Paleo Cookbook For Dummies (13 page)

Respiratory/asthma meds:
When you exercise, your breathing becomes deeper, allowing more oxygen and nutrients to become more readily available.

Digestive aides:
Exercise stimulates your digestive juices, which creates movement through your bowels and helps prevent constipation.

Alzheimer's meds:
The
Archives of Neurology
published a report indicating that a daily walk or run may lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease or tame its impact.

Sedatives:
During exercise, your body releases chemicals called
endorphins.
These chemicals act as a sedative and create feelings of happiness and joy. Endorphins also decrease the perception of pain.

Keeping your modern-day body strong and lean

Existing in a world that you weren't designed for is certainly a challenge. Lifestyle patterns have moved away from what the human species requires to genetically express health and toward what causes it to express illness (sitting too much, sleeping too little, eating processed foods — the list goes on). How do you exist in this world and come out on the other end healthy, strong, and vibrant?

That's where living Paleo comes in. Your hunter-gatherer ancestors lived healthier lives. Regardless of what they died from, they were free from chronic illness and were healthy, fit, and full of vitality. They didn't have the maladies of modern civilization, such as heart attacks, strokes, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity. They were lean and strong.

The good news is you can mimic some of the lifestyle patterns of your ancestors and change the way you move by incorporating exercise into your everyday life.

Paleolithic peoples moved constantly and worked hard. Being physical was the center of their existence. If they wanted to eat, they had to work for it. If they wanted shelter, they had to work for it. They needed remarkable amounts of energy to provide their own clothing and even to prepare for bedtime. They were active and kept a vigorous pace.

That's where a big part of today's problems come in. With all the modern-day conveniences and affluence, people have gotten fat and lazy. In the Western world, people don't need to work for survival. Life in the wild may seem dangerous and unpredictable, but a modern-day sedentary life has just as many risks and uncertainties.

If you incorporate natural, functional movements like walking, crawling, sprinting, twisting, climbing, pushing, pulling, squatting, lifting, and throwing into your exercise routine, you train your body to use all of your muscles. This training helps you perform everything better (which is why these actions are often called
functional
movements). Whether you're chasing after kids or working as a professional athlete, a doctor, or an office worker, everything you do improves. Understanding natural movements is an important step in transforming your body into a lean, strong, modern-day physique.

High-intensity workouts that are shorter and faster get you strong and fit more quickly. This strategy allows your body to release growth hormone, which keeps you young. Your body puts on muscle, burns fat, and becomes metabolically conditioned. In fact, doing short bursts of exercise followed by rest is far better at getting you fit than all that long, stretched-out exercise that takes forever. That's got to be good news — that the exercise you need takes less time to be more effective! Short bursts of exercise not only give you fast results but also are way more practical for your busy life! Always think intensity, not time, when it comes to exercise.

Consider adding some high-intensity, natural movement into your routine two to three times per week, and watch your body transform into a leaner, stronger, younger, and healthier one!

Doing what you love

You need movement every day. About one hour should do it. That sounds like a lot, but remember, everything counts. Walking to your car, chasing after your kids, walking through the grocery store — it all matters.

Making time for about 20 minutes of high-intensity training two to three times per week is important for putting on muscle — which is one of the healthiest, most youth-promoting things you can do. The rest of the time, find movement you enjoy so you keep on keeping on! If you like to do yoga, hit the mat. If you like to hike, go for a hike. The idea is to just keep moving so that you get an hour a day.

Make sure that you exercise at a slower pace at least one day a week so you give your body the downtime it needs. Just because you may be moving at a slower pace doesn't mean it's not effective. This slower movement helps with daily stress, weight maintenance, blood sugar control, muscle tone, joint health, improved fat metabolism, a stronger immune system, and increased energy. As long as you're doing your high-intensity training and eating Paleo foods, you still benefit from slower movements.

Improving your framework

If you like to run, jump, push, pull, or lift anything, take care of your spine. It has one of the most important jobs of all the structures in your body: to protect your spinal column and allow you to bear weight. Your spine truly is the framework of your body; without it, you'd be like a jellyfish.

I've found that hands down, the most effective way to care for your spine is chiropractic care combined with exercise and spinal stretching. This combination is extraordinary for getting results. Many high-performers and high-profile people use chiropractic care as part of their best practices. My colleagues have adjusted music superstars, famous athletes, and countless other influential people who turn to chiropractic care because they know it helps them perform better.

Add chiropractic care and spinal stretching to your exercise routine for better posture and a healthier spine. You'll even notice improvements in your stress levels and immune system. To find a chiropractor in your area, go to
www.findagreatchiro.com
or
http://paleophysiciansnetwork.com/doctors
.

You can choose from many great spinal stretches that act like spinal floss to keep your spine healthy. Here's an all-time favorite of my patients called the Swiss ball stretch. If you have a large exercise ball like a Swiss ball, you can give your spine a nice stretch: