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There is a direct relationship between your diet, physical activity, and health. Your nutrition is a key player when it comes to physical, mental, and social well-being. And it’s important for preventing disease.
Lifestyle factors may also determine if you’re going to get sick or remain healthy. One of those factors is physical activity.
A sedentary lifestyle is usually associated with an increased risk for chronic disease, loss of movement, and decreased immune health.
For those reasons, physical activity and movement are extremely important during the coronavirus pandemic. With that in mind, I will cover the benefits of physical activity, where your focus should be, how to think about exercising, equipment, how much you should be doing, and much more.
Older adults (age 65 and older).
Those with chronic disease (diabetes, heart disease, and lung disease).
Those with compromised immune systems.
Physically active individuals usually live longer than those who are inactive or may have a risk of heart disease. Inactivity is an important risk factor like high blood pressure, smoking, or high cholesterol.
Stress and anxiety relief: Stress and anxiety are rising with the current pandemic, and it can lower your immune response. Exercising releases chemicals in your brain, such as serotonin and endorphins which can help improve your mood, reduce the risk of depression and cognitive decline, and delay onset of dementia.
Regular physical activity helps your immune system function.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that regular physical activity paired with a balanced nutritious diet helps with weight management. Excess weight is associated with higher health risks.
Reduces blood pressure as well as risks of serious health issues such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke when it’s paired a balanced nutritious diet.
It also improves bone and muscle strength and increases balance and flexibility. This is important for everyone, especially older adults because it can prevent falls and injuries. As for children, it aids with growth and development and sets healthy habits for the future.
For children, physical activity can lessen behavioural issues such as ADHD and help with concentration during schoolwork which is important now that they’re at home all the time.
As a rule, you always want to have an intention before starting a workout routine or program. This pinpoints what you’re not good at, and therefore what you are trying to improve.
Go through them and analyze which ones you excel at, which ones you are moderate at, and which ones you lack the most. I would start working on the latter, and progressively move towards the rest. This doesn’t mean when you’re working on one, you’re completely ignoring the rest, but rather is a tool to have a specific intent.
This is the amount of force a muscle can produce against some form of resistance. This resistance can come from external objects or your body weight. Your core is a set of muscles that play a key role in many movement patterns. Improving core strength may improve motion.
This is the ability of your heart and lungs to get oxygen to your muscles for their use.
Flexibility is the capacity of moving through your full active and passive range of motion. Mobility is moving your joints and muscles properly in an active manner through their range of motion. Stability is maintaining control of the position and movement of your joints. People usually lack mobility and stability in their joints and lose overall movement.
Balance is the ability to stay in control of your body’s movement and coordination is being able to move two or more body parts with control.
Be the scientist of your own body
Be aware and constantly check your body. How well your body is adapting to physical activity changes from person to person. Keeping an eye on your weight, brain function, energy levels, and even your stool will serve as a guide.
Humans are social creatures, including a partner in exercise makes it more competitive, fun and adds accountability. This is a way to keep you engaged. If you live by yourself, try contacting friends and family via video call, social media, sending each other a pic once you complete your workout, and use other platforms to stay connected.
Physical activity is great way to improve health in children. Scheduling exercise as a family activity and including game breaks in the middle will keep children engaged and attentive.
You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Setting daily and weekly goals will keep you on track and aware of your improvement. Don’t set yourself up for failure though; make sure your goals are SMART:
“10 minutes of PA a day” or “30 reps of an exercise a day.”
Using the stopwatch in your phone to measure 10’ or counting each rep.
Start small. If you have been sedentary for a while, start with 5’ a day. Then move to 10’ and so on.
Exercises have to be meaningful and relevant to your life. I think preventing being affected by coronavirus is pretty relevant.
You need a time frame for each goal. Daily and weekly goals give you a time frame. You need to complete X amount of reps in a day and X amount in a week.
A lot of people are spending more time than usual on their home desks or just sitting around during quarantine. Being aware of how much time you’re spending being sedentary can help you maintain a balance. Great tools to help you with this are using a standing desk and setting an alarm as a reminder to stand and move.
I use the World Health Organization (WHO)’s recommendations on the amount of activity people should do.
Infants under the age of 1 year: Should be physically active a few times a day.
Children under 5 years of age: Need moderate to vigorous activity, 180 minutes a day.
Children and adolescents 5-17 years of age: Need at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity, including strength activities, at least 3 days a week.
Adults over age 18: Need at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity throughout the week, or at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity throughout the week.
That said, start wherever you can. Some physical activity is better than none.
Here are some ideas that have worked with my clients and myself when trying to set up new habits.
If it’s not on the schedule, it doesn’t exist.
Every hour on the hour perform a certain amount of reps of any given exercise.
Before taking a shower or before watching a movie on NETFLIX, pay for it with a certain amount of reps of any given exercise.
Going outside is a great tool to start implementing physical activity in your life. Of course, stay safe and practice social distancing. Carrying hand sanitizer with you can be helpful as well. I usually use an alcohol-based sanitizer as soon as I walk in the house and then take a shower.
I hope this article provided you with some value during this crazy time. And I hope you can take some of the ideas and concepts I shared and implement them in your life. I’m always happy to answer any questions and engage with people, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you have issues understanding something.
Special thanks to: Antonio Faneite – read further for details at: https://nutrition.org/how-to-stay-fit-and-healthy-during-coronavirus-covid-19-pandemic/
Silicon dioxide (SiO2), also known as silica, is a natural compound made of two of the earth’s most abundant materials: silicon (Si) and oxygen (O2). Silica is a natural compound found all around us in nature. It makes up over a quarter of the planet’s crust and is found in most rocks, clays, and sands.
Silicon dioxide exists in the form of quartz. It’s found naturally in water, plants, animals, and the earth. The earth’s crust is 59 percent silica. It makes up more than 95 percent of known rocks on the planet. When you sit on a beach, it’s silicon dioxide in the form of sand that gets between your toes.
It’s even found naturally in the tissues of the human body. Though the role it plays is unclear, it’s thought to be an essential nutrient our bodies need.
In short, it’s everywhere – how exactly can it help your health?
Although it’s now known to be a trace element, silica has historically been considered more harmful than helpful to our health. For example, it’s known that when inhaled in its crystalline form, silica can cause lung disease.
There is a lot of evidence that its water-soluble form, which is found in certain plants, rocks, and many other forms is highly beneficial to health.
More research is needed to understand silica’s role in our body, but it’s thought to support bone formation and maintenance.
Although calcium and vitamin D get most of the attention for bone health, the International Journal of Endocrinology reported that it increases bone mineral density and strength. The researchers think it is needed to trigger the deposit of bone crystals, a procedure known as bone mineralization.
Sao Paulo University in Brazil reported that silica helps form the building blocks of collagen, a protein in your skin, blood, cartilage, muscles, and ligaments.
Collagen is needed to keep skin springy and elastic and provide crucial protection and structure to your organs and joints. In one study of women with sun-damaged skin, those who took 10mg of silica daily for 20 weeks had decreased skin roughness and wrinkles.
Silica may help protect your heart health by reducing the risk of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, while lowering cholesterol, according to a 2018 report by the University of Memphis. The mineral can also support the immune response and help to control inflammation in the body.
The upper safe limit has been reported as 700–1,750 mg a day. As silica is water-soluble, the excess is simply passed out by the body in your urine, meaning it’s unlikely to cause side effects if you take too much.
Silica is considered safe for healthy people. However, before you take silica, always check with your doctor if you have a long-term condition or are on any medication.
Shop online and order your supply of organic silica today!
Sodium bicarbonate, commonly known as baking soda, is secreted in the pancreas to help aid in digestion. It helps neutralize the stomach acid that is generated during the digestive process and helps in the breakdown of certain enzymes. Sodium bicarbonate levels in the body must be neither too low nor too high in order for digestion to function normally and for the digestive tract to remain healthy.
There are books and websites that talk about hundreds of common and incredibly varied uses. But before we look at some of the ways that we can use sodium bicarbonate, first let’s look at what it is.
Sodium bicarbonate is the monosodium salt of carbonic acid, and it forms sodium and bicarbonate ions. This ion formation increases plasma bicarbonate and buffers excess hydrogen ion concentration, resulting in a raised blood pH.
It turns to carbon dioxide (CO2) when it reaches the stomach acid. You can experiment by squeezing a fresh lemon onto a little bit of baking soda — you will instantly see it bubble and turn to carbon dioxide.
Sodium bicarbonate, or rather carbon dioxide, is the key to oxygen in our body. Oxygen is incredibly dangerous, even deadly, without carbon dioxide. So carbon dioxide is actually not a waste product; doctors like to think of it as metabolic waste, but when we exercise we actually create a lot of carbon dioxide — which is very healthy and beneficial, and that’s the reason why exercise is very healthy.
The more carbon dioxide we have, the more the blood vessels dilate, blood flow increases, and more oxygen is delivered to the different parts of the body. If we do not pay attention to our breathing then we can get rid of too much carbon dioxide. The levels then go down in the blood and the blood vessels constrict, making it more difficult for oxygen to get delivered to all the tissues in in the same concentration.
Carbon dioxide is also very important for the mitochondria. They produce carbon dioxide, thus good carbon dioxide levels are an indication of healthy mitochondria.
So, when we take additional sodium bicarbonate, which then turns to carbon dioxide, we are increasing oxygen delivery almost instantly to the cells. This is a fundamental issue when dealing with any kind of disease.
And sodium bicarbonate is a buffer in the blood to help control our pH levels, which is also crucial to our health. In emergency situations, doctors will even inject sodium bicarbonate intravenously as a life-saving treatment to balance pH levels, if the patient’s blood is becoming too acidic.
Sodium bicarbonate can help to heal the symptoms of acid reflux (GERD) almost instantly, by neutralizing the acid that is flowing upwards. When taking sodium bicarbonate it’s almost immediately noticeable that the pH of the urine changes, and becomes more alkaline.
Sodium bicarbonate can also help the detoxification process from chemical toxicity, heavy metals, and radiation. In cancer treatment, sodium bicarbonate is the perfect medicine, because it increases oxygen and increases carbon dioxide — and cancer cells do not like oxygen.
Taking Sodium bicarbonate has also been shown to help decrease fatigue and increase performance. Some research has even found that a daily dose of baking soda may help reduce the destructive inflammation of autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
The only thing you need to be a little cautious of is taking too much sodium bicarbonate, which can increase your salt intake, which for some people can cause problems. Too much sodium bicarbonate will diminish potassium levels.
The easiest way and most beneficial way to take sodium bicarbonate is by putting a teaspoon of baking soda into a glass of water and adding a little freshly squeezed lemon juice.
Scientists use the pH scale to measure the acidity of a solution. The scale goes from 0 and 14, with values below 7 indicating an acidic solution; values above 7 indicating an alkaline (or base) solution; and neutral solutions, such as pure water, have a pH value of 7. Baking soda is an alkaline, or base, substance.
This means that when we dissolve baking soda in water, it forms an alkaline solution. For example, a 0.1 molar solution of baking soda has a pH of around 8.3. Lemon juice contains citric acid and has a pH of around 3. So adding baking soda to lemon juice will raise the pH to produce a more neutral solution. And it tastes better too!
Baking soda can also be highly beneficial for the outside of our body, not just the inside. For example, our skin usually has a weakly acidic pH of about 5.7. Bases, such as baking soda, will increase and balance the pH, which can help with many skin conditions and lead to healthier skin.
It is also beneficial for our teeth, due to its antibacterial properties and its ability to remove plaque without eroding tooth enamel. Brushing your teeth with a little baking soda can help remove surface-level tooth stains.
You can even use Sodium bicarbonate as a deodorant — just a tiny bit of the powder is more effective, and a lot friendlier to your body, than most popular deodorant sticks and sprays.
And Sodium bicarbonate can also be very effective in treating insect bites — applying a baking soda and water paste to the bite area can quickly decrease itching.
These are just a few examples, there are so many more benefits to Sodium bicarbonate. You can do a quick search on YouTube and you’ll find videos showing dozens more useful uses for baking soda.
When buying baking soda, just be sure that you buy the food grade, aluminum free option so that you’re putting the purest form in or on your body. You can purchase this from our online store: https://www.healthnutrition.co.za/collections/nutrition/products/bicarbonate-of-soda
Also cancer cells cannot develop when the body PH level is 7.0, but multiply when its acidic or below 7.0. Tests have also shown that Sodium Bicarbonate actually neutralizes certain pesticides found on fruits and vegetables.
Silica or silicon is rarely talked about as an essential mineral for supplementation. There is some disagreement about whether we need silicon dioxide or not, but the evidence is piling up more and more in favor of it. It is one mineral that needs to be studied much more thoroughly, but plenty of research is still hinting at health benefits beneath the surface. No matter what, it’s one mineral that can’t be completely ignored. Let's consider these 9 silica health benefits.
Some of the most important silica health benefits you should know about are:
Silica has long been a go-to supplement for hair, skin, and nails. Silica is naturally found in nails, making them strong. When our dietary silica goes down, the deficiency causes our nails to grow slower and become more brittle.
The same goes for hair. Silica also plays a role in keeping skin elastic and collagen healthy.
Since collagen is vital to healthy joints, connective tissue or ligaments, and cartilage, silica is important too.
It lends strength and elasticity to collagen, so joints are more flexible, heal quicker, and can snap back from the daily wear and tear our bodies undergo with all our bending, twisting, and stretching. Many people also use silica to help ease joint pain and arthritis symptoms.
There are many studies that show the presence of silica helps the body use calcium. As we get older, our silica levels decline, and our bones weaken.
There is plenty of evidence that silica is vital to bone health and preventing fractures as we age. Teeth and gums get a boost from silica, too.
Silica is more prevalent in healthy hearts than diseased hearts. Since silica strengthens the blood vessels and muscle tissue, this shouldn’t be too surprising.
It also aids the body in the calcification of bones and thus prevents the calcification of other tissues. There is some evidence that silica may help offset the calcification of arterial plaque.
It may also play a role in the electrochemical transmissions of the nervous system.
Silica is important in building a strong stomach, digestive tract muscles, and tissues. Silica assists in rebuilding and fortifying these tissues after they have been damaged by poor diet, parasites, age, or other injuries.
Since silica is a vital part of healthy skin and digestive tissue, it is also important in preventing illness and infection. The skin and digestive system are the first lines of defense against pathogens.
As a part of collagen, silica can speed the healing of burns, wounds, and scar tissue.
Flushes out toxins through detoxification
Silica is very good at removing waste material, toxins, and heavy metals from the body. This makes silica a good addition to any detox program to deeply cleanse your cells.
If you want to maximize how silica benefits the digestive tract, make sure you choose healthy food sources. Also, make sure you take vitamin supplements along with your silica supplements.
May help treat Alzheimer’s disease
There is some evidence that aluminium build-up contributes to Alzheimer’s, and a recent study showed that silica might play a part in the removal of aluminium. This wasn’t the best study and plenty more research still needs to be done, but it is encouraging that silica may help rid us of this pesky metal that is far too prevalent in the environment, beauty products, and foods.
Our highly processed food diet tends to be severely lacking in silica. In fact, you might not find yourself eating silica-rich food sources very often.
We remove it from most of the foods that contain it and avoid many of the fresh fruits and vegetables that are the richest in it.
It is best to get your silica from natural sources. Whole foods rich in fiber are also rich in silica as plants use this mineral for strength and flexibility as well.
Cucumber, celery, asparagus, oats, millet, barley, sweet potatoes, leafy greens, beans, leeks, and even strawberries are great sources of silica. So, make sure you start eating these types of foods.
Silica supplements are also available. Horsetail and silica powder are the most common, but there are also liquid minerals where you can get much more than just one major mineral.
Keep in mind that while silica is an important mineral, we also need magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, copper, and many more.
Activated Barley is another way to get more silica health benefits while boosting your energy levels and endurance at the same time.
Some foods that contain high levels of silica include:
Green Beans
Green beans are superfoods rich in magnesium, potassium, calcium, phosphorous, and of course, silica. They’re an affordable staple and are very easy to cook, so you won’t have trouble including them in your diet.
Nuts
Cut back on your fatty, sodium-filled chips and fries, and switch to healthy nuts! Apart from silica, they’re also rich in fiber, protein, and healthy fats.
Healthy fats can give you an energy boost. The protein can help sculpt lean muscle mass, while fiber can help flush toxins and chemicals out of the body.
Bell Pepper
Each bell pepper is brimming with high amounts of silica, antioxidant properties, and vitamin C. They contain all the essential nutrients to maintain good eye health and reduce your overall risk of developing chronic illnesses.
Plus, bell peppers are versatile, delicious veggies you can add to almost any dish you want! You can throw it in salads, soups, and kebabs.
Spinach
Add spinach to your daily diet for a strong, energetic, and disease-resistant body! These are loaded with vitamins A and C, folic acid, fiber, and silica.
Eating spinach regularly leads to long-lasting energy boosts, regulated blood pressure levels, and better resistance against heart diseases.
Apple
Do you know why an apple a day keeps the doctor away? It’s because each piece is rich in flavonoids, antioxidants, fibre, and silica.
These nutrients not only keep common diseases at bay, but they also lower the possibility of developing diabetes, heart complications, and even cancer!
Plus, they’re extremely sweet and delicious so even picky eaters won’t have a hard time eating them.
Overall, silica is a very important mineral that stimulates good overall health and improves bodily functions. You should strive to consume your daily dose of silica through effective supplements and healthy food choices.
Also, make sure you combine this mineral with other nutrients and vitamins. Silica benefits the body even further when you mix it in with other health-improving compounds.
Are these silica health benefits enough to convince you to start taking silica supplements?
Health Nutrition has sourced superior, organic Silica. Include this essential mineral in your daily health regime and start reaping these silica health benefits!
