It's A Full Time JOB to Stay Healthy In This World

It has been several weeks since my last blog, and frankly I just needed a break from feeling like blogging was a job (even writing a blog once a week sometimes feels like pressure). Writing is a passion of mine and I want to keep it that way, so when I am inspired and have something to say, I will. Today I do, and now I write.

I have been feeling like I need a suit of armor (or hazmat) to survive and stay healthy living on this planet. I know that sounds extreme, but lately that's how I feel. Sometimes reading and empowering myself with knowledge may not be such a good thing...I may now be thinking "ignorance is truly bliss." Have you ever noticed that just about everyday something else comes out across the wire that can be harmful to your health?...Egads!!...It is amazing people actually live past birth. Between our air and water being polluted, our food supply being sprayed and genetically modified, personal care products being filled with toxic chemicals penetrating our skin how do we even have a chance? And you think the western medical establishment and BIG PHARMA will help if we succumb to disease? Well think again...because that's a crap shoot as well. Like I have said over and over again, taking responsibility of ones own health is the first (and BEST) defense. Over the past month, I have made several very positive healthful adjustments to my lifestyle (and my husbands...he he) to help promote our best defense and increase "our" vitality.

Way Back in my early twenties (during the stone age), I became a vegetarian which lasted for about 17 years. I was later bamboozled into thinking animal-based protein was the very best source of the so-called highly nutritionally valuable macro-nutrient source, whereby having me start eating meat (poultry actually) once again. I became hooked on meat, and did buy into touting it's nutritional value trying to convince myself of it's worthiness. I did this for fifteen years until I recently decided to become a plant-based/whole grain eater once again, and honestly, it wasn't so difficult. The turning point for me was reading the book The China Study. I have read more books about nutrition, diet...yada yada over the years to realize this book really had me at "you want to know how healthy you are...look at the end of your fork" (also watching FOOD INC about 100 times). The author of this book says throughout "I am a researcher" and indeed he is. Not only is T. Colin Campbell a researcher, he is a very thorough one at that. His list of cited studies and references was the size of a small book. His argument for eating a plant-based, whole grain diet could not be disputed. While he does tout vegan-ism, vegetarianism is the next best thing so that I knew I could do with the intention to go vegan (someday?). Now the tough part was getting my 2 gallon a week milk drinking, cheese eating, carne asada burrito consuming husband to make that shift, and that was a whole other story. I decided to use the old "blood doesn't lie" trick and went straight to the cholesterol and triglyceride (he just had a physical and blood work done) in your face these are your levels.. truth. "You need to get those blood levels down especially now that you're in your fifties" was my rant and I used the book as proof. My husband is a "just the facts ma'am" guy, he wants legitimate cited studies, research, hard core proof...so then I knew I got him because this book has it all. Thanks to T. Colin Campbell and The China Study book, now Dennis is a transformed man (OK on his way to being a transformed man). It's been a week for him now, and I already see the changes and it's great. He may slip in a little meat here and there on the road to being a vegetarian, but I will take it...this is a major milestone.

As far as I go, well this week I ate just about completely vegan and I feel fabulous. I prepared my first all American vegan burger recipe (from my new vegan cookbook), which will be grilled tonight, and eaten along with accompaniments of fresh greens from the FM and (of course) wine (not giving that up). I must say vegan prep has a labor intensive learning curve, but definately worth time put in. I also went through my medicine cabinet, and storage drawers and threw out all the toxic sun screen, cosmetics, and personal care products that did not score above a 3 on http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ which amounted to a few hundred bucks worth. I decided our health and life was worth it. I am now using this website to restock my supply of just about everything which has now turned into another job. I have officially become a product researcher...OY Vey.

In this ever growing toxic world we live I believe the best defense starts at home, making positive changes using reliable, trustworthy resources (as in never believe the FDA) and yes it takes work to find them. And I am happy to pass them to you so you can have another job as well...

OK put on your HAZMAT suit and go out and enjoy the world!!!!

See you next time....

yours in Good Health ~ L

We Are Part of the Great Chemical Experiment

Being in the Health/Fitness industry for the last 100 yrs has put me in information overload with all the "stuff" out there that wants to infuse into my brain. I have decided it can only process and store so much, and frankly these days I just never know what to really believe, especially when it comes to nutrition and food. I have certain "guru's" I follow (Michael Pollan being one) that I trust and feel are worth my time to read what they have to say based on research they have done. So when my friend Barbara recommended I read "Organic Manifesto" by Maria Rodale I thought "hmm it's Barb recommending this", who is a trusted source of honest material, but do I want to bother to read yet another food/nutrition book? I waited a few days to see if I still had any interest and then ordered it. When it arrived, I saw it was only 200 pages and felt relieved. I decided to open it up and read the foreword by Eric Schlosser (which i usually skip) and the first three lines read like this:

Pesticides are poisons. They are manufactured to kill insects, rodents, fungi, and weeds. But they can also kill people.

Now I know this. That is the main reason why I have been eating organic for a while - to avoid the poisons. Pesticides and toxic sprays used by agri-business was something that was not new to me, but I kept on reading and it was the next few sentences that hooked me and made me angry and scared.

Organophosphates-one of the most common types of pesticide-were developed in Nazi Germany to be used as chemical weapons. It was later recognized that the same sort of nerve gases formulated to attack enemy soldiers and civilians could be used against agricultural pests

.....he then goes on to say that over the past 60 years a multitude of these same chemicals

have been applied to the American landscape on a massive scale.

Turns out the federal government has not done a pesticide use survey since 2001 because President George W Bush in his last year of office halted the program because spending 8 million dollars to conduct such a survey was too expensive. I am sure Dow Chemical and Monsanto had something to do with this decision no doubt. Schlosser goes on to give a conservative estimate of the current pesticide use in the US agri business as being

1.2 BILLION Pounds a year

which equates to being about 4 pounds of this toxic crap for every American man, woman and child.

I started reading last night and will probably finish this book in a day or so. I can tell you that this book is an extremely important book for everyone to read. Maria Rodale is no stranger to this area she is an expert and has the lineage to prove it. She has been "walking the walk" along with "talking the talk" for years because it's in her DNA. In case you recognize the name, her grandfather J.I. Rodale, launched Organic Farming and Gardening magazine in 1942 in addition to the organic movement. Then Maria and her father launched Prevention magazine in 1950. This woman does her research and it shows in this book. A word of warning...it is disturbing and it should be. It should disturb every single person who eats, breathes, drinks water and walks on soil enough to do something. And what can "we" do? is the question... Well first get the book and read it. Be angry. Be disturbed. Be scared....but don't be paralyzed and do nothing. This is your life, your food, your air along with everyone else on the planet and this includes your kids. The generations after us are who is in the greatest peril and it is with them in mind that we must DEMAND ORGANIC and demand it NOW.

Go to this link and read this interview with Maria Rodale

http://featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com/features_julieshealthclub/2010/03/maria-rodales-organic-manifesto.html

See You Next Sunday... Now go get this book and read it.

http://www.rodale.com/maria-rodale-organic-manifesto

Ciao ~ L

This is why I LOVE Sunday....

Last week I wrote about my 24 hour Vacation so this week I decided to video tape a snip it of it with my Flip Cam. As per my ritual, I woke up early and watched my favorite program CBS Sunday morning drinking my freshly brewed mega strong volcanic coffee laying in my bed. Once sufficiently caffeinated and full of knowledge from learning all about money on this mornings "The Money Issue" on Sunday Morning I proceeded to get myself ready to get on my bike....Oh yeah - Getting Dennis out of bed is always fun... So an hour later after I was all ready this was our morning...




Off to Eat now...

See Ya next week...

"Pollan" & "Oliver" are my HEROs

Michael Pollan RULES.... He's my HERO and I LOVE his message. One reason is, what he says is important...no, it's very important. It's life changing, because if you lose the most precious thing in your life (which is your health btw...) you are Done with a capital "D". If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Pollan, he is in my opinion the current expert on food. He is the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, discusses the link between healthcare and diet, the dangers of processed foods, the power of the meat industry lobby, the “nutritional-industrial complex,” the impact industrial agriculture has on global warming, and his sixty-four rules for eating. “ His message is very simple, "Eat Food, Mostly Plants and Not too Much" enough said. I heard an interview recently he gave on a program called Democracy Now, which of course I would like everyone on the planet to listen to, but if this gives even one person the impetus to listen I will feel good. This is what stuck with me the most in that interview:

"Of the money we spend on health care, about $2.3 trillion, three-quarters of that goes to treat chronic diseases that are preventable. Now, they’re not all food-related, but most of them are. You’ve got smoking and alcoholism in there, and I don’t know where you want to count alcoholism. But, you know, upwards of $500 to $750 billion we are spending to deal with the consequences of this diet. It’s remarkable it’s not a more central part of the conversation."

Health care costs which includes Health care insurance is a major concern for (I will go out on a limb here) 99.9% of the country (except for congress of course as they have GREAT medical insurance coverage). I hear conversations about this topic everyday whether it be on the news or between individuals just talking. It is on everyone's mind because it is so very important. But most are missing the mark, especially those in government who introduce and pass bills that (may or may not)go into law. "They" are missing getting to the root of the problem. "They" are attempting to try and fix a broken barn door well after the all the animals have escaped. The core of the problem is Food. The entire food industry needs a overhaul, because the way it is now it's like a slow growing cancer that is eventually going to kill us.

And now I go onto my next Hero....Jamie Oliver who just won the coveted TED prize. For those of you who are unfamiliar with TED (Technology Entertainment Design)well I urge you to go to TED.com and listen to the many TED talks that are available. I guarantee you will find it difficult to navigate away once you are sucked in. Listen to Jamie Olivers TED prize wish - http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html and this is why you should listen to him:

"Jamie Oliver has been drawn to the kitchen since he was a child working in his father's pub-restaurant. He showed not only a precocious culinary talent but also a passion for creating (and talking about) fresh, honest, delicious food. In the past decade, the shaggy-haired "Naked Chef" of late-'90s BBC2 has built a worldwide media conglomerate of TV shows, books, cookware and magazines, all based on a formula of simple, unpretentious food that invites everyone to get busy in the kitchen. And as much as his cooking is generous, so is his business model -- his Fifteen Foundation, for instance, trains young chefs from challenged backgrounds to run four of his restaurants.

Now, Oliver is using his fame and charm to bring attention to the changes that Brits and Americans need to make in their lifestyles and diet. Campaigns such as Jamie's School Dinner, Ministry of Food and Food Revolution USA combine Oliver’s culinary tools, cookbooks and television, with serious activism and community organizing -- to create change on both the individual and governmental level."

Now my wish would be for Mike and Jamie to combine their forces and actually make change happen. I realize this is a big wish but I can dream big can't I? Maybe, just maybe, something could actually be done to change Health Care but it's going to take each and every one of us to reform and make major changes in our personal food choices. As a collective society, if we begin to show the food industry we are not going to eat this crap (aka...fake food substances) anymore, maybe they will stop using dollars to manipulate the public, and actually put efforts toward helping us get healthier and lowering the 70% rate of preventable diseases we now have in the United States.
Wouldn't that be a hellava dream come true?

Inspire Change through EDUCATION

The "tag line" I use on my business card and wherever else I can put one is "Go beyond training be Educated" because that is truly the key to being empowered and getting control of your own health. Let's face it - NO ONE is going to take better care of YOU than YOU! It's time to stop giving all of our control away to an over loaded so called Health Care (really Sick Care) system. We all need to take the power back get healthy, stay healthy and stay away from having to use this broken system for diseases we can certainly prevent.

EDUCATION is the answer plain and simple. What is not easy is actually applying what we learn to help ourselves. This is where we fall off a cliff.

For some strange reason we think our body is not as important as our car or other material things when it comes to caring for it. Interestingly enough, those "things" can all be easily replaced and at a lot less cost then let's say a HEART for example. Yet, people still have a hard time doing the right thing to take care of this precious item that keeps us alive. We have one body that we get for an entire lifetime and we have the choice as to how we would like it to perform, feel, be around and what we want it to look like. This is very powerful, yet we give it away every single day by not paying any attention to what will nourish it and keep it running in tip top shape. We do better with our car. How nuts is that? Would you put sugar in your gas tank? Probably not, since common knowledge is that it will kill the performance of the car. Now, let's just apply this same knowledge to the human body and the same result will occur....crappy performance.

The human body NEEDS constant attention, care and maintenance in order for vitality and longevity to occur and have it stay out of the shop for expensive repair. A little knowledge backed up by effort goes a long way and reaps big rewards. It's really worth it to "take good care" of one's own machine.

So here's a thought....Make an effort to make a change toward doing something healthy each day. Start small (take the pressure off) and build from there. Eat a healthy breakfast rather than a poptart, take a 30 minute walk instead of opting to sit on the couch to watch a stupid sit-com, drink one less beer, smoke one less cigarette, buy one kind of organic fruit, eat a veggie burger instead of a beef burger. You don't have go out and run a marathon but maybe watching someone run one may inspire you to have that goal someday.

Educate yourself on the importance of proper nutrients, eating WHOLE FOODS grown from nutrient rich soil, exercise and building strong muscles including the heart, proper sleep and reducing stress. It doesn't have to be done all in one day but it does need to be done for longevity and living a rich and fulfilling life.