Scary statistics

- 43 million Americans report that a
  doctor told them they had arthritis or
  other rheumatic conditions.
- As a 2002 18.2 million people or
   6.3% had diabetes. There are 1.3
   million new cases diagnosed each
   year.
- More than 60% of US adults do not
   engage in the recommended amount
   physical activity.

- Approximately 5% are not active at all.
- Heart disease and stroke are the most common cardiovascular diseases (CD). 
- They are the first and third leading causes of death for both men and women in the
   United States accounting for nearly 40% of all annual deaths. 
- More than 910,000 Americans die of cardiovascular disease each year, which is
  one death every 35 seconds.

Although largely preventable conditions are more common among people aged 65 or older, the number of sudden deaths from heart disease among people aged 15 to 34 years has increased. In addition, more than 70 million Americans currently live with cardiovascular disease.

The Five Simple Steps to Health:
 
1. Drink plenty of good filtered or distilled water daily. 
The body is made up of 70% water, yet most are not drinking the eight glasses per day that is recommended for proper body function.

Water is essential for life
You can gain amazing health benefits from a steady dose of 8 glasses of purified water a day and research suggests healthful water may actually be the ultimate age-defying nutrient. Here is what it can do for you:

Maintaining an adequate level of hydration is essential for efficient regulation of your body’s normal physiological functions. As you can imagine, if your brain is not properly hydrated, your thinking ability becomes dull, you have trouble making the best decisions and your potential for headaches and dizziness increases. Your liver breaks down fats, so when it’s below its hydration mark, your digestive system experiences a chain reaction of imbalances. 

2. Eat a well-balanced diet. 
A diet is not something you go on, it encompasses everything you eat. 
There are just different approaches to the foods you eat that can make a big difference. Eating right is vital to promoting health and reducing the risk for death or disability due to chronic diseases such as heart disease, certain cancers, diabetes, stroke, and osteoporosis. In fact, it has been estimated that dietary changes could reduce cancer deaths in the United States by as much as 35 percent.  

Food and the Family
Parents have a strong influence on their children's food choices and activities. If parents embrace good eating habits and enjoy physical activity, they establish a home environment that leads children in the right direction.
Poor health behaviors are leading contributors to morbidity and premature mortality in the United States.
Healthy diets rich in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases.

Fruits and vegetables also provide essential vitamins and minerals, fiber and other substances that are important for good health. We have often heard that “we are what we eat”, this has some merit to it.  But of course, we need to take a sensible approach to our overall health plan. Nutritional deficiencies are the root cause of many non-germ caused diseases in the United States and vitamin and mineral deficiencies can trigger a host of these. The question these days is not whether we need to supplement our diet with vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids, but how best to accomplish this.
Better food habits can help you reduce your risk for heart attack. A healthful eating plan means choosing the right foods to eat and preparing foods in a healthy way.

3. Get some exercise. 
Try to walk at least three times a week or more. The health benefits of regular physical activity are well documented. 
Research has shown that it can help you control weight, control high blood pressure, reduce risk for type 2 diabetes, heart attack and colon cancer, reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety just to name a few.

Benefits of exercise
Physical activity reduces the risk of dying from coronary heart disease, developing high blood pressure, cancer and diabetes.  Physical activity can reduce blood pressure in some people with hypertension and helps maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints.  It reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression plus fosters improvements including feelings of well-being.  Most of all it helps control weight, develops muscle and reduces body fat. Are these benefits of interest to you? They should be. When exercising it becomes even more important to have good diet to ensure the body has the correct ratio of macronutrients while providing ample micronutrients, this is to aid the body with the recovery process following strenuous exercise.

What is stress?
Stress is the "wear and tear" our bodies experience as we adjust to our continually changing environment; it has physical and emotional effects on us and can create positive or negative feelings. Stress management defines stress precisely as a person's physiological response to an external stimulus that triggers the "fight-or-flight" reaction. Work, life, many things can start the stress reaction, including danger, threat, news, illness, as well as significant changes in one's life. It is now an accepted fact in the medical community; according to recent research, that stress is one of the major causes of all illnesses. Stress can cause Migraines, Stroke, Eczema, a weak Immune System, and many other diseases. Stress is also known to cause medical complications during Pregnancy for both the mother and the child. Hence, there is a growing need for stress management.

5. Take supplements to help fill gaps in your nutritional shortfall. 
We should be getting our nutrients from our foods, but this is just not possible today. This is why it is increasingly important to supplement our diet with nutrients that support or body’s structure and functions.

Why do we need vitamins?
It is increasingly important that we supplement with vitamins, minerals, nutrients and essential fatty acids because even if we are eating properly we are still not receiving the essential amounts our bodies need on a daily basis.  It is vital to look upon our bodies as an incredible biochemical machine and the foods we consume are the fuel needed to run it. The nutrients in the fuel are the building blocks to keep our machine in proper working order. If our fuels are devoid of these nutrients our machine will eventually start to break down. So the question is not whether we should be taking nutritional supplements but how best to take them. Our goal is to make this a very simple process and provide you with a comprehensive and easy approach to you supplement needs.

Why adopt these five steps? 
Because unless you believe in reincarnation, we only get one shot to live our lives today. The problem it seems is that we wait until we have a health issue and then try to find a solution to eliminate the symptom. These symptoms are your body's warning system that there's something wrong. By suppressing the symptom, you may not be addressing underlying problems. 
Think of your body as an incredible biochemical machine. It is important that we take the necessary steps to keep this machine working properly, but where do you begin? If you use these five simple steps as a guide you can go a long way toward helping yourself put the odds in your favor from developing many of the preventable non-germ caused diseases that plague Americans today. You are the only one that can really take charge of your health. Keep it simple and follow these healthy steps for ninety days, then ask yourself if you feel better than you did when you started.  It's important that we learn from the past, live in the present and look toward the future. The healthy habits we establish today will will have a great impact on our health in the future and it's never too late to start!