Disclaimer, Attention: Consult your physician before starting any exercise program. The author(s) disclaim any liability from loss, injury, personal damage resulting from the procedures outlined on this website...
Health! For vigorous longevity we need a healthy body, healthy mind and healthy emotional well being. If we do not care about any of the above, we need to ask ourselves why? Our primary focus need to be on supporting our immune system to fight off disease and chronic illness and creating healthy longevity. There are steps that we will need to take to accomplish our goals.
Step 1. The fastest way to a strong immune system is good nutrition. Eating healthy, organic, at least 50% raw foods need to be included in your daily diet. There are some great resources to learning about raw food preparation, however, Fresh uncooked Fruits and Fresh uncooked vegetables are the place to begin. Having 2 fresh salads and a variety of fresh fruit is going to be a good start. When adding fresh fruit for your am and pm snacks your raw foods % will be greatly improved. There are some terrific books on the benefits of eating more raw food. Become Younger by Dr. N. W. Walker, D.Sc., The Raw Foods Bible by Craig B. Sommers, N.D., C.N. , The Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine by Gabriel Cousens, M.D., Superfoods by David Wolfe ( all sold at major health food stores), these are but a few of the numerous books on raw food health. Another Favorite healthy lifestyle book I like is, The Coconut Diet by Cherie Calbom. I drink the juice from a coconut every morning (when they are available). I scoop out the coconut meat and add it to my green breakfast smoothie. More information below on fresh raw foods.

Step 2. Exercise, Do what you like or you will not do it, keep it simple, like walking your do to the Post Office or the Park. It is important to find the most beneficial time for you to exercise. Ask yourself when you are most awake and energetic, first thing in the morning, midday, or late afternoon before dinner. Try not to exercise before bedtime because the chemicals that your brain releases from exercising may make it difficult for you to fall asleep. Lastly, the most important part of exercise is exercise. If you do not schedule the time to exercise, mark on your calendar, set an alarm on your cell phone, you will most likely forget. The mind can be very tricky when it wants to do something more fun and will think of all kinds of fun things to do instead of exercise.
It will be important to remember that as you begin to feel more and more fit through exercise, you will begin to want to feed your body more nutritious foods, drink filtered water, and get plenty of rest. Most people need between 5-10 hours a day of sleep any more or any less can be harmful to your health. The best way to determine your natural sleep need is to go to bed on a day that you do not have to go to work like Saturday, do no set an alarm clock and sleep until you wake up. If you went to bed at 11:00pm and woke up at 6:00am you need 7 hours of sleep. Make sure that you are fully rested before you try this, so go to bed at your normal time on Friday and get up when you are fully awake. Then on Saturday, do the same thing and see what time you wake up. You can adjust the time you go to sleep so that you can wake up naturally at the time you need to wake up for work or your daily routine.
Step 3. Body, Emotion, Mind connection, for some of us its called a spiritual connection. Spiritual connections are of your choice, if its church, mass, temple, meditation circle, etc., so be it. The point is, to sit still for a specific amount of time and be quiet. Whether that is in prayer, in meditation or the lotus position, or chanting just make time for your Body, Mind and Emotions to focus on something other than yourself. If that is God, Buddha, Spiritual Guide or your Higher Power, so be it.
Ways to combine your body, mind and spirit are by doing exercises that engage all three aspects of yourself. For example, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, or Yoga. The movements of these 3 exercises will stretch your body as well as stretch your mental alertness. You will feel, mentally on the ball, physically energized and spiritually, your focus of awareness will be on your total being.
Ways to increase your steps, wear a pedometer and work toward 10,000 steps each day. I set my pedometer at 0 and then did my normal routine of work and errands etc. I walked 5,500 steps in a day. So in order to increase my steps to meet the 10,000 steps a day, I walked my dog to the park and back. Another way to increase your steps is to do a walk at home video exercise, that always puts me over the top on the 10,000 steps a day requirement and I don’t have to leave home to do it.
Health workers Nutritionists and Dieticians suggest 2.5 to three cups of vegetables and 2 cups of fruit daily. Divide this into six portions, (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and 3snacks) and you can attain your daily nutritional needs easily.
A portion is one cup of fresh fruit, Start breakfast with a glass of your favorite green smoothie and you can add several fruits bananas, papaya, pineapple, coconut and a vegetable like kale or super green powder.
Maintain a variety of ready available fresh fruit in a glass bowl with grapes, bananas, tangerines, oranges, apples, pears, nectarines plums and peaches. During their season fresh fruits like blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, plums, Asian pears, Dragon Melon, watermelon, honeydew melon, cantaloupe, and grapefruit. Eat fruits that are in season they taste better and are cheaper than out of season imported fruit. You can carry around a mixture of nuts to appease the hungry dragon that lives within until you can get to a place that serves healthy foods when too far way from home.
The best way to meet your daily requirement of vitamins and minerals is by eating healthy organic fresh fruits and vegetables.
Be creative when it comes to salads, instead of eating the same old salad day in and day out. Lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, add something different everyday!
Monday: ½ Avocado, and ½ cup Artichoke hearts, Green olives
Tues: Diced, Celery, ¼ Red bell pepper and Pecans
Wed: Shredded, Beets, Cabbage and ¼ Sweet potato
Thurs: ¼ c. Broccoli heads and ¼ c. chopped Red onion, Cherry Tomatoes
Fri: ½ c. Snow peas, 1 c. Halved red grapes and ¼ c. quartered walnuts
Sat: Handful of Radishes, black olives (sliced) and 2-3 chopped green onions
Sun: ¼ c. Cauliflower, ¼ c. chopped Almonds and 1-2 unpeeled Asian or Persian Cucumbers
Optional: diced garlic and/or ginger
Fruit salads can be used for dessert or snacks.
OUR DAILY EXERCISES...
It is very important that you do not overdue any exercise. The idea is to gently stretch and relax the muscle. As you continue to do the exercises you will notice you will have more flexibility. If you strech to the point of pain you have gone too far. Strectch until it feels good, breathe into the stretch and extend the stretch slightly further, as you breathe out.
You can start with shoulder shrugs, roll them backwards and forwards a few times, squeeze your shoulder blades back until they touch, then wrap your arms around the front and give yourself a hug, bend forward and feel a slight stretch in your back and squeeze shoulder blades.
Now standing with straight body, extend your arms straight up and over your head and gently pull at your right wrist with your left hand until you feel a slight stretch in your shoulder and repeat exercise with opposite shoulder. Now bring your arms down chest level and extend your arms out in front and away from your body, arms should be shoulder high and squeeze your hands open and close.
Rub your hands together briskly then move right hand up left forearm rubbing up to your shoulders, repeat other side. Rub hands over face to stimulate the circulation of blood and oxygen.
Now, extend your arms over your head and gently pull the right wrist with the left hand until you feel a stretch in your shoulder repeat with left wrist and shoulder.
Now, wrap your arms around the front and give yourself a hug, head down with chin on chest, bend forward and feel a slight stretch in your lower back. Easy does it, remember do not push your body to a painful level. Then release folded arms and place hands on thighs and gently stretch back like a cat up and down, now move hands down and hold a second and feel slight stretch in lower back. Remember to keep your head down. When you bend over blood rushes to your head and if you stand up too fast you will fell dizzy and could fall. Next, reach for the back of your calves, and if it hurts... STOP! and bring hands back up knees and to waist and to standing position.
Otherwise, feel the gentle stretch in your lower back and hamstrings. Next, if you can, reach for your ankles, hold a second for the stretch, then reach for your toes, hold, and then the floor and hold. Do not touch the floor if you are not yet flexible enough be patient you will get there. Remember to keep your head down reverse the process to your toes, ankles, calves, knees, thighs and waist until you are at a standing position. With head down, you may keep your eyes closed if you need to and raise your head up off your chin, tilt head to the left and the right and center and open your eyes. This process gives the body enough time to find its homeostatsis so you will not feel lightheaded.
Now, extend your arms up over your head and gently pull your right wrist with your left hand until you feel a gentle stretch in your shoulder repeat with opposite shoulder.
Now bring both your arms down at chest level and extend both your arms out in front shoulder high and squeeze both your hands close and then open and closed, repeat several times then make a fist and twist both your fists clockwise and counter-clockwise.
Now, both hands are signing Yes, Yes, Yes, No, No, No. Then, open both fists and shake hands as if they had water on them, finish, finish, finish. Now do a finger count to ten. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, with both hands at the same time.
Now, rub hands together, wringing hands as if you are washing them, twist and pull left thumb with right hand and then each finger repeat, pull right thumb with left hand and then each finger stimulating the flow of blood and energy to hands and fingers.
Now, with extend arms out in front of chest and with your right palm fingers together use your left hand pulling back on the closed palm and fingers toward your body to gently stretch your right wrist, then switch to left closed palm fingers and stretch with right hand. Then turn palm fingers downward toward floor and repeat stretch on both hands a few times.
Now, rub your hands together until they feel really warm, clasp your fingers together turn them out and away from your chest and stretch gently, and slowly raise clasped fingers over your head, breathe and move extended arms back a couple of inches behind your head. Release clenched fingers and slowly, slowly (with palms facing down and away from your body) lower your hands down to your sides.
Now take a deep breath in and raise both arms up, circle over your head and breathe out as arms cross in front of your face bend knees slightly and lower both arms and hands back down to your sides, repeat this 3 times.
Now, with arms at sides, raise arms chest high and slide right hand down left arm to left wrist and pull gently on left wrist and feel the stretch at the shoulder, then tilt head slightly to the right (opposite side of shoulder) and feel the gentle stretch. Switch to right arm and right wrist and gently pull right wrist with left hand until shoulder feels a slight stretch then tilt head to the left for a very gentle stretch.
Now with arms at sides, hug yourself then with left hand, apply a gentle but firm pressure, approximately 10-20 seconds, to right tricep (few inches above back of elbow.) Switch sides and repeat exercise.
Now lift right arm up and over right shoulder, out-stretched fingers are reaching for shoulder blade and then with left hand apply a gentle but firm pressure on the elbow. Switch to left side and repeat exercise.
Now, clasp fingers in front of chest breathe in and slowly twist at waist to the left, and feel the stretch for a few seconds. Now breathe out while slowly returning to the center and breathe in and slowly turn toward your right side hold and stretch, breathing out turn back to your center, repeat 3 times. To avoid feeling dizzy, do not swing head back and forth with movement, focus on a one thing like a picture or close your eyes.
You should be warmed up enough for a great day of interpreting!
Remember do not push your stretch to the level of pain. Go only as far as your body will allow you to go and stop before you feel pain. You will gradually become more and more flexible with regulary exercise.