Tips for Better Health - Keep it Simple!

      What is the secret to better health? How do you improve your health and your life - without spending a small fortune on expensive medical solutions? Do you really need to shell out 50 bucks every month at  that slick looking health and fitness club to enjoy life more?

    Long before the advent of modern medical marvels and fancy fitness centers people around the globe enjoyed slimmer, trimmer body shapes than many of us do today. They worked hard and ate simple. They consumed more fruits and vegetables and less processed foods. The American fast food industry had yet to serve up a single hamburger.

    Eating healthy foods does not have to cost you a fortune every month. You can possibly even save some of your hard earned money by preparing your own meals more often. All the while using simple, natural ingredients. Who doesn't love a good steak or lobster? And Pizza is about as close to what they simply must serve in heaven. Along with an ice cold beer!

     Please don't take my advice on heaven. Or what kind of delights may be in store for those of us who end up there!

    While we're here - hopefully enjoying life on Earth - doesn't it make sense to give yourself every possible advantage when it comes to your own health?

    Try these classic, time honored exercises to help keep your body in tip top shape - 

   The Good, old fashioned squat.  Great for your core area.  Keep your feet shoulder-width apart and your back straight. Bend your knees and lower your rear as if you are about to sit down in a chair. Try to keep your knees over your ankles. Shoot for at least 2 sets of ten.

    And how about the classic lunge?  This simple exercise works all the major muscles of the lower body. Lunges can also improve your balance.  Take a big step forward, keeping your spine straight. Bend your front knee to approximately 90 degrees. Keep weight on your back toes and drop the back knee toward the floor.  ( And try to keep your knee from touching the floor. )

   Finally, the most effective way to sculpt sexy looking arms - the good old fashioned push-up! Push-ups strengthen your chest, shoulders, triceps, and even your core muscles!

    Get down on the floor with your face-down. Keep your hands just slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Place toes or knees on the floor, creating a smooth line with your body, from shoulders to knees or feet. Keeping rear-end muscles and abdominals tight, push your body up. Then lower and lift your body by bending and straightening your elbows, keeping your body in a straight line throughout the movement.

    Feel that in your tummy? Are your harms hurting a little?  Then your building muscles in all the right places!!

  Want a tighter tummy? Maybe a slimmer looking belly? How about some simple crunches to the rescue! 

    Start by lying flat on your back with your feet flat on the floor and your hands behind your head. Press your low back down. Contract abdominals and raise first your head (tucking your chin slightly), then your neck, shoulders, and upper back off the floor. For the best results always do your crunches with your feet off the floor and knees bent.And focus on keeping your back straight. Try to maintain a straight line from your neck all the way down your spine. Avoid sticking your chin out. Never hold your breath. Try to keep your elbows extended and out of your line of vision.


    Losing weight and building a slimmer, more muscular body doesn't have to cost you a  bundle! Keep it simple. Enjoy eating healthy foods and getting some kind of exercise every day. Even just walking is a great way to get started! You really can eat healthy, exercise daily and lose weight!  Want to enjoy life more and look great doing it? Start getting in shape - fast!

The Healthiest Habit

   Of all the healthy habits you can adopt and embrace, perhaps the single most effective habit Anyone can employ is don't smoke! If you want to calm your nerves, get some exercise. Want greater peace of mind? Get some exercise! It will help clear your mind and enable you to better focus on whatever you desire.

  Stumbled upon the following in a book written in 1915:

From the mass of evidence and opinion with which medical literature is loaded, a few salient facts stand out:

---

First: Tobacco and its smoke contain powerful narcotic poisons.

Second: It has never been shown to exert any beneficial influence on the human body in health, and it is not even included in the United States Pharmacopœia as a remedy for disease, notwithstanding the claims that are made for its sedative effects and its value as a solace to mankind. If these benefits are real and dependable, they should be made available in exact dosage and applied therapeutically. If they are not real and dependable in  a medical sense, they are not real and safe as a mere drug indulgence.

Third: The symptoms following tobacco-smoking are identical with the effects of tobacco-chewing among those not accustomed to its use; hence, any collateral psychic effect, such as the sight of smoke, the surrounding, etc., are of minor importance in establishing the habit. The main charm to the smoker is the drug effect, as in any other similar indulgence. Nicotinless tobacco is not popular, notwithstanding the efforts of the French and Austrian Governments to make it so.

Fourth: Fortunately, the sedative drug effect is so slight, as compared to that of other narcotics—opium, alcohol, cocaine, etc.—that the tobacco habit is less seductive and may be broken with comparative ease and is therefore less harmful morally. Men who have smoked or chewed steadily for 40 years have been known to give up the habit without experiencing much physical discomfort. Like any other habit, however, there is a tendency to increasing indulgence, and this is a risk that the smoker takes, just as does the alcohol user or the opium habitué who begins with so-called moderate indulgence.

 Fifth: The well-known effects of tobacco on the heart and circulation should lead one to pause and consider the possible cost of this indulgence, especially as—

Sixth: It is difficult to determine, years in advance, whether or not one is endowed with sufficient resistance to render so-called moderate smoking comparatively harmless.

Seventh: The vital statistics show that diseases of the heart and circulation are rapidly increasing in this country.

Smoking takes years off your lifespan. Carrying around extra pounds can have the same effect. (Though, perhaps not nearly  as drastic ).

Want better health and fitness? Stop smoking. Enjoy eating healthy, natural foods and get some exercise every day!

Kick-Start Your Heart

If you really want to pick up the pace of your weight loss effort or if you want better overall health, nothing beats a strenuous aerobic workout. If your fitness level is not as great as you'd like - or if you simply want to drop a few pounds - try adding some heart-pumping exercise to your daily habits!

Walking is a wonderful way to relieve stress enjoy the great outdoors.  ( Or, in colder climates, the mall! )

    Jogging, rowing, and cycling all offer an excellent cardio workout. Pick up your heart rate and your arteries seem to get cleaner. Flush out those toxins. Cleanse your arteries of potentially dangerous cholesterol. 


Swimming is fun, and easy on your joints.  Water aerobics is a great, low impact exercise option. Jogging gives millions of happy campers and  athletes an endorphin rich high hard to equal. Once you get started you won't want to miss even a day. That natural high you feel after a strenuous workout is simply the best.

     Several decades ago a bunch of Health experts studied the fitness levels of various  Olympic athletes. They found the guys and girls of the Rowing squads ( crew ) enjoyed the best overall health and fitness. Something about the multiple muscle groups used and fluid motion rowers use make rowing an unbeatable exercise. Technique is important - have someone show you the proper motion and posture before you try rowing.
 
Learn more about rowing here.

   Enjoy that great feeling - all over - after twenty or thirty minutes of your favorite workout.  So, get outside - if you can - and enjoy the cool, fresh Autumn air while you get your heart and lungs working!

Start Your Better Life Today!

"Note the sublime precision that leads the earth over a circuit of 500,000,000 miles back to the solstice at the appointed moment without the loss of one second—no, not the millionth part of a second—for ages and ages of which it traveled that imperial road."  Edward Everett

"How," asked a man of Sir Walter Raleigh, "do you accomplish so much and in so short a time?" "When I have anything do, I go and do it," was the reply. The man who always acts promptly, even if he makes occasional mistakes, will succeed  when a procrastinator will fail—even if he have the better judgment.

When asked how he got through so much work, Lord Chesterfield replied: "Because I never put off till morrow what I can do to-day."

Have you been struggling with finding time to exercise? Do you ever feel tempted to skip today's workout - because you just don't have time? Its OK to be a little selfish. Take the time to improve your body and your life!

Dewitt, pensionary of Holland, answered the same question: "Nothing is more easy; never do but one thing at a time, and never put off until to-morrow what can be done to-day."

"You will never find time for anything," said Charles Buxton; "if you want time you must make it."

The best work we ever do is that which we do now, and can never repeat. "Too late," is the curse of the unsuccessful, who forget that "one to-day is worth two to-morrows."

Time accepts no sacrifice; it admits of neither redemption nor atonement. It is the true avenger. Your enemy may become your friend, your injurer may do you justice,  but Time is inexorable, and has no mercy.

Make a little time for yourself  every day. Write it in your planner - and keep that appointment wit yourself! If you want a better life - filled with more energy and better health - make some time for healthy habits. Get some exercise - however you like - every day!

Then stay the present instant, dear Horatio:  
Imprint the marks of wisdom on its wings. 'Tis of more worth than kingdoms! far more precious Than all the crimson treasures of life's fountain. O! let it not elude thy grasp; but, like The good old patriarch upon record, Hold the fleet angel fast until he bless thee. —Nathaniel Cotton.

The Journey to a Better Life

  A noted author and wise Doctor in the late 1800s offered the following idea:

"The people you see waiting in the lobbies of doctors' offices are, in a vast majority of cases, suffering through poisoning caused by an excess of food. Coupled with this goes the bad results of imperfect breathing, irregular sleep, lack of exercise, and improper use of stimulants, or holding the thought of fear, jealousy and hate.

All of these things, or any one of them, will, in very many persons, cause fever, chills, cold feet, congestion and faulty elimination."

His prescription for better lifelong health appears simple:

Exercise,

Sleep well,

Refrain from excess and improper use of stimulants,

Breathe well, and

Think good thoughts.

His suggestions for better overall health are nothing new. He later quotes famous writers from centuries long past:

"The one theme of _Ecclesiastes_ is moderation. Buddha wrote it down that the greatest word in any language is Equanimity. William Morris said that the finest blessing of life was systematic, useful work. Saint Paul declared that the greatest thing in the world was love. Moderation, Equanimity, Work and Love--you need no other physician.

Nature is forever trying to keep people well, and most so-called "disease," which word means merely lack of ease, is self-limiting, and tends to cure itself. If you have appetite, do not eat too much. If you have no appetite, do not eat at all. Be moderate in the use of all things, save fresh air and sunshine."

Life is short. Don't you owe it to yourself and your children to live better and share our good health with those we love most?  Encourage your children and loved ones to enjoy nature, play more and worry less. Exercise does wonders for your outlook and your attitude. If we lead by example we both win! A healthy body most often leads to a healthy mind.

Now, I’m no PhD or decorated scholar. You don’t have to be either. Just try a few, simple and fundamental changes to your daily life and soon you can see amazing results in your fitness level. And, while you're at it - share the good news with your children. Show them more fun. Spend time with those you love most and embrace healthy habits together. Give them two of the best gifts anyone can offer - your love and the gift of healthy living!

Take the steps. Start today. Start your own journey to better health and fitness.

Good Health

Good health is the foundation both of judgment and industry and therefore of success. And without health everything is difficult. Who can exercise a sound judgment if he is feeling irritable in the morning? Who can work hard if she is suffering from a perpetual feeling of malaise?

The future lies with the people who will take exercise and not too much exercise. Athleticism may be hopeless as a career, but as a drug it is invaluable. No ordinary man can hope to succeed who does not work his body in moderation. 

Here are the amounts of activity necessary for the average healthy person to maintain a minimum level of overall fitness. Included are some of the popular exercises for each category.

WARMUP - 5-10 minutes of exercise such as walking, slow jogging, knee lifts, arm circles or trunk rotations. Low intensity movements that simulate movements to be used in the activity can also be included in the warmup.

MUSCULAR STRENGTH - a minimum of two 20-minute sessions per week that include exercises for all the major muscle groups. Lifting weights is the most effective way to increase strength.

MUSCULAR ENDURANCE - at least three 30-minute sessions each week that include exercises such as calisthenics, pushups, situps, pullups, and weight training for all the major muscle groups.

CARDIORESPIRATORY ENDURANCE - at least three 20-minute bouts of continuous aerobic (activity requiring oxygen) rhythmic exercise each week. Popular aerobic conditioning activities include brisk walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, jumping rope, rowing, cross-country skiing, and some continuous action games like racquetball and handball.

FLEXIBILITY - 10-12 minutes of daily stretching exercises performed slowly, without a bouncing motion. This can be included after a warmup or during a cooldown.

COOL DOWN - a minimum of 5-10 minutes of slow walking, low-level exercise, combined with stretching.

Try these 10 tips for better fitness.

If you want to speed up your fitness program  and start seeing results even soon - go to a trusted online vendor like Amazon and buy an Indoor Rowing Machine

Want More Happiness?

 Strength develops in direct proportion to the difficulty of the environment. There is no substitute for hard work. If you work your body hard you can expect awesome results!

Found the following excerpt in a centuries old book about success:

It would seem almost unnecessary to suggest the ordinary regimes for health of body. Nevertheless, I shall refer to these regimes because, first, their importance cannot be overestimated, and secondly because they involve certain laws of laws in relation to health which are seldom worked out in hygienic instruction.

What may be called the laws of laws of health would seem to be as follows:

1. Scrupulous Cleanliness of the Body, Without and Within, Makes for Royal Health-Tone. The law should be given rational, not slavish, obedience. Your body and your deeper self are in a constant state of interaction. Material uncleanness consented to contaminates that self. Uncleanness of the self also contaminates the body. A good life requires the clean dress of honored flesh. You are invited, therefore, to affirm always and practically,

    This robe I wear of unsoiled flesh
    Keeps mind and spirit ever fresh.

2. Sweet, Sound and Early Sleep Gives the Universal Forces their Perfect Opportunity for Good. During sleep the Universal Thought strives to restore, as our conditions permit, harmony of vibrations between its manifests in matter within the body and its manifests in the non-material self. The degree of harmony is made less in all cases by centuries of wrong living, the effects of which are more or less accumulated by inheritance in every man and woman (right living, however, promising in the future perfect freedom there-from on earth), and by the disturbing power of individual wrong living. In order, then, to secure the best results of sleep, our waking thought should be kept in attune, by all practical as well as by all idealizing methods, with reality, truth, beauty and goodness. You are invited, for the reason suggested, to live during the day in such a manner that your last fearless thought at night may be,

    "Let my soul walk softly in me,
       Like a saint in heaven unshod,
     For to be alone with Silence
       Is to be alone with God."

3. The Utility of Nourishment Issues From Conformity to the Plan of the Universal Forces for Each Individual. For every human body there is a plan on which it is intended to be evolved and maintained. The individual plan is merely a variation of the general plan of our common human nature. That general plan provides for certain foods and kinds of drink, for the manner in which they are to be taken and digested, and for their utilization in building and sustaining the body. 

This general plan is varied for different persons in the primary intention of the nature of things. Your food and drink, therefore, should depend upon your own peculiar needs. The science of the matter investigates the kinds of nourishment which you in particular require and advises all items furnishing the material elements you demand. 

But some individual variations, in respect to questions of taste, usefulness and harmfulness, digestibility and adaptation, are undoubtedly results of restrained liberty and wrong thought-life in the past, either of your ancestors or of yourself. 

That degree of liberty, therefore, which ought to be yours, has perhaps, come to be more or less limited. It is possible for you to secure a desirable enlargement of freedom with regard to food and drink. Of course you have no liberty in the way of natural poisons and beverages which dethrone common sense. Aside from the limits set by Nature, you may acquire the largest measure of personal freedom in the matter if you will determine therefor in the exercise of sound reason. 

It is for you to bring yourself more nearly to the original plan for human bodies in this respect, if you will begin with your inner thought-life and proceed more or less in the following manner:

(a). By insisting upon a LARGER FREEDOM, not in the way of demanding one thing or another, but in the way of realizing in your deeper self the idea of power therefor;

(b). By endeavoring constantly to bring your thought-life more and more into HARMONY WITH LIFE IN NATURE;

(c). By affirming that the food and drink of which you partake will surely enjoy Better Health and buoyancy of the body; not merely stating the proposition, but, while so partaking, believing the truth and assuming it to be true—actual for you;

(d). By manifesting at all times the mood of blended COURAGE, HOPE, CONFIDENCE, HAPPINESS;

      Relays of races, rugged and long,
       Up the peaks rising and blending!
     Wine for the daring, meat for the strong,
       Power with toil contending!
    "Higher! Yet higher!" the man's full song—
      "Never a last ascending!"

5 Steps to Better Health

Five simple habits can help you change your life for the better! Take your time. Adopt a new habit each week for the next several weeks. And stick with it! You'll soon realize some of the benefits of better health and fitness! Want less stress? Maybe you'd like to have more energy? Enjoy Life more! Try these 5 simple steps to better health. Smile and enjoy the journey!

1. Eat healthy foods - preferably 4 to 6 smaller meals a day. Eating more often helps your metabolism. Enjoy an occasional treat. Just try to keep a majority of your food choices healthy. Enjoy good, natural foods that are high in nutrients, fiber, "good fats," and lean protein. Get some protein early in the day.

2. Sleep at least seven hours every night. Try to get on a schedule and stick with it. Guard your sleep time closely. People who sleep at least seven hours a night tend to enjoy overall better health and are ill less often than those of us who can't seem to find enough time for at least seven hours.

3. Exercise and stay active. Americans spend a great deal of time sitting. Its unavoidable - we sit at our desks for hours on end, and in the car. Then we go home and sink into a favorite easy chair. But the human body was built to be active. So take a walk, go for a jog or a bike ride. Get a jump rope, or do some push-ups and jumping jacks. No need to spend a fortune at the local health club. You can stay active and get in better shape without shelling out a small fortune every month!

4. Schedule a little time each day - as few as 15 minutes to relax and free your mind. President Reagan used to take a brief nap every day. Millions of healthy, happy folks enjoy some quiet time early in the morning reflecting on all they have to be thankful for. Make an appointment with yourself. Write it down in your calendar. Spend just 10 or 15 minutes each afternoon clearing your mind and relaxing. For the best results, go outside and breathe in some fresh air.

5. Laugh. Find something each day to laugh at. Grab a funny book or pick up a comedy at the library. Rent a funny movie. Laughter is good for your brain and your whole body! Release some healthy endorphins in your brain and laugh as much and as loud as you like!

Try these simple and effective steps to better health and fitness!

Prevention is the best medicine

How did this happen? Roughly two thirds of the people in the USA are overweight. Go to any mall or food store or watch a public event on TV. Look at the people in the stands or walking around the mall. How many of them appear overweight? How many have a little ( or a lot ) extra belly going on?

If you want to avoid this alarming trend and all the potential harm weight gain brings with it - you need just a couple simple changes in your daily habits! Convince yourself to stick with eating healthy foods and getting some form of exercise every day! Stay committed to these healthy habits and you can lead a much healthier and probably a much happier life as well.

Fat has more than twice the calories as carbohydrates or protein. For too many of us eating high-fat foods is the quickest path to weight gain. Many fat-laden foods serve little purpose - other than clogging our arteries and perhaps giving us some short lived satisfaction. Is it any wonder obesity, heart disease and cancer are so widespread in the good old USA?

The choice is yours - decide to live better and enjoy life more.

If you are hoping to lose a few pounds this year - its not too late to get started! Take some simple steps - today - towards better health and fitness. Start getting in shape fast!

Better fitness isn’t just about being muscular or maintaining a low body weight. It's also about cardio fitness, flexibility, muscular strength and endurance! If you've been out of the habit of exercising regularly - start slow. Gradually build your endurance and your muscle tone. You'll start to see improvements in a matter of weeks! And you'll start feeling more energy and less stress as well!

Pass by the fast-food drive-thru convenience habit and start enjoying healthy foods. Bring some family and friends along on your journey to better health and fitness. Share in the fun and the benefits together! Make eating healthy a family effort. Enlist your loved ones to help your prepare and then enjoy healthy meals together!

And then take out for some invigorating exercise. Do whatever you like - just do something! Walking is a great place to start. Or riding a bike! Try a new sport together! The weather this time of year is almost ideal for playing tennis or basketball outdoors! It doesn't matter what you play - the point is to have fun! Enjoy your journey to better health!

The benefits of living a healthy lifestyle are clear and lasting! Guard your fitness time and your health! Remember that old saying - "prevention is the best medicine"!