New Age Earth, Above average people, doing ‘looney’ people healthy things (sprouting, organic foods, etc.)

Now that I have your attention with that title, I wanted to share some factual evidence I’ve gathered over the years. It seems like all the people that ‘care’ about their health are considered ‘hippies’, at least when I polled some people. They seem hard to believe because most of the time, their credentials just, “don’t add up”, as a few have put it. I have to admit, as much as I wanted to share the passion with the people who care so much about the earth, they seemed to gain a crowd of opposers for just the same reasons. Citing that “those people don’t know what they’re talking about”, “they’re looney”.

Well, I’m here to say that, in fact, it’s kind of like what your mother used to teach you about remedies. She didn’t always have the right reasons, wear a hat outside you’ll catch a cold, but she was right. It’s not the cold weather that’s going to catch you a cold, but keeping the body at a thermal temperature and internal atmosphere that’s right for you, will prevent you from offsetting your bodies homeostasis. This, in addition to other things, will cause you not to ‘catch a cold’. So maybe these ‘looneys’ are right, but they don’t have the right reasons, or they don’t have the education and knowledge to teach it to us in the most convincing way. Or, we’re just stubborn and don’t know what we’re talking about? Barriers anyone?

I’m here to say, that being a science based born catholic myself, I have as much of both sides as you can get. I’m pretty unbiased to both sides. In other words, I’m really a scientist. You can’t be a scientist, if you always put things up against old theories and methods with a bias. For example, perhaps we are a multiplanar dimension. There aren’t just height, width, depth, ‘time’ dimensions. I’ve read quite a few books, and will read much more, and only relatively unknowledgable scientists will be stuck in this barrier form, thinking only conventional science is ‘provable’. They clearly don’t know their history, as with many other centuries, there are break-throughs that ever science period has gone through, and inventions by people who saw past the barriers, to prove the unprovable.

So I’m here to bring the scientific, ‘as-evidence-based-as-we-can-currently-prove’-'facts’ (evidence-based facts), knowledge and awareness to you.

In a nut shell, Sprouting, and eating whole foods, will do you a world of good. Eating meat that does not have industry tainted antibiotics, pesticides and disease plethora, is important. Take it from me, a bodybuilder who ate chicken like it was my job, while still eating healthy (lots of vegetables, ‘whole grain flours’, Kashi cereals, etc.) I read what I read on current nutrition. And through personal experience, and as a personal trainer and nutritional consultant through others experiences, whole grain pastas and breads and bagels, etc. just aren’t healthy. Relative to their predecessors the white pastas, bread and bagels, they are in fact ‘healthier’, but both are not healthy. Will they kill you? Well, actually, yes. Not a few helpings of pasta here and there, or a few bagels or toast with ‘natty’ peanut butter. But take it from me who had a paradigm shift in thinking, and as a real scientist, tried it out myself before saying it didn’t work, eating whole foods is the key to vitality.

Stay tuned to the blog, for commonplace information backed by science and experiment. Many of these scientists “subscribe” to commonplace belief and their very unscientific methods of disproving these claims of health in the wholefood (sprouting, organic farms, poultry and meat). They simply don’t try it themselves, because if they did, they would see.

That’s it for now!! =)
Lots of sunshine and love to come!! And my personal experiences in my journey to uncover the evidence and real facts…. cliff hanger….. my sleep and energy, feels like I’m on the right wave-length/frequency for life…. I just am full of energy when I wake up, no matter what the amount of sleep!

Remember, thinking positive, reaffirm your positive beliefs so they play on repeat in your subconscious. We know through neuroscience research your subconscious controls your every move, and the motor plans execute your initial thoughts!!!

Health is wealth!

Health Transformation

Recently after health issues brought upon myself from increased stress and demanding life transitions, I decided it’s time to embark on gravely changed ways of mind and thought. Also have read so many great books on the mind, and biochemical nutrition and its application, and having prepared for a bodybuilding contest, I know nothing is out of reach =).

I will post before and transition pics, then ‘after’-but-always-improving-my-health-and-physique-for-the-best pics .  I will include the healthful transitions to my improved nutritional intake.

I will be drinking much green tea, herbal and black teas. Specific herbs will be included, as I believe highly in traditional chinese medicine and the function of biochemical ‘components’ or species in herbs and of course foods.

I will also be taking a supplement of vital amino acids, considering by bodybuilding to be essential and the research looks promising; Xtend by SciVation is my choice. Also supplementing my diet with omega 3 fatty acids (and other essential fatty acids) by way of flax seeds, organic instead of just using flaxseed oils.

That’s it for now, but stay tuned for my health inspiring transformation !!! Its been a week and already my health is drastically changing for the better, starting with the mind .

In my previous endeavours, I had come down with congestion, phlegm, nasty colored snot, coughing/wheezing, and even organ palpations (eager for a better word, but I could feel my organs working overdrive due to the highly processed and very unhealthy amounts and types of food I had been eating. I was also depressed).  All of these had been relieved within a week of getting back into fitness and exercising, and my important application of nutrition. Reminding me that health is vigor and happiness and it comes through what nature has provided us

Friday 11

Dear Journallllll,

Eat N Park Whole Grain Pancakes

So I woke up this morning looking like crap from my carb load… that or it’s just the water holding…. sweet! Either it was the choice of carbohydrates, unlikely, or it’s just my body wasn’t prepared for it because it wasn’t in ketosis, or my specific body doesn’t do loads of food well,…. possibly. The carb source was Eat N’ Park whole grain pancakes.  Healthy choice! Better than oats one might think…. 46g carbs of which 6g fiber, only 2g fat*, 9g protein per stack, of which there are three . I get three stacks.

*Fat is amazing and important, except in this rare circumstance when you’re trying to carb load. Only specific athletes need try this interesting tool/methodology.

St. Patty's Day!!

Either way the rest of the day goes as such… positive mind, envision and imagine the goal in sight… train hard… =)

Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day parade. Its snowing out like a crazy man!!! This will be interesting, did I mention I have training during the parade, ha. Looks like I’ll be missing that.

 

Breaking Down Your Barriers… a SuperKey to Unlocking Extraordinary Potential

Cognitive Re-Programming

The Superkey to unlocking your hidden potential

Unlock your potential

An important skill to developing and enhancing your natural innate abilities is already contained within.  What the mind wills, the body follows through action. It’s no surprise that many of us are bombarded daily with negative thoughts and actions, and perhaps feel like we just simply have bad luck. Certainly, that’s how it may seem when a powerful emotion floods your conscious, but the research is outstandingly clear: thought is the governor of your emotions.

There are many levels to “thinking”, and our conscious is only the tip of the iceberg, says Dr. Levy. That’s really your conscious level awareness being fed deeply ingrained thoughts from your subconscious. The subconscious is made of emotions, feelings, and most of the time you’re not really aware of what you’re “thinking” because it’s actually disguised or hidden by the subconscious. Cultural barriers, and lifelong habits and actions have developed over years in your brain, and have such wired themselves that way.  When you feel smothered or overloaded with powerful emotions, as Dr. Levy says, it’s usually because distorted thoughts in the subconscious mind have been churning away in secret. And unfortunately the only things you are aware of are the conscious level emotions that follow and the drastic complications they can have on your health.

Now that you’re aware of how the mind works and functions, and the four levels of awareness, you can learn to reprogram your cognitive thoughts and unlock potential you only imagined in your wildest dreams! Now, you’re literally going to learn how to bring those dreams to the conscious awareness and making them realities.

There are seven key steps to this simple cognitive reprogramming method developed by Dr. Levy. As he states, you will shift your feelings into peace, happiness and a sense of personal potency. You have the power! This in turn improves your mental and physical health in extraordinary ways. The focus is to switch from distorted negative thoughts and images in your thought processes at times when you feel extreme emotional dis-ease, to positive powerful guided imagery that outline your successes and powers.

Step 1: Be aware of what you’re feeling in the moment

This method works best when you are able to catch yourself feeling bad and use the method at that point in time. You’ll catch your negative emotions as they happen, not just waiting until someone or something else brings it to our attention. This is a first crucial step in the process to stay aware and notice when you are starting to feel bad emotionally. If you aren’t aware of it, you’ll miss the opportunity to reprogram it altogether.

Step 2: Label the emotion(s) you’re feeling

Labeling your emotion(s) is almost as key as acknowledging them. If you can correctly identify the emotion you are experiencing, you can better target why it’s occurring and what’s truly behind the emotion. This pertains directly to our entire existence and culture base. We have large barriers in our world, self-created and culturally influenced. Learning those barriers helps entirely. Take a few seconds to label the emotion: anger, fear, frustration, sadness, shame, guilt or something else?  You want to differentiate between the actual feeling and what you’re thinking. It can be sometimes difficult distinguishing between the two. Success is dependent on the ability to discern the two. If your boss takes you down a notch in a meeting with your colleagues because you failed to get a job done, you may feel anxious, fearful, shamed, embarrassed, guilty or angry. You might think, “I don’t deserve this”, or “He’s being an ass,” but that is not how you feel. Take note of this feeling, even writing it down can help as you can learn to see patterns of emotional response to certain situations in life. This will truly deepen your conscious self-awareness and your overall success with cognitive reprogramming.

Step 3: Look at the thoughts behind the feeling

Ask yourself, “What are my thoughts related to this feeling?”  This step is usually as simple as looking at the thoughts you are encountering in your mind at that very moment. Pretend the boss has embarrassed you publicly, and now you’re really feeling the anxiety. You start looking at the thoughts related to your feeling, and you may find several. In addition to “I don’t deserve this”, or “He’s being an ass,” you may also think, “My boss doesn’t like me and has it in for me.” Make a mental note, or if possible write this down too.

Is a distorted thought?

Step 4: Ask yourself, “Where’s the Distortion?”

At this stage, you’re concerned with finding the distortion in your thinking.  Typically, strong negative feelings and emotions are moving through you, assume your thinking is distorted. You may have to search deep and look hard for the distortion. As mentioned before, this may be tied to your cultural and lifelong upbringing and personal barriers. Don’t be afraid to step outside yourself right now, you will grow leaps and bounds from it.  Consider our example: your boss just publicly embarrassed you, and you become very anxious and aware of three thoughts related to the anxiety (“I don’t deserve this”, “My boss is being an ass”, and “My boss doesn’t like me a me” and has it in for me. Now you have to dig deep.  Ask yourself, “Where is the distortion?” You may review your thoughts and conclude they are reasonable and accurate: you didn’t deserve the harsh treatment (you are dedicated to your work and a productive employee), your boss is being an ass (only an angry selfish boss takes down a subordinate in front of his or her colleagues), and based on your boss’s historical patterns of antagonism toward you, you conclude he really does have it in for you. All three of those thoughts appear to be accurate and free of distortion.  In this case, you have to look deep into yourself.  Only a distorted thought will drive chronic emotional pain. Accurate thoughts, even if they point to a significant challenge on your horizon (“My boss has it in for me”), will not create chronic ill feelings.

Perhaps that thought ends up getting you depressed and you start thinking “I’m depressed because this powerful man is ruining my career!”. Well, that thought may be accurate. To find the source of your depression you have to look deeper. Perhaps you’re really thinking, “I’ve just ruined my career by standing up to my boss, and now my career is ruined just like my father ruined his.”  In the back of your mind was the distorted thought that your problems with your boss are going to ruin your future too just as your father did. When you realize this distortion, you can free it and let it go. Once you understand you’re a different person from your father, you realize there’s no real basis on which to assume your career is just as well ruined.  The corrected distortion in your thinking allows you to be freed of your depression, perhaps to make amends with your boss and subsequently achieve extraordinary levels of success in your field. You may have to dig a bit to discover the true source of the distortion in your thinking.

Step 5: Correct the distortion

Once you find the distortion , simply correct it with a “counter-claim” of undistorted truth. In the above example, you can correct the distortion by thinking “I am not my father. I can make things right with my boss. My career is not ruined.” That correction will free you from depression and unleash the mental power and clarity you need to remake your destiny.  As you get better with tis process you will discover related patterns of distortion in your thinking and develop series of “counter-claims”, affirmations of truth that directly reverse those patterns. Writing out your affirmations can be a useful tool for whenever you feel a familiar distortion at work in your thinking.

Step 6: How would you feel if you believed the correction?

Now, begin to visualize, with guided imagery, and imagine how you’d feel if you truly believed those corrections in your distorted thinking.  This is a major step in facilitating that shift in your feelings. You may still feel challenged but now hopeful, optimistic, confidant and open to the myriad of future possibilities.  You will become happy and aware of precisely what you should do to move forward and achieve your goals, making dreams a reality.

The biggest challenge people have is truly believing in this step. They don’t actually “believe” the corrected thought. The old distorted thought might tug at you, and you may want to cling to it out of habit. Remember, these can be deep distortions from lifelong cultural patterns of thought processes and actions, and personal barriers which are very hard to see in oneself.  Use some will-power in adopting the change you need to make. Imagine and visualize yourself doing those things you need to achieve what you want. If you’re wanting to be a millionaire, visualize yourself doing things a millionaire does, making financial steps towards securing yourself, moving up in your job, all positive “counter-claims” to an old distortion that you will always be poor and unhappy.  Realize you are attached to your old thought pattern because you’ve been brainwashed by the effects of memory and conditioning. You’re looking at the conscious level. You need to focus on the higher extraordinarily more powerful higher levels of the subconscious and superconscious. Do you really want to remain attached to your old distorted thoughts or would you rather adopt a new way of thinking and take control of your life? The old thought pattern needs to go if you are going to restore your freedom, dignity and self-efficacy. Remind yourself you deserve this newfound freedom and power and stick with the process. The benefits will far outweigh the simple effort required to jettison old thoughts and ways of thinking.

Use your imagination...

Step 7: Imagine the new feelings for sixty seconds

Whatever these new more positive feelings might be (optimism, confidence, happiness, and so on), repeat to yourself those feelings with strong conviction. Say with your chest, heart and mind! Reinforce that thought over and over, repetition is key with guided visual imagery to tap into your subconscious, and research shows this.  Revel in the release of the old emotions and the delight and freedom associated with the new feelings and distortion-free thinking.  Give it a full sixty seconds. You do not want to sell yourself short on this step. Remembering that the language of the subconscious mind is imagery, metaphor, and deep feelings. Imagine yourself fully liberated by this new sense of who you are! Smile and embrace your new self. During this step you are broadcasting an advertisement to your subconscious mind- a new way of thinking and feeling that penetrates into the subconscious mind, piercing and reprogramming the distortions that you had.

Cognitive Reprogramming Summary

• Be aware of what you’re feeling
• Label your feelings
• Look at the thoughts behind your feelings
• Ask yourself, “Where’s the distortion”
• Correct the distortion
• Ask yourself how you’d feel if you believed the correction
• Run the new feelings in your imagination for sixty seconds

When you first being using this method of cognitive reprogramming, make sure you journal and write down the steps in depth, and your observations. This will help not only in the moment, but will also help you to see those patterns that form your old habits, thoughts and personal barriers. You won’t always be able to pull out a pencil and paper to jot down your thoughts, but do it when possible.  In fact, Dr. Levy noticed that many of his patients have realize their powerful feelings while driving. Perhaps this is because it is a natural time of reflection for many of us. Sometimes you may even want to pull aside as to jot some things down and begin the process rather than miss a great opportunity to grab those thoughts and ideas while they’re fresh and most aware.

The process of reprogramming may be challenging at first, but anything worth having takes practice and sacrifice.  The dividends always pay off, and if you stay with it, it will become second nature. It will be a part of your powerful tools of success and unleashing your inner potentials. You will quickly be able to identify those patterns and personal barriers that have stopped you from success for so long.  With practice you will be able to identify how you feel, know exactly what you’re thinking, tap into your deep memories and find the distortion, counteract it with affirmations of truth, understand how the new patterns and thoughts make you feel, and truly imagine and visualize the new feelings for sixty seconds.

This method will deliver extraordinary results that build your self-confidence and unleash your potential. You will be able to experience profound newfound health quickly and know that you achieved it through your own will and effort.

Key to Optimum Energy from Food

Combining is the Key to Health

What is good nutrition? Is it buying apples instead of Juicy Juice apple juice, or a candied apple at the carnival? Or is it choosing a salad at McDonald’s instead of a BigMac. Are either of those choices healthy? Well it depends on who you ask and how formalized you are into just exactly how food and nutrients move throughout the body, and most importantly, how they interact in your specific body. The key elements to health answer the questions of what, when, how much, and to what extent.

Elements to proper health include what you eat (fast foods, candy bars and soda, at restaurants, fresh whole food bought often from market), when you eat (time of day, carbs evenings vs early, around training workouts), how much you eat (large breakfasts, large meals around your training sessions, carb loads for swimmers and endurance athletes, protein for muscle growth based sports) and most importantly, how well your personal body assimilates and digests the foods. We’re talking a combination of all the above factors to promote optimal digestion/absorption, fueling your training sessions for optimal growth and recover, and aiding your body to be at its most optimal homeostatic functions for physical health and immunity, mental clarity and homeostatic functions.

Processed Foods are convenient but they leave you feeling empty

Man-mad processed junk foods and fast food restaurants aside, there are no such things as healthy and unhealthy foods. We’re making an assumption that you are choosing quality ingredients, and minimally processed foods. For example, choosing steel cut oats or the whole grain oatmeal, often referred to as “oat groats”, is a more complex source of oatmeal grains than buying instant 2-minute oats, or even old fashioned. Or buying wheat grains and sprouting them to make your own version of sprouted bread (like Ezeikiel brand) is better than buying whole wheat flour, which has been highly processed, and sitting on the shelf of the store for quite some time. The key here is use it or lose it. As with many things in life, the living foods are optimum for health.

In a perfect world, you would eat your foods in a way that they digested fully and optimally without interference. They would pass through your system, digestion starting with the mouth for some nutrients, and through the stomach, small intestines, with the nutrients being assimilated and digested through the liver and into the blood stream. Some nutrients reaching as far as the large intestines, but mostly water.  That’s how we would hope that digestion occurs. In the real world, rancidity, indigestion and infection run rampant, not only because of what we eat, but how we eat it, when we eat it, and to what extent. The following is quite possibly the key to your future health. It is the most often overlooked component to health and proper nutrition; how to properly combine your foods.

Meat and veggies... Done right!

I.            Eat proteins with nonstarchy vegetables.

When eating protein sources, be sure to combine them with fibrous vegetables, such as spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, etc. Do not combine them with starchy vegetables like potatoes. Yes, did you ever wonder why meat and potatoes tasted so good, yet left your stomach turning over and you hunched in the corner?  Grains, starches and beans are most easily digested without meats. The enzymes required for these digestions, as well as their pH environments don’t work well with each other.  Remember, for grains to be properly digested and avoid the harmful effects of malabsorption due to the enzymes around them, you must soak them overnight so they ferment, releasing the phytic acid (phytates) that are contained within the bran of grains which will prevent proper digestion of vital nutrients. Limit soy milk, tofu, soy protein powders because they are not fermented and do contain phytates.

II.            Meat and Milk products should not be combined.

 

The combination of meats and their required pH levels and enzymes are vastly different from that of milk, and are severely too taxing for most people’s digestive tracts. Remember that food which does not pass through the digestive tract efficiently can sit in the stomach for days. This leads to inflammation, rancidity, and can cause all hosts of gastrointestinal problems and digestive problems. That’s one reason we have such high GI cancers and problems in the US.

 

III.            One protein per meal.

One great way to help ease up digestive upset is by eating one type of protein alone. One such example is steak and seafood, try to avoid this combo. Some people who are protein dominant in their nutrient requirements and homeostatic functions will do fine with a meal like eggs and sausage at breakfast, unless they have weak digestion, in which case try to eat these separately.

Fruits are the living wonders of the world... just give them plenty of digestion priority

IV.            Fruits first! Or alone!

 

Fruits are a big issue. They’re loaded with vital enzymes, nutrients and minerals to sustain life, as are vegetables. However, they also require ease of access through the digestive tract, especially citrus fruits (we’ll get therein a minute).  When eating fruits, especially melons, its best to eat them early on in the morning before having heavy meals that will slow down digestion and leave them to run rancid. Just like fried foods and fats which are permeated and turned rancid through high levels of heat, fruits that sit dormant in your digestive tract will ferment and cause hosts of problems.  Never eat them as dessert (because that usually comes at the END of a meal, whereas you want fruits in the beginning), and especially never eat them with raw vegetables or meat.

 

V.            Citrus fruits and veggies do not play well!

Grapefruits and cereal for breakfast are not a great combination, especially those with digestion problems. Think back to the milk concept, and the fact that we want fruits, especially citrus fruits, to be able to digest quickly, both for optimal digestion and absorption of vital nutrients, but for energy levels too.

 

VI.            Fruits and veggies are not a mix.

For the most part all fruits and veggies shouldn’t be mixed. If you want fruit, eat it first, allow thirty minutes or so (that’s all they need typically!!) then eat your grains or veggies.   When it comes to fruits and veggies, especially raw vegetables and fruits, do not mix them. Nonstarchy vegetables and acidic fruits have been researched and thought to be fine to eat together. As always, your body is the best indication, so listen to it and gauge your success off that.

VII.            Fruits between meals

An alternate method for fruits is eating them between meals. Once you understand the importance and can respect the amazing abilities and energy powerhouses that are fruits, you’ll understand why they have such “needs”.  Wait a few hours after consuming a heavy meal to eat your fruit. Then wait a bit longer again to eat your meal (about thirty minutes).  Respect the fruits!

 

Sources: Metabolic Typing Diet (William Wilcott, Trish Fahey: 2002), Fit for Life (Merilyn & Harvey Diamond, Edward Taub M.D.: 1985) Fats and Oils (Udo Erasmus: 1993)

 

No-atmeal, An amazing no-grains hot cereal!!

Notemeal, a nutrient dense hot cereal!!

You’re probably wondering… what, no oats? Why no oatmeal? I thought oatmeal is healthy!!!

It is, but when cooked properly, and for certain people who react best to carbs. I wanted to elaborate a bit on grains before I introduce you to this recipe.

For centuries grains were eaten, and eaten well. They have good nutrients, but not quite like fruits, veggies and nuts/seeds.  However, back then they used to ferment, soak, the grains overnight so that they fermented. With common science and groundbreaking research, we’ve found out that these enzymes actually block absorption of vital nutrients, so without properly fermenting grains, you could be causing more harm than good, so be careful.

This is one reason possibly why people who have such bad reactions to wheat and glutens that can cause literally a horrible host of health problems. Wheat and gluten/allergies are one huge common problem that Naturopathic Doctors help to alleviate by introducing proper nutrition and food into ones diet and life. Also, oats can react in this way, and this may be one reason for it. When was the last time you made sure to ferment your oats before eating them? Another big problem is dairy, but that’s another blog (Dairy).

So, I’m sharing a recipe that will teach you how to make amazing hot cereal without the fuss!! You can also use almonds to make almond meal, or buy almond meal, to make bread for sandwiches!!! Much like sprouting grains helps to release enzymes, similar to the concept of  fermentation to help aid in digestion and absorption of nutrients, sprouting grains is a much better choice for “bread” (it’s not actually bread). Now for the recipe!!

INGREDIENTS
▪ 1 small handful of walnuts
▪ 1 small handful of pecans
▪ 2 tablespoons ground flax seed
▪ 1/2–1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
▪ 1 pinch of ground nutmeg
▪ 1 pinch ground ginger
▪ 1 tablespoon almond butter
▪ 1 banana, mashed
▪ 3 eggs
▪ 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (add more if you
prefer it a little runny)
▪ 2 teaspoons pumpkin seeds
▪ 1 handful of goji berries or fresh berries

DIRECTIONS
Add walnuts, pecans, flax seed and spices to a food processor and pulse it down to a course grain, making
sure to stop before it’s totally ground into a powder. Set aside.
Whisk together eggs and almond milk (Doug uses a Blender Bottle) until the consistency thickens a little bit
into a loose custard. Thoroughly blend together the mashed banana and almond butter and add it to the custard,
mixing well.
Stir in the nut mixture. Microwave or gently warm on the stove until the “no-atmeal” reaches your desired consistency;
this should only take a few minutes. In both cases, stir the mixture frequently as it cooks. Sprinkle
pumpkin seeds and berries on top. Add more almond milk if you want. Lick the bowl clean!

Thanks again to Mark’s Daily Apple.com for the user-made recipes book!

Calcium, we need it for Dairy!! Wait… what??!?

Can you say Calcium?

I don’t really think people believe me about milk… so if my last few weeks of articles, etc. didn’t at least get you thinking… (I will gladly share with those who missed it, read my previous notes too). Our Role in the Animal Kingdom, and Milk I’ll meet the public at their level….. try this one on for thought =) …

Firstly, I’d like to say I don’t hate milk. Raw milk has been consumed for years before our nation became a factory of things we call “cows”, and mass producing genetically modified and tainted milk. We did not have the problems back then when consuming raw milks like we do now. that said, what we consume today is not MILK. Therein lies the whole premise and problem with our society. (Although I still don’t think we should drink breast milk made for baby cows, especially since we don’t still milk our mothers breasts past infancy).

However, that aside, there’s still another important issue, I like to call the issues of “Americanization”.  Just like stevia is a healthy herb and sweetner, used for hundreds if not thousands of years by Asian cultures…. the “stevia” in our culture is nothing close to it. Ours is white, genetically modified, with additives and fillers galore. The real stevia is a plant!! it’s green, its whole and isn’t made of perfect smooth lines. The one’s touted now by american media is the stevia that is white, pure and modified as I mentioned. What we now call stevia is not healthy. Just an example of the disparities between reality and how americans try to capitalize on healthy things. Another quick example is tea and its apparent health benefits. Drinking Nestle or Coke’s DIET GREEN TEA WITH EGCG’s is not healthy. End of story.

Many reasons to list, and not within the scope of this discussion. On to “MILK” Daily RDA is 1000mg, this is what the nutrition labels are based off…

1/2 of a small container of yogurt (100g) has: 120mg Ca++,
9%Vit-A,
0% Vit-C,
100 kCalories,
20g carbs (16g sugar)……….

OR green leafy veggies, sort of like cows eat, except the human equivalent…. …..
2-3c collard greens (100g) has 145mg Ca+,
133% Vit-A,
60% Vit-C,
30 kCalories,
6g carbs (4g fiber, 0g sugar)…….. And I went easy on you.. I didn’t choose kale, a superfood at that… Ie. Kale contains: 15,376 IU of vitamin A, that’s 308%, at half the calories of a yogurt or milk, including skim which is man-made, 200% Vit-C, same Ca++, almost 4x Magnesium and little more than half the Phosphorus than milk…

Side note: “fortifying” anything typically means it doesn’t have it. If it doesn’t have it, with vitamins and minerals, is not the same as eating it in it’s natural form. Milk has no vitamin D, except whole milk with <10% Vit-D… something we know is essential. So if milk is so good, and we know you’re argument is Ca++ and osteoporosis, why don’t we try other natural sources. If you take a quick lesson into biology and chemistry, you’ll find out that Ca++ isn’t found in things producing white pigments like Milk. You should educate yourself on how it is formed, and then you’ll realize why it’s abundant in green, leafy vegetables, and that’s where we should get it. Not our “pure, white” smooth looking perfect milk which we idolize in our culture.

RECAP: Milk in its raw form has Vitamin D. It also is all “sugar” and minimal fat, but caloric ally dense. Only when we use chemical processes do we come up with “skim” milk or lower fat milks that are on the market, which is altering the state of the milk. In which case we have no idea how it now interacts. On top of that we then fortify it to “fill” it with the things it’s missing. Don’t you see anything wrong with that? We claim milk is a god for bones and preventing osteoporosis, but the very essential minerals it’s MISSING!! So we fortify it. Well, that doesn’t mean its used correctly, and its simply not natural.

I wouldn’t have such a problem if the typical American didn’t argue with me that milk is so good “because its necessary for your bones and preventing Osteoporosis”. Well let me clarify many well researched and published articles, outside of the National Dairy Council, have shown this to be false. They make it seem like milk is the only way to get calcium, that’s because they’re a business and their business is selling you their mass produced, industrialized cow factories. Yes, factories. They’re not raising living healthy cows. That’s a whole new problem. Now drink your milk if you must, disregarding humans reactions and adverse side effects to these poisons, and disregarding natures law (cow’s breast milk). You aren’t still sucking on your mothers breasts are you? As one college University student in a Nutrition Degree program once told me… “you don’t drink milk? You know you’re not getting enough calcium then right? You need dairy to get your calcium.”
My reply. You don’t want to hear my story on dairy because you’re not ready to hear my opinion. After a long debate, the student replied, “well im just concerned for your health. Because you’re a bodybuilder and I dont want you having weak bones. How many nutrition classes have you ever had.”
I replied two basic nutrition courses. She did not bother to ask the important question, like how many nutrition books have I read, how many hours have I worked with Professional Athletic nutritionists, and how much personal consultation experience I have on a daily basis with nutrition. After that I did not reply. My thoughts. Clearly, that’s not your real concern. With no counter argument, you had to think of something to say =)

Legitimate Question: “Ok Ryan, to be fair, maybe you got your information from some bad sources…. maybe you should recheck them.” Answer: “Well… here are my sources”

SOURCES: Food and Drug Administration Website

http://www.fda.gov/

A new era of Personal training & achieving optimal health & an amazing physiques

I’ve really had an epiphany this morning & I’m going to transform the industry of personal training by applying the latest research and practices, and they involve the power of the mind.  One of the most often overlooked aspects of training is the mind. When do we take time to train that?

Here’s a quick look at the current protocol (whether you agree or not , ie. static stretching) :

Warmup, Stretching (Static), Conventional Resistance Training, Optional Cardiovascular Exercise, Cooldown, Stretching & Foam Rolling (other fascia stretching).

Something along those lines. Weights 3-4x a week, cardio 3-5x a week, dependent upon individual goals, etc. These are the guidelines, with a bit of my own added mods, set by the ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine).

But where is the most important factor? Your mind! Hundredths of seconds before an action becomes volitional (it occurs), it is willed in the brain. Just look at ECG’s of the brain and neuroscience research. Even before the willing of an action is the intent, or thought of that action. It can get complex, and it is, but I’m sticking with the basics and laymens terms here. The point is that, if you think it’s going to happen, it will happen.

Let’s take that a step further…. adding in positive motivational thoughts and reinforcement…. which is all about imagination…. and we come up with an equation like this…

If you can see it, you can achieve it.

Talk to any professional athlete, fitness model, bodybuilder, any elite athlete and they’ll tell you; Not only is repetition critical for elite level performance, but those athletes have performed that activity 10,000 hours at least (read the book “Outliers” by Malcolm Gladwell) and on top of that, they’ve envisioned the action (IMAGINATION) being performed quite possibly millions of times more.

Top professional bodybuilders like Tom Platz, regarded as the man with the best legs in the business ever, talks about his intense workouts. Before he ever stepped up to the plates, pun intended, he went over the lift hundreds of time in his head, quite literally.

I can’t exactly expell my creation and idea to change the industry, but I’m going to personally implement it, and I’ll let you know the results in due time. However, I have just given you the backbone concepts to utilize and make it possible for your clients to achieve their goals as well.

 

Remember!

If you can see it, you can achieve it.

An end nears… a dawn approaches…

My last semester as an undergraduate has been explosive and growing! Just like my physical and mental body, as well the affect towards my Sangha.

I’ve come upon so much new knowledge its incredible. Seeing how powerful the mind is and how much of our body we can control is beyond belief. Truly it’s miraculous! If you can see it (even in your mind) you can achieve it. No joke.

I’ve started practicing meditation, and reading a lot of books on different models of true health. BioEM fields are looking like a very promising technological advance in health practice. Utilizing meditation to empower the mind, positive thoughts. Dr. Rick Levy is a powerful hypnotherapist and is on the frontier of BioEM to help heal.

A book on the extraordinary power of the mind and its healing powers!

I’m going to compete in a bodybuilding show in the Spring so I’m excited for that. In order to push myself to new growths, both physical and mentally, I need to learn the true powers of the body through mind control. Controlling my thoughts, leads to controlled actions. Positive thoughts!! I’m going to take first place in my class and even first place overall because I know the power of Sangha, the community I choose to be a part of, and how powerful their affect is on me.

I’ve been pushing myself physically past barriers  before unknown… how? Easy. If you can see it, you can achieve it. And to see it, you just have to envision it in your head, believe in it, and it will become volition, or actual action.  The powers of the subconscious and superconscious mind have miraculous and extraordinary capabilities. Those which take years of practice to master and hone, but which release miraculous benefits immediately upon learning to utilize them.

FOCUS. And it will be achieved! I’d also like to thank my extreme intense training to my trainer, who, without, I would not have set such high expectations and goals, and whom without I would not have easily correlated and began to tap into my minds powers and potentials, of which I’m merely dusting the surface of…

A new leaf, competition 2011′

Suit'd Up

This is my year!!! 2010!!

It’s been a beautiful year. Ups and downs like everyone else, but I am resilient.

Resilient…

Unverwüstlich…

After having the toughest all around year and past few months ever, no need explaining =), I didn’t “make it through”, “I beasted it out!!!”, meaning I just kept my head in the game, and blasted things out, doing work majorly!! Ironically enough, something snapped and I learned more about myself than ever before.

Including a big sickness that left me out and down, physically, and even a bit academically, but only a minor roadbump. After this occured, I took a little over a month and ate raw. No meats, no dairy (I never really ate dairy anyways), no sweetners, no coffees (I did have teas). Everything was whole foods.

Unfortunately, my energy levels which were my main concern did not change. I got to see a few Dr’s about this problem. Both M.D., GI specialists, and N.D. Who knows, it may be environmental toxins like Mercury and MSG. All I know is that I continued my training, and ate healthy, but a lot. I didn’t count calories or manage my consumption. Then at some point I just snapped and committed to doing this show, after I had committed to myself I needed to get back into shape.

Its now the end of my second 4 week training program, so week #9 begins a new set of training. Last four weeks were very heavy, full body 4x a week. Some cardio each week, once or twice. Diet & Nutrition,perfect.

I started prepping two weeks ago for the contest in March. Progress pics to follow, but I won’t post them for a while, if not until after the show. I am leader, a role model. I am the President and Founder of my amazing organization, which has been exploding!!! God speed it will continue to be a success!! I have to do it for me, and for my organization, and of course family and friends

God speed! Insh’allah! Make it Happen! Geh ran wie Blücher!!