The Importance of Exercise

Exercise and diet are inseparable in regard to maintaining health, as both have a profound effect on the human metabolism. Good health is achieved through correct diet and correct exercise.

Exercise is helpful in achieving good posture, which is important for keeping a healthy body. Maintaining good posture assists breathing. For example, when the back is straight you breathe more deeply and therefore inject more energy into the body.

The body's tolerance to foodstuffs depends to a large extent upon its metabolic rate. Generally, there is a better tolerance to foodstuffs in people with a high metabolic rate than those with a more sluggish metabolism. Active labouring people and children appear to have a higher tolerance to bad diet than people who are sedentary or older. Exercise has the effect of stimulating the metabolism by a quarter for the whole day, and a tenth for two days afterwards.

Where food allergy type conditions are controlled through diet, consideration must be given to exercise. Generally, the less exercise the patient has the stricter they need to be with their diet in order to experience relief from symptoms. Alternatively, if they have great difficulty in resisting danger foods it can be suggested that they take more exercise to 'burn off the bad food' and increase their metabolic ability to assimilate concentrated foods and dispose of toxic residues of food metabolism.

A good example of a diet-controlled condition is the relation between sugar consumption and migraines, as sugar is one of the major dietary factors causing migraine. Sugar can be reduced in the blood by eating less of it or by taking more exercise to burn it off faster. Migraine can be controlled by restricting dietary sugar intake as part of the overall dietary regime, and increasing regular exercise. In fact, a balance between the two is ideal. A healthy diet without too many restrictions combined with regular correct exercise is ideal in maintaining health over a long period.

What is 'correct' exercise? Taking migraine as an example again, sudden drops in blood sugar can trigger migraine and sudden physical exertions can trigger headaches. Just as a steady trickle of glucose into the body to maintain steady blood glucose levels - such as is acquired by eating whole grains rather than flour or sugar products - is required to control migraine, so steady regular exercise, rather than too little or too much exercise, is required to control migraine and other food allergy conditions. Correct exercise is aerobic, that is, it stimulates the flow of oxygen through the system and into muscle tissue. Incorrect exercise is anaerobic, that is, it just uses up oxygen stored in muscle tissue. Excessive exercise or bursts of exercise are anaerobic. Insufficient exercise is anaerobic. Regular, sustained, comfortable exertions which get the heart beating and leave one feeling exhilarated, rather than exhausted and painfully breathless, are aerobic. The best aerobic exercise is regular hiking in the country, or swimming in the sea or pool. Try to use a bicycle more than your car. Cultivating the garden or allotment rather than resorting to a rotavator can be useful. Regular jogging, walking, and aerobic classes are also good forms of exercise.

I have written further about posture, exercise and breathing in my book, Healing the Bodies, which is available at major libraries, bookstores, and in the clinic, and there are some suggested abdominal exercises below.

Abdominal Exercises

The following are designed to build the tummy muscles. If you are unable to perform a particular movement, do not force your body, as the muscles will strengthen with more practise of the easier exercises, later giving you the ability to perform them all.

The diagrams show use of a sloping table, although you can start on the floor. If you progress onto a sloping table, the larger the slope the more difficult the exercises become. If using a sloping table, you may need to hold on to the sides to support yourself in some exercises.

It is best to start with about two to five repetitions of each exercise and, as you feel more capable, increase these over time to approximately fifteen to twenty repetitions. All the exercises begin in the same position of lying flat on your back with legs outstretched.

Use a suitable strap, or have an assistant hold down your feet. Stretch your hands above your head and bring your body up to a sitting position. This can be a difficult movement, so, to begin, just attempt it, tensing the muscles and carefully feeling your way and there should be no strain.
Bring your feet up over your head, widening them as much as possible.
With your arms by your sides, bring your knees on to the abdomen and then gradually extend legs to full length, slowly bringing them back down to the table/floor. As you become more experienced with this one, hold your legs above the table/floor for about five to ten seconds.
Bring your feet up as high as possible over your head, and as you return them to the table widen them as much as possible.
Bring your feet up to a vertical position, then allow the feet to fall as far as possible to the right. Return legs to the vertical position and then let feet fall to the left.
Clasp your hands over the top of your head and draw the heels towards the buttocks until in contact with them. Now raise the middle section of the body, so only the head, shoulders and heels rest on the table/floor. The trunk and thighs should form a straight line. When the body is elevated, if the abdominal muscles are strongly drawn in, it will make the movement more effective.
Feet as in Exercise 1. Place your hands on hips and raise your head and shoulders off the table/floor, then twist round to the right side. Return to original position and repeat, twisting to the left.

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