Just as our normal body temperature is
98.6°, there are other measures of a
normal condition or homeostasis within
the body. The levels of sugar, oxygen,
and carbon dioxide within the
blood must all be stable, and the
pH (the balance between acid
and alkaline) of the bodily
fluids, including the blood,
should be 7.4, slightly
alkaline.
Balanced body chemistry pH is vital to immune health and
disease correction. The body has alkaline parts (like the blood)
and acid parts (like the inside of the stomach), but when our
over-all body chemistry is over-acid, we open ourselves up for
arthritis type diseases. A healthy body keeps large alkaline
reserves to meet the demands of too many acid-producing
foods. When these are depleted beyond a 3:1 ratio, health
can be seriously threatened.
Knowledge of how to keep your body in a slightly alkaline
condition is vital to restoring your health. Without this
knowledge you cannot maintain the proper pH for your body
to function and for the living ecosystem within you to survive.
An acid/alkaline imbalance toward too much acidity allows
yeast, viruses, rebellious cancer cells, and various other
parasites to thrive. Acidity also leads to conditions such as
chronic fatigue, AIDS, arthritis, and allergies.
The typical American diet is high in foods that cause our
bodies to become acidic. It is no wonder, then, that these
serious conditions are becoming more prevalent. If you have
an acidic condition from eating an acid-forming diet, your
body constantly is trying to return to an alkaline state by
calling on your stored reserves of alkaline minerals: sodium,
calcium, potassium and magnesium. If you continue eating
foods that are highly acid-forming, you leach even more
alkaline minerals from your body, creating a mineral
deficiency that becomes severe over time.
Approximately 20% of the foods on your plate at each meal should
be acid-forming, and approximately 80% should be alkaline-forming.
Common Causes Of An Over-acid Body
Mental stress and tension (stress creates acid in the body!);
over-eating; kidney, liver or adrenal malfunction; poor diet
with excess acid-forming foods, such as caffeine, fried foods,
tobacco, or sweets. Acidosis can often be related to or
caused by arthritis, diabetes or borderline diabetes.
Taken from the Genesis Pure Alkaline Diet Protocol
$2.1 Trillion will be spent on chronic disease this year. Why not help the body help itself? I'm not saying it's easy but a long and healthy life will make it worth it. Have you every seen someone sick who was willing to pay any amount of money to be healthy? Why not spend a little money now and exercise self control and discipline to maintain your health? How? Read on
1. Cleanse the body - The quickest way to clean the human body is to clean the intestines. Use a product like Cleanse by Genesis Pure. It's a safe & effective detox. Drink Alkaline water, take probiotics and eat raw & green veggies.
2. Balance the body - set up a good foundation by alkalizing the body and feeding the glands with a GoYin by Genesis Pure.
3. Build up the body - with product like Daily Build by Genesis Pure, healthy energy drinks, calcium.
According to the CDC Half of all americans will be obese by 2030. That's 50% -- Half -- good grief, it's an epidemic that will have health care costs of over 66 Billion dollars. This is serious. It's time to help yourself and help others get their weight under control or maintain their weight..
I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Lindsey Duncan tell his plan for weight loss that he gives his clients. Dr. Duncan is a nutritionist and homeopathic doctor with over 40,000 clinical hours. He’s also founder and chief formulator of Genesis Pure, an up and coming wellness and supplement company. You may have seen him recently on The View or Dr. Oz. He is absolutely fascinating to hear speak about nutrition and the efforts – good & bad on the body.
- Diet – the Genesis Pure Alkaline Diet with lots of raw veggies. This diet gets our Ph balanced and maintained
- Execise – we need to sweat, pant and move. The body is made to move. Sweat releases toxins from our body and deep breathing helps relax us.
- Lot’s of water – alkaline water if possible. You can find this at a health foot store. You should be drinking half your body weight in ounces. A 150 person should be drinking 75 ounces or 9 to 10 cups (8 oz) of water each day.
- Supplementation – Of course Dr. Duncan recommends Genesis Pure products because of their quality and purity.
- Cleanse – you should be eliminating your bowels 2 to 3 times per day.
- Green Coffee Bean – Scientifically proven to aid in weight loss
- Pure Café coffee- Get your coffee in a healthy way. This heats up the body to aid in weight loss
- Daily Build – get your vitamins. People are nutritional depleted even if you think you are eating a healthy diet. We all need extra vitamins and minerals
- Metabolic Boost – Helps release toxin and promotes energy
- HealthTrim Control - appetie control and fat burning
- Pure energy drinks – healthy energy without caffeine
- HealthTrim meal replacement shakes
- Fruit & Fiber – the extra fiber helps aid elimination and keeps your feeling full.
For more information about these supplements contact me at barbara@bsquaredfitness.com
Here are a few suggestions to effectively support your immune system and steer clear of illness.
1. Manage your stress levels. The number one enemy of the immune system is stress. We should not be stressed to the max each and every day. Sometimes tough choice have to be made to get stress under control.
2. Support your body through food -- REAL food, mostly whole foods. That would be veggies and fruit, lean protein. Organic if you can. Stay away from overly processed and fast foods.
3. Exercise. The general rule of thumb is 30 minutes per day to maintain general health. Possible more for weight loss.
4. Supplementation. Supplements do two things. 1. fill the nutritional gaps in our diet. 2. provides gains in areas of deficiency.
I can provide several suggestion on supplements that specifically support the immune system. Contact me for help. http://www.genesispure.com/bsquaredfitness
I recently started using some new products. It's a program of cleanse, balance and build. You need to cleanse the body in order for the good stuff your putting into it can do it's job. Think of putting clean water into a dirty glass. Is the water still clean?
This detox is safe to use and doesn't make you stay close to a bathroom for days. One thing I was told to drink lots of water. And boy they were not kidding. I thought I drank enough but I started feeling yucky and getting headaches. That's all the toxins in my body getting all stirred up, The extra water helps flush them out. I started feeling better in a matter of a couple of hours once I got my water intake up.
Rule of thumb, drink half of your body weight in ounces of water. And an extra glass for every caffienated drink you have. That's nine 8oz glasses of water a day for me. Unless you measure it out, you probably are not drinking enough water.
Two thumbs up on the detox. It was easy, safe and I got great results. I feel less bloated, my skin looks better, my digestion is better.
Not all detoxes are created equal. Go with a proven product.
I've had different groups ask me in the past to represent weight loss or supplement products. But I just couldn't find ones that agreed with my personal philosopy. I'm more into a clean eating program but what I've found is you have to eat a lot of food for a proper clean eating regimen. I just don't eat that much.
Now I can supplement my health & fitness programs with healthy, clean supplements, weight loss & sports nutrition. And I'm super excited about it.
It's too much for me to explain in this blog. If you'd like information for your specific needs please contact me.
People ask me all the time how to get and stay motivated. I tell people all the time, if I knew how to motivate people, I’d be rich.
The truth is if you want something bad enough you usually find a way to do it and that’s motivation.
How do I stay motivated? Well, teaching fitness classes is one way. I need to be able to “walk the walk and talk the talk” so to speak. I really enjoy the boot camp type workouts I do. They are my ‘go to’ workout. These are the workouts I do all by myself in my living room. I started running because I wanted something competitive to do. Running is not my ‘go to’ workout but I want to compete as well as I can for my age and ability so I put in the training. I won’t lie to you I struggle to keep my running up. But nothing is better than crossing that finish line and achieving a goal.
How do you get motivated?
- Find something you enjoy doing. There are all kinds of fitness activities. Take a tennis lesson, who knows you might be the next Serena. Take advantage of a Living Social or Groupon daily deal for discounted classes. These are inexpensive ways to try something new. Maybe WMA style boxing or yoga is your next big thing. I would have never thought I would like getting the crap beat out of me at boot camp if I hadn’t taken a class 10 years ago. Be open minded, you just might find something you are really good at.
- Get a fitness buddy. Something mundane like running can go by much faster when you have a buddy to talk to. If going to a class by yourself is a little intimating then a buddy really helps. If you don’t have a best buddy who wants to exercise then join a group or a club and make some new fitness friends. Go! Running has a weekly fun run Thursdays at 6pm. And of course, you can always come to one of my classes; I’ll be your buddy.
- Change your mindset. Fitness is not punishment. It is a means to an end. The end result is to be healthy and active at any age. A positive attitude can get you a long way. It takes no effort to like cake and sitting on the couch but you may have to learn to like your veggies and a walk. The reward is feeling and looking better.
If you have specific questions I’m glad to help. Find me at www.facebook.com/bsquaredfitness
Clean eating is a method based on the idea that the best way to eat is to abundantly enjoy whole foods: That is foods as close to their natural state as you can get them.
This means eating fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean proteins instead of pre-packaged, processed foods or fast food. Clean eating is also committed to replacing saturated fats with healthy fats. Many people on the plan don't count calories, but instead trust in good quality, healthy food.
Sounds great doesn’t it. But is it expensive? Well it’s not as cheap as mac and cheese: four boxes for a $1. But it is much better for you and you will feel better and probably lose weight.
One of the books I’ve been reading is “The Eat Clean Diet Recharged” by Tosca Reno. It explains everything about an “eat-clean” diet and also provides menu plans. But some of the things she has on the menu are a little costly for me. I use the diet as an eating method in order to keep my food on budget and my body feeling good. For example, most of the time we eat brown rice instead of some of the more expensive grain products like quinoa.
Here are a few tips to eating well on a budget.
Tip #1 Buy produce that is on sale
This week avocados were $1.79 each but corn on the cob was two for $.88 cents. If possible buy extra to freeze. There is always some kind of fruit on sale, one week it’s bananas and the next week it might be grapes. Be flexible. Don’t forget frozen fruits and veggies are very economical and keep longer so there is less waste. A head of lettuce is much cheaper (about $1.50 ) than a bag of lettuce (about $2.50) plus you’ll get more of it. This is true of carrots, potatoes, cabbage etc. You pay for convenience of having the item precut. And most of the time you pay less and get more if you buy the bulk item.
Tip #2 Plan your meals
It really only takes 30 minutes or so to line out dinner for a week. People generally cook with the same ingredients – chicken, beef and pork. So get the cook books out or check online recipe sites for way to mix up the usual. Again be flexible with your menu because there may be a great deal at the store on something that you can stock up and save money. By planning your meals and making a shopping list you can avoid buying more than you need. Each meal will have a vegetable, a lean protein and a whole grain. Figure out ways to use the same item more than once during the week. This week we had roast with carrots and potatoes. I’m planning on using the rest of the carrots in another meal later this week. By planning my meals I waste less food and that saves money.
Tip #3 Drink Water
Buying drinks at the store can be costly. Buy milk, skip the sodas and drink good old tap water.
Tip #4 Low cost lean proteins
You don’t have to eat meat with every meal. Start having Meatless Mondays that include beans as the main protein with lots of veggies. Eggs are another source of good quality protein that are low in cost. Frittata’s or quiches can be yummy. Recipes abound on the internet. Remember egg whites are more figure friendly.
Tip #5 Plan for leftovers
There are just two of us in our house but I still cook for four. We have Leftover Thursday, at least we try to have leftover Thursday, some weeks my daughter comes by and eats up the leftovers. Funny now that she’s out on her own she doesn’t mind eating mom’s leftovers. I’m also great at repurposing leftovers. Grilled chicken one night might be chicken fajitas on another night. Recently I made some very yummy vegetable soup from left over fajita meat that we brought home from our favorite Mexican restaurant. Leftovers can be your lunch the next day saving you money and calories from eating out.
Tip #6 General stuff
Crock pots are a working girls best friend. Put the food in before you leave for work and when you get home dinner is ready. It’s also good for less expensive cuts of meat to slow cook.
The cheapest breakfast is eggs and plain oatmeal. The bonus is it’s good for you too. Oatmeal can cook in the microwave in seconds. Boil up some eggs while you are cooking dinner and put them in frig for the next morning to save time. Studies show a lean protein and carb combo breakfast is good brain food. Start your day off right.
Be aware of the correct portion size of meat. It should be about the size of the palm of your hand. A boneless skinless chicken thigh is a proper portion instead of the huge chicken breast that we eat. I save money by cutting a chicken breast in half. I’ve found chicken for $5 for a four-pack of boneless skinless breast. By cutting them in half it doubles my meat and saves on the calories.
With a little planning you can eat well and not spend a fortune. If you are not accustomed to cooking meals at home, planning meals etc. Then this might take some getting use to. But it is the right thing to do for you personal health and well being. Once you get in the habit it really doesn’t take that much time.
How old are you?
Not sure if I’m asked this because of my youthful appearance or my goofy personality, either way I’m 46. And I don’t color my hair (yet)
What do you eat?
My diet has evolved over the years. I’ve learned that if I don’t fuel my body it will not perform like I’d like it to. I exercise enough that I can and need to eat over 2,000 calories a day, which I struggle with. It’s surprisingly hard to eat enough with out the help of sugar and junk food.
Most days my food menu looks something like this:
- Breakfast – plain oatmeal with a little honey , 3 egg whites, plus 1 whole egg omelet and fruit
- Lunch – salad, fruit, tuna on whole wheat bread or the previous night’s dinner left-overs
- Dinner – some kind of combination of lean protein and whole carbs with veggies such as chicken and brown rice, pork tender loin with sweet potatoes or whole wheat pasta and sauce.
The method for each meal is the same: Lean protein, whole carb, fruit & veggies and NO SUGAR. Check out the Eat Clean Diet. It is not a very exciting diet and it does take discipline. I didn’t start eating like this in one day but over several years. Believe me my family was none too happy when I started buying skim milk and whole wheat bread but they adapted. And so can you.
Why do you workout so much?
I was in ad sales for many years, which is a tough industry. I could present all the right stuff but the client had to have and be willing to spend the money. So much of it was not in my control.
After years of raising teenagers, I can only preach and ground so much. I can’t control their every move.
Exercise was something I could control. I could work hard and I could get results. Turned out I was pretty good at it.
Why do you run so much?
I started running because I wanted something competitive to do.
There’s not much for a grown women to do: Tennis? Golf? That required club memberships and people to play with or against.
Running can be done solo or with a buddy or with a group. Plus you can get started with a minimal investment of running shoes.
Part of me just wanted to over come the fear of holding back. I had very little self esteem when I was in high school and would never have had the courage to try out for sports. When I was in 10th grade, the girl’s basketball coach actually came and asked me to try out for the team and I was too afraid to do it. Who knows I might have been a basketball or track star? But I let self-doubt hold me back. I’ve spent my entire adult like taking care of a family. So it wasn’t until I was in my 40’s that I felt I had the freedom to start trying.
So, I run because I can. And I train because I want to be better.
I want to get in shape or lose weight, but I can’t do the things you do. How do I get started?
The same way you eat an elephant (which it seems like I have to do sometimes to get enough calories in me) one bite at a time. But the metaphor applies because all you have to do is take the first step. It’s a growth process, start slow and do the best you can, the main thing is to just start.
A good trainer or boot camp instructor should supply you with adjustments to the work out. You do what you can do with the goal of one day, doing everything that you want to do. But every journey begins with the first step. It’s okay if you are slower, not as strong or more out of shape. That won’t change overnight. But after taking the first step and setting realistic goals things will change. But nothing changes until you take the first step.
So, the answer is to just start.
Will you kill me in boot camp?
No. Killing people is not good for business.
If you’re reading this then you probably know that you need to exercise. I mean you’d probably have to be living under a rock not to know that exercise is good for you. It’s in the news, magazines and every company newsletter.
30 minutes of exercise per day can help maintain your weight, fight high blood pressure, lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of many diseases. So it’s not the “Why” but the “How” that’s hard.
Studies show that three 10 minute fitness sessions per day are just as effective as one 30 minute session, now that becomes a little more doable, three 10 minute blocks. Here are some suggestions to carving out 10 minutes.
- Get up a little earlier than usual and do a video workout or go walking
- Spend the first 10 minutes of your lunch hour going on a brisk walk or climbing the stairs
- The moment you get home from work go for a brisk walk (maybe take the dog or the kids)
- Yoga before bedtime. You can find videos for this
- Do push ups, squats, lunges etc during commercial breaks while watching your favorite TV s Show
Don’t think that 10 minutes will just fall into your lap. You have to plan for it and be prepared.
- Stock up on some workout videos to have at home
- keep workout clothes and shoes in your car
- Keep some basic equipment at home like dumbbells and bands
Decide in advance what you will do then do it. When life get’s in the way, be flexible. The thing to do is try, the more you try the more you will succeed.
Of course, you can always talk to me. I bet I can give you all kinds of ideas!
