Showing posts with label healthy & active. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthy & active. Show all posts

Monday, June 29, 2015

You Can't Buy A Healthy Weight, You Have to Own It!


It is time to accept the idea that losing weight is not something that can be bought or sold. It is not a commodity.

The key is to adjust your lifestyle. It means eating a largely plant-based diet based on whole foods coupled with  daily exercises. There is no such thing as a quick fix when it comes to obesity.  Once you are diagnosed with it chronic disease it can set in to stay despite pharmacology, meditation or other attempts to cure yourself.  No amount of positive thinking can alkalinize acidic tissues. You need to change your diet!

Sickness, Obesity and The North American Lifestyle

Think of the people that you know who are fat. Do you know someone who eats fried meats, junk foods and things like French fries and candy bars? Are they sick all of the time?  What is his or her weight like?


Now think of people that you know who maintain a healthy weight.  Do they eat a lot of refined food, meat and sugar?  You have probably noticed that they are mostly abstainers from these toxic foods.

Now turn your attention to traditional cultures from around the globe.  Think of the traditional Asian body and recall how svelte of an archetype it is.  In China Japan and India people have been eating a mostly plant based diet for thousands of years.  It is only recently that these race types have been less than slender thanks to the invasion of our toxic products into their culture.

After you are done picturing the body shape of the average Asian then picture what your average American looks like.  Then picture him eating snacks at a baseball game. The beer full of calories and the hotdog full of fat and nitrates stuffed inside a white fluffy high carb bun is what immediately comes to mind. Hardly health food.

Sadly the overweight American has become the stereotype of North America.  Even if the American happens to be Latino, Asian or from some other descent they tend to be bloated with the toxins and calories that are in our addictive junk foods and meat products once they locate onto our Western soils.

Vegans Tend to Be the Healthiest Humans

So just what are the statistics hewn it comes to vegans? How much healthier are they than us?  Research studies show that vegetarians and vegans are anywhere from five to thirty pounds skinnier than their fellow citizens. 

You don’t have to trust the research. You can trust your own eyes. In fact, ask yourself – when was the last time you saw a really fat vegan?

So just how much weight can you immediately lose if you become a vega?.  During a sturdy at the Pritikin center, 4,500 patients who went through a program of eating as much as they wanted of low fat, plant based whole food lost 5.5% of their body weight.  They also lost an average of seventeen pounds!

Other intervention studies on vegetarian diets have show similar results including two to five pounds lost after twelve days, sixteen pounds lost over twelve weeks and twenty-four pounds lost after one year.

Consuming a low whole foods plant based diet will help you to lose weight and the best news is that the more you weight the quicker you will lose it once you switch to a vegan based diet.  People were able to keep the weight off over the long term better as well, which of course also improved their overall health.

Of course, do not become vegan if this is not part of your Healthy & Active plan, but for most individual eating more in the Paleo style with less startches and no junk food, sugar and fat keeps them at their optimum fitness level.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Healthy & Active Tips For Getting Enough Sleep!

"There are lab studies that show that if you're an eight-hour sleeper and you get six hours of sleep, that two-hour difference can impact your performance so that it equates to how you would perform if you had a 0.05 blood-alcohol level."


- Mark Rosekind, PhD, former NASA scientist

Sleep deprivation can make you feel quite woozy and no matter how much black coffee or green tea you drink you just may not be able to clear the fogginess from your brain.  When you don't get enough sleep you can also feel irritable, more susceptible to pain and less able to handle stress.  This might seem like just a set of symptoms that can be remedied with a nap or more sleep, but when sleep deprivation is chronic, you end up setting yourself up for a whole host of health problems, including an afflicted metabolism.


Sleep Deprivation Can Make You Sick


If you are not getting enough sleep, you might be setting yourself up for a host of health-related complaints  including an inability to concentrate, poor memory, lack of motivation, impaired judgement, high blood sugar and cardiovascular problems.

A lack of sleep also increases your cravings for carbohydrates and sugar which can lead to weight gain and eventually obesity.  Attempts to self-medicate with food can also magnify anxiety and depression and make you feel more fatigued than ever.  Not getting enough sleep slows glucose metabolism by as much as 30 to 40%, and can also lead to increased levels of a stress hormone called cortisol.


During sleep the body releases powerful growth hormones that are responsible for muscle repair and growth. Sleep deprivation slows the release of growth hormones. This is why an athlete needs much more sleep than the average person.  If you are trying to restore your health, this becomes an issue as well.


Healthy & Active Lifestyle Tips - How to Get More Sleep


Adults should get nine hours of sleep daily and adolescents and teens should get nine hours.

  • Go to bed at the same time every night and wake up at the same time every day
  • Early to bed and early to rise is better than late to bed and late to rise
  • A daily nap may help repair physical and mental setbacks caused by an interruption in your sleeping routine.
  • Make sure your room is dark and quiet
  • A cooler sleeping environment is better than a warm one 
  • Air should be circulating throughout the room so that you do not become hot and stuffy - if allergies are keeping you awake then consider buying an air cleaner
  • Wear light cotton pyjamas or ideally, nothing at all
  • Layer your bed with light sheet and blankets so you can keep as comfortable as possible
  • Stop drinking coffee in the afternoon and you will sleep sounder at night
  • Limit your alcohol intake as alcohol delays the onset of sleep which in turn causes shallow sleep, frequent waking and tossing and turning
  • Unplug all electronic stimulations including the television or loud music one hour before bedroom ... do not bring lap tops or phones into the bed with you.

If you are having problems sleeping due to anxiety or worries, then consider meditating or listening to relaxing CDs before you go to bed.

If you are having troubles falling asleep a good natural remedy is a teaspoon of turmeric mixed into six to eight heated ounces of any milk that you are allowed on your Healthy & Active lifestyle plan including coconut milk, almond milk, rice milk or dairy.

For more information or to book a consultation about anti-aging, diet and weight loss programs or any health issue you may be experiencing, visit the Pinewood Natural Health Clinic website that has a list of full services and products at www.pinewood.ca or call our Toronto Office at  (416)-656- 8100.  We also have an office in Pickering, Ontario at (905)-427-0057. You can also email us at info@pinewoodhealth.ca and we would be happy to answer any question that you have about our holistic health services.