Movement as a Nutrient

Critical Thinking:  Regular exercise is one component of being healthy – I need/want to exercise regularly.

Best Practices:  I work out every day (you only have to work out on the days you eat :)).

Move or Die – Why Exercise is Essential
Want to be truly healthy?  Want to have boundless energy and avoid heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and senile dementia, not to mention obesity?  Well, it is now a scientific fact that to be healthy, to be “well,” you must exercise regularly.  It is no longer simply a luxury or for people who want to “be in shape” – the effect regular exercise has on your overall health is now known to be critical and essential for health and well being.  That’s why exercise must now be considered an essential element or required nutrient, not simply some form of therapeutic activity.  It should be thought of as important as breathing.

Exercise must be looked upon as an integral part of a complete health regimen (just like eating deep-fried food or smoking is part of a disease regimen).  For example, it’s been known for decades that regular exercise benefits the cardiovascular system, preventing heart attacks and high blood pressure.  Now, however, studies have also shown that women with breast cancer who exercised have a much greater survival rate compared to those with breast cancer who didn’t exercise.  The average person will read that and say “I don’t have breast cancer, so that doesn’t apply to me.” But what that study reveals is that exercise supports and enhances immune function – that’s why the women who exercised had three times the survival rate!

Although exercise, combined with proper dietary lifestyle practices, is a viable method of reversing many disease processes, the obvious conclusion is that we should all experience the benefit of an optimal functioning whole body physiology, which includes the immune system, by incorporating exercise into our daily and weekly regimen – as a priority, not “If my schedule allows it” or “Well, now that I’ve been diagnosed with XYZ condition, I better start getting in shape.”

Your Future Health Is Exercise-Dependent
Scientific evidence has proven that, combined with proper eating habits, regular exercise can prevent and even reverse diabetes.  Again, you may not have diabetes [5.3 million Americans have diabetes and don’t know yet that they have it – The China Study, pg. 145], but do you see the inherent importance that exercise has on blood sugar and insulin regulation?

Want to avoid Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease?  That’s right – exercise!  Just as in the example described above involving diabetes, exercise combined with optimal, whole food nutrition high in fiber, phytonutrients and antioxidants from fresh organic fruits and vegetables, and sufficient Omega essential fatty acids from fish oil and flax oil has been found to be the best defense against the ravages of senile dementia.  Furthermore, none of those requirements listed previously can be substituted for another – we need the whole package:  exercise, proper dietary nutrients, rest, and a positive attitude.

And of course, last but not least – exercise is critical to avoiding obesity.  You knew that, right?  But did you also know that obesity is highly associated in causal effect with diabetes, cancer, and heart disease?

The Bottom Line:  exercise regularly to optimize your health and your life.  Or, then again you could choose to die an early, painful, and crippling death – the choice is yours!

Vital Behaviors:

• Get up earlier to allow time for a workout.
• Utilize your Bonfire Health workouts.
• Always take the stairs, park far away, walk to the mailbox.
• Bring lunch to work, eat at your desk after working out during lunch hour.
• Leave work on time and drive straight to the gym/health club (may require afternoon snack or snack on the way to gym (raw nuts and fruit).
• Schedule out/map out your week’s workouts (e.g. Mon:  bike ride; Tues:  swim; Wed:  Pilates class; Thurs:  run; Fri:  spin class; Sat:  yoga class; Sun:  core class, etc.).
• Join a gym, health club, or CrossFit; if that isn’t possible, then watch the Bonfire Video Coaching.

You can do it!