Can you imagine what kind of image that mirror would reveal if you made the conscious decision to stick to a healthy lifestyle? You would most likely blow scientists out of the water because your body image would be so fit, healthy and full of life.

Yes, let me assure you this is possible for nearly every one of you reading this. The earlier you are in the disease process the easier it is to reverse. But I believe that God gave each and everyone one of us the intrinsic ability to improve our health. Our bodies were designed to get healthy not to get sick. If you only provide it with what it needs and let me assure you again that drugs are not what it requires to achieve wellness.

Yet one of the most important factors in helping you achieve a healthy life is to have a diet based on eating the right foods for your specific genetic biochemistry. An excellent way that I have found most people can determine exactly what foods are best suited for their specific biochemistry is through metabolic typing.

Everyone has a unique nutritional type and each type demands varying ratios of macronutrients (fats, proteins and carbohydrates) to function optimally. This is why you may respond well to a low-carb diet while your friend on the same exact diet may not. I encourage you to gain a more in-depth understanding of nutritional typing, which will allow you to learn and understand your own type and gear your diet precisely toward the foods that are right for you, through my Total Health Program.

In addition, it is vital to control your insulin levels by limiting or, for most of us, actually avoiding nearly all grains and sugars. This is because excess carbohydrates in your diet not only make you gain weight, but they also make sure you keep that weight on. By cutting these foods out of your diet, you can tame your weight and fight illnesses.

Finally, a daily exercise routine is one of the absolute best investments you can make in your health. Not only will you live longer and prevent many chronic degenerative diseases, but you will feel great. People continue to exercise not because they want to live longer but because they feel so much better and have so much more energy and enthusiasm for life. I fully believe that one of the central reasons I have had so much success in life is that I have been exercising regularly since 1968. This level of fitness has allowed me to push myself on work projects very hard until they are finished.

The key to exercising, however, is to make sure you are using it effectively. By doing so, you will ensure all your hard efforts (and time) are not wasted and are having a positive effect on your body. To aid you in your efforts, there are three important variables to exercise to keep in mind:

1. Length of time
2. Frequency
3. Intensity

I encourage my patients to gradually increase the amount of time they are exercising to 60 to 90 minutes a day. Initially the frequency is daily. This is a treatment dose until they normalize their weight or insulin levels. Once normalized, they will only need to exercise three to four times a week.

Also, you should exercise hard enough so that it is difficult to talk to someone next to you. When you are exercising that hard your cardiovascular system is under such a significant amount of stress that the mere act of talking makes you unable to provide your body with enough oxygen. However, if you cannot carry on a conversation at all, then you have gone too far and need to decrease the intensity.

Thus, eating right, controlling your insulin levels and exercising should come naturally in your life. You can learn more about incorporating the right exercise program into your life by reading Paul Chek's book, How to Eat, Move and Be Healthy! a perfect complement to my nutritional plan.

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