25 Nov

Sick-Proof Your Travel: 5 Easy Tips to Stay Healthy on the Fly

Sick-Proof Your Travel: 5 Easy Tips to Stay Healthy on the Fly

If you’re traveling with your family or on your own this holiday season, you may struggle to keep your immune system up to snuff. Especially during the colder seasons, immune function can be suppressed. Moreover, if you’re traveling you’ll be exposed to a whole lot of germs your body isn’t used to. But there are ways to stay healthy during the holiday season, even when you’re traveling.

While you might expect the typical list of germ-busting techniques, the ph360 approach is a bit different. Because the real way to keep yourself healthy is by nourishing yourself as your immune system uniquely needs to be nourished.

Just like any other arena of your health, what works best to keep your immune system active should be targeted for your unique needs. There is no one size fits all for immune strength. The strongest immune response will be a result of preventive health care measures taken over time—customized to your specific physical and genetic demands.

Here’s how:

Exercise the right way. Help your body by doing the exercise that is right for you—not straining or under-exerting yourself in the most popular new workout trend. How to know what’s right for you? Enlist the support of a personal trainer, or simply pay attention to how your musculature and joints feel after different kinds of exercise. If you ever experience pain or inflammation in your joints, you may be exercising in a way that’s taxing your body unnecessarily.

Eat the best foods for your body. The food you eat should energize and fuel you, rather than cause weight gainbrain fog, and a weakened immune system. Whole, unprocessed foods tend to support immune function, though different foods will be better for different people depending on metabolic and hormonal needs. Consult your ph360 FOOD dashboard for guidance, or work with a nutritionist.

Get enough sleep! Prioritize sleep whenever possible, particularly before and during travel. Enlist the help of sleep aids when you need—ear plugs, eye mask, or white noise may all be useful when trying to get sleep in unfamiliar environments.

Have fun. Studies show that laughing and enjoying time with the people you love can actually have a positive effect on both mood and health. Minimize stress—which stimulates cortisol release and diminishes your capacity to fight off illness. Find small ways (a hot bath, a walk, singing along with your favorite song) to diminish the accumulation of  stress.

And of course: Minimize germ exposure. Wash your hands frequently. Use hand sanitizer or sanitizing wipes after you use germ hotspots like ATMs, water fountains, credit card keypads, gas pumps, etc. Avoid touching your eyes unnecessarily—remember that germs can be transmitted this way, too.

Remember, ph360 can help you discover the specific foods, exercises, and lifestyle choices that may help keep your immune system strong year round. Explore ph360.me today.

21 Nov

Organic Food: Health Revelation or Marketing Scam

Organic Food: Health Revelation or Marketing Scam

Do you eat organic? I’m pretty health conscious so I try to buy organic food as much as I can. Although it can be hard to justify spending up to four times the amount of money for the ‘same’ product when you have a mortgage and other financial commitments. And even if you were 100% committed to spending the extra money on organic, it isn’t always very accessible.

So is buying organic worth the extra cost and effort? Or is this just another marketing ploy to sell the same things at a higher price? Technology like ph360 and the new ShaeTM are making it easy to get personalized health advice, but the choice to act on it is down to the individual. I, for one, am more likely to act if I know all the facts in the equation.

If I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t exactly sure what ‘organic’ even means. I knew that, generally speaking, it’s food without any added chemicals but, passed that, I wasn’t clear on what the whole ‘organic’ thing is about. After all, water is a chemical. Pretty much everything is made up of chemicals. So what makes some chemicals so bad? I figured if I was going to continue to spend more on organic, I’d better educate myself about what exactly that means.

The Naughty Kind of Chemicals

When talking about organic food, the problematic chemicals in this equation are pesticides. Of course you need water to grow crops, but organic food is grown without the use of any kind of pesticides. Water = good chemicals. Pesticides = bad chemicals.

Pesticides used in the agricultural industry are intended to kill, repel or sterilize a pest so that the product being cultivated can grow to maturity unharmed or undamaged. Toxicological and epidemiological research has found numerous exposures to these chemicals to be extremely harmful to human (and animal) health. Therefore, reducing exposure to pesticides can prevent many health problems.

Sales of organic food and beverages have been growing exponentially in recent years as people are becoming more aware of their benefits. Although there are numerous studies that claim that organic produce contains a greater number of beneficial vitamins and minerals, important antioxidant phytochemicals, and ultimately greater health benefits than their non-organic counterparts, one of the most important components is the absence of harmful chemicals in organic food products.

Pesticides and Health

Despite the fact that there are rigorous tests that need to be done before a pesticide is considered legal and safe for consumer use, a European assessment on toxicity found that of the 276 legally marketed active substances in Europe, 32 out of the 76 fungicides, 25 out of the 87 herbicides and 24 out of the 66 insecticides are related to at least one health effect. So that’s 81 out of 229 pesticides that have been proven to be related to health issues, including cancer causing, endocrine disrupting, reproductive and developmental toxicity and acute toxicity!

Europe has since imposed harsher cut-off criteria resulting in the removal of many pesticides proven to be harmful, but the long-term effects of consumption of these pesticides before they were removed from the market is unknown. Similarly, we are unsure of the long-term effects of pesticides currently approved that may not have yet been properly investigated. And although Europe has imposed stricter regulations, there are many countries where harmful pesticides are still in use or products cultivated with such chemicals are imported into countries that have stricter regulations. Furthermore, people are often exposed to residues found on food made from non-organic foods and even drinking water and the true extent to which the cumulative effects of exposure affects human and environmental health is not yet known.

Are We All Doomed?

This sounds like a pretty scary situation. If you think about it, unless you grew it yourself, you really have no way of knowing exactly where your food has come from and how it was made. Do I think we’re doomed though? No I don’t.

There has already been a rise in demand for organic produce and the public are getting more and more vocal about greater transparency about what is in our food and where it has come from. As a people we may have veered a little off track when it comes to food and health but programs like ph360 make it easier to know what’s right for you as an individual, and new tech like ShaeTM puts the power to do something about it in the palm of your hand.

My concerns about what kind of food I’m eating are personal to me and my health. But there is a much bigger picture here also. The state of world health can be changed and the way to do it is to empower the individual. People are already starting to stand up and take a more considered approach to what they put into their bodies. We are educating ourselves. We are speaking up. We are demanding better health – not just for us, but for the whole world.

18 Nov

Listen to Your Body

Listen to Your Body

Our bodies are miraculous things, but how often do you listen to yours?

Many people are disconnected from what their body is telling them, as they are been ruled by their minds, listening to endless stories of guilt about the past or worrying about the future and the only time they become aware of their bodies is when something is not working correctly and they experience pain or breathlessness.

One reason so many people struggle with their weight is they are not listening to the signals that tell them they are full.

Your body is capable of telling you all sorts of things.  Here are a few:

  • Whether you have had enough to eat
  • Whether you are hot or cold
  • What emotions are you feeling.
  • Whether something is the right thing to do or not (gut instinct)
  • Whether you like someone or not
  • Is it safe or is it dangerous
  • That part of your body is not working effectively

Learning to connect to your body not only gives you much more information with which to run your life, but it also helps reduce stress and anxiety.

To connect to your body, take a few moments of quiet time:

  1. Breath in and out mindfully 2-3 times, letting the breath sink all the way down into your abdomen.
  2. Be aware of how your body is feeling.
  3. Feel your bottom on the chair, your feet on the floor, the position of your hands and whether you have pain, discomfort or areas of tension.
  4. What ever you feel is ok and listen to see if your body tells you it needs something, such as a change of position; something to eat or drink; or the need for some exercise or relaxation time.

Practice this throughout each day and let me know what you are noticing.  Acknowledging pain and discomfort is more likely to reduce it than trying to ignore it, as what you resist persists.

Exercise such as Yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi and dancing can help you learn to be more in your body.

Connect with your body and enjoy!

Pam Lob

11 Nov

Helping Veterans Live Longer, Happier & Healthier: How to Eat for Longevity

Helping Veterans Live Longer, Happier & Healthier: How to Eat for Longevity

Though our country’s veterans are some of our most valuable and highly valued citizens, health care for those returning from war, or in service in the US, has a challenging track record. While considerable strides are being made to make health care services more readily and easily available for our veterans, preventive care measures can make a huge difference as well. In particular, using diet to optimize longevity may support individuals—veterans and non-veterans alike—in living longer, happier, and healthier lives.

The foods we eat influence everything from digestion to skin healthcholesterolheart health, and even the expression of your DNA. The study of how your genes express themselves, and how that expression is affected by your environment, is called epigenetics. Environmental factors include things like where you live and your daily routine, including the foods that you eat.

The research on the negative effects of sugar and processed foods on health is abundant and widely available. But what we don’t know is how different foods affect your body uniquely—differently than anyone else’s. Most importantly, your genes for a variety of health-related factors, such as diseases, may be turned on or off by something as seemingly benign as the food that you eat.

This makes it vitally important to begin paying attention to which foods are beneficial to your health, and which may be causing you harm. And, aside from seeking the support of your physician and a nutritionist, the best way to discover that is to allow a personalized health app like ph360 guide the way.

ph360’s unmatched algorithm uses your body’s measurements and personal health history to assess the specific foods that will help keep you healthy and happy for years to come. It does this by determining which foods you may need to create hormonal balance, stimulate your metabolism, regulate your body’s physiological processes, and improve mood and overall well-being.

Sound complex? It’s as simple as can be, since you’ve got your own personalized FOOD dashboard to tell you the exact foods to eat, as well as those foods to avoid. ph360 can also help you understand the best times of day for you to eat in order to maximize energy and minimize indigestiondrowsiness, and weight gain.

If you’re not yet using ph360, take some time to assess which foods make you feel energized and vibrant, and which foods weigh you down (literally and figuratively). Make a commitment to eat more whole, unprocessed foods, and plentiful fruits and veggies (those that are best for your body). You’ll soon notice a new kind of vitality and lasting energy.

Ready to commit to your longevity and transform your health? Start at ph360.me! And share this with a veteran you love to honor them this week.

08 Nov

In Love with Green

In Love with Green

I’m in love! The sky is brighter, the bird’s song is pure magic, fluffy cloud make me laugh out loud and a big smile is stuck on my face. I have felt this feeling before, but how soon I forget. The dark, cold winter faded my memory. Yet I don’t worry, I am renewed again with my love of spring. Spring is early this year; perhaps that why I feel my love so strongly. The hills are shifting from yellow to green a month ahead of schedule. Twenty robins filled the tree outside my window before I knew what was coming. They knew, and whispered it to me. They said, “The beauty and activities you love the most will soon be here.” I laughed with joy. Gardens, flowers, hiking, biking, camping, sun dresses, warm evenings, barefoot toes, open windows and playing in the water are on their way. Warm weather feeds my soul.

What feeds your soul? We are not all alike. The winter makes some people most happy with cooler temperatures and possible snow activities. Others prefer the rain, moisture and the familiar blanket of grey skies. I have friends who prefer the city with the sounds of traffic, movement, technology, growth and activity of many people. I’ve always said that I am more comfortable alone on the top of a mountain than driving in traffic. What lights your fire?

It never occurred to me that a season, temperature or place could affect my health, other than to change my mood. I didn’t know until recently that some people need moist air where others need dry for optimal health. Information about the correct climate or setting affecting ones well-being never crossed my path until a friend introduced me to PH360. When I filled out my own profile I learned that I was living in an environment that was not ideal for me. It worked out for me to move, and that transition had a profound effect on my body.

It makes sense when I think about how I feel during the warm weather. I am happy, energized, motivated and vital. When it’s cold during the winter, and grey for weeks on end, I find myself huddled indoors to stay warm and craving the sunshine. The outdoors is my playground, which I miss during the winter. Skiing is just not enough to keep my outside as much as I prefer. When I review how my body feels during each season, I can see how temperature and less sun changes how well I feel.

Open spaces, views of nature, travel, adventure, change, plus bringing wood, stones and pieces of nature into my living space are all suggestions for me on my PH360 Place Section. Avoiding cold winds, high altitude, waterfall and pine forests are more suggestions. How does a simple intake form tell a computer program what environment is best for me? How is it so correct? A lot of accurate algorithms are required, and the results are amazing. Are you living in your optimal environment? Find out what environment is right for you by getting your own PH360 profile at www.ph360.me

04 Nov

How Much Food Are You Really Throwing in the Trash?

How Much Food Are You Really Throwing in the Trash?

How much food do you throw in the trash? No one thinks twice about discarding mouldy bread or packaged food in the back of the pantry with July 2012 stated as the use-by date. This is a good thing. Eating off food can make you very ill.

What about perfectly edible, fresh food? How much of that do you think you throw away? You might feel like saying “that’s preposterous! I don’t waste food.” but you might be surprised by just how much you throw in the trash. Some ‘scraps’ that end up in the bin or on the compost heap are perfectly edible and even delicious!

As a matter of fact, some ‘scraps’ are packed with nutrients. So even if you’re not too worried about wasting food, you should at least consider the wasted nutrients you’re literally throwing away.

Here are just a few examples of food scraps we should be eating:

  • All peels. Potato, apple, carrot and just about any fruit or veg that you might usually take the peeler to, have a very high concentration of nutrients in that very peel. If you peel these things because you’re worried about cleanliness you can try the vinegar trick – fill a tub or sink half way with water and add 1 cup of vinegar, let your fruit and veg soak for 15 minutes and rinse. This will naturally disinfect the food and remove any nasties. Plus, it helps to keep it from going off in the fridge for a little longer.
  • Broccoli stems. The stems are just as good for you as the fluffy green bits on top. But it’s not really as palatable is it? Well there are plenty of ways to prepare broccoli stalk that isn’t steaming chunks of it whole. The easiest is to grate it and eat it raw in a salad or coleslaw, or grate it and cook it in a stir fry or as part of a soup base.
  • The green part of leek. How awful is it cooking with leek and throwing away more than half of what you paid for at the store? Well this one will save you some money too! Here’s the secret: the green parts of leek are just as good for you and just as edible as the white parts – they just take longer to cook. So next time you need 4 leeks for a recipe, just buy 2 and use up the whole things, the key is to put the green parts on 5-10 minutes (depending on cooking method) before the white parts.
  • Tops. Think the green parts of carrots, turnips, beetroot etc. No, the green leafy bits on top of the carrot are not going to taste like carrot, but that doesn’t mean they’re not good for you. These kinds of ‘scraps’ are fantastic in salads or added to your smoothies for an extra nutrient boost.

Food wastage is a massive problem in most western countries. By reducing the amount of food we throw away, we will not only be helping our planet but also our wallets. Think of all the money you can save by getting the most out of all your fruit and veg. And for detailed info on what nutrients are contained in which foods, and how these benefit you specifically, check out ph360 and their comprehensive and extremely detailed food list.