, because you have controlled your mind.
• If you are just starting out, and you've been living a rather sedentary lifestyle, or maybe out of shape, try working with a 10- to 20-minute activity, as well as  5 to 10 minutes of dynamic stretching for 3-5 days a week. You can also go to the full 7 days.
• If you've only had low to moderate activity, work with 20- to 30-minute activity, and 5 to 10 minutes of dynamic stretching for 3-5 days a week.
• If you have moderate to high activity, you can go with a 35- to 45-minute activity, and 5 to 10 minutes of dynamic stretching for 3-5 days a week.
• For more details, there will be a future post to help guide you a simple exercise routine. Sounds good?
3. Diet
• This is really the more difficult part. The two main options to achieve a good diet are eating the actual food, and supplementation. Both aren't perfect, and so, they have flaws and faults.
• Eating actual good foods means all those challenges explored earlier in the series: convenience, accessibility, affordability, and taste. Persons don't usually have time to prepare a healthy meal, much less time to prepare healthy meals [about 5 per day]; they simply take too long. Meal preparation takes away time for fun and other activities. You also have to go all the way to the market to get good food [staying away from processed foods], when the restaurant is right around the corner. It places a huge load on your pocket, and hell, it doesn't even taste good [for most parts]. Also, the very same processed foods that persons try to evade are pretty much unavoidable: they are everywhere, especially for the whole grains. Have you ever heard of weevils [they're twice as e-evil!]? They are insects that you'll find in your bread, flour, rice, and cornmeal [among others] if certain nutrients aren't stripped from our foods! In order to extend shelf life, and to allow people to eat with comfort, the important lipids, sterols, and essential fatty acids have to be taken out. And the fruits and vegetables? Those are loaded with fertilisers and [in some cases,] genetically modified ingredients which spell the word T-O-X-I-C for human beings. That's not all. The fish are often unclean, and potentially filled with over 200 contaminants like mercury and lead, which are very poisonous for individuals. So why even try? Well, persons still manage: they find it a mind over matter. So, if they don't mind, then it doesn't...matter! If it really boils down to your health and your well-being, then why not add some priority, and spend a little more time and effort to get things done right? You can still work your way around it. Strive for the whole food sources, the cleanest of foods, the deep sea fish, and of course, as little processed foods as possible. 
• On the other hand, supplementation isn't complete, especially if it is from synthetic sources. Supplementation, as the name suggests, means to add to, in order to make something more complete. So, it should actually go hand-in-hand with a good diet, in order to make it more wholesome [rather than to act as a substitute]. Taking natural, whole-food supplements is always the best option here, because it would be just like you eating the food, but just not feeling full. If you actually ate, the body would take the nutrients [what you'd get from the supplements], and then release everything else it doesn't want, in the form of waste. So, with natural, whole food supplements, the body usually knows how to handle these nutrients, as opposed to taking from synthetic [or unreal] sources, which have only a shocking 10 to 30% absorption rate by the body. Synthetics are also known to create increased risks for health, since the body is greatly unable to process these 'nutrients'. In a future post, tips on how to differentiate between the two types of supplementation will be covered.
• The recommendation here is to eat foods that are close to that recommended by the Health & Wellness Pyramid, and then fill in the gaps as much as possible using natural, whole-food supplementation. You can't go wrong.
• And, nothing is wrong with eating in moderation. It doesn't kill you to have a snack or some fast food every once in a while. Spacing them out gives the body time to properly get rid of them, and to recover from their damaging effects. So, just remember where you stand, and what you want to achieve from living healthily.

Lastly, it makes complete sense to do all three [rest, exercise, diet] at once! It's okay to go start small, and then take your time to move up. You will feel, see, and live the results. But can you just imagine when your body gets all 3 at the same time? The only regret you'll have is that you didn't start earlier! There is a word that the human body loves: synergy. Each part of a team working at the same time, like a team, brings forth a majestic effect and experience that logically cannot be achieved if the parts were on their own.

And there you have it! Rest...check! Exercise...check! Diet...check! Healthy & Vibrant Zone, and a life filled with good health, energy, and vitality?! CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK!!!!!

D-Day

It's D-Day! It is time for that very important operation. Certainly not in the hospital, unless you're going there to stop someone from having their [pretty much worthless] operation. But, it's time to invade this disease-filled camp [this disease-filled world], and change lives for the best. It's never too late, and you're now encouraged to be a first-responder on the frontline, and ready to take action, because it is a stone-cold fact that this is a better way. Now let's go tell the world!

The Best Doctor...EVER!

Take Control! [Part 4]

The Game Changer

Why are we in this state of emergency? Let’s slow down, and look back at a more relaxing time. In our ‘Leave It To Beaver’ days, we had time to prepare a nutritious meal. There were still nutrients in the soils, our food was healthier, so our bodies were stronger. There was time to sit down with our families, we were told to eat our vegetables. Life has changed… We snack on the wrong foods, our dinners are fast, convenient, and lacking in essential nutrients. There is no time! Convenience is our priority, not nutrition.

“I’m on my way to get some fried chicken for my family right now.”

“We only use our table for Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” “No, I can’t talk, I’ve gotta go.”

No time, high stress, poor nutrition… A recipe for DISASTER. We are in a state of emergency, and our path is clear: we must take control of our lives. We need to eat properly, to supplement our diets, to exercise regularly, to relax, and spend more time with our families, to become healthy, happy, and free—to LIVE!

Isn't it time to change our destiny? Too many of us are caught in the vicious cycle of poor nutrition... We can help ourselves to a healthier life, by giving our bodies a fighting chance to rebuild. We simply need to give ourselves back what today's foods are lacking. If given the chance, our bodies can rebuild, strengthen, and recharge themselves.

Checkpoint

Here's a quick recap: Humans tend to live most of their lives being tired, sick, and virtually defenceless to many other life-threatening diseases (Take Control! [Part I]). And, although very undesirable, many still neglect the 3 main factors (rest, exercise, diet) which determine health and quality of life (Take Control! [Part II]). These unhealthy choices expose individuals to lifestyle diseases, which can only be reversed by making healthier choices, especially with regards to rest, exercise, and diet (Take Control! [Part III]). Diet, the most important of the 3 elements, has been neglected the most, as persons tend to eat the reverse of what is required by the body. And, since the body requires the GROW-GLOW-GO foods for proper function, then giving it the wrong proportions of these nutrients only puts it in a dangerous state.

But how does dieting contribute to our health? What is so important about our diet, and the phytonutrients that the body requires? And why whole grains, especially?

Why Does The Body Need Whole Grains?

The human body is made up of some very small units, called cells. Everyone started out as a single cell in his/her mother's body. And that cell divided and differentiated into some 75-100 trillion cells, which is what the body is made up of now. Cells form groups, and operate as tissues; the tissues come together to form organs; and the organs come together to form the entire body. So, if the health of each individual cell is improved, then the health of the whole body can be improved.

How do you know that the nutrients in your foods or in your supplements are getting to your cells? Well, how do you feel right now? Energetic? Ready to take on a challenge? Or, are you thinking you could feel a little better? How worried are you about your health? How is it going to be long term? Could you be missing out on these protective nutrients that nourish you, and improve your health down to the cellular level? Perhaps it's time to take a look at cellular health.

Each cell is surrounded by a cell membrane that regulates the flow of nutrients into the cell, and equally important, the excretion of the waste that accumulates inside the cell, out and away from it. These membranes are formed with layers of protein [like a sandwich], but for nutrition to take place, the nutrients from the food we eat have to get inside the cells. And so, the body heavily requires some very important elements called lipids, sterols [not steroids], and essential fatty acids [EFAs]. These lipids and sterols lubricate and soften the cell membranes to enable the nutrient from our foods to penetrate the membrane efficiently to get inside the cells, and to enable waste products to penetrate the membrane efficiently to leave the cells. When nutrients enter the cells easily, and waste leave the cells easily, your cells will be healthy and energetic, and you will, in turn, be healthy and energetic. Only a diet that is rich in whole grains provides the body with these nutrients. Whole grains can be found from whole food sources like:

• wheat
• rice
• soy

It is mainly for this reason that the body requires such a high intake [9-11 servings] on a daily basis. And, if you supply your body's demand for these whole grains, then you will have cells that look like the one above.

However, because of the polluted air persons breathe, the polluted water they drink, and the amount of processed foods [fats and sugars] they eat, as well as the stresses of life, they arrive at a situation where the nutrients are not able to penetrate their cell membranes efficiently to get into their cells, and waste products are not able to penetrate their cell membranes efficiently to leave their cells. Very little actually manages to trickle through. Energy is still created and that is why many persons are still alive. And, of course, wherever energy takes place, waste is created, so persons still have a purpose for their restroom. Regardless, this poor efficiency results in cells that become tired, toxic and constipated, and eventually, sick.

Ring A Bell?

There are a large number of implications that can be drawn from this concept of cellular nutrition. One main implication questions the use and effect of medication. Human beings love quick fixes, and if convenience isn't a priority for any of the decisions you make, then it is highly possible that you aren't human. If an individual should go the doctor to get 'treatment' for a cold, for example, the doctor may recommend an antibiotic, a cold medicine, and an antihistamine. The short-term implication is that a great deal of the medication, in the form of 'nutrients' would fail to penetrate a tired/sick cell. Can you just imagine the struggle the cold medicine would have to go through, in order to reach inside one cell to begin working? Well, multiply that effect by 100 trillion. The antibiotic has to be there to weaken and kill the cells within its reach. If the person's cells were healthy, and they just happened to get a rare cold [because it does happen, but very infrequently], then the body would've already started the healing process, and the efficient absorption of the medication would just speed up the process.

That was a short-term implication. Now take a look at the long-term implication. Using the medication only provided short-term relief to a short-term problem, but it does nothing at all for the long-term problem, that is, the reason the person got sick in the first place. If he/she got sick because of unhealthy choices, then the correct fix would be to begin making healthier choices. This sounds responsible and forward-thinking. Look back on that diet, reconsider your exercise routine (if you had one), and ensure that you have a generous 8 hours of rest just for yourself each day. Don't be unhealthy, and fall into the 'tired and sick trap'. Medication wears [and in some cases, kills] your cells, and eventually your cells become dependent, yet resistant to these medication. Medicine is intended to be a [short-term] last resort to help the body heal and recover. Do not abuse it. Many doctors and other healthcare professionals stress the importance of rest, exercise, and diet; some don't, whether because of conflicts of interest or the strange, stone cold fact that some just don't know any better. 

Bottom Line

• Give your body adequate rest
• Exercise regularly
• Provide your body with the nutrients it needs with a balanced diet, consisting of:
• Whole Grains, which feed your cells, and provide you with energy and nutrition
• Fruits & Vegetables, which protect your cells, and optimise your immunity
• Protein, which balance and regulate your cells, and maximise your good health

Now it's time to change your destiny. Don't get caught in that vicious cycle of poor nutrition. Remember, if given the chance, your body can rebuild, strengthen, and recharge itself. 

For the ultimate post of this five-part series, given all this information, a number of strategies to achieve a life filled with energy, good heath, and vitality will be shared. Stick around if you're really serious about this. So don't delay; take control of your health today.

The Recipe For D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R!

Take Control! [Part 3]

The Game Changer

Why are we in this state of emergency? Let’s slow down, and look back at a more relaxing time. In our ‘Leave It To Beaver’ days, we had time to prepare a nutritious meal. There were still nutrients in the soils, our food was healthier, so our bodies were stronger. There was time to sit down with our families, we were told to eat our vegetables. Life has changed… We snack on the wrong foods, our dinners are fast, convenient, and lacking in essential nutrients. There is no time! Convenience is our priority, not nutrition.

“I’m on my way to get some fried chicken for my family right now.”

“We only use our table for Thanksgiving dinner.”

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” “No, I can’t talk, I’ve gotta go.”

No time, high stress, poor nutrition… A recipe for DISASTER. We are in a state of emergency, and our path is clear: we must take control of our lives. We need to eat properly, to supplement our diets, to exercise regularly, to relax, and spend more time with our families, to become healthy, happy, and free—to LIVE!

Isn't it time to change our destiny? Too many of us are caught in the vicious cycle of poor nutrition... We can help ourselves to a healthier life, by giving our bodies a fighting chance to rebuild. We simply need to give ourselves back what today's foods are lacking. If given the chance, our bodies can rebuild, strengthen, and recharge themselves.

Checkpoint

It is becoming increasingly clear that the information posted on this blog is stale news. In fact, many of us, if not all, have been tested on these things in school: rest, exercise, diet. You don't need rocket science to figure why the average person spends most of his/her life either tired or sick. Giving your body all that it needs, in the midst of whatever challenges and situations we encounter in life, is a task that is much easier said than done. The intention here, though, is to facilitate greater awareness of this problem, itself, while presenting various solutions, in order to help persons achieve and maintain good health and vitality. Sounds good?

Now, this is what has been covered so far:

• The average person who lives to 40 years and beyond experiences at least 3 zones of life. He/She spends only a third of it in a very desirable zone, the Healthy zone, and unfortunately, the rest of it in the Tired or Sick zones. Take Control! [Part I] 
• The problems we have, with regards to our health (inadequate rest, exercise, and nutrition), are pretty much the same as the solutions: give your body more rest, get active, and most importantly, fix your diet. Take Control! [Part II]

Now, it's time to focus a little on Diet, the part where the battle is really heated. Feel free to recount what you may have learnt before. Remember, diet is whatever you eat. Moreover, you are what you eat! The quality of your health in the future is dependent on the quality of your diet today.

How Should We Eat

Based on the recommended food guide pyramid, Whole Grains should form the foundation of our diet, as 9 to 11 servings per day. Next in line should be the Fruits & Vegetables (vegetables, in particular), from a baseline of 5 to 13 servings per day. Then Proteins (the plant-based sources, and fish, of course!), as 3 to 5 servings daily, and last, and most definitely least, Fats & Sugars (processed foods and simple carbohydrates) should be consumed s-p-a-r-i-n-g-l-y. In fact, the body usually gets adequate amounts of these Fats & Sugars from the aforementioned food groups. Please note that Whole Grains are at the base of the pyramid for a number of reasons, including the fact that the body needs at least 9 servings daily, in comparison to the 5 servings for Fruits & Vegetables, which are required for proper functioning. Also, a neat little way to understand what a serving means, is to follow this rule: half a cup of very small things, like whole grains, represents one serving, while an entire cup of bigger and fluffier things, like fruits and vegetables, represents one serving.

How We Really Eat

However, the average person turns the pyramid right on its head! Does that really sound normal? Fats & Sugars are consumed the most, followed by Proteins, mainly from the animal sources. Too little Fruits [Vegetables are virtually non-existent], and little or no Whole Grains [pretty much sparingly] are eaten by the average person. Remember from Science class: Proteins make you GROW, Fruits & Vegetables make you GLOW, and Carbohydrates make you GO! The Grow-Glow-Go foods are what individuals really rob themselves of each day, and this kind of eating habit gives rise to many of the Lifestyle Diseases, such as: 

• Cardiovascular Disease
• Diabetes
• Cancer
• Hypertension
• Arthritis
• Cataracts
• Obesity

Result?

No wonder we feel like this! No wonder tiredness and sicknesses are the norm! But why do we eat like this? There are many reasons, the majority centred around tastes and preferences, convenience, accessibility, and, of course, affordability.

But what are Lifestyle Diseases? This is a fancy term that represents some of the diseases that cannot be passed via physical interaction with others. You can't have an obese person brush against you, and say, "Aha! You are now obese! Prepare to meet thy doctor!" No, these are diseases associated with, as the name suggests, how you live your life. They come about via the unhealthy choices people make with regards to rest, exercise, and diet. 

Sounds like someone you know? Well, great! Remember, that particular problem and solution are one in the same. There is still hope. You can still turn back the tides, and change the outcome of the game. Don't go anywhere! More of the answers you are looking for might just be up next.

Stick around for Part IV of this series, where you will witness the power of one of the 3 main phytonutrients that the body requires on a daily basis. You will see how badly you may have been cheating yourself from enjoying living a life full of energy, good health, and vitality!

Frankly, I'm Tired Of Being FAT!

Take Control! [Part 1]

The Great Paradox

We are in a state of EMERGENCY...! 

Life is fast, stressful, and unpredictable. Our health is strained as we rush to keep up... Food, rest, and exercise have become secondary to paying the bills. We demand that our food be fast, cheap, and plentiful. According to USA Today, "The fast food industry has doubled in the last five years to $129 billion." Obesity is growing in epidemic proportions; our kids are overweight, and are getting sicker and sicker. What's worse, is that we are letting it happen! 

• Are you TIRED and STRESSED out?
• Are you OVERWEIGHT?
• Do you wake up DREADING to go to work/school?
• Are you LIVING one life, and DREAMING of another?
• Do you want to know how you can take CONTROL of your HEALTH?

Well, thank heavens you're here!

Health — The Most Important Asset

Should the following question be raised: "Would you like to feel better, have more energy, and look younger longer?", it is certain that almost everyone would give a response quite similar to these: 

"Frankly, I'm tired of being fat."

"I'm always tired. I'm sick of it!"

"I wanna look younger."

"I wanna live long enough to enjoy my grandchildren."

"I just wish I had more energy."

It is clear that most people want to enjoy good health. Would you agree that good health is our most important asset? Do you know that most people do not pay enough attention to their health?

The Journey to Demise

Let us see what the health of an average person looks like on a graph. On the vertical axis, we have Quality of Life measured from 0 to 100%. On the horizontal axis, we have age measured from 0 to 100 years.

Now, the average person who lives 40 years and beyond will experience at least 3 different zones of life.

1. Zone 1 is referred to as the Healthy Zone. Haven't we all heard of that bouncing baby boy or girl? The average person spends the first 25 years in the healthy zone. Then, some major changes occur around the age of 25. Responsibilities such as school, exams, work, rent, mortgage, family and relationships, among others, begin, and the attendant stress causes persons to fall from this healthy zone into...
2. Zone 2. This is the Tired Zone. Most people linger in this tired zone until they get into their 50's. You meet them everyday, and when you ask them, "How are you?", the common response is, "I'm sooo tired!" And, if you do absolutely nothing about the stress that causes the tiredness, before long, you will enter...
3. Zone 3, the Sick Zone. This is the zone you don't want to get into! This is the time when many of the preventable lifestyle diseases begin to manifest, for example, diabetes, cancer, hypertension, heart disease, arthritis, cataracts. Here is definitely when persons get tired of being tired, sick of being sick, and of course, sick and tired of complaining, until they eventually let go.

By observation, you will see that the average person spends the bulk of his/her life being either tired, sick, or even both! The good news is that it does not have to be that way. Let's go over that again: it does not have to be that way, and God did not intend for it to be that way!

Stick around to learn how you can get and keep yourself out of the Tired and Sick zones, and maintain good health, before it is way too late. We are in a state of emergency!

Do You Eat To Live, Or LIVE To EAT?

Take Control! [Part 2]

The Great Paradox

We are in a state of EMERGENCY...!

Life is fast, stressful, and unpredictable. Our health is strained as we rush to keep up... Food, rest, and exercise have become secondary to paying the bills. We demand that our food be fast, cheap, and plentiful. According to USA Today, "The fast food industry has doubled in the last five years to $129 billion." Obesity is growing in epidemic proportions; our kids are overweight, and are getting sicker and sicker. What's worse, is that we are letting it happen!

• Are you TIRED and STRESSED out?
• Are you OVERWEIGHT?
• Do you wake up DREADING to go to work/school?
• Are you LIVING one life, and DREAMING of another?
• Do you want to know how you can take CONTROL of your HEALTH?

Well, thank heavens you're here!

Checkpoint

Congratulations on wanting to take control of your health! Good health is a goal that many would like to achieve, but only a few have the guts to bring them there... no pun intended. 

Chances are that you have seen the previous post, Take Control [Part I] , and have learnt about the shocking reality of how human beings in this era have been cheating themselves out on an opportunity to have a life that is filled with energy and vitality.

So, the question is, "How do we keep ourselves in good health?"

The Road to Optimal Health

If you wish to get and keep yourself out of the Tired and Sick zones, and maintain good health, then you need to give attention to 3 main factors:

1. Rest. There's no substitute for rest, as your body needs it in order to rejuvenate, relax, as well as to perform critical repair and renewal of your cells, tissues, and organs. The optimal amount of rest for the body is 6 to 8 hours [not each week, but] each day.
2. Exercise. This is necessary to ensure proper flow of blood to and from your major organs, in order to keep them active, responsive, and of course, fit to keep you going.
3. Diet. This is where the majority has lost, and is still losing the battle. Even with massive advancement in technology over the years, mankind still fails to transform this development into good health. What is diet? Everything that you eat! And, if you just look more closely on the word 'diet', you will see that the first 3 letters spell 'die' and the last letter, 't', represents 'teeth'. This means that people dig their graves with their teeth. And the sneaky little ones, who may claim they have no teeth, do the very same thing with their tongue. Regardless, the truth stands that persons, most times, eat, drink, and smoke their way to their graves. Your diet is of exceedingly greater importance to you than you may think.

Once you give your body adequate rest and exercise, and you eat more of the right kinds of food, you could begin to reclaim your rightful spot, and extend your stay in the Healthy zone!

Stay tuned to learn the scientific application behind all of this reasoning, and to get insight into the kind of diet that your body may have been asking for all this time, in order to keep you out of the Tired and Sick zones, and quickly into the Healthy zone. We are in a state of emergency. Don't delay; take control of your health today!