You are Important! Invest in Your Health

Here is an old school video of a man who helped spark the natural health movement in America. He is very conscious of what goes into his body. The old quote "we are what we eat" comes into play here. We need live, organic, and whole foods to eat because we are living and organic in the same respect. To eat the processed, chemical filled foods that the big food companies would have us eat so their pockets get fat (while our bellies do)  is to deny ourselves the optimal health encoded in our genes. We were born to run, to move! We can climb, jump, swim, throw, catch, dip, duck, dive, and doge!

Paul C. Bragg - Natural Health Movement

For me, whole foods eating has become a matter of integrity. More than 90% of the time I'd say I'm eating well. It's those exceptions I make that may be holding me back. Yesterday I had a few cookies. Overall a not so bad thing I thought. However, when I saw the ingredients list I realized I just consumed much of what I had been avoiding - monosodium glutamate, hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, refined sugar and white flour, and about a paragraph more of ingredients I had trouble saying let alone understanding what they are and why I'd want them in my body. The integrity of choosing not to eat the cookies, perhaps having a piece of fruit for dessert instead, is about setting examples. I need to live the healthy lifestyle I would have others live. I need to set the example and be the change. From now on, I will do just that.


Remember: Smiles are contagious!

Breakfast!

Here's an article from the American Council of Exercise (ACE) about how skipping breakfast may actually hurt our chances of weight loss and healthy living. It's about forming good habits and treating ourselves well from the very start of the day. Below is the article:

Don’t Skip Breakfast to Cut Calories

When you’re trying to lose weight, cutting out breakfast may be tempting. You figure you’re saving yourself some calories and you get a couple extra minutes to snooze. But research has consistently shown that the people who successfully lose weight are the ones that wake up and eat! Furthermore, people who eat breakfast regularly have better vitamin and mineral status and eat fewer calories from fat. So it seems that breakfast really is the most important meal of the day.

Eat Early, Weigh Less Later

Why does eating breakfast help people lose weight? It defies common sense that eating all those calories in the morning instead of simply skipping them would help.

Many studies, in both adults and children, have shown that breakfast eaters tend to weigh less than breakfast skippers.

Why? One theory suggests that eating a healthy breakfast can reduce hunger throughout the day and help people make better food choices at other meals. While it might seem as though you could save calories by skipping breakfast, this is not an effective strategy. Typically, hunger gets the best of people who skip breakfast, and they eat more at lunch and throughout the day.

Another theory behind the breakfast–weight control link implies that eating breakfast is part of a healthy lifestyle that includes making wise food choices and balancing calories with exercise. For example, consider the successful weight losers followed by the National Weight Control Registry, all of whom have lost at least 30 pounds and kept it off for at least one year. Some 80% of the people in the Registry regularly eat breakfast (and also follow a calorie-controlled, low-fat diet).

It’s worth noting that most studies linking breakfast to weight control looked at a healthy breakfast containing protein and/or whole grains—not meals loaded with fat and calories.

Eating breakfast also gives you energy to do more physical activity and be more productive in everything you do, which is also vital to weight control. So make the effort to get up in the morning and fix yourself a healthy meal.

Maintaining Your Diet

Before you get too excited and go out for a Denny’s™ Grand Slam Breakfast, keep in mind that your breakfast should consist of healthy items that are in line with your current dietary weight-loss goals. Members of the National Weight Control Registry report eating cereal and fruit for breakfast. While these are certainly healthy options, eggs have also been shown to offer several benefits.

Eggs have a greater satiety value than cereal and white bread. This means that they are more satisfying in giving you that feeling of fullness, while you may actually be eating less. One of the reasons for this is that eggs are high in protein, which is known to increase satiety. Proteins also have a higher thermic effect, meaning that it takes more calories to digest them. Studies have compared an egg breakfast to a bagel breakfast of the same caloric value and weight. Researchers at Louisiana State University’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center discovered that people who ate the eggs for breakfast ate less at lunch and less throughout the rest of the day compared to people who ate the bagels, even though they had the same amount of calories for breakfast.

In the past, eggs have had a bad rap because of their high cholesterol content. However, eggs today have lower cholesterol counts than in the past due to the healthier feeds given to chickens. Additionally, research has shown that moderate egg consumption of about 1 per day does not increase the risk of coronary heart disease in healthy individuals. If the cholesterol count is a concern, then egg whites, which are free of cholesterol yet rich in protein, are a good alternative. Eggs are also a good source of essential nutrients riboflavin, vitamin B12, phosphorus, selenium and protein.

Run Free

I just finished the book, "Born to Run" by Christopher McDougall, and it was an amazing book. I won't go into too much detail about it, but it is about Christopher and his adventures in seeking out why people get injuries from running when it seems that it is natural for humans to run. The book has inspired me to run more than I ever thought was reasonable or even possible. The most I have run without stopping at one time was about six miles. The moment I finished the book, I went out and ran about 13 miles without stopping. The best feeling I've had in a long time. I highly suggest this book and go out for a run without shoes. The running shoes that are marketed with high tech running features actually injure us. There were not many running-related injures until the invention of the "running" shoes with its thick rubber soles and "anti-pronation" properties. Our feet were designed by nature and evolution to be run all by itself and beautiful running form is seen when ran barefoot. So the next time you get a chance to run, ditch those running shoes and wear thin-soled shoes or, if you live in a clean environment, do it barefooted like nature intended.

Smile - Live Longer and Healthier

Here's one daily workout you don't want to miss - Smiling. Smiling frequently and easily is one of the best life decisions you can make. It will instantly lighten your mood and help you take a positive approach to situations. Smile at the stupid driver that just cut you off, smile at your boss when he/she informs you of a doubling workload, smile when some imbecile tries to put you down. See, with a simple smile, you are much more powerful when those undesirable changes come your way. Smiling through troubles and hardships draws the beauty of all life to the forefront.

Smiles are indeed contagious. Brighten your day and those around you. Work those facial muscles to the max!

Video Evidence:

Ron Gutman: The hidden power of smiling | Video on TED.com

The Hidden Beauty of Pollination

A video on the importance of pollinators and pollinator-friendly gardens. Take care of them and they will take care of you. What beauty Nature has in reproducing, regenerating, and evolving life on our Earth!

Louie Schwartzberg: The hidden beauty of pollination | Video on TED.com

Side note: TED.com is a great place to find free videos of the latest and up-and-coming innovations, technologies, and ideas that may drastically shape our futures. Guaranteed to inspire, educate, and motivate.