12 New Developments to help you feel fit

Now here I go again with the some new steps to feeling fit and good. But, these come from Mr. Stephen R. Covey, a noted author of "The Seven Habits of Successful People". Since he is a guy I have followed for years and admire his work I thought I would list these with some of my comments, if need be. Mr. Covey is probably close to 80 years old, and raised 8 children. He is still very active and healthy, the last I heard. Here goes:

1. Eat right, breathe easy. This advice can vary with each person; however, the most important guideline here is to eliminate trigger food that cause indigestion or heart burn. Eat smaller meals, and be real careful as to the prescription drugs you take. We do not need as much food as we actually eat, in most cases. There are too many eat all you want venues in the food industry. Eat to live, not live to eat(my stuff, not Mr. Covey's).

2. Boost your fitness with food. HDL the good cholesterol, reduces the risk of heart disease and limits the damage of LDL(the bad stuff). Foods high in monounsaturated fats, such as olive oil, nuts, avocados and olives are recommended. Berries are very good for you and now the power berry is the "acaia" berry, and the "bilberry".

3. For energy, move it with simple and easy exercise program(okay go back to my previous posts, remember, 20-30 minutes per day, at recommended heart rate. That is all you need.

4. Sweat it out--I love this one since I love to sweat. I believe this is one of the most effective things you can do for good health. You sweat it out with aerobic exercise. If you don't like to sweat then get over it and learn to like it, it is a healthy thing to do(from me not Covey).

5. Ditch depression--positive attitude is a must to be healthy. Help this along with Vitamin D or the sunshine vitamin. Omega 3 fatty acids are also strong allies to help fight depression.

6. Get soles--It has been said that when your feet hurt you hurt all over(I changed this a little when I had some tooth problems and it seemed that when my tooth hurt I felt it all over my body), but at any rate make sure you have a good fit with comfortable shoes.

7. Go from good to grape--again juice sippers can enjoy the health benefits of grapes the same as their wine drinking buddies. This is a very healthy fruit, even with all the new power fruits coming on the market the grape is holding its' own. Seedless, or not, green or red, it matters not. Along with the energy boost there is also plenty of fiber. Juice + is the best supplement you can buy to get all your fruits, including grapes. I take one each of the three Juice + capsules, daily.

8. Sleep on a soft bed for more restful sleep. I know hat hard beds have been prescribed by some, but now they are finding that softer is better. Good sleep is essential to a healthy, fit life.

9. Make like a fish and swim--take up swimming if you have the facilities for good low impact aerobic exercise. Now my 20-45 minute swims are the high light of my exercise during the week. After a long bike ride or run the swim feels great. You can also reduce joint pain with a 500-1500 yard swim work out.

10. Network your way to happiness--this means staying away from negative people and environments. When someone starts talking negative, just say, "sorry I have to go." Makes it hard some times when it is one of your loved ones, but do it, it works.

11. Pop some pine bark--short for looking into herbal supplements. These are sold over the counter and would very seldom be recommended by medical doctors. After all they don't get a kick back from them and they consider this stuff magic pills or poison. The biggest challenge I have found with with herbals or alternatives is finding someone who really knows something about these supplements, but I have and I use them frequently.

12. Look(out) for the salt--my practice is not to add salt to anything I eat. With the salt already present in most foods that you eat you really do not need anymore than that. No more than one teaspoon of salt should be added to you food per day. Leave this stuff alone, it does increase you chances for high blood pressure.

These are all excellent tid bits to make your life more fit and healthy. Well the proof will be in the pudding since my annual physical with be this coming Tuesday. I will report back on the results.

Off to do a bicycle work out! Happy Super Bowl weekend, we are for the Cardinals since they are the Cinderella story.

Mike Greer