Nurturing Health nutrition that works
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C A N A DA
January – February 2020 • Volume 10 Edition 1
Kickstart 2020 the right way! After a season of indulgence, many of us enter the first months of the year with a deep-set urge to detox and shed any unhealthy weight recent gained during the holidays or even over the course of the year. This may involve elaborate cleanses, restrictive diets, and dramatic increases in lifestyle and fitness habits. Sounds great, right? However, the Statistic Brain Research Institute notes that perhaps only 8% of people end up meeting the goals they set for themselves. How can we avoid this happening to us and our loved ones? Psychologists and nutritionists tend to recommend setting realistic and sustainable goals that can stay integrated in your life. A cleanse of tree syrup, cayenne pepper and lemon juice followed by a new diet exclusively composed of certain superfoods, and a sudden fivefold increase in aerobic exercise may sound ideal for some. However, for the majority of us, more modest adjustments will lead to more realised results. What adjustments can become a part of your day-to-day life, and keep you on the good health track? 1. Increase your muscle mass through safe weight-training exercises, even at home. A modest increase on these fatburning body tissues can have a positive impact on your metabolism, insulin resistance, and heart health. Start with small weights, or focus on your biggest muscles such as your glutes which can be strengthened through simple exercises such as well-executed squats. 2. Cut back on the worst toxins by 50% or even just 25%. If you drink alcohol, love sugary treats, or are drawn frequently to fast food feasts, going cold turkey would be ideal, but for the long term, even a specific reduction (more effective than a vague “less”) can have a huge effect. Of course, if you repeat the reduction percentage every new year, the accumulative effect can have those toxins virtually wiped out in a few years! 3. Incorporate the right supplements, including AIM Herbal Fiberblend, fit ‘n fiber, Herbal Release, and FloraFood. • Herbal Fiberblend helps to maintain whole-body health by providing natural psyllium fibre (soluble and insoluble) and cleansing herbs that remove toxins from the body. It helps to maintain digestive health and promotes regular bowel movements.
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fit ’n fiber helps to promote digestive health with oat fibre, psyllium, and herbs that cleanse the intestinal tract. Oat fibre relieves irregularity to improve detoxification. • Herbal Release helps to maintain a regular bowel by providing herbs that cleanse the body of toxins. Each herb, including cascara sagrada, barberry, echinacea, and parsley, was carefully selected to support the stomach, liver, kidneys, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, skin, and digestive system. • FloraFood helps to maintain digestive health with a unique blend of probiotics— Lactobacillus gasseri, Bifidobacterium bifidum and Bifidobacterium longum—that restore and help maintain a balanced intestinal flora. These good bacteria are known to stimulate and enhance the immune system, balance intestinal pH, and protect against environmental toxins. 4. If you go off track, don’t ‘guilt sabotage’ youself. Avoid associating the adherence to your health goals with virtue and any missteps with moral weakness. Like everything else in life, our health approach exists on a continuum, and if we occasionally veer to the less-ideal end, simply course-correct. That one generous slice of cheesecake or that indulgent one day in bed binge-watching your favourite TV show perhaps won’t progress your short-term goals, but punishing yourself by believing you’re incapable to keeping resolutions - and thus giving up - is far worse. In one year’s time, will the rare indulgence have a real impact? No, as long as we don’t let it. Make this coming year one that you can look back upon where being on the right track was manageable enough to sustain throughout 2020. References: • https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20150108-dos-and-donts-of-a-january-detox • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3306910/ • https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20141219-why-does-guilt-increase-pleasure