This Easy 5 Minute Morning Exercise Will Change Your Life
It’s hard to make time for morning exercise, especially when we have busy lives and crunched schedules. What does your morning look like? Shower? Coffee? Breakfast? Then rush off to work?
Well slow down just 5 minutes and make time for this exercise. It’ll completely transform your life.
It’s called Sun Salutation, or Surya Namaskara. It’s a 5-minute morning yoga routine that will help you tackle your day like no other. Not just that, it’s simple to do. Anyone can do it.
This is not a difficult exercise and is demonstrated incredibly well below:
The sun salutation has numerous benefits, among them:
Got Milk? More like, “got osteoporosis, cancer, skin and gut issues, and mucus build-up?” There are multiple reasons why you should ditch milk and dairy products, but these 10 reasons may finally just convince you to kick your habit to the curb.
Aside from the shocking actions of the dairy industry, which involve newborn baby calves being torn away from their mothers so that their mothers can be used for milk, and the baby for the veal industry (where they spend their miserable lives unable to turn around in tiny metal crates), milk can cause things like osteoporosis, cancer, constipation, diarrhea, asthma, ear infections, inflammation (i.e., arthritis), bronchitis, diabetes, high cholesterol and so much more.
“The biological purpose of cow’s milk is to support the rapid growth of a calf. Humans have no nutritional or medical need to consume the milk of cows or any other non-human species. Cow’s milk has significant levels of female hormones, and usually contains antibiotics, pesticides, saturated fat, and cholesterol — substances that definitely do NOT do a body good!” — Michelle McMacken, MD
Here are 10 shocking reasons why you should ditch the milk and dairy products, and opt for tasty nut-milks and cultured coconut yogurts and ice creams instead!
1. Contributes to extreme growth of cancer
“Casein, which makes up 87% of cow’s milk protein, is the most relevant cancer promoter ever discovered” – Dr. T. Colin Campbell, The China Study
“It appears that when individuals do not have the correct enzymes to metabolize many of the hormones naturally found in any type of cow’s milk, a glass of milk can flood the body with excess estrogen. This raises the risk of developing or accelerating the growth of existing breast cancer.” -Susan Wadia-Ells, Founding Director of Knowbreastcancer.net
“Some dairy products, such as whole milk and many types of cheese, have a relatively high saturated fat content, which may increase risk. Moreover, milk products may contain contaminants such as pesticides, which have carcinogenic potential, and growth factors such as insulin-like growth factor I, which have been shown to promote breast cancer cell growth.” -The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
There are many cases that point to the fact that milk has the potential to cause cancer, specifically breast cancer. The growth factors (specifically IGF-1, the “Miracle-Gro” for cancer cells), and hormones in cows’ milk are not only linked to breast cancer, but they are also linked to other hormone-related cancers like prostate, ovary and testicular cancer.
Whether your milk is conventional, organic or raw, it will contain these naturally-occurring reproductive and cancer-causing hormones, since cows are milked while pregnant.
2. Triggers problematic skin issues
If you want good skin, don’t eat dairy! Milk and dairy products contain inflammatory substances and growth hormones that clog your pores and cause acne, psoriasis, eczema, and dermatitis. I have heard many accounts of people quitting dairy and their skin clearing up, myself included.
IGF-1, a hormone found abundantly in milk, also triggers inflammation in the body, triggering ugly redness and swelling that makes acne so difficult. Your body also produces excess sebum (oil) upon dairy consumption, which creates a breeding ground for the P. acnes bacteria, who feed on sebum and produce inflammatory by-products.
3. Linked to chronic disease
The milk protein, casein, is not only linked to cancer, but it is linked to other chronic diseases like osteoporosis, heart disease, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity, dementia, and allergies. The long-term health effects of milk and dairy consumption are often neglected, with people who fail to attribute their health woes to the one thing they can’t seem to get rid of – milk and dairy.
4. The dairy-calcium myth
The American dairy industry heavily promotes the consumption of milk as your sole source of calcium. This, is in fact, a myth. Calcium from plant foods are well-absorbed by the body, much more than calcium from dairy.
Because dairy products are acid-forming, they literally leach minerals out of our bones.
So if you are consuming dairy to “make your bones stronger” then you may actually be doing just the opposite.
In fact, The Harvard Nurses’ Health Study, which was conducted over 12 years, and followed over 75,000 women, found no protective effect of increased milk consumption on fracture risk. In addition, increasing calcium intake from dairy products increased fracture risk amongst those participating.
5. Lactose doesn’t digest properly
Dairy is a big reason people are chronically bloated, and suffer from digestive issues. After a human baby turns two years old, they slowly stop producing the enzyme Lactase, which is required to digest the sugar, Lactose, found in milk. So, technically, we are all lactose intolerant, but because humans continue to drink milk far into adulthood, signs of poor digestion to milk go unnoticed. Since adults have no lactase to break down milk, the undigested milk sugars end up in the colon, manifesting as bloating, nausea, cramps, flatulence and diarrhea.
6. You’re NOT a baby cow
This one is pretty straight forward. A baby cow doesn’t suckle from a human breast, a cat breast, or any other breast other than a cow breast. We also wouldn’t drink milk from a pig, a dog, or a cat, so what makes cows’ milk any different? We are the only species in the world that drinks the milk of another species. Not only that, but humans consume milk long after weaning. Think about this connection, and question if you would ever wander into a field and suckle milk from a cow. If you wouldn’t, then why are you still consuming it?
7. Makes weight maintenance difficult
The high saturated fat content in milk makes losing weight difficult. In addition, dairy products all contain varying amounts of lactose (milk sugar), and the protein in milk generates an insulin response, both of which hinder weight loss.
When I gave up dairy my bloating went away and my waistline slimmed dramatically!
It makes sense that milk and other dairy products would do this to a human being, considering the fact that milk is designed to help “fatten up” the baby (whether human or cow or goat). Cow’s milk is designed to grow a 90 pound calf into a 2000 pound cow. But not many people recognize this, and continue drinking it despite its body-fattening effects.
There are SO many options to choose other than dairy! There are plant-based milks (hemp, hazelnut, oat, rice, almond, flax, and coconut), yogurts (coconut, almond), cheeses (raw cashew cheese, daiya cheese, etc.) and ice creams (ones made out of coconut are super yummy, but I prefer making my favourite – raw fruit ice cream!).
10. Cheese is un-naturally addictive
Which is probably why it is so hard to ditch the dairy habit in the first place. People love their cheese. Whenever I ask people if they could give up dairy the first thing they say is,
“oh, I could never give up cheese. It’s just TOO good!”
Well, what if I said that your brain is actually just addicted to cheese, and that the flavour isn’t really the thing that keeps drawing you back (trust me, smell cheese after being 5 years raw vegan, you will gag).
When our body digests milk, little protein fragments called casomorphins are created, which have a strong opioid effect on the brain. So we can kind of compare cheese to heroin – dependence can develop with ongoing “administration” (or consumption in this case), which can lead to extreme withdrawal syndromes if abruptly discontinued.
Giving up cheese can be hard, but sticking to a gradual discontinuance over the period of a week to two weeks will wean your brain off the euphoric feeling it receives after eating a bunch of cheese. It only took me one week to completely remove cheese from my diet, and I never thought once about it after the fact (mainly because I felt 500x better).
Read more at http://livelovefruit.com/2014/12/why-you-should-ditch-milk-and-dairy-products/#IShKsujIbsZd4j6s.99
Monday, June 10, 2013
Bedtime Yoga
Practicing yoga before bed will benefit your sleep in many ways. The mind and body are working every minute of the day. As bedtime approaches, it is beneficial to release the stress and tension from the body, relax the mind and enjoy quiet yoga, because of the stimulatory effect yoga has on the nervous system, and in particular the brain.
Often, we have trouble falling asleep because the mind is still going, but the practice of breathing allows for more oxygen in the body providing clarity in the mind. A relaxed session of yoga helps to calm the body, mind and spirit. This helps to quiet the constant thought patterns that can rob you of sleep.
You will have a more restful sleep because of the relaxing aspect of yoga and the subsequent relieving of stress, tension and fatigue and you will wake up every morning ready to go instead of wishing you could stay in bed. Combine yoga with a short meditation practice to enhance this benefit.
Digestive enzymes are substances that will help you in the digestion process, by breaking down polymeric macromoleculesinto their smaller building blocks, in order to facilitate their absorption by the body. When we eat our food it sits in our stomach for while before making its way through the duodenum. This occurs due to the lack of enzyme in one's stomach which is caused by not ingesting raw foods which are the ones that contain enzymes. Enzymes are killed with the heating and processing of foods, which means that a lot of cooked and processed food is not good for you. Follow are some of the benefits:
Digest Proteins
Assimilate fats
Increase energy
Reduce Bacteria
Assimilate and eliminate Toxins
Eliminate yeast
Break up and dissolve Uric Acid Crystals
Raise T-Cell activity and production
Shatter Crystalline Deposits
Break up Cholesterol Deposits
Increase the White Blood Cell size and activity
Increase the surface area of the red blood cell, making it possible to carry more oxygen to all parts of the body
If you are not lacking in your consumption of vegetables, fruits an other types of raw food, digestive enzymes may be a good choice for you.
Nobody likes to have flabby arms. In looking forward to help you get your Triceps in shape I chose an exercise that targets your triceps and is very easy to do.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture created a new type of pyramid that can help you manage the portions and type of nutrients you ingest. Assisting you to be control of your health.
The pyramid shows that if you exercise a little then you can only eat a little, if you exercise allot, then you can consume more calories, but always trying to keep the percentages equivalent in each category.
Calf Raises are a very simple exercise that you can do anywhere to get your calves into shape. With this exercise the muscles being worked are gastrocnemius, soleus and tibials posterior.
-Stand with your feet flat on the floor -Feet hip width apart
-Knees straight
-Raise your heels as much as you can
If you need you can use a wall or chair for balance
Do not use weight until you get used to do the exercise.
Running is a very simple exercise that anyone can do. If you like to run or want to start there are some points that you have to give some attention.
Start with your shoes. Your running shoes should have good soles. Using worn out shoes to run can overload your knees and ankles causing pain and injuries. On the flip side new shoes are not good either to run in until they mold to your feet and your muscles get used to a new pair of shoes.
When you buy a new pair of running shoes make sure they fit comfortably with enough room for slight swelling.
Warm up well before starting to run or jog. Some people go straight to the treadmill and jog in order to warm up, this is a big mistake because if your muscles are not warm they will not be able to absorb impact and at the the same time, you will be overloading your knees and ankles.
You can warm up in low intensity about 10-15 minutes, do some stretches and you will be good to run.
Do not forget to stretch again after your run!
When you are running you should keep an upright posture, the first part of your foot to touch the ground should be your heel then roll your foot until you push off with your toes.
Many people exercise hard everyday, give their best but do not see much improvement after all. It means that`s time for some changes on your routine.
One of your changes can be done on your daily exercises .Try to change your exercises, variate regularly so your muscles do not get used to the same exercises and you create a new stimulus on the muscles, opening way to improve other types of muscular fibers that were not been used on your exercise program.
Catch up with your rest, make sure you are having time to rest your muscles between training sessions. Rest is one of the most important part of your routine so you can see the improvement, to lose, gain weight or just keep in shape.
What you eat is also very important for your body development as the other parts of your routine. Make sure you eat fruits, vegetables, fibers and meat. Always choose natural foods, or non processed, they have more nutritional value than fast foods, can foods, frozen foods, etc.
Keep in mind that all the beautiful bodies we see in magazines, t.v. and movies, have been built with a lot of training, balanced nutritional programs, rest and the majority with surgery and other products which can be just prescribed by doctors. If for many years you did not take care of your body and health, do not expect the results over night. Engage yourself in a good exercise and nutritional program, rest enough and leave surgeries and prescribed products for who depend of their own body to make money.
