Swine Flu - Your Right to Persue Health

How to avoid it. How to regain your strength from it.

Swine flu is the talk of the town these days. Walk into any walk-in clinic or ER and all you see are mobs of people with masks on.

Swine flu has caught many off guard and right next to the flu of the season, it has knocked many people right off their feet and sadly taken many lives.

Some perspective on this situation - every year about 40,000 people die from the flu. So far we've seen under 5000 deaths. It seems we can expect another 35,000 more just from the flu. I'm not doctor and I'm not the CDC but sometimes knowledge can put perspective on things and help us calm down a bit.

Swine flu is serious - so is any influenza for the right population. Any sickness can take a turn for the worse and cause devastating disability and even death.

How to Avoid Swine Flu

Swine flu and any influenza looks for two things:

• An oxygen depleted environment
• A comprimised immune system

An oxygen depleted environment

You say you are breathing... we all are, even if barely if we are alive. However, there are certain activities that increase the amount of oxygen your body takes in. We call this exercise (or cardio in the gym).

When it comes to defending yourself against swine flu - you need to do everything you can to increase your oxygen consumption. This includes quitting smoking. Smoking damages our lungs and our body's in ways that limit oxygen exchange.

Here are some ideas that we can pursue to increase the amount of oxygen in our bodies.

• Stop smoking
• Limit your dairy intake - it can create a lot of mucus, making it difficult to breath
• Walk to the mailbox every day to get your mail
• Play with your kids
• Play with your pets including walking with them
• Climb up your steps 2-3x a day

All this activities can cause you to breath deeper (your body's way of getting more oxygen to provide more energy to the muscles) and thus get more oxygen into your body.

Among the numerous benefits of exercise, more oxygen is like sending more troops inside to fend off the enemy - swine flu - or any other flu or disease.

You don't need to run for 30 minutes on a treadmill - but if you can, do it! More oxygen means more defenses! It is always advised to consult your doctor before beginning any exercise program but the idea here is to change inactivity into activity.

A compromised immune system

Right next to oxygen, is your immune system... when your immune system is compromised, you are in danger.

What compromises your immune system.

• Age - sorry - you're older today than you were yesterday :)
• Stress - we can lower the stress in our lives by simplicity
• Diet - mainly sugar in all it's processed forms - slowing your immune system to a crawl. Think of your soldier defenses inside. With sugar, they all fall asleep.
• Illness - some diseases lower the immune system's ability to ward off more disease and infection
• Drugs - certain drugs can lower your immune system's ability.
• Loss of Rest

AGE
Age is something that we can't control but we can counter some of the lowered immunity affects of aging by working on our physical and emotional weakness and simplicity in our lives.

STRESS
Stress can be active or passive. Active stress is stress that you can do something about. Passive stress (all the news about swine flu) is stress that you can't do anything about - like when you go to a scary movie. Simplicity in life works towards cutting those destructive activities out of our lives and enjoying life giving peace and contentment.

DIET
Diet - is often our first defense against sickness and disease. We are what we eat... not just in how we look. When we eat processed food, we eat dead food. When we eat food that has been grown and now processed and we eat it as naturally as possible, we eat live food and live food can keep us alive and fighting off anything unwanted.

Disease is a terrorist attack and needs more than a few rocks thrown its way! Start eating live food. If you can't chew fruits and veggies well, purchase whole foods drinks - Boltinghouse is a good brand. Pass on the coffee... the caffeine is causing your adrenals to constantly work overtime.

ILLNESS
Additional sicknesses can kick you while you're already down. In general we are more susceptible to more disease when we are already sick. Concerted efforts of bringing in the "troops" i.e. live food, rest, and simplicity to get well and stay that way.

DRUGS
Most drugs are aimed at attacking the attacker. Some drugs, however, lower the immune system intentionally. A good example is an organ transplant where we don't want to body to attack the "foreign" new organ. If you are lining up for an organ transplant, visit Hallelujah Acres and get your body ready for this surgery.

LACK OF SLEEP
Lack of sleep is a prime weakness for sickness and the best way for it to sneak in. Your body needs healing rest to be able to fight for it's rights! Image your army of troops in your body working hard to keep your body healthy and free from the enemy - swine flu. Those soldiers can't do their job if they don't get the rest they need. And when deep, healing rest is not gotten, we are prime suspects for any sicknesses.

What Can You Do?

Quitting smoking gives you more oxygen.More oxygen gives you more energy.More energy gives you better self-esteem and accomplishment.More accomplishment gives you the drive to simplify.More accomplishment and simplicity gives you better rest at night.

Eating intentionally gives you a better immune system.That gives you the ability to live life to it's fullest.Eating better gives you more energy.Eating better gives you better health and less disease.More energy gives you more strength to accomplish simplicity.

There are so many reasons why simple fitness and an intentional better eating plan can move you towards better health and help to keep diesease away.

Not sure what to do and how to start a better lifestyle and fitness plan? Start by getting your Free Fitness Analysis. You'll find new routines added every month that focus on the life that you want to get back! This fitness site is ideal for caregivers, patients and fitness buffs alike - no one is left behind.

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