One of the most common objections to exercise is lack of time. “I just don’t have time,” people say before rushing off to their next activity.

Do you have time to brush your teeth every day? Wash your face? Comb your hair? Of course you do! I like to think of exercise as something so essential, so basic that it’s like taking a shower or brushing my teeth…it’s just something I do everyday to look and feel my best.

One of the best ways to find time for exercise is to find something you like doing. If you love doing something, chances are you’ll find the time to do it. People find time to go to the movies, watch a favorite sitcom, or go out to dinner….all activities they love. It just goes to show that if you love something, you find time to do it. Don’t force yourself to engage in an activity you dislike. You’ll end up giving up and going right back to square one.

If you can’t think of any exercise you love to do, reflect on what you liked to do as a child. Did you enjoy riding your bicycle? How about going to the park and playing on the swing set? Many childhood pastimes, from riding bikes to jumping rope, also make wonderful exercises, and you’re never too old to be young again!

Here are some ideas to fit exercise into your day:

Take the stairs instead of the elevator at work if you can.
Go for a walk after dinner instead of watching television.
Stretch, practice yoga, or hop onto the rebounder instead of sitting on the couch while watching television.
Schedule a class, such as yoga, tai chi or dance, as you would an appointment. This way the time is blocked out on your calendar.
Get short bursts of exercise and movement in if you cannot squeeze in a longer block of exercise. Two 15-minute walks are better than no walks in a day!

So find something you love doing, and just move. Your body will thank you for it!

When the aerobics exercise craze hit the general pubic in the 1980’s, many people fell for the line that they had to “feel the burn” in order to get results from exercising. Exercising to the point of exhaustion is just one more way that people abuse their bodies. Gentle exercise does a body good, probably more good in the long run than exercising to the point of exhaustion.

Researchers used to believe that only strenuous aerobic exercise enhanced health. Today, we know better. For example, in years past diabetics were counseled that only aerobic exercise could lower glucose levels. Yet in October of 2009, new research from the University of Florida demonstrated that tai chi could be just as effective at helping diabetics lower blood glucose levels. The research, conducted by Beverly Roberts, Ph.D., R.N., assessed 62 participants for several months. Half of the participants practiced tai chi, a gentle series of flowing movements and stretches. Those who completed the study demonstrated significant improvements in glucose control and reported greater energy.

Tai chi is just one exercise that’s simple, gentle and effective. Hatha yoga builds strength and flexibility. Using a rebounder provides another gentle way to exercise.

Whether you choose to take a class or follow along with a video tape, DVD or book, these gentle and effective exercises can be practiced daily and from the comfort of your home.

So what are you waiting for? Just stand up and stretch with me…

Just say the word out loud: exercise. What reaction did you have? What pictures formed in your mind? Was it spandex clad women dancing to an aerobic beat? A tennis match? A soccer game? In truth, exercise can be any of those things—or none of them. Exercise simply means movement.

Our ancestors walked great distances to forage for food, climbed trees to pick fruit, swung a heavy axe to chop firewood, and engaged in many hours of manual labor. Today, we forage on the shelves of the local grocery store, hop into our air-conditioned cars, work while seated at desks, and drive home for an evening in front of the television.

I don’t want to return to the days of chopping firewood, hauling water from a well and spinning my own cloth. But the human body needs to move in order to function well…and for people to feel great.

Exercise doesn’t have to take place in a gym or a dance studio unless that’s what you love to do. Gentle, simple exercises are fine. Just get out and move. Take a walk in the sunshine. Rake leaves instead of hiring someone to do it. Go play jump rope or ride bikes with your children. Movement helps our bodies function the way nature intended them to.

Kristen has been nominated for Raw Food Educator of the Year award. Please show your support and vote for Kristen Overlock at www.BestOfRaw.net

Probiotics fascinate me. We can’t see them, but they’re busy at work every day, helping us in so many ways. One such way is our immune system health.

Researchers in Sweden, for example, gave workers probiotics and measured their sick time off. It was a small study, but fascinating nonetheless, because the workers who took the probiotic supplements took fewer sick days than those who were in the control group.

Many people who complain of constantly feeling run down, who catch colds frequently, or seem susceptible to every ‘bug’ going around find that with a good colon cleansing regimen and resetting their bacterial colonies through probiotic supplements, their immune system seems to work normally again.

Why is this? When the balance of friendly to unfriendly microbes gets out of whack in the body, the body’s immune system soldiers rush to defend against the invaders – the unfriendly bacteria. Because they’re busy fighting off the bugs that the friendly bacteria normally fight, they may miss or not be able to combat other entrants into the fray, such as a cold virus. Think of it like the fire department or police force in your town. If there’s a huge five alarm fire on the north side of town at an apartment complex, chances are good that all the fire fighters and fire engines will be at the apartment complex. Now what if a school catches on fire on the south side of town? The fire department will divert resources quickly to head over to the school, but the fire may damage more of the building or spread more quickly because the resources were deployed elsewhere, on the north side of town battling the apartment blaze. If your immune system is busy fighting fires on the north side of town, it may be slower to respond to a smoldering blaze on the south side, or worse still, it may be unable to put out all fires at once.

So give your body a chance and strengthen your immune system this winter. Start with a good, healthy diet. Get fresh air, sunlight and gentle exercise. Colon cleansing, either through water enemas or gentle colon hydrotherapy, helps the body cleanse and provide a good environment for bacterial colonies to thrive. And supplement with probiotics to truly strengthen your body’s defenses.

Sometimes people hear the terms probiotic and prebiotics and get confused. The term “pre” means “comes before”, as in “pre season football” or “preceding.” Prebiotics are foods that nurture those little friendly guys, the probiotics. Bear in mind that probiotics are living creatures. What do living organisms need to survive? They need food, water and shelter or proper conditions. For your good, friendly warriors – the probiotics – the best conditions for survival include a good nutrient source and warm, moist conditions.

Nature’s best source of both prebiotics and probiotics is breast milk. If you’re pregnant, do breast feed your baby. It’s the best way to pass on a healthy, robust immune system. Human breast milk is the perfect food for a growing baby and contains lots of healthy, friendly bacteria that help your baby’s immune system get off to a great start.

What should grownups eat, then, to get enough prebiotics and probiotics? Fresh fruits and vegetables contain soluble fiber, which is great to encourage healthy bacteria colonies in the colon. Some scientists believe that onions, leeks, asparagus, bananas and dandelion greens are the best food sources for prebiotics. Probiotic food sources include fermented foods such as kimchi, or supplements. While yogurt is a good source of probiotics, many people cannot tolerate dairy. We prefer coconut milk based kefir since kefir cultures have more beneficial bacteria strains than yogurt cultures.

Generally speaking, if you eat a diet based on raw fruits and vegetables, with healthy amounts of nuts, seeds, sprouted grains and greens, you’ll show your love to your digestive system and its wonderful colonies of probiotic bacteria.

You’ve probably heard about probiotics. From commercials on television to articles in magazines, everyone seems to be talking about probiotics. But what are they?

We have bacteria living inside of our bodies and outside, on the skin. There are millions of different bacteria. Some bacteria are harmful to our health. These are the bacteria that cause infections, for example, or diseases like tuberculosis or food poisoning.

But there are some bacteria that are friendly. These bacteria help our bodies function well. They digest food, suppress the bad bacteria, and even help in the synthesis of vitamins.

Many things in our environment suppress the good bacteria and allow bad bacteria and other microorganisms, such as fungi and yeast, to thrive. People often take antibiotics, for example, to fight an infection. The problem is that antibiotics cannot simply target the bad bacteria; they kill the bad and the good, often creating an imbalance in friendly to unfriendly bacteria that can weaken a person’s immune system, cause Candida to thrive, or cause other health issues.

Probiotics can help. Probiotics are concentrations of friendly bacteria, either in fermented foods or supplements, that increase the amount of friendly bacteria in the body.

While the scientific proof is still coming in, the holistic community has long believed in the value of probiotics. We certainly do. They can help your body heal from many illnesses, strengthen the immune system, and improve digestion. Probiotics are indeed the “pros” when it comes to health!

When you come to Revitalive Health & Wellness, we’re always overjoyed to see you. But one member of the team is always overjoyed to see you, no matter how busy he gets, no matter how much he has to do today (well, face it; he doesn’t have much to do). It’s Ted, our greeter buddy. This little bundle of energy is always ecstatically happy to see you. With wagging tail and a smile in his brown eyes, he lavishes affection on you no matter who you are. We love having Ted around for many reasons. Of course we love him because he’s our pet, our companion animal, and our friend. But he’s also great stress relief for people coming to see us for the first time. Many of them are suffering from illness and dis-ease. Most are nervous about colonics and detoxification. Just one look at their faces when they bend low to pet Ted’s soft white fur and you understand what science has just begun to research; pets are good for you. There’s plenty of research backing up the notion that animals relieve stress and improve our mental and emotional health. Studies demonstrate, for example, that people undergoing major joint replacement operations need 50% less pain medication when they recover with a pet nearby. Whether it’s the unconditional love and affection animals give us or the care and attention we lavish upon them, having pets around is good for us, mind and soul.

One more mention of Thanksgiving and then next week I’ll move on to other topics.  I do need to mention Thanksgiving food. Thanksgiving starts the “high holy days” of eating, the triple crown of overstuffing ourselves. 

 Back before heavily subsidized, mass produced fake food, real food was so scarce that all celebrations focused on overindulgence.   But an overindulgence happened once, maybe twice a year, with long periods of deprivation to normal eating in between. And don’t forget that everything on that Thanksgiving table was about as wholesome as you can get, although cooked – boxed stuffing mixes and frozen pumpkin pies were several hundred years in the future!

 
Today, our stores groan with over processed, fat and chemically-laden foods.  We’re encouraged to stuff ourselves with turkey and all the trimmings, then top off the meal with gobs of sugar-filled pie or other sweets. 

It’s not worth it. If you could see what this does to your body, you’d avoid overstuffing yourself for sure. Think about the drain in your kitchen sink. Even if you have a garbage disposal, would you stuff huge hunks of food down the pipes and pour grease on top just for a little added bonus? Not unless you want to pay for the plumber’s next Bermuda vacation, because that’s surely going to clog up those pipes and require major intervention.

 
Your body’s a heck of a lot more precious than the plumbing in your kitchen.  Sinks can be fixed and pipes replaced. You can’t replace your colon.  

So before reaching for those artery clogging, heart stopping “treats”…remember: it’s just one day, one meal. You’ve got a lot more to be thankful for than dinner rolls!

This week is the American holiday of Thanksgiving, a time when people’s thoughts turn to gratitude. It’s one of the few holidays in the year that most people celebrate, regardless of their religious or cultural heritage, and most cultures do indeed mark a time every year to be thankful.

Cultivating an attitude of gratitude is essential if our lives are to flower and blossom. If we walk around all the time feeling sullen and deprived, it sends signals back to our bodies of lack and want. Thoughts are things, and if we focus on lack…we tend to manifest lack.

The flip side is also true. If we focus on joy and gratitude, love and thankfulness for all of the wonderful things in our lives, we tend to attract to ourselves that which we profess….or in other words, thoughts are things, whether you’re thinking about good stuff or thinking about the stuff you lack.

This Thanksgiving, take a few minutes to feel gratitude and thank the universe for the good things in your life. If it’s hard to start, just sit quietly in a chair. Look around the room. Pick and object and say, “Thank you for the table.” Keep going. Soon, you’ll feel like your cup overflows with gratitude.

And that’s true thanksgiving, indeed.