Introduction:
Have you tried to budget your time a few hours (or even months) ahead, and find that you continually fail to stick to your schedule? It seems as though the phrase, “get busy living” could not be truer for many individuals. The reality is that many of us find that we are overbooked, overworked, and overtired. Taking time out to relax and enjoy one’s self just isn’t an option. You are always on the go, and always changing plans when something unexpected comes up last minute. As it may turn out, your busy lifestyle may be affecting your health.
Background:
It seems as though a lot of people want to be healthy. They make plans to go to the gym or cook a healthy meal but, at the end of the day, they find out that they’ve sacrificed their gym time and their healthy diet to work overtime, help a friend, or catch up on some much needed sleep. The words, “I was supposed to go
to the gym”, and “I’m too tired”, have become regular catch phrases. Instead of the gym and healthy foods, we are opting for fast foods that we can take on the go. We find ourselves living the exact opposite lifestyle than the one we want.
I cannot sit here and tell you that you need to be better at time management. It would be wrong for me to tell you not to help your friend with the flat tire because you dedicated that time to the treadmill or pumping iron. Things come up. That’s life. Hopefully it isn’t happening every day. However, more often than not, there is something that is going on that will interfere with your schedule. Sometimes, the only thing in your schedule that you can sacrifice is your gym time. You can’t sacrifice your business meeting time and you cannot sacrifice picking up your kids from school for more time to go to the gym. Not all of us have a home gym, and leaving your family obligations to go the gym isn’t always an option. I do believe that everyone should perform some sort of exercise routine a couple of times of week to get the blood flowing and the muscles working. I cannot tell you specifically how to go about doing it. You have to do what works with your schedule, whether it involves a walk around the block or doing good old fashioned push-ups and sit-ups in your living room. I can and should tell you that you can do something about your diet.
If you can’t make it to the gym every day, the least you can do is be sure to eat healthy. Let’s face it; you don’t have to cook a half hour meal to eat healthy. There are plenty of health foods on the market now that are as accessible as fast foods and junk food. They just aren’t looked at as “filling” or “satisfying”. I assure you, however, that they are as filling as a nutritional meal needs to be and as satisfying as the flavor they possess. The food I’m talking about is fruit.
Fruit:
Fruit contains so many necessary requirements of a healthy diet that I want to go ahead and say it’s okay to eat them whenever and wherever you feel like it. The best part about fruit is that it’s almost as socially acceptable to bring anywhere you go as a bottle of water is. If you are in the office and you are throwing back a whole bag of chips that are loud and potent, everyone is going to have a problem with that. On the contrary, how many times have you seen someone eating fruit and questioned it? Better yet, how many times have you seen someone eating fruit and wanted some of it? There is something about seeing someone eating fruit that is almost incredibly motivating that we wish we had our own. We are almost jealous that whoever is eating it is being healthy. The fact that it’s so simple makes us kick ourselves for not doing the same.
Fruit is simple, it’s healthy, it’s easy to take with you and it’s the perfect snack to keep you going throughout the day. It doesn’t require any extra time because you don’t have to prepare it. The only decision you have to make is which fruit you choose. The fruit that is the freshest is going to be the best for you as they have retained most of their nutrients throughout their shelf life. I don’t recommend bringing a whole pineapple or melon to work with you that you have to cut up. This defeats the purpose of fruit being a quick and effortless snack to take with you. I would stick to fruits that are readily eaten in their original form. Therefore, I cannot help but recommend fruits such as apples, grapes, berries and cherries. Although all of these fruits are relatively easy to snack on and have plenty of health benefits, the cherry boasts some of the highest nutritional value out of all of them.
Tart Cherries:
Although sweet cherries are more commonly found on display in the produce department, searching a little bit harder for tart cherries is worth the effort. Tart cherries contain multiple varieties of anthocyanins, flavanols, flavonols, hormones, phenolic acids, vitamins, minerals, and terpenes. Together, these bio-active compounds are clinically proven to reduce inflammation and inhibit tumor growth, improve flood flow, improve heart and brain health, lower blood pressure, regulate physiological functions, improve basic metabolic processes, and provide essentials to biological pathways as well as essential oils from plant elements.
Antioxidants:
What makes tart cherries so much more beneficial to your health are the powerful antioxidants found in them. Many fruits have antioxidants. However, the phenolic acids (phytochemicals) found in tart cherries contain multiple varieties of antioxidants that are relatively stronger than those found in some other fruits. Antioxidants balance out the level of oxidants existing in your body. This in turn lowers your risk of oxidative stress and therefore your risk of developing chronic diseases.
Tart Cherry Juice:
I mentioned earlier that bringing fruit with you somewhere is almost as acceptable as bringing a bottle of water with you. I also mentioned that tart cherries are a great fruit choice for its superior health benefits. Well, what could be better than tart cherries in a bottle? Although you maximize the amount of nutrients you receive from a tart cherry when you eat them whole, having them in the form of a drink makes them that much easier to bring with you on the go. There are a few choices when it comes to tart cherry juice drinks. However, you want to make sure that the tart cherry juice is made from all natural tart cherries, not from concentrate, and with little to no preservatives.
CherryPharm:
The ability to bring tart cherries with you in the form of a drink provides you with the means necessary to consume their nutrients on a regular basis. CherryPharm is a cherry juice health drink made from whole tart cherries that is loaded with antioxidants and clinically proven to reduce strength loss, protect muscles, lessen pain, speed recovery, improve sleep habits, and increase wellness. In each 8oz bottle of CherryPharm, anywhere from 35 to 50 whole tart cherries are used. The precise juice extraction process used retains a maximum amount of antioxidants and other naturally occurring phyto-nutrients. It has been featured on the CNBC TV show “Mike on America”, in Oprah magazine, the New York Post, Newsweek, In Touch, Escape, Vogue and many others. For more information please visit www.cherrypharm.com.
Written by Matt Kerwin
