Women's Health Pamphlet

Introduction

Believe that everyone has a life purpose. I discovered much of mine later than most. In 2001 it became clear that wellness, fitness and nutrition was a subject that I need to learn about, both for my personal health, as well as to share with others. In 2001 I fasted for 10 days subsisting only off of juices from a juicer, smoothies, green tea, and water. Before my fast, I ate only live or raw fruits for three or for days. As a result, I lost about 20 pounds. During the fast I continued my everyday life, and maintained my workout schedule and my creativity and clarity increased exponentially. Prior to the fast, I had a complete physical to make sure I was up to it. Fasting while a very healthy and cleansing approach – and for most – very safe - may not be for everyone. I mention it only in the context of how important wellness had become to me.

My life destiny was to be raised by two women, my mother and grandmother. As such, I developed a profound respect for women in general, and black women in particular. During my study of wellness it became clear that the physical issues of black women were linked to spiritual and emotional issues. I also learned that excess weight has a spiritual and emotional component. Often the weight of emotional issues manifest in the physical body, it is almost as if the body feels as if it needs the extra weight to carry the emotional burdens that women often bear. It is in this vein that I developed this pamphlet.

My goal is not to change anyone’s belief system, or to convince anyone to my opinions, and beliefs, however it is my goal to provide what I believe to be information that is useful, positive, and true. Wellness is spiritual, as well as physical. Ancient cultures understood the concept of “as above – so below” meaning how you felt spiritually impacted your physical body. The origin of disease is dis-ease, meaning that the spirit, your divine self, is uncomfortable with the choices of the physical body. Hence the body is out of alignment with the true purpose of the spirit. This is not a religious document, nor do I advocate any particular religious belief system, but I do endorse the concept that our overall wellness is linked to our spiritual selves – however we define that concept.

I started this document with a discussion on Visualization for a reason. The Gospel writer Luke wrote about the Parable of the Good Sower. The essence of that story was - unless the word of God has fertile grown, it can not take root. The same can be said for wellness. In order for wellness to be a part of our lives it must be rooted in fertile soil. For us it begins with visualization. In Steven Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People he discusses the concept of “beginning with the end in mind” – that too is visualization. There is a visual image of you being the picture of health. Embrace that vision, put a picture of it in your room so you see it when you go to bed, and when you wake up, give that vision a name, talk to it, journal about it, and make affirmations to support it. In that manner you are the “good sower”.


Let wellness begin in your mind’s eye, without that, like the word of God, it will not take root, it will give way to doubts (either yours or others), it will give way to deception, and misconceptions, impatience, and the desire for instant gratification. You will need clarity in mind, body and soul to make any radical life changes.

Often when people make life changes their worldview changes – what they found funny becomes inane, people who they used to value they now have little use for. You may develop a new circle of friends, discover hidden talents, and engage in new activities, while discarding old outdated habits, thoughts and emotions. With the clarity of wellness, your entire life is subject to review.
You will find that you have new sources of energy and focus, the ability to set goals – and reach goals, develop greater discipline, and create new boundaries for yourself. Your ability to create, dream and visualize will expand exponentially. In essence wellness creates a new you. The world doesn’t change, but your perception of the world, what is possible will change.

One of the great examples of growth through change and wellness was a man named Malcolm Little. Mr. Little was a pimp, and hustler who ended up in prison. Had he died in prison, or resumed his prior life after leaving prison he would just been another lost black man. Even during his years of crime, he was well aware of racism in America – but something happened – he evolved and became el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz – better known as Malcolm X. America had not changed an iota with respect to racism, or injustice, but Malcolm changed, his evolution continued until his death. Brother Shabazz embraced wellness, and as he embraced wellness, he evolved into his true self, and discarded the unevolved imposter that was Malcolm Little.
What is possible for Malcolm X and others is possible for you. Wellness is your birthright – your physical body has all the tools within to heal itself, prevent disease, and provide you with the energy needed to live out your dreams. Allow your mind’s eye to create the live that you deserve.
Peace

Phillip W. Johnson
March 12, 2009

This document is dedicated to the memory of my Maternal Grandmother Estella Mae Perkins
November 24, 1903 – March 18, 1999

The Power of Visualization
Every thought ripples throughout the body. Scientists nowadays are well aware of the connection between mind and body. The storage of memories in the brain is a mind-body phenomenon. Say you went on a first date and had a wonderful time.
On the way home you feel in love. You replay the evening over and over in your mind. You even make stuff up, maybe even imagining the wedding day in the future, or the proposal. You’re not alone. We’ve all done it.
Scientific studies have shown that the consistent replaying of bits of the evening over and over again in your mind will mean that the memory is strongly encoded in your brain. When your feelings are really strong you will actually grow brain cells in what is known as neurogenesis.

Here’s the thing: Before you replayed the evening over and over in your mind – what is known as creative replay - there were no brain cells in a specific area. After replaying it several times there were. You have created matter where there was none before. Think about it. That’s the biological power of visualization. It is also one of the reasons why visualizing yourself well when you are sick can speed up your recovery.

Many scientific studies have actually shown that the mind can speed up recovery from illness. Placebo studies clearly show that a belief in wellness results in healing. Some scientists believe this is how visualisation heals. When you visualise, and believe in what you are doing, then healing takes place. There are many seemingly miraculous stories of people who have done so. But it’s more than just faith.
There’s a well-known story of a man who damaged his liver beyond repair in an accident. After spending a while in hospital he was sent home with a contraption that had tubes going into and out of his body. This was for life. But he learned a technique known as ‘creative visualisation’ where he would spend hours visualising his damaged liver cells being repaired.
At first, he saw the cells in his mind as black, shrivelled, damaged prunes, but he took an imaginary toothbrush and imagined cleaning the cells, one by one. As he did this he saw them turn a healthy pink colour.
After three months of visualisation he had an accident at home and one of the tubes was torn out of his body. He was rushed to hospital and x-rayed to survey the damage prior to an operation. But the doctors discovered that his liver was completely repaired.
Ultimately, I don’t really think that the actual image we use in visualising is too important. Otherwise, we would all need to use the same ones. The visual image is merely a symbol of what you wish – you intend – to happen. It’s the keeping your mind on what you wish to happen that’s important. The visual image just helps you keep it there.

Visualisation works in life too. Visualising your dreams coming true is one sure fire way to make them happen. The Law of Attraction operates here. That which we focus on most of the time is attracted into our lives.
Say you wanted a new house. Visualising the house you want will immediately begin to move you in the direction of getting it. You get inspirations to turn left instead of right and you seem to just say the right things at the right time. This is the influence of your intention on your brain.

‘Stuff’ also begins to happen and people come into your life who can help you. Scientific studies spawned out of cutting edge theories of quantum physics have revealed an interconnectedness to all things. In other words, every thought resonates at the quantum level absolutely everywhere. If that sounds like too much to get your head around, just trust the physicists and mathematicians who have proven it.
In other words, when you visualise your new house, the thought goes outwards from you in all directions – like the way a radio station broadcasts a signal - and resonates with everybody else. Then people are drawn to you – usually in coincidental ways – who can help.
I often describe it using the metaphor of a spider’s web. How does a spider know that a fly is trapped in its web? It feels the vibrations. So in the same way, people feel the vibrations (at a deep unconscious and quantum level) of your dreams, as you do theirs. This is why statistical studies have shown that we are usually able to sense who it is when the phone rings far more than the law of averages would suggest. It is also why studies of cats and dogs show that they instantly know when their owner has left work. They feel the vibrations.
So if you want to heal your body, visualise! If you want to live your dream, visualise! If you want inner peace, visualise! And be open-minded to the possibility that what your thinking about might just happen.
We usually do the opposite. A person wishing for a new house will usually do far more complaining about the house they currently have, and that they don’t have enough money to get the house they want, and that their husband leaves the toilet seat up, etc, than imagining what they actually want.
Where’s most of their attention? On the opposite of what they want? They want a new house but they are focusing on the one they have. Think about it! So what are they going to get? More of what they already have. They’ll prolong their stay at their current house.
Instead of sending out vibes that attract people into their lives they’ll send out vibes that keep them away. It’s the same with all aspects of our lives. So here’s the experiment: Notice how much attention you give to what you don’t want and change to thinking about what you do want. See what happens.
With such great power at your hands – that what you focus on comes into your life – try to be responsible. What you choose to create defines who you are. The world would be a better place if we choose, as some of our creations, some things that might benefit others, and make a positive difference in the world. So what do you choose?

http://www.healthandgoodness.com/Self-Help/power-of-visualization.html


FAT TOXINS AND CANCER
The debate of genes versus environment as the cause of cancer has been debated for decades. It turns out that inherited genetic factors are a minor contribution while environment plays the principal role in causing most cancers.1 So what are the environmental factors which cause these cancers and what can be done about their prevalent existence for the prevention of cancer?

It has been well documented that environmentally induced cancers are a product of the amount of consumption or exposure to the negative externalities that we confront everyday in our individual environment. These negative external factors in our environment consist of air pollution, water pollution, chemicals in the work environment, and exposures from personal choice such as diet, drugs, drinking, and smoking.2 Exposure to toxins and chemicals in the diet from water and food contamination, the type of diet one consumes, working with toxic substances, and breathing toxic substances have shown to be the biggest contributors to environmental cancer. However, once you understand the concept that toxins and chemicals are stored in fat cells, my whole theory outlining the cause of cancer and how to prevent it begins to surface.

The key to understanding my general theory of the cause of cancer, therefore, lies mainly with the concept of fat since toxins are stored in fat tissue. Once inside the body, these typical toxins and chemicals become cumulative in ones fat tissue. Therefore, the more fat one has on their body,3 the greater the capacity to store toxic chemicals and come down with cancer4 because the human body is reaching the point of diminishing returns. In the field of economics the point of diminishing returns is the point at which when one more unit is introduced, the system fails.
This cumulative factor of stored toxins or chemicals in fat tissue becomes a greater threat when we eat animal products. When you eat an animal, you consume all the toxins which that specific animal has consumed in its lifetime and of which are stored in that animal's fat tissue originating from the air it breathed, from the polluted water it drank, and from the polluted food that it consumed. These toxins and chemicals, stored in the animal's fat tissue, now become stored in your fat cells when you consume that animal. If you are going to consume animals, obviously it's best to consume smaller animals which have less fat like chicken and fish so as to minimize the consumption of stored toxins and chemicals from the animal's fat cells although some fish can possess large amounts of toxins depending on the environment of the fish and the toxicity of the water in which they have lived. The safest fish are obviously deep sea water fish.

Larger animals like cows and pigs possess greater amounts of fat and hence, transport more toxins. It is no secret that those people who consume more fat are coming down with cancer before those who consume less fat. Fat is needed for the body but obtaining fat from plant sources is a much better choice due to the fact that it is a cleaner fat with little or no cumulative toxic effect.
What is the theory behind this cancer dilemma that no medical authorities seem to be able to figure out. It is really quite simple. Here is Healthyguy's general theory of environmentally caused cancer. It is the only general theory of cancer that makes any common sense.

Abuse from high fat intake, consuming large amounts of toxins from the environment, and lack of fiber are the main culprits. As more and more toxins from our individual environment are stored in our body's fat tissue, our body eventually reaches the point of diminishing returns in specific concentrated and sporadic areas of the body. The body is literally so satiated with toxins throughout its fat cells that these specific areas of the body are unable to reproduce or regenerate normal cells.
Normally, cells multiply every 60-120 days. At the end of that cycle, new cells identical to the original cells are produced and regenerated for the purpose of survival of the species. However, when the body reaches diminishing returns and is so saturated with toxic chemicals, it cannot reproduce identical cells any longer. It now starts producing a mutant cell which is NOT identical to the original cell. Ironically, a mutant cell is nothing more than a cancer cell due to the fact that it is NOT an identical cell anymore. Therefore, preventing cancer should be quite easy assuming there is a decent amount of self-discipline in ones life. It is simply a matter of limiting the amount of exposure to toxins and chemicals, limiting the amount and type of animal fat which store chemicals and toxins, and concentrating on the concept of purity in regards to the body's intake in order to avoid reaching diminishing returns and over saturation of toxity.

The importance of the body's fiber intake is crucial for preventing cancer. Eating fiber is one of the most important things that you can do to keep toxins out of the body. Fiber consists of cellulose which is not digestible. Therefore, one of the important functions of fiber is to remove toxins and fat from the body. When fiber enters the body, it enters the stomach and the small intestines where water, vitamins, and minerals are extracted from the indigestible cellulose. As the fiber eventually enters the large intestine in preparation for exiting the body, it starts absorbing and swelling up with toxins and fat from the body for the mere purpose of cleansing the body.

So how do we reverse the growth of cancer cells or prevent cancer in the first place? The theory is self-explanatory. Keep what comes into the body at its purist state by eating plenty of fresh fruits and veggies, drink plenty of pure water or fresh juices, eat foods which are low in animal fat and high in fiber, breathe clean air, stay trim and fit, and exercise regularly to keep everything functioning properly. This will minimize the ability to store toxic chemicals in our body's fat tissue and promote the regeneration of normal cells.

REFERENCES
1. New England Journal of Medicine, Vol. 343, No. 2, July 13, 2000.
Bull Cancer 1977;64:365-84.
3. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 53, 1064S-1067S, 1991.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 50, 551-556, 1989.


http://www.healthy1.org/200011_cancer.htm

Liver Health
You may wish to explore liver cleansing—a natural complement to colon cleansing. A liver cleanse helps cleanse and detoxify your liver; it is one of the most powerful procedures you can do to enhance your body's performance. It can significantly improve digestion, regularity, transit time, and energy levels, which is the basis of your health.
Forget about gallstones and surgery! "Cleaning the liver bile ducts is the most powerful procedure that you can do to improve you body's health," says Dr. Hulda Clark, author of The Cure of All Diseases.
A sluggish liver can lead to serious fatigue, weight gain, water retention, and a host of other health woes. A liver cleansing can help with a fatty liver, cirrhosis of the liver, or elevated liver enzymes, and save you thousands of dollars and months of pain by facilitating the avoidance of needless surgery for gallstones. Liver cleansing diets and liver support supplements can help you avoid possible subsequent complications from liver disease, and the development of other afflictions related to an unhealthy liver.
But before you consider maximizing your liver function, be sure to cleanse your colon first. Why? A major function of the liver is to clean your blood, and the best way to make it as easy as possible for the liver to do this is to cleanse the colon first, so the blood that comes to your liver is as toxin-free as possible.
If your colon is obstructed with years of accumulated debris, the massive amounts of toxins to be eliminated from a liver cleansing cannot easily be evacuated from your body if your colon is blocked. Therefore, it is imperative to cleanse the colon before beginning your liver cleanse.

The Liver Functions- A Vital Organ
The liver is a complex, unique organ serving many functions crucial to sustaining life. From circulation to digestion, it is constantly processing blood for use by the rest of the body. Weighing three to four pounds, the liver is the largest internal organ in the human body. It is glossy in appearance, and dark red in color from the rich supply of blood flowing through it. Sometimes called The Great Chemical Factory, your liver neutralizes harmful toxins and wastes, stores glycogen (a blood-sugar regulator), amino acids, protein, and fat.
In today's world, our liver – all of our organs, in fact – are at great risk of contamination from environmental toxins and over-processed foods infused with many unnatural chemicals. If your liver is not functioning well, a hazardous buildup of toxins may occur.
The liver performs many important functions to keep us healthy. It removes harmful material from the blood; it makes enzymes and bile that help digest food; and it converts food into substances needed for life and growth. From its sheltered position in the abdominal cavity, the liver filters blood and performs many functions vital to health. Our bodies depend on the liver to regulate, synthesize, store, and secrete important proteins and nutrients.

The Liver Functions - over 500, including:
• Filtering blood

• Purifying and clearing waste products, toxins, and drugs

• Regulating and secreting substances important in maintaining your body's functions and health

• Storing important nutrients (such as glycogen glucose), vitamins, and minerals

• Metabolizing fats, proteins, and carbohydrates

• Creating bile

• Metabolizing hormones, internally-produced wastes, and foreign chemicals

• Forming urea

• Assimilating and storing fat-soluble vitamins

• Synthesizing blood proteins
The liver is the most resilient body organ. It is capable of regenerating itself, and is able to recreate lost tissue in order to help maintain its essential functions, even in the face of moderate damage.
When part of the liver is removed, a healthy organ may grow back to its original size. But its capacity to repair itself can be exceeded by repeated or extensive damage. Keeping your liver as healthy and cleansed as possible with a liver cleanse supplement or liver cleanse diet, offers many health advantages.

Why Liver Cleanse?
In our industrialized developed world, we are immersed in a sea of toxic chemicals. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that half-a-million chemicals are in use today, and over five thousand new chemicals are introduced yearly. Some researchers believe up to twenty-five percent of these may be carcinogenic. This is why it is crucial to employ a liver cleanse supplement and/or diet to cleanse your liver of the toxic waste of twenty-first century living.
Dr. Hulda Clark, PhD, ND, in her groundbreaking bestseller, The Cure of All Diseases, dramatically describes the gallstones and cholesterol that can choke the liver biliary tubing in many people, including our children.
"Imagine the situation if your garden hose had marbles in it. Much less water would flow, which in turn would decrease the ability of the hose to squirt out the marbles. With gallstones, much less cholesterol leaves the body, and cholesterol levels may rise."
"Gallstones, being porous, can pick up all the bacteria, cysts, viruses, and parasites that are passing through the liver. In this way, nests of infection are formed, forever supplying the body with fresh bacteria. No stomach infection such as ulcers or intestinal bloating can be cured permanently without removing these gallstones from the liver."
If your liver becomes overworked, it can become congested. Toxic compounds and impurities may get trapped in deposits of hardened bile. Pollutants may not be flushed out of the body, and can back up in your blood stream.
A sluggish liver can lead to serious fatigue, weight gain, water retention, and a host of other health woes. Detoxification that targets the liver can help remove these unwanted poisons and enable it to function properly. A healthy liver will increase your energy, improve metabolism, and help you burn excess fat.



Do You Need A Liver Cleanse?
Ailments that indicate you may need a liver cleanse include:
• Allergies

• PMS (pre-menstrual syndrome)

• Chemical sensitivities

• Constipation

• Bloating

• Obesity

• Low metabolism

• Fatigue

Happy Liver Cleansing Results
Testimonials from those happy with their liver-cleansing results include:
Eliminated Gallstones the Size of Grapes
A patient described the unhappy situation of having his liver full of gallstones, a digestive system working inefficiently, and kidneys that were full of toxins and stones. All of this was affecting his adrenal glands, resulting in low blood pressure, hypoglycaemia, and fatigue. After liver cleansing and avoiding too much fatty food early in the day, he was able to work again without feeling exhausted.
Shed Sixty-one Pounds
After suffering from intermittent stomach problems—bloating, painful cramps, food intolerance, constipation, fluid retention, etc., a liver cleanser elatedly reported she had shed 6l pounds, lost an incredible amount of fluid, and gained significant energy.

Young Girl's Energy Restored
A thrilled mother shared that her daughter's health, after a liver cleanse, had dramatically improved; her stomach pains were gone, her energy levels were soaring, and her waist measurement had decreased by five inches as a result of losing over fourteen pounds without dieting or exercising: "I was amazed and relieved to see my fifteen-year-old daughter's health improve in such a short time."

Precautions
If possible, do not take any pharmaceuticals during your liver flush. If you are under a physician's care, consult with him or her prior to your cleanse, and follow your doctor's instructions concerning your medications. Remember, when you are detoxifying your liver, you will not receive full benefit from any medication because they may be flushed out with the cleanse, reducing their effectiveness.


STRENGTH TRAINING FOR WOMEN

BENEFITS
* Enhanced bone modeling to increase bone strength and reduce the risk of osteoporosis
* Stronger connective tissues to increase joint stability and help prevent injury
* Increased functional strength for sports and daily activity
* Increased lean body mass and decreased nonfunctional body fat
* Higher metabolic rate because of an increase in muscle and a decrease in fat
* Improved self-esteem and confidence
* A number of factors may reduce or eliminate these benefits, including the exclusive use of weight training machines, training with loads that are too light, and not progressing in resistance or intensity.
Bone and soft tissue. Women, more than men, need to meet the minimal essential strain required for bone modeling to occur and ultimately for reducing the risk of osteoporosis. Prevention of osteoporosis requires above-normal axial skeletal loading (7,8). The strain tolerance for skeletal bone is believed to be more than 10 times the typical load that humans bear in daily activities (9). Since bone modeling is proportional to the degree of overload (the amount of stress applied beyond the normal load), the greater the overload—within limits—the greater the amount of bone modeling. Bone modeling helps prevent fractures and insure against osteoporosis.
Cartilage, tendons, and ligaments also have minimal essential strain requirements. Optimal strength development requires loads and intensities that progressively increase the training stimulus or stress. Strong cartilage, tendons, and ligaments are essential for joint integrity, stability, and injury prevention.
Lean body mass and fat. Strength training also increases lean body mass and decreases fat; this results in less nonfunctional fat to carry and a greater proportion of lean body mass, which can provide functional strength. Compared to fat, muscle is metabolically active and increases metabolic rate, fat oxidation, and calorie consumption. Increased muscle mass and muscle cross-sectional area also correlate with increased strength. Participation in “functional” strength training exercises will develop functional strength and most likely improve performance, whether it is an increased ability to spike a volleyball or pick up a child.
Psychological well-being. Finally, studies (3) suggest that women who engage in strength training benefit from improved self-esteem. Female athletes appear to be able to balance strength and femininity; according to one survey, 94% of the participants reported that athletic participation did not lead them to feel less feminine. Strength training also appears to give women a sense of personal power, especially for women who have been raped or abused.
Such psychological benefits arise from the physiologic changes that occur as a result of strength training and from the process of encountering and mastering physical challenges. Thus, both the process and the outcome of strength training benefit women (3).

STRENGTH TRAINING GUIDELINES
Since well-designed strength training programs include exercises with free weights and dumbbells and exercises that use body weight resistance, both women and men should include these in their training, and women should train at the same intensities as men.
The use of strength training machines and abdominal exercises need not be discontinued, but emphasis should be placed on the use of free-weight exercises including foot-based lower-body exercises such as the lunge, diagonal lunge, walking lunge, step up, lateral step up, and squat. Women should also include upper-body exercises that employ multiple muscle groups such as the bench press, incline press, latissimus dorsi pull-downs, pull-ups, and back extensions. Finally, women who have developed a strength base should consider total-body exercises such as the push press, hang clean, power clean, clean and jerk, and snatch.
A training program should also stress multiplanar, multijoint, functional exercises because they develop intermuscular coordination, proprioception, and balance and result in strength that transfers to sports and daily activities. For example, the step-up exercise is superior to using the leg-extension machine because it offers functional strength for walking up a flight of stairs while carrying bags of groceries. For athletes who play foot-based sports such as basketball, the squat is superior to using the leg-press machine, since the squat is functionally more similar to the sport and requires greater balance and weight and body control in all three planes of motion.
DISPELLING MISCONCEPTIONS
Recent studies counter several widely held beliefs that may limit the physiologic and psychological benefits of weight training for women.
Myth 1: Strength training causes women to become larger and heavier.
The truth is, strength training helps reduce body fat and increase lean weight (1). These changes may result in a slight increase in overall weight, since lean body mass weighs more than fat. However, strength training results in significant increases in strength, no change or a decrease in lower-body girths, and a very small increase in upper-extremity girth. Only women with a genetic predisposition for hypertrophy who participate in high-volume, high-intensity training will see substantial increases in limb circumference.
Myth 2: Women should use different training methods than men.
Women are often encouraged to use weight machines and slow, controlled movements out of a fear that using free weights, manual resistance, explosiveness (high velocity, low force), or exercises that use body weight as resistance will cause injury.
In fact, no evidence suggests that women are more likely to be injured during strength training than men. Proper exercise instruction and technique are necessary to reduce the risk of injuries for both men and women. All strength training participants should follow a program that gradually increases the intensity and load.
Furthermore, sport-specific exercise should closely mimic the biomechanics and velocity of the sport for which an athlete is training (2). The best way to achieve this is to use closed-kinetic-chain exercise that involves multiple joints and muscle groups and the ranges of motion specific to the sport. For example, the push press—rather than triceps kickbacks—offers a superior arm extension training stimulus for improving the ability to throw the shot put in track and field.
Myth 3: Women should avoid high-intensity or high-load training.
Women are typically encouraged to use limited resistance, such as light dumbbells, in their strength exercises. Often such light training loads are substantially below those necessary for physiologic adaptations and certainly less than those commonly used by men.
Most women are able to train at higher volumes and intensities than previously believed. In fact, women need to train at intensities high enough to cause adaptation in bone, muscle, cartilage, ligaments, and tendons. When exercise intensity provides insufficient stimulus, physiologic benefits may be minimal (3). To gain maximum benefit from strength training, women should occasionally perform their exercises at or near the repetition maximum for each exercise.


What Is A Raw Food Diet?
It is a way of eating that involves a huge dietary increase in the number of unprocessed and uncooked fruits and vegetables, as well as seeds, nuts, grains (mostly sprouted) and beans. A food is considered raw if it is uncooked or “prepared” below 116°F, as above this temperature range, food begins to loose its essential nutrients and enzymes, or its “vital life force.”
The more we can eat foods that maintain that aliveness, the more “life force” we ourselves will be able to embody. Remember Life=Life and Death=Death. More than half a century ago in his book Prescription for Energy, Charles de Coti-Marsh explained,

“By eating live foods you create a live body. Live foods contain essential nutrients the body needs to create and maintain energy. Dead foods advance age, decrease ability, and decrease energy … they are useless when dead…”
The best way to approach raw foods is to gradually incorporate more and more raw fruits and vegetables into your diet. A good start is to try to eat 75% raw and 25% lightly cooked (especially in regard to whole grains). More detailed information on a general daily raw diet plan can be found here. Although I personally do not condone eating meat, I have added the safest meats to eat (upon request from consumers) in this general raw diet plan so some people can make a gradual transition to a 100% raw diet.

http://www.brinkzone.com/blog/general-health/women-and-weight-training-debunking-the-myths/

Dangers of Cooked Food
When we cook foods, we inevitably destroy some of the enzymes, vitamins and minerals necessary for good health. If we eat too much overly-cooked, microwaved and processes foods, it can clog our colon, which may lead to a whole host of problems, including, cancer, heart-disease, diabetes and many other degenerative diseases.
Cooking may actually upset the natural structure of food, robbing it of its essential nutritional value. Ed Douglas, the director of the American Living Foods Institute, believes that the human body was never meant to eat cooked food. Stephen Arlin, co-author of the book Nature’s First Law: The Raw-Food Diet, even goes so far as to state that, “Cooked food is poison.”

http://www.ghchealth.com/natural-health/benefits-of-raw-food-diet/