There is so much absent mindedness in our society with regards to our own health, everyday, it seems, news reports counter what they said just the previous week regarding how to maintain a healthy lifestyle. I hope this gives you food for thought

The Bad News: Neglect + Abuse = Early Death

I find it easier to separate the body from the mind, they both enjoy a mutually beneficial relationship, if you neglect one, the other suffers as well but the opposite is also true.
A growing proportion of the people in the industrialized world treat their dogs better then their own bodies. They feed it crap, give it little exercise and wonder why after decades of abuse, why their bodies systematically begin to fall apart leading to a premature death.

The Bad News: Things take time & Effort

If you are like a growing proportion of the worlds population, you have taken your body for granted for so long that it no longer knows how to react to physical or mental stresses that you NEED to place on it for lasting change. This will mean that to achieve realistic results, you will have to work harder then somebody who treated their body like a temple with proper diet and exercise. This is why it is always vital to get a full medical checkup before getting yourself into a serious (I mean serious) change in lifestyle. Simply changing the chairs on the Titanic is not what you need, you need a brand new ship going in the other direction.

The Bad News: Money cannot buy you health

All those magic potions, supplements and miracle powders will not get you the body of your dreams, they can “help” a little but they are absolutely no substitute for hard work - which includes sweat, sacrifice and monitoring. If you are serious about change, don’t waste your hard earned money.

The FANTSTIC NEWS: YOU CAN CHANGE THINGS!

It is NEVER too late to change the fate of your body, if you find yourself lethargic with what you have done to your body, don’t fear or drive yourself insane keeping the same habits that got you where you are now but expecting different results.

The Bottom Line

Take all the information you hear in the media with a grain of salt pinched with a heavy addition of skepticism. Moderation is always the key to life long health.

Mornings are the toughest part of the day when you are acquire “Old Man Syndrome” If you work in an office environment and get paid to sit on your ass all day… you probably already suffer from the “old man syndrome”.

What is “Old Man Syndrome”

Old Man Syndrome is a name I invented to describe how I was starting to feel every morning out of bed. Gone where the days where I could jump out of bed and right into the days tasks… I would wake up, feeling stiff all over and for a few minutes each morning, I might as well be 70 years old because my joints where very stiff and each movement was giving me pain. After realizing how this was slowly creeping up on me, I decided immediately to do some lifestyle changes to counteract these awful effects. I am 30 years old… not a 70 year old! I also suffered from a sore back most of the day and thank God I exercise regularly because I have no idea how I would get through the day without the activity.

A little background…

I am starting to realize how the panacea of having a “desk job” is just that, a mirage. I now think of my desk job as a slow health killer, just as bad as junk food and inactivity. Think about it… you sit ALL DAY with the only movement occurring is moving a mouse and typing on a keyboard. Back in the good old days when we where on the Serengeti trying to catch our meal, we would be moving all over the place - our minds have not left our ancestral lands and if you remember to an article I wrote a few weeks back… the body is in a constant state of decay unless you move, at which point it reverses into a body of rejuvenation.

Lessons from Bruce Lee

To say this guy was a fitness fanatic would be a huge understatement… from what I continue to read, he was always working out, moving his body day in and day out. He had an incredible physique and strength… one even worshiped today by even bodybuilders! He did two things right… he never sat motionless for any extended period of time and he was always pushing his body (and mind) into new areas. So I decided to apply some of his principles into my life, every hour throughout the day, I get off my ass and for 10-15 minutes, do some weight training at 50% max weight. If you do a bench press of 200 pounds, then 50% of that would be 100 pounds. I have my muscle groups divided up over the week to avoid over training and you know what… at the end of the day I am exhausted and feel great. I do all reps to exhaustion, usually getting 3 sets in the 15 minutes… remember, it is a continuous exercise with no rest and until exhaustion.

Lessons from my Dad

I have a lot of heroes in my life, people I try to emulate a small aspect of to improve my life but nobody has had such a positive influence on my life as my dad. When I was a kid, I would always see him take very good care of his health, would watch him exercise and admired his fearlessness at change. If something needed a change, he was already taking steps to build it into his habits. I told my dad a while back how I was getting back pain and was sore, it was different then the soreness you get the day after a great workout and he told me he had similar problems until he started stretching throughout the day. I started doing stretches but it never really caught on into my habits.

Bruce Lee + Dad = eradication of “Old Man Syndrome”

So combining these two principles in less then a week all symptoms of my syndrome have disappeared and I feel great! I dropped the regular weight training 4 times a week for about 30-45 minutes and replaced it with what is essentially 6 mini workouts throughout the day with stretching mixed in and regular walks lasting 1-3 hours daily. The other benefit to this type of workout is since I already eat 6-8x a day, I find my appetite has increased and stuff doesn’t “sit in me” as long as it use to. My weight as so far remained constant but I expect to lean out as I continue this workout.

Current Schedule: Still a work in Progress

Monday
3 morning workouts/stretch sessions lasting 8-10 minutes of Chest & Back
noon 30 minute walk
3 morning workouts/stretch sessions lasting 8-10 minutes of Legs & Calves
end of day walk, 1-3 hours

The Bottom Line

You are never too young to acquire “Old Man Syndrome” nor ever too old to get rid of it

No, I do not wish anybody to catch a disease or fall in a heap of health related problems but in building our section called “Famous People with Everyday Problems” for myfoodcount.com, I came to the conclusion that diseases and health problems are a GOOD thing for our society… let me explain

Are you nuts?

Well, actually I think the historical way of looking at people who have mental or physical challenges as sub-human or crazy is just plain wrong. Challenges no matter where they come from does hurt a lot of people who are not able to cope but for those who overcome their conditions… great benefits arise! Here are a few examples…

Why do health problems benefit society?

I think the reason why health benefits our society overall is because it helps all of us realize that nobody is immune to anything, sure our medical advances have “cured” many diseases but as soon as one problem is solved, a new one pops up. No, I think the real reason why health problems benefit our society is because it makes all of us realize how precious what we often treat as a comodity… health… really is. If I had to choose between a life of health or a life of wealth, I would ask if I could have both but if that wasn’t possible… health wins every time.

The Bottom Line

I hope you realize that no matter what you may have, you are not alone and don’t let your condition impose barriers on any goals you may have. I think life would be very boring if everybody was perfect without our individual kinks.

The link between Illegal Immigration and Global Exploitation must be broken! Each week, like clockwork, there is some national crisis in the USA that must be fixed. A few weeks ago it was the “Gasoline Crisis” followed by the “Darfur Crisis”� and for the past few weeks now, the needle has been stuck on the “Immigration Crisis”�. Like many others, these where a long time coming but due to the impotence of our leaders to make decisions, what was once a hot pot that could be managed has turned into an overflowing mess. As usual, everybody is to blame except those who could have helped blunt the crisis..

Extremes at either end of the scale can lead to health problems.

It seems that there are as many definitions of what vegetarianism is as there are people who practice it but using the dictionary, a vegetarian is an eater of fruits and grains and nuts; someone who eats no meat or fish or (often) any animal products. In layman’s terms, a vegetarian is somebody whose primary diet comes from plant based sources.

Vegetarianism… is it good for you?

You bet it is but as with anything else, if taken to an extreme it can become detrimental to your health as well. A diet rich in vegetables, fruits and nuts is very nutritious, full of all the vitamins and minerals your body needs to keep up with daily activities. Carbohydrates are the preferred energy source of the body and this diet has them in abundance. Plants also contain large amounts of indigestible cellulose (fiber) which is fantastic for cleaning out your bowels and keeping you regular naturally.

…but a vegetarian diet lacks calcium and protein needed by my body!

Actually, this is very untrue statement — a complete myth. Where do you think cows that produce milk get their protein? No, farmers don’t inject their cows or infuse calcium into their milk, cows get it naturally by just grassing on plants all day. You see, there is more calcium in plants then any milk you can drink. Especially green and leafy vegetables!

“Humans where designed to eat meat”

You are assuming we where designed… anyways, that is an argument for another day If you look at strict herbivores (plant eaters like cows), they have a very long intestinal track to allow them to squeeze out all the food stuffs they can from their diet but if you look at strict carnivores (meat eaters lions), you will see that they have a relatively short intestinal track for quick food processing. Humans “intestinally speaking” are neither carnivores or herbivores, we are in between — omnivores. We have evolved to be able to digest both meat and plant based nutrients as our intestinal track is right about in the middle of the two extremes.

What is the problem with an all meat diet?

The biggest problem with an all meat diet is the lack of fiber, unless you love to be constipated with clogged up bowels. Meat in itself is very healthy, it is very high in amino acid profiles (protein) and fats. It also has a nice nutrient profile and is a very dense source of nutrition. Problems arise because of the steroids, growth hormones and other “boosts” given to livestock to produce more meat in a shorter amount of time.

What is the problem with an all non-meat diet?

The biggest problem with an vegetarian diet is the shier amount of food you must eat to get enough protein and fats in your diet. Although if you plan out your diet throughout the day and have a very wide variety of foods you can easily manage this problem but to the unexperienced thinking that a vegetarian diet consists of eating cabbage and carrots all day, you are begging to be malnourished. If you are new to the world of plants, you are most likely not eating enough of them to get what your body needs from them. Plants also are sprayed with chemicals to keep pests away and even if they aren’t, they still take them up from the soil and air that surrounds them.

Which do you advocate?

Personally, I believe there is a reason why herbivores spend most of their lives eating while carnivores spend most of their life sleeping Many of the health problems people suffer from today is because they have gone to the extreme with either end of the spectrum. Ask any coroner where death begins and they will tell you “death begins in the intestines”, in other words, a bad diet no matter its source is a sure way to limit your chances of a long healthy life.

The Bottom Line

No matter your dietary choices, try to get it from as wide a variety of whole foods as you can.