Twinkie’s Challenge: Exercise Regularly

We’ve all been told that we are supposed to exercise on a regular basis, since it’s healthy for us. But why should you and I exercise on a regular basis? Is the effort worth the sacrifice?

I am challenging each of you to make exercise a part of your life, and I suggest you check out some of the benefits that are associated with regular exercise.

Define “Regular Exercise”

In order to benefit from regular exercise, you need to start somewhere. What’s considered “regular exercise”? In general, adults need to exercise for about three to five times a week, for 20 – 40 minutes.

Health Benefits of Regular Exercise

There are plenty of reasons why you should take on this challenge of making exercise a part of your life. I will list some of the top benefits of exercise, just to give you some encouragement and to help you get started.

•Increased Energy

Do you notice that you are lethargic and too tired to exercise? If you are already tired, I don’t blame you for dreading exercise. Interestingly enough, if you just push through that first workout,  you will notice an amazing boost of energy!

•Muscle Strength

If you want to burn more fat in any given moment, you need to gain lean muscle mass. The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn which leads to less body fat.

•Live Longer

According to a 20 year study, regular exercise has been shown to reduce the risk of dying prematurely. This isn’t a surprise considering all of the health benefits associated with exercise.

•Reduce The Risk of Breast Cancer

Studies show that when women exercise, two ovarian hormone (Progesterone and Estradiol) levels are lowered in the body. This is a very good thing, since an excess of these hormones have been linked to breast cancer tumor production. This means that by regular exercise, you can reduce the risk of breast cancer by up to 60% – if this isn’t a reason to exercise, I don’t know what is!

•Lose Excess Fat, and Keep it Off

Exercise increases your metabolism which helps you burn more calories throughout the day – long after your morning run (or whatever you decide to do). Exercise will help you reach and maintain a healthy weight.

•Clears Skin

Exercise is a great way to remove toxins from your body, which occurs when you sweat during exercise. Exercise is a natural detox for your skin, which helps you get rid of acne. Your skin increases the natural production of collagen, which is an all natural anti-aging benefit!

•Increase Cardiovascular Efficiency 

The stronger your heart is, the more blood can be pumped through your heart with less effort.  This is a very good thing since strengthening your heart with regular exercise will decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease in the process.

•Lower Blood Pressure

If you need to reduce your blood pressure, you need to start an exercise program (which this challenge should be the perfect opportunity to start, right?). All forms of exercise has been shown to be effective in lowering blood pressure.

•Strengthens Bones

Increase your bone density by choosing an active lifestyle! If you include cardiovascular exercises and weight training (nothing too intense, mind you…), it will help promote bone formation which will delay bone loss. Increase bone mass has been shown to protect against osteoporosis, which is bone loss associated with aging. As you get older, keep on moving!

•Prevent (or cure) Depression

You don’t need (in my opinion) antidepressants to help with your depression. First of all, they don’t fix the problem. Second of all, they are actually harmful to you and your mental health. Thirdly, study after study has proven that exercise reduces the symptoms of depression and promotes mental health. Exercise for 30 minutes just three to five times a week to experience significant improvements. This is something the drug companies don’t want you to know…since we all know how exercise can be cheap or even free.

•Reduce Stress Hormones

Is stress affecting your health? Sounds like you need to exercise (and perhaps resolve the issues causing the stress!) . Sometimes we can’t easily resolve the cause of the stress, but it’s good to know that regular exercise has been prove to reduce the amount of stress hormones in your body. Less stress hormones means lower blood pressure and a healthier you.

• Prevents Illness

Are you sick all of the time? Maybe you need to jump start your immune system, which will help reduce the amount of illness you will have to experience. Regular exercise is a great way to rev up your immune system

•Reduce the Risk of a Stroke

Exercise may reduce the risk of total, hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes – according to research data.

•Better Night’s Rest

Exercise has been shown to help you get to sleep at night. So long sleep apnea!

•Increase New Brain Cells

Did you know that exercise actually stimulates the formation of new brain cells? Research has shown that the area of the brain that forms the new cells is responsible for learning and memory development.

•Lower Cholesterol Levels

Do you have high cholesterol, and need to lower it? Exercise has shown to have a direct effect with influencing blood cholesterol levels by decreasing LDL (bad) cholesterol and increasing HDL (good) cholesterol.

•Prevent Diabetes

Studies have shown that exercise, combined with a healthy diet, can reduce the risk of developing diabetes by up to 60%! Considering how dangerous diabetes can be, exercise and a healthy lifestyle should be a no brainer.

Ok everyone – it’s time for you to take this challenge seriously. Do this for you. Do this for your own health, and take charge of your life. Make the choice today to make exercise a habit…you won’t regret it.

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Tags: blood pressure, cancer, cholesterol, Depression, Diabetes, energy, exercise, Fitness, immune system, muscle, prevention, strength, Twinkie's Challenge, Weight Loss

Twinkie’s Challenge: No Sugar or Artifical Sweeteners!

This quarter, I challenge you to avoid processed Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners! (You can still have natural sugars found in Fruit, Vegetables, Agave Nectar, Raw Honey, etc). So why would I give you (and myself!) this Challenge?

The Harmful Effects of Sugar

Processed Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners are really bad for you. But how bad can it be?

•Raises insulin levels in the body, which promotes the storage of fats. By storing excess fats, it causes your body to gain weight, and Sugar has been linked to causing Obesity.

•Depresses the Immune System. If your body is trying to fight an illness, Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners are only going to make things worse for you by preventing your body to fight back whatever illness it is trying to get rid of. If you want to lower your risk of getting sick this Fall and Winter Season, avoid processed Sugars and Artificial Sweeteners!

•Diabetes. Though people don’t like to blame sugar as causing their Diabetes, they admit that “Sugar may have been part of the cause”. First of all, too many calories leads to weight gain, which causes Diabetes. If you are eating that many excessive calories to cause weight gain to cause Diabetes, I am taking a shot that you are probably consuming a lot of processed Sugars and Artifical Sweeteners in your diet, and I doubt you would be eating too many vegetables.  I will let you decide on this one.

•Cardiovascular Disease  is the leading cause of death for both men and women. There are many studies that show that Sugar is linked to Cardiovascular disease, but the FDA believes that processed Sugar has no harmful outcome other than Dental issues. No offense to the FDA, but I can’t believe that Sugar in the amounts being consumed today (2-3 pounds a week) is actually OK and not a “hazard” as they put it. Puh-lease…

•Stroke. There was a study published back in July 2002 in the Journal “Neurology”, and it showed how stroke victims who have High Blood Sugar were found to have a higher risk of death,  than the stroke patients with normal Blood Sugar levels.

•Blood Clots. Sugar can increase the blood’s platelet levels and becomes more adhesive, which causes not only Blood clots, but also strokes as well.

•Yeast Infection. Sugar feeds off of Yeast Infections! If you are trying to prevent or get rid of a Yeast Infection, be sure to avoid all forms of processed Sugars and Artificial Sweeteners.  An all natural yoghurt is really good for you since it has what’s called “Good Bacteria”. Just be sure to get the Plain Yoghurt that doesn’t have anything added to it (a lot of them have added sugars or artifical sweeteners that defeat the pupose of the youghurt in the first place).

•Depression. Large doses of processed Sugar causes the brain to slow down it’s production of endorphins. With the lack of endorphins, this causes anywhere from a minor to a major depression- depending on the person.

•Cavities. I think we have all known that Sugar causes cavities since we were all like 5 years old, but I thought I would mention it anyways. Sugar mixed in with Plaque Bacteria causes Cavities. If you go off of Sugar, you will notice your teeth tend to feel cleaner. If you eat a bunch of junk food, your teeth tend to feel dirty.

•Cancer is fueled by Sugar. If you have cancer and  can suppress the amounts of Processed Sugars and Artificial Sweeteners in your diet, build your immune system back up to fight it off, exercise – you would be so much better off. There is a difference between “trying to eat good”, and “be healthy”.

•Etc. The list goes on…

Ask yourself this…is that candy worth it? No!!!

How you can win this battle against processed Sugars and Artificial Sweeteners…

So now that you have had processed Sugars and Artificial Sweeteners, how do you get rid of the habit? You and I know very well how addicting Sugar can be, so how do we avoid it altogether?

Overcome Sugar cravings

Be sure to have plenty of healthy and natural sugar in your diet, such as fruit, agave nectar, and raw honey. If you are getting enough natural sugar in your body, you shouldn’t be craving the unhealthy processed sugars and artificial sweeteners that you are trying to avoid. It’s good to know that once you stop having processed sugars and artificial sweeteners, you stop craving it after awhile!

Plan meals ahead

Review what you are currently eating for your Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Snacks. Read the labels, and think about every aspect of the meal (sauces, side dishes, etc), and see if you need to replace anything that has processed Sugar or Artificial Sweeteners in it.

Come up with planned meals for the upcoming week (or two weeks, depending on how often you go to the grocery store). Make sure you read labels (I can’t stress this enough!). Buy foods that you love to eat, and will enjoy. This will ensure that you will stick to your planned meals throughout the week. Be sure to prepare enough food throughout the day, so you won’t be hungry and desperate for anything- including something with processed Sugars or Artificial Sweeteners. This is exactly what we are trying to avoid!

Read Labels,  and understand what they really are

The following are words you need to look out for, and avoid:

Sugar is the easiest label to read and understand, since it is just Processed Sugar

Brown Sugar is processed, and it is refined sugar with some of the molasses returned to it.

Sucrose is regular known as Table Sugar

Dextrose is Corn Sugar

Corn Syrup is not naturally created or possible, and must be processed. The only company who believes Corn Syrup is Healthy, is the ones who sell it and make money off of it.

High Fructose Corn Syrup is produced by processing Corn Starch to create Glucose, and then processing the Glucose to produce a high percentage of Fructose. Let’s just say, it is NOT natural, NOT considered a Vegetable because it was made from Corn (sad, but some believe it is actually healthy), and it has to be processed several times.

Fructose, considered to be a “simple sugar”, but since it is not found in natural forms of Sugar such as Vegetables and Fruit, you should avoid it.

Aspartame is also known as “NutraSweet” and “Equal“, and is an Artificial Sweetener, and not good for you.

Saccharin, which is also known as “Sweet ‘N Low“,  is an Artificial Sweetener, and not good for you.

Acesulfame-K, which is also known as “Sunette” or “Sweet One“, is an Artificial Sweetener, and not good for you.

Sucralose, which is also known as “Splenda“, and this is an Artificial Sweetener, and not good for you.

Beware of Marketing Traps

You will probably find a lot of things labeled as “All Natrual”, “Healthy”, “Sugar Free”, etc. I urge you to read the ingredients, and see exactly what is included. Most “Sugar Free” products have an Artificial Sweetener in the product (Splenda, Aspartame, etc.), and they are promoted as being “Healthy”, but in reality, they are not good for your body.

Even foods that you would have never believed to have sugar added (I found frozen vegetables with sugar added, for example), or Artifical Sweeteners (I found Wheat Thins with High Fructose Corn Syrup), you need to read the labels to make sure you are getting the real Health Food, rather than all of the scams out there.

Make it official

Tell someone else about it. Blog about it. Create a YouTube video about it. Post your goals on Twitter or Facebook. Just make it official however you do it, so you will stick to it. If you don’t, you will make it too easy to just let yourself off the hook. If you tell the world about your determination to live without Sugar (even if it is for just one month!), you will be more likely to stick with it, especially if you know people will follow up with you in the weeks to come.

Believe and Know that you can accomplish this goal

You have to believe you will accomplish the goal, and focus on the end result – to be Healthier. Know that this is a possible goal, and you can succeed! I know you can! Know that you aren’t doing this challenge all by yourself. I am here with you, every step of the way as your support group, and together we will make this happen.

Holidays are coming up

Tags: Artificial Sweeteners, Blood Clots, cancer, Cardiovascular Disease, cavities, Corn Syrup, Depresses the Immune System, Depression, Diabetes, Fructose, goal, Harmful Effects of Sugar, heart disease, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Hypoglycemia, marketing traps, processed Sugar, Raises insulin levels, read labels, Stroke, sugar, sugar free, Sweeteners, Twinkie's Challenge, video, Yeast Infection