The following are tips on how you can increase the iron rich foods in your daily diet to prevent or correct low iron stores in your body. Unfortunately, anemia is a common problem with women through poor nutrition and heavy menstrual bleeding.

Compare package labels. Choose the product with higher percentage of iron.

Cook foods in old fashioned cast iron pots. With slow cooking, acidic foods will dissolve iron into the foods cooked in them.

Include foods rich in Vitamin C at all times (tomato, cabbage, orange, grapefruit, lemon, lime). Vitamin C helps your body absorb the iron in foods you eat.

Eat more of the following iron rich foods:

Protein Foods
Beef, Veal, Turkey, Eggs, Liver, Kidney, Clams, Shrimp, Pork, Lamb, Chicken, Tofu, Heart, Liverwurst, Oysters

Vegetables
Dried Beans: Pinto, navy, soy, garbanzo, kidney, lima, lentil, split pea
Dark Green Leafy Vegetables: Beet greens, turnip greens, brussels sprouts, collard greens, kale, broccoli, mustard greens, lettuce, chard, spinach
Other Vegetables: Asparagus, peas, pickles, green beans, tomato juice

Fruits
Fruits: Raisins, dates, dried apricots, figs, prunes and prune juice, watermelon

Breakfast Cereals
Total, Bran Flakes, Grape Nut Flakes, Oatmeal, Cream of Wheat, Raisin Bran, Wheaties, Product 19, Buckwheats, Cheerios, Malt-O-Meal, Special K, Wheat Chex

Other Grain Products
Corn tortilla, enriched macaroni noodles and spaghetti, enriched bread, wheat germ

(c) 2007 Deborrah Cooper, C.F.T.

Physical fitness is to the human body what fine tuning is to an engine. It enables us to perform up to our potential. Fitness can be described as a condition that helps us look, feel and do our best. More specifically, it is: “The ability to perform daily tasks vigorously and alertly, with energy left over for enjoying leisure-time activities and meeting emergency demands. It is the ability to endure, to bear up, to withstand stress, to carry on in circumstances where an unfit person could not continue, and is a major basis for good health and well-being.”

Physical fitness involves the performance of the heart and lungs, and the muscles of the body. And, since what we do with our bodies also affects what we can do with our minds, fitness influences to some degree qualities such as mental alertness and emotional stability.

As you undertake your fitness program, it’s important to remember that fitness is an individual quality that varies from person to person. It is influenced by age, sex, heredity, personal habits, exercise and eating practices. You can’t do anything about the first three factors. However, it is within your power to change and improve the others where needed.

KNOWING THE BASICS

Physical fitness is most easily understood by examining its components, or “parts.” There is widespread agreement that these five components are basic.

Cardiorespiratory Endurance - the ability to deliver oxygen and nutrients to tissues, and to remove wastes, over sustained periods of time. Long runs and swims are among the methods employed in measuring this component.

Muscular Strength - the ability of a muscle to exert force for a brief period of time. Upper-body strength, for example, can be measured by various weight-lifting exercises.

Muscular Endurance - the ability of a muscle, or a group of muscles, to sustain repeated contractions or to continue applying force against a fixed object. Pushups are often used to test endurance of arm and shoulder muscles.

Flexibility - the ability to move joints and use muscles through their full range of motion. The sit-and-reach test is a good measure of flexibility of the lower back and backs of the upper legs.

Body Composition - Body composition is often considered a component of fitness. It refers to the makeup of the body in terms of lean mass (muscle, bone, vital tissue and organs) and fat mass. An optimal ratio of fat to lean mass is an indication of fitness, and the right types of exercise will help you decrease body fat and increase or maintain muscle mass.

To get yourself into optimum shape for your sport, and maintain fitness for life and the activities of daily living, please use the contact form to request information on beginning your program.

A couple had only been married for two weeks and the husband,
although very much in love, couldn't wait to go out on the town
and party with his old buddies.

So, he said to his new wife, "Honey, I'll be right back."

"Where are you going, Coochy Coo?" asked the wife.
"I'm going to the bar, Pretty Face," he answered. I'm going
to have a beer."

The new wifey said, "You want a beer, my love?"

She opened the door to the refrigerator and showed him 25
different kinds of beer, brands from 12 different countries:
Germany, Holland, Japan, India, etc.

The husband didn't know what to do, and the only thing that
he could think of saying was, "Yes, Lollipop... But at the
bar... You now...they have frozen glasses... "

He didn't get to finish the sentence, because the wife
interrupted him by saying, "You want a frozen glass, Puppy
Face ? " She took a huge beer mug out of the freezer, so
frozen that she was getting chills just holding it.

The husband, looking a bit pale, said, "Yes, Tootsie Roll,
but at the bar they have those hors d'oeuvres that are
really delicious... I won't be long. I'll be right back.
I promise. OK?"

"You want hors d'oeuvres, Poochie Pooh?" She opened the oven
and took out 5 dishes of different hors d'oeuvres:
chicken wings, pigs in blankets, mushroom caps, and
little quiches.

"But my sweet honey... At the bar.... You know there's
swearing, dirty words and all that..."

You want dirty words, Cutie Pie?

LISTEN UP CHICKEN SHIT!  SIT YOUR ASS DOWN, SHUT THE
HELL UP, DRINK YOUR BEER IN YOUR FROZEN MUG AND EAT YOUR
HORS D'OEUVRES BECAUSE YOUR MARRIED ASS ISN'T GOING TO A
DAMNED BAR! THAT SHIT IS OVER, GOT IT, JACKASS?"

And...they lived happily ever after.

Isn't that a sweet story?

The Weighty Truth

If you are overweight and feel unhealthy, you are not alone. The 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) reveals that 64 percent of American adults are either overweight or obese. This is the biggest health epidemic in the nation. And it seems to be getting worse! The NHANES data shows that obesity has increased by approximately 8 percent since its 1988-1994 survey.

Raising Your Risk.
Being overweight is a serious national health problem. Obesity (being 20 percent or more above your healthy body weight) is a dangerous condition. Extra pounds of fat raise your risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, stroke and some types of cancer. Obesity also contributes to emotional problems such as depression.

What You Can Do…
The good news is that no one has to be overweight. Diet and exercise are proven ways of shedding those unhealthy extra pounds. When you are ready:

Enlist the help of your doctor before beginning an exercise program.
Once you have your doctor’s approval, start slowly.

Just begin to move. After making a decision to be active, you will feel healthier and improve your mental approach to daily life.

How You Can Benefit
Exercise provides more important benefits than just looking better:
Improve your cardiovascular health. Your heart is a muscle that becomes stronger and more efficient with exercise. As you get in better shape, your heart will have to beat less to circulate the blood in your body.

Exercise also lowers blood pressure and reduces your cholesterol level.
Reduce body fat and increase muscle mass. You burn many calories as you exercise. But exercise also increases your overall metabolism. That means you will burn more calories at rest, too. You burn more calories than normal for several hours after your workout. Exercise also builds muscle mass.

Strengthen your immune system. Regular exercise strengthens the immune system. It makes you less vulnerable to colds and flu. Your body can fight off illnesses and even some types of cancer when you are in shape.

Increase Your Energy Level.
Exercise can help make you happier and more productive throughout the day. You might feel a little more tired when you begin. But as you adjust to your new lifestyle, you will have much more energy to do the things you love.

Improve your outlook. Physical activity is often recommended by doctors to treat mild depression. There is nothing like exercising in the fresh air to brighten your outlook on life.

Don’t wait. Start today!