Recession Proof Your Family

Prioritize Your Health in the Receding Economy?

As more and more people drop into poverty, while food and gas prices are rapidly increasing, the potential for the economy to impact your health becomes a major concern.

Through the years that I've been teaching about natural health principles, most have cited 'lack of funds' as the primary hurdle to improving their diet and lifestyle… And at this point, most people's personal finances are not about to get any better anytime soon.

I believe it is now more important than ever to make your health your first priority, and that means prioritizing nutrient-dense foods and clean water, and making time for physical exercise.

My strong recommendation to you is that you use all the upcoming negative headlines you will read in the media about the economy to simply relax and use it to further motivate you to get yourself and your family healthier.

Good health will be one of your most precious resources in the future and it will be much easier to achieve it now then it will be in the future.

Prioritize a Nutritious Diet and Prevent Waste

One of the greatest misconceptions out there is that processed, pre-packaged foods are less expensive than raw, whole foods. But more often than not this is simply not true.

Cooking from scratch is usually far more cost effective in the long run, particularly if you STOP throwing away the left-over's.

A 2008 report authored by the Stockholm International Water Institute, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and the International Water Management Institute found that half of the food produced worldwide is wasted! In the United States, as much as 30 percent of food, worth over $48 billion, is simply thrown away…To prevent unnecessary waste:

• Plan ahead. If you plan your meals in advance, you can buy only what you need at the store.
• Buy proper portions.
• Learn to store your food so that it stays fresh.
• Learn recipes for tasty leftover meals. The British website Love Food Hate Waste can help you calculate portions, and provides a variety of time- and money-saving tips, recipes, and much more.

Always remember that, aside from the actual sticker price of the food, cooking from scratch using fresh, whole (preferably organic) ingredients will provide you with far superior nutrition, and this is KEY for optimal health.

Dehydration – An Excellent Way to Preserve Fresh, Nutritious Foods

Dehydration is another excellent tool you can use to store food for the future, instead of stocking up on processed, pre-packaged foods. If dehydrated foods are kept in an airtight container, they will stay fresh for about a year, or longer.There are a number of books on the market to learn how to dehydrate your own food, and you can also find a lot of information for free online.

Exercise for Fitness and to Promote Health

For 20 helpful tips for eating healthy on a tight budget, take a look at this article from stronglifts.com. It's two years old, but the guidelines presented still hold true.

Make Time for Exercise

A healthful diet and exercise go hand in hand when it comes to creating optimal health. Along with proper diet, exercise will maximize your efforts to:

1. Improve your brainpower

2. Lower your blood pressure

3. Fight off a cold

4. Manage arthritis

5. Lower your risk of heart disease

6. Cure insomnia

7. Fight depression

8. Lower your risk of diabetes and reverse pre-diabetes

9. Build strong bones

10. Lose weight

11. Reduce your risk of cancer

12. Boost your IQ and think better

13. Relieve chronic knee pain

14. Increase your energy levels

15. Slow down your aging process

Fortunately, starting an exercise regimen doesn't have to cost you a single penny.I've written well over 7,000 articles on various forms of exercise, which you can find both on my dedicated fitness site, and by searching www.Mercola.com.

But for a review of the basics, I recommend reading through my general exercise guidelines.

If I were to name one form of exercise as being the most important, however, it would be high-intensity, burst-style exercises like Peak 8. You can improvise Peak 8 into just about any type of exercise, and you really don't require a gym membership or any equipment to do it. But if you do have access to equipment, using an elliptical or recumbent bike work really well.

Guidelines for a Comprehensive Exercise Plan

Peak 8 is a term I've coined to represent a high-intensity type of exercise during which you raise your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold (your peak or maximum performance) for 20 to 30 seconds, and then you recover for 90 seconds. You'll want to work your way up to a total of eight repetitions.These cycles are preceded by a three minute warm up and two minute cool down, so the total time investment is about 20 minutes.You can find an in-depth review of all the principles of Peak 8 in this article.Peak 8 exercises will not only help you maximize weight loss, it will also dramatically improve muscle tone and strength, athletic speed and performance, and slow the aging process. This is because these types of exercises naturally boost your production of human growth hormone (HGH), also known as "the fitness hormone."A truly comprehensive exercise regimen would include Peak 8 exercises, plus the following:1. Strength Training: Rounding out your exercise program with a 1-set strength training routine will ensure that you're really optimizing the possible health benefits of a regular exercise program. You need enough repetitions to exhaust your muscles. The weight should be heavy enough that this can be done in fewer than 12 repetitions, yet light enough to do a minimum of four repetitions. It is also important NOT to exercise the same muscle groups every day. They need at least two days of rest to recover, repair and rebuild.2. Core Exercises: Your body has 29 core muscles located mostly in your back, abdomen and pelvis. This group of muscles provides the foundation for movement throughout your entire body, and strengthening them can help protect and support your back, make your spine and body less prone to injury and help you gain greater balance and stability.

Pilates and yoga are great for strengthening your core muscles, as are specific exercises you can learn from a personal trainer. Even if a personal trainer is not in the cards for you right now, please watch these sample videos for examples of healthy exercise routines you can do with very little equipment and in virtually any location.
Focusing on your breath and mindfulness along with increasing your flexibility is an important element of total fitness.

3. Stretching: Yoga is the classic exercise here. There are many other approaches but one of my favorites is Active Isolated stretching (AIS) http://www.stretchingusa.com/ developed by Aaron Mattes. It's an amazing way to get flexibility back into your system, and it's completely different from the traditional type of stretching. Another one is Egoscue which is particularly beneficial if you are experiencing any muscle pains. All the signs point toward hyperinflation becoming a reality in the US. Actively pursuing robust health and fitness may be the most positive things you can do for yourself at this point in time.

If events play out as some experts predict, the US economy will face even more challenges and if you are unprepared, your ability to purchase quality food to stay healthy may become even more limited.

That's a compelling reason for also considering taking some proactive safety measures in terms of safeguarding the money you still have.

Many experts believe a reasonable approach would be to have three months of your income in gold and silver coins in your physical possession. Merely holding gold or silver stocks would be ill advised should the worst case scenario become a reality. You do have to act quickly though as prices for food and precious metals alike are rapidly climbing.

$30 silver is right around the corner and gold just passed $1400 and, as reported by the Wall Street Journal, producer costs for essential commodities such as grain, dairy and sugar are rising. Sooner or later those increased costs will be transferred to you, the consumer.

However, if you plan your purchases prudently with a focus on nutrient-dense foods, and implement the lifestyle strategies offered on this site, you can give yourself and your family the best opportunity to get through it with your health intact.