More About Being A Couch Potato

We did not intend to write another blog about being a couch potato, but the popular media is jumping on this subject in a big way, and we could not resist jumping in. Our Sunday paper had an article on the subject that Americans engage in precious little exercise. There is a quote attributed to Edward Archer a nutrition and obesity researcher at the University of Alabama. It is noteworthy.

"How you spend your day determines whether you store your food as fat or store your food in your muscle, healthfully."

We love this quote. It is the triple distilled essence of the obesity epidemic. The other prongs of course are what and how much we eat and why we eat the way that we do.

The essence of this study published in The Mayo Clinic Proceedings was that obese women averaged about 11 seconds a day of vigorous exercise, while men and women of normal weight did better but still logged only about 2.5 to 4 hours of moderate exercise a week.

In summary the data sketch a nearly supine population with days marked by long hours of sedentary behavior, particularly for those who are overweight or obese. "We have engineered physical activity out of our daily lives and that's causing the health disparity that we have in this country"

Our experience in running wellness programs has been that participants take to meditation like a duck takes to water. In general they are good about changing their eating habits, but so often we hear excuses about why they have been too busy to exercise.

It is an uphill battle to get people to change their attitude about being a couch potato, but for the good of their health change it they must.

Get more information in our book Live Longer Live Healthier

or visit our website at trienergetics.net

Are You A Couch Potato?

This blog is based upon a very important study that was just reported by the press. We are excited about this information because it reinforces the principles that we teach in our wellness programs.

Most people assume that they can be as inactive as they want as long as they follow the recommendation of the government and do 150 minutes of moderate activity a week. This is not so.

Researchers have found that it is also important not to spend the rest of your time being a couch potato. The study included 2,286 people age 60 an over. The conclusion was that being sedentary will lead to problems "independent of time spent in moderate or vigorous activity." People who replace even half an hour of sedentary time with 30 minutes of light activity can improve their health.

The bottom line is that a moving body is less likely to get rusty that a sedentary body. Obviously everyone needs and is entitled to some down time. Just do not make it most of the time when you are not exercising.

Get more information in our book Live Longer Live Healthier

or visit our website at trienergetics.net

Dynamic Energy

In our last blog we introduced you to the concept of dynamic energy. Do you think that this is just a pipe dream? Well it is not. We believe that it is our biological heritage to have dynamic energy We were born with it. We are entitled to it. Dynamic energy is what results from a healthy, integrated lifestyle that balances the three key energies of the body, the mind and nourishment.
                                                                             

The problem is that the chaos of daily life takes its toll on all of us. Work gets in the way of exercising, family issues take over, stress builds to intolerable levels. we tend to move our bodies less and less while eating more. our bodies begin to feel ill. Our minds run around in circles. All of this results in the loss of our natural energy.

As our energy fades, our lifestyle takes us farther and farther from wellness. We lose the delicate balance of the three energies and fall farther and farther out os synchrony. Our emotions suffer, our psychological well being suffers and our health suffers. We lose our dynamic energy. This loss is reflected in all aspects of our life. No wonder we also lose our sexual energy. Is the answer to take a bunch of pills or is it to find a way to recapture our vitality.

What do you think?

Get more information in our book Live Longer Live Healthier

or visit our website at trienergetics.net

Vitamin D The Sunshine Vitamin

Recently our understanding of vitamin D has expanded greatly. Advocates of vitamin D are convinced that it is a miracle vitamin.

For example vitamin D helps prevent cancer development.  Researchers have found that vitamin D inhibits the growth of some types of cancer cells and also inhibits their spread to other parts of the body.  Taking this observation one step farther, careful population studies have looked at the incidence of various cancers in latitudes that have ample sunshine compared to northern latitudes with less sunshine. It was found that mortality rates for some cancers especially breast, colon, and prostate were lower in sunnier regions than in the northern regions with less sun.  More sun, more vitamin D less cancer.

Deficient vitamin D levels have been linked to an increased incidence of heart attacks.  A study performed at Harvard and published in the prestigious Archives of Internal Medicine showed that men with deficient vitamin D levels were at greater risk of heart attack than those whose blood levels were sufficient.  Diet and lifestyle factors were also ascertained. During 10 years of follow up it was found that men with low levels had almost a two and a half percent greater risk for having a heart attack.

Hold onto your hats for this one. Vitamin D may also slow aging. This remarkable observation was the result of recent genetic studies that demonstrated an inbuilt "clock" in every cell that counts down every time the cell reproduces itself.  This genetic marker is called leukocyte telomere length {LTL}. Shortening of this marker is a measure of cell aging and ultimately death.

Researchers at King's College London studied more than 2160 women aged between 18 and 79.  They took measurements of the levels of vitamin D in their bloodstream and compared this to the length of the telomeres in their white cells. They found that women with higher levels of vitamin D were more likely to have longer telomeres. Those who had lower levels were more likely to have shorter telomeres.   The professor who led the study said: "These results are exciting because they demonstrate for the first time that people who have higher levels of vitamin D amy age more slowly than people with lower level of vitamin D."

Other studies have demonstrated that vitamin D helps maintain muscle strength, promotes better hearing and may reduce the risk of everything from multiple sclerosis to diabetes and hypertension. Additional work on the health benefits of vitamin D are in progress and the results are forthcoming.

Get more information in our book Live Longer Live Healthier

or visit our website at trienergetics.net

Vitamin D The Sunshine Vitamin Part 2

We all need to maintain a healthy level of vitamin D. Agreement on this matter is not uniform among all scientists.  For example the conservative National Institutes of Health web site cautions that more research is needed to determine whether people with normal vitamin D levels can protect themselves by taking more, adding that "it is premature to advise anyone to take vitamin D supplements for cancer prevention."


In previous blogs we discussed the problem of getting consensus from health professionals about the scientific validity of taking more of any specific supplement. The influential Institute of Medicine sets the guidelines for the daily doses of nutrients. They have been reticent to increase their guidelines for vitamin D intake. This adds to the confusion for all of us.

But the scientists who actually study vitamin D aren't waiting for more results. Dr. Rheinhold Viet a vitamin D researcher from the University of Toronto says "I have been studying D for more than 30 years and the remarkable thing is that it is actually effective.  My jaw drops as to why everyone is not taking more D. It drives me nuts."

How much vitamin D should you take? For years the official upper limit for D has been 2,000 IU a day, but a recent review article for the Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that vitamin D is not toxic up to 10,000 IU a day.  This is a combined total from drinking milk, eating fatty fish and vitamin supplementation.

If you have any doubts about how much vitamin D to take have a simple blood test to determine your level of 25 hydroxy vitamin D. The normal levels are 16 to 74 ng/ml. Vitamin D supplementation may be one of the most important nutritional steps that you can take to improve your health and longevity.

Get more information in our book Live Longer Live Healthier

or visit our website at trienergetics.net

Can You Lie In The Sun And Get Healthier? The Vitamin D Story

Did you know that sunlight may prevent cancer and heart attacks. It may also make you stronger and increase your longevity. Picture yourself lying on a sandy beach in Hawaii soaking up the rays, humming a tune and thinking how you are improving your health.  Wow! You are getting stronger and living longer by lying in the sand doing nothing.

Hold on. There is a flaw in this picture. How can sunlight prevent cancer when as everyone knows sun exposure causes skin cancer. Some of these skin cancers such as melanoma are killers. So how can sunshine prevent cancer? Relax there is an explanation. It really isn't that sun that directly does all of these wonderful things. Sun exposure is necessary for the body to produce vitamin D. Vitamin D is the miracle vitamin that is necessary for good health and longevity.

For years vitamin D has been a neglected nutrient.  It is unique because unlike other vitamins it is a hormone crucial for calcium absorption.  It enables the body to build and maintain strong bones and teeth. A deficiency of it produces weak bones, known as rickets in children and osteomalacia in adults. In the past the recommended daily intake of vitamin D was 200 IU for those under age 50, 400 IU for those age 50 to 70, and 600 IU for those aver age 70. These guidelines were intended to maintain calcium absorption and bone strength.

Recently our understanding of vitamin D has expanded greatly. Vitamin D has become a miracle vitamin. The evidence will be presented in future blogs. Get more information in our book 

Get more information in our book Live Longer Live Healthier

or visit our website at trienergetics.net

Acai The Gift Of The Jungle Part 2

Continuing the reasons that we recommend acai.  You may have heard of the French paradox. The paradox is that since the French diet is high in potentially heart toxic foods such as cheese, sugar and white flour, the French should have a high incidence of heart disease. Quite the contrary their incidence of heart disease is very low. The reason is believed to be wine. That's right, wine.  The French drink lots of red wine. This wine is thought to protect them in spite of their diet.

Why?

Red wine in particular is rich in antioxidants.  The most potent of them are anthocyanides. Well the acai acai berry has 30 times the anthocyanine as red wine. Acai also contains a good amount of healthy omega 3 and 9 fats and is high in protein containing 19 different amino acids. Acai also is a good source of fiber, vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C and E. as we; as potassium, calcium, magnesium, copper and zinc. This is alot of powerful nutrition from a little berry.

How do we translate all of this information into your health needs. It is our opinion that some acai should be in everyone's diet. We have had numerous participants in our programs who have related improvement in their well being and energy levels are taking acai juice on a regular basis.  As we have said, we drink two to four ounces a day.

Do your homework before you buy. The acai market, like the market for all food supplements is not controlled by the FDA. All products containing acai are not equal. Do not buy acai products that contain the acai seed and do not buy acai products that are made by spray drying the fruit. Spray drying involves heating the acai to high temperatures and then spraying with maltodextrin. The high temperatures destroy many of the nutrients in the fruit and the spray remains on the fruit. It has no nutritional value.

Let us know if you notice positive changes in your feeling of well being and in your energy level after a few weeks taking acai.

Get more information in our book Live Longer Live Healthier

or visit our website at trienergetics.net