Puritan Lifestyle

Healthy Lifestyle

A puritan lifestyle would in many ways be a healthy lifestyle – provided it was not so puritan as to be stultifying.

Here are some thoughts on a healthy lifestyle.

It’s not what you do once in a while that matters, it’s what you do on a daily basis that counts:

• Within the bounds of common sense this holds true provided that your once in a while choice is not physically, emotionally or chemically destructive.

Exercise Going out to walk 10 miles or 16 kilometres once a month is less effective than walking quickly for 30-45 minutes 4-5 days a week.

Hill2• Walking up and down hills is even more effective: uphill lowers triglycerides while downhill does not; uphill and downhill both reduce LDL – the bad cholesterol; glucose tolerance is most improved by downhill walking. AHA Scient Sess Abstract 3826 Nov 10 2004

• Walking downhill exercises certain muscles or parts of muscles more than others

• Walking uphill focuses on other muscles and parts of muscles

• Exercising 10 hours a day in one of the lifestyle gyms is not really part of a healthy lifestyle – one hour a day of an effective cardio programme combined with weight bearing exercise would be healthy.

Food Having a big piece of sugar-filled chocolate cake, or boston cream pie or even sugar pie once a month is not a big deal – don’t beat yourself up about it – but if you do it regularly over a long period of time you increase the risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes.

• If you eat foods with a high glycemic load on a regular basis, you will continually spike your insulin as it tries to maintain your blood sugar level within a, quite narrow, safe range.

• The University of Sydney, Australia is a world leader in Glycemic Index research and has a fantastic website - Check it out here (opens new window).

• At the Glycemic Index center you can learn how to balance high glycemic and low glycemic foods to create a glycemic load your body can manage without insulin spiking.

Partying He (or she) who hoots with the owls by night cannot soar with the eagles by day – well if you do “hoot” once in a while it’s not a big deal – but hooting every night would be one of those unhealthy lifestyle trends.

Sleep There is a lot to the old adage “early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise – I’m not too sure about "wealthy and wise" but lots of medical research has pointed to the need for 7-8 hours sleep per night for good health. Does this sound too much like a puritan lifestyle? Just be sensible.

• Napping is not the best choice for building up your sleep bank. Once in a while is OK but all the time is not ideal. Get a good night’s sleep in a quiet, dark environment.

• One thing I have found very helpful for relaxation resulting in a deeper, more restorative sleep is a Pulsed Electro-Magnetic Frequency device Check it out here (opens new window).

Smoking at any level is bad for your health – it produces free radicals that cause oxidative damage to the cells of your body. Many chemicals in tobacco are carcinogens and smoking is directly linked to cancer. It is definitely one of those lifestyle trends you don't want to follow.

Booze in moderation one drink a day is OK. Wines can actually be helpful, especially red wines because of the flavanols and proanthocyanidins found in them. Both can help to counter the production of free radicals. Remember that alcohol has lots of useless calories, especially hard liquor mixed with soda pop.

Drugs 99% of “illegal” drugs are artificial constructs that are foreign to and unnatural for your body and can do serious damage to it

• Why go there, when you can get High on Mountains (or skiing, or sailing, or running, or love)?

• Remember that 99% of “legal” pharmaceutical drugs are also artificial constructs and foreign to your body. Mis-prescription and over-prescription are major problems.

Sex is good, fun and healthy provided you are in a monogamous relationship between two people neither of whom has any Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD). If you are not in a monogamous relationship you must always follow all the necessary steps to protect yourself against STD. By the way – Vaseline is not a safe lubricant (no pun intended) for condoms, because it can dissolve them. So if you're not in a puritan lifestyle, do be careful.

• Engaging in unprotected sexual activity is one of those lifestyle trends that doesn’t follow our first rule. It can bite you at any time – so don’t do it ever. This is where you do want to follow a Puritan lifestyle.

These are a few hints about a healthy lifestyles for women and men, teens and children. You can see it doesn't have to be a boring life of drudgery. Use commonsense. You can still enjoy life. More can be found in It’s About Health

Continue to Healthy Eating Guidelines

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