There’s no time like the present! I know you have heard that before, but until something really hits you you don’t fully understand the meaning of that phrase. I recently got word that a friend of mine who was 52 years of age died suddenly of a heart attack.
The was someone I had not seen for some years, but from the pictures I have seen he looked to be in good health and good spirits. He leaves behind a wife and daughter and many friends who are I am sure just as perplexed as I am by this turn of events.
Life is short, and sometimes unfairly short. It reminds us that we should not let time go by without doing the things we want to do, and making the most of the time we have. This applies in all areas of life, from your work, to your family and social life.
It is always the right time to make positive changes in your health and well being. There are many new tools available to help you, some of which I will be reviewing here.
However don’t be afraid to get out there and start, because you will never learn until you take the first steps. You have to make mistakes before you can correct them and learn from them.
Success if nothing more than a process of doing things, learning, and making corrections when needed. You continually refine the processes you use until you get to the point where you are producing consistent results time after time. Promoting good health is a series of corrections you make to your diet, exercise and approach to stress.
Eventually you will learn exactly what your body and mind need to be in optimal health. You can be moving toward better health even as you age, if you are willing to learn and apply what you learn in real time.
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Every weightlifter, bodybuilder, and powerlifter knows and understands the value of squats. The squat exercise is hundreds and perhaps even thousands of years old. Humans have been squatting both as exercise and as a functional movement pattern as long as there have been humans on the Earth.
The exercise is probably the single most effective for building strength and health. Why would this be? Well, it’s partly because the legs are the foundation of the body and of our overall body strength.
The other reason is that squats positively affect the autonomic nervous system, which is the part of our nervous system that is involved with digestion, elimination, rest, and regeneration. This is probably the reason they are such effective muscle builders.
But they have benefits for everyone young and old alike. I began doing squats when I was 14 years old and still continue to do them to this day! As a result, I can maintain a stable weight and flat stomach at age 58 with very little effort.
The muscle I have built using squats and other functional exercises allows me to easily keep excess weight off and maintain a foundation of strength without long or frequent workouts.
Hindu wrestlers in India did hundreds of squats a day which they called Hindu squats or “bethaks.” The tremendous conditioning effect of this exercise allowed the Hindu wrestlers to easily defeat the best wrestlers in Europe and the world over.
This video clip will show you how to do “freehand” squats (without weights).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xDdSZmWNYQI
I would suggest that you do this exercise 2-3 times per week to start, and perform 3 sets of 5-10 repetitions. Always start very conservatively with these because they are VERY demanding on your system.
As you go along, you will get a feel for how often you can do them and how much is too much. I can tell you from experience that no other exercise will give you the benefits that the Hindu squat will.
They will help everything from weight control to health enhancement. You may even find they are helpful if you have a problem with regularity because again, they affect the “parasympathetic nervous system” which controls the bowels.
As you progress, you can add weight in the form of a light kettlebell
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=af_N4T7wtMM
or even a dumbbell or barbell plate held in your hands. There are lots of variations of the basic squat movement that you can explore but start with the simple basic squat first and master that.
Then you can improvise and be as creative as you want with how often you do them, how many repetitions, ect. You can even combine them with other exercises in a circuit type routine because they will make ANY exercise routine more demanding and effective.
Add squats in some form to your exercise routine and you will be amazed at the benefits you will get from this simple and ancient exercise!
Lee Haney
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OK…on a more relaxing note…
This weeks musical clip features Lea Salonga in a medley of songs”
“Something Wonderful” and “Being Alive”
Lea Salonga is a Filipina singer that I just discovered. Honestly, I had not heard of her before, but I am absolutely blown away by her beauty and artistic talent!
Enjoy…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04Mq-YuCVyE
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This quote about exercise is from 8 time Mr. Olympia Lee Haney:
“Exercise to stimulate, not to annihilate. The world wasn’t formed in a day, and neither were we. Set small goals and build upon them.”
Age Better #43 – Stop the MTHFR gene In It’s Tracks!
There are things that remind you that time is passing and seemingly quicker than it used to. My niece just turned 23 and is a married mom of 2. I remember babysitting her one evening many years ago so her mom and dad could get a rare night out.
She was months old and pretty much cried all of the evening until her mom came home, and then she was perfectly content again. Now she she has a 4 year old and a months old infant son of her own to care for. It’s hard to believe those years passed so quickly.
Fortunately for me, I keep learning and discovering new things that I believe can retain the quality of our health and give us many more years of enjoyable life. I promised that in this newsletter I would share cutting edge stuff with you and here’s an interesting item I just discovered.
I think I talked about the MTHFR gene defect in one of my past newsletters. It’s pretty common in North Americans. About 55% of the population have some variant of this gene, and it can cause a lot of health problems.
The cheap and easy way to tell if you have this gene defect is to eat asparagus and note whether your urine has a strong odor after about an hour or so. If it does, then you have the gene defect.
The MTHFR gene is responsible for converting folic acid into a form that the human body can actually use called “Methylenetetrahydrofolate” This is known as the “reduced” or “methylated” form of folic acid.
Since your body cannot use ordinary folic acid, this gene must be working correctly in order to convert folic acid into the methylated form. What happens when the gene is defective?
Well…your risk for things like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, stroke, depression, migraines, birth defects, miscarriage, mental illness, ect. Are greatly increased! Methylation is also how your body repairs your DNA (and protects you from cancer).
That’s the bad news! The “good news” is that I have stumbled on a cheap nutritional supplement that can help anyone with this gene defect. That may sound like quite a claim, but it has a very sound basis in science.
Here are some abstracts from Pubmed:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22102928
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23212058
By using the “reduced” or “methylated” form of folic acid, you can bypass the problems these gene defect causes. This product is called “methylfolate.” It’s probably made by a number of companies, but I like Jarrow Formulas for both quality and price.
I just picked up a bottle and do notice quite a difference, mainly the mental aspects of this gene problem being alleviated. I feel more relaxed, less tense and anxious. That is the outward sign that the product is working.
Now please understand that I am not claiming that this supplement cures or prevents any disease. I am only saying that since the MTHFR defect causes you not to be able to utilize folic acid, you can take a form of folic acid that your body CAN utilize.
You will be hearing more about this as time goes on, but right now I believe that “methylfolate” is one of THE most valuable nutritional supplements you can take. Here is a link to it on Amazon:
http://www.age-better.info/methylfolate
If you try this nutritional supplement, please let me know how it works for you. Dosage requirements would vary from person to person, but the rule of thumb I go by is to start with the smallest dose, and see how that works for you.
Start with one capsule (400 mcg) and you can take this 3-4 times per week or every other day. If you have the MTHFR gene defect, you should notice a feeling of calmness and well being.
You can tell if you have this defect by eating asparagus and noticing of yoiur urine has a strong odor afterward. If the odor is present, this is an indication that you have this gene defect, and would benefit by taking methyl donors like methylfolate, SAM-E, or trimethylglicine.
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Do you have a disease, or other medical condition that you or someone close to you is suffering from that you would like me to research and write about? Then please let me know. I can’t give medical advice because I am not a doctor.
But I CAN research things for you and look for the most cutting edge information on that topic and present it to you and everyone who reads this newsletter. Our knowledge is advancing rapidly, and I am here to report on the very latest on health, wellness, and anti-aging for everyone who reads “Age Better.”
So if you have questions, or comments, please share them with me. I love hearing from you!
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Call me infantile…BUT I ‘ve always been a comic book aficionado. I grew up reading Marvel Comics and to a lesser extent DC as well. With that said, it’s way cool to see the characters I read so many years ago, being recreated on the big screen.
Thor 2 “The Dark World” will be out in November, as will Captain America “The Winter Soldier.” Captain America is played by actor Chris Evans who grew up in Sudbury, Massachusetts, about 30 minutes from where I live.
I can’t wait for these films and will review them when they are out. “Agents of Shield” is coming to television in the fall, I believe the first episode will be September 24th. Due to demand by fans, Agent Phil Coulson will be resurrected from the dead (he died in The Avengers). He plays “director Fury’s” right hand man.
This series should be great fun!
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This weeks musical clip is a Bruce Hornsby number called “White Wheeled Limousine”
that features one of my favorite guitarists Pat Metheny, who incidentally attended the Berklee School of Music in Boston (about 3 miles from my house!).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqNdp1SLC4g
There is also an excellent trumpet solo by John D’Earth as well. Hornsby’s piano meshes well with Matheny’s guitar, and I wish the clip did not end when it did, but it’s still a treat!
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This newsletter is read by people all over the world, so if you have something that you would like me to share such as music from your country or culture with the other readers, please let me know.
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“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
Benjamin Franklin