Unhealthy Eating Choices Are Killing People by The Millions!

Do I need to even ask, are unhealthy eating choices, killing people by the millions? You mean, just in North America alone? I don’t need to dredge up the latest stats to prove my point; we know, we have eyes and ears, and we have friends, family members and celebrities, as living examples of premature death, and mostly, from preventable diseases. Diseases based on poor food choices; poor food preparation and cooking methods; poor food sources; poor food production and growing methods; and of course, ‘manufactured’ foods with ‘questionable’ additives. I am sure there are many more; but, I believe you get my point! 

How we choose to eat and the foods we choose to eat is literally killing us!

Now, where can we go from here? It can’t all be that bad can it? It definitely can and will continue to kill people, until we individually decide to eat healthier, by making healthier lifestyle choices, and by creating healthier habits in our daily lives. ‘Habits’, being the key word; habits are easy to start, and once begun, they become difficult to break. So, start a healthy habit today, and keep it going! Healthy good habits allow you to live better and live longer. Now, who doesn’t want those two qualities in their lives, or want those for their friends and family? No One!

Then, why are we killing ourselves with ‘junk-foods’ and other dangerous food choices? Because, we’ve been brainwashed and conned into doing so; bamboozled and hoodwinked into thinking that whatever was printed was true; and that whatever came out of our TV sets was the Gospel truth. Nothing could be further from the truth!  We have been lied to about the quality of our foods! And the fact, that they were sourced or manufactured without consideration to their after-effects; you know, their disease causing tendencies! 

Knowing all this, we owe it to our health, to take immediate and decisive action in our lives. Just one good healthy food choice at every meal can help guide you to living a healthier and happier life; just one, that’s all you need to start; but, you must start somewhere!

Do you want to live longer? Do you want to live a healthy and happy life? Do you want to have boundless energy and stamina? Well, if you do, then start with just one small but important change. Find one healthy food, something natural, organic, perhaps even a superfood, and begin to incorporate it into your day-to-day eating routine. 

Make this one thing a good habit; make it something you enjoy and look forward to eating every day; make this new change the most important part of your life. For if you do, and keep it up; soon enough, you will find other healthy food choices that you can add to your daily eating habits. All it takes is just one step towards a known destination; it’s the first step that seems the hardest; but, once made, it becomes the greatest!

Are you ready to make that greatest step today?

The Health Benefits of Turmeric

Factually speaking, the health benefits of turmeric could fill an encyclopedia; they are simply staggering, there is no other way to put it; and, it is by far the most powerful spice/herb on the planet. Its usage and benefits stretch back 5,000 years. And regarding its research, there have been over 7,000 scientific studies to date, that can confirm and attest to its many life-enhancing and even life-saving properties. Its consumption can greatly improve your health, across all ages, genders and varying medical health issues. To me, turmeric acts like a cure-all; albeit, with just a few, limited contraindications.

Most testimonials regarding the benefits of turmeric appear almost too good to be true; that being said, there are so many benefits, that it is considered a broad spectrum solution to whatever ails yah! Yet, a certain amount of caution needs to be addressed when taking turmeric in supplement form; and NOT, as a spice added to your food. According to the research, pregnant women, and users of heart various medications- thinners, and also those, that are taking other prescribed medications or even other supplements, need to be aware. Check out the possible ‘contraindications’ of your usage, before you begin taking turmeric supplements, in whatever form.

Now, that that’s out of the way, we can dive right into this amazing herb, its numerous properties, and the surprising long-term health benefits to be gained; all written of course, without too much exaggeration or hyperbole! :)

Organic and ‘metal-free’ turmeric in herb form, added to your foods, and used as a spice, is the most preferable way to ingest this miraculously healthy herb; additionally, to make it totally bio-available, use it in combination with organic pepper, as they work in tandem to magnify its benefits, mainly through their synergistic and multiplying effects. A few words of warning. Don’t buy turmeric, or any other spice for that matter, from your local supermarket or major discount store! Sold in packaged powdered form, these products are of poor quality, and are probably from a ‘questionable’ source; while, they are also most likely devoid of any true health benefits that real organic turmeric can give you.

The health benefits of using turmeric with your food or as a supplement are the following:

1.       Helps to prevent liver disease, and can help to heal liver disease.

2.       It can and has been proven to increase your mental powers, as well as being able to prevent the onslaught of dementia or Alzheimer’s.

3.       It has also been shown to aid in depression, as a mood enhancer; even better than using pharmaceutical medications. And, with NO side-effects, other than mentioned above.

4.       Improves digestion; it has been used in foods as a digest aid for thousands of years. It can also work wonders for people with bowel diseases.

5.       Many studies have also shown dramatic results with weight-loss and weight-management.

6.       Research has also demonstrated that it also works to lower bad cholesterol.

7.       Diabetes patients and sufferers have also shown great improvement and an impressive reduction in symptoms.

8.       People suffering from various forms of arthritis have also been greatly affected; their swelling and inflammations, including the pains, have been greatly curtailed.

9.       Not surprisingly, turmeric has also had much success with many eye related problems and diseases; glaucoma for example.

10.    Using turmeric as a weapon against cancer has also proven to be highly effective. It has been shown to help prevent prostate cancer, stop the growth of existing prostate cancer and even destroys cancer cells; numerous studies confirm this. Many researchers and scientists have also found that the active components in turmeric make it one of the best protectors against radiation-induced tumors. It is a preventive effect against tumor cells such as T-cell leukemia, colon carcinomas, and breast carcinomas; just to name a few!

Hopefully, this has helped educate you on the basics of using turmeric in your life and diet. It is one of the most beautiful herbs on the planet. Used wisely, the health benefits of turmeric are astronomical to your health and longevity.

Want To Change Your Life: Waste Less!

Wanting to change your life and wasting less, doesn’t seem at first glance to go together. But, under closer examination, there is a direct correlation between a ‘happy life’ and a ‘wasted’ one! Between a ‘fulfilling’ one, and a life wasted on ‘triviality’ and ‘selfishness’; or, a life spent on ‘consumption’ and ‘avarice’; well, you know the story? It has loser written all over it! Those that waste soon enough lose what they have, or I should say, had. It’s that simple! No more explanations are necessary.

So, how does one go from zero to hero? Simply by wasting less of course! Knowing what you waste and plugging up the holes. Truthfully speaking it’s that straightforward and simple. Allow me to explain my meanings.

Growing, changing, moving forward, personal development, changing one’s life, etc., all involve focus, determination, utilization of resources, values, and most importantly, achievements; the accomplishment of targets and goals that were set, set to be completed, and along a set timeline.  Real change, beneficial change is monitor-able, observable and definitely measurable! You and others can notice and experience these changes first-hand!

It’s opposite, as I see it, are contraction and procrastination; and those that exercise these beliefs in their lives, always seem to waste what they have, as they do not expend enough energy on future wealth accumulation,  or have any plan or strategy to achieve a sustainable condition of affluence or abundance. Thus they waste what they have and are left with nothing but the tears of what they could have, and should have had! Happy thoughts produce happy feelings. Feeling of loss and waste, only produce sadness and grief…of what could’ve been.

If you really want to change your life, and in any which way, focus on where what and how you are creating any waste in that area of your life; how you may be contributing to it in any way. Examine, what you have and currently take for granted; and do not value enough. Answer to yourself this fundamental question, are you growing or contracting, in this or any other area of your life? If you are actually shrinking and getting smaller, in this or any other area, then you immediately need to save what you have before you waste it; and, directly expend some energy to create some more of whatever it is you need to have more of. Survival is growth and optimum change; it’s opposite, decay and death, create waste as a by-product of their imminent demise.

Value and treasure what you have; especially the moment, the here and NOW. Truthfully, it is the only thing of real value that we possess. Treasure it; make it the most precious and valuable object in your life. Don’t waste a precious moment of your life, outside of the moment, elsewhere focused on the past; a past failure, a past mistake, a past non-accomplishment. Know this, life is in you today, and you can create your own tomorrow, whatever that may be. Want to change your life, then learn to be in the now, value what you have, and waste less.

Save Your Life: Begin Yoga Today

Yoga can save your Life; regardless of your present age, shape, physical, emotional or spiritual condition! Now, that’s a statement of fact and not just sleight of hand ‘medical chicanery! Yoga is Life; in its truest sense! The Sanskrit word "yoga" has the literal meaning to "yoke" from the root word "yuj" meaning to join, to unite, or to attach. Historically speaking, it dates back thousands of years in human history. Although back then, the word for combining two oxen together, with a wooden device was also called a yoke. This was done to harness the energy of the beasts of burden!

This then, is the true meaning of Yoga, to harness, to utilize, to empower; especially today, beyond your limitations-self-imposed or otherwise! Additionally, it also implies harmony and union with all things worldly, and perhaps, even beyond!

“Regarding literary sources, there is evidence as early as the oldest Vedic text, the Ṛg Veda (c. 1200 – c. 1500 B.C.E.), that there were yogī-like ascetics on the margins of the Vedic world. In terms of the archaeological record, seals found in Indus Valley sites (c. 3000 – c. 1500 B.C.E.) with representations of figures seated in a clear yogic posture (the most famous figure is seated in padmāsana, lotus pose, with arms extended and has been practiced on the Indian subcontinent for well over 4000 years”. http://www.iep.utm.edu/yoga/

Fast forward forty centuries and the Yoga of today as it is mostly taught and practiced in North America is mainly focused on the physical well being of the individual adherent, as they practice,  through a series of standardized poses. What’s become totally confusing though is that most people interested in pursuing Yoga as it has developed up to now, are initially overwhelmed by the countless, differing schools and divergent styles, philosophies, meditative practices and physical postures, that people with interest in Yoga must first wade through and evaluate for themselves, before they can decide on a discipline on their own! This is no easy task, and can instead drive new Yoga initiates away!

This is an ever more important reason why http://www.lexiyoga.com and other educational sites like it are growing in popularity. People need to be informed using simple language that communicates the truth in simple terms. They don’t want lessons in Bio-mechanics, or endless quotes from the Upanishads!

Yoga in the West, instead of being simplifying, unifying and sanctifying, has become confusing and complicated at best! One can spend hundreds of hours, ‘searching’, ‘looking’, and getting informed about the various schools and philosophical tenets, without actually starting to practice, Yoga! This can be a detour for some, and a detractor for many others! It is the practice of Yoga and not the learning of Yoga information that will elevate your existence. Yoga should be simple and easy to learn, apply and benefit from; if it isn’t, it’s not your style or fit! Change it!

Find yourself a school or a form of Yoga that is simple to learn and apply in your immediate life, to give your Life more meaning, flexibility, energy, immunity and, stamina; by applying  simple lessons and easy to perform practices; that in turn, will give you immediate and extended lasting results, both physically and spiritually.

As a health researcher and Yoga aficionado, with fifty plus years of observation and experience behind me, I can say this truly and emphatically: Save Your Life, Begin Yoga Today!

Your True Health Source?

What is your true health source?  Would it be organic natural foods, fresh fruits, and vegetables, vitamins or supplements, fitness, meditation or exercise, or a combination of many other ‘true health’ oriented factors?  True health also depends on many elements that we take for granted, one way or another; like for example, clean water and fresh, clean air. They’re not doing so well in Beijing because of the chemical smog.

Your immediate physical environment also plays a part in your true health; including, the source of your foods, the state of the soils where they were grown in. Where you live matters, even within your home or apt matters!

It’s all about atoms, molecules and compounds; the chemicals, metals, and elements, hazardous to our health, in and around our bodies, and surrounding living environments. We need to be wary of nearly all of the products we use in our daily lifestyles.  We need to become more aware of our consumption habits, and they’re side-effects! This is your only true source of good health.

This alert also extends to our foods, the stuff we ingest, and of course our personal living space, furnishings, and the materials that were used in their making; a case in point, like most synthetic carpeting, for example, it out-gasses noxious elements like benzene, toluene, styrene, and other equally toxic substances it was made from back into the air your family breathes every day, that’s if you have synthetic carpeting installed; and, this out-gassing goes on for years, depending on the age of the carpet. New car upholstery and most recently formed plastics also do the same thing; and within your work, car, office or home environment!

The subtle effects may be lightheadedness, headaches, running nose, eye irritation, small coughing, raspy throat, even sneezing; including, tiredness, muscle fatigue, and insomnia. These are just for starters! Not surprisingly, these are quite vague symptoms and can easily be explained away, as if you are coming down with a cold or a flu; when in fact, these chemical poisons can in the long term and with continued exposure, eventually suppress your immune system enough to where your body actually becomes a welcoming host for a wide range of ‘waiting in the wings’, predatory germs, and other opportunistic rapscallions.  J

Additionally, combining this with other equally poisonous chemicals within our environments makes it an even more significant burden on our health and well beings. We are literally and NOT figuratively, being poisoned at every turn! How can we protect ourselves and our family’s health from these poisons within our environment?

By being fully aware of your options when it comes to your true source for good health!

Optimized Health: More than Just taking Vitamins and Supplements

The reason for the title, "Optimized Health: More than Just taking Vitamins and Supplements," is plain and clear! It is an inescapable fact of our existence; and one that we can't avoid, that most of us think we're healthy, relatively speaking; when in fact, we are not! Factually and truthfully, we are very sick, and getting sicker by the day. Not to scare you, not to warn you, just to inform you of some facts. Hey, don't kill the messenger!

            What I am about to reveal may shock most of you into realizing that your health, good health, great health, is not a matter of genes, luck, money, or even the environment; but, of knowing your body, how it works, and what it actually needs to function at an optimum level in order for it to survive-ANYTHING!!!

           

            Well, “ANYTHING” is a pretty broad statement, some may even consider it to be an over statement. I on the other hand, based on my experience, firsthand experience, know differently. Some of us, a very few of us, have actually lived to be 130+years old! Hey, I know, I know; not all of us become billionaires either!  

            But stop for a second, and ask yourself this critical question: How long do you want to live for? Never mind anything else happening to the planet, or wars, or famines, etc. How long do you want and expect to live for?

            Your decision and your awareness of your longevity will have the greatest part to bear on your continued survival. Nothing else will matter, other than how optimized your health is! For nature has a way of keeping the fittest around. Uniqueness, as well as diversity, has its rewards-SURVIVAL!

            So how can you become uniquely healthy and healthily diversified at the same time? Simply enough, by following an optimized mindset of being healthy in mind, body and spirit! For thousands of years, food has been our best medicine, and our greatest minds sharing these natural, healthy truths have been our best friends and teachers.

            We need to learn from them, their approach, their philosophy, their unique and diversified view of Nature and Humanity. We need to apply this information to our lives, our loves and passions. We need to make health, optimized health a vital part of our lives. Don't follow fads and false facts. Follow those that radiate great health!

            According to industry standards, popping most processed pills, whether vitamins, supplements, or even pharmaceuticals, will only get 5% of the contents digested and assimilated. The rest, the 95%, will become undigested, excreted, and completely wasted! With it your money, as well as your health!

            Eating healthy, living healthy, thinking healthy thoughts, and being around healthy people, and actively engaging in fresh, healthy ideas, are the healthiest ways I know to optimize your health. Instantly and dramatically!

            Being the best at anything, like being the healthiest, takes dedication and devotion. Good health, great health, optimized health, is a philosophy, a way of life and living. It does not come by chance or circumstance. Opening your mind, body and spirit to healthy habits creates opportunities to optimally live a better and longer Life.

Eat Additive Free Foods to Be Truly Healthy

For anyone to be truly healthy, and as the expression goes, the ‘picture of health,’ one must KNOW exactly what they are eating. You are what you eat. And, the inverse may also be true for some, you eat what you are! Let's be honest with each other; we all have cravings, urges, impulses, desires, needs and wants; this is the nature of Homo Sapiens. And, for most of us, when it comes to food and cravings, well, we sometimes can get out-of-control, if you know what l mean. :)

Foods can soothe, they can heal, even show or share love; they can also inspire and enlighten, with regard to taste or smell; and most importantly, they are the most intimate and direct source of comfort and pleasure on this planet! Is it any wonder then, that we all have a very unique and personal relationship with the foods that we love to eat?

Most of us were raised on sugary enriched foods, adulterated by our food industry, lab designed for our sensitive tastes; including, to create within us various taste addictions, by way of, from the 'cradle to the grave' marketing; diabolically directed to every one of it's unsuspecting and totally naive consumers…us! You see, once you are hooked on sugar, and this sugar comes in many forms, disguises, and names; mainly, from almost every packaged product that one can purchase at their local supermarket; you, remain hooked for life, like a drug-dependent junky, itching for their next fix.

Additionally, in the U.S. alone, there are over 10,000 registered additives that the food industry can legally process into our foods. Most of these additives have not been properly researched and scientifically assessed as to their non-toxic effects. But, many scientific researchers and numerous scientific studies have already proven that these 12 could be the most dangerous, and even deadly! They have been called the “Dirty Dozen.”

According to the most recent research by EWG, here are their "Dirty Dozen" food additives: Each of these additives has a link you can go to for more info and details as to its potential side-effects and dangers. You owe it to yourself and your family to take a look!

1. Nitrites and nitrates
2.Potassium bromate
3.Propyl paraben
4.Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA)
5.Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)
6.Propyl gallate
7.Theobromine
8. Secret flavor ingredients
9.Artificial colors
10.Diacetyl
11.Phosphate-based food additives (Watch List)
12.Aluminum-based additives (Watch List)

http://www.ewg.org/research/ewg-s-dirty-dozen-guide-food-additives

“Some of these food additives are probable human carcinogens (nitrites), others are known endocrine disruptors (Propyl paraben), some are linked to a severe respiratory condition (diacetyl), and others are just plain ambiguous in origin (artificial colors and flavoring ingredients). EWG (Environmental Working Group) has links to a full breakdown on each of these dubious food additives at their Dirty Dozen page, and for on-the-go reference, the organization's Food Scores app or web database offers guidance in avoiding these in your diet.

Pesticide residues on our ‘fruits and vegetables’ can also play havoc with our body; especially, neurologically. Here are the worst offenders:

                           http://www.juicingwithg.com/the-dirty-dozen-plus-clean-fifteen-infographic

If food is to be our best medicine and keep us healthy for a very long time, we must do our best to know precisely what it is that we are eating. We must either be ‘informed and educated consumers’; or, it’s opposite, ‘stupidly sick consumers,’ loaded up with medications, and just waiting to die! OUR CHOICE, DEPENDING ON WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE FOODS WE ARE EATING!

We can no longer allow ourselves to be manipulated by uncaring corporate interests that have profit instead of our health as their main mission. We need to rely more on our own health initiatives and independent research; and, the best way I know how to live a life full of vigor and vitality is to eat additive-free foods to be and to stay, truly healthy!