The thing is that people cannot really rely on their eyes, nose or taste buds to tell whether or not a food is safe to eat.

Disease-causing microorganisms that creep into food can surely make you sick, sometimes for as long as several weeks. Food poisoning can be more serious for the very young, the very old, the pregnant, and people with illnesses like cancer and AIDS.

In fact, people can even die from a severe cause of food poisoning. So it pays to have a little extra information on your side. The trick is for you to know which food to get rid of before it can hurt you. With the right prevention tactics, you never need to second-guess your toss-or-keep policies.

To steer clear of food poisoning, which actually happens right in your kitchen, start by following six simple, germ-savvy rules:

1. Keep cold foods cold — 34° to 40°F or 1° to 4°C.

Attention to food safety is crucial anywhere specially if you are dealing with perishables. In a strictly controlled environment like the refrigerator, cold itself is a valuable factor in food safety. Accuracy of holding temperature helps slow bacterial growth.

2. Keep hot foods hot — 140° to 165°F or 60° to 74°C

Do not guess if your goose is cooked. Cook meats until the center reaches 165°F (74°C). The only way to tell is with a thermometer that goes all the way into the center of the bird or roast.

Maintaining hot foods hot reduces the chances of developing dangerous bacteria to breed. This guarantees a safer product that is good for your health.

3. Keep food storage and preparation areas clean — that includes shelves and counters as well as your refrigerator.

What you don’t see can certainly hurt you. What seems clean does not necessarily mean it is safe. Stay on the safe side. Always maintain cleanliness and hygiene in your kitchen.

4. Before starting food preparation, wash your hands with hot soapy water for at least 20 seconds.

Your hands are the number one carrier of germs. Contamination with the food you prepare will increase the chances of developing diseases.

5. Refrigerate leftovers quickly.

When eating take-home foods, it is best to consume them within 48 hours. If you have leftovers, refrigerate it within two hours of the food being served, within an hour during the summer, then reheat it to 165°F (74°C) or higher within two days. For take-outs, put it in the refrigerator within one hour of leaving the restaurant.

Refrigeration is utilized for food preservation such as extending the shelf-life of foods, merchandise preservation/presentation and contributes to indoor environment.

6. When in doubt, throw it out.

The sneaky salmonella bacteria are probably the most common cause of food poisoning. Infected food usually tastes fine but you won’t feel fine. Within 12 to 20 hours after eating, you may develop nausea, abdominal pain, diarrhea, headache, and sometimes fever.

Sounds easy enough? Think again. Even if it seems easy there are always murky areas such as food that is kept too long or raw foods that carry troublesome bacteria. Follow tips outlined here and you will prevent food-borne diseases from sneaking into your kitchen.

Article Source: http://www.hobbyarticledirectory.com

Jo is a content writer for Benchmark Interiors.

Tip Number 1: Start your day right. Vitamin C is one of the best nutrients for your immune system. It increases your body’s production of antibodies and white blood cells that fight infection. It increases the level of natural interferon, which is the antibody that coats cells and stops virus from entering. It raises your good cholesterol and helps prevent plaque build-up in the arteries. But waiting until you get sick isn’t enough. This is a vitamin you should be getting plenty of in order to prevent a flu or cold from even starting. It takes time for your body to get these effects.

To get enough in your diet on a regular basis, start your day with an orange or grapefruit. Be sure to eat berries and other fruits and vegetables throughout the day. If you absolutely need to supplement, 200 milligrams a day should be enough. This would be equivalent to about six servings of fruit and vegetables a day.

Tip Number 2: Eat steel-cut oats, or oatmeal, for breakfast. The type of fiber found in this cereal contains beta-glucans which activates your killer cells. The steel-cut oats take more time to cook than the quick-cook kind, but it has twice the amount of this nutrient.

Tip Number 3: Top your lunch salad or sandwich with plenty of tomatoes. Besides being high in vitamin C, they are an antioxidant with tremendous cancer fighting powers. In studies, people who ate a diet rich in tomatoes compared to a diet with no tomatoes had less free-radical damage to their infection-fighting white blood cells.

Tip Number 4: Add five cups of chamomile tea a day to your diet. Recent studies show drinking this much tea for two whole weeks had more polyphenols in their blood. These plant compounds are phytonutrients, which increases your body’s bacteria-fighting ability. In addition, this tea is well known to be a sedative and nerve relaxant. This is beneficial since your body does most of its healing and repairing while you are asleep.

Tip Number 5: Eat proteins that contain plenty of zinc. These foods include dark meat turkey, beans, beef and even crab. Zinc increases your body’s T-cell count, which are a type of cell that fights infections. It helps all your white cells, or immune cells, to release more antibodies and increases the production of many more. It also causes them to work more aggressively. But leave the zinc lozenges alone. Overdoing it on zinc can suppress your immune system. Instead, eat the foods that contain natural zinc.

Tip Number 6: Add fresh garlic to as many meals as you can. Add it to soups, sauces, or even fresh vegetable juice if you make it. It stimulates production of your natural killer cells and increases antibody production. It is a well-known antioxidant that is a powerful cancer fighter. It protects your heart by stopping platelets from sticking together which can clog blood vessels. This is helpful in the prevention of heart attacks.

Tip Number 7: Spice it up. Use lots of chili peppers, onions, radishes, cayenne pepper and garlic in your daily dishes. These contain “mucolytics,” which actually thin mucus, making it easier to clear from your sinuses and chest. This is a natural expectorant without the side effects of medications.

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Cindy has been working in the health field for 15 years and is a Certified Nutritional Counselor. Learn how you can use your diet to strengthen immunity and other immune building tips so you can stop getting sick.

What Causes Vitamin Deficiency

The SAD (Standard American Diet) is one of the more varied diets on the planet. We have access to so many different foods that it should be easy to get all or most of the vitamins we need. Unfortunately, so many foods are processed that they’ve lost the majority of their nutrients. Some of the most important vitamins are replaced, which is why you’ll find cereals and milk that are fortified with things like iron, Vitamin A and Vitamin D. What many don’t realize is that there are far more vitamins and minerals that are required in order for our bodies to function properly.

Even if you eat well, plenty of fresh fruit and veggies, it can be difficult to cover all the bases and it’s not uncommon even for those who pay careful attention to their diet to be lacking in one or more vitamins.

Correcting a Vitamin Deficiency

While the ideal solution would be to eat the perfect combination of foods to get the right amount of vitamins, it isn’t very practical in today’s hectic world. Most people simply don’t have the time to meticulously plan and source their meals for maximum vitamin absorption. Eating right is definitely a step in the right direction, but you will probably need to use supplements, as well.

Vitamin supplements can be purchased individually or in multi-vitamins. If you just want to be sure that you’re getting a good mix of vitamins, then the multi is a good choice. However, for those who are receiving what they need in their diet and are only deficient in one or two things, then the individual supplements can be the way to go. This allows you to tailor the mix to fit your individual needs.

Signs of Vitamin Deficiency

While each vitamin has its own problems brought on by its lack, there are some general indications that you need to look into a multi-vitamin. When your body doesn’t receive the nutrition it needs, you’ll find that you are worn out, even after sleeping a full night. Fatigue is a very common symptom of a deficiency. Excessive hair loss, skin rashes and anemia are also signs that you are lacking something.

When the body is low on one or more vitamins, the immune system is often compromised, as well. This means that diseases like a simple cold or the flu will tend to last longer than normal and you may find that you are more prone to infections than usual. If you pay attention to your body, you will notice if something is wrong.

Vitamin A: When you are low in this vitamin, eye problems result. First, night blindness and dry eyes, then more severe issues indicate problems. In countries where Vitamin A is not available readily, people can even go blind from lack of it. In children, a deficiency could be apparent with a failure to grow properly.

Vitamin B: There are several vitamins included in this group. B1 causes beriberi in its absence, a disease that results in muscle weakness and brain damage. Lack of B2 can cause hair loss, ulcers in the mouth and on the skin, rashes and itchiness, among other symptoms.  If you don’t have enough B3, you could develop pellagra, which usually presents itself in the form of stomach problems and diarrhea, as well as rashes caused by the sun. Too little B5 and you’ll suffer from fatigue, nausea, headaches and tingling in the hands and feet. B6 deficiency usually results in anemia, feelings of dizziness and loss of hair.  Vitamin B9, also known as folic acid, is particularly important for women of child-bearing age. A lack of it during pregnancy could cause spina bifida in the unborn child or spontaneous abortion. B12 is another important vitamin, without which you suffer from the same symptoms as B5 deficiency.

Vitamin C: It’s fairly rare to find a deficiency in Vitamin C, since so many processed foods are already fortified, but taking extra means your immune system will be stronger. Signs that you are lacking in this important vitamin include fatigue, bleeding gums and slow healing of wounds.

Vitamin D: The lack of this vitamin has been named as a cause of certain kinds of cancer, such as breast and colon cancer. Less severe symptoms of deficiency include twitching muscles, sleep issues (particularly in small children), pain in the joints and osteoporosis.

Vitamin E: Not enough Vitamin E usually results in eye problems, especially a limit to how far you can move your eyes upwards. Severe deficiency could result in blindness. Lack of this vitamin can also cause fertility issues, miscarriages, as well as problems with the liver, brain and bone marrow.

Vitamin K: Anyone low on this vitamin will find that they bruise easily and tend to bleed more than normal with small cuts and scratches. Frequent nosebleeds could be a sign that you are low on Vitamin K.

Even if you feel that you get enough of each vitamin, that might not be true. Some foods, such as carbonated beverages, act as barriers, preventing the absorption of certain vitamins, so while you may be ingesting enough, your body might not be actually absorbing everything. This is one area that multi-vitamins treat well, since they have the optimum mix of vitamins to enhance the actual absorption.

To stay strong and healthy, it’s important to let your body have what it needs. Vitamin deficiencies are often mild in Western countries, but they do affect the quality of life and when it’s something so easy to treat, why not fix the problem?

Remember, this article is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease. If you suspect there is something wrong, be sure to see your doctor.

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This article was written for Jay Gaulard on behalf of MyHealthMarket.

Think of children…what is among their favorite things to do? Play. Kids love to play. You don’t have to remind them to ride their bike, play soccer or baseball, or run around in a game they’ve created. For children, play is second nature and part of who they are. If you put children on a treadmill, they would become bored after the first couple of minutes. Children incorporate activity and get exercise just by merely playing. Keep that in mind and find an activity that you enjoy and make it play.

One of the most important components of losing weight is regular aerobic exercise in your day. This can be challenging especially in the beginning. Persistence is key because after a short time, exercise usually becomes enjoyable, fun, and an activity that you can actually look forward to. You begin to enjoy the payoffs from regular and persistent exercise. Here’s a few of the payoffs:

First, schedule regular time to exercise even when you are busy. This regular exercise appointment you make with yourself brings order to your day and helps to assign priorities to our daily routine. Second, exercise boosts levels of endorphins, the “feel good” levels, making us feel happier for hours after our exercise session. Third, it provides you with self confidence. The majority of people that incorporate regular exercise into their lives report improved self-esteem. Finally, exercise is the best drug available that has no side effects but multiple, long-lasting benefits.

Whenever your life feels chaotic or stressful, add exercise by, for example, going for a walk, rather than reaching for a cookie or donut! It will give you the self confidence to take charge! Try it….it works!

Do you need more convincing to attain fitness through play? In addition to losing weight and tone your body, you receive major health benefits by changing your mindset about exercise. The dividends of fitness are:

1. You’ll live longer. You’ll enjoy your longer life even more.

2. You’ll have a lower risk of heart disease and stroke. You’ll also be less likely to have high blood pressure.

3. The less active you are, the higher your risk for Type 2 Diabetes. If you already have Type 2 Diabetes, exercise can lower your blood sugar levels. Another bonus is by losing weight, you’ll also enjoy additional positive benefits to your blood sugar levels.

4. Exercise can help reduce swelling and pain, along with improving mobility for people with arthritis.

5. You lower your risk of colon cancer and other cancers when you increase your activity.

6. Strength training helps to counteract the effects of bone loss from osteoporosis.

7. Exercise makes you more physically fit. You’ll be able to perform routine daily activities easier and without as much effort. You’ll be more agile, flexible, better stamina, and move through your day healthier and stronger physically.

8. Exercise is the perfect way to get calm and stay calm. As a result, active people are less depressed, enjoy higher self-esteem, and an overall feeling of confidence and well-being.

What comes to your mind when you think of exercise? Do you feel negative or consider it drudgery? Try this instead – think about dancing in the kitchen while you make dinner, walking your dog, taking a bike ride with your children, gardening, a set of tennis or a round of golf. Sound like fun? You’re ready with an enthusiastic start for your fun program of fitness. Getting adequate exercise will improve many areas in our lives besides our level of physical fitness.

Rather than think of exercise as the dreaded “I have to”, change your mindset to exercise as an “I get to”. It will boost your energy, provide a sense of wellbeing like nothing else will, and create a joyous sense of accomplishment to your day! Give yourself the gift of exercise. It is the gift that keeps giving benefits to you throughout your entire day.

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Aside from being a great source of protein, beans are a delicious source of fiber, B vitamins, iron, folate, potassium, magnesium, and many phytonutrients, and should be eaten on a regular basis to promote optimal health. It’s recommended that you should eat four 1/2 cup servings of beans per week.

Beans are a superb heart healthy food. Eating beans frequently is associated with lower cholesterol levels. Beans, like all other plant-derived sources of protein, don’t contain any saturated fat, and therefore are also cholesterol free. Thus, if you limit your saturated fat intake by reducing the amount of meat you eat and substitute beans and other plant protein sources for meat in your regular diet, you’ll be well on your way to reducing your blood cholesterol levels and improving your overall health.

Research studies have shown that folate plays a critical role in the reduction of homocysteine levels. Homocysteine is a compound that damages the blood vessel walls when it accumulates in the body. Folate helps to reduce this damaging effect by neutralizing the homocysteine molecules. Data show that between 20 to 40 percent of coronary artery disease patients have elevated levels of homocysteine in their bodies.

Beans deliver a potent combination of potassium, calcium, and magnesium. This combination of electrolytes is associated with reduced risk of heart disease and hypertension.

When it comes to controlling blood sugar, it’s the plentiful amount of soluble fibre in beans that seems to be nutrient of note. If you have insulin resistance, hypoglycaemia, or diabetes, adding beans to your regular diet can be very helpful in controlling your blood sugar. The soluble fibre in beans provides a slow burning and long lasting source of energy, consisting of complex carbohydrates and proteins for your body to use.

Since these macronutrients take longer for your body to break down, blood sugar levels remain stabilized. When blood sugar is stabilized your body doesn’t need to release as much insulin to control the glucose in the blood. This is crucial for diabetic patients, as they, especially, need to control their blood glucose and insulin levels in order to maintain their health.

As previously noted, beans are a rich source of fiber. Fiber adds a great deal of bulk to foods without adding a lot of calories. This is because fiber can easily be digested by our digestive systems. The benefit of the above is that foods such as beans that are bulky in nature make you feel full without adding calories.

Scientific research suggests that beans may help to prevent certain types of cancer, including:
Pancreatic cancer
Colon cancer
Breast Cancer
Prostate Cancer

Beans contain both lignins and phytates, which seem to be the major contributors to the cancer fighting effects of this Superfood. Phytoestrogens (which are lignins) are estrogen-like compounds that have been linked to a reduction in the risk of developing breast cancer. And phytates are compounds that have been shown to reduce the risk of certain types of intestinal cancer.

Try to eat a variety of beans, as different bean colors means that different polyphenols are present. These phytonutrients have antioxidant properties and help to fight against free radicals.

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Yoga acts as a form of alternative medicine. Yoga exercises are beneficial for calming and relaxing the nervous system as well as for balancing the mind, spirit and body. It is believed that the constant and regimented practice of yoga can be an immense help in treating or curbing many medical ailments. It is observed by medical practitioners all over the world, that people who perform yoga daily have lower blood pressure, improved flexibility, better sleep, better concentration, better coordination, and improved digestion.  In fact, yoga has also been seen to reduce stress levels drastically.

It should be no surprise, then, to learn that yoga is also used as a supplementary therapy for curing such diverse conditions as cancer, asthma, AIDS and diabetes.  The therapeutic qualities of yoga are not restricted to these ailments alone. There are other areas where yoga has been found to be helpful and relieving. Medical problems like acidity, anemia, arthritis, Alzheimer disease, allergies, skin problems, menopause, facial wrinkles, menstrual cramps, depression, hypertension, blood pressures, obesity, stress, insomnia and many others can all be treated by yoga.

Restorative yoga is associated with the healing of various diseases. Restorative yoga is practiced in a relaxed states via the use of supports in lieu of the muscular tension for maintaining the alignments of the pose. Restorative yoga aids in relieving the chronic stress that effects us in a lot of different ways.

- Proper use provides an absolutely different atmosphere for complete relaxation.

- Every restorative sequence is basically designed to move the spine in every direction.

- If the restorative practice is well sequenced, it also incorporates the inverted poses that reverse the gravity effects. It helps in enhancing the heart function to a great extent.

- It soothes and stimulates the organs of the body alternately.

Advantages of doing yoga exercises:
1. It boosts the physical strength, flexibility and stamina.
2. It enhances self control and concentration power.
3. It helps in improving the blood circulation that makes the skin healthy and glowing.
4. It inculcates the impulse control.
5. It lowers the stress levels and relaxes the entire body.
6. Immune system is enhanced to a great extent.
7. It imparts a positive outlook towards life.
8. It brings internal peace and harmony.
9. The overall functioning of the organs is improved.
10. There is intensification of mental clarity and pain tolerance.

Breathing is one of the most important parts of yoga exercises. This is the way one inhales and exhales during various yoga poses. Generally, yoga poses include standing poses, inversions, the restorative and relaxation poses, counter poses, twists, balancing poses, as well as forward and backward bends, with a concentration on breathing correctly.

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By Dr. Mercola

It’s a common notion that part of the reason why so many people are overweight and obese and saddled with diet-related chronic diseases like heart disease and type 2 diabetes is because they simply can’t afford to eat healthy. But are healthy foods really more expensive than their junk food counterparts?

An interesting opinion piece in the New York Times, by columnist Mark Bittman, argues that you can actually feed your family home-cooked meals for less than it costs to go to McDonald’s. Most people can, in fact, afford real food, Bittman argues. Which means, of course, that money alone doesn’t guide decisions about what to eat. In fact, the convenience, pervasive presence, and the addictive nature of processed food may be far more important factors.

Is Junk Food Really Cheap?

Most families nowadays are juggling not only tight schedules but also tight budgets, and when it comes time for dinner, a $1 hamburger from a fast-food “value menu” may seem like a frugal option. You have the U.S. government to thank for that $1 hamburger, as U.S. food subsidies are grossly skewed, creating a diet excessively high in grains, sugars, and factory-farmed meats. So there is some truth to the idea that junk foods can be cheap.

But if you’re basing your family’s diet on fast-food dollar menus, you are quite literally fueling future disease, which will exact a hefty toll on your family physically, emotionally and financially down the road. Perhaps you already know that fast-food is not the healthiest option, but you’re thinking, “I have $10 to feed my family of four, and I get off work at 7 pm, what else can I do?” Actually, quite a bit, which I’ll detail below. The reality is, any money spent on junk food is an absolute waste, not a bargain!

Why Spend Money on Food That Will Make You Sick?

While it’s certainly possible to find cheap junk food, much of it is actually quite expensive. I’m often surprised at the prices people are willing to pay for breakfast cereals that are nothing more than sugar, bags of chips that offer nothing good for your body, soda that is an absolute health disaster … these pricey processed foods will eat up your grocery budget in the blink of an eye and will actually cause disease in the long-term.

The fact that manufacturers are able to keep pulling the wool over people’s eyes, convincing them that these products are “foods” worthy of buying is nothing more than a marketing victory, albeit a very persuasive one.

As Bittman writes:

“It’s not just about choice, however, and rational arguments go only so far, because money and access and time and skill are not the only considerations. The ubiquity, convenience and habit-forming appeal of hyperprocessed foods have largely drowned out the alternatives: there are five fast-food restaurants for every supermarket in the United States …

… Furthermore, the engineering behind hyperprocessed food makes it virtually addictive. A 2009 study by the Scripps Research Institute indicates that overconsumption of fast food “triggers addiction-like neuroaddictive responses” in the brain, making it harder to trigger the release of dopamine. In other words the more fast food we eat, the more we need to give us pleasure; thus the report suggests that the same mechanisms underlie drug addiction and obesity.”

Since junk food is convenient, for the most part affordable, addictive and created to appeal to your taste buds, the system is orchestrated to keep you buying more junk food in lieu of real food, and the more you do this, the more you’ll lose touch with the foundations of healthy eating — and your kids may grow up never knowing the value of a home-cooked meal. So getting back to the original question, how to feed a family on a very limited budget, with a limited amount of time, the answer lies in choosing foods for their nutritional value, first and foremost, as well as planning out your meals carefully.

How to Eat Real Food on a Budget

In order to protect your health, I believe you should spend 90 percent of your food budget on whole foods, and only 10 percent on processed foods (unfortunately most Americans currently do the opposite). This requires three strategies, especially if you’re working with a tight budget:

1. Become resourceful: This is an area where your grandmother can be a wealth of information, as how to use up every morsel of food and stretch out a good meal was common knowledge to generations past. What I mean is getting back to the basics of cooking — using the bones from a roast chicken to make stock for a pot of soup, extending a Sunday roast to use for weekday dinners, learning how to make hearty stews from inexpensive cuts of meat, using up leftovers and so on.
2. Plan your meals: This is essential, as you will need to be prepared for mealtimes in advance to be successful. Ideally this will involve scouting out your local farmer’s markets for in-season produce that is priced to sell, and planning your meals accordingly, but you can also use this same premise with supermarket sales. You can generally plan a week of meals at a time, make sure you have all ingredients necessary on hand, and then do any prep work you can ahead of time so that dinner is easy to prepare if you’re short on time in the evenings.
3. Avoid food waste: According to a study published in the journal PloS One, Americans waste an estimated 1,400 calories of food per person, each and every day. The two steps above will help you to mitigate food waste in your home, You may also have seen my article from earlier this year titled 14 Ways to Save Money on Groceries. Among those tips are suggestions for keeping your groceries fresher, longer, and I suggest reviewing those tips now.

Some of the Healthiest Foods are Under $1

When choosing real foods to feed your family, remember that some of the healthiest foods are incredibly affordable, even under $1 a serving, such as:

• Raw organic milk
• Raw nuts and seeds
• Two cage-free organic eggs
• Avocado, berries and broccoli
• Fermented foods you make at home

Ideally, choose foods that are organic and locally grown, keeping the following ground rules in mind:

• The most important foods to buy organic are animal, not vegetable, products (meat, eggs, butter, etc.), because animal foods tend to concentrate pesticides in higher amounts.
• Grass-feed beef is far healthier than grain-fed beef (which I don’t recommend consuming). To keep cost down, look for inexpensive roasts or ground meat. You may also save money by buying an entire side of beef (or splitting one with two or three other families), if you have enough freezer space to store it.
• Buy in bulk when non-perishable items go on sale. If you are fortunate to live near a buyer’s club or a co-op, you may also be able to take advantage of buying by the pound from bins, saving both you and the supplier the cost of expensive packaging.

Source:  New York Times September 24, 2011

Source:  The Washington Post September 27, 2011

Source:  www.Mercola.com

What Does the Research Say About Hunter-Gatherer Fitness?

The idea behind “hunter-gatherer fitness” is to closely emulate the actions that ancient man took on a daily basis. This, researchers say, is what your body is hard-wired for.

As noted in 2010 in The American Journal of Medicine:

“The systematic displacement from a very physically active lifestyle in our natural outdoor environment to a sedentary, indoor lifestyle is at the root of many of the ubiquitous chronic diseases that are endemic in our culture.

The intuitive solution is to simulate the indigenous human activity pattern to the extent that this is possible and practically achievable. Suggestions for exercise mode, duration, intensity, and frequency … [should] focus on realigning our daily physical activities with the archetype that is encoded within our genome.”

Likewise, in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, the same group of researchers noted in 2011 that while we still require daily exercises for optimal health, modern-day lifestyles make it so it is no longer a necessity. But since our urge to conserve energy is still intact, this makes a perfect prescription for a sedentary existence:

“The activities required of their day-to-day existence were the only exercises that Stone Age people would have ever needed to do to maintain excellent general fitness. Instincts to conserve energy, strength, and stamina for these obligatory physical efforts conferred survival advantages to the hunter-gatherer. These instincts, still coded for in the genome of modern humans, are now counterproductive in the inactive high-energy milieu in which we live in the 21st century.

Our inborn tendency to choose the path of least resistance while existing in our highly convenient mechanized urban environment means that most Americans rarely, if ever, physically exert themselves anymore, which leads to obesity, poor physical fitness, depression, debility, and disease.”

How to Exercise Like a Hunter-Gatherer

The ideal exercise prescription as noted by the researchers would include the following aspects of normal hunger-gatherer living:

In general, researchers summed this up by stating:

“Natural selection shaped the human genome not to run marathons or exclusively lift extremely heavy weights but rather to survive and thrive as very active outdoor generalists in the wild.”

Well, the list can be very long, but here are a few items you may wish to consider.

1.

Exercise will help with fat loss: Notice, I did NOT say, “weight loss”. You see, while weight can be a general indicator of health and fitness, it isn’t a perfect indicator. People have different body types, for example, and a physically fit, attractive, and perfectly healthy person can weigh more than what the charts say they should. It isn’t necessarily what you weigh that’s as important as what that weight is comprised of. After all, at his peak of health and fitness, Arnold Schwarzenegger was “overweight” but had a very low level of fat on his body.

While some fat in and on the body is necessary to health and proper functioning of various systems within the body, it is excess fat which becomes the villain and which must be gotten rid of. You exercise to do a lot of good things for your body, and to burn fat is one of them.

YOU have heard that exercise burns calories, but, when done properly, it will also burn fat. Burning calories is important because excess calories is where fat comes from, and when we burn the calories through physical activity, they do not have a chance to be stored as fat.

2.

Exercise can help prevent disease: It has been demonstated through many studies that participating in regular physical activity can help prevevent the occurence of many diseases and degenerative conditions such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, and depression.

These studies also show that a lack of exercise is often a contributing risk factor in many of these diseases and conditions. Sometimes, the effect of exercise is indirect but still of importance. As mentioned above, exercising to lose weight is a common goal, but often, a direct effect of losing weight is improved health in many areas.

Exercise helps improve overall health: Well, if regular exercise, combined with healthy eating and living practices, can help combat disease and degenerative conditions, isn’t that a pretty big deal? If, in addition to that, a regular program of physical activity can indirectly produce positive health effects as well, such as in the discussion on exercise and weight loss above, isn’t that even better? What more do you need to say about the subject?

Of course, those are some great points, but when you consider the overall positive effects of exercise on the immune system, the muscular system, the bones, the cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary systems, you can see that the value of regular moderate exercise can be even greater than originally anticipated. The person who exercises regularly CAN, in most cases, expect a more effective immune system to combat ill-health in many forms, stronger bones (an effect that can carry over into the senior years), a stronger, healthier heart and lungs, which, in turn, will make life easier and healthier.

Oh yes, don’t forget the stronger muscles which will be available to carry that healthy body around!

3.

Exercise can improve your mental state: You may have heard of “runner’s high”, that euphoric feeling that those who exercise regularly become familiar with. It’s not just a state of mind! It is actually a result of the active body manufacturing, releasing, and/or activating “feel good” chemicals. Not only will the body and brain be exposed to natural, internal products such as endorphins and seratonin DURING the exercise period, but levels will commonly remain elevated in the regular exerciser.

Exercise to relieve depression has long been a standard in the arsenal of phychological health. Exercise and stress (which can be involved in a myriad of health problems) is a much studied area, and the verdict is in. Exercise can help improve not only depression and stress, but can even elevate the ability of the brain to function as it goes about its daily tasks, including regulating the processes of the body, and as it attempts to solve problems, learn new tasks, and make sense of the vast amount of data the moder person is exposed to.

While on the subject of how you feel, let’s touch briefly on “how you feel about yourself”.

When you take positive steps to improve yourself, you feel better…and better about yourself. As your body becomes leaner, trimmer, more effective, you feel better…and better about yourself. As you become stronger, healthier, and more full of the joy of living, you feel better…and better about yourself. Feelings such as these cannot help but be radiated out towards those around you, and be reflected back at you, making you feel better…and better about yourself!

Having said all that, it comes as no surprise that….

4.

Exercise improves your ability to function socially: Not only will you feel better, look better, be healthier, and have a better self image and improved self confidence, but you will actually be better able to perform socially. Whether you want to learn to do ballroom dancing, ice skating, or simply stand face-to-face with someone who once would have overwhelmed you with THEIR presence, you will be better able to stand your ground. You will know that you are better prepared mentally and physically to meet the rigors of life, love (and sex), work, and play…and enjoy it!

Exercise does not have to be hard…at least at first. It is something that you get more out of the more you put in. However, at first, if you have not been exercising, any small change to get started is literally a step in the right direction. Oh, eventually you will probably need some good shoes, a set of barbells, a yoga mat, or a professional fitness trainer, but at the start, you will just need the knowledge of what regular exercise can do for you, and the willingness to get started and stay with it.

Maybe the reasons to exercise I have outlined above will help.

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