Chronic diseases—such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes—are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. Chronic diseases account for 70% of all deaths in the U.S., which is 1.7 million each year.

Think about this—7 out of every 10 deaths!!!!!

These diseases also cause major limitations in daily living for almost 1 out of 10 Americans or about 25 million people. Although chronic diseases are among the most common and costly health problems, they are also among the most preventable. Adopting healthy behaviors such as eating nutritious foods, being physically active, and avoiding alcohol and tobacco use can prevent or control the devastating effects of these diseases.

If everyone exercised regularly, ate a balanced diet and didn’t smoke and drank alcohol in moderation we could virtually wipe out most of these deaths resulting from chronic disease!

Somehow we feel bullet proof or we just don’t give a damn or don’t until we experience a stroke, heart attack or get diabetes. I still, for the life of me, can’t figure out our ignorance and “blind eye” attitude about our health and our everyday practices that will eventually lead us to bad health and a miserable life. Just what don’t you get people??? This is what will happen to each one of you if you live a sedentary lifestyle and eat like crap—tons of sugar, salt, and saturated fat.

Tim Russert, national TV journalist dropped dead of cardiovascular disease a few weeks ago. He was 58 and had no prior history of bad health. That is the exact way it happens….you just drop dead, JUST LIKE THAT! Chances are you won’t even get a warning. You will be here one day and gone the next. This article is meant to scare you! To make you sit up and realize the path you’re headed down.

If you ever decide to take responsibility for your health and take action, go to amazon.com and get my book:

                            TOTAL HEALTH FOR LIFE

                                   MIND AND BODY

               THE BABY BOOMER’S BIBLE OF HEALTH

Following this program will lessen the risk of a host of ills, such as diabetes, osteoporosis, some types of cancer, and cardiovascular problems. It will also lower bad cholesterol, raise good cholesterol, and boost your metabolism. Along with these physical benefits, an improvement in self-image, self-esteem, and confidence will accrue.

Most of your life centers around the relationships you have with your loved ones, family, friends, and associates. If you plan on being around to enjoy these relationships, you need a good relationship with yourself, your mind, heart and body.

Don’t you have the desire to live the best quality of life possible? If you don’t then you are cheating yourself. Make TODAY the day you make the commitment to finally take action.

Please have your friends sign up for my FREE bi-weekly newsletter at www.totalhealth4life.net to keep up on current health issues and how to stay on track with the many changes in our society that effect your health in very important ways.

Rico Connor

The Push-Pull routine is a standard in the bodybuilding community. Put simply, you are either pushing the weight one day or pulling it the next, in the exercises that you do.

Day 1 is Chest and Triceps. (push)

Day 2 is Back and Biceps  (pull)

Day 3 is Shoulders, Forearms, and Abdominals

Day 4 is Legs and Calves

I use a combination of free weights and machines for my workouts. I work out every one of my muscle groups just one time per week, which is all you need if you are working out correctly and are following proper nutrition, along with rest and recuperation.  For large muscle groups such as thighs, chest, and back, I recommend twelve total sets (four exercises x three sets). For small muscle groups, such as biceps and triceps, I recommend nine total sets (three exercises x three sets). I work the shoulders twelve sets because they frame the upper body and are an important part of posture. Always work larger muscle groups—chest, back, legs—before smaller ones—calves, shoulders, arms. For example, if you are planning to work your back and your biceps, work your back first.

I use the Pyramid Routine a lot of the time. For the first set of each exercise for each body part, use a light weight for fifteen reps. For the next set, add enough weight so you can only do about ten to twelve reps. For the third set, continue to add weight, so that for your next set you will only be able to do eight to ten reps. Most people I see in the gym never grow in all the years they train. Why? Because they never train with INTENSITY. Muscle growth only occurs in the last few reps when lactic acid buildup (that burning feeling) is so bad that you finally cannot do another rep……..this is training to FAILURE.  At this time you have actually torn your micro fibers of your muscle. If you are in an anabolic state your muscles repair and grow bigger and stronger. If you just go through the motions, there is no muscle damage and hence no rebuilding.

If the same stress—exercise—is put on the muscle continuously, the body adapts to it and eventually stops producing results. After you have learned the proper form and technique and have built a solid foundation, you will want to start trying new things to shock your muscles into continued growth. There are many ways to “shock” your muscles and keep them off balance so they don’t get used to your routine. All of my specific workouts and shocking techniques are in my book.

Remember train with 1) proper form, 2) smooth, steady motion 3) full range of motion, and 4) intensity.

Total Health For Life, the paperback, at www.totalhealth4life.net

The blood brings nutrition and oxygen to the cells and the lymph removes the waste, debris, and disease components such as viruses. The cells are bathed in lymphatic fluid. Fluid retention in the tissues suffocates the cells so that the nutrients can’t get in and garbage accumulates. Here are two excellent and simple methods to get the lymphatic fluid moving and each one will help to get the nutrients in and the waste products out.

Deep breathing

Deep diaphragmatic breathing is possibly the best way of circulating the lymph. Breath in slowly and deeply pushing the belly out and then let the breath go slowly and completely. The dramatic pressure variance with the lung expansion and contraction moves the lymph and also helps to open the ducts to allow the lymph to reenter the bloodstream at the subclavian veins at the base of the neck. Deep, slow diaphragmatic breathing for 10 minutes a day will oxygenate the blood and also circulate the lymph.

Rebounding

A Rebounder, also known as a mini-trampoline, is a great way to exercise. A simple, gentle walk in place without even lifting the feet off of the trampoline will suffice to circulate the lymph. At the top of the bounce the body experiences a moment free of gravity and at that time all of the one-way valves in the lymphatic vessels open to allow the fluid to move upward. This can even be done without a rebounder just by bouncing on the toes.

RICO’S COMMENTS: The lymphatic system is the forgotten system of the body. Unknown to most, the lymphatic system functions as the first line of defense against all the possible infectious diseases. We would  fall prey to various diseases and disorders, if not for the lymphatic system. Lymphatic system assists the immune system in various ways. It maintains fluid and protein balance, helps in the absorption of fats from the food that we eat, assists in excretion of waste materials from the body, and transports various essential nutrients, like oxygen and hormones,  in the body. This is why it’s so important to keep our lymphatic system moving!

by Dr. Doug McGuff

Essentially, by aggressively working your muscle to fatigue, you’re stimulating the muscular adaptation that will improve the metabolic capability of the muscle and cause it to grow. McGuff recommends using four or five basic compound movements for your exercise set. These exercises can be done using either free weights or machines. The benefit of using a quality machine is that it will allow you to focus your mind on the effort, as opposed on the movement.

Dr. McGuff recommends the following five movements:

1. Pull-down (or alternatively chin-up)
2. Chest press
3. Compound row (A pulling motion in the horizontal plane)
4. Overhead press
5. Leg press

Here’s a summary of how to perform each exercise:

1. Begin by lifting the weight as slowly and gradually as you can. The first inch should take about two seconds. Since you’re depriving yourself of all the momentum of snatching the weight upward, it will be very difficult to complete the full movement in less than 7-10 seconds. (When pushing, stop about 10 to 15 degrees before your limb is fully straightened; smoothly reverse direction)
2. Slowly lower the weight back down
3. Repeat until exhaustion
4. Immediately switch to the next exercise for the next target muscle group and repeat the first three steps

This super-slow movement allows your muscle, at the microscopic level, to access the maximum number of cross-bridges between the protein filaments that produce movement in the muscle.

Once you reach exhaustion, don’t try to heave or jerk the weight to get one last repetition in. Instead, just keep trying to produce the movement, even if it’s not ‘going’ anywhere, for another five seconds or so. If you’re using the appropriate amount of weight or resistance, you’ll be able to perform four to eight repetitions. As mentioned earlier, when done in this fashion, your workout will take no more than 12 or 15 minutes. And you really cannot get any more efficient than that!

RICO’S COMMENTS:

I have used a variation of this technique for a year now and found it excellent for muscle growth. You will never PULL OF TEAR  a muscle this way and if you actually go to failure (most important … most people I see in the gym NEVER go to failure) you will see muscle growth like never before. Bottom line: it’s all about intensity. This is a great body workout that stimulates growth all over the body. Do this just 3 times a week with 3 sessions of HIIT and you will have a very efficient, muscle, heart and lung power building regimen.

The words “weight training,” “strength training,” and “resistance training” all describe the same thing. Weight training has gained much popularity in the last twenty years because men and women of all ages who participate in it achieve its many benefits. I refer to weight training as the fountain of youth because it reverses the effects of aging. Weight training used to be associated with big, hulky bodybuilders. Now it is part of a good health/fitness program.

Strength training is anaerobic exercise defined as repetitive exercises that isolate muscle groups and work them against resistance. Stretching your muscles and your body before, during, and after is a big part of the weight training picture. Last but not least are rest, recuperation, and recovery. These are as important as the actual effort you put in at the gym.

The amount of muscle you have affects your metabolism. Would you like to burn more calories when you are just sitting? The more muscle you have, the higher your resting metabolic rate is. This means even when you are resting, your body burns calories at a higher rate when you have more muscle. In addition to increasing fat burning, weight training also helps reduce the fat in your midsection. Aerobic exercise works on the superficial fat around the waist, but weight training breaks down the innermost fat around internal organs, which many believe may cause increased health risks. That is of utmost importance in maintaining your health.

Strength training also affects the amount of anti-aging hormones your body secretes—estrogen, testosterone, and growth hormone. Middle-aged men and women can increase low sex hormone levels by participating in a regular strength training program.

The American Heart Association issued a statement endorsing resistance training saying, “Mild to moderate resistance training can provide an effective method for improving muscular strength and endurance, preventing and managing a variety of chronic medical conditions, modifying coronary risk factors, and enhancing psychological well-being.”

Let’s talk about your relationship with your muscle. The skeletal muscle of your body makes up about 60% of the tissue through which blood is pumped. If the skeletal muscle is conditioned, then the heart has an easier time pumping blood through it. A person can be fat or skinny and still have unconditioned muscle since it doesn’t condition itself naturally.  Since the heart of someone with unconditioned muscles must pump harder and do more work to get the job done, the blood pressure is raised.  When your muscles are conditioned, your body finds its natural blood pressure. Want to lower your blood pressure?  Weight train.

As we grow older, we have a tendency to lose muscle mass.  After age thirty, people tend to lose about a half pound of muscle per year. As we see our parents and our grandparents aging, they seem to be shrinking and in a sense, they actually are. They are losing their lean body mass. In losing body mass they lose some ability to burn fat. So fat starts to accumulate around their middle. The absolute only way to retain body mass as you age is to weight train.  If you don’t use it, you lose it. Weight training does far more than retain or gain body mass. Not only does it figure heavily in body weight control, it also lessens the risk of a host of ills such as cardiovascular problems, diabetes, several kinds of cancer, and more. It also improves nerve cell coordination for balance, relieves arthritic symptoms, and increases bone density.

In one test, researchers at Johns Hopkins University found that the transit time of food through the intestine was shortened by half after subjects engaged in three months of strength training, reducing the risk of such problems as diverticulitis, hemorrhoids, constipation, and possibly colon cancer. Studies have also shown that weight training reduces the bad LDL cholesterol (aerobic exercise raises the good HDL cholesterol).

Weight training is for all ages, starting with pre-teens, right up through senior citizens in their seventies, eighties, and nineties. It becomes increasingly important past age fifty to prevent such common causes of disability as brittle bones, back pain, and instability. It also maintains or restores strength and vitality.  Building muscle makes bones strong and increases bone density.

Click below to buy the paperback:

http://www.amazon.com/Total-Health-Life-Boomers-Bible/dp/1434807223/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325290982&sr=1-1

When it comes to running long distances, Dr. Siegel was right on the mark when he said, “Your body doesn’t know whether you’ve run a marathon, or been hit by a truck.”

And the “inflammatory storm” triggered by the stress of running a marathon creates the exact same symptoms as heart disease.

The media glosses right over this kind of stuff. But the message is clear: Your body was not designed for monotonous, continuous running.

What happens is that your body reacts to the “injury” you’re inflicting on it – running – with an adaptive emergency-repair response. Your adrenal glands and brain produce the stress hormones cortisol and vasopressin. Your damaged muscles churn out cytokines, which trigger inflammation throughout your body. Even your heart gets damaged.

In one study they tested the blood of 60 marathon finishers and found that after the race, some runners’ hearts had trouble pumping the blood back out to the lungs. They also found increased pressure in the heart, enzymes leaking through the heart’s membrane, and heart cell injury.¹

This happens because routinely forcing your body to perform the same continuous cardiovascular challenge, by repeating the same movement, at the same rate, thousands of times over, without variation, without rest, is unnatural.

Adding repeated “cardio” to our busy days and pushing for greater endurance produces the opposite result of what we need in the modern world.

We’re only supposed to be running to save our lives – a fight or flight situation where you produce astronomical amounts of hormones to either fight or escape from danger. And here we are, running when there is no need to.

Sure, you can train for endurance, but nobody ever stopped to think if you should. If they had, they would have realized that the long-term consequence is that running robs your heart and lungs of their capacity, or power, and trades that power in for efficiency.

But your body wasn’t designed to be an efficient little scooter. It’s built more like a Ferrari: powerful bursts over short distances with plenty of reserve power when you need it.

But the flip side of that is that there’s a lot of power in your adaptive response. In fact, it’s the key to rebuilding the heart power the modern world has taken from you.

www.alsearmd.com

RICO’S COMMENTS:

I get bashed from lots of long distance runners in one of my You Tube videos on this subject. I’m not making this up. I learn from several of the brightest health and fitness guys out there. They all appear to be saying the same thing. Don’t forget about the wear and tear put on your knees, back, joints and ligaments with years of long distance running too. They way to good health is doing what is natural for our bodies, like eating clean, live, raw foods and organic meats/poultry, and getting the right kind of exercise. Look at pictures of athletes that train with variations of HIIT and long distance runners. Who looks healthier? Who looks skinny and frail? Having lean muscle mass has many health benefits and is an important part of being optimally healthy.

• 15 grams Pure Ion-Exchange Whey Protein Isolate
• 15 grams Super Collagen™ Bioavailable Peptides
• Rich in BCAAs
• Good source of L-Glutamine
• Enhanced with Exogenous Amino Acids
• Multi-vitamin Fortification
• Doctor Formulated

What’s NOT in Collagen Sport™

• Gluten, Wheat, Sugar & Lactose Free
• No Artificial Sweeteners or Flavors
• No Fillers or Synthetic Ingredients

The 4 in 1 Breakdown:

1 – Refuel

Whey Protein Isolate is THE preferred and superior form of protein for athletes. It’s rich in essential and branched chain amino acids (BCAAs), necessary especially after strenuous workouts. BCAAs also play a role in the body’s levels of glutathione, an important antioxidant in the immune system. NeoCell’s whey protein isolate is developed using selective ion-exchange technology, which selects the primary functional and nutritional proteins alpha- and beta- lactoglobulins and other protein fractions for a highly effective and bio-active protein.

2 – Recover

Athletes all too often do not supplement their connective tissues in tendons and ligaments until deterioration sets in, resulting in the typical aches and pains of exercise. Super Collagen® 1&3 undergoes an absorption-enhancing process that uses enzyme hydrolyzation. This process yields low molecular weight collagen peptides for maximum bioavailability. Super Collagen® 1&3 is particularly rich in the amino acids glycine, proline, hydroxyproline and hydroxylysine, and supports recovery, strength, and flexibility of muscles, ligaments, and tendons.

3 – Regenerate

L-Glutamine & Exogenous Amino Acids – Strenuous activity burns through your body’s glutamine supplies, which can push the body to rip glutamine from your muscles if it isn’t coming from your diet. L-glutamine is the most abundant free-form amino acid in skeletal muscle and is crucial in the muscle recovery process. The special chemical structure of L-glutamine makes it the primary amino acid that drives nitrogen into muscle cells for muscle synthesis. Exogenous amino acids overall are important for increase of net muscle protein synthesis.

4 – Replenish

Each serving of Collagen Sport™ provides a good source of daily vitamins and minerals as well as the antioxidant power of Pomegranate extract. Increased activity results in higher oxidation in the body, requiring active individuals to counteract with high quality antioxidants. NeoCell’s pomegranate extract is standardized to 70% ellagic acid, an extraordinary antioxidant that fights cell-damaging free radicals generated during exercise.

RICO’S COMMENTS: This company sent me their protein powder to try out. It looked great. I am a very informed consumer. The only thing was that it is an ISOLATE powder. Isolate has the highest bioavailability  but why I don’t use them anymore is because I found out that isolates are stripped of all the alkalizing minerals and therefore are VERY ACIDIC. My lifestyle is based on having an alkaline, disease-free life. Alkaline bodies resist ALL disease. Disease can’t exist in an alkaline, oxygenated body. So I contacted the company and voiced my concerns as to why I couldn’t use it.

Most companies never even respond to you or just brush your remarks off. They not only contacted me but took my suggestions and got their protein tested  for pH (alkalinity)! Here’s what I recently got back from them: Our Collagen Sport just came back from 3rd party testing, and has a ph of 6.99. We believe the minerals in our formula are able to buffer the acidity of the isolate. That’s like tap water (neutral) and not acidic! Next I asked them if their powder was tested for HEAVY METALS. Mind you these are not questions that the average Joe knows to ask or even thinks about when buying protein powders. MOST POWDERS ON THE MARKET (the most popular ones!!!!) ARE FULL OF TOXINS, FOOD DYES, TOXIC SUGARS LIKE SUCRALOSE (that kill all of your good gut bacteria leading to a multitude of serious health problems), LACTOSE, GMO PRODUCTS, ETC.

Just got this reply back only after one week in reply to the HEAVY METALS question:

Hey Rico I just got back the results of our heavy metal testing 

Common knowledge is Creatine monohydrate is a proven muscle building, strength enhancing and performance boosting supplement. It’s one of the few supplements that DOES work. But does it?

But there’s ONE HUGE PROBLEM with creatine…

Creatine converts into toxic Creatinine

When creatine supplements were tested after mixing with any liquid, most of it rapidly converts to the by-product “creatinine.” Which means two things:

1. There is very little pure creatine left to get to your muscle cells where it’s needed (only 10-20% of the actual amount you’re taking). But worse is…
2. After the creatine converts to creatinine… it’s a toxic substance capable of causing even more nasty side effects like stomach cramps, bloating, diarrhea, water retention, dehydration, headaches… and potential liver and kidney problems.

WHY DOES KRE ALKALYN WORK WHEN CREATINE DOESN’T?

Kre Alkalyn is “Ph balanced” to be “immune” to the ph levels of your stomach acids and other parts of your digestive system… it does NOT break-down into the toxic substance creatinine before it reaches your muscle cells. It’s 100% stable and 100% bio-available. The buffered (to a pH of 12) Kre Alkalyn bypasses your stomach acid intact so it all can by used by your body.

Which means you can take less Kre Alkalyn and still get the same muscle building and strength enhancing effects of much, much more creatine. That’s why 1 Gram of Kre Alkalyn is equal to 10 grams of Creatine Monohydrate.

from www.doubleyourgains.com

RICO’S COMMENTS: Kre Alkalyn, fermented Glutamine, Nitric Oxide and Karbolyn are the main cornerstones of my pre and post workout supplementation regimen. There is a science to building muscle and I have studied it for many years and applied what I have learned to my regimen. It has changed numerous times due to new discoveries and science. KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!

GreenMedInfo.com has a list of 71 diseases that may be associated with statin drugs, and this is only the tip of the iceberg. There are actually over 900 studies showing the risks of statin drugs, which include:

Oftentimes statins do not have any immediate side effects, and they are quite effective, capable of lowering cholesterol levels by 50 points or more. This makes it appear as though they’re benefiting your health, and health problems that develop later on are frequently misinterpreted as brand new, separate health problems.

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2.) Flu Vaccines Have Little to No Measurable Benefit, not to mention being dangerous for you!

The CDC states that the annual flu vaccine is the “best” way to avoid catching the seasonal flu, but what many fail to realize is that there’s virtually NO valid scientific evidence to support it, in either its effectiveness or its safety. This is particularly true for key target groups for which the CDC says the flu shot is most important, like seniors, children and pregnant women!

Again and again, the Cochrane Database Review—which is the gold standard for assessing the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of commonly used medical interventions—has concluded that flu vaccines do not appear to have any measurable benefit either for children, adults, or seniors.

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3.) Drug companies are making claims based on lies with only 6% of their advertising backed by scientific evidence.

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4.) Wisely choosing how you cook your fish can make a big difference. Carefully poaching or baking until tender and flaky, while avoiding over-cooking the fish are your best bets.

When cooking any kind of food, also keep the following tips in mind:

• Use a stable oil like coconut oil for all your cooking and baking
• Avoid using non-stick or aluminum cookware
• Avoid overcooking your food

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5.) Foods that raise your blood sugar levels essentially are “toxic” in that they set in motion a cascade of detrimental health effects. The same can be said for fructose. It’s not a toxin in and of itself, but when consumed in excess (anything above 15-25 grams/day for most people), its effects are toxic to your system and will surely have a negative impact on your health.

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6.) Every food has a “heat labile point.” This is the temperature point at which food changes its chemical configuration. Pasteurization, deep-frying, and barbecuing are all forms of cooking where food is heated past the heat labile point.

Your body is designed to eat foods of certain chemical configurations—which is related to your ancestral history.

If these configurations change, whether due to ‘unnatural’ cooking methods, or chemical additives, your body may not be able to properly digest and assimilate that food as it doesn’t have the appropriate enzymes for the job. When the food does not digest and assimilate properly, it can sit in your gut, where it can become toxic. For example, carbohydrates can start to ferment; proteins putrefy, and fats become rancid. These toxins irritate the lining of your gastrointestinal tract and can upset your gut flora, causing overgrowth of candida and other pathogens. Many of today’s ills can be traced back to improper and unnatural cooking and processing.

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7.) In her book, “Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer,” Shannon Brownlee talks about the number of people who die in hospitals due to incorrect care, drug dosage or hospital-acquired infections. Even with new safety regulations in place, 180,000 hospitalized Americans still die every year from largely preventable causes – and the worst part about it, Brownlee says, is that as much as a third of that care does nothing to improve your health! The United States ranks 46^th in the world in infant mortality and 49^th in life expectancy.

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8.) FLUORIDE IN OUR TAP WATER!

Originally, the fluoride used to fluoridate water supplies came from the aluminum and atomic bomb industries. A couple of years later, however, they realized there was another fluoride product that was much more readily available.  The reason it was so readily accessible was because it was a truly hazardous waste that was very hard to get rid of, namely hydrogen fluoride from the phosphate fertilizer industry.

This fluoride gas is captured in the scrubber system and turned into hydrofluorosilicic acid—which is the primary source of fluoride used for water fluoridation. This phosphate fertilizer byproduct also typically contains arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury, plus a variety of other contaminants that are part of the phosphate ore.

“And so now you have a product, or a hazardous material, that you can’t put in an ocean, you can’t put in a river or lake or stream, you can’t bury it, and you can’t even give it away,” says Green. But you can sell it and put it in the commercial water supplies!

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9.) Vitamin D is a steroid hormone that influences virtually every cell in your body, and is easily one of nature’s most potent cancer fighters. So I want to stress again that if you are shunning all sun exposure, you are missing out on this natural cancer protection. You can get vitamin D3 in supplement form, and if sunlight or a safe tanning bed is not an option. Higher levels of vitamin D are necessary to provide protection from more serious chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, infections, multiple sclerosis and more. The average adult needs to take 8,000 IU’s of vitamin D per day in order to elevate his or her levels above 40 ng/ml — the bare minimum requirement necessary for disease prevention. Ideally, you’ll want your levels to be between 50-70 ng/ml.

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10.) STRENGTH TRAINING is an integral part of a well-rounded exercise program, and is recommended for all ages, including kids and seniors. Do it because muscle revolutionizes your metabolism, transforms your body from the inside out, and is your best bet for reversing the aging process. It’s also an important part of maintaining a healthy weight, strengthening your bones, and improving your body’s posture, range of motion and functionality In short, do it because muscle is about all the things you associate with youth.

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Info from: Dr. Mercola, Al Sears, Mike Adams

RICO’S COMMENTS: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER.

Mission Statement

Achieving optimal health, physically, emotionally and spiritually is ever more difficult in today’s high-tech world we live in. Just eating right and exercising is only the tip of the iceberg. Stress, pollution, toxins in our everyday food, air and products, lack of sleep and sunshine, greedy corporations tainting our food supplies for profit, and the ill effects of technological advances endanger our health at every turn. Our goal is to empower you with the knowledge to make appropriate choices for you and your family, in nutrition, exercise and supplementation to be able to live the longest, healthiest, happiest, disease-free life possible!

You must be able to manage your emotional state. You’re in control and you must use that ability. What controls your emotional state is what and how you focus on it.  YOU make the decisions on what your mind focuses on. How do you control the focus? You do it by listening to your inner thoughts and self-talk and asking the right questions. Instead of asking, “Why am I so fat?” and getting depressed, ask, “What could I do to become healthy?”  Turn the question into a positive, motivating one. You need to condition yourself to feel differently about the concepts of pain and pleasure, and what you associate them with.

You must change the way you think—your feelings, associations, and beliefs. You need to recondition them. All are conditioned—you developed these ways of thinking over the course of time. They have been formed as a result of experience and environment. These feelings, associations, and beliefs are what limit you.

A perfect example of how our mind’s can limit us happened to me in the gym.  There are two incline chest machines that look exactly the same and are right next to each other. On the one I used the week before, I could lift the whole stack of weights. It was my “chest day” again, so I jumped on the other machine because someone was using the one I used the previous week. I thought it was the exact same machine, so I stuck the pin on the bottom of the weight stack. What I didn’t know was the machine I was on went up to a heavier weight than the machine next to it, even though it looked exactly the same. As I proceeded to push the bar up, I started to struggle. My mind told me, “Go ahead, you did this easily last week.” Well, I squeezed out three repetitions and couldn’t do more. Puzzled, I went behind the machine and looked at the weight stack. To my amazement, I saw it was 125 pounds more than the machine next to it. If anyone had asked me if I could lift that amount of weight, I would’ve said, “Never in a million years.” If that’s not an incentive to get rid of your limiting thoughts and expectations, I don’t know what is. Your mind can work both ways. I unknowingly tricked myself into lifting that weight. If I had seen the actual weight, my mind would have said, “You can’t lift that much.” Your mind is the biggest muscle you have. Make it work for you rather than against you. You can change your limiting thoughts.

Let me give another example. I used to be a junk food junkie. I loved sweets, cakes, chocolate, cookies, pies, candy, and every other sugary substance. It didn’t matter that those were the most non-nutritious foods I could have eaten. When I made the commitment to get healthy, I formed a different association with those foods. Instead of asking myself, “Why can’t I have them anymore?” I thought, “What will I look like if I keep on eating this way and how will continuing to eat them affect my attempts at becoming healthy?”

I began to look at food in a much different way. I started seeing it as my ally. With my knowledge of what a balanced diet consisted of, I made food work for me, not against me. Sweets were now seen as the saboteur—the empty calories that brought me up, then sent me crashing down. I learned that by combining a fitness routine with a good diet, my body drastically changed for the better.

Now that I have changed my feelings about food, you would have to tie me up and stick a crowbar between my teeth to get me to eat a piece of cheesecake, which contains over thirty grams of fat! Instead of fearing the pain of going to the gym—it’s all in your head—I reconditioned myself to fear the pain of not being in shape. My feelings and associations about the gym have gone from the fear of the pain of not being in shape to the pleasure of getting a good “pump” and having my endorphins kick in as I go through my workout. My philosophy is, “I’m the king and the gym is my castle!”

Excerpts from my paperback: TOTAL HEALTH FOR LIFE: Mind & Body, The Baby Boomer’s Bible of Health

http://www.amazon.com/Total-Health-Life-Boomers-Bible/dp/1434807223/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321568624&sr=1-1-spell