Suppose you bought a brand new compact car.  But, when they deliver it, you realize that somehow they made a mistake on the assembly line.  They put the chassis of a mid-side car on top of the frame of your little compact car.  What do you think will happen to your compact frame, suspension system, tires, engine fuel pump, fuel lines, and shock absorbers?  All the part especially designed for a compact care are going to wear out and age, or degenerate, very quickly with supporting a chassis that is too heavy to carry.  You won’t get much mileage on your new car.

That’s exactly what happens to you when you put on 30 or 40 extra pounds on a frame meant to carry a smaller load.  It simply wears out and ages, or degenerates faster.  You won’t even get decent mileage on it!  You can trade in your car, but not your body, unfortunately.  That’s why overweight is considered a degenerative disease.  It’s a health problem that happens internally because you’ll age and wear out before your time!

Let say you put sugar or fat in your gas tank.  Your fuel lines would clog and crack.  The chemical change would age the rubber, and it would harden and crack under the constant pressure.  Your car would not run, or if it did, it would always cause you problems.

In your body the blood vessels deliver nutrients and life-giving oxygen to your cells.  They are your body’s fuel line.  When these fuel lines get clogged or cracked, the target organs and tissue to which they deliver nutrients and oxygen do not get the right amount of fuel or the correct octane level.  That is why it is important to keep your fuel lines healthy, which means maintaining the proper levels of cholesterol, fat (triglycerides), and sugar (glucose) in your blood stream. If these values are too high, they lead to premature clogging and cracking of your body’s fuel lines, your arteries.  If your blood vessels age prematurely, even though you may be only forty but you will have the arteries, the organs and tissue of a fifty-five year old.

So what exactly is degenerative disease?  It is a “fuel-line” disease that results in your body parts aging or degenerating much more quickly than they should and, usually, too early in life.  When fuel lines from your heart harden or get stopped up, we call it heart disease.  (Atherosclerosis is clogging of the arteries.  Arteriosclerosis is hardening of the arteries)

If fuel lines to your brain are clogged, you are at risk for stroke.  Adult onset diabetes is a disease that weakens the large and small blood vessels.  Diabetics usually suffer from poor circulation to the eyes, major organs, and extremities such as arms, fingers, legs, and toes.  Liver disease and kidney disease are manifested when the blood supply to those vital organs is diminished.  Sight, hearing, even the wrinkling of your skin are all related to the basic and common process of aging or fuel –line delivery disease.

If your “engine”, the heart, is not being fueled correctly, it has to work harder.  When the fuel lines harden and cracked or clogged, your heart is forced t pump with greater pressure.  This is called high blood pressure, or hypertension.  If your body is too big for your pump and fuel lines, your blood pressure is likely elevated.

Thus , our bodies’ fuel lines go to and from our hearts delivering the essentials for life to all organs, muscles, and cells.  When these vital vessels aren’t working properly and aren’t doing an efficient job, the cells, muscles, and organs will wear out and age, or degenerate, thus the term “degenerate disease”.

Do you take better care of your than you do of your body?  Your car will eventually wear out, no matter how well you take care of it.  But you would feel cheated if you bought a brand new car and only got 25,000 miles on it before it broke down permanently.  Only if you had known that would happen, you would probably have taken better care of your car.  You might have used a better grade of fuel or oil, you would have paid more attention to maintaining the brakes, plugs, pistons and shocks.

This comparison is important to remember when you think about your body.  Your body is one item in your life you can’t trade in.  You can repair it, but it would be better to think about preventive maintenance.  “Take care” is always better than “repair”

When you are concern about your blood pressure, buy a blood pressure monitor and measure your pressure twice a day.  The most accurate times to taking pressure readings are the very first thing in the morning, right after getting out of bed and, around 5 o’clock in the afternoon.  No matter how old you are, your readings can be maintained at the normal range, be between 110-120 over 70-80.

What do these numbers mean?  The upper number is the systolic, is the blood pressure when the heart is contracting, pumping blood out of the heart, and the lower number is diastolic, the blood pressure when the heart is resting and blood is flowing back to it.  High systolic causes are mostly associates with the heart and the blood circulatory system, while high diastolic (or the lower number), is often related to your kidneys conditions.

We need to understand how our circular system works if we want to treat it.  The heart acts as a pump, sending blood to the cells through blood vessels though out the body.  When 0ur arteries and capillaries are narrowed by plaque buildup,  the heart has to raise the pressure in order to pump blood through.  Just think of it as the drain in your kitchen sink,  when there are grease buildup in the drain pipe, water is not flowing as fast as it should,  and will cause water back up if it is serious enough.

The first thing to do to treat high blood pressure is to clean up the arteries, by removing plaque buildup, not to suppress the pressure.  With a clean artery system, it no longer necessary for the heart to raise its pumping pressure and therefore, drops back to normal.

So what is normal and when you should be concern about your blood pressure?  Blood pressure readings fall into four categories ranging from normal to  stage 2 hypertension (high blood pressure).

• Normal blood pressure readings:  systolic is between 110-120 over diastolic of  70-80.  This is the ideal range for a healthy body.
• Pre-hypertension:  systolic is between 120-139 and diastolic is between 80-89.  Your arteries and kidneys may start to have buildups.
• Stage 1 hypertension: systolic is between 140-159 and diastolic is between 90-99.  Pay closer attention to your cardiovascular system.
• Stage 2 hypertension: systolic reading above 160 and diastolic reading above 100.  Be very careful for people with reading in this range have a greater chance of getting a stroke.

When you are in the pre-hypertension stage, there are many ways you can improve your blood pressure such as changing your diets, exercise more, drink more water, quit smoking, etc.   There are 3 acupressure points you can use to adjust your blood pressure, lowering it if it’s high or  raising it up if you have low blood pressure.  Use 3 Magna Blocs (therapeutic magnetic device) on these points and you should see improvement  in a couple of hours or so,  or you can massage these places often to maintain normal pressure ranges (pictures below):

• The first one is the acupoint GV14 (Dazhui), the big vertebrae central reunion point.
• Acupoint L14 (Hegu)
• Acupoint ST36 (Zusanli)

When you or someone in your household have blood pressure that is way too high that could indicate a stroke, there are two more acupressure points, if used correctly, can save someone from suffering a stroke:

• GV20 (Baihui), located on the top of your head, apply a magna bloc or massage by hand.
• BL40 (Weizhong), these points are directly behind your knees,  use a clean, sterilized needle and release some blood from this acupoint.  According to Dr. Su Wen Long of Taiwan, if these two points were used accurately and quickly enough, one could prevent a serious stroke.

NOTE:  There are some acupoints that are not to be used when you are pregnant.  Just to be safe, DO NOT USE MAGNETIC THERAPY OR MASSAGE ON ANY OF THE ACUPRESSURE POINTS WHEN PREGNANT.

Using acupressure points to treat high blood pressure can temporarily bring it down to a safer level to prevent a sudden heart condition.  To treat on the root cause, you need to work on your diets and lifestyle to clean up your arteries and the whole cardiovascular system.

There are dietary supplements you can use to help with high blood pressure treatment.  Depending on your individual reading of the systolic and diastolic,  you can pretty much have an idea which organ needs some attention.  For a stronger heart, there are calcium and co-enzyme Q10.  To lower cholesterol,  garlic, fish oil,  green tea extract, lecithin are doing a good job.   You can include lots of these in your diets or supplement with the pills.

To treat high diastolic, use vitamin B complex and lecithin.  Vitamin B complex and lecithin are very good supplements to help clean out the tiny blood vessels in your kidneys.  It is also important that you learn to control your emotion.  When you are under stress,  your diastolic will most likely rises, you need want to find ways to manage your stress.

If you have developed dark spots on your face and hands, you have monitor your blood pressure and pay really good attention to your cholesterol level, since this is a sign that you are a stroke candidate.  Watch you diets, exercise regularly and take supplements,  especially the lecithin because it is very good at removing bad cholesterol and triglyceride.

While there are many choices of supplements on the market, be careful when you choose the one you take.  I like taking my supplements from a reputable company that makes their products from or as close to natural as possible.  The synthetic supplements will do more harm than good in the long run.

HERE IS A SHORT VIDEO I MAKE JUST IN CASE YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO FIND THE POINTS SHOWN ABOVE

Most people when come to getting that flat tummy back, they first thought of doing all the exercises that are tummy or abs related, such as abs crunches, sit-ups, leg press… but little did they know that is the fat around the tummy that they need to get rid of before they would see a flatter tummy. While doing tummy exercises will help tone up the tummy muscles, it doesn’t help much in losing the tummy fat. So you need to incorporate both fat loss exercises and toning exercises and a healthy eating habit in order to regain the flat tummy you once had.

You don’t have to go to a gym to do these exercises. If you are supper busy and only have about 30 minutes a day, that’s all you need, 5-6 days a week, right out of your own home.

For fat loss or fat burning exercise, do 30 minutes of cardio or often known as aerobic exercise, 3 days a week, preferably first thing in the morning. Since you have not had any thing to eat all night, your body will have to reach for stored body fat for energy when you exercise. Use the 5-20-5-workout pattern. First 5 minutes to warm up, then 20 minutes intense workout, end with 5 minutes cool down exercise. You can use exercise video, treadmill, or if you like to go out door, biking, jogging, walking, just so you will start to sweat. Find some thing you like and go for it. You can use a combination of various exercises on different days or even within each workout. It’s up to you, but you must pick one and stick with it if you want to flat out that tummy.

For the other 3 days, do some abs crunches and sit-ups, along with the whole body tone up program – weight training. Doing whole body weight training will build strong muscles. Building strong muscles will burn more fat, because muscle mass is metabolically more active than fat, and that means muscle will use more calories all day long. Roll out of bed, grab your elastic bands or dumbbells and in 30 minutes, you’ll build strength, muscle tone, help make those bones stronger, and in no time, you should see your flat tummy appearing again.

Well, most people don’t have much time in the morning. Do you have to do all 30 minutes of exercise at one time? No. You can do 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes at noon, and 10 minutes in the evening, all 30 minutes in the evening, it doesn’t matter. Although it is better if you do 30 continuous minutes, you do benefit from cardio exercise performed through out the day. However, 10 minutes is the least amount necessary to get benefits to the heart and blood vessels.

A brief tips on eating healthy: make sure to avoid fried food and refined food at all cost. Eat well-balanced meals and snacks during the day. Drink plenty of clean, fresh water, basically half your body weight in ounce. If you can manage, no foods 3 hours before bedtime, and your bedtime should be around 10:00 -11:00 at night, not 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. Your body needs to rest, rejuvenate and rebuild it self, and it is doing so between the hour of 10 pm and 2 am. So getting enough sleep at the right time is important in the effort to re sculpting your body.

There is a full guide of exercises and tips on how to get your flat tummy the most practical way.  Getting the fat off your belly is not that hard.  Keeping it off might be a challenge.

Some people think that all forms of liquid is considered water, and that’s wrong.  Coffee, tea, beer, wine…are actually dehydrate the body faster because of the substance they include.  So when you have those beverages as a drink, be sure to drink even more water to rehydrate the body.

How much to drink and when to drink water is also very important factors.  Water should, after drinking, circulates  in your body, hydrating every cells, carrying away wastes  and therefore, it should be in your body for a couple hours before urinating.  If you urinate shortly after drinking a glass or two, that water didn’t have a chance to do its job.  Some cells may not get replenished and the wastes it was supposed to carry away are still left behind.  This will slowly become the root of all sickness.

Drinking the right kind of water will help the body absorb it and allow it to adequately do its job.  If your skin is still dry after drinking the adequate amount for you body, and are flushing the toilet almost soon after drinking water, then it may be the water you drink is not good enough for your body, it doesn’t utilize that water very well.  Municipal water is full of chemicals and impurities such as chlorine, chloramine, lead….which are not visible to the human eyes.  Our body can not absorb the non-natural substance very well and quickly flush it out of the body.

It is best to obtain natural fluid from fresh fruits and vegetables because it is best absorbed by the body.  So eat more fruits and vegetables whenever you can.  Remember it’s fresh, not those you buy from the super market.  Those canned or bottled juices are processed and loaded with sugar, they lost most of the nutritional values.

As for water, it is best to install a good water filter, so you have clean and fresh water every time you need a drink or even for cooking.  As mentioned above, tap water is full of stuff the body doesn’t recognize while bottled water has been capped and stale (no oxygen).  Never drink bottled water that is left under the sun or in the car for a few days, for the plastic leaches harmful chemicals (bisphenol A, or BPA)  into the water which have been suspects for many cancers.

Water is critically important and has many benefits for a healthy body.  Remember to drink enough quality water every day.

Without sunshine, things won’t grow normally.  Without foods, one may only last about a month.  Going without water for 5-7 days will end a life.  But it only takes a few minutes to kill someone if there is no air supplied to the body.

Let pretend that you were forced to hold your breath, say, covered by a pillow, for about 5 minutes.   You will feel weaker by each passing  minute and eventually pass out:

• First minute passes: you feel weakness in your limbs
• By the second minute: you feel very sick
• By the third minute:  you feel like you need an ambulance
• By the fourth minute:  you feel like screaming ” I don’t want to die yet!”
• By the fifth minute: you are passed out and may never wake up again

If we take these 5 minutes experience and prorate them over the life span of 60-70 years, that is the process of you getting sick, ailment or diseases.

With every breath we take, we not only satisfy the lung, but more importantly we need to satisfy all the cells in the body.  Every cells in the body needs air or oxygen to operate its function.  Each time we hold our breath, forget to breath or breathing very short breaths, some of the cells are forced to stop functioning and die because they didn’t get the air supply they need.  If there are no new cells to replace the died out cells,  the body is slowly taking the toll.  This is when the aging process is expedited, ailments are formed and the chances of developing cancer increased.

Have you noticed that we tend to breath differently when we are in different moods?  We breath shorter, quicker breaths when we are mad, excited, in a hurry.  When we are under stress, frighted, or are very concentrated when doing something, we sometime forget to breath for a couple seconds.  Most people are leading a hectic life in today society.  We are often pressed for time, under lot of pressure from work, school or just from day-to- day life and most likely not giving our body the oxygen it needs to function at optimal level without even knowing it.  Some cells are dying out that may lead to decrease in your immune ability and not able to fight of diseases.

To illustrate, you may notice that when you are in a crowded room and it is not adequately ventilated, you feel very tired, even fall asleep.  This is because when you sleep, the body doesn’t require as much oxygen to operate.  You may yawn even you are not sleepy, it’s a sign that doesn’t get enough oxygen, it forces you to open the mouth and breath in air.

To make up for the missing or forgotten breaths through out the day, try to take in deep breaths whenever you can, such as when waiting for the buss, waiting for your turn in line, waiting for an appointment.  Yoga and Tai Chi are good breathing exercises you can take. Do at least 10 minutes of breathing exercise a day with deep breath filling up the lungs.  Breath in slowly through the nose filling the lungs total capacity, and slowing breath all the air out.

Be sure to open the car window when driving, letting the fresh air in.  The air inside the closed car is recycled air and not enough oxygen.   Even when you have the air conditioning going, open up the window once in a while helps exchanging the air to ensure you have enough oxygen supply.  Opening the windows in your homes is also necessary for staying healthy.  Air in a closed environment is many time worst then out door air.  So make sure your home is well ventilated and not cluttered (blocking air passage).  If you live in a heavy industrial area or are near highway that are polluted, consider using a quality air filter to filter out impurities.  Breathing in polluted air is also a reason for sickness development.

• Take a walk and the park, near water falls or woody areas, relax and deep breaths, you will feel energized
• Take a few deep breaths when you feel angry or jittery, this will quickly calm you down
• Learn to control you emotions.  Stress, anxiety, angry or depressed are all bad for your health since you most often forget to breath when under these kind of moods.

The air is free and God gives us the function to breath for a purpose – to stay alive.  So learn to breath, control your breaths for better health.

According to Church, some preliminary studies suggest that there are increased benefits when adding intervals to the steady, moderately paced, programs practiced by some people with diabetes and other chronic diseases. For example, the Exercise Biology Laboratory at Pennington Biomedical Research Center found that the people (up to age 75) they worked with appeared to benefit from adding interval training into their routines. In their July 2009 issue they stated: “Recent reports demonstrate that interval training is effective in the elderly and patients with peripheral artery disease, intermittent claudication, coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and type 2 diabetes mellitus.”

Talk with your doctor and see if you are a candidate for interval training.

The hamstring muscles run along the back of your thighs to behind your knees. They connect to the bottom of your pelvis. If you have tight hamstrings, you will probably notice a consistent, downward, pull on your pelvis. And because the pelvis is the foundation of your lower back and spine, tight hamstring muscles contribute to lower back instability. This instability, in turn, can lead to greater risk of intermittent strains.

How do you know if you have tight hamstrings? A simple way of evaluating whether or not you have short or tight hamstring muscles is to lie flat on your back and have someone slowly raise one leg. Make sure that your leg is completely relaxed. Do not use your own muscles to help lift the leg. Generally, if your leg can be raised 90 degrees from the ground (straight up towards the ceiling) without any major tightness anywhere along your hamstrings from behind your knee to your pelvis, your hamstrings are of an appropriate length. However, if you start to feel tightness before 90 degrees, it is a good signal that you need to stretch (and often). .

If you have chronic low back pain, try stretching those hamstring muscles on a daily basis for a few months. Even if you don’t have lower back problems, stretching the hamstring muscles every day will help to keep your lower back and pelvis stable and balanced.

MET = Standard metabolic equivalent of the amount of oxygen used by the body during physical activity. The higher the MET, the more calories burned per minute. Some examples of the low to high range of a MET score would be the difference between sitting on the couch reading a book (low MET) or jogging (high MET).

REE = Resting energy expenditure represents the amount of oxygen required by the body during a 24-hour period of inactivity. This method is generally used in hospital settings in order to determine what a bedridden patient needs to prevent malnutrition. It is also helpful in determining calories burned while leading a fairly sedentary life with low activity levels.

ACTIVITY CALORIES: Is the number of calories burned performing a specific physical activity for a precise period of time. For example: The treadmill report on your screen reports that, for the height and weight you provided during data setup, you burned 340 calories for jogging/running ½ hour.

TOTAL CALORIES: Net measurement of Activity calories burned less REE.

Okay, let’s make this easier to understand for all of us who exercise regularly and are unsure of how many calories we should eat to achieve weight loss and/or maintain a current weight. We burn calories as long as we are living. The amount of calories we expend depends to a large degree upon physical activity as well as diet. The more we exercise, the more likely we are to become fit. The less we eat over and above the calories our bodies require for mere existence, the more likely we are to maintain or lose weight.

Joe, for example weighs 180 pounds. Given that you can figure that a sedentary lifestyle requires about 12 calories per pound per day;

Example 1:

Total Calories Consumed 3200
Less REE (2160)
Less Treadmill (303)
Total Calories ‘stored’ 737

Example 2:

Total Calories Consumed 2400
Less REE (2160)
Less Treadmill (303)
Total Calories ‘stored’ (63)

From this example we can conclude that if Joe cut back on his calories and exercised at the same rate, he would begin to lose weight. It is inadvisable for Joe to cut his daily calorie levels below 2400 and maintain his current exercise routine. It would be far safer for Joe to increase his activity level slightly and keep the calorie count level at about 2400 calories per day in order to achieve weight loss without sacrificing important nutrients in his diet.

* Try training in a group. First of all, it is difficult to work-out on your own consistently because it is hard to get and stay motivated being alone. Training with other people can provide a great foundation for sharing and bouncing ideas off each other.

* Be open to trying new techniques. Adding a minute or two of jump rope is a great way to change-up a ho-hum routine. It doesn’t matter that you haven’t jumped rope since grade school. Start slowly and build up – it’s fun.

* Test your limits safely. Add a set of 8-10 burpees (an intense form of strength conditioning) to your daily routine for instance. These exercises utilize your own body weight as resistance – they are tough, but condition the entire body and are well worth the effort.

* Ignore the gimmicks. By switching around from one expensive and ineffective gadget to another in our attempts to become fit, we expend our energy in trying to find the ‘miracle cure’ and become lost. Keep your mind focused and your body working instead.

* Be ready for the long haul. It may take months to develop a good routine that develops strength and endurance as well as weight loss. Consistency over time is an important part of achieving a healthy, toned, and lean body.

We cannot completely eliminate the risk of becoming bored and quitting a fitness program, but through good planning and variety, we may be able to minimize the chances of failing to follow through on our objectives.

1.They don’t know how to use the equipment. Lack of knowledge about lifting weights and operating machinery can lead to injury through misuse. Learning how to use exercise equipment is not always innate or easy and sometimes instructors are too busy or unavailable for assistance at the time you need help.

2.Waiting to use equipment. If you go to the gym like most other working people after 5:00 p.m., you may experience an increased demand for machines and wind up having to wait your turn. This is a time waster for people who are already on tight schedules – frustration sets in and they give up and go home to sit on the couch instead.

3.Irritating and annoying people. Every gym or sports club has at least one or two non-professionals who ‘know it all’ when it comes to exercise and nutrition. They spend their time dispensing unsolicited advice to others even though they clearly do not ‘walk the talk’ and can quickly get on your last good nerve. Additionally, people go to the gym for different reasons. Some people enjoy socializing while there while others prefer not to chat or mingle with other participants. Depending upon which group you fit in, you can feel ‘put off’ by someone from the other group.

4.Expensive memberships. Gyms aren’t cheap (well some are, but you get what you pay for). They generally charge a membership fee as well as monthly charges and many require that you pay for an entire year without the possibility of refunds.

5. Overcrowding and germs. Sports clubs and gyms are designed to accommodate many people at the same time with constant turnover rates. Some people who use machinery, equipment or attend classes are inconsiderate of others when they come to the gym sick, spreading germs and not cleaning up after themselves before they leave. Unless the gym or sports club you frequent has a top-notch cleaning service, chances are you will hop on a treadmill right after one of those sweaty, coughing people vacates the spot.

There are many positive reasons for going to a gym, but if you are someone who feels uncomfortable with mysterious equipment, is too self-conscious to work-out in public, can’t afford membership, or is just a bit germaphobic, there are alternatives.