For those of you who are in tune to what’s going on in your mind and body you will have noticed some changes happening around the age of 30. Metaphysically speaking 30 is when most of us get faced with our first real hurdle and or questions about life, astrologically speaking the planet is in the same position it was when you were born and biologically speaking the first of the top 5 biological makers of aging start to show.
Top 10 biological makers of aging.
Muscle in the body is made of protein and the body is a protein-producing machine and a decrease in the body’s ability to produce / maintain protein levels or our ability to increase its break down will increase our aging.
Typically speaking aerobic activity puts us in a catabolic state, and generally causes the body to break down its protein tissue an example of this is an endurance athlete. You don’t see big bulky endurance athletes because it’s just too hard for the body to keep pushing all that bulk around so it starts breaking it’s self down. The exact opposite of this is a physique athlete who does resistance training and increases muscle mass, this puts the body in an anabolic state. Compare the bodies of a sprinter and a marathon runner.
If you have a specific aerobic goal like a half marathon then your training needs to be specific to that goal i.e. you have to run. However if your goal is to stay looking younger and healthier then we need to look at ways of maintaining and or increasing your levels of muscle mass and resistance training coupled with good nutrition is the key. Resistance training allows us to slow the biological makers of ageing by maintaining / increasing our muscle mass, increasing our strength and increasing our metabolic rate which in turn keeps our body fat percentage down. You can even maintain basic aerobic conditioning through resistance training. NB My definition of resistance training is not sitting around in the gym on machines “pumping tin”. Resistance training needs to be functional to what you like to do. If you like to come home from work and pick the kids up and play with them then you need to train those specific movement patterns. If you want to be strong enough and have enough energy to cut some firewood, play golf, do some shopping, catch up with friends and still have enough energy to have a wrestle in the bedroom then your resistance training needs to be functional to those activities. In short you need to maintain / increase your muscle mass with movement patterns that are functional to your everyday life activities.
If you have (had) athletes foot, jock itch, bad dandruff, Candida, thrush, fungus on toenails, lower abdominal cramps and or bloating, continual bad breath regardless of how much you brush of floss your teeth, cravings for sugar, dairy and or alcohol chances are you have a fungal or parasite infection and where one of these exists the other is sure to follow. Fungus and parasite infections tend to grow prolifically around this time of year when summer fruit is in abundance and we are all enjoying far too many simple carbohydrates – which are the primary food for fungus and parasites.
Unfortunately fungus and parasites are quite easy to catch. You can get an infection through intimate contact with someone who has an infection, sharing public showers with out protective foot ware, not washing your food properly during preperation, if the people serving or making your food have not washed their hands properly, not chewing your food to liquidation or eating food that has a fungus and parasite infection such as moldy grains, or animals whose primary diets consist of grains that might be moldy. Those at most risk are those who have had long term anti biotic use (with out the use of a probiotic), heavy use of medications or have had anesthetics.
Getting a fungal or parasite infection is a sign that your immune system is not up to scratch and or that you have poor internal flora (the good bacteria in your gut is out of balance with the bad bacteria in your gut) and that your immune system is busy combating the imbalance rather than fighting the infection.
Those hardest hit by fungal and parasite infections are often the elderly, new mothers and athletes. Typically these people will have a lack of energy, won’t recover as fast as they used too from injuries or viral infections, even cuts and bruising will take longer to heel. This is especially true for athletes who may think there training partners are super human and wondering why they can’t recover as fast from session to session.
Getting rid of the irritation of fungal infection such as athletes foot can be as easy as using over the counter medications, however if the infection comes back you know you’ve got a fight on your hands. I recommend going to the source of the problem – your gut and fixing it properly rather than masking it. Dealing with fungal and parasite infections generally includes the use of human strength high-grade probiotic, and an anti fungal and anti parasite diet for at least six months food rotation is also a good idea.
On a cellular level our body regenerates it’s very quickly. Ladies why do you exfoliate? To remove dead skin cells right.
When a skin cell dies new cells take their place.
Guys why do you shave? To cut back hair growth, your hair growth is just the body producing more cells.
In fact on a cellular level your eyes cells regenerate themselves every forty-eight hours, typically speaking you get a new body every year and the body you are living in now is a result of the food you ate three years ago. So if we are losing and creating cells this fast what are we doing to create these new cells.
Well it doesn’t happen by magic.
Your body breaks down the food you eat to create new cells. So you literally are what you eat.
Now Mother Nature is a pretty smart lady and she does a fantastic job of keeping things in balance.
Everything you need to create perfect new cells – the way Mother Nature intended them to be is provided in the food selections in nature.
Take yourself back to the early days of our evolution, the cave people days. What do you think was on the menu for dinner?
Typically speaking it was whatever animal you managed to kill or scavenge meat from and whatever fruit and vegetable was in season. That was the way it was for hundreds of thousands of years and this is the way our bodies like to be feed.
Hey, it got us this far.
However over the last 100 years of our evolution we have invented processed refined food, packaged and tinned food for convenience. Unfortunately over the last 50 years this type of eating refined processed food has become the norm rather than the exception to the rule, we have lost touch with the nutritional benefits that Mother Nature provides us with.
From 1900 to 2000 the rate of an individual being affected by cancer increased from 1:30 to 1:2. If cancer can de defined as a degenerative cell and we know the that cells are created in our body’s by the food we eat then is there are link between the food we eat and the amount of cancer in modern society?
You decide, but consider this. When Western A Price – www.westernapricefondation.org toured the world documenting findings of indigenous cultures. None of them where eating processed refined food and none had cancer, they didn’t even have a word for it. Now granted the average westerners life span increased from 47 years to 77 years during the period of 1900 to 1997, however most of this was due to and increase in private and public hygiene. Imagine what we could do if we combined good hygiene with good food.
You are literally what you eat.
Ah the sobering light of dawn – returning from your first work out after vowing and declaring your new years health and fitness resolutions to anyone who would listen while you drank your way merely to the bewitching hour on New Years Eve. Sound familiar. If this is your first bout of exercise for a while you will either be feeling fantastic and enthused for your next training session (at least until your delayed on set of muscle soreness kicks in) or you will be feeling like you have been run over by a bus and couldn’t move as the bus was backing up.
Here are some general starting guidelines for your new years training resolutions. Start off slow, allow your hormone, cardiovascular, neuromuscular and skeletal system’s enough time to adapt to the new stresses you are placing on them. Twice a week (intensity dependant) for the first two weeks is more than enough. Add another session every two weeks there after until you have either meet your time commitments or your training goal schedule. Pick one or two of your most important fitness components (i.e. strength, flexibility, cardio fitness…) and work on those to start with. Your training schedule should look like waves on the lake, pecks of hard work to reach training goals and troughs of recovery time. Make sure you are eating plenty of unprocessed food (if it comes in a packet it’s processed) this will help you recover faster. Stretch before and after (and during if you need to). Drink lots of good quality water (good quality water should be pollutant free and have 300 mg /L of total dissolved solids (.033 * body weight)) per day an extra liter for every hour of exercise and 300mls extra for every glass of alcohol or caffeinated drink you have (the toilet may be your best friend for the first two weeks, but after that your body will adjust). NB: if your urine is not clear (unless you are taking a multi vitamin) you are not drinking enough water. Do not train if in pain or to tired. Take your heart rate every morning for 1 minute, take an average of that. If you ever wake up feeling tired or run down check your heart rate. If you are 10 beats or more above your average take the day off to recover.
If your itching to get started, but are not sure where to begin, try lots of different training types of exercise and listen to your body – if it feels good do it if it feels bad – don’t do it. If you get really stuck seek some professional help in the area you want to get started in. And remember training is like life – it’s not about finishing, it’s about enjoying the journey – and everyone has his or her own journey to enjoy.
Making a permanent lifestyle change and regular physical activity should be fun let me show you how.
I emphasize making lifestyle changes that are realistic and permanent. Communication and education play key roles in understanding the importance of balance and physical activities required to achieve your goals.
My commitment to you is:
* You will achieve better health, strength, fitness and flexibility with my personal fitness plans.
* Together we will get you fitter and stronger, enhancing your confidence and self-esteem. Your mobility and flexibility will improve and you will look and feel fantastic with the energy to match.