Thursday, October 6, 2011

Just because you exercise...


does not mean you have a healthy lifestyle. You must eat healthy, drink healthy, AND exercise. I know people who tell me, "It doesn't matter what I eat, just so I exercise the calories away, I'll be healthy."
These people are misinformed or uninformed.

You have to first educate yourself what is healthy and what is not regarding food and drink. Only then will you have a chance for a completely healthy lifestyle: healthy food and drink combined with regular exercise.

For example, you need to understand that the sludge in food from animals- the saturated fat and cholesterol- builds up in your arteries and blood vessels over time promoting diseases like cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and atherosclerosis- hardening of the arteries.
Think of the grease drippings from meat (which is fat and cholesterol). If you let it sit, it solidifies. This is the sludge you are putting through your arteries, blood vessels and organs.

Here is a fantastic 4 minute video from Dr. Michael Greger: Eliminating the #1 Cause of Death http://nutritionfacts.org/videos/eliminating-the-1-cause-of-death/

The best way to not have a cholesterol problem is to not eat it. There is only cholesterol in food from animals- none in plant foods. There is fiber only in plant foods- none in food from animals. Fiber acts as a healthy scrub brush in your colon. Plant foods digest quickly. Animal foods sit in your colon for long periods of time and putrify. A diet high in animal foods and low in plant foods over time promotes colon cancer.

On a different note: I know someone who tells me, "I can eat whatever I want, just so I take my cholesterol pills". This person could not be farther from the truth. Pills do not heal disease, they merely mask it. Taking pills for a diet related disease is liking putting a band-aid on a cut that never heals. The best way to heal a diet related disease is to turn to a starch based, plant based diet. Would you rather not have to take those expensive pills?

The best way to protect your heart, your arteries, your blood vessels, your organs- your entire body and your mind/your mental health, is by having a healthy diet- a starch based, plant based diet, combined with some form of regular exercise.

The reason many people have a problem considering switching to a starch based, plant based diet is they are addicted to junk foods and food from animals. Sugar addiction has been compared to cocaine addiction, it is so hard to give up. There are mild opiates in all food from animals, making them addictive and hard to give up. Again, if you educate yourself and put into your brain what is healthy and what is not, making the change from a junk food/animal foods diet to a starch based, plant based diet is much easier.
This is your life, your longevity we're talking about. The choice is yours.

Best of luck! :)
-------------------

Here's a comment from a reader: "The runner, Jim Fixx, argued with Nathan Pritikin that if you could run a marathon you could eat anything you wanted.
In other words, exercise allows you to eat anything. Jim Fixx died of a heart attack at the age of 56 while out running.

A friend who was very slim told me she could eat anything she wanted and remain slim- just like her mother. I asked how old her mother was. She said her mother had died, at 55 years old.

So your body may be in great shape, you may be fit, but all the fat ends up in your arteries. You would be better off if it took up housekeeping on your hips, thighs and belly. At least then you would know you have a problem.

Exercise won't help in the long run if you don't eat well. It could actually be more dangerous than being a couch potato."

Another reader writes: "This reminds me of my father. About 10 years ago at the age of 61 he had a mild heart attack and underwent quadruple bypass surgery. This was a man who never smoked or drank and was very active. While he didn't "exercise", he cut firewood to heat his house in the winter and lived a very active, rural life with very rare instances of illnesses and was thin. The problem was his cholesterol was in the 300's from lots of animal products. Much of it was home-grown beef/pork so you can't blame it on supermarket meat.
The year after his bypass he climbed an indoor rock climbing wall without much difficulty and just a year ago at 70 he climbed Stone Mountain and completed 15 push-ups at the top. His eating cleaned up considerably after his operation for a few years, but has reverted back and won't change because of all the medications he's taking to keep his heart "healthy". I fear he will have another event. I bet he would live a very long life if he followed a starch based, plant based diet, which he won't."

One more reader adds: "Michael, for your dad and many others, my diagnosis is: an unhealthy lack of fear.
They probably would not cross the street without looking to see if vehicles were approaching but they will eat recklessly. So your dad may live to be 90 and do quite well but if he would listen to you maybe he could drop some meds, feel even better and reach 99!!! :)