It's Anyone's Game

When was the last time that you accomplished something huge? That's an easy question for Helen Phillips. Last month Helen wowed the world with her dramatic transformation on the NBC show The Biggest Loser. At 48 years of age she is the oldest contestant to win the weight loss competition, shedding 140 pounds and 54.7% of her body weight. I'd call losing more than half of your body weight a huge accomplishment - wouldn't you? The crazy part is that Helen was clearly the underdog. She was simply too old and too fat to win. At least that was what the other contestants thought. And that's what Helen thought too.

"I never believed in myself in the beginning," she admits. However when a doctor told her that she was living in the body of a 60 year old woman, Helen got serious. "I'm tired of doubting myself," she decided and something inside of her head clicked into place. "The minute I started doing that, things changed for me." And, oh, how she changed. Helen buckled down and made losing weight her only focus. Her hard work paid off, giving her the prized title of the Biggest Loser. She accomplished something huge and now her life is vastly improved. "I feel so good! I feel like I can do anything," she told reporters with a huge smile.

Helen also had a message for you. "If I can do it, you can do it." I have to agree with her. If a 48 year old, 257 pound woman can transform her body from a size 22 to a size 2, then anyone really can do it. Think for a moment of that huge accomplishment that you haven't made. Maybe it's a weight loss goal that you've had for years. Maybe it's something completely unrelated to your weight. What's holding you back?

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Your New Favorite Thing
We all have a list of our favorite things. It may not be written down anywhere, but you know the things that make you happy. The list holds your favorite foods, music, TV shows, movies and even people in your life that you can't get enough of. This is the stuff that you really enjoy. It's the stuff that makes your life worth living. Somewhere on the list is your health and appearance. You know that looking and feeling great make a good life even better.

The interesting thing about your list is that without fail, you'll always make time for it.
  • When your TV show airs, you watch it or record it to watch later.
  • When your favorite actor stars in a new movie, you do your part by going to the theatre.
  • When you're hungry, you turn to your favorite foods.
  • When the weekend rolls around, you do everything you can to spend time with the special people in your life.
Yet when it comes to exercise you automatically say, "I don't have time." Time for TV, but no time for exercise? We live in an age where life is full and you don't have extra time anymore.
  • You no longer have time. You make time.
  • You make time for your TV show.
  • You make time for your hobby.
  • You make time for your friends.
It's time to drop the charade of "I don't have time to exercise" and call it what it really is...an excuse.
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The Sweetest Scam...

The correct answer to the following question will shock you: Would you survive longer on a diet of just water OR on a diet of water and refined sugar?

The answer: You would survive longer on just water.

Sound impossible? Just ask the five sailors who were ship wrecked in 1793. The ship was filled with sugar, thus giving the marooned five a diet of sugar and water. When they were finally picked up, nine days later, they were in a wasted condition due to starvation. The story of the five sailors intrigued French physiologist Francois Magendie to conduct a series of experiments in which he fed dogs a diet of sugar. All of the dogs died. Magendie proved that as a steady diet, refined sugar is worse than nothing.

How can sugar be worse than nothing? Plainly put, refined sugar is an anti-nutrient. It starts out as sugar cane, and then goes through an extensive refining process that destroys all of the enzymes, fiber, vitamins and minerals. What you're left with are empty, naked calories. The problem is that your body needs the enzymes, fiber, vitamins and minerals that were taken out in the refining process in order to metabolize sugar and use it as energy. So it takes those nutrients from your own body.  So while you are enjoying that chocolate bar, sugar is draining vital nutrients from your body. Like a sweet parasite. And it doesn't end there…

  • Sugar creates false hunger (as a result of the insulin rush and then ensuing plummet in your blood sugar levels), which makes you overeat. This means a constant struggle with your weight in which you never seem to achieve your ideal size.
  • Sugar promotes aging (due to the advanced glycation end products, or AGEs, that occur when insulin levels are consistently elevated as a result of eating too much sugar). Sugar has even been dubbed the negative fountain of youth.
  • Sugar weakens your bones - making you vulnerable for osteoporosis, and weakens your teeth - making you vulnerable for cavities (both due to the calcium being pulled from your bones and teeth in order for your body to process sugar).
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Friday Fast Fact
While you're checking out nutrition labels for sugar content, be on the lookout for the following names that all describe refined sugar:
  • Sucrose
  • High fructose corn syrup
  • Fructose
  • Lactose
  • Organic sugar
  • Maltose
  • Dextrose
  • Glucose 
So be careful and remember that in the end, all of the above are SUGAR!
 
Top Five Side Effects of Exercise

Your doctor feels like a broken record. That's right - he's sick and tired of telling you how important exercise is to your health because you don't listen. He's sick of explaining how so many of your health problems will improve or even disappear as the result of a consistent exercise program. He's tired of tallying your controllable risk factors which include physical inactivity and obesity. So why does he continue to give you the same lecture? Because he's seen exercise change lives...he's even seen exercise save lives.

A Doctor's Perspective

Dr. David Shilling MD has been a family doctor for over 30 years. In that time he's given a fair number of patients the exercise lecture...with good cause.
He's seen firsthand the healing power of exercise. Exactly what kind of healing? Dr. Shilling shared the top five benefits that he's seen patients experience as a result of exercise:

1. Feel Great: The first thing that patients tell Dr. Shilling after starting an exercise program is how much better they feel. “People don't realize how bad they feel. They get used to feeling bad. Then when they start exercising they feel so much better.”  Your energy levels boost and you feel great.

2. Pain Be Gone: Next patients notice a reduction in aches and pains. Chronic muscle and joint pain that they've lived with for years begins to fade. For some, joint replacement surgery is postponed. For others, arthritis pain is reduced. Your muscles and joints feel better than ever.

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