health mind and body quotes: Summary

แสดงบทความที่มีป้ายกำกับ Summary แสดงบทความทั้งหมด

วันจันทร์ที่ 4 กุมภาพันธ์ พ.ศ. 2556

Book Summary: End of Illness - Written by Dr David Agus

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Health is the foundation of everything in life. When I was younger, I would rank things that I wanted like wealth, relationships, fame and power. Never did I give one thought to health. As I moved through high school and college, I retooled my thinking and put health as number one. The reason for this is without health, you cannot achieve anything else. Health is like the foundation of your house. It does not make sense to put in a Jacuzzi tub if your house's foundation is crumbling.

Why is this important to me?

Since health is number one and all other good things stem from it, we need to find ways to maximize our own health. It is up to us to take this into our own hands. Dr. Agus takes a systems approach to health care. This is very compelling because if you build a car or airplane, you have to follow very strict tolerances in order for it to be successful and work. You need to look at it from the whole down to the part and not the other way. Each person needs to have a baseline of their health.

Healthcare is more complex because everybody is different. This means that baseline studies can be deceiving based on your ethnicity and background. Everybody has a different fingerprint and a different makeup. The End of Illness studies health not from a cure perspective but from prevention. The part can never be well unless the whole is well - Plato

The End of Illness starts out with killer questions which we will answer in this summary.

1. How can a simple peek at your body's proteins tell you more about the state of your health this instant than a readout of your genetic code? Proteins are how cells talk to each other. What keeps cancer under control is the conversation between cells through proteins. The growing field of Proteomics is the study of proteins.

2. What do statins such as Lipitor and Crestor have in common with the swine flu and Alzheimer's disease? Inflammation is a sign that something is not right in the body. Virtually all chronic conditions have been linked to chronic inflammation which creates an imbalance in your system that stimulates negative effects on your health. Statins act as an ant-inflammatory and help the body. Think about this, professional football players have a significantly shorter life span on average because of diseases linked to inflammation.

3. Cancer - Cancer is not something the body gets but rather it is something the body does. Once the environment is out of balance, cell communication can get disrupted and uncontrolled cell growth happens.

4. Establish a baseline - Genetic testing and knowing your history are very important. Let's take Vitamin D as an example. If you are from Norway then your tolerance for sun is very different than if you are from Nigeria. These two comparisons have very different baseline needs for Vitamin D. This is why it is important to establish your own personal baseline with history and genetic testing before you simply buy a supplement because you are under the deficiency average.

5. Vitamins - The Vitamin industry is $25 billion. Dr. Agus profiles several studies on vitamins that actually have more of a negative affect instead of a positive effect. The data shows that we should NOT take vitamins.

6. Real Food - The best way to get nutrients, vitamins and minerals is from our food. The best way to have this is from Fresh or flash frozen food sources.

Dr. Agus knows his stuff and he credits the title of this book to Steve Jobs. Dr. Agus was his doctor. Doing simple prevention like wearing comfortable shows, not sitting all day, and controlling inflammation have a dramatic effect on your health. The numbers in the book are staggeringly positive if you adopt these simple behaviors.

I hope you have found this short summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes habit. Habits form in as little as 21 days. One thing you can take away from this book is Common Sense Health. Do the following - wear comfortable shoes, each real / fresh food, exercise and walk around at work. Most people (me included) sit a majority of the day. I will be acquiring a treadmill desk and walking for at least 2 hours during work time. This will NOT be an exercise routine but a life style change. I will keep you posted on the results.

Joe Mosed invites you to subscribe to http://www.successprogress.com/ to receive free video book summaries. Our vision at Success Progress is to provide relevant & meaningful content to our user community. To view the video summary of this article please visit http://www.youtube.com/successprogress

วันอาทิตย์ที่ 21 ตุลาคม พ.ศ. 2555

Book Summary: Foundation - Redefine Your Core, Conquer Back Pain - By Dr Eric Goodman and Peter Park

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Exercise is important if you want to have energy and compete in this world. I enjoy boxing and grappling along with body weight workouts. Nothing brings you from a world class elite workout to sucking your thumb like a 5 year old more than throwing your back out. I do this once a year and my chiropractor recommended I read Foundation.

Why is this important to me?

Everybody I know has thrown their back out regardless if they are world class athletes or 100 pounds overweight. Weak backs plague most people. When I was younger, I always had back and neck pain. My neck would cause headaches and the doctor said it was a degenerative disk. What's interesting is that I eliminated the neck pain with a back bridge exercise that was introduced to me in wrestling and reinforced in Matt Fury's Combat Conditioning routine.

Improper motion and movement happening from the lower back instead of the hips and legs is the root cause of lower back problems. Foundation addresses these issues and discusses ways to eliminate them.

Foundation is an excellent book that gets to the root cause of back pain. The testimonials are from professional athletes as well as patients that have had back surgery. Let's discuss the what, why and how to eliminate back pain.

1. What is the cause? Since back pain happens to anybody including 19 year old professional athletes or 70 year old grandmas, it makes sense to study it. Back pain revolves around improper motion. Eric and Peter have developed Foundation training to shift the focus from the abs and the front of the body to the back and posterior chain. The reason there is so much back, hip and knee pain is because we load our bodies incorrectly.

2. Why is this important? The answer to this is obvious but it seems that everybody has a different answer on how to fix it. If you go to a medical doctor then they will tell you to ice it and take medicine. A chiropractor will adjust you which is effective most of the time if they are good and a message therapist will work the muscles to loosen you up. All of these methods eliminate the symptoms but do not cure the root cause of the problem. If you do not change your movement patterns, the injuries will progress and low-grade inflammation will persist.

3. How does it work? Foundation training is a set of exercises that builds the back and posterior chain. I am very excited by this because my hips, legs and lower back are extremely tight. When warm, I can almost do the splits but my hips are locked like they are fused together. For every exercise that you do for the front of your body, you should do four for the back. This is real because evaluating this program for me has shown that I am over built in the front and under-built in the back. Foundation trains you to use your most powerful muscles properly, creating flexibility throughout the most important areas of your body.

Foundation is a great book that I highly recommend you pick up. I have been doing the exercises for a week now and I already feel the difference. My back is getting better and stronger. One thing that is highlighted in the book is using a Styrofoam roller to loosen up your legs and hips. I must admit that I was not hot on spending $40 bucks for a piece of Styrofoam but this has helped beyond my belief. Here is the analogy - if you have a rubber band then it will stretch to its limit, if you tie knots in the rubber band and try to stretch then the elasticity is perhaps only 20% effective. I can tell you that when you first start with the roller, it hurts like hell but the progression is very quick. To get an idea of how good these exercises are, YouTube "Foundation" and do one of the 12 minute videos that Eric and Pete give away for free. You will see results.

I hope you have found this short summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes habit. Habits form in as little as 21 days. One thing you can take away from this book is eliminate your back pain. Foundation will become my pre-workout of choice moving forward because I know it works. I threw my back out and it is now better and stronger because of these routines.

วันอังคารที่ 26 มิถุนายน พ.ศ. 2555

Book Summary: Oxycise - How Anyone Can Get Rid of Fat Forever - By Jill Johnson

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วันพุธที่ 13 มิถุนายน พ.ศ. 2555

Book Summary: Use Your Brain to Change Your Age - Written by Dr Daniel Amen

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We are just scratching the surface on brain research. The power of the brain is absolutely awesome. Dr. Amen is a leader in this field and this book is a testimonial of his research results. Alzheimer's, Dementia and depression are all horrible diseases that really do not get much attention yet they destroy lives. IMHO, Dr. Amen's research will continue to bridge the gap and hopefully help people reduce their chances of getting these diseases.

Why is this important to me?

My goal in doing this book summary is to provide value because I do not want to waste your time. A picture is worth a thousand words. If you were to look at two brain SPECT images comparing heavy alcohol use with Alzheimer's, they would both look like Swiss cheese. A normal brain SPECT scan looks whole. What this is depicting are areas of non-activity in the brain.

The effects of alcohol use and Alzheimer's look very similar. Brain health is directly tied to overall health. The brain uses 30% of the energy consumed by your whole body and through proper nutrition and exercise, we can enhance brain health.

Use Your Brain to Change Your Age is a collection of real patients and real results. These patients typically were overweight and had horrible diets. We will examine the what, why and how to brain health. I think this title is telling because most people are pretty vain when it comes to age and if it helps sell books then so be it. This book needs to be read and taught to the masses. The problems with our sick care system are only getting worse and the real solution lies with the individual taking control of their own health. This book is a great stepping stone in that direction.

1. What is it? In particular, I am talking about SPECT imaging. Dr. Amen uses brain imaging to show his patients their brains vs. a normal brain. A normal brain SPECT scan shows a solid brain in all directions. This signifies brain activity. If the scan looked to be filled with holes then those holes represent non-activity centers in the brain. Additionally, brain health typically can be reflected on the outside. Obesity has a major negative effect on the brain. Most of the patients Dr. Amen profiles in the book were overweight and had negative looking brain scans. Dr. Amen argues that your brain health can be enhanced and effectively reverse aging. Aging in this sense is sharpness of mind and body. One way to be younger is have more energy and increase your activity. These are looked at in the how to section.

2. Why is it important? The answer to this question is self-evident unless you want to die a horrible death. Brain disease is hard on the patient and really hard on their families. The responsibility for your health falls on your shoulders. Most people are looking for a miracle drug or somebody else to take care of them. This is not going to work and has not worked in the past.

3. How does it work? Dr. Amen goes into great detail on the how to but for the sake of time let me summarize the majors. First, diet is a key component to brain health. Dr. Amen recommends low Glycemic foods which he details in the book. For simplicity, eat vegetables and cut down on sugar/junk food, alcohol and soft drinks. Drink a lot of water and increase your daily activity. Exercise is a big deal and has a positive effect on brain health. The brain runs on Glucose and Oxygen so if you increase you oxygen intake through exercise and activity, your brain will benefit. Also, protect your head. If you do high impact sports then wear a helmet. Dr. Amen has worked with several NFL players and the damage to their brains is significant. Through diet, exercise and in some cases Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, he has been able to improve brain function significantly. The brain is a muscle so it needs to be exercised as well. Continuous learning is critical for proper brain function.

Read this book. The How To's are very straight forward and easy to do. One thing I recommend for all the people who work out of their house and have a treadmill, set up a treadmill desk and work from there. If you work 8 hours per day then work for 2 hours on the treadmill at a slow walking pace. This will increase circulation, reduce inflammation and increase oxygen to the body.

I hope you have found this short summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes habit. Habits form in as little as 21 days. One thing you can take away from this book is brain health affects everything. One quick way to enhance brain health is increase your activity and change your diet. Start slow and do something once per month. Also, if you are not a believer in continuous learning then change that belief otherwise you will be left behind. Use web sites like the KHAN Academy to enhance your learning. A simple 10 minute video per day can help.