Health Program | News, Views and Reviews on Health Issues

Copyright (c) 2007 Stephen Lau

Taoism is a way of life, practiced in China for thousands of years.

Lao Tzu, one of the greatest Chinese philosophers as well as the founder of Taoism, said, “The Tao’s principle is simply spontaneity.” Spontaneity is the key to healthy longevity.

What is spontaneity? How does it affect your physical health?

In the universe, there is an all-controlling force that monitors everything. You breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. You eat and you eliminate. You grow, mature, and deteriorate. In nature, spontaneity is evident in the change of seasons. Spontaneity is the natural built-in mechanism in each living organism. Spontaneity creates balance and harmony.

Nowadays, people focus so much on physical fitness. The gym giants will do anything to keep you huffing, puffing, and paying; the pharmaceutical companies will come up with any supplements touted to keep you lean, muscular, and full of energy. There is so much pumping irony: strenuous and vigorous workouts may be harmful to your physical health.

According to the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF CARDIOLOGY, jogging is causing runners to drop dead from heart attacks. Many individuals have experienced heart attacks even after running on a treadmill.

The medical journal LANCET reports that aerobics is causing deadly artery clogs and heart disease in many individuals who never before had such problems.

You do not need to jog until you are blue in the face, or pump iron like Arnold Schwarzenegger in order to be physically healthy. You can be fit the Taoist way

Lao Tzu explained, “The softest things in the world overcome the hardest things in the world.” You need not over-exert yourself in order to be physically fit.

Chinese exercises, such as Tai Chi and Qi Gong, are never vigorous. Once your breathing becomes abnormal or irregular over a long period, you lose the spontaneity of the exercise, and hence its health benefits.

Tai Chi is a self-relaxing exercise with slow and even movements coordinated with breathing and directed by a peaceful mind. Therefore, it is beneficial to both mental and physical health. With its thousands of years of practice, Tai Chi can rid all parts of your body of spiritual and physical ailments, clear your mind and strengthen your brain, and promote good digestion and healthy kidneys. Most importantly, Tai Ci exercises can help lower your blood pressure, soften your blood vessels, and regular the flow of “qi” (the internal vital energy) in your entire body.

What is “qi”?

“Qi” is internal vital energy. It is important because it moves your body. It is the source of growth in your body. “Qi” is always in motion in the form of ascending, descending, entering and leaving your body’s organs and systems. It nourishes not only your body by transforming food energy into blood, but also your blood by keeping it flowing. In addition, it helps maintain your body’s temperature. “Qi” plays a vital role in Chinese health and healing.

With regard to “qi”, Lao Tzu said, “Qi is elusive and evasive, and yet it manifests itself.”

Tai Chi exercises focus on correct posture, slow and spontaneous movements, and natural healthy breathing.

Your central nervous system is the most important system in your body: it receives vital information from outside and inside your body; it directs your movements. Your central nervous is healthy only if you keep your spinal column erect because vitality and blood circulation are transmitted efficiently from your lower body to your brain only when your spine is kept erect. Tai Chi exercises are based upon a natural posture (children have naturally erect spinal columns; only adults, especially older people, have bent spinal columns) with an erect spine.

Next to your central nervous system, your digestive system is important to your overall health as it stores and supplies all nourishments for your body. Some of the characteristic movements of Tai Chi reinforce the expansion and contraction of your body in an opening and closing motion, thereby instrumental in vibrating and stimulating your stomach and intestines for a better and healthier digestive system.

Your respiratory system is also critical to your long-term health. In Tai Chi, breathing is valued more than physical power: breathing ‘ not muscular strength ‘ propels the movements of your body. Western physical exercises, on the other hand, emphasize muscular strength instead of the spontaneity of breathing and natural body movements. In Tai Chi, your mind directs the “qi”, letting it sink down into your abdomen, where natural breathing takes place. According to Taoism, you breathe through your abdomen (like babies and young children), not through your lungs. This explains why people in the West limit their breathing to the lungs; as a result, their lungs tend to enlarge as they grow older, crowding their hearts, leading to heart disease.

Your circulatory system is connected to your respiratory system. Tai Chi enhances your deep breathing, which guides your “qi” to move your blood (which cannot move itself) to different parts of your body for transporting oxygen and nutrients. By regulating the circulation, Tai Chi exercises through natural movements and deep breathing provide a healthy heart.

Hormones in your thyroid gland are responsible for physical growth of your body. In Tai Chi, you keep your neck erect without pressure, centered without inclining to the left or to the right; you integrate the slow and smooth movements of your head and neck. These movements not only enhance the activity of your thyroid gland but also act upon your kidneys to remove wastes.

In summary, you need the spontaneity of Taoism in physical movements as well as in natural breathing to optimize physical health benefits from exercise. Western exercises, focusing on pumping power and strength, may seem too “unnatural” for that.

By: Stephen Lau
Posted:

WeCAN! provided the physical fitness zone.

Date Taken: 2011-08-15 21:54:03
Owner: Neighborhood Centers

physical health

It is common knowledge that healthy eating and fitness of the body is the secret to good health and longevity. But, due to our hectic lifestyles, we often ignore this simple truth and end up feeling tired with hardly any energy to make it through the day. But if you truly wish to change this bad situation for the better, there is hope. There are a number of ways in which you can fit healthy eating in your busy schedule and undo years of self-indulgence.

An unbalanced diet or one deficient in essential nutrients will make you feel weak, lethargic and reduce your performance to below par. Healthy eating and fitness go hand-in-hand. Nutritionists will tell you that you must eat right to look and feel healthy as well as have the energy to lead an active lifestyle. They will also tell you that a portion control diets is the key to reclaiming your health and to do this you must eat a variety of foods from the different food groups. Your daily diet should include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, milk and dairy products, meats, poultry and eggs.

Fitness depends on healthy eating and daily food planner to get the right nutritional value from food you must follow a diet that is rich in fiber. Select foods that have high fiber content like fruits, vegetables and whole grains. Your diet should also be low in fats and cholesterol, so go easy on the cheese, butter and margarine. Instead, choose low-fat dairy products and use unsaturated fats like olive and canola oil in your cooking. Meats are a great source of protein but ensure that you eat lean meats so that you don’t consume unwanted fats.

Healthy eating is what fitness is all about and your daily trips to the fast food joint would obviously have to happen no more than once a month. Food from restaurants and takeaways is high in sodium, saturated fats and low in fiber – not a healthy diet if you wish to keep fit. Healthy eating and healthy eating guide also means limiting your sodium and sugar intake as well as taking alcoholic drinks in moderation. Above all, drink plenty of water (at least 8 glasses a day) to keep your body hydrated. Water also helps to move the nutrients throughout your body and flush out the toxins.

The first step to daily healthy eating plans involves a change in food as well as eating behavior. Don’t skip meals – eat three large meals and a couple of mini meals each day. Most of us tend to skip breakfast which is the most important meal of the day. A good healthy eating breakfast increases the metabolism and gives you the energy to start off your day. Also, eating a series of meals through the day ensures that your stomach is not empty, thus preventing you from overeating at meal time.

Serving sizes of food to be assimilated well it is necessary to take time to enjoy your food, so eat and chew slowly. Eating food in the right quantity with the help of meal portion plates is an essential part of healthy eating and in turn, fitness. Watch those portions or better still, use portion control plates and scoopers to make it easier to get the right amount of essential nutrients the body needs.

Healthy eating should be balanced with exercise to achieve fitness of the body as well as the mind. Making a conscious effort to eat healthy foods for a healthy diet and being disciplined enough to exercise at least twice or thrice a week will help with your fitness program as well as your weight management program.

Click for Healthy eating and exercise and Food pyramid for kids

By: Ed Stephens
Posted:

healthy eating

All of us want to lead a healthy life and all of us know that eating a healthy diet is the best way to get that healthy glow and the longevity we all hope for. But, everyday stress and the hectic lifestyle that we have grown accustomed to, prevents us from thinking about what we are eating and how it affects our body. When we hear talk about maintaining a daily healthy eating plans, all that comes to mind is a rigid diet that is uninteresting and bland to the taste buds – something which puts us off right from the word go. It is therefore quite natural that you search for easy healthy eating tips. Actually, a good diet is neither rigid nor difficult to follow indeed, once you understand it, it is quite easy. In this article we shall cover the essence of an easy healthy eating diet.

First of all, our easy healthy eating diet does not seek to deprive you of all those foods you love. Yes, you may bite into your hamburger or fries or ice cream at your favorite outlet; as a reward for following our easy healthy eating diet plan throughout the month.

Our easy healthy eating diet

Often, a balanced, nutritious diet means adopting a plan or healthy food chart that fits your life style. You may be in the habit of gorging on snacks while at work. No matter. Only take care to see that you snack on healthy foods. For instance, carry an apple or a banana with you or pack a nice sandwich made with whole wheat bread. Snacks such as these ensure that you don’t consume unhealthy trans-fats from that bag of chips you would have otherwise opened to stave off your snack craving.

Our easy healthy eating diet includes imagination

But what if you don’t like fruits or vegetables? Many people prefer meat to vegetables simply because not much attention is paid while preparing vegetables. Usually, healthy veggies recipes are simply boiled and placed on the side of a meat dish – nothing quite appetizing or appealing to the palate. Healthy vegetarian recipes, if prepared with a little imagination can turn out to be a wonderful meal. And veggies are versatile – they can be used in soups, casseroles or simply sautéed with a little garlic or onion to make an interesting dish. As for fruits, there is such a huge variety available that even the diehard meat fans will find something to their liking.

Our easy healthy eating diet calls for a little planning

Planning meals and snacks goes a long way towards healthy eating. Make up your grocery list with fresh foods like vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, poultry and dairy products. Limit your processed food intake either help of meal portion plates and keep an eye on the nutritional value on the labels of packaged foods. Cooking may not be your thing, but it’s not such a difficult task to pick up some easy tips for healthy cooking and eating from the thousands of online sources that are available. If you don’t fancy laboring over an elaborate meal, use the microwave to prepare your food in a jiffy. Finally, all that matters is a healthy way to cook and eat – one which suits your schedules and your lifestyle.

Our easy healthy eating diet says ‘Go fresh and nutty’

The basis of a healthy diet should be whole grains, seeds, nuts, fresh vegetables, healthy eating worksheets and fruit. You could easily include these foods in your daily diet, without much effort. You would be healthy eating food if you add a can of garbanzo beans to a soup or snack on an ounce of almonds. Replace meat with legumes like soybeans, peanuts or beans as a source of protein. Whole grains like brown rice or oatmeal and whole-wheat bread are a source of fiber that aids digestion and provides the vitamins to boost your energy and metabolic

The trick to healthy eating is not to deprive yourself of your favorite foods, but to watch the portions you eat. If you love ice cream, treat yourself to it but on a once-a-month affair – make it count. You’ll learn to love every lick and spoonful. Consciously making the right changes in your diet is the first step towards healthy eating.

Click for Healthy breakfast recipes and Portion size guide

By: Ed Stephens
Posted:

kids food tracker- nutrition

Date Taken: 2009-08-08 20:35:13
Owner: nutrition education

healthy eating