Top 10 Things To Improve Your Health

January 5, 2012 by admin
Filed under Uncategorized

It seems that everyone these days is making a top 10 so I thought what the hell, I’ll do the same thing. In my opinion these are the top 10 things a person should be doing to improve their health and decrease/minimize their chance of disease.

Weight Train-This should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me. It seems almost every day there are new studies coming out about the benefits of a good weight training program. Done correctly weight training is a potent anti aging tool. It produces the powerful anti aging growth hormone (GH), Increases bone density thus reducing chances of osteoporosis, increases insulin sensitivity which is important to ward off diabetes, it combats age related loss of muscle mass and even improves brain function. There are also many other benefits. If you do not know what you are doing in the weight room then get a personal trainer to show you.
Interval Training- Doing interval training instead of long distance cardiovascular activities. interval training is more effective at fat loss and also produces more GH and less cortisol than standard cardio. The upside is that you can get more benefits in the fraction of the time and everyone wants that.
Eat more vegetables- I know you have probably heard this a thousand times but you are going to hear it again. Besides providing the body with important vitamins and minerals it also makes the blood more alkaline. Diseases have a hard time surviving in blood that is alkaline and thrive in an acidic environment. Get a majority of them from green, leafy sources.
Eat fruits-especially darker skinned ones as they contain more cancer fighting anti oxidants. For people that are trying to lose weight do not go over 2 servings/day from berries.
Increase vitamin D- I cannot stress how important vitamin D is for optimal health and disease prevention. For it’s price it’s literally a no brainer. Almost every other day a new study comes out on the effectiveness of vitamin D and it’s important role in disease prevention. You can get it either through supplement form (D3) or through sunlight(preferred). I have seen a lot of smart people lately endorse sunlight as opposed through supplementation. I have to agree. We were meant to take in some sunlight. Everyone looks better with a nice tan and I can speak for myself when I feel much better when I do tan. Of course in moderation, some people go overboard and this is when problems happen.
Take fish oil- All of my clients take a high quality fish oil. Fish oil also has tons of studies coming out with its effectiveness on improving health. It improves everything from your skin,hair,brain,heart and is also a potent anti inflammatory. It also improves fat loss as it improves insulin sensitivity.
Get enough sleep- it seems nowadays with everyone’s busy schedule that most people do not get enough sleep. This can affect almost every aspect of health as the body regenerates itself during rest. A good rule of thumb is to get at least 7 hours of sleep per night and remember that the hours you sleep before midnight are more beneficial than the once you sleep after midnight. A mid afternoon nap is also a great way to recharge during the day. Keep them 20-40 minutes long as anything longer will make you more tired and affect your sleep pattern at night.
Eliminate Sugar- Eliminate sugar from the diet. Besides being the culprit behind diabetes, they are finding out that sugar is responsible for many other diseases.
Eliminate white flours and grains- Eliminate white flower and grains from the diet. They have little nutritional value and are responsible for most people gaining weight. Once people usually cut these out along with sugar, weight loss will happen quite rapidly. These ingredients have almost the same effect as sugar on blood sugar levels.
Avoid artificial sweeteners- I just read an article the other day on all the side effects of artificial sweeteners. The bottom line is that they are chemicals that the body was not meant to process. The list of side effects was quite profound…and scary! This is also backed up by the study in which people who consumed artificial sweeteners also gained more weight than those that did not. For these reason I would not recommend any amount of artificial sweeteners in the diet.