Showing posts with label healthy and active lifestyle advice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label healthy and active lifestyle advice. Show all posts

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Your Health is the Result of How You Live!

Healing happens we address our lives and make changes that our good for health. Often these improvements in our own health also benefit the lives of our family, friends and employers.  The Healthy and Active Metabolism Program has an unofficial motto which, is "How we feel and look is a result of our diet and lifestyle.”

A Healing Crisis Is An Opportunity For Change

This means that if we find ourselves in a healing crisis and we want to look and feel better then something needs to change.   Changing our lifestyle habits and diet and also lowering our caloric intake is the simplest, quickest and most straightforward route back to health unless your condition has become very acute.

An explanation of holism.
Unfortunately, Western medicine often leads patients and doctors to believe that ill health can be managed and that there is not need to get to the underlying root cause of our symptoms.  This results on living on medications and when that happens, we become reactive individuals who are at the mercy of chemicals and dependencies, rather than proactive ones that know how to take charge of oourslves.

We can only cure ourselves by making big lifestyle changes. These changes typically have to do with what we choose to eat, how we think, what we choose to be stressed out about, our quality of sleep, how often we exercise and move our body, and our attitudes toward our self and our life.

Change Happens When You Accept The Necessity For It

Change will not happen unless you embrace the idea. We are only complete when our body, mind, and heart are healed, conscious, connected, and whole again.

Making healthy changes is not necessarily just about you.  Being aware of holism is also about the awarenes that everything that you do, especially the positive things that you do benefits yourself and the community at large.

Being healthy is not just a personal necessity, it is also an ethical and moral responsibility. What you do with your health impacts others.  Taking care of your health is one of the most socially responsible things you can doin this day and age.

First of all there are 48 million people in the United States Census Bureau without health insurance [1] despite the introduction of Obama Care in that country. Here in Canada, there are many naturopathic services, blood tests and special medications, treatments and procedures that are not covered by provincial health plans such as OHIP. [2]

Self-Care is a Gift to Society

It is responsible to treat the fundamental causes of why we get sick and treat the whole body by addressing the lifestyle factors that cause these chronic diseases.  These approaches are both medically effective and cost effective, thereby improving your life quality while at the same reducing the burden of health care costs on society in general.

Heart disease, diabetes, prostate cancer, breast cancer, and obesity account for 75 percent of health care costs today, and yet these are largely preventable and even reversible through the changes in diet and lifestyle addressed in this book.

How effective are lifestyle changes when it comes to your health?  The medical journal The Lancet published a study led by Dr. Dean Ornish that followed 30,000 men and women in six continents and found that simple dietary lifestyle changes could prevent over 90 percent of cases heart disease.[3] Thus, the disease that accounts for more premature deaths and is more expensive than any other affliction is almost completely preventable, just by making changes to diet and lfiestyle.

Also notable is that the very same lifestyle changes that can prevent or even reverse heart disease can also help prevent or even reverse many other chronic diseases as well.

The key is food.  You are what you put in your mouth and you are only as good as what you eat. 

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.





[1] United States Census Bureau, 2012.
[2] Health Canada, Canada Health Act Frequently Asked Questions, Ottawa, Canada: Canada Health Act Division, August 19, 2011. Retrieved electronically February 14th 2014.
[3] Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease? Ornish, D. et al.
The Lancet , Volume 336 , Issue 8708 , 129 - 133

Sunday, August 2, 2015

Ideas for HAP Smart Snacking Part I

If you have been on the Healthy & Active Lifestyle plan then you are already acclimatizing yourself to the idea that some foods might be much better for you than others and that in fact there are some foods that are generally better for everyone to consume as snacks. Here is a list of snacks that are generally better for all to eat as opposed to the types junk foods that many of us were taught to believe provide .  

Apples

Apples are considered to be a "good carb" because they are packed with soluble fibre, including pectin. Two apples can fulfill all of your nutritional needs for the day.  This fruit is also packed with Vitamin C and provide a "feeing of fullness."

Almonds

Almonds make a great snack, provided that you are not allergic to them.  Technically almonds are high in fat but just a small handful a day are very good for you, especially if they are unsalted. Almonds contain monosaturated oil, which helps reduce the possibility of heart disease.

Asparagus

Asparagus is a food that benefits the liver and kidneys, which in turn is great for the metabolism.  You can lightly steam and salt them and serve the whole spears as a snack.

Blueberries

Blueberries are allowed on a lot of diets and are packed with antioxidants that aid in cell repair as well as vitamin K and vitamin C.  They go wonderfully with the plain greek yogurt also recommended on this list of healthy snacks.

Broccoli

Broccoli has many benefits, including the ability to lower cholesterol and can be eaten as a snack steamed or raw. Avoid dipping sauces with fat, salt or sugar in them.  Broccoli is also packed with vitamins A, D and K.

Greek Yogurt (plain)

Low-fat plain Greek yogurt is filled with that "good bacteria" that can help relieve digestive problems. Always check the sugar content of yogurt as it varies from 0 to as high as 48 grams in some products.  It is also a satisfying, high protein, low-fat product.  It is not recommended that you eat yogurt if your Healthy & Active eating plan does not allow dairy products.

Canned Tuna

In a pinch canned tuna satisfies a craving for substantial snack. Tuna contains B vitamins and protein and it is also low in fat. Try to buy albacore tuna, which is a pure white variety. If your HAP diet does not allow bread, tuna tastes great wrapped up in a lettuce leaf for a vegan wrap.  It is also best to purchase salmon that is packed in water rather than in oil.

Cottage Cheese

If you are allowed dairy products on your HAP plan then one of the most nutritious and filling snacks you can have is cottage cheese which is high in protein, calcium, magnesium, potassium and zinc.  This low-carb food also helps regulate blood sugar and is delicious just eaten in a lettuce leaf wrap or with a piece of fruit.

Edammame

Edammame is just another name for boiled soybeans. This is a tasty, low-calorie and low-fat snack that is packed with fibre and protein. Soybeans re also full of Vitamin A, C and Iron. However, avoid this snack if your HAP eating plan recommends that you do not consume soy.


Keep in mind that there are some foods on this list that may not fit into your personal Healthy & Active diet recommendations in which case they should be avoided, but for the most part, these are the foods that are generally very nutritious for everybody to consume.


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.