5 Steps to Effective and Permanent Lifestyle Changes

This is a simple strategy that I use to make life long healthy changes in my lifestyle. The key to any change and decision making process is consciousness.

When it comes to changing your diet, it's crucial to understand the intended relationship between food and the human body. The simple yet incredibly complex idea that everything you consume (internally and topically) ultimately dictates or has a major influence on how the body functions.

There are only 3 things we as humans can not live with out: oxygen, water, and vital nutrition. Notice how I said nutrition rather than food. That's because what most people consider food, is not really food at all, but instead; disease causing, big pharma supporting, population controlling, toxic waste!

We are conditioned to eat this way our entire childhood. It's the reason all the sugary cereals are ground level. It's why they put toys in 'happy' meals. It's the flavored milks and processed foods for school lunches. It's teaching kids how to spell bologna before they can spell broccoli. It's the reason the health of our country has been on a rapid decline in the last 30 years. We have been listening to the FDA instead of Grandma (I don't have to tell you AGAIN what the D stands for do I?) The FDA taught us how to eat since we were children in public schools learning the food guide pyramid (a diet very closely resembling the ancient egyptian slave bread diet, that without the long rigorous hours of building pyramids, ultimately resulted in the same health epidemics we are experiencing now with the modern grain eating inactive lifestyle.)


More examples of childhood conditioning:
-Thinking Kool-Aid is good for you because it's made with water
-7 Up is a health drink when sick
-"Milk, it does a body good" because your favorite celebrity drinks it
-Ovaltine (hot sugar chocolate made out by commercials to be a delicious multivitamin)
-Lucky Charms (or any other kids cereal) are a good childs breakfast because they're fortified with vitamins and made with wheat
-Poptarts are a breakfast food
-Candy located conveniently at every grocery store checkout and gas station register
-The delicious taste of Pepto Bismal and TUMS, ok maybe I was just a weird kid.




It's time to stop eating like a child and start making educated health decisions as a conscious adult and learn the fundamentals of a natural, nutrient dense, vital life supporting diet.


Here are five steps to making educated changes to improve your lifestyle:


1st Step: Become a conscious consumer, gain awareness of exactly what it is you're eating and how detrimental these foods are to your health and well being by doing some easy research.

For Example:

What's in your child's McDonalds 'happy' meal?

Truth About High Fructose Corn Sugar! Check the Ingredients to your food, they put it in practically everything! Salad dressing, ketchup, soda, candy, fruit juices, etc.

Youtube can be a great resource if used with skepticism. Do a search for all the items I say to cut out in step 3 adding the words "Health detriments of...". Watch documentaries like "Food Inc", "Supersize Me", "Big Bucks, Big Pharma", "Fast Food Baby", "Fresh", "The Future of Food", etc. There is a lot of information at our disposal in the modern internet age, my suggestion is UTILIZE IT!!

2nd Step: Make the conscious decision to stop polluting your body with chemicals and other toxic inorganic materials and search websites like VegWeb for delicious recipes that are 100% natural and organic ingredients.

3rd Step: Pay close attention to how your mind and body feel when you cut out fast food, soda, cigarettes, alcohol, trans fatty acids, artificial sweeteners, inorganic pesticides/fertilizers, gluten, HFCS, dairy, junk food, GMO, fried foods, etc. Experience the enjoyment of mental clarity, improved energy, hormonal balance, and and overall improvement in your passion and love for a healthy and active life.

4th Step: Compare to previous way of life prior to change (depressed, anger, frustration, sick, beat down, tired, on prescription meds, unstable, etc). There should be no question that NOTHING TASTES AS GOOD AS BEING HEALTHY FEELS!

5th Step: Don't fall back into old habits because they're convenient and comfortable, make the commitment to improve your health on a daily basis, or be forced to accept the consequence of being ill. Why would you go back when you look and feel as good as you will?

Function Over Fashion For the Feet

When I went to China, I was wearing Nike running shoes. All the kung fu kids thought my shoes were great and would give me their endorsement with their common thumbs up. When I would train with the master, he would always laugh and tell me that my shoes were no good and proceed to demonstrate by powerfully rotating his hips and grinding his feet into the earth.

Though I didn't speak Mandarin, I understood what he was demonstrating to me. That power is generated from the hips and core but requires the body to be grounded as it all starts in the feet. In my Nike Air Max running shoes, I might as well have been throwing punches in outer space.

For a deeper understanding of this concept try this:

1. Stand in a park in a throwing stance and without moving your feet, throw a baseball as far as you can.
2. Now get in a deep pool or river and throw a baseball as far as you can while treading water.

So I started wearing the traditional school issued kung fu shoes, which are just a little bit of fabric and a rubber sole. I immediately felt more solid and connected to the ground, more stable and better balanced. I walked 10-20 miles a day and trained hard 6 hours a day in the shoes until the sole wore down enough to go buy a new pair (for 8 dollars). I wore the new ones for a day but decided that the thinner soled shoe felt better and continued to wear them for the rest of my time in China.

(Notice in the picture the uneven wear on my right heel. This is a result of a faulty heel strike pattern from being entrapped in tennis shoes my entire life. None of my shoes since China 2008 have this same wear pattern. In the last 3 years I have done some serious rehabilitation work with my bodies structural alignment and gait pattern.)

When I got back to the states I purchased two pairs of the very first model of Vibram FiveFingers, when they only came in three colors. I've been wearing my Classics and KSO's for years now and have been a huge advocate for them convincing hundreds of people of their benefits and how great it feels to be 'barefoot' and connected to the earth.


For years I've toyed with the thought of going completely barefoot, but almost every attempt has left blisters the bottom of my feet, so I keep all natural for only grass, sand, and soil. In the Arizona desert, that limits you to parks. The Arizona desert is not very forgiving on the feet. But wait a second... who else have I heard about walking across the desert nearly barefoot?...This is a rhetorical question and the key word in the question is NEARLY.

The Jesus sandal otherwise called huaraches are now my 'shoe' of choice when I'm not able to go completely nude with my feet. This is the style of shoe that is commonly found throughout history in native tribes around the world for there simplicity to make and high function and performance. Yes I said performance! It doesn't matter what your running times currently are in your shock absorbing, state of the art running shoes, an improper gait and foot strike pattern will lead to debilitating injuries somewhere down the road (pun intended).

If you like to run, I suggest you learn how to do it properly by researching the internet on the topic of forefoot walking and running, and/or come to me and I can analyze your current gait and help you realign your body to move more efficiently.

REMEMBER- Regardless of the 'barefoot' shoe you decide to try. Always start with walking before you try to run, this is especially important for well conditioned runners. The conditioned runner wearing running shoes is not ready for the jarring barefoot impact of an improper heel strike pattern that is associated with running shoes. I recommend walking for a couple months before progressing to speed walking for a few months. Then, if so inclined, gently start practicing forefoot running in the park for a few months before thinking about going back to the pavement treadmill. Ideally you wouldn't run on the pavement at all and would stick to grass, dirt, soil, sand, rock...you know, the earth! Enjoy! The earth under your feet is a great feeling!

Are You a Junk Food Junkie?

I'm that house that nobody likes on Halloween, passing out packs of cinnamon almonds and dehydrated cinnamon apples...

Figuratively of course. Nobody in their right mind would accept home made Halloween treats nowadays in fear of poisoning their children. But ironically, good spirited parents will allow their children to eat pounds and pounds of candy in the name of tradition that celebrates what? Dead people, evil spirits, ghosts, zombies, and diabetes and obesity?

To get an idea of the scale of damage of what your child brought home in his/her pillow case; the average Jack-O-Lantern bucket holds about 250 pieces of candy, which equals more than 10 thousand calories, and 3 pounds of sugar.

I'm not trying to ruin a great holiday that all kids and adults enjoy but this is one of the most important holidays to practice moderation and self control or you're setting yourself up well for a holiday season overwhelmed with sick days.

The easiest way to practice self control with junk food is to not have one single bite. AVOIDANCE. It is easier to avoid the pitfalls of junk food binges if you don't take that first bite that we always justify with the intention to stop at that bite. I am honest with my self and know that if I eat one piece, I will eat at least 6, just like if I eat one french fry or potato chip, I will eat them all. I recognize that food has serious addictive qualities hence the term JUNK FOOD JUNKIE. That's one thing that I can proudly say that I am not. My body operates on 0% junk and 100% nutrient dense vital life giving food...


Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. Mine was spent exploring some new professional options and climbing on quartz.

A Fermented Apple a Day Will Keep the Doctor Away

Raw apple cider vinegar has been a folk health remedy for centuries as fermentation goes far back in history. Hippocrates (known as the father of medicine) treated his patients with apple cider vinegar with much success. The health benefits of fermentation were later written about by the Bragg family as part of their natural hygienic approach to health (a natural health approach promoted by the Hippocrates Health Institute). The Bragg family name is well known in the health world as being proponents of natural health from the regular practice of fasting, eating an ultra clean organic vegetarian diet, optimal breathing, regular exercise, and plenty of water. They have proven by the example of many believers and followers that their diet will healthily sustain human life for well over 100 years, for some into their 120's!!

I highly endorse all of the Bragg books as valuable health references, but this blog is focused on one interesting nutritional practice that your grandmother could probably tell you a little something about and the Braggs dedicated an entire book on. The health benefits of fermentation, more specifically, apple cider vinegar.

Fermentation is a familiar process that we all are familiar with. The basic premise of fermentation is that live yeast and bacterias feeds off of sugar which results in the byproduct alcohol. When you continue to ferment, the alcohol will turn to vinegar. The living yeasts and bacteria feeding off of the sugars of the fruit produce enzymes and valuable nutrients that can help treat and prevent many illnesses and maintain good health.


Here are Some of the Possible Medicinal Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar:


-Detoxification: Helps to improve the rate of toxin removal and improve bowel irregularity

-Arthritis: May help with joint pain and stiffness

-Diabetes: Helps control blood glucose fluctuations when taken before and/or after meals.

-Weight Management: Helps lower appetite resulting in smaller, more appropriate portioned meals

-Weight Loss: Helps to break down body fat due to its content of acetic acid, which may also help prevent the buildup of body fat and fats accumulated in the liver

-Skin: When used externally, it can improve the condition of the skin by restoring pH balance. Used diluted with water (1 part ACV, 3 parts water), ACV can be used as a treatment for acne and dandruff

-Other Potential Medicinal Uses: Lowered blood pressure, lowered cholesterol, sore throat, allergies, heartburn, gout, flu, chronic fatigue syndrome


The benefits of raw apple cider vinegar result from the beneficial nutrients and enzymes it contains. Raw apple cider vinegar contains: potassium, calcium, acetic acid (slows digestion of starch and prevents fat storage), malic acid (anti-bacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal), pectin (regulate blood pressure and reduce bad cholesterol), and ash (helps maintain alkalinity and pH balance in body). Not all apple cider vinegars contain all of these medicinal ingredients. Only apple cider vinegar that has not been pasteurized and refined. It is only valuable as a health aid in it's natural state containing what Bragg calls 'the mother' which is the sediment that settle to the bottom of the bottle. The picture at the top is the apple cider vinegar that I recommend, it's made by Bragg and is found cheap in the natural section of every grocery store.

Here are my Favorite Recipes to Start Including ACV Into Your Lifestyle:

For a single serving

Pour a splash of ACV into a glass (start with about a 1/2-1 tbsp). Match amount of ACV with raw honey by eyeballing the level on the glass. Dilute with water, add cinnamon to taste. (Cinnamon also aids in the maintenance of blood glucose levels). Lower the amount of honey used as the ACV becomes more palatable.

This cider is especially delicious made with hot water on a cold winter morning!

To prepare for a full month or for a family

Pour 16 ounces of ACV into a gallon pitcher/jug. Add 1 can of frozen grape juice concentrate. Add up to 1 cup stevia (optional). Fill pitcher/jug with water and mix. Consume one or two half cup servings per day (morning and night) and add cinnamon with each dose. Dilute with more water if necessary.

BodProg

If you are honest with yourself about your fitness goals and you truly want to accomplish them, it is critical that you hold yourself accountable. One way that I hold myself accountable is I have a folder on my desktop entitled "BodProg". Having a folder in which I keep track of my progress easily accessible on my desktop keeps me extremely motivated to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Don't worry about weight anymore, focus on the visible results, since that is primarily what your goals are, to look better, right? When you stop focusing on the scale and start focusing on your appearance you are forced to face your insecurities head on. It's easy to quit when you're looking at a number on a scale that you can easily detach yourself from. But what you see in the mirror is nearly impossible to detach from. This is why it is such a powerful motivator. Body insecurities carry many emotions with them. When you force yourself to face them on a daily basis, you are more likely to stick to the plan and continue making serious healthy changes in your lifestyle.

I take a picture of my physique on a weekly basis. It's not because I'm obsessed with myself, it's because I'm obsessed with progress. Taking weekly pictures holds me accountable to a lifestyle that I am committed to maintaining, a lifestyle that results in low body fat and chiseled obliques.

We all have an image in our heads of what we want our body to look like. The problem for many is that the gap from where we're at to where we want to be is seemingly too large and will take too long. In the long process of struggle, we lose our motivation. In order to bridge that gap, we must become obsessed about what we want, all day everyday, not just during our workouts but while making food choices throughout the day.

Here's what I recommend to stay on track and reach your goals.

1. Take a picture of yourself on a weekly basis saving the picture as the current date. For example, the picture above was taken today and saved as 071211 (July 12, 2011).

2. Create a folder on your desktop entitled BodProg, or whatever works for you. Save all your pictures to the folder.

3. Before every meal, and every workout, take a look at your most recent picture and make a decision right there whether you are going to force progress or learn to love yourself the way you are (which is good too if you can honestly do so, but if you can't, FORCE PROGRESS).

4. Once you have decided to force progress, visualize your goal, and proceed with passion and consciousness. Make conscious decisions about everything that goes in your mouth. Ask yourself "Is this doughnut in alignment with what I want my body to look like?"

5. Love yourself by feeding your body large amounts of vital living foods that are full of minerals, vitamins, enzymes, anti-oxidants, and water.

6. Hate yourself by pushing yourself through a punishing workout that is guaranteed to inspire change in your body. (NOTE: don't really hate yourself, but use your insecurities and desire for change as a deep motivator to push through your limits)

No Space for Furniture, Plenty for Fitness

I currently live in a studio apartment with no furniture. I've had a lot of friends and family offer me a big screen tv, leather sofa, dresser, etc, and I politely had to turn them down. Truth is, I love my open floor space, my apartment is my laboratory. When watching television on my laptop, I push myself through tabata intervals on my airdyne and enjoy the nice cool breeze of the fan wheel, then I'll get into a steady row on my rower and finish with some rebounding on my mini trampoline. This workout followed by a cold shower is a daily routine for me to get my day started.

I've always loved home workout equipment and have been buying it since I was 13 years old. It all started with a couple pairs of dumbbells and quickly progressed to the Total Gym 2000. I enjoyed many long workouts on the Total Gym as a kid and even used it occasionally later in my career as a personal trainer. After watching the infomercials I had to buy one. I mean if Chuck Norris uses the total gym... I heard when Chuck Norris does push-ups, he doesn't move, the earth does... the Total Gym had to be the real deal.

Home exercise equipment has a bad reputation because most home exercise equipment lasts average people only a couple months before it begins to collect dust or ends up being sold to me on consignment from Play it Again Sports. To me, home exercise equipment is a solid investment that pays you back in health dividends as long as you are dedicated to use it. Home exercise equipment is great because when left out in plain sight, it will taunt you if you are being lazy. There is no excuse to not bounce on a mini trampoline or ride a stationary bike for a few 30 minute sessions every day when it is conveniently located by the television. This is especially true if you are like me and don't have any furniture.

If you are on a budget and can not buy a bowflex, or an airdyne, you can still have very effective and fun workouts at home with a couple peices of cheap exercise equipment found at any Walmart. Clear a little space in your living room and create an environment that is more functional for fitness. Here's what I suggest to get the most burn for your buck:


Mini Trampoline...$35

-Rebounding on a mini trampoline stimulates the lymphatic system into more efficiently clearing out the bodies wastes

-Easy on the joints. Rebounding puts about 1.5 times your bodyweight on your joints in a smooth bouncing motion while running causes about 8 times your bodyweight of joint jarring impact. This impact combined with dysfunctional postural alignment will undoubtedly cause injury.

-NASA uses rebounding to rehabilitate astronauts after being in space. Two weeks in space without gravity causes a loss of about 15% bone mass in astronauts. Rebounding is thought by NASA to be one of the best ways to quickly rebuild bone mass. This is excellent news for not only astronauts but people with osteoporosis.

-NASA has also found rebounding to be 68% more oxygen efficient than other forms of exercise. What that means is that you can exercise vigorously on a trampoline without feeling out of breath, but still gain the same benefits you would from jogging on pavement.

-Helps to strengthen your core (abdominals and lower back) when you bounce with good upright posture. Because of the fact that you must maintain good posture while rebounding, it is a great way to strengthen your overall posture. The gentle bounce along with some conscious effort to hold the shoulders and head back while maintaining neutral hips and straight feet, will help strengthen the muscles that are required to reinforce a better alignment.

-Improves balance and coordination due to the unstable surface and dynamic nature of the bouncing. Incorporates a greater percentage of the deep stabilizing muscles that are so important in injury prevention.

-Just like any other mode of exercise, rebounding will effectively improve your metabolism.

-Best of all, rebounding is fun, who doesn't like jumping on a trampoline?


You don't have to jump on the trampoline to get a good workout. Rebounding is as simple as maintaining good posture while gently bouncing up and down on your toes. Maintain a gentle bounce for 30 minutes and you will quickly realize how efficient the mini trampoline is as a fun mode of exercise. Advanced rebounders can run in place and jump more agressively, alternating single leg jumps as if skipping rope.



Exercise Ball...$15

Everybody knows what an exercise ball is and what it's for. Exercise balls are great for strengthening your core and have tons of great exercise possibilities. Here's a sample core workout of mine:


Full-Lever Sit Ups......25 reps
(full extension sit ups, let the back round around the ball all the way back and all the way up to sitting. No crunches!)

Back Hyperextensions....25 reps
(lay on ball, with fingertips by your ears, extend your back and lift your torso as high as you can, then lower and wrap around the ball)

Jackknifes.....10 reps
(hands on ground, top of foot on ball, drive hips straight up in the air while keeping your legs straight and rolling up onto your toes, then extend back down to the plank with feet on ball)

Knee Tucks.....20 reps
(hands on ground, top of foot on ball, tuck knees into your chest, then extend back to the plank with feet on ball)

Crunched Rotations.....50 reps
(hold the crunch position and slowly rotate side to side with hands together in front of your chest, can hold a medicine ball or dumbbell but not necessary.)

Reverse Plank.....Until form is compromised
(head and shoulders on ground, heels on ball, hold hips up and body straight)

Plank.....Until form is compromised
(feet on ground, hands on ball, keep hips up and body straight)

Circuit through core workout with minimal rest between each exercise, resting a couple minutes between each circuit. Adjust the exercise reps to your ability level and set a goal number of times to complete the circuit.

The addition of bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, squats, dips, pull-ups will make a well rounded full body workout that can be done in the convenience of your bedroom, in your underwear (personal preference), while watching your favorite television show or bumping your favorite music.

My 5 Go-To Herbal Teas

I am a naturopath and believe in the healing and preventative powers of natural herbs. The synergistic effect of a variety of herbal teas will have a huge positive impact on your health and vitality. Tea is possibly the most inexpensive yet effective medicine known to man so drink up! The easiest way to help maintain your good health in addition to a proper clean diet is to implement herbal teas into your lifestyle. These are my 5 go-to herbal teas:



Green Tea will always be my number 1 tea. I love the taste and green teas overall health properties can't be matched. I drink many cups of green tea every day and also supplement with the green tea extract EGCG.

-Helps prevent Artherosclerosis by lowering triglyceride levels

-Lowers total cholesterol and improves HDL

-Antioxidant content help protect against cancer

-May help reduce inflammation associated with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, the two types of IBD (irritable bowel disorders).

-Helps manage diabetes by helping to regulate blood sugar levels

-Helps protect the liver against harmful substances like alcohol. Helps to prevent liver disease.

-Helps boost the metabolism and burn fat helping in weight loss

-May benefit arthritis by slowing cartilage breakdown and reducing inflammation

-Helps prevent tooth decay


Yerba Matte

Refer to my blog titled "Yerba Matte, Green Tea on Steroids"


Chamomile

-Anti estrogenic, especially helpful when under an environmental onslaught of xenoestrogens that wreck havoc on your health.

-Has a relaxing effect on the body and mind, helping you manage stress levels during the day and calm you down at night helping you sleep.

-Soothes stomach aches, eases the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, promotes elimination, and assists in overall digestion

-Helps women with mentral cramps. Increases levels of glycine which help ease muscle spasms.

-In poultice form, chamomile increases the rate of the healing of wounds.

-Has antibacterial properties which helps preventing and fighting off colds.


Dandelion:

-Helps to stimulate bile production which improves digestion of dietary fats and assists in detoxification.

-Is a great diuretic which helps flush your kidneys of toxins and shed excess water weight that makes you look and feel bloated and puffy. A well hydrated body has no need to hold onto extra water, water retention is a sign of chronic dehydration.

-Dandelion root tea is effective in fighting major infections like pneumonia, bronchitis and even boils on the skin

-Mannitol, an active substance in dandelion, helps to lower blood pressure.

-Can help manage blood sugar levels, helpful with diabetes.

-Improves and maintains optimum liver, kidney, pancreas, spleen, stomach, and gall bladder functions.

-Helps stimulate weight loss, by it's powerful detoxification effect. Toxins are stored in fat, get rid of toxins=shrink fat cells.


Milk Thistle:

-Helps lower fatty deposits in liver and increases the flow of bile. Bile is used in the stomach to breakdown dietary fat.

-silymarin (the active substance in milk thistle) is thought to stop cancer cells from dividing and reproducing, and shorten their lifespan.

-Helps increase efficiency of the liver helping to lower cholesterol

-Helps manage diabetes by improving insulin resistance and decreasing blood sugar levels