Did you ever think your health and well-being are really important factors in the health and well-being of the planet? It’s true. The choices each of us makes each and every day are important for our family’s welfare as well as the welfare of our neighborhood, our community, our city, our country, and our global society.

We do not often consider that a healthy personal lifestyle – relating to fitness and nutrition – has an impact on the environment and the global biosphere. But our personal choices and actions do matter. Our life-affirming choices to get fit, be fit, and eat right affect everyone and everything around us. How you get to work is a perfect example.

Of course, most of us drive to work, as it is a lifetime habit, and we don’t even think about it. But, driving always produces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – every gallon of gas burned pumps 17 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Biking to work and walking to work are fitness-promoting activities that have a double benefit.1,2 You are exercising on your workdays and you’re actively helping to reduce GHG emissions and stabilize the Earth’s climate.

If it’s too far to walk or bike to your place of employment, arrange to car pool with co-workers and walk or bike to their house on the days when you’re not the designated driver. Planting a garden or participating in the activities of a community garden is a health-promoting action step that has a triple benefit.

First, you’re producing or helping to produce foods that are grown locally. Foods consumed in the United States travel an average of 1500 miles to reach your local supermarket. Foods grown locally eliminate almost all of the fossil fuel resources required to transport non-local items.

Second, you are adding really fresh vegetables to your family’s diet, providing vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals required for abundant good health.

Third, gardening is exercise – the kind of exercise people used to get when they did not sit in chairs at desks all day long.

The benefits of health-promoting activities keep on coming.3 For the most part, healthy people don’t wind up in the local hospital emergency room. Resources saved include fossil fuels burned by high-speed ambulances, fossil fuels burned to produce electricity used to power life-saving medical devices, and energy utilized to produce the vast amounts of medical supplies consumed in an emergency procedure, including syringes, IV set-ups, and towels, wipes, and disinfectants.

To be a healthy individual as a member of a healthy family has a huge multiplying effect. Your chiropractor knows that all body systems are deeply interconnected and must work together to produce good health. So too are the many different living systems that make up Planet Earth. Your chiropractor can provide you with detailed information about good nutrition and good exercise that can help make a real difference in your health and the health of your community.

1Villegas R, et al: The cumulative effect of core lifestyle behaviours on the prevalence of hypertension and dyslipidemia. BMC Public Health 13(8):210, 2008 2Christie BR, et al: Exercising our brains: how physical activity impacts synaptic plasticity in the dentate gyrus. Neuromolecular Med 10(2):47-58, 2008 3Booher MA, Smith BW: Physiological effects of exercise on the cardiopulmonary system. Clin Sports Med 22(1):1-21, 2003

For additional information on health and nutrition please contactDr. Jason Fowlerwww.lakestlouisdc.com

America’s weight problems are now so well-known they’re even fair game for jokes at the Oscars. “Americans really know how to fill up a seat,” jibes Ellen DeGeneres, host of the 2007 Academy Awards.

The statistics are alarming. Sixty-five percent of Americans –0 million in 2001 – are overweight. Fifteen percent of American children are overweight (up from four percent only 20 years ago). Health care costs related to overweight Americans has ballooned to $117 billion (that’s billion) in 2003. And the numbers keep going up. The scales do not lie.

And yet, diet and weight-loss books fill our nation’s bookstores. Low-carb diets. High-protein diets. The cabbage soup diet. The grapefruit diet. The raw foods diet. Most people we know have tried one or more of these. The new diet works for a while, then we can’t take the deprivation any longer and break the diet. Then, horrifyingly, all the weight we lost comes right back, and we’re right back where we started. Or possibly even a few pounds heavier. The very good news is that a real, long-lasting solution exists. The basics of this healthy approach to long-term weight loss have been known for decades. This solution is not a diet. It doesn’t have a catchy name. There are, though, a few “magic” secrets to this food plan that works.

“Secret” Number 1 – eat six small meals throughout each day, separated by 2.5 to 3 hours “Secret” Number 2 – combine protein and carbohydrates in each meal “Secret” Number 3 – drink plenty of water (eight to ten glasses) throughout the day “Secret” Number 4 – eat two portions of vegetables each day “Secret” Number 5 – take one day off each week (a “free” day) and eat whatever you want, whenever you want Why combine protein and carbohydrate at each meal? This critical combination feeds our muscles by providing the amino acids (from protein) necessary to build and maintain muscle tissue, and the carbohydrate needed to shuttle the amino acids into the cells. If the carbs are not there the protein doesn’t get used. There’s also a human performance benefit – eating balanced meals enables better cognitive/mental function. So we’re not only getting healthier on this food plan, we’re getting smarter!1

Why eat six times a day? Studies have shown this approach results in a faster metabolic rate, a lower percentage of body fat, and reduced “bad” cholesterol levels, all while maintaining lean muscle mass.2,3 Each meal contains approximately 300 calories (proteins and carbohydrates in each meal are in “portion” sizes). That’s it! This sensible, easy approach to food allows you to eat everything – there are no restrictions. And, on your free day you can indulge, or not, letting your natural instincts guide you.

1Fischer K, et al: “Carbohydrate to protein ratio in food and cognitive performance in the morning.” Physiol Behav 75(3):411-423, 2002 2Jenkins JD, et al: “Nibbling vs. gorging: metabolic advantages of increased meal frequency.” NEJM 321(14):929-934,’89 3Verboeket WP, et al: “Influence of feeding frequency on nutrient utilization in man: consequences for energy metabolism.” Eur J Clin Nutr 43(3):161-169,’91

For additional information on health please contact Dr. Jason Fowler Dr. Jason Fowler