Health & Wellness | pg.2

By The FIRM Master Instructor Nancy Butts

No matter your fitness or weight loss goals, there are staple exercises that should be a part of every workout routine. These are my top five personal must-have moves. It was really hard to narrow it down, but after careful consideration, I believe these exercises will help you achieve the svelte and fit FIRM body you desire. We’ll count down to my No. 1 all-time favorite move. Are you as excited as I am?

The new year is just around the corner! January evokes resolutions. Many folks will commit to things like weight loss, more exercise or fiscal responsibility. Yet sadly, only a small percentage will follow through. I’m not saying that resolutions aren’t worth it. I love any opportunity to commit to a healthier and more thoughtful lifestyle. But how about this year, creating a New Year’s mission statement for yourself or a themed phrase or “mantra” to use all year long.

The National Institutes of Health, in monitoring obesity and overall public health, has announced the impact of “holiday weight-gain” on the long-term issue of obesity. Are the 5 to 7 extra pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas really an issue? No, not really. Most people will take the initiative after the new year and get most of it off. But it’s the most of it that’s the problem. There seems to be about 1 extra pound that lingers each year, and that yearly pound is beginning to look like a possible cause of the slow, age-related (upward) movement of the scale.

The holidays make you think about minutes in a whole different way. It’s a time when you eat more, drink more, spend more money and sleep less. You feel time-crunched. You do your last-minute shopping. And as fast as you create the holidays, they disappear.

Sneezing, coughing, fever, aches and pains…

Worried about flu symptoms like these? As winter approaches, most of us are.

In today’s blog, I provide you with a comprehensive seven-step plan for preventing colds and flu and staying healthy this winter.

I also include eight supplements to boost your immune system and help you fight off sickness.

Throughout the years, I have worked with many athletes, marathoners, golfers, basketball players and professional dancers. The magic bullet in training consciously is a synergy of fluid biomechanics, coupled with a mind and spirit that are all on the same page. In other words, it is very difficult to fuel your passion for athletics if one of these elements is holding you back — be it pain from an injury, a lack of belief in yourself, or using your sport as a form of punishment.

So how can reducing stress help you lose weight?

It starts with the hormone cortisol, which has become synonymous with stress. You may have heard or seen an advertisement for yet another magic weight loss pill or potion that reduces cortisol in your body to help lose weight. But how does cortisol really affect our body’s ability to store fat? And how can we reduce the amount of cortisol in our bodies without resorting to weight loss pills?

Why is it that we follow a doctor’s prescription to a “T” but then take additional advice like “no sugar” and “You need to exercise” with a shrug of the shoulders? If your exercise plan was written out for you on a tiny prescription pad, would you follow it? If you had to go to the pharmacy counter to get your grocery items, would it change the way you eat?

I love dark chocolate. Its perfect mix of bitter and sweet scratches an itch down deep in my soul.

And yet, the past two times I’ve consumed it (once in the form of squares from an actual bar and once in the form of hot cocoa made with the highest quality cocoa powder I could find), it has upset my stomach.

Could something as simple as a quick and easy blood test save your life? Absolutely.

It’s called a C-reactive protein test, and it measures the degree of HIDDEN inflammation in your body.

Finding out whether or not you are suffering from hidden inflammation is critical because almost every modern disease is caused or affected by it. If your immune system and its ability to quell inflammation in your body are impaired, watch out. You are headed toward illness and premature aging.