These chemicals build up in your tissues, and break down the body’s ability to function normally.

How to avoid it:

Buy organic produce, or better yet, grow your own. Even people living in apartments can start their own small-scale organic garden with little time or effort.

 

Genetically modified foods – Because biotech companies refuse to allow independent research, there is absolutely no legitimate peer-reviewed research available on GMOs. And yet the vast majority of soy and corn grown in North America is genetically modified, which is a problem since they are found in almost every prepackaged product on grocery store shelves.

The research that has been done has come up with shocking results; genetically modified foods cause hormonal disruption, infertility, genetic mutation, birth defects, and by the third generation of the rats being tested, a complete inability to reproduce.

How to avoid it:
The easiest way to avoid GMOs, is to stay away from prepackaged foods. The USDA is now saying that they can’t even guarantee there are no GMOs in certified organic prepackaged foods.

 
High fructose corn syrup – Unlike natural sugars, the body has absolutely no idea how to deal with high fructose corn syrup. It puts massive stress on the pancreas, and prevents the body from properly processing all sugars. Several recent studies have found consumption of high fructose corn syrup to be highly correlated with diabetes and obesity.

How to avoid it: Read labels! Because high fructose corn syrup is so cheap, it’s a popular choice for pop, candy, another sweets.

 
Alcohol – also known as ethanol, is converted into sugar when it’s digested. It damages the liver, stresses the pancreas, increases glucose tolerance, and despite the twisted research put forward by mainstream media, damages the heart and circulatory system.

How to avoid it: Try alternative, mildly alcoholic healthy beverages, such as kombucha, kvass, and kiefer.

 
MSG – MSG prevents your body from knowing when it’s full, causes it to always feel hungry (or “peckish”), And puts direct pressure on the pancreas by causing it to over produce insulin.

How to avoid it:

with at least 18 names, MSG may be the hardest single ingredient to avoid. Learn the names of MSG, read labels, and avoid packaged foods as much as possible.

 
Avoiding these toxins is a giant leap toward optimal health. In my next post, I will share five foods to bring your body back into balance!

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup#Health_effects

http://www.naturalnews.com/025001.html

http://www.msgtruth.org/obesity.htm

http://www.msgmyth.com/hidename.htm

Yet so few of us exercise enough to be healthy.”

Who wants to feel like this?

Why is that?

Ask yourself:

When I hear the word “Exercise” what do I really think of?

Does it remind you of pain, guilt, not feeling good enough, being judged, struggling, and generally feeling terrible physically and emotionally?

Does it feel like a lot of work?

If exercise brings up any of those images, why would you do it? No one wants to feel that way.

Why is “Exercise” crammed into a tiny mental “box”?

It comes down to “Conditioning”

Everyone has experiences, and those experiences shape the way we see the world and train our behavior.

What has been your experience of exercise? Exercise doesn’t always feel good physically, especially if you haven’t been active in a while.

When you do something and it makes you feel nauseous or sore, that punishes you and makes you less likely to do it through a process called operant conditioning.

Combine that with past experiences that were painful emotionally, and you end up subconsciously programmed to avoid physical activity.

If you don’t enjoy exercising, you’re NOT going to do it.

So what can you do about it?

You need to make exercising enjoyable. Recently, I shared a way of adding a healthy reward to the end of your activity with hydrotherapy. Find something you can do that will make you want to be active.

What do you enjoy most in life? Use what already motivates you to move in the direction you want to go– Even the pain of knowing what will happen if you don’t take action.

Change the way you Think about Fitness.

If you had an unpleasant experience with exercise, don’t do whatever you were doing when you had it.

If you felt teased while running, don’t start with running. Find a new way of being active, like Pilates, hiking, going for walks with two or four legged friends, or a creative sport like ultimate frisbee.

Once you are feeling more fit and comfortable then conquer the old fears, for now you can bypass them.

You did your best back then, and now you’re going to do better, drop the guilt and move on.

The more you are physically active in an enjoyable way, the more you will see fitness as Fun.

Did you run around as a kid? Did you enjoy playing? When you were playing did you say, “This is a great way to prevent degenerative disease!”? No!

Take a child like view of being active, just do it for fun! No one wants to work for fitness, but everyone want to have fun.

As a kid, you probably had a lot more fun when you were playing with other kids. The same is true today, what ever you do will be easier, more fun and more effective if you do it with others.

If your fitness routine gets boring, do something else!

And if your issue is “I don’t have the time to be active.” The comic says it all. What do you make important?

Are you caught in, “I have to change everything, which is too hard, so I wont do anything”?

You don’t need to change everything overnight, just make consistent, incremental daily step towards optimal health.

“The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time!”

Studies have found that walking briskly for just 10 minutes 3 times a day is as effective as going for one 30 minute walk. Go for a 10 minute jog in the morning, then walk to and from lunch, and you’ve just got your exercise for the day!

Start small, and document your successes along the way. If you’re already following a program that works for you, journal about your progress, so that in those moments when you’re not sure if you should keep doing it you have something to motivate you to keep doing what works.

Have you seen “exercising” as a burden or obligation, or something you “should” do?

What would it take to see exercising as something joyful that you want to do at every opportunity?

Think about a time when you were being physically active that made you feel inspired, joyful, and completely alive…

Do more of that!

If you stop labeling exercise, it’s easy to get enough!