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Category: Fitness - Organic Lifestyle Magazine Category: Fitness - Organic Lifestyle Magazine

How to Lose Weight Healthy

A Step-by-Step Guide to Losing Weight the Healthy Way

I eat too much. I love food. I have my demons, and I’ve been fighting to be or stay in good shape my whole life. The way I stay in decent shape is by eating high quality food and exercising. For more on that, check out My Eating Disorder.

There are thousands of articles on the Internet on how to lose weight. Obviously, an Organic Lifestyle Magazine article will have a more natural slant than most articles, but this article is also a very conscious and clear, step-by-step guide that anyone can use.

When I was fat, I found myself overwhelmed with information on how to lose weight. Let me assure you, if you are obese, this article comes from a man who knows the battle we wage in our head as much as anyone. But like everything else you will learn about improving your health in Organic Lifestyle Magazine, weight loss is not a quick fix. Being healthy and thin is a lifestyle; it’s a journey. And you can actually lose weight very quickly in a healthy way when you do it right. But keeping it off means doing it right for the rest of your life.

The Healthy Mindset

Pleasure is short term. It comes in spades with happiness, but it comes at a price with consumption. And often that price exceeds the number on the price tag.

First and foremost, if our mind isn’t right, our diet isn’t right either. Allow me to be very blunt, dispel some myths, and then note some hard truths:

  • If you are overweight, you eat too much
  • If you are overweight, it’s not your thyroid, your genetics, or your spouse who cooks too well that is the problem
  • If you’re overweight, you do not exercise the right way often enough
  • If you’re overweight, there is no pill that is going to fix your weight without serious consequences
  • If you’re overweight, there is no temporary diet that will allow you to lose weight and then go back to your old lifestyle
  • If you’re overweight buying supplements, essential oils, or any fitness products on a late night infomercial isn’t going to take off the weight (though I do recommend B vitamins, vitamin D, and a nutrition powder)
  • If you’re overweight, it is your fault

The world is a much, much better place when you’re in shape. People treat you better and take you more seriously when you’re thin. Everything is easier. Life feels better. It’s a massive difference. I used to believe that I was never going to be thin, that I was going to be stuck being fat my whole life. And I believed that people should treat me with the same amount of respect regardless. But while I have mixed emotions about this now, the fact is, everything becomes easier when you’re thin, from getting a promotion, to getting a date, to getting up the stairs. Everything.

I used to say my thyroid was slow, and this is why I was fat. My thyroid was slow. It was slow because I was eating too much, eating crap, and not seriously exercising.

I used to tell people that my whole family was fat, and it was just genetics. I knew that was a lie because my dad was skinny as a rail, but even if your whole family is overweight that’s due to learned behavior not genetics.

The mindset of a healthy person that struggled with weight loss is this:

I need to burn more calories then I consume to lose weight.

If your thyroid is slow, it’s going to be harder. If you smoke, it’s going to be harder. If your liver is toxic, it’s going to be harder. But it is still the same rule. It’s science. And while there are some variables, the bottom line is that to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume.

And if you’re like me, a binge eater, a stress eater, an “I don’t need an excuse to stuff my face sick” eater, than eat mindfully. Don’t go into that zone where you’re just stuffing your face. Stay in the moment, mindful and aware.

For Those Who Don’t Have Food Issues

There are plenty of people who don’t binge eat (or rarely do) and don’t even eat very much and still cannot seem to get into the skinny jeans no matter what they do. These people need exercise and they need more produce in their diet. And, in many cases, a liver detox.

Quick Weight Loss

It is totally possible to lose weight quickly and stay healthy. Forget the experts who tell you it is unhealthy to lose weight too quickly. It is unhealthy to lose weight in an unhealthy manner. If you’re eating healthy, and you’re not taking drugs to assist in weight loss, and you aren’t killing yourself in the gym, and if you’re getting enough sleep, it doesn’t matter if you’re losing 10 pounds a week or 2. Healthy is healthy.

If you follow the following steps strictly, you will achieve very quick and very healthy weight loss.

Healthy Weight Loss Plan

Step 1 – Start a Journal

Write down everything you’re eating. People kid themselves. People outright lie to themselves. People forget. Write it all down and hold yourself accountable.

Step 2 – Get a Scale and Measuring Tape

Every morning, at the same time, write down your weight and your measurements in your journal. In my experience and with those I’ve helped, the day you stop measuring and checking your weight is the day you’re off the wagon and back to gaining weight.

It is important to weigh yourself at the same time in the morning, nude. A common mistake to make when weighing oneself is to weight yourself one morning when you wake up and then the next morning after you’ve used the restroom, or had a glass of water, or had a bowel movement, etc. You can lose and gain a surprising amount of weight with these regular morning activities. For me, I always have a bowel movement in the morning, and I weigh myself at my lightest, which is before I eat or drink anything but after I use the bathroom. That’s how I keep it consistent.

Do not weigh yourself multiple times throughout the day! That’s just asking for drama.

And please, if you’re one of those people who think they’re fat when they are not, like when everyone tells you that you look great but you “know” you’re fat, you need to do just the opposite and throw away your scale!

Step 3 – Learn Proper Breathing

Proper breathing will help with stress relief, detoxification, and weight loss. For that information, check out How to Breathe. Do not skip this. Do not doubt its importance. This is life changing.

Step 4 – Exercise

Start exercising every single morning, and every single night, before bed. Exercise at least twice a day. Turn your body into a high metabolism fat burning machine that has no choice but to build muscle and burn fat.

Exercise for Weight Lose

exercise-wimpHere is an example of a plan that I recommend, and it’s one I’ve implemented with great results.

In the morning do squats and pushups, and pull-ups if possible. If you can’t squat, stand up from a chair and sit back down many times. If you can squat, squat all the way down. Check out good form and practice it. If you can’t do pushups, do them on your knees. If you can get to some sort of pull-up bar but are unable to do pull-ups, set it up so you can stand up, and then use your arms as much as possible to let yourself go down.

With all the cheats, the idea is to progress more and more until you can do it the conventional way. And progression is key. If you did five squats yesterday, do five today. If you’re sore, do five anyways. When we are focused on weight loss, especially for people who have struggled with it their whole life, routine is key. The idea is to try not to get too sore the first day so you can keep slowly progressing every day, without taking a day off. Not taking a day off has two benefits. It tells both your mind and your body that you are an active person who lives a physically active lifestyle and it also keeps one day off from becoming two and then more.

At night, I like yoga to relieve the stress accumulated from the day and to help me sleep. You can also do more bodyweight exercises. But most importantly, stretch.

After two weeks of doing these bodyweight exercises it’s time to add some other exercise. Take 20 minutes to break a sweat every morning and every night. Breathe heavily. Exercise hard. An example, depending on your fitness level, would be 25 jump squats, 15 pushups, 5 pull-ups, and then 15 minutes of sprints. Make it intense, and make it build muscle and endurance.

Step 5 – Take Up an Active Lifestyle

If you like to go to the gym, got to the gym. This is in addition to the aforementioned workout program. If you have stairs and an elevator to choose from at work, take the stairs. If you sit at a desk all day, get out of the chair and bust out 20 squats when you’re feeling lethargic. Sit on a Swiss ball instead of a chair at work. Go hiking on the weekends with friends. Park as far away as possible from the entrance of the building. Walk faster than everyone else. Get a stress-ball to play with at work.

Step 6 – Eat Right

Eat Produce. Raw, fresh produce. Not just fruit, eat salads. Eat lots of salads. Read How to Be Healthy. Live, eat, and breathe a healthy lifestyle with lots and lots of produce. And don’t skip breakfast. My weight loss diet goes as follows:

  • Pre-breakfast – 1 apple and a glass of stevia sweetened cranberry lemonade
  • Breakfast – (after a workout) Large salad with a low-fat (or non-fat) homemade dressing
  • Snack -1 Fruit
  • Lunch – A smoothie with organic berries, leafy greens, and coconut water, and coconut oil
  • Snack – A small salad or watermelon
  • Diner – Brown rice and beans, or a quinoa stir fry with veggies

Breakfast is my largest meal; it keeps me full for hours and sets the tone for healthy eating all day. Dinner is smaller than breakfast or lunch. I also recommend coconut oil, pineapple, and avocados to anyone trying to lose weight.

Step 7 – Get More Nutrition

I don’t think people looking to lose weight should go out and buy a bunch of supplements and exercise equipment the first day. If you have the discipline to stick with the aforementioned routine, supplements are going to be much more beneficial. Plus, you may find you have a better idea of which supplements you need.

Almost anyone can benefit from Vitamin D, a B vitamin Complex, and Total Nutrition Formula. If you don’t get it from our sister site, Green Lifestyle Market, just make sure you’re getting very high quality supplements. They are not all created equal. And most supplements are actually counterproductive and toxic. Unfortunately, it’s a dirty business. Choose wisely.

Step 8 – Detox

All of the other previous steps can be taken one step out a time, either waiting one day, or one week to start the next. They can also be started all together on the first day. What works for you is what works for you. If you have the discipline to jump right in and start doing everything right, then go for it all on the first day. But if you are struggling with obesity and you do not suffer from any serious health problems at the moment, I recommend you wait and detox after a few weeks of living a healthy and physically active lifestyle.

I usually recommend starting a detox when you reach a plateau on your weight loss regimen.  This is also a good time to go ahead and get some supplements. While I so recommend supplementation, I don’t like to push it on people who aren’t ready to get healthy.  If you’ve stuck to the program for a few weeks, and you’re serious about losing weight, it might be the perfect time to choose a supplement wisely. You’ll be less likely to waste your money.  For a list of detox plans along with some supplement recommendations, check out Cheap and Easy Detox.

On the other hand, if you have serious health issues that should be addressed immediately, or you are someone who is totally and completely addicted to junk food, it might be best to fast with detoxification first.

If your liver is severely toxic, addressing liver toxicity will help speed up your weight loss. Your liver processes fats. A clean and healthy liver helps you deal with fats properly.

And finally, if your thyroid is slow, supplementation will be helpful with that, too. But I don’t recommend anyone get on thyroid supplements until after they have been exercising and living an active lifestyle for some time, unless their thyroid is so dead that getting out of bed is too difficult, and exercising is impossible. But for those who are hoping to find motivation in a bottle, it’s not that easy.

If you have any questions, or you need to talk about struggling with obesity, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment here or message me on Facebook.




BikeRiding – Life without a Car

My dad is blind, I love my bicycle, and I am happy.

I really do love the bicycling life. I’ve always loved bikes, but I have also always loved driving.

I have in the past fantasized about giving up the car to do it all on a bike, but Atlanta is not the easiest city to do that in. Don’t get me wrong; if I moved back to Atlanta I’d make it work sans car, but it is a lot easier in L.A.

Kristina and I recently moved to Los Angeles. We planned on traveling the whole country but with an auto repair, the cost of gas, and the launch of the new market, greenlifestylemarket.com, it made more sense to got to LA and try the bike and bus way of life.

I’m one of those guys that have had over 50 jobs in my life. I say that as if there is a lot of us, but maybe not so much. I’ve rarely worked close to home, and when I did I only lasted a couple of weeks. Not because I didn’t like working close to home, but because I rarely lasted more than two weeks anywhere.
It’s an old story. The less stuff you have the happier you are. The more you exercise, the happier you are. The more fresh air you breath (can you call Los Angeles air fresh?), the happier you are.

Atlanta has a lot of hills, and it’s also so spread out. In Los Angeles I can ride for 100 miles. After 20 miles at a good clip, put a hill in my way and my legs are jelly. But I am getting better and better at hills. If I were to get a job here where I rode even 40 miles a day, I could bike that without a sweat if it’s under 80F.Fortunately, my job is what I am doing right now at this very moment.I ride an average of 20 miles a day. I beat traffic almost anywhere I go. It’s mostly flat, but if there is a steep hill and I’ve been riding all day, I won’t hesitate to hang on to a car for a break.

The morning after I got my bike, I road about 20 miles. The next day I could barely move! Until, that is, I slathered on some deep tissue oil and then barely got my leg up and over my bike for another 30 miles. BTW, Shillington’s Deep Tissue Repair Oil got me through it. Seriously, for sore muscles and injuries, there is nothing better!

I have fun with it. If I can’t pass them, I try to at least keep up with the cars. I am careful not to cause anyone else’s tension levels to rise too much as I carefully and methodically weave in and out of traffic while ignoring the laws that govern our roads.

Ignore is the wrong word. I certainly take the stoplights and other traffic signs and rules into consideration. And speaking of consideration, I really am careful not to cause other drivers to hit their brakes or go out of their lane unless absolutely necessary to my ability to stay alive. I will hop from road to sidewalk, continually choosing whichever holds the route with the least resistance at that moment.  And while I do run red lights, I do it carefully, without causing alarm or brake tapping from anyone.

I’ve been called reckless before. I disagree, but I am adventurous and I do not give a damn about laws (if you know my history you’d understand). So in this city where almost no one jaywalks and the only way people walk across the street is when the sign tells them to,  I get a lot of looks as I blow by traffic, running a red light.

In Atlanta, only tourists consider the crosswalk (whether it be at a lighted intersection or not) anything more than a suggestion.

I need to get a trailer for groceries and baby carrier. Either one of those items will certainly change my riding habits, but I think on most days I’ll still be faster than traffic.

Then I think about how my dad rode me on his bicycle. He was a carpenter. He made a little baby seat and put it on the back of the bike above the rear tire. My dad didn’t ride me because he loved bicycling everywhere; he did it because he was legally blind. He cannot see well enough to drive. He did at one point, but thanks to a lifestyle of drugs and crap food, he lost his vision at age 21 (if memory serves).

My dad, like me, loved to drive. We both used to race. We both got a lot of tickets. We both drove in a similar manner.

And bicycles are the only vehicles we own.

The difference is, I do it by choice. And he can’t get a driver’s license.

Well… Sort of by choice. It seems life did pretty much say “No car for you!”

I suppose I needed that to happen. And now, what’s happened? I am happier. Much happier. Life is so much better without a car. I should preface: Life is so much better without a car when you live in a temperate climate that hardly ever rains and always has tons of traffic with mostly flat terrain.

It’s an old story. The less stuff you have the happier you are. The more you exercise, the happier you are. The more fresh air you breath (can you call Los Angeles air fresh?), the happier you are.

And my dad is miserable. He didn’t have a choice.

My dad has made it very clear to me that he believes that the cause of his depression and anger are due to the fact that he has been dealt a short hand in life.

But that’s not likely his issue. I am reasonably sure that he is miserable because he chose drugs and alcohol over anything or anyone else most of his life. I figure he is unhappy about his whole life, but for the most part blames it on the loss of vision.

For all we know, if he didn’t stop driving maybe he would have killed someone with a DUI.  He is a man with a conscious, so I am pretty sure that would have made him feel worse than the lose of his eyesight.

Our way of being in this world is so similar in so many ways. But my dad is miserable with life, while I keep having better and better years.

I will try to remember this next time I feel I don’t have a choice. For instance, I run the wrong red light, and end up in a wheelchair. I will try to remember how much fun I have whenever I sit in a wheelchair. I go nuts! Obviously I have a thing for wheels. If I were confined to a wheelchair for a week or for the rest of my life, I like to think I would have fun with it. Hell, I know I would. It may not be my choice, but I promise you this, I would be known, in whatever town I am in, as, “That crazy dude that passes cars and bicycles, running red lights, all while evading cops in his wheelchair!




Running Without Knee Pain

This method helps you to also give birth without lower back pain, heal the sciatic nerve, stop spending money on chiropractors, with Vibram Five Fingers information

I run. Humans are meant to run. We’ve come to find that we humans caught prey in large part because of our ability to outrun other animals due to our incredible endurance. We aren’t fast compared to many  animals, but we can run over 100 miles without stopping. And our bodies are very good at staying cool.

The problem with running today is that our crappy shoe design attempts to support our arches and causes us to  heel strike. Most knee, hip, and I suspect most lower back pain, is caused by shoe design that attempts to support our arches but actually weakens them.

Fallen Arches, Flat Feet, Back and Knee Pain

fallen archThe arch issue is huge! People who grew up as barefoot children have arches that are naturally stronger than  people who always wore shoes right from the start. Those who played barefoot while their feet developed have the ability to easily rebuild their arch strength. Those who have worn shoes from the very beginning are bound to have serious alignment issues with their whole body. And high heels hurt arch strength as well.Shoes with arch support cause flat feet because the support actually weakens the arches.In addition, when the toes are not allowed independent movement for walking, the toe muscles weaken (the toe muscles are within your arch). When the shoes come off, the arches flatten. Then they don’t go all the way back up and in as they should be when the shoes go back on unless the arch support is very stiff, like orthopedic shoes. So the arches stay flattened, knees buckle in, and  hips shift one way or the other to compensate, depending on which knee is more buckled inward.

There was a guy in jail who used to be a football player. (For those of you who don’t know, yes, I was in jail.) He was working out, and I asked him why he wouldn’t do squats. He told me about his knee. He talked about his football days; he tore his ACL playing high school football. He was thinking he would go pro, but with the torn ACL, from that point on, he lead of life of crime. He told me his uncle was going to pay for half of his surgery and his wife would pay the other half and he could finally get a decent job. The guy was in terrible pain all the time and never had the money for the surgery. But he worked out every day, and he wanted to be able to squat.

I told him how the ACL can heal if it’s not severed. I told him he just needed to fix his arches. He laughed and called me an idiot. Everyone listening started made fun of me. But I persisted, and we made a deal. I would fix his arches and he could do a full squat, or I would give him all of my commissary for a month. Everyone laughed at this, called me names, and a few people threatened to kick my ass for being such a bullshitter. But he let me do it. I pushed back in his arches, adjusted his hips as well, and then he did a full squat for the first time in years. The look on his face almost made jail worth the stay. Actually, honestly, it was worth it. I love healing people more than anything. Within seconds there was a line to my bunk of people waiting to be cured of whatever ailed them.

Running and squatting with good form can heal the joins and ligaments. It should be noted here that adequate nutrition makes a huge difference as well. If you don’t get the nutrients to fix the injuries, the injuries will persist in most cases, or at least easily come back at the slightest opportunity.

Vibram Five Finger Shoes and How to Run

running_balls_off_feetI am a huge fan of Vibrams. They are all I ever wear. They allow for independent toe movement which builds arch strength and aids in walking and running more efficiently.

I run with a mid-foot strike, unless I am sprinting. When I sprint, I run on the balls of my feet. If you want to know how to run, do it barefoot first. Find a safe place where you aren’t likely to step on glass or rocks or anything dangerous. Run. See how it feels. Adjust your form. Forget what you knew; just feel your body. It will tell you the proper form very quickly.

Many people have flat feet and don’t realize it. Even if arches are a little flat, as in, just slightly out, this can cause significant pain and misalignment.

Avoid Back Labor and Improper Infant Positioning at Birth

Vibrams aren’t just for running. I recommend  Vibrams for anyone who is pregnant. Get them immediately! And squat. If you aren’t too far along in your pregnancy, you should be doing lots of full squats and lots of walking. Hips being out of alignment (as mentioned, typically caused by flat arches) is a very common cause of back labor and difficulty delivering. If Vibrams are not an option, or the pregnancy is in its third trimester, go with orthopedic shoes that will push the arches back in and keep them in.

Arches and Chiropractic

While there are many variables, for most people, fixing their feet fixes not just the knees, hips, and lower back, but the whole spine all the way up to the neck. And I suspect that this is not something chiropractors talk about because everyone that I’ve ever gotten to start primarily wearing Vibrams has been able to completely rid themselves of back and neck pain within a few months. Obviously, as readers of OLM are well aware, the money is in treatment, not cures.

Fix Your Arches and Start running without Knee Pain

Put your arches back in yourself. If you don’t believe that this is the cause of your knee pain, just give it a try and see what happens. It may get a little better every time, or they might just pop right into place, but in almost every case, it will make a perceptible difference.

How to fix you arches

A golf ball, a tennis ball, any small ball, a towel rolled up, a rock, anything that you can put weight on with your foot can be used to push your arches back into place. Put pressure all over your arch by pushing down on the object. Stand on it if possible. Put in one arch at a time (both are usually out but one is almost always worse than the other). The flatter the arch, the more it hurts. But you will find that the more you do it, the less it hurts to push them back in.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/b4U0u–ew7I

Take your time. Give yourself a strong foot massage using this method. Push in hard. You should be able to feel it when the arch goes back in. But they won’t always go in all the way at first.

Now do a squat. Better? It should be. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions on this.

The next step is to get Vibrams. Walk barefoot or in Vibram Five Finger shoes as much as possible. Use your toes too. Feel them push off with each stride. And then, take up running if you don’t already. And squats. Get up to 100 bodyweight squats, and you will be amazed at how much your body transforms!

How To Get Vibram Five Fingers That Fit a Tight Budget

If you’re on a tight budget like me, you’ll notice that Vibrams are expensive! But I typically spend about 1/3 the price. During the right time of year, just before the new models come out, sales are to be found up to 50% off. In addition, if you go into a store that sells them you can get yourself fitted and then check on eBay or Craigslist for people who are selling them. Lots of people get the wrong size, or just don’t know how awesome they really are. I just bought a pair for $30 on eBay because they are slightly used. I like to get them used because they are much less likely to be counterfeit that way (that’s a problem with Five Fingers, and the counterfeit ones are garbage).

The Bikilas have the most padding, perfect for the beginner Vibram wearer and your everyday walking shoe. But I prefer to do my runs in a pair with minimal padding.

One more thing

Diet is paramount. If you eat crap, your body goes out of alignment  I’m not going to get into the details of why in this post, but even your arches can drop due to a toxic diet without enough nutrition. And injuries take time, so take your time ,too, if you’re recovering from an injury. With the right shoes, or no shoes at all, and the right nutrition  almost anyone can completely rid themselves of knee and back pain for the rest of their lives. I did. And I’ve helped many others do the same.

Arches that don’t stay in place are often a sign of hypothyroidism. Check out Understand Hypothyroidism – Prevention and Natural Remedies.




Walking to Lose Weight

The Wake Up Call – February 22 – Day 6

Yesterday was moving day. Not the kind where furniture is lifted—the kind where lazy bodies are put into motion.

I decided to start with walking each day as my first basic exercise. But before I took that walk, I gave considerable thought to what I like and don’t like about walking. Through this intense contemplation, I do believe I found the fatal flaw for inexperienced walkers like me.

I never know how far to walk. Either I push it too far and feel like I am going to die before I can make it back home, or I turn around too soon and don’t walk far enough. Either way, I don’t enjoy walking as much as I would like to or feel as accomplished as I would like.

So I came up with a solution. I will walk as far as I can in one direction and then call home for a ride. This temporary support from my family will allow me to easily push myself farther each day at a faster pace.

My second exercise is one Michael made up for me a few years back. We call them “getups”. You lie down on the floor, on your back. Roll to the right and get up. Lie back down. Roll to the left and get up. Make sure you alternate the foot you start with to stand. Okay. Go ahead and laugh. Now do twenty getups as fast as you can. Are you still laughing?

Think about it. Each getup is a sit-up, a pushup, a squat, and more. Problem is, there is no room in this house to do getups. Seriously, no room. I’ll have to do them in the park. But I want to add something to my walking, so today I will add chair squats. Standing and sitting a bunch of times—no hands or push-offs allowed.

Moving, moving, moving. Moving moves the blood. Moving moves the lymph. Now I will explain why I don’t want to make an appointment with the eye specialist.

I don’t think non-pressure glaucoma should even be called glaucoma. As far as I can, it is just another optic nerve problem of unknown origin, that looks the same. Non-pressure glaucoma is a mystery. They don’t know what causes it. The two main types of glaucoma are caused by increased/abnormal pressure in the eye. This is treated with drugs and/or surgery. So what do doctors in their infinite wisdom do to treat non-pressure glaucoma? They lower the normal eye pressure to below normal through drugs and/or surgery.

Sorry guys. That’s just plain stupid as far as I can see.

Many eye doctors think non-pressure type of glaucoma is caused by a lack of blood flow to the optic nerve. So blood flow is what my diet and exercise routine will address. I’m going to increase blood flow, clean up my blood, and eliminate any autoimmune response I can control.

I will check my eyes in a few weeks to see if the swelling has gone down. And I will research conventional treatment modalities and their efficacy. But I doubt I will have to resort to conventional medicine, which as usual, would treat the symptoms but not the cause. Except in this case I don’t think that is even true. They can’t treat the symptom (high pressure in the eye) if the pressure is normal. Lowering the normal pressure is more like “do something rather than nothing.” No thank you. Not now. Probably not ever.




My Eating Disorder

My first memory of food is a hamburger. It might have been McDonald’s. They were just taking off when I was a kid. Anyway, I was four and was devastated to find my burger covered in mustard and onions!  I was hungry. Really, really hungry. But I couldn’t eat that nasty thing.  Mom was sympathetic.

My second memory was my mom giving me the starving kids in China speech. I was only five, but I knew that finishing my dinner didn’t have a damn thing to do with hungry kids on the other side of the world.

It is my third early memory of food that set the foundation for a lifelong, dysfunctional relationship with food.  At age six I was a large framed, muscular child. My stepmother decided I was fat. Her solution was to withhold food. My brother and sister were allowed snacks after school. Not me. It didn’t matter that I was hungry. No snack. I remember the hunger as physical and emotional pain.

I had lost my mother who loved me and cared for me. And now this woman, my stepmother, did not care if I was in pain. The battle lines were drawn, and I quickly learned to equate food with love.

I have ridden the roller coaster ride of a love-hate relationship with food ever since.  I have used food to soothe myself, to cope with anxiety, stress, and pain. I have withheld food to punish myself. Mostly, I have used my lack of discipline and control with food as a means to undermine my self esteem and self worth all my life.

I don’t believe the answer lies in hating food or in developing an indifference to it. My goal is to understand it. To befriend it. Who knows–maybe we will go beyond friendship all the way to love.  That’s what I want to do; I want to really love food. I want to love it so much that I choose the best food, the most nutritious food, for my body. I want to celebrate food!

Step one is a three day fast on lemon/ cranberry juice with stevia and cayenne. Today is day three.

Postscript

I know I said that today I would explain why I don’t want to see an eye specialist, but I’m putting it off. I’m just not in the mood to rant about conventional medicine and all its stupidity right now.  But I promise I will explain soon for anyone who hasn’t already guessed.




Reduce Muscle Soreness

Whether you’re looking to recover quickly from a tough workout that caused DOMs (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness), trying to heal as fast as possible from an injury, or you suffer from chronic aches and pains, this regimen will reduce muscle soreness and cut healing and recovery time in half (or less).

Step 1: Perform hot and cold hydro­therapy immediately after your workout or when muscles are sore for any reason. If you’re working out at a gym with a dry sauna, get in the sauna with the temperature as high as it can go for about 10 minutes then get in a cold shower, or, if there is a fairly cold pool, jump in the pool then get into a cold shower.

Step 2: Flooding the body with anti-inflammatory omega 3 fatty acids will rapidly speed healing. The best way to do this is with Dr. Budwig’s Flax and Quark. Eat this once or twice a day. It is absolutely amazing! Just doing this alone will cut recovery time in half.

Step 3: Deep Tissue Repair Oil is an amazing, natural way to reduce muscle soreness. It dramatically improves blood circulation where the tincture is applied, without swelling. It is an excellent pain reliever, and unlike other balms and ointments for muscle soreness, it actually heals, too.

What to Eat: Ginger is anti-inflammatory, and the University of Georgia recently found that daily ginger consumption also reduces muscle pain and soreness caused by exercise. This step is actually most effective if ginger has been consumed daily for the last seven days preceding the muscle soreness.

Cherries, and especially tart cherries have been proven in scientific studies to relieve muscle soreness. The studies typically use tart cherry juice. Black cherry juice works particularly well.   A healthy alkaline based diet will go a long way in reducing muscle soreness and preventing muscle soreness as well. Eat right, eat an alkaline based diet, and consume ginger every day, and muscle soreness will be eliminated or dramatically reduced. Read all about cherries here.




Fitness vs. Health – Letter from the Editor

Lance Armstrong, seven time winner of the Tour de France, is a great example of physical fitness. But at one point in his life, this world-class athlete was so unhealthy he was ravaged by cancer. Is he healthy today? It’s hard to say. I would bet he’s healthier than the average person, but I would guess he’s not as healthy as he could be. Men who exercise regularly and consume large quantities of bodybuilding supplements and energy drinks are not healthy. Have you ever read the ingredients on some of those protein powders, muscle gain formulas, and weight loss pills? Filled with everything from artificial colors to sugar, these concoctions do not benefit the body.

Steroids are another example of how health and fitness are not necessarily synonymous. With a proper fitness program, steroids can elevate one’s fitness to a level that is tough, if not impossible, for one to achieve by natural means. But, as we all know, steroids are not healthy. Like many perfectly legal performance enhancement supplements and bodybuilding supplements, steroids are dangerous. You may have seen yoga practitioners with acne, runners with seasonal allergies, or ironman competitors popping Excedrin for their headaches. These are not healthy individuals.

Fitness and health can certainly complement each other. And you cannot be healthy without some degree of fitness. But health is about living life without the need for prescription drugs. Being healthy is living without allergies. Living healthy means you don’t get diagnosed with Type II diabetes or arthritis in your forties or fifties and blame your age or genetics. Living healthy is living without aches and pains. Living healthy is taking responsibility for your own health and not blindly putting it in the hands of doctors.

Being both physically fit and healthy is an amazing feeling. Imagine waking up after a great night’s sleep full of energy with no aches and pains, at any age, clear headed, and ready to take on the day. For some people this isn’t possible. But for most people, including a great many who think they have no choice, health is a viable option.

Michael Edwards

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Editor in Chief