BodyForTheAges.org Blog

Weight-resistance training is the only way to truly sculpt our bodies. Cardio (such as jogging) is great for staying in shape, but when it comes to staying in shape and taking charge of the way our bodies look, weight-resistance training is the greater payoff.

Especially as we get older, we need to maintain muscle tone, which is essential for such basic things as holding our abdomens and backs in place. If we lose too much muscle tone, we may suffer in big ways, down the road.

EMedicineHealth.com has some good points about why we need weight-resistance training more than ever:

“The benefits of resistance exercise are well documented, and ongoing research continues to prove that it’s an important activity for Americans to be engaged in. Long ago in hunter-gatherer societies, humans’ muscles got a workout by building shelter, hunting, farming, and all the other manual chores necessary to live. Today, however, we have engineered inactivity into our lives with labor-saving devices to the extent that our muscles rarely need to be pushed very hard. We don’t rake leaves or cut grass or shovel snow by hand; we don’t climb stairs or even walk in airports (people movers do it for us!); we don’t wash our clothes or our dishes or even push a vacuum by hand (Have you seen the robotic vacuum Roomba?), and we spend more and more time in front of our computers and televisions than we do outdoors raking leaves, playing touch football, baseball, soccer, hiking, or participating in any other recreational activities. Research shows that physical inactivity is the second leading preventable cause of death in the United States, and it’s literally killing us.”

Read more: http://www.emedicinehealth.com/strength_training/page3_em.htm#resistance

Body For The Ages is here to help you take charge of your health, and meet your wellness, fitness, and anti-aging goals. Check out our San Francisco Health Center at 1801 Bush Street. It may be just the place you need, to escape from daily stresses, and dedicate a bit of your day to better health, and a better future!

More info here:

http://www.bodyfortheages.com/bfta-health-center.php

Until next time, enjoy good health!

-Melissa Chandler, Body For The Ages Blogger

While most of us mean well when it comes to eating a good breakfast, it’s often easier said than done. Tight schedules, kids, and even exercise can end up taking priority over the most important meal of the day. Add a vegetarian diet to the mix, and finding the perfect combination of protein and carbohydrates your body needs, is even more of a challenging task.

Morning is the time when your body needs a major kickstart, and if you deny your body the nutrients it needs to begin the day, you’ll experience significantly lower energy, decreased mental function, and most likely your mood will suffer as well.

We’ve all heard the above advice time and again, but let’s take a look at what we can do about making it as simple as possible to follow.

CNN.com’s diet and fitness expert, Dr. Melina Jampolis has a tasty tip:

“I sometimes find that my patients get hungry if they eat oatmeal alone so I recommend making it with a little extra water and adding a scoop of protein powder to protein fortify the oatmeal. I prefer whey protein but other types of protein work well, too. If you want to boost the healthy value even more, add a tablespoon or two of chopped nuts for extra nutrients, fiber and heart healthy monounsaturated fat.” Read more at: www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/expert.q.a/12/18/nutritious.breakfast.jampolis/index.html

Protein powders, like Body For The Ages’ CardioSoy (check it out here: http://www.bodyfortheages.com/cardio-soy.php) can be perfectly partnered with your morning carbs, to bring you the complete set of nutrients your body needs. (Many people assume that a banana alone is a healthy breakfast, but a banana is only half of what you need. A banana is a burst of carbs, good for short-term energy, but your body needs protein combined with the carbs, especially early on in the day. This brings you the all the nutrition you need, and also insures that you’ll be satisfied until your next meal, and won’t be tempted to snack.

For added protection in your wellness and fitness pursuits, check out the Pyruvate that allowed Body For The Ages founder Pax Beale to beat his heart disease and live to become a Bay Area wellness guru: http://www.bodyfortheages.com/cardio-makeover.php

CardioSoy’s ease and convenience is especially helpful to vegetarians, who often have to spend extra time finding ways to satisfy their body’s protein requirements. However, it’s also essential for those who are putting in more training hours than usual during the week. If you’re too lax about your protein intake, or find that you’ve let yourself become distracted from delivering your body the protein it needs, you’ll see the direct effects of this deficiency: Low energy, muscle weakness, and even shortness of breath.

Body For The Ages’ CardioSoy can be used as a spread over pancakes and toast, blended into a shake, or stirred into a pudding-like consistency. It’s not the only way for you to fulfill your body’s daily protein requirements, but without a doubt, it’s a quick, healthy, easy, and delicious way!

The holiday season proves to be a challenging chapter of the year.  With over booked schedules, non-stop holiday parties, and pastries at every turn, it’s no wonder people are stressed out and gaining weight!

According to a study published in the US National Library of Medicine, the average weight gained during the holiday season by Americans is 1lb.  Not so bad. However, it is a pound that you will never loose!  After thirty five years of indulging in the holiday junk food-a-thon, it’s no wonder the mid-section tends to grow!  A second study published a year later showed that obese people gain on average 5lbs!  So how do we enjoy the festivities and keep the weight down?

According to an article posted on WebMD, the food choices we make are connected to our emotional state.  Our emotional state has a huge influence on what kind of food we decide to eat and how much.  If a person is exercising daily and feeling strong, he/she is less likely to over eat. Regular exercise keeps the stress down and the weight off!

Review additional suggestions at WebMD about keeping healthy during the holiday seasons here: WebMD

Balance is the key to a healthy lifestyle and healthy eating habits.  At Body for the Ages, we believe in our online Wellness Program which delivers the support and encouragement you need in order to create a healthy balance in your life!  The online Wellness Program offers an individually tailored plan to each unique person.  Pax Beale, founder of Body for the Ages, believes that with proper nutrition, exercise and supplementation, each person has the potential to live their genetic lifespan!

To read more about the Body for the Ages online Wellness program, go to: www.bodyfortheages.org.

Be Well!!

Donnamarie Alesia

Body For the Ages Blogger

Turning Back the Clock

If you’ve reached middle age and your health habits are less than desirable, don’t give up hope.  Making a change at this stage of life will yield significant results, and set you on your way to an improved quality of life now, and in your senior years.

Dr. Dana King, a University of South Carolina professor of medicine, is part of a research team whose findings indicate that changing lifelong unhealthy habits in middle age may yield you a longer life.

“It’s not too late,” says Dr. King.  “If you make [healthy] changes now, it has a tremendous impact.”

Dr. King and his team colleagues looked at four healthy habits in over 16,000 people between 45 and 64 years of age.  Here are the categories they evaluated: eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables a day, 2.5 hours or more of exercise per week, a healthy weight level, and not smoking.

Dr. King’s research team found that the people who adhered to the four healthy habits were “40 percent less likely to die and 35 percent less likely to suffer heart problems than those who did not adopt the beneficial habits.”

Read more about the findings here: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/story?id=5314059&page=1

Body For The Ages is committed to helping you make the health changes necessary for you to enjoy a vastly improved quality of life for years to come. 

By becoming a Body For The Ages Member, and participating in the Body For The Ages Online Wellness Program, you’ll be assigned your own personal coach via the web.  Your personal coach will create a wellness program tailored to your specific needs, and walk you through workouts, nutrition, supplements, and most of all, be a knowledgeable and dependable motivating force, as you reclaim your health.

Visit http://www.bodyfortheages.org/, for details on our Wellness Program, and how to become a Team Body For The Ages Member.  Join now.  Body For The Ages is here to help you turn back the clock.

Have you been meaning to drop those extra pounds?

Whatever your reason, be it aesthetics, athleticism, or heart health, health problem prevention, there’s never been a better time to do it than now.

According to a National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, two thirds of adults in the United States are overweight, and about one third are obese. http://win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/

Extra weight plays a contributing factor in numerous health problems.  A report recently released from our nation’s capital states that more than 100,000 cases of cancer each year are caused by excess body fat.  Read more here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/05/obesity.cancer.link/index.html

Weight Loss is not easy, and it takes commitment.  But we all know that commitment will pay off, when we see that we’re increasing our extra energy and self-esteem, along with decreasing our health concerns.

Your time is valuable, and the Body For The Ages Online Wellness Program will show you how to make it count, with fun workouts, wellness tips and anti-aging tips, valuable advice from our very own Panel of Experts, and an online personal trainer available for guidance 365 days a year.

Are you ready to commit to your health and happiness?  It’s the best investment you’ll ever make.

Go to www.BodyForTheAgesNonprofit.org, get your four free gifts, and become part of the Body For The Ages Team.

Are you self-conscious about going to the gym? 

Check out this quote from the Apria Healthcare website:

“In today’s weight room, you’re as likely to see a grandmother working her glutes as a quarterback working his quads, now that resistance exercise is recognized as vital to building strong muscles and bones.” 

Read more here: http://www.apria.com/channels/1,2748,94-193,00.html

Pax’s Prescription Method of Training will show you how weight-resistance training will not only strengthen your muscles, but your heart as well. 

Pax didn’t just treat his heart disease – he reversed it.  Now his passion is to show others how to do the same.  Why?  Because it’s completely unnecessary that 50% of people die from Heart Disease or heart related illnesses.  Body For The Ages seeks to eliminate this insidious statistic. 

Read Pax’s story at www.BodyForTheAges.com.  He’s living proof that you can take control of your health, beat heart risks, and have fun in the process.

Until Next Time,

Current research suggests that a blood pressure reading from simply an arm cuff may not give a full picture of one’s arterial health. A new study suggests that getting an ankle brachial index test might give doctors a better view of what’s going on in one’s body. Click here for a description of the study.

Essentially, measuring an ankle brachial index is simple. One measures your blood pressure with a blood pressure cuff on both the arm and ankle and comparing the systolic pressures between the two.

The index allows doctors to better understand the peripheral cardiovascular health the legs. The closer the ratio is to 1:1, the better your cardiovascular health.

A large difference between ones arm and ankle systolic pressure might signify poor cardiovascular health. A recent study found that a “low” ankle brachial index meant double the ten-year mortality rate from a coronary event.

We should emphasize that all studies describe the ankle brachial index as a tool for more accurately measuring ones cardiovascular health along with other tools, like the Framingham risk score. But, it might be worth while to ask your doctor about getting an ankle brachial index at your next physical.

For more information on the ankle brachial index click here.

In the past, I saw fitness as a hobby. (A strange, painful activity done by strange people.) I’d see friends head to the gym in the evenings for a workout, and think, “Run on a treadmill? Lift weights? No thanks. Not for me.”

I’ve lately begun to notice that in this day and age, a “not for me” attitude, when it comes to fitness, leaves you lacking in many areas of life, including job security. With health insurance rates rising, companies are beginning to take active measures to insure their employees are health-conscious assets to their companies, rather than costly burdens.

So I guess you could say I jumped on the bandwagon out of fear. Once the seed had been planted, though, I began to think more about it. Faced with the opportunity to join the Body for the Ages Online Wellness Program, I asked myself what such an undertaking really meant to me. Well, of course it may seem obvious: a healthier lifestyle… Duh. But I think it’s easy for us to lump the terms “health”, “fitness”, and “wellness” into an abstract idea - a chore or an obligation, like when we’re little and we hear “Eat your vegetables” at the dinner table every night.

It’s important, though, to stop and think about how wellness is connected to our life’s most cherished goals. I got out a pen and paper and asked myself what exactly I wanted from the Body for the Ages Wellness Program.

What will you bring me, health? I asked in big letters at the top.

Underneath, I listed:

More energy
A sexy body
The ability to keep up with my children
A long, happy life

I stopped and read over what I’d written. Each item on my list was non-negotiable. Now that my list of wants was there in black and white, staring me in the face, I couldn’t crumple it up. I couldn’t toss it in the trash and say “not for me”, and head home to my couch and a few mindless hours of television, to end my day.

So after work, I headed over to the Body for the Ages Health Center instead…

…Check back next week to hear about Day One on Team Body for the Ages.