However, how many people have ?health and wellbeing' insurance? Of course I'm not talking about regular insurance like the above examples, where you pay premiums to an insurance provider, be it a private company or the government. I am referring to steps and measures you can take now to help ensure that you look and feel younger, have enhanced immunity against disease, enjoy quality of life with more energy, and less stress.



What does this ?health insurance' consist of? The three pillars of this insurance policy are moderate exercise, a sensible diet, and a professional supplement regimen.

Moderate exercise would consist of some combination of resistance and aerobic exercises. Aerobic exercise includes brisk walking, running, bicycling and so on. In addition try to walk and take the stairs whenever you can. Aim for 30 minutes of total walking per day. Everyday you should also practice slow, deep diaphragm (belly) breathing to increase your oxygen intake (try to do 10 breaths 3 or 4 times per day). All this movement really adds up and pays huge dividends.

Resistance exercise includes those with free weights, resistance bands, isometric and isotonic exercises etc. If you are a minimalist when it comes to exercise try this simple routine: nearly every day get your heart rate up for 10 minutes by fast walking, jogging, or riding a bike etc. For building and maintaining muscle mass you can get by with doing only two exercises ? forward lunges and pushups. Do as many repetitions as you can manage. When you're tired, do one more rep.

The second pillar of our insurance plan is a sensible diet. This would consist of eating as simply as possible from wholesome, natural foods including fats, proteins and complex carbohydrates (i.e. vegetables, lentils, nuts, seeds, whole grains). Avoid processed foods and sugar as much as possible, and drink plenty of filtered water. You must increase your fiber intake to 24 grams per day. This will keep your colon clean and prevent toxic build-up which can lead to heart disease and cancer. Fiber will automatically remove excess fats from your digestive track. An easy and inexpensive way to increase your fiber intake is by supplementing your food with wheat bran.

The final pillar in your health insurance plan is professional supplementation. Quality supplementation is the cheapest self insurance program you can implement.

You may be asking, "Is it really necessary to supplement my diet?" Well you've probably heard the advice that you need to eat 5-8 servings of fruits and vegetables every day to obtain sufficient nutrients. This may have been possible 100 years ago, but unfortunately this is no longer the case. Modern farming practices and depleted soil nutrients have made our ?fresh' produce a stripped down version of what it used to be.

Unfortunately, we can no longer rely on our food supply alone to provide us with all the nutrients our bodies need. With all the industrial pollutants we must cope with everyday, we need to give ourselves the important nutrients which are now lacking in our food. Undoubtedly this will also curtail some of the debilitating diseases which are now all too common in our day and age.

Now that we know why we need to supplement, which supplements actually work? There are now a myriad of different supplements available in the marketplace. How are you to know what works and what doesn't?

Well, for starters, don't waste your money on the supermarket varieties. These are mass produced to a price and use cheap ingredients and binders, and are hard compressed. They usually have too much of the cheap ingredients and little or none of the important expensive ingredients.

Also much touted these days are the liquid vitamin formulas. They boast of high absorption as apposed to a rock-hard tablet, but really they are no better. Why? Because up to 90% of their ingredients are destroyed by stomach acid and enzymes resulting in very low potency.

Lastly, there is what's called the ?whole-food' supplements. It sounds good to obtain nutrients in their natural form, but unfortunately there are simply not enough of the active ingredients to be effective. It would be easier and much cheaper to eat a handful of berries and some yoghurt.

So what makes a quality supplement?

First, it must be scientifically designed to be safe and effective. Secondly, it must be multi-nutrient and include the full range of vitamin/minerals, a broad spectrum of potent antioxidants, an array of important amino acids, enzymes, bioflavanoids, standardized herbal extracts, as well as specific ingredients for the special needs of men and women. Thirdly, the formula must use the most active form of the nutrients, in just the right amounts, and in precisely the correct ratios to achieve maximum efficacy. And finally the tablets must have an enteric coating, the same as pharmaceutical preparations, in order to deliver the ingredients safely through the stomach while guaranteeing virtually 100% absorption.

In addition it is also very important for your cardiovascular and brain health to supplement with a high quality fish oil rich in Omega 3 and DHA.

So there you have it - a health and wellness insurance plan that you can implement for yourself and your family. There is a small premium to pay like all other insurance, but aren't you and your loved ones worth it?