Archive for January, 2010

Children’s health programs that presents the healthiest diet are a challenge. For this to work the whole family has to change their lifestyle. It is one that consists of the highest quality of food, the optimal activity level, and an optimistic outlook on life. Referring to the consequential damages of a poor lifestyle it is easy to show the link between diet and health. 

What to Eat

Diets rich in Omega-fats are associated with lower rates of cardiovascular disease. When we refine oils from plants, we are consuming a high omega-6 diet. Refined vegetable oils, high in Omega-6 fatty acids changed the way our bodies function. It causes our body to malfunction, and causes inflammation, poor skin quality, such as dry skin, increased oxidation.

Omega-3 fatty acids are an immune-enhancer. Whole foods are the source of Omega-3 fatty acids. It is found in small amounts in plant foods. The most abundant forms come from fish, but also from grass fed beef.

The colorful fruit and vegetables contain for vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and antioxidants. Low glycemic foods are better in controlling sugar levels.

Exclusions

What seems like limitations are what will provide lifelong health. By reducing these substances you avoid most chronic conditions. At the same time you slow down the aging process. This is a bold defense strategy that works. By eliminating most pre-packaged foods you are cutting down on most of the elements that shouldn’t be in our diet.

This includes the artificial colors and flavors, sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, high percentage of omega-6 fatty acids, and preservatives.

Program

There are very creative and helpful programs that understand that learning, behavior, energy, attitude, health and happiness are tied to food and physical activity.

Once your habits are ingrained it is harder to change. However, it is a responsibility to both yourself and your family.

The L.E.A.N program that Kathy Bee will be talking about is one of the best places to start. It is a program developed by Dr. William Sears America’s pediatrician. This program realizes that a children’s health program begins with the parent. 

“The best gift you can give a child is the gift of health” Dr. Sears

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3pGXBXJsJg

Could the future of sex be destined to change mankind’s ability to both procreate and perform? This may be one of the biggest problems for future generations.

“The causes of increased impotency and infertility run deeper than lifestyle. Some part of whatever is compromising human male potency must take place during the early stages of human development-in the womb or shortly after birth-because damage to the male urogenital system is evident in certain very young patients;  reports Danish medical physician Niels Skakkebaek.

Boys born to mothers who have above-normal levels of the chemicals known as phthalates in their urine are less likely to exhibit masculine behavior according to studies. Phthalates, which block the activity of male hormones such as androgens, may be altering masculine brain development according to Shanna H. Swan, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Rochester medical center

Phthalates

Phthalates are used to soften plastics and make them flexible. They are used in many consumer products. From food packaging, vinyl and plastic tubing, household and personal care products like soaps and lotions they invade our household. They have been banned in 2008 for use in toys, teethes, bath items, and soft books.

The chemical bisphenol A (BPA) a component of which is found in plastics causes erectile dysfunction. A new study in the International Journal of Andrology raised the concern that exposure to phthalates could make boys choose less masculine play.

Real or Perceived Danger

Many factors of both physical and psychological origin can affect sexual response and performance. Certain prescription medications, such as drugs to regulate cholesterol levels, may also affect sexual functioning. In addition, there is increasing evidence that chemicals and other environmental pollutants depress sexual function.

Wildlife are increasingly producing offspring with birth defects. People are increasingly turning to vitro fertilization. Men are growing breasts and this is being linked to bovine growth hormones in meat and dairy products. Chickens are being fed hormones to increase breast meat.

The  danger from each component is probably not as big as we fear. However, when you combine obesity, prescription drugs, and stress with the environmental toxins, you have a combination that can play out into the future decades. Our food supply has been genetically altered. The future of sex is the future of humanity, so it should not be taken lightly, or magnified, but watched with a critical eye

Food For Thought

Christian Rabeling, an ecology, evolution and behavior graduate student at The University of Texas at Austin said “Asexual species don’t mix their genes through recombination, so you expect harmful mutations to accumulate over time and for the species to go extinct more quickly than others. They don’t generally persist for very long over time.”

No Need To Worry- There’s Technology

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Uc9MXbNNZw

One may ask, what is balance training and what are the benefits?

It can benefit a person in so many ways and it starts with the spinal cord.

The spinal cord is involved with voluntary and involuntary movement where information is carried up and down the spine by bundles of fibers in the central nervous system (CNS) where sensory and motor information signal a movement. The goal would be to build a faster reaction with technical movements. First, try dribbling a basketball and notice how little concentration is involved. Now, try dribbling a Reaction Ball – WOW, what a difference! Concentration and level of difficulty is 10 fold and one can feel the impulses to react!

This is just the beginning of the effects of balance training…

Proprioception is the ongoing awareness of body position or joint position and it is regulated by sensory organs (i.e. eyes, ears, and specialized receptors in tendons, joints, and muscles). Proprioception gets challenged in balance training too! The visual sense gives pertinent data about external stimuli and are extremely important in skilled performances. Try a simple “eyes shut” exercise, while standing on one foot to see how your proprioception is challenged in balance training. Sometimes you may feel like you want to wave your hands around to maintain equilibrium. This signals coordination involvement in balance.

Coordination involves an involuntary response that results in specific motor response with that response being dependent on the type and duration of the stimulus received. So in everyday activities coordination is rarely challenged. However, try to balance on 1 foot – turn one arm clockwise, the other arm counter-clockwise, and the other leg clockwise then counter clockwise. Now, we are talking about coordination! The results of working on that exercise over time will be building stronger somatic reflexes (reflexes involving skeletal muscle contraction).

Balance training is challenging body equilibrium and teaching nervous and sensory receptor systems to perform highly skilled movement patterns.

How can balance training help the elderly?

As I trained patients with high-level neuromuscular and neurological conditions, the best results came from combining “eyes shut” exercises with coordination exercises all while doing a light aerobic activity. Results and graduation to a new fitness level were achieved in 4-weeks. Aerobic activity alone produced no results and coordination drills with eyes open only produced minor results. So to get the most out of balance try an array of activities such as the examples above.

How can balance help kids and adults?

When in good health, a person wouldn’t even recognize their nervous system and muscles executing a simple movement, but when there is a problem their nerves and muscles can become impaired. People can easily begin reaping rewards from balance training and apply them to sports like tennis and basketball. Balance training also strengthens muscle stabilizers, so if you are apt to get ankle sprains – then regular balance training can fix that problem!

Watch my client master a very difficult balance exercise that also works the core and quads!