Build Your Own Exercise Plan

August 7, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

Build Your Own Exercise Plan

Do you struggle to maintain a regular exercise routine? One of the most common issues among people that I speak with is that they want to exercise, but they don’t know where to start. Most people overcomplicate things and think that if they don’t have everything planned out perfectly, they won’t see results. Planning is good and setting goals will help keep you motivated, but attempting to lay out everything step-by-step is going to drive you crazy. It’s best to keep it simple and just make sure you’re doing some form of exercise every day.

The thought of joining a gym or paying for an expensive exercise program can be overwhelming. Even the thought of exercising for the first time after a long hiatus is daunting. Because of these pressures, exercise is one of those words that make people cringe when they hear it. They feel guilty for not exercising, because they know their body needs it, yet they dread the thought of trying to find an exercise plan that they can maintain.

Most exercise programs have a big problem

The problem with most exercise programs is that they only work when you fully commit to them. The popular programs advertised on TV feature exercise gurus and sales people going through sets of intense exercise moves and promising an extreme, positive change in your looks. They make it seem like a magical seven-minute routine that morphs you from someone who is hesitant to exercise into a physical phenomenon in less than three months. Some of the exercises in these programs are so complicated and difficult that a lot of people quit within the first week and become unmotivated to try another program.

Exercise shouldn’t be a “one-size fits all” type of physical activity program, the way it’s advertised on TV. Each exercise program should be customized to your body and your health. The exercise program you do this year might not be the one that you’ll do next year, and it might be totally different from anything your friends do. The most important thing is that at any given time in your life, you’re doing the type of exercise that’s best for you.

So, what exactly does that mean? How do you know what type of exercise is best for you? In my book How to Live Until You Die I cover examples of people in my own family (including myself) who all struggled with finding the right exercise for them. Depending on their health situation, work situation, and life situation, there were different things that worked. For example, some people sit in traffic for an hour commuting to work and then sit at a desk all day. There are still ways to be active even in a scenario like that. I put together five steps to helping you build your own exercise plan.

Keep it simple: The best way to get started is to move more today than you did yesterday.
Be consistent and only compete against yourself: Work on consistency and improvement. Do you like to run? Challenge yourself to run one mile a day for a period of time and increase the distance when you’re ready.
Focus on moving more during your daily routine: Even simple activity throughout the day increases blood flow, enhances concentration, and boosts energy levels. Make sure you get up and take a five minute walk every couple of hours if you sit at a desk all day.
Learn your body and what works best for you: Talk to your doctor about any health care issues you are dealing with. Think about the physical activities you enjoyed as a child. Can you turn any of these into an exercise routine?
Become your own guru: Get your DNA analyzed and figure out what type of exercise will help you get the results you want Knowing your genetic makeup is a key step towards doing the type of exercise that will make you feel good all the time.

And as a bonus, a sixth step (when you feel it’s the right time for you) is to consult with a professional. Hire a certified fitness coach to discuss your exercise goals and routines. They will have a vested interest in your success and will provide continuous advice and accountability. I meet virtually with my personal fitness coach Jeff McMahon every week. If you can afford to hire someone like Jeff, I highly recommend it.

I recently did a blog post about my favorite sports supplement that gives you more power and energy for your workouts. If you are looking for a product to give you more energy and power for your workouts, then PREFITT by NutriFitt is what you are looking for! Trust me. It’s great tasting and an all around amazing product. I love it and highly recommend it!

To learn more about building your own exercise plan, finding the type of exercise that you enjoy and that does wonders for your body, and to discover the seven keys to living happy, healthy, and whole, get your copy of How to Live Until You Die today.

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

Supplements: What They Are and Why You Need Them

July 14, 2017 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

As established in the recent blog post Are You Eating Real Food?, most foods offered in grocery stores today lack the necessary amount of key nutrients that your body needs in order to thrive. In fact, even most whole and raw foods have

significantly less nutrients and minerals than they did 50 years ago. With many contributing factors that include different farming techniques, soil that is less rich in mineral deposits, and genetically altered products, the bottom line is that today the optimal level of nutrients cannot be sustained by our diet alone. This leads to the question: How can we receive the necessary amount of nutrients to achieve and sustain a happy, healthy, and whole life?

The answer is to take supplements. However, not all supplements actually provide your body with the nutrients it needs, and some even contain harmful chemicals. This poses another question: How can we know which supplements will help us and which ones will hurt us? In the book How To Live Until You Die Dr. Phil Carson explains how to find the supplements your body needs and how to avoid the chemicals it doesn’t.

Dr. Phil tells his readers “You might be shocked to find artificial colors, flavors, preservatives, and other Big Seven Toxins in many of the multivitamins that you’ve been told are a one-pill-per-day solution. In reality, many of those vitamins are a waste of your time and money.” He then provides three simple guidelines for selecting supplements that won’t expose your body to harmful chemicals.

The tips that Dr. Phil provides about supplement selection include avoiding the same dangerous chemicals and ingredients (Big Seven Toxins, etc.) that you would avoid in food. Only take vitamins with ingredients that are organic or substances found in nature and avoid toxic coatings and unhealthy bindings. Instead, look for vitamins with plant based vitamins and be wary of supplements that list all of the vitamins and nutrients in milligrams, because that can be an indication that the product is synthetic and doesn’t contain food-sourced nutrients.

Avoid synthetic supplements at all costs

Several reports warn against the danger of taking synthetic vitamins that attempt to manufacture the nutrients with chemicals rather than extracting the nutrients from a natural source. Immediate dangers include impeding your body’s ability to absorb real nutrients from real food, possible birth defects, increased cancer risk, hypercalcemia, and blood clotting. The Organic Consumers Organization published a report that gives an in-depth look at the differences between natural and synthetic vitamins, explains why synthetic supplements are so harmful, and sheds light on how to tell if you’re putting your body at risk by taking a synthetic vitamin. The evidence-based articles at Authority Nutrition break down the way the body responds to synthetic vitamins, and encourage you to only take supplements that come from natural ingredients.

In How to Live Until You Die, Dr. Phil strongly advises readers to take only natural supplements, and recommends specific supplements that he currently takes himself. Among those recommendations are:

Multivitamin: Catalyn by Standard Process
Fish Oil: ProDHA by Nordic Naturals
Probiotic: Enterobiotic SBO by Natural Creations
CoQ10: Smart CoQ10 by Enzymatic Therapy

Although supplements can be greatly beneficial to your health, each of us has a unique body composition and could have a different reaction to certain supplements than another person. (The same is true with food and with medicine.) Therefore, you should always consult with your doctor before adding a new supplement to your daily regimen. Your doctor knows you and has charts, notes, and other details regarding your health history. Make sure you are getting the right supplements in the right amounts by discussing your plan with your regular doctor.

Taking the right supplements in addition to maintaining a healthy diet will do wonders for your body, but to truly live a full and rewarding life, there are a total of seven crucial elements you need to balance. To learn more about these seven keys to living happy, healthy, and whole, order your copy of How to Live Until You Die today.

OH Nooo!! Not Head Lice!!

August 11, 2015 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

Well it’s back to school time everybody! It seems like the summer’s keep getting shorter and shorter with each passing year.

My two youngest daughters, a 12th grader and 10th grader, started back to school this week, and I’m just not ready for the summer to be over. Just when you get used to the laid back schedule of summer, it’s time to get back into that humdrum routine of getting up early every morning and getting ready for school. As a kid I always hated for summer to be over and school to start back, and now as a parent, I still feel the same way! However on a positive note, with the return of the new school year, comes the excitement of Friday night lights and Saturday game days. It also means that scorching temperatures of summer are only a few weeks from being over!

I guess when you think about it everything in life has its pros and cons. I suppose one of those pros, for me, happens every school year, because at the beginning of every year, I receive a little spike in business. I know it’s unfortunate for all of us parents, but when all the kids get back together in a tight knit community of a school campus, they begin to share things other than pencils and notebook paper. There is one dreaded phone call from the school that no parent ever wants to get, “Hello this is Nurse Jones, and I’m sorry you need to come pick up your child. We’ve found head lice in their hair.” Over the years I’ve encountered many many distraught parents in the pharmacy who have received such a call. Many times they are beside themselves, in tears even, wondering how could this happen to my child. Thankfully I’m able to comfort them and assure them that it’s a lot more common than they think, and it does not mean they are bad parents. Even some of my own children have had an infestation of head lice. I know it’s troublesome and disrupts your schedule, but it can be treated. It takes some work and some effort, but you can get rid of those little critters. There are many head lice products on the market today. Some of them over the counter and some of them prescription only, however most of what you find, whether it’s prescription or over the counter, contains toxic chemicals. Unfortunately head lice have become resistant to a lot of these chemicals, making it harder to get rid of an infestation. I do not personally recommend any of these chemical laden products. Fortunately through my training in natural medicine, I have discovered several natural products that contain no chemicals, and I’ve seen them be very successful and effective in treating head lice. I have treated my own children and many others in the past with an all natural product called “Safe Control” that I have compounded in the pharmacy. There are also several commercial products available that contain essential oils that can kill head lice and their knits. There are shampoos and conditioners that have been developed that contain natural organic essential oils in them that can aid in the prevention of head lice as well. One such product is “Fairy Tales” shampoo and conditioner which contains rosemary. Some of the treatment products that are available commercially contain essential oils such as melaleuca and neem. If you do have the misfortune of having a child encounter head lice this year, then follow these recommendations, and you should have no problem controlling and getting rid of the infestation.

First of all I would use one of the natural essential oil based treatments. Second you will need a very fine tooth metal knit comb to remove the knits from the hair follicles, just in case one of the knits happen to survive the treatment. This is the most tedious part of head lice treatment, but it is absolutely necessary! Next you want to make sure that you wash all bedding in hot water in a washing machine and you seal up any pillows or stuffed animals that your child may have come in contact with in plastic bags, and store them away for at least two weeks. Also any hairbrushes or combs that were being used need to be soaked in boiling hot water or discarded. It is my hope that this school year, you are not troubled with a head lice problem! If you do encounter those dreaded bugs, please follow my recommendations and treat your children with natural products. Also rest assured that you are not the only one going through this. There are thousands of others all across the world that are experiencing the same headache that you are at the same time!

If you have any questions for me about treating head lice this school year then please contact me by filling out the contact form or by leaving a voice message by clicking on the “Ask Dr. Phil” microphone on CarsonNatural.com!

There is another product I recently discovered that you may be interested in. This product can provide a genetic nutrition and fitness assessment based upon your unique DNA and lifestyle. Click here for a short video detailing the assessment. If you’re interested in achieving a new level of wellness, then please contact me through the channels above! Also just below here is an email signup box to sign up for our monthly newsletter if you haven’t already! All you have to do is enter your email address and press enter. In our newsletter is a recap of selected blogs, a funny story, patient testimonials, product reviews and a money saving coupon code for products in our online store!

Healthy Blessings,

Dr. Phil

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Dr. Phil’s Faves: Probiotics [Supplement Review]

November 5, 2013 by Phil Carson Leave a Comment

Dr. Phil’s Faves: Probiotics

[Supplement Review]

I probably recommend this supplement more than any other. Probiotic supplements contain good bacteria that are vital for proper functioning of our immune and digestive systems.

These good bacteria also known as “normal flora” promote a healthy digestive system and reduce the growth of harmful bacteria in our bodies.

Whenever we take antibiotics, anti-inflammatories and numerous other medications both prescription and over-the-counter we are unknowingly destroying our good bacteria. Stress and processed foods can also be detrimental to the population of good bacteria in our bodies. It is important that we replace these good bugs and the best way to do that is with a good broad-spectrum probiotic supplement.

My 2 favorites are: Enterobiotic from Natural Creations and Primal Defense from Garden of Life. Both are broad spectrum probiotics and are available through our website.

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Disclaimer: The information provided on this site is intended for your general knowledge only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. You should not use this information to diagnose or treat a health problem or disease without consulting with a qualified healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider with any questions or concerns you may have regarding your condition.