Author Archive
Walkin Them Blues Away
Do You Let Life Get You Down? Here is a One Shot Remedy!
Finally!
Days are getting a bit longer and warmer every day.
We are still in the season though, when many people get down in the dumps.
So many people do so that this effect has its own medical classification. (Seasonal Effectiveness Disorder or SAD) We have already talked about SAD in detail in 10 Foods to Improve Your Mood.
I wanted to share with you a one shot remedy for this – or any other depressing problem.
It’s a simple technique that anyone can employ – WALKING.
A 2006 study found that just one bout of exercise; a brisk 30 minute walk immediately improved the mood of depressed individuals.
Studies have also shown that walkers have less incidence of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and other killer diseases. They live longer and enjoy improved mental health and spiritual benefits.
I like what a friend, Lynn Fraser, The Practical Life Balance Expert, calls these strolls with her dog – BRAIN WALKS!
Are you walking enough? Tips on Walking
The 1996 Surgeon General’s report, Physical Activity and Health, recommended Read the rest of this entry »
Spinach – the First Green Powerfood
Spinach For Strength and Energy
Spinach was a powerfood even before there was the term Powerfood.
We’re referring of course to Popeye the Sailor Man . One can of the green stuff and he turned into muscle popping tornado of energy.
Even without Popeye’s recommendation, spinach contains more nutrients per calorie than any other food on the earth.
8 Benefits of Spinach:
1. Loaded with vitamins like A, K, D, and E and and a host of trace minerals.
2. Good source omega 3 fatty acid – the kind most of us need in North America
3. Anti-Cancer and Anti- inflammatory antioxidants:
Researchers have identified more than a dozen different flavonoid compounds in spinach that function as anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agents.
In a recent study on the relationship between risk of prostate cancer and vegetable intake (including such healthy vegetables as broccoli, cabbage, and brussel sprouts) only spinach showed evidence of significant protection against the occurrence of aggressive prostate cancer.
4. Alkalizes the body:
All those minerals helps to balance off the highly acid diet which most of us subject our bodies to and which drains our energy, increases obesity and a host of other health problems.
5. Good for the eyes:
The carotenoids found in spinach protects against eye diseases such as cataracts and Macular Degeneration.
6. Strengthens the Bones:
One cup of fresh spinach (or 1/6 cup of cooked spinach) contains TWICE your daily vitamin K needs. This along with the calcium and magnesium in spinach is essential to maintain healthy bones.
7. Perfect for Green Smoothies and Salads:
Organic pre-washed spinach is now readily available in most grocery stores. If you haven’t yet tried a green smoothie yet and think they might taste yucky then try one with the main ingredient as spinach. Spinach is so sweet, we guarantee you will be impressed. To see Diana make her own special brand of green smoothie click here. Diana’s Green Smoothie
8. Spinach is FRESH!
Studies have shown that those plastic tubs of spinach being exposed to even artificial light in the grocery store are actually help keep it from spoiling. This indicates the spinach is still metabolically active and fresh.
Tips and Cautions:
Tip #1: Make sure you only choose organic spinach. Non organic spinach is on the list of top foods with lots of chemical pesticides. You can assume that canned spinach is NOT organic. I can’t imagine anyone eating canned spinach anyway but since we mentioned Popeye I thought I had better mentions that.
Tip #2: Choose the GREENEST looking spinach you can find. Probably you would have anyway but studies have shown that the greenest spinach has the most vitamin C.
Tip #3: Because spinach contains high levels of so many nutrients it also has significant levels of oxalic acid. This has been associated with kidney problems and interference with absorption of other minerals.
There is much debate whether the oxalates in spinach would have this kind of effect but just be sure, if you have a pre-existing kidney problem, better to consult your doctor before eating too much.
At Real Food For Life, we recommend that a person balance their body enough so that they can use their own bodies as a gauge on how much or little to eat of a particular food.
For example, I usually crave spinach but sometimes I just don’t want it in my body. I suspect that perhaps I have reached my limit for something, (like the oxalates) within the food.
This personalized approach to your nutrition is the easiest and ultimately the most powerful approach to nutritional choices. We explain this more in our “Three Secrets” report.
Recipes with Spinach:
Power Spinach Salad: You just HAVE TO know how to make a good spinach salad. This one is great.
Miso Soup with Spinach and Mushrooms: This is fast, tasty, and contains at least three powerfoods.
Diana’s Green Smoothie With a Difference:
Copyright © Randy Fritz You are welcome to share this article with anyone who you think may benefit from this information as long as you give credit to Real Food for Life by including the link to the home page www.RealFoodforLife.com or the direct link to this post.
Better Health Doesn’t Have to be Complicated
We want to make your life and health choices simpler.
There are hundreds of different approaches to optimizing health.
In over 30 years of experimenting, we have figured out what works…
and what doesn’t!
Ninety percent of the health benefits you desire will come from one or two simple steps – not complicated rules or fanatical ideologies.
These benefits include:
- Clear, radiant skin
- Increased energy
- A lean body
- Overcoming health challenges
Here is one quick tip… Try to emphasize real food; food that is whole and live… Read the rest of this entry »
Randy’s 10 Health & Personal Goals for 2011
Whaaaa Whoooo! 2011… Here I come!
These are 10 things I wish to improve in 2011.
Do you have any similar goals? 
1. Eat more of Diana’s ginger cake..
2. Pray more, Love more.
3. Chew more.
4. Move more.
5. Compute less.
6. Breathe more.
7. Master 2 healthy meals/month.
8. Take more vacations (WITHOUT business involved).
9. Listen to my body more.
10. Create systems to help myself and others do all the above.
Promise… Read the rest of this entry »
7 Health Tips to Avoid Christmas Regrets
December is the season to be jolly but DO have a plan to avoid overdoing the food and drink.
There is a great eating adage – “It’s not what you eat between Christmas and New Years that determines your health – it’s what you eat between New Years and Christmas.”
This creates perspective for your long-term health but still… no one wants to feel lousy or guilty the next day.
Around the holidays is often when people feel unwell and suffer.
Here are 7 strategies to deal with all that food and drink.
1. Ask yourself “what is your intent” before going to the party. If your intent is to gorge yourself or get wasted maybe you wouldn’t be reading this anyway, but the goal is usually to connect and enjoy company with others. Keeping this priority in the back of your mind will help you make better choices.
2. Plan when you wish to leave. The host’s or group’s responsibility is to continue offering food and drink every moment you are there – even if you have said 'no' several times – so the sooner you leave, the sooner you are not tempted with more and more. The easiest way to for this to work is to have a quiet or healthy event already scheduled. You can announce this immediately to your host or friends when you need to leave and it is totally natural. There are lots of things going in the holidays.
N.B. Our 20-something 'cool adviser' didn't like this point at all. "Everyone knows the best party only gets really going late when everyone has left!" Oh well.
3. 
The strategy of leaving applies perfectly to the dinner or feast table. Like the police shout to the bad guys in the movies, “Back away from the table with your hands UP!”, If you have an activity in another part of the home or party planned right after the meal then you are not sitting around for your host to offer you seconds or thirds or fourths.
Here is a novel strategy which would never occur to most men. Your strategy for leaving the table could be to help with CLEARING the table and CLEANING the dishes. Most hosts or cooks never overdo it because they're just too busy.
4. This same strategy applies to the bar. Just don’t spend the whole evening standing near it.
5. There are going to be MANY different foods and delicacies. Choose small portions – even of your favourites like stuffing or desserts. There’s always seconds if you really want but the SLOWER you consume your food the more clearly your body will be able to tell you that it is full.
6. What WHEN you eat. Assuming you will be eating rich or sweet foods. Make sure you start with significant portions of light fibre foods like salad. Meat and deserts have NO fibre. Fibre easily fills you up, helps move the foods through you so even if it is too much it still will get processed, AND it slows down the rush of sugar into your bloodstream.
Do you feel indigestion after the big meal? It could be the COMBINATION of conflicting foods is causing indigestion. Each category of food (fruit, salad, protein, vegetables, carbs) is digested differently. For example, fruit doesn’t combine well with anything. Vegetables combine well with everything. Therefore, DON”T combine different categories with every second bite. Start with the fruit, finish it, go on to the salad, finish that, then your protein, finish that, and then vegetables. Finish off with carbs but hopefully you may not be so hungry to eat lots of potatoes, stuffing and buns. Try to leave at least an hour before dessert.
7. 
You can have a great time and not drink at all……REALLY. You just decide to act a little crazy anyway. This works best of course if everyone decides the same thing.
EXTRA VITAL TIP and WARNING: Maybe none of the above tips ring true for you or somehow your good intentions get lost in the party rush. No big problem… NO ONE IS GOING TO DIE! BUT, if you drink and drive, or get in a car with someone who has been drinking … someone certainly MAY die. Plan ahead to have a designated driver or use a taxi.
Is Your Supplement Expensive?
There are Herbs That Cost One Thousand Times More Than Whatever You Are Using!
I could have titled this post – "Do You THINK the Supplement You Are Using is Expensive?"
I might have answered 'yes' to that myself – sort of. I used to like to shock people by explaining that the supplement I was recommending to them was very expensive. That would get their attention! I would then quickly add that it was worth every penny and cheaper to use because it was the finest herb food combination available and concentrated many times.
Isn’t that what most people want – something that really works? Because when you are dealing with the most precious commodity we have – our health – we really do want the best. In this situation, a supplement that seems expansive at first glance is NOT.
I don't shock people anymore though. I just came across a couple of really expensive supplements that go far beyond anything I could imagine.
Read the rest of this entry »
A Revolutionary Simple Approach To Healthy Eating
