Jill says, “I used to get unbelievable migraines and tension headaches. I was taking a lot of pain medication etc. Advil, Alieve, Excedrin. The first time I used the Deep Relief roll on I was blown away. I put some on my neck and my forehead and within about 5 minutes my headache pain was minimizing to the point that it disappeared.”

If you would like more information on the products and what they can do to enhance your health and program, book a FREE consult today at One-to-1 Fitness!

To learn more about these awesome new products you can attend an upcoming regional meeting here in Red Deer! Join Jon Raynes, the Canadian Regional Director as he tells of some amazing research and findings showing where therapeutic grade essential oils can be used to promote your health, vitality and longevity goals. Grab a friend and bring them out to this FREE fun and informational meeting!

This is not an MLM or business opportunity meeting of any kind, just pure education on the dramatic impact of a couple of simple little things.

When:  Thursday July 29, 2010

7:00 to 9:00 p.m. (doors open 6 p.m.)

Where: Red Deer, Alberta, Holiday Inn, 6500 – 67 Street

Cost: Free!  First 50 people receive FREE gift! Prizes throughout event!

http://events.youngliving.com/view.faces?regionid=17&eventid=3838

A hidden gem to reaching your next goal, check out my recent interview at this seemingly Top Secret location.

Low Fat, Gluten Free and Diabetic approved products to improve your health, Red Deer’s Sugar Free and More Store! One-to-1 Fitness clients receive a 10% savings when you let Valerie know you train with us!

3434A 50th Avenue
  Red Deer, Alberta
  T4N 3Y4

  Phone: (403) 347-1277

Open: Monday – Saturday 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM

Red Deer Personal Trainer says, "water is critical catalyst for lasting health and weight loss."

Today’s post is a reminder from Red Deer Personal Trainer Cabel McElerry that water is a key element to weight loss. You haven’t had enough water today or yesterday but you can start correcting it for tomorrow. Our body is comprised of seventy percent water it is the single most important element to sustain life. The difference proper hydration makes on a day to day basis is enormous. Previously I’ve talked about the importance of total calories, balanced nutrition even the important role of starchy carbohydrates. Consider water to be the catalyst most recommended by Red Deer Personal trainers that brings all those other things together when trying to initiate healthy, permenant weight loss.

Water is a key element in digestion and absorption. Many vitamins and minerals cannot be absorbed without sufficient water present, the range of vitamin Bs and vitamin C are two examples of water soluble vitamins. Proper hydration can have a dramatic effect on the way we feel in terms of mood and energy levels. Chances are you may be among the seventy-five percent of North America that is chronically dehydrated. According to Robert O. Young, PhD in his book The pH Miracle it’s not unusual to lose two percent of your body water in an hour of exercise. He continues to explain; that two percent drop can result in a measurable decrease in performance. A further drop in body water can lead to physical and mental fatigue and a dramatic decrease in muscle strength and the capacity for work. By the five percent mark you will likely experience dizziness, drowsiness, impatience and headaches. Too drop further your heart can begin to race and you may collapse. All this may occur with as little as a seven percent drop in body water.

If you haven’t already interrupted your reading to get a glass of water you should do so now. Proper hydration begins with the minimum recommendation of eight glasses of water per day. Remember this is a minimum to sustain reasonable hydration, if you are already dehydrated you will need much more than this for a few consecutive days to attain a level of proper hydration. As a personal trainer my recommendations are for the average individual who exercises on average three to four days per week to try to consume one litre of water for every eighteen kilos of bodyweight. Its best, if possible to try to consume quality water such as water processed by reverse osmosis or that has been filtered by some means to remove a number of the impurities we may be faced with in normal tap water.

I challenge you for the next week to consume water based on these recommendations and see if you feel better. Be forewarned the first few days you may just make a few extra trips to the washroom as your body adjusts but you will appreciate it later. Until next time.

Genetic modification and food irradiation sound like something fromt he movies but are very real.

I always preach to our clients that I think our food quality is terrible and getting worse. The more books, columns and journals I read the more shocked and disgusted I am at the state of even the unprocessed items in the grocery store. It’s not really surprising that one of the biggest health and weight loss trends of the last couple years is cleansing and detoxification because with all the unwanted elements we are unknowingly consuming our bodies are undoubtedly overloaded.

Today’s post will make a strong case for taking the time, effort and attributing dollars from your budget to consider switching to as many organic products as possible for the health and safety of your family. What follows is discussion of three common practices currently in place in North America used in the growth and production of fruits, vegetables and our commercial meats.

Genetic Modification – Likely not shocking or a surprise that genetic modification is being used to produce “better” or perhaps just more food for a growing world population. However this science is so new scientists still don’t fully understand the implications of genetic modification. Scientists are splicing genes from bacteria and even insects into different plants to produce crops that are more resistant to certain pesticides or common pests plaguing optimal harvest. As of now genetically modified organisms (GMOs) do not have to be identified on food labels. There is no specific amount of research that has been completed to identify the safety of these new food items. In some cases violent allergic reactions have been reported. An example from “How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy” is a soy bean that was modified from genes from a brazil nut to make it tastier. This may cause an adverse reaction in someone with nut allergies but would not be identified on the label. A study by Arpad Pusztai on potatoes showed that GM potatoes contained less protein, starch and were associated with abnormal organ development in the rats used in the study.

Food Irradiation – This item was fairly new to me, I think I had heard it mentioned at a prior time but never paid much mind. I must say now I am astonished that this even happens and with a quick google search you will find the specifics and endorsement of this practice on the Canadian government website. Food irradiation was developed or first promoted decades ago as a necessary means of destroying bacteria such as salmonella, listeria, and E coli. As referenced from “The Ecologist’s Report” June 2001, food irradiation has been heavily promoted by the US Department of Energy(DOE). The DOE feels food irradiation to be a good means of producing a commercial market for spent military and civilian nuclear waste, thereby reducing disposal costs. The radiation dose approved by the US FDA for meat products is nearly 150 million times more than a standard chest x-ray, 150million! If this doesn’t make you feel uncomfortable maybe the icing on the cake will be a study performed by India’s Institute of Nutrition in the 1970s. The results of this study indicated that feeding rodents freshly irradiated wheat produced chromosomal abnormalities and mutational damage. To top it all off I can’t even tell you how to accurately determine which foods have been irradiated other than that the broad list includes: most meats, most fruits and vegetables, wheat and flours, eggs, herbs, and spices. It makes a strong case for incorporating more organic products into your lifestyle.

Consume Organic Items Where Possible – If the above wasn’t enough to convince you a study conducted on children in Washington state showed that out of the test group only one child did not have significant amounts of pesticide present in his or her urine. That child happened to be on an all organic diet. So between genetic modification, irradiation and harsh chemicals it’s not hard to see why toxicity is becoming the norm and sickness and disease is on the rise. Unfortunately just making the decision to switch to an organic lifestyle isn’t clear cut and easy without a little extra education. An organic product is produced without many of the means of modern farming: pesticides, fertilizers, chemicals, hormones etc. But there is a grey area in identifying organic products. For something to be truly labelled as organic it must be grown under conditions that have not been subject to any of the above mentioned practices for a period of four or more years. However the new organic farmer within this four year period can label their product as organically grown even though it may still suffer some of the residual effects of the prior methods. So even shopping for organic products can be tricky, a little education and a keen eye can go a long way. What is great to see is there are more businesses catering to these growing concerns making an organic lifestyle more practical and accessible to the typical consumer, and though these products may cost a bit more, so does health care. You really can’t put a price on a long healthy life.

I hope today, together we can break this paradigm. It’s not normal to live with pain, especially where serious injury is not a factor. Injury or not with some basic understanding of how our body works to move; chronic pain can often be reduced, eliminated or prevented altogether.

Massage is a key treatment for improving the health of soft tissue.

Soft tissue needs maintenance just like our teeth, cars and our internal organs and immune system. What we think of as the skin that covers our muscles and the muscles themselves is actually an elaborate system of multilayered tissue. The layers of tissue from the outer layer of the muscles (known as the fascia), the independent muscles in each group, and the layers of the skin are actually all designed to move freely over one another. Over time, lack of increased circulation and movement to different areas of our body, (primarily from in-activity involving these areas) allows adhesions to form that prevent these tissues from moving freely. A good example of this is pinching your skin. Someone very fit will often be able to pinch (just their skin without much if any fatty tissue) and have a lot of mobility of the skin when compared to someone not as fit. The fit person would have less impingement of their facial layers.

When our facial layers become impinged or are unable to move freely our body compensates by altering our patterns of movement, our posture, and joint alignment. Any and or all of these inevitably lead to pain and injury. As society continues to develop more conveniences our lifestyle habits provide more repetitive in-activity and ultimately the day to day pain that many people experience.

Here is what you need to know in order of priority to live a pain free life:

1)      Treat soft-tissue impingement regularly. Massage therapy is one of the best treatments available to break apart facial adhesions and increase the mobility of the facial layers. The results of treatment are almost immediately notable. The problem with massage is most of us don’t use it enough. If you are currently experiencing day to day pain that is not related to a specific injury I highly recommend discussing treatment with a qualified massage therapist. A couple treatments in the same week followed by regular treatment 2-3 times per month will likely have significant and immediate impact on how you feel. Ongoing treatment in this fashion will almost certainly eliminate and prevent further pain throughout life.

2)      A body in motion stays in motion. This simply means we need to move on a regular basis and if you don’t use it, you will lose it. Exercise is essential if you want to live a long, enjoyable pain free life, and when used with regular massage therapy goes a long way to guarantee prevention of pain. 30 minutes of steady motion of any kind (the more of your body in use the better) each week will be an acceptable minimum.

3)      Maintain joint alignment. This recommendation is the most broad as it may be controversial with a number of people. People in general, active or not will likely experience some joint misalignment, the hazards of our complex internal structure versus gravity. Joint misalignment can often be improved with regular stretching, something that none of us ever do enough of. Ten minutes of static stretching per day (broken into 2-3 minute increments) will have a tremendous impact. A more direct approach would be to also work with a reputable chiropractor. Now not everyone is comfortable with a chiropractor, and even though I have worked with chiropractors most of my life even I am not comfortable with them all. I would recommend meeting with one before a consultation before ever receiving an adjustment and I would also recommend using a chiropractor who avoids using aggressive velocity adjustments.

If only everyone educated themselves and used these three services and therapies with the same type of regularity we do the dentist, lube shop or our physicians the world would be in a lot less pain.

Scroll to the bottom to see how massage therapy has changed at One-to-1 Fitness!

Massage therapy is a very important aspect of your personal health and fitness program. Experts estimate that as much as 90% of disease is related to the effects of stress. (Physiological, physical and emotional) When combined with exercise and balanced consistent nutrition massage therapy can have a very dramatic effect on the reduction of stress of all kinds. Additionally, it has been well documented that specific physiological and chemical changes occur within the body following a massage treatment.

Some of the most common and immediate results of massage therapy include:

• Alleviation of chronic pain and an increased range of motion.
• Dramatic short term improvement to posture when combined with individualized exercise.
• A strengthened immune system through the stimulation of lymph flow.
• Significant increased physical performance in any activity.
• Increased health of the body’s largest organ, your skin.
• Increased joint health, stability and flexibility.
• Relief from symptoms of depression and anxiety.
• Promoting regeneration and healing, injuries heal with less scar tissue or stretch marks.
• Improving circulation by enhancing blood flow.
• Significant increase to weight loss and metabolic rate by encouraging hormonal cascade.
• Reduction of post surgery swelling.
• Relieve headaches and many forms of pain by encouraging endorphin release.

Research continues to show enormous benefit to the regular use of massage therapy and the medical community is beginning to actively embrace and promote its use. Below are more examples of situations where massage therapy has had a profound impact.

• No surprise, arthritis sufferers report a reduction in aches, pains and stiffness when regular massage therapy has been implemented.
• Asthmatics show better pulmonary function and increased peak air flow.
• Burn patients report that pain, itching and anxiety subside faster with regular massage therapy.
• High blood pressure patients have shown decreases in diastolic blood pressure and stress hormones.
• Women experiencing PMS have shown less water retention and cramping with regular massage.

Compliment your health and wellness even further with the synergism of Far Infrared Therapy.

One of the fastest growing health therapies in North America, Far Infrared Therapy (FIR) has strong synergism with the effects of exercise and massage therapy.

Far Infrared therapy expands capillaries which stimulates increased blood flow, regeneration, circulation and oxygenation. A powerful compliment to the similar effects from exercise and massage therapy.

An excellent method of detoxification. Scientists in Japan report that in the FIR treatment of clogged capillary vessels initiates the start of a process to dissolve hidden toxins. Far Infrared thereby promotes elimination of fats, chemicals and toxins from the blood: Poisons, carcinogenic heavy metals – toxic substances from food processing – lactic acid, free fatty acids, and subcutaneous fat associated with aging and fatigue – excess sodium associated with hypertension – and uric acid which causes pain. Furthermore, if sebaceous glands are activated, accumulated cosmetics in pores can be eliminated through the skin (sweat and oil glands) rather than by the kidneys. FIR also promotes the killing of many pathogenic (disease causing) bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites.

Far Infrared stimulates enzyme activity and metabolism. One hour in the FIR cabin burns more than 900 calories by raising the metabolism and body temperature. In addition to burning fat calories FIR light waves have also been shown to break down cellulite.

A strong synergism also exists between exercise, massage and FIR therapy in the rebuilding of injured tissue. This is accomplished by having a positive effect on the fibroblasts (connective tissue cells necessary for the repair of injury). Furthermore, it increases growth of cells, DNA syntheses, and protein synthesis all necessary during tissue repair and regeneration. Excellent for healing burns, scar tissue and skin problems.

By stimulating increased production of white blood cells (leukocytes), Far Infrared strengthens the Immune system with its direct effect on the bone marrow and killer T-cells of the thymus.

Far Infrared therapy will further enhance cardiovascular fitness without additional cardio exercise. This occurs as an increase in heart rate and cardiac output and a decrease of diastolic blood pressure. Extensive research by NASA in the early 1980′s led to the conclusion that far infrared stimulation of cardiovascular function would be the ideal way to maintain cardiovascular conditioning in American astronauts during long space flight.

One-to-1 Fitness now offers early morning and evening massage appointments. Get in for a treatment before or after work with ease with booking starting at 6AM!

If you read the information above you no doubt see the value in regular massage and FIR therapy. Not only does One-to-1 Fitness now have the best massage availability we also have the best rates.

• 30 minute treatments for less than $32.00 and full hour treatments for less than $50.00!

• Infrared Therapy for as little as $14.00/month!

Online booking coming soon!

Generally when it comes to fitness and weight  loss there are plenty of reasons to improve our lifestyle but for most, if not all of us, our desire for improved appearance seems to dwarf the others. Our skewed ideals make us forget that by crash dieting, making drastic changes in activity, or restricting ourselves to the point of semi-starvation we may achieve short term success at the cost of long term health. It doesn’t have to be this way, when your body is working with great efficiency it will generally dictate to you what it needs more and less of. Overeating is very difficult to do if you are consuming quality food with an efficient metabolism. Metabolic efficiency is not that difficult to improve you just have to be aware of the key factors that tend to make us less efficient.

1)      Toxicity – Our world is toxic. Our industrialized society creates constant toxic physiological overload beginning with the home we live in. Our paint, our floors, the insulation in the walls, you name it our physical environment alone is enough for most of us to be in a state of toxic physiological overload. If you consume any alcohol at all or feel the least bit stressed this effect is further increased. Time and time again this is one of the largest factors preventing people from seeing immediate weight loss results when they begin to add exercise and improved nutritional habits. To begin to detoxify one of the best practices is to drink more water and get additional rest. These are two prominent natural recovery mechanisms your body uses to detoxify. Beyond these the next step is to consider additional detoxification treatment such as Far Infrared Sauna or many of the popular detox supplement programs available.

2)      Dehydration – I’ve talked about it a number of times, but it’s more than just common it is an epidemic. Statistically an overwhelming percentage of our population is dehydrated. Chances are if you are in a room full of people right now; everyone, including you, is in some stage of mild to severe dehydration. Dehydration even in its mildest form saps vital resources severely compromising our immune system. Consume at least 3L of filtered water per day and avoid caffeinated and carbonated beverages. Mood and energy both become more stable once we reach and maintain an adequate level of hydration.

3)      Improper Food Balance – This is one we could argue about all week, but your body is so smart it has all the answers, you just need to listen. I’ve discussed many different ratios and the logic behind over the years, I’ve also discussed listening to your body based on the science of metabolic typing. In many ways a holistic approach would dictate we must listen to our bodies. After all our whole objective is to “feel” good. Adjust your food based on how you feel about 60-90 min after a meal. If you feel any negative energy cues (ie. Fatigue, jitters, anxiety, cravings, etc) these are indicators of needing more or less carbs, protein or fat(for initial adjustments protein and fat should be considered as one and the same). Simply begin by adjusting one component of your next meal until you find you are having an improved post-meal feeling. I know it’s not the immediate answer you were hoping for but it will give you the awareness to change for a life time.

4)      Exercise – Use resistance exercise for at least 20 minutes, 2-3 days per week and perform any form of cardio activity for at least 20-30 minutes an additional 2-3 days per week. These two things with moderate effort will be the catalyst that brings it all together.

These four elements, seemingly over simplified, truly are the key to avoiding a compromised immune system. Maintaining great lifestyle habits like the above will undoubtedly help you avoid cold, flu, H1N1 and many other forms of illness you will no doubt be in contact with every day. Well the above and good hygiene, I’m going to wash my hands, you should to.