The Spa on Green Street

In my practice, one of the main concerns people have relative to their health is that they want to “stay young”. I’ve often thought  -  what is it about getting older that people don’t like? In asking further, people will tell me that they want to have good energy and experience life as exciting as it was in their youth.  We have this idea in our culture that life peaks in our youth, and then as you age, you have to accept the gradual loss of energy and vitality that tends to characterize our advancing years.  Is it even possible to turn back the clock?  Can we actually feel younger and even be younger?

Well good news! We are beginning to realize and truly believe that being older doesn’t mean that your life has to be any less exciting or any less happy.  After all, it makes sense to think that by virtue of having gained quality life experience in our younger years, when we are older, we actually have the opportunity to live more balanced and well-rounded lives – there is the possibility that we can take the best of what each of the different phases of our lives has had to offer, and if we then had the energy of youth on top of that, well the sky’s the limit!

So, what do you need to do?  As with anything else, there are first the fundamentals and then there’s the icing on the cake. Please review http://www.spaongreenstreet.com/pdfs/anti-aging-living-longer.pdf on our website for our comprehensive approach in our Wellness Program.  You have to have the fundamentals in place for the ‘icing’ to enhance the overall experience.  We will explore the ‘icing’ in subsequent posts – the intelligent use of supplements for instance, enhancing hormones, etc., but let’s discuss these fundamentals first, for without them, we end up falling short.  In anti-aging, part of the fundamentals has to do with exercise, and here’s a bit of exciting research regarding the benefits of exercise relative to the aging process.

A new study has found that exercise actually reverses the aging process at the cellular level.  The study, published in an online journal called PLoS One, studied 25 people over the age of 65 for six months. A research team led by Dr. Simon Melov from McMaster University Medical Centre in Hamilton, Ontario, took biopsies of their thigh muscles.  Then they put the group on a strength-training regimen that included two hour-long sessions in the gym per week. At the end of the six months, they were biopsied again.

The muscle cells were compared to the cells of a control group of young people (average age 22). At the beginning of the study, the older people’s cells were genetically different from the younger people’s cells.   But at the end of six months, a third of the genes within the cells had undergone significant changes. The cells that changed were involved in the functioning of mitochondria, which transform nutrients into energy. And guess what, the study participants reported having greater energy!

“The genetic fingerprint [of the elderly participants] was reversed to that of younger people — not entirely, but enough to say that their genetic profile was more like that of young people than old people,” said Simon Melov, director of genomics at the Buck Institute in Novato, Calif.  He concludes by saying the famous words, “It’s never too late to start exercising.”

So, great news for all of you who are committing to an exercise program! You can actually change your genetic profile by engaging in consistent exercise. Like I said earlier, it takes some doing, but the efforts are well worth it, are they not? Do your level best to put the fundamentals to work and just see how they end up working for you. You can add this recent bit of news to all the things that we already know about exercise, from helping you to lose weight to enhancing your memory and thinking. 

 Fundamentally Yours! Ricardo

Please join us for an exciting presentation that brings a balanced awareness of how diet and exercise influences all aspects of your health-your weight, hormones, energy levels and immune system. Metabolism has been one of the most misunderstood aspects of our health. You will hear everything from the misleading quick- fix approaches to weightloss to the “oversimplified eat less move more” philosophy. We look forward to seeing you here!

When: February 18,2010

Time:6:00pm- 7:30pm

Presenter: Ricardo Boye,ND,CNC

Hello everybody!  I just wanted to express my gratitude for all of you attending last Tuesday.  We got off to a great start and I want to encourage each and every one of you to sign up to our blog updates if you haven’t already – this way you will be notified every time a new article is posted.  What a great way to stay connected to each other in between our meetings, providing you the support and moral muscle needed to help you achieve your health and fitness goals.  As we discussed, studies repeatedly show that it is the lack of social support that mainly causes people to become distracted from reaching their health goals — here we have a built-in buddy system to help keep you on track!

I wanted to head things off with an overall perspective on where our nutritional instruction is going.  As the months move along, we will be discussing the finer elements of nutritional science and how it impacts your health.  Now, you have probably heard many details of nutrition in the media and sometimes they are quite conflicting, especially in the field of weight loss.  Some say it’s all about calories.  Others will tell you that calories don’t count as long as you eat certain foods.  Eat fat, don’t eat fat, drink acai berry juice, don’t drink alcohol, eat whole grains, don’t eat pasta…..and the list goes on and on.   The reality is that it really depends on you as an individual and how you respond to certain foods.  There’s a certain amount of time that is needed for you to learn how your body works and how it behaves with the many different foods available.

What I see happening in my practice as a result of all of this, is that people become confused and start missing the forest through the trees.  Why get all concerned with the minutiae of nutrition when the basics are not even being considered?  Perhaps the basics aren’t sexy enough to sell books or magazines – who knows.  Far from being simplistic, the basic elements of nutrition are actually quite simple and I will do my level best to spell them out for you in the coming months.

Get to know yourself, what you like to do and how you like to live and then work to develop a healthy plan that is as easy as you can possibly make it – not one bit harder.  This goes for your eating habits as well as your fitness habits.  This may mean exploring a little bit, trying new ideas to see if they fit, much like you would try on a new pair of shoes.  If a plan you have set for yourself is too rigid – say you have told yourself you must eat every 2-3 hours to keep your metabolism burning or what not – then chances are that life will get in the way and you and the plan will part.  There are so many ways to peel this potato that anyone can find a lifestyle that works for them – it really isn’t all that difficult.  We have the tools to offer and we are here to help. 

Let’s deconstruct some of these myths of nutrition, shall we? Please join me for the first lecture on health this year – the Metabolic Makeover Seminar on Feb. 18^th.  You will come away with a renewed perspective on your health.  See you there!

What an exciting time at The Spa on Green Street! We had our first Fitness in the Round meeting and it was a great success. Kate Porfilio of Creative Field Media did a great job in explaining the blogging world and with helping us to begin the year connected and supporting each other via our blog. Thank you!

We have met some new friends and look forward to a year of education, fun and exciting field trips and plenty of success with our nutrition and fitness goals. Ricardo and I are so excited to support our community in such a specific way and we look forward to hearing from everyone on a regular basis. I would love to see some healthy recipes and ideas from everyone regarding some quick to make healthy dishes that you have found over the years!Please give us your family secrets!!

During the winter months, people spend hours at the doctor’s office and endless amounts of money on cold and flu medications. Parents panic every time their child comes home with a runny nose. But, what if there was a way to help alleviate just a bit of that stress during the winter months? Or what if there was a possibility that you wouldn’t have to take daily allergy medication anymore? Or have to listen to your significant other snore every single night?

The Spa on Green Street now offers Ancient Secrets Nasal Cleansing Pot for the cleansing of nasal passages which truly can make a difference in your family’s health. This practice has been used for centuries with yoga and meditation practitioners but has been on the rise in the United States; thanks to The Oprah Winfrey Show and Dr. Oz, known as “America’s Doctor,” who has been a very vocal proponent of the use of neti pots.

The neti pot thins mucus to help flush it out of the nasal passages and helps increase speed and improve coordination of the cilia (tiny, hair-like structures in the nose) to more effectively remove the bacteria, allergens and other irritants that cause sinus problems.

Ear, nose and throat surgeons recommend cleansing the nasal passages after sinus surgery. Also, studies have shown that patients with chronic sinus issues that use the neti pot have a reduced need for antibiotics and nasal sprays.

Modern studies are showing that nasal cleansing is as effective as drugs for preventing sinus infections and is hugely beneficial for people with nasal allergies and headaches. Other studies have shown that people who perform nasal irrigation daily experience fewer colds than those that do not.

Nasal cleansing has also been shown to help those who snore. Use of the neti pot before sleep will help to ensure that the nasal passages are open for optimal breathing during sleep. Nasal cleansing can help to prevent snoring and mouth breathing and aid in a deeper, more relaxing sleep.

Come visit The Spa on Green Street to purchase your Nasal Cleansing Pot today! The neti pot is ceramic, dishwasher safe, and only $20.34. An amazing deal for the life-altering effects that nasal cleansing will have on you and your family!