health improve

7/26/2019 Health Improve

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/health-improve 1/3

12 | SHIMBUN

Ask anyone what things are most importantto them and one answer that willcommonly

come up is “Health”. To many GKR

Students, one of the most talked about reasons for attending karate classes each

week is just that; to improve or maintainthe quality of their health.

of passing out great information on how tostay healthy.Rocco has researched Physical and Mentalhealth for over 25 years, travelling North

America, Europe, the Middle East andother countries in search of this knowledge.Rocco also researches for information fromthe world’s best minds that have contributedto man’s knowledge on physical and mentalhealth.In 1982 he formulated a health food rangeof athletic and naturopathic supplementformulas which were sold internationally.Due to it’s great reputation and success itwas sought after by a larger company, so in1987 he sold his company to focus on hisresearch and writing.

In future issues of Shimbun we will

be sharing with you some of Rocco’sresearch. For those readers who wantmore information on the subjects we cover,

we will also include Rocco’s details whereyou can request or order a number of hisbooks. This issue we bring you an interviewwith Rocco himself.

GKR: Firstly, on behalf of our health

conscious readers, thankyou for

sharing you wealth of knowledge onthe subject of health and tness with

the students of GKR.

RO: My pleasure!

GKR: When and why did you decide

to dedicate much of your life to the

research of physical and mental

health?

RO: It all started through wanting to improvemyself. As a teenager I was skinny. I wantedto develop a much tter, healthier andstronger body so I joined a gym. I wanted

to build myself up the natural way (avoidingall drugs) so I read many books on thesubject and asked a lot of questions to theright people. 21 months later I won the Mr.

Australia bodybuilding contest. From thatday on I would be constantly approachedand asked questions so I decided to writea journal of my training and nutrition. Thisbecame a best seller, so I wrote a bookand that also became a best seller. I wastold that my books were popular becauseI had the ability to take something that isoften printed in a complicated way andput it across in a way where anyone could

understand it. This inspired me to continuewriting and start researching all areasrelating to health.

n Rocco Oppedisano

These health conscious reasons mayvary from losing weight, to enhancingtness and energy levels, developing

strength and/or exibility or just to feel better

about themselves. Although many people in GKR are well readon the topic of health, we thought if we aregoing to bring you constant articles on thistopic we wanted them to be the most upto date information from a most crediblesource. This I believe we have done.Rocco Oppedisano is one of Australia’smost successful authors on the topic ofhealth. Not only has Rocco published over100 books, he also published 34 issuesof Australia’s rst muscle magazine calledMuscle Australia.Upon speaking with Rocco about GKR and

the relationship between training in karateand staying healthy, we were delightedwhen he agreed to help us with our goal



SHIMBUN | 13

“Our ancestors who reached 60 could actually

expect to continue living longer than the 60 year

olds of today”

“Compare us to the Japanese who eat well, they

live into their 90’s and still have healthy organs, strongbones and are probably still

going to karate training!” GKR: Most authors usually focus on

writing about one subject, such as

nutrition, or exercise etc. Yet you have

published books on a wide range of

health related issues. Why is that?

RO: There is a lot more to health than astrong body, or balanced diet. Exercise,

nutrition, avoiding disease and having ahealthy mind are all important to overallhealth. I have written books on subjectssuch as; building muscle, eating well,avoiding cancer, lowering cholesterol,arthritis, diabetes, beating stress, buildingcondence, developing better people skills,vitamins, the list goes on.

GKR: What do you believe most

people’s misconceptions are on the

topic of health?

RO: Most people’s biggest misconception

on the topic of health would be their ownhealth! Most Americans for example (andnote that Australia, New Zealand andEngland are not far behind) buy their foodin supermarkets. With natures bounty soplentiful one might assume as many ofthem often do, that they are the healthiestpeople in the world. Unfortunately this isnot true. At least half the population suffersfrom some form of chronic illnesssuch as cancer, heart disease, kidneydisease, diabetes, high blood pressure,digestive problems, headaches, allergiesand low resistance to infections. According

to the World Health Organization, countrieslike the United States, England, Australia,New Zealand and other western countries

don’t rank too high in general health. TheUnited States for example ranked 12th.– A shockingly low rating that indicatesthe people of poorer nations feel and lookbetter than we do.How can this happen to the most fertilecountries on earth? Despite abundance,

most people don’t eat well. An example isto take something as Bran Fibre. Basicallythis simple substance provides bulk thatabsorbs moisture and helps your digestivesystem keep clean and self regulate. Itappears to hasten the removal of wastematter and thereby protect the body ofdigestive problems, bacteria and disease. Yet despite most people being aware ofthis they eat white bread (high in sugar andadditives) and then cover it with butter andeat this for breakfast instead. A recent study found that many people

who are overweight are literally dying ofmalnutrition. Just because we eat a lotdoesn’t mean our bodies are receivingessential nutrients. Compare us to theJapanese who eat well, they live into their90’s and still have healthy organs, strongbones and are probably still going tokarate training!Health agencies may often point out withpride that the average westerner has a lifeexpectancy in their 70’s which is double thatof our ancestors of a century ago. You haveprobably heard this fact. But this statistic ismisleading and becomes less impressive

under close examination. One hundredyears ago more infants died than do today,which reduced the statistical average life

span of the entire population, not the lifespan of the individual adults. The truth is anineteenth century westerner who survivedto the age of 40 had a life expectancy ofonly two years less than today’s. And ourancestors who reached 60 could actuallyexpect to continue living longer than the 60

year olds of today. In other words we haveincreased our average life span throughthe excellent work done by the medicalprofession in delivering more babies andconquering common childhood diseases. That we have been able to increase amature individuals actual life span by onlytwo years in a century- a century of amazingadvances in surgical techniques, publichealth measures and drugs that can pullseriously ill people from deaths door – pointsto a great failure in keeping our generalhealth at a high level to commensurate

with the technological means available tous. During the years while that averagelife span was increasing, adult death ratefrom degenerating diseases was risingdramatically. In an examination of 10,000highly placed business executives, Doctorsfound only one in ten in good health. Ithas also been found that the number ofpatients admitted to hospitals increased ata rate 5 times higher than the growth of thepopulation.

GKR: So for people understanding all

this, what is the best plan of attack for

them?RO: They don’t need to go all out. Just smallbasic improvements in their diet, exerciseplan and time out for themselves (to relaxand reect) can make all the difference. Butit is important to look after your body so it inturn looks after you. In countries like ourswith so many tasty treats, entertaining TVprograms, and high pressure jobs it can beeasy to fall into the trap of neglecting yourbody and its overall health. It is essentialthat we all take responsibility for ourbodies, not just for our own sake, but for

those around us we love so we can enjoya quality of life together. This is why I writeon a range wide of topics, as to achieve realhealth, a number of things must be workingin balance.

GKR: For people who are aiming to get

the most out of their karate training,

what foods do you feel would most

enable them to achieve this?

RO: Having trained in martial arts when Iwas younger I know it is excellent exercise.For someone aiming to get the most out oftheir training I imagine their training would be

very strenuous. So the better your body isfuelled for training, the better it will perform.Martial arts are great because they involve



14 | SHIMBUN

For The Body There AreThree Laws To FollowAbout What You Eat.

1Eat plenty of protein for the

esh and skin.

2Eat plenty of vegetables for

the organs.

3Eat plenty of fruit for the

immune system.

Try To Have Each AreaCovered Every Time You Eat.

“It is essential that we alltake responsibility for our

bodies, not just for ourown sake, but for those around us we love so

we can enjoy a quality of

life together”

the brain as much as the body. Two of the best things you can feed yourbrain so it will function at its peak are theamino acids Valine and Taurine. They feedit and also help build its immune system (as

the brain has a separate immune systemto the rest of the body). The foods thathave the highest content of these two arered meat and sh (sh has slightly lessbut has many other essential nutrientsred meat lacks). If you are going to havered meat, accompany it with red wine asit helps kill any bacteria in red meat andalso helps break down the amino acids (notencouraged for children obviously). Another essential ingredient for anyonewishing to get the most out of their trainingis the word “Negativity”. This essentiallyinvolves looking after your stomach. You

see, the stomach is the most importantorgan to look after for anyone wishing toachieve the most out of training. This isbecause most illnesses and reasons forfeeling fatigued begin at the stomach. The human immune system requires energyto work, so when it is working overtime thewhole body may feel tired and lethargic. Agood example of this is when you have acold and your energy levels are very low.What about when you’re not ill, and still feeltired? You don’t have to show physicalsigns to be ill. In most cases, just simply

feeling tired or fatigued in the middle of theday may mean that your immune systemis working overtime…in your stomach.Similarly, when you have a cold but are notgetting better quick enough, it is often thatyour immune system is busy elsewhere…inyour stomach.Puzzled? You see, in the stomach thereare friendly bacteria and unfriendly bacteria.When there’s too much unfriendly bacteria,the immune system has to go to workdrawing the body’s energy sources to doits job.So this is where “negativity” comes into play.

Negativity is the killing off of the unfriendlybacteria, and like most things, the answerscan be very simple.

Three of the best things that kill off bacteriaare fresh lemon juice, vinegar and as alreadymentioned, red wine.If you would prefer not drinking freshlysqueezes lemon juice, try adding freshlemon juice to freshly cooked chicken ofsh. Alternatively, try pouring lemon juiceover tinned tuna. Some lemon juice withwater will also be effective. When it comes

to vinegar, if you spilt vinegar over worms,within seconds they’d turn grey and die. Ifvinegar can do this to giant worms, imaginewhat it can do to the microscopic ones inyour stomach!! Having vinegar on everysalad not only tastes nice, it will also helpyour energy levels enormously.So lets recap. Firstly, when you’re eatingright your immune system is boostedenormously and so are your fuel sources.Secondly, when you’re keeping yourimmune system from having to workovertime in the stomach all day, your body

can keep its energy levels for when it needsit…during karate training!

GKR: Most people don’t seem to get

off with a great start to the day. They

may miss breakfast, and therefore

complain about lacking energy and

feeling tired throughout the day. What

would be your recommended breakfast

to a person who wants to live with more

energy?

RO: Hmmm. Oat bran for cereal, as thebre cleanses the body and provides plentyof Vitamin B (which is essential for anyone

who does plenty of exercise). If possible,eat three different fruits. These may bethree pieces of fruit you eat on your way

out the door like apples, bananas, driedapricots etc, or they may be fruit you chopup and put over your oat bran.

GKR: Athletes (and in our case Karate-

ka’s) are often prone to picking up coldsand u’s due to a person’s immune

system dropping substantially shortly

after strenuous exercise. Is vitamin

C really the best immune system

builder?

RO: The best thing to keep your immunesystem up is to eat a well balanced diet,but Vitamin C is denitely crucial as it haspowerful effects in building the immunesystem. It also helps heal wounds andhelps in the formation of collagen (whichholds cells together).When the body trains hard and calorie

intake is low it tends to crank up it’s free-radical production and decreases its naturalantioxidant protection. It also increasesthe excretion rate of Vitamin C. All thiscombined may explain why many peopleare susceptible to picking up a cold or uafter training. Vitamin C may also well prevent cancer.Scientists know that it can block thechemical reaction called oxidation. This isthe process that causes food to becomerancid. Scientists now believe that manychemicals only cause cancer if oxidised,

so by preventing oxidation, vitamin C maycut down our exposure to cancer causingchemicals. The best source for vitamin C are fruits andvegetables. Those richest in vitamin C inorder are 1. Red peppers (with 7 times thatof oranges), 2. Black currants, 3. Parsley, 4.Guava, 5. Green peppers, 6. Kiwi fruit, 7. Turnip greens, 8. Strawberries, 9. Spinach,10. Lychee, 11. Papaya, 12. Oranges, 13.Lamb (liver), 14. Beef (liver), 15. Tomato.

Thank you Rocco! This is great informationthat we’re sure everyone will benet from.

Anyone wishing to nd out more aboutRocco’s books, you may contact RoccoEnterprises on +61 (03) 9596 5513.

health improve

Documents