What’s Your Wellness Plan?
By Cindy Holt, RN, LMT
Everyone needs a plan. We have a plan to work, a plan to save, a plan to vacation, and even an emergency exit plan, to name a few. But, do you have a plan for your health? Simply visiting your doctor once a year may not be enough. Few doctors take the time to know their patients anymore, and you the patient must be the gatekeeper of records, history, and be responsible for monitoring how you feel on many levels.
I’m talking about your plan to stay healthy in mind, body, and spirit. I find most people’s health plan is an insurance plan and hope. But is that health care or sick care? Here’s what I think a good health plan should entail.
Good food. Eat healthy, balanced meals 90% of the time, leaving 10% for fun times. Make vegetables the basis of your diet, eating most of them raw. A few vegetables are better for you cooked, like tomatoes, but fresh tomatoes from your garden are really good too. Meat, as long as its fresh and hormone and pesticide free is OK, in moderation. We really don’t need that much meat. Fish and chicken are better than red meat. Beef should be from grass fed cattle. Grain is not a normal food for cows. Some whole grains are good for us, but in limited quantities. Avoid white flour and white sugar like the plague. I like organic food when I can get it fresh and local, but I’m not passionate about it. Unfortunately, much of what is labeled organic is not.
Exercise regularly. Do what you like to do, but get your heart pumping for at least 20 minutes 3 times a week. If you are trying to lose weight, you must work up a sweat to get your metabolism elevated. Flexibility exercise is also important- stretching, yoga, or Pilate's are all good ways to achieve better balance and strength overall.
Take vitamins. You can’t get all you need from your food anymore. Take a good NATURALLY-SOURCED supplement protocol, and expect to have to take more than one product. One a day types are simply too compactly processed to release their contents before they get too far down the gastrointestinal tract to be absorbed. Ask your doctor about being tested for vitamin D3 deficiency. Most people are quite deficient, and this deficiency has been linked to cancer, osteoporosis, and several other serious conditions. Take D3 daily; about 1000-5000 IU is being recommended for most people. You can take too much, so read all the labels on your vitamin packages to see how much you are actually taking.
Attend to your spirituality. If you don’t like religion, find some way to relate to your higher self. Gratitude is a great place to start.
Attend to your body and emotional connections. Massage is a great way to learn more about where you hold your tension, and what emotions you store there. Tension creates pain in joints, muscles, and the fascia. Tension can lead to arthritis locally, and a host of other stress related diseases in the entire body. Learn to experience emotion honestly, so you don’t have to store it for later.
Pay attention to your thoughts. If they run on the negative side, be aware we tend to attract that which we focus upon. Don’t focus on lack, but instead focus on the gratitude for what you do have.
Showing posts with label nutritional supplements. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutritional supplements. Show all posts
Monday, May 25, 2009
Statistics of Disease Related to Diet
Health News You Can Use
Most of us have busy lives- hectic schedules, jobs at home and away from home, stressful living and working conditions. This factor plus others such as soil depletion, toxins and environmental pollutants, and our general ignorance or laziness all contribute to a very clear deterioration of health in the American public. It is no coincidence that the facts below indicate a significant problem for holistic health issues over the past 20 years.
Recent governmental studies (U.S.D.A.) indicate that the fruits and vegetables grown today have 25-50% less nutritional value than those grown only 20 years ago. Our farming methods include replacing only 3 nutrients into the soil, and this combined with food processing and further loss of nutrients leads to food that is not as nutritious as it once was, even as recent as 20 years ago. When I was a kid, fast food restaurants were rare and we ate at one maybe twice a year. Today, 90% of adults and 98% of children do not eat a balanced diet.
The American Cancer society states that 30% of all cancer is related to diet, and another 30% are related to tobacco and alcohol.. This means we could prevent 60% of all cancers! They recommend 9-11 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. How many do you eat?
Consider these chilling facts:
q Prostate cancer kills one man every 13 minutes (US Center for disease control)
q 60% of Americans are overweight making it the # 2 preventable cause of death (US Health 2000)
q Free radical damage is linked to heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, & arthritis (US Center for Disease Control)
q Cancer rates have increased by over 25% in the last 20 years (US Health 2000)
q Diabetes related deaths have doubled in the last 20 years (US Health 2000)
q The number of children considered overweight has more than doubled since 1980 (US Health 2000)
q Nearly 300 people a day die of adverse reactions from properly prescribed medications, making drug therapy the 4th leading cause of death (American Medical Journal and US Health 2000)
q Arthritis is the nation’s leading cause of disability as it affects 43 million people and is responsible for 1 out of 7 doctor visits (US Center for Disease Control)
q Prescription drug costs were expected to rise another 43% in 2002, bringing the average cost of a single prescription to over $90 (WI Health Fund)
q Osteoporosis is 100% preventable and difficult to treat
q Taking a combination of natural phytoestrogens (NOT synthetic HRT) reduces the risk of stroke by 60% and the risk of female breast cancer by 90% with no side effects (John R. Lee, M.D.)
q People who consistently consume adequate antioxidants can expect:
Cancer rates: Down 13% (National Cancer institute)
Cancer survival Up 50% (West Virginia University)
Heart attacks and strokes Down 50% (Harvard University)
Skin cancer: Down 70% (John Hopkins University)
Infections Down 55% (New Jersey Medical School)
Cataracts Down 35% (Harvard University)
Most of us have busy lives- hectic schedules, jobs at home and away from home, stressful living and working conditions. This factor plus others such as soil depletion, toxins and environmental pollutants, and our general ignorance or laziness all contribute to a very clear deterioration of health in the American public. It is no coincidence that the facts below indicate a significant problem for holistic health issues over the past 20 years.
Recent governmental studies (U.S.D.A.) indicate that the fruits and vegetables grown today have 25-50% less nutritional value than those grown only 20 years ago. Our farming methods include replacing only 3 nutrients into the soil, and this combined with food processing and further loss of nutrients leads to food that is not as nutritious as it once was, even as recent as 20 years ago. When I was a kid, fast food restaurants were rare and we ate at one maybe twice a year. Today, 90% of adults and 98% of children do not eat a balanced diet.
The American Cancer society states that 30% of all cancer is related to diet, and another 30% are related to tobacco and alcohol.. This means we could prevent 60% of all cancers! They recommend 9-11 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. How many do you eat?
Consider these chilling facts:
q Prostate cancer kills one man every 13 minutes (US Center for disease control)
q 60% of Americans are overweight making it the # 2 preventable cause of death (US Health 2000)
q Free radical damage is linked to heart disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, & arthritis (US Center for Disease Control)
q Cancer rates have increased by over 25% in the last 20 years (US Health 2000)
q Diabetes related deaths have doubled in the last 20 years (US Health 2000)
q The number of children considered overweight has more than doubled since 1980 (US Health 2000)
q Nearly 300 people a day die of adverse reactions from properly prescribed medications, making drug therapy the 4th leading cause of death (American Medical Journal and US Health 2000)
q Arthritis is the nation’s leading cause of disability as it affects 43 million people and is responsible for 1 out of 7 doctor visits (US Center for Disease Control)
q Prescription drug costs were expected to rise another 43% in 2002, bringing the average cost of a single prescription to over $90 (WI Health Fund)
q Osteoporosis is 100% preventable and difficult to treat
q Taking a combination of natural phytoestrogens (NOT synthetic HRT) reduces the risk of stroke by 60% and the risk of female breast cancer by 90% with no side effects (John R. Lee, M.D.)
q People who consistently consume adequate antioxidants can expect:
Cancer rates: Down 13% (National Cancer institute)
Cancer survival Up 50% (West Virginia University)
Heart attacks and strokes Down 50% (Harvard University)
Skin cancer: Down 70% (John Hopkins University)
Infections Down 55% (New Jersey Medical School)
Cataracts Down 35% (Harvard University)
Health Care Crisis- Heathcare or Sickcare?
The Health Care Crisis
By
Cindy Holt RN, BSN, LMT
I entered the health care field when the practice of medicine was fairly low tech. There were no MRI’s, and no lasers, and many of the drugs essential to us now were not available. Health care was pretty cheap 35 years ago, but times have changed. With the cost of this technology on the sharp rise, so went the cost of health care. We now expect a certain level of care, and it costs us a pretty penny. HMO’s (Health Maintenance Organizations) were created to help control costs by streamlining medical care and creating protocols designed to reduce waste and improve efficiency. Many think they just created a whole new series of problems, while taking the profit away from doctors and giving it to administrators.
My idea is that we need to be more proactive about our own health. It is irresponsible to expect the “system” to fix our bodies after we have done nothing to maintain it. We need well-care, not sick-care. We need to be the captain of our own ship, and this requires education. Exercise, diet, and proper rest are essential. Many of us have no idea what proper rest and diet consists of, much less how to get it. Exercise is important, but exercising wrong can diminish the benefits you want.
You can’t always trust the media to give you the truth, either. They print what sells copies, and sensational stories sell more than mundane truths about diet and exercise. As a registered nurse and wellness specialist, I feel it is my duty and privilege to educate the public on fact versus fiction. I tire of the endless critics of the vitamin industry. The fact is, taking high quality naturally sourced vitamin supplements can save your life. An article in the December 1996 journal of the American Medical Association cited a study where healthy volunteers taking selenium supplements for 5 years had 63% fewer prostate cancers, 58% fewer colon cancers, and 45% fewer lung cancers than the control group. And this is only one of the many antioxidants now known to be essential for good health. Scientific evidence now shows that low doses of several antioxidants taken together in a blended product have greater health benefits than larger doses of any single antioxidant.
Just like what you’d find in nature’s fruits and vegetables. Not all multiple vitamins are created equal, either. Some are so firmly compacted that they won’t even dissolve in your system, so are excreted whole. Some are purely chemical and not recognized by the body. Talk about money down the drain. Beverly Rubik, world renowned biophysicist, wrote “Nutritional supplements today are a necessity, not a luxury. People need the right combination of dietary supplements to improve and protect their health.” I agree with her. What’s in YOUR diet?
By
Cindy Holt RN, BSN, LMT
I entered the health care field when the practice of medicine was fairly low tech. There were no MRI’s, and no lasers, and many of the drugs essential to us now were not available. Health care was pretty cheap 35 years ago, but times have changed. With the cost of this technology on the sharp rise, so went the cost of health care. We now expect a certain level of care, and it costs us a pretty penny. HMO’s (Health Maintenance Organizations) were created to help control costs by streamlining medical care and creating protocols designed to reduce waste and improve efficiency. Many think they just created a whole new series of problems, while taking the profit away from doctors and giving it to administrators.
My idea is that we need to be more proactive about our own health. It is irresponsible to expect the “system” to fix our bodies after we have done nothing to maintain it. We need well-care, not sick-care. We need to be the captain of our own ship, and this requires education. Exercise, diet, and proper rest are essential. Many of us have no idea what proper rest and diet consists of, much less how to get it. Exercise is important, but exercising wrong can diminish the benefits you want.
You can’t always trust the media to give you the truth, either. They print what sells copies, and sensational stories sell more than mundane truths about diet and exercise. As a registered nurse and wellness specialist, I feel it is my duty and privilege to educate the public on fact versus fiction. I tire of the endless critics of the vitamin industry. The fact is, taking high quality naturally sourced vitamin supplements can save your life. An article in the December 1996 journal of the American Medical Association cited a study where healthy volunteers taking selenium supplements for 5 years had 63% fewer prostate cancers, 58% fewer colon cancers, and 45% fewer lung cancers than the control group. And this is only one of the many antioxidants now known to be essential for good health. Scientific evidence now shows that low doses of several antioxidants taken together in a blended product have greater health benefits than larger doses of any single antioxidant.
Just like what you’d find in nature’s fruits and vegetables. Not all multiple vitamins are created equal, either. Some are so firmly compacted that they won’t even dissolve in your system, so are excreted whole. Some are purely chemical and not recognized by the body. Talk about money down the drain. Beverly Rubik, world renowned biophysicist, wrote “Nutritional supplements today are a necessity, not a luxury. People need the right combination of dietary supplements to improve and protect their health.” I agree with her. What’s in YOUR diet?
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