Before  you begin: 

1. Good shoes. Please don’t buy shoes off the shelf at a discount store. Invest in your feet and get fitted by a professional [...]]]> Starting a Walking Exercise Program is the simplest and best health improvement program you can do! The benefits are multitudinous, meaning there are a lot of benefits!!!!

Before  you begin: 

1. Good shoes. Please don’t buy shoes off the shelf at a discount store. Invest in your feet and get fitted by a professional shoe fitter who can confirm proper sizing and purpose, and factor in arch support. Just don’t let this stop you from getting started. 

2. Stretch. Before you leave your house, spend 5 minutes on the floor stretching.  Here is a simple slide show with 10 stretches. All are good, but pay attention to the floor stretches and spend only 5 minutes getting your leg muscles ready. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stretching/SM00043

3. Hydrate. Take a water bottle with you. 

4. Check your resting pulse rate. Using a finger, not your thumb count your pulse rate for 10 seconds and multiply by six. Write it down in your journal. 

5. Calculate fat burn rate. Take the number 220 and subtract your age. Then multiply by 60% and 75%. This will give you your fat burning zone.  For example, I am 59 at the date of this article.

220 – 59 = 161 x .6 = 96

220 – 59 = 161 x .75 = 121

My fat burn zone is between 96 beats and 121 beats per minute.

I usually power walk at 120 since I have been at this for a while. When just getting started, take it to 60% and work up from there in increments as you feel able. You should be able to increase either time or rate by 10% per week as you acclimated. 

Journal your numbers. This is the only way to actually see the incremental improvements. The idea is to get your resting heart rate to lower, which means your heart is getting stronger and pumping more blood with each beat, working less and more efficiently. It’s a good goal to have.

6. Chances of success at a walking program come with partnership. Find another to walk with you. Someone who had similar goals and with whom you can hold each other accountable. This makes it so much easier, beneficial and rewarding. 

7. The Rewards. It’s not just for the benefit of your heart, your endurance, your weight loss and your muscle growth, but it is also for your mental benefits. The additional oxygen invading your brain will produce more serratonin and dopamine, and provide you with a feeling of well-being and mental clarity. 

Q: How do I take my pulse? Use a finger, not your thumb, at your temple or on the wrist. Just count the pulse for 10 seconds and multiply by 60. You can take your pulse while walking too. It may seem a little hard to do at the beginning, but keep at it and it will become second nature. Or you can buy a monitor for $40 – %60. See this How to article.

Q: What happens if I go over 75% of my burn rate?

A: Then you will begin to burn glycogen which comes from the starches stored in muscle. This is fine to do in short interval bursts. For example: I will go up to 140 beats a minute for 20 seconds and then recover for 60 seconds and repeat. Only engage in glycogen burn once you are fit enough to do so. Your body will know. Your body is smart. Pay attention and when in doubt, don’t.

Q: I get charlie horses in my calves after only a few minutes of power walking. Why is this?

A: Charlie horses are the muscles saying they are not getting enough blood, enough oxygen. It means that there is a circulation problem. Take a rest and begin again. The only way to improve circulation in this regard is to exercise and force the arteries to expand. They will over time. Taking fish oil will help also. 

Any questions? Contact Garey  

To learn more about The University of Maryland’s Center for Integrative Medicine: Use this link to go to the Center for Integrative Medicine Founded in 1991 by Brian Berman, M.D., the Center for Integrative Medicine (CIM) is an inter-departmental center within the University [...]]]> The full agenda of the conference is located here: -Agenda-

To learn more about The University of Maryland’s Center for Integrative Medicine: Use this link to go to the Center for Integrative Medicine Founded in 1991 by Brian Berman, M.D., the Center for Integrative Medicine (CIM) is an inter-departmental center within the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

On Saturday May 4th, 2013, three breakout sessions were held:

1. Gentle Yoga to Start the Day with Bonnie Tarantino, MFA
2. Qigong: Reinvigorate Your Body & Mind with Kevin Chen, PhD
3. Central Sensitization Syndrome with Gary Kaplan, DO

The Keynote Speaker Dr. Mark Hyman was introduced by the Univ of MD President of the Center for Integrative Medicine, Dr. Brian Berman. See my notes from the keynote.

Five breakout sessions took place simultaneously after the keynote. Life is made up of choices. Choose one not all.

1.  Change your Brain, Change Your Pain. Dr of Chiropractic Brian Morrison.
2. Manual Medicine: John Reed, MD
3. Supplement your Dietary Supplement IQ: Chris D’Amato, PhD
4. The Science of Mindfulness Meditation: Catherine Kelleher: Sc. D., M.S., R.N.
5. Religion, Spirituality and Health: What Science Has to Say about the Faith Factor: Michelle Pearce, PhD

Eight more sessions were held in the afternoon. View agenda to see the breadth and depth of this one day conference. The full agenda of the conference is located here: -Agenda-

I attended the dietary supplement IQ breakout and took a few statistics and details away from the lecture. It confirmed what I already knew from conducting business in the dietary supplement arena and from the education I got at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.

If you are at all interested in alternative treatments, therapies and what the scientists have to say about them, use the resources on this website.

The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

Yesterday, I met Dr. Mark Hyman in Baltimore. He was the keynote speaker at the University of Maryland’s Conference on Health [...]]]> Sponsored by the U of M School of Integrative Medicine – Keynote by Dr. Mark Hyman

The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now!

Yesterday, I met Dr. Mark Hyman in Baltimore. He was the keynote speaker at the University of Maryland’s Conference on Health and Wellness 2013 sponsored by the UMM School of Integrative Medicine.

I have heard Dr. Hyman before, but I have to say, this family practice doctor is on the cutting edge of a very large vision of bringing practical solutions to everyday folks, solving the problems of chronic illness in their communities and by working in their kitchens.

What Dr. Hyman shared with us, in a rapid fire fashion, was inspirational, educational, intensely practical, believable, doable and actually very, very simple.

Here are some of the topics he spoke about:

• Math problem: Q: John has 32 candy bars. He eats 28. What’s he got left? A: Diabesity.
• Mirror test: lift up your shirt in front of a mirror and jump up and down. Does it jiggle?
• USA 17th in a list of 17 developed nations in heath metrics.
• Huge costs of poor health care in America. Focusing on symptoms not causes. Asking the wrong questions.
• Teen age diabetes in US and China.
• Women in NZ addicted to coca-cola drank 2 gallons a day, dies of liver failure.
• Senator Mikulsi shared with Dr. Hyman about reforms in the medical system, reforms, financing, insurances. It’s like rearranging the decks chairs on the Titanic. Will that really help?
• Functional Medicine, treat the causes not the symptoms.
• Food is more than energy.
• Food regulates biology.
• Nutrigenomics influences genetic code.
• Broccoli contains micro RNA that upon ingestion communicates with our RNA to influence DNA. What do they talk about?
• Indigenous peoples can be made sick in less than a generation by going to modern foods. It takes 7 weeks to reverse the chronic disease effects when going back to the indigenous, hunter-gatherer ways.
• Create health, disease goes away.
• Lifestyle is an ecosystem. Everything is connected.
• It’s not medical it’s social.
• Nigel Crisp: Put Community at the Center
• Best way to move forward is people helping people. Limited training of lay persons using nutrition and fitness accountability circles, results better than doctors working with drugs.
• Sociogenomics: “I”llness or “We”llness?

These were some of the topics covered in the first 15 minutes. Do you want to hear more?

• The Power of Nutrition
• Gluten
• Broccolli
• Rules for discerning packaged ingredients. (Don’t eat anything with more than 5 ingredients. If you don’t know what it is best not to eat it.)
• In Haiti, US Army’s MREs (Army wife suggested it stood for Meals Refused by Ethiopians – the chicken MRE had hundreds of ingredients, all chemical, mostly synthetic.)
• Junk Food – Frankenfood
• MSG induces obesity
• Sugar is a drug, it is addictive
• HFCS – High Fructose Corn Syrup is ubiquitous in processed foods.
• Prego Tomato Sauce more sugar than Oreos.
• Artificial Sweeteners stimulate diabetes
• Americans consume on average 130 lbs of white sugar and 130 lbs of white flour a year.
• False theory of personal responsibility = Processed Foods Lobby.
• All calories are not equal. To offset the effects of 1 McD’s meal, run four miles. Eat one meal a day of junk food, you need to run a marathon each week.
• How to Reset Hormones
• Get an Oil Change (Fish oil, avocado, walnuts, almonds, flax and chia seeds, olive oil – good fats.)
• Good proteins.
• Mark Bittman’s example of a family of four eating  fast food vs cooking at home. Much cheaper and much healthier to eat at home.
• Essential Supplements (Fish oil, Vitamin D, Multi – vitamins)
• Health is a team sport. You need to work in tandem with others. Family, friends.
• We have to cook our way out of this mess.
• The New Wonder Drug: … Food.
• Let they medicine be thy food and thy food thy medicine.

Do you want to hear more of the topics covered?

• Pharmaceuticals treating diabetes causes heart disease. Drugs treating heart disease leads to diabetes.
• Avandia, drug for diabetes, led to 200,000 deaths from heart disease before it was taken off the market.
• Statin drugs over prescribed for heart disease can lead to diabetes. Now they want to put statins in the junk food or in the water because kids are now showing up with heart disease from eating junk food.
• You have to treat 800 people with statins to save 1 life. You could save 800 by teaching people how to cook and eat food. Functional medicine is food.
• Depression has 100 causes but it is not a prozac deficiency.
• Gluten can lead to depression, Omega-3 deficiency can lead to depression. Sugar can lead to depression.

But wait there’s more:

• Pastor Rick Warren loses 60 lbs with Dr. Hyman’s guidance.
• Wellness program through churches introduced – 3,000 people expected, 17,000 showed up.
• The Daniel Project
• A quarter of a million pounds lost in one (very large) congregation.
• Rwanda: Hospitals: 5, health centers: 100 and churches: 1000s. Local community groups hold the answers.

Well, there is yet more. I want to go in depth on some of the above topics in later blog updates.

For now, get ahead of the game of health, buy Dr. Hyman’s book. I did.

Source: freeformfitness.ca via UM Center for Integrative Medicine on Pinterest

Consider this:

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”

Yes, we have the power. It’s within us.

Something to think about.

This goes hand in glove with our body’s ability to heal. [...]]]> True North Principles hold their value across the broad spectrum of life.

Consider this:

“What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us.”

Yes, we have the power. It’s within us.

Something to think about.

This goes hand in glove with our body’s ability to heal. Don’t take it for granted. In fact, I want you to stand in awe of your own power to heal.  Once we start on the process of cleaning up our eating habits, our lifestyle issues, it’s just amazing how well things can start working properly again.

True North Principle: Commitment Leads to Success.

Persistence at doing the right thing pays off in the long run. Short term sacrifices leads to long term gains. This can be seen in sports, in any sport. My favorite player in football is probably Peyton Manning. He handles success and defeat with the same amount of passion. He plans, practices, mentors and teaches, then he performs. Is he the best passer in the NFL? No. Is he the best NFL player doing TV commercials? Maybe. Can he lead a team to victory? Yes, he can. He demolished the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore last season. That was the Ravens last loss before moving on to win the Super Duper Bowl.  But it was pivotal for Joe Flacco. Peyton’s mountain, Flacco’s valley.

In the playoffs, Baltimore was losing to the Broncos in Denver. Peyton was winning. For Flacco was lose and go home. Win and go on. Except for one well placed 70 yard pass in the mile high city, it would have been Peyton moving on and Joe Cool cooling his heels.  Flacco’s even keeled disposition makes it impossible to know if he won or lost the game when he is giving the post game interview. There is something to learn from everyone. Sports is the only reality TV shows that I care to watch!  Glean your True North Principles from all comers. The lessons are there if you are watching. 

As unglamorous as our mundane lives can be, the same principles that guides Mr. Manning and Mr. Flacco can bring success to little ole you and me.

Since this is a True North Principle, it can be applied to whatever interests you or tickles your fancy. It could be scrap booking or sliding a granite puck across the ice in curling. The very cool thing about humans is our diversity. But True North Principles apply to all sectors and modalities, all sports, all outcomes.

So how does this relate to your health? Be persistent in your ideals about health. Whatever those ideals are. I am very “religious” about what I eat. Most of  my life I wasn’t. Without planning and preparation, without awareness of how I was caring for my body, I got into trouble. My epiphany came with the dreaded heart disease diagnosis. My valley. But it brought out my resolve to learn about health and study nutrition. Now I am committed to eating clean. Now I am committed to my supplement regimen. I keep testing, tracking and trying new things to get better results. The results have paid off. 

I was explaining to a friend that the mountain peaks and the valleys are what keep life interesting. It’s the Yin and Yang of life. It always feels better on the top of the mountain overlooking the valley, you have a feeling of “being high” having a commanding overview. In the valley it gets dark earlier. More bugs and sludge in the valley. But the tests of defeat, like being in a valley, tests our will, resolve and our determination. These are important lessons to learn. This type of learning enables us to to get back to the mountain top.

What True North Principles have you noticed in your life? Care to share?

What commitments have you made? What results have you gotten? Leave Your Reply Below.