On the new blog I will be posting new exercise and cooking videos often, along with fitness, health and nutrition reviews of the latest research and up to date topics. Plus much more on back pain anatomy and ways to treat your own pain and injuries.

This blog will no longer have new content, so see you over here http://hallfordhealth.wordpress.com/ 

 I hope you enjoy and THANKS for following!

If you look close enough, you can learn from every situation.

These are some of the lessons I have learned from surfing.

SURFING = LIFE

# 1 – if you are not confident, then you will most likely wipe out and crash

# 2 – if you are not assertive, then you will be stuck with the leftovers that the assertive people didnt want, i.e. crappy waves & opportunities

# 3 – confidence leads to assertiveness

# 4 – practice practice practice and you will gain confidence, and therefore will be naturally assertive, and you will be SUCCESSFUL in whatever you choose to do

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.  He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.

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Pomegranate Supports Cardiovascular Health
Apricot Revered for Longevity Support
Raspberry Contains Ellagic Acid, a DNA Protectant
Essential Oils Contain the Antioxidant D-Limonene

 You can look at me as your guinea pig for testing health products and giving you honest feedback. I have been using these products for over 10 years now, but have not marketed them until now because I wanted to test other products and see what is the best, and so far, there is no comparison.

 Please feel free to contact me for information on how to sign up to get any of the Young Living products, or you can buy them here.

 Cheers to a Healthy Holiday Season! 

While we cannot completely eliminate inflammatory foods from our nutrition plans, we can definitely eliminate and limit some of the unhealthiest, as well as fight them with antioxidant-rich foods.  The worst offenders are foods that are high in saturated and trans fats. Other offenders are foods that are naturally sweet and actually turn into sugar when we eat them.  These foods are;

Food allergies can also cause inflammation.  Some of the culprits include the gluten in wheat products and casein in dairy products.

These 10 allergy foods make up over 90% of all food allergies. Stay away from them for at least a month and then reintroduce them on at time to test for sensitivities.

 Stick and tub margarines are both high in trans and saturated fats. Stick and tub shortening ranks in the same category.

Additionally, caffeine in coffee and tea increases inflammation in your body.

Red Meats are a major cause of inflammation in the body.  Limit these unless they are beneficial for your blood type.

You also want to consider that some “nightshade” vegetables can cause inflammation. These include;

Foods that are Proven to Help Inflammation are antioxidants and omega-3 fats. Here are some of the best as long as you don’t fry or overcook them;

If you could fit the entire population of the world into a village consisting of 100 people,

maintaining the proportions of all the people living on Earth, that village would consist of

57 Asians
21 Europeans
14 Americans (North, Central and South)
8 Africans

There would be:
52 women and 48 men 
30 Caucasians and 70 non-Caucasians
30 Christians and 70 non-Christians
89 heterosexuals and

11 homosexuals

6 people would possess 59% of the wealth and they would all come from the USA

80 would live in poverty 
70 would be illiterate
50 would suffer from hunger and malnutrition
1 would be dying
1 would be being born 
1 would own a computer

1 (yes, only one) would have a university degree

If we looked at the world in this way,

the need for acceptance and understanding would

be obvious.

But, consider again the following :

If you woke up this morning in good health, you have more luck than one million people, who won’t live through the week.

If you have never experienced the horror of war, the solitude

of prison, the pain of torture, were not close to death from

starvation, then you are better off than 500 million people.

If you can go to your place of worship without fear that

Someone will assault or kill you, then you are luckier than

3 billion (that’s right) people.

If you have a full fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are wealthier than 75% of the world’s population.

If you currently have money in the bank, in your wallet and a few coins in your purse, you are one of 8 of the privileged few amongst the 100 people in the world.

If your parents are still alive and still married,

you’re a rare individual.

 If you can read this,

you’re extremely lucky,

because you don’t comprise one of those 2 billion

people who can’t read.

 AND SO?

Work like you don’t need the money.
Love like nobody has ever hurt you.
Dance like nobody is watching.
Sing like nobody is listening.
Live as if this was paradise on Earth.t or kill you, then you are luckier t

 Do you have aches and pains for no apparent reason from running? You are not alone.  

There is a common theme these days I have noticed that combines BAD posture and the yearning to run races of 3-26 miles!  

Just imagine running or walking over 50,000 steps per week, and that’s for beginners, each little joint abnormality may not be much, but multiply it 50,000 times a week and you’ve got some major problems after months of running, maybe even after weeks.  

This leads to 1) knee pain 2) hip pain 3) low back pain 4) foot pain 5) degeneration of joints and eventually arthritis and much, much more.  

 Fortunately, I have some solutions for you that have worked for tons of my clients.  

 Here is Tip # 1 – Please stay tuned for more tips  

 Sitting position at desk   

 Problem   

Your phone, computer screen, client, etc. force you to turn to one side of your desk more often than not, which cause your upper body to be twisted on top of your hips, and it will stay like this all the time because this posture is the most dominant posture in your life recently. 

When you stand, sit, walk, run, drive and more your body will habitually be turned to that one side (just like at your desk).  

The problem with this is that when you try to run with this posture your hips and legs are pointing one way as your torso points another! This creates a lot of wear and tear and unnecessary pounding in the lower body.  

 Solution    

1) Check your posture to see if you are crooked. Start by standing up with your feet pointed forward and assume your natural posture. Now look down at your hands and hips. Do you see one side more forward than the other? If so this is how you run! Not good.  

2) Whichever side is forward when you looked down is the side that needs to be stretched backwards. Use both of the following stretches below for the side that is forward on you.  

Stretch for Right Side Forward

Stretch for Left Side Forward

3) Keep your entire body facing whatever you are doing at the desk, i.e. don’t have your legs pointing one way and your body the other way.  

4) Now practice this new-found straight forward when you run!

Let’s break these tips into two categories; 1) Foods & 2) Exercise

The Foods   

     1. Eat less, especially foods that make you retain water and keep you bloated. Everyone has different foods that make them bloated, so you may need to do some detective work to figure it out. For me personally it’s wheat, dairy, bread, and most importantly the way I combine foods (see #2).   

     2. Combine your foods properly – http://www.drbass.com/sequential.html In general, you want to eat meat and carbs either in different meals or separately at a meal, i.e. eat all your meat then all your potatoes instead of combining them with each bite. Other foods are also like this and it is because it takes totally different stomach acids/bases to digest them that can be antagonistic.   

             Yes I know this is not as glorious as stuffing one’s mouth with everything on the plate, believe me I LOVE doing that, but try doing this a few times and watch your stomach feel and look better.   

            Also, do not drink more than 4 ounces with each meal and CHEW YOUR FOOD INTO  LIQUIDS.   

     3.   Eat the right foods for your body. Again, everyone is different and therefore needs different combinations of proteins/carbs/fats. This is called metabolic typing -http://www.metabolictyping.com/     

     A simple way of metabolic typing yourself without going through the test is to notice how you feel after meals. Are you sluggish? Low energy? Mucous build up? If you are then you are  not eating  the right foods for your body and therefore you are not getting the right energy, which leads to more eating and sluggish digestion, nutrient absorption, etc.   

     4.  Do cleanses and or juice fasts. Now I am not a doctor and cannot recommend you do this without asking one first, but once you get the green light I highly recommend it. One to three days of  just fruits and veggies will get your stomach flat QUICK. And then you can use that momentum to stay motivated.   

     Now you don’t just go do it without any research, so please read up on it first before you try it. Cleansing and juice fasting can be dangerous if done the wrong way. And it would take way to much space for this top 10 list to talk about. Maybe next time I will post my favorite cleanses….   

     5.  Try a good natural meal replacement once day. I love having a shake for breakfast made with the following; berries and or banana, ice cubes, water, hemp protein (it has tons of good stuff like omega 3’s, all your amino acids, and protein) and a scoop of green vibrance (contains a concentrated formula of 60 green leafy vegetables and enzymes that support health, nutrition, digestion and immunity as well as rejuvenate the whole body) – http://www.vibranthealth.us/ You can get both of these at whole foods or a health food store, or of course online.   

MAKE SURE THE SHAKE DOESN’T MAKE YOU FEEL BLOATED, which can often be from choosing a protein powder that is unnatural or just not agreeable with your system.   

The Exercises   

     6. Exercise regularly so your metabolism stays high. You can do this with simple jogs, hikes or walks of at least 30 minutes 5-7 days per week.   

 Also, USE YOUR STOMACH FOR EVERYTHING! Keep it slightly sucked in as often as you can; driving, cooking, typing, etc., make sure you can do that and keep your breathing relaxed.

     7. Workout the lateral abs (see below)   

     8. Workout the lower abs (see below)   

     9. Workout the obliques (see below)   

     10.  Workout the upper abs (see below)   

 Now the secret is in HOW you do the ab exercises (#’s 7-10). Here is your…   

 Secret Ab Flattening Routine   

-          Choose two of the ab exercise categories (#’s7-10) each day (no days off you got work to do!).   

-          Perform one of the exercises below from each of the categories you chose that day and do them until exhaustion, back to back, i.e do one exercise until you can’t do it anymore and then do the next, two total exercises.   

-          Then with as little rest as possible go into a set of push-ups until exhaustion.   

-          Then choose another set of exercises from the same categories and do them back to back until exhaustion.   

-          Then follow-up with more push-ups and keep rotating this cycle until you’ve had enough, which depending on your fitness could be 10-30 minutes.   

-          On the next day choose the other two categories and repeat the same format. If you are too sore to do push-ups then do them on your knees or just hold them isometrically.   

By the end of a week you should be pretty balanced between upper, lower, obliques and side. NOTE, your lower abs are usually WAY weaker than the upper due to poor posture so do more lower than upper.

Push-ups

- Literally 100′s of variations…these are just a few.

Lateral Abs

- Side planks, side bends, etc.

Lower Abs

- Bicycle kicks, double leg raises (watch out if you have low back pain) – keep the back flat on these

Obliques

- Any type of rotation (if you stand then you add the hips into it), crunches with rotation, etc.

Upper Abs

- Sit-ups, crunches on a ball, etc.

Since when did the law of reciprocation erode into the law of attraction for me me me?

Be of service and you will be served plenty.

Share with others and you will receive more than you could ever accumulate on your OWN.

By Chris Hallford