One of the cooler things I did when I was younger, not that I’m that old… was to get my scuba diving license. Though I haven’t enjoyed scuba diving for a very very long time, the thrill of simply being able to breath under water never left me. What I also remember was how cool the cylinder looked, it wasn’t welded, but formed from a solid piece of Aluminium which to me, was always a mystery. I knew that this meal was malleable but after seeing this video, my interest and long-standing questioning was resolved. This is how they made them scuba tanks!
This video also explains why those tanks are so darn heavy too!
As my plan is to live well over a hundred years by following a very healthy lifestyle full of whole foods, vigorous exercise and lots of mental activities, I found this Ted talk by Dan Buettner rather interesting. Here is the embeded video followed by a summary of the talk’s key points. If you wish, you can read more about Dan here.
Lecture’s key points:
based off the studies of twin lifespans, it’s been calculated that less than 10% of our longevity is based directly off our genes with 90% being dictated by our lifestyle.
there is a lot of confusion regarding optimal health and lifestyle choices
a team of experts visited and studied extensively the lifestyle of populations known to live a long, healthy life with few health complications. These four areas are known as blue zones and include Costa Rica, Okinawa, Sardinia and California
longevity myth #1: you can’t wish yourself to live longer, no matter how hard you try because we are built to multiply, not live long. Your chances of living to 100 are 1 in 5 000 currently within America.
longevity myth #2: treatments exist that can slow aging. Our bodies have 35 trillion cells… there is simply too much we don’t understand and that can go wrong to possibly know what works and what doesn’t. These cells are completely replaced every 8 years and each time, genetic and cellular damage occurs which builds up exponentially.
a 65 year old senior ages 125x faster than a 12 year old child
the capacity of the human body to sustain your life is about 90 years, slightly longer for woman
in the highlands of Sardinia, there is a place where old age is a given, with 10x more centenarians than in America! They are also healthy, working and enjoying a vigorous lifestyle. Here, men live older than woman.
diet consists mostly of plant based and whole foods made and found locally using naturally sourced products high in Omega-3 fatty acids
they are mostly shepards, so they enjoy an active lifestyle throughout their lives
they enjoy wine which has 3x the amount of polyphenols than any other type in the world (this is a strong anti-oxidant)
the older you get, the more wisdom and acceptance you get within the social structure of the Sardinian society
on the island of Okinawa, in the northern part of the island, the oldest female population can be found
here they live a long time, die quickly with little health problems in between
5x the number of centenarians with a fifth of the cancer compared to America
they have a mostly plant based diet that consists of smaller calorie dense foods – they stop eating once their stomach is 80% full
isolation is known to shorten lifespan, so the Okinawans have a system in which they develop lifelong friendships
American’s have adopted a lifestyle that can be divided into two categories, work and retirement but in Okinawa, there is no word for retirement. They simply live by a motto which means “the reason you wake-up in the morning is ___”
in America, it’s the 7th Day Adventists found in California which live the longest, the study that the numbers come from tracked 70 000 people for 30 years
they don’t eat a lot of meat, for 24 hours a week they stop everything and focus onto their social being and doing nature walks
things that all these “high longevity cultures” have in common
they all do daily physical activity that isn’t overly strenuous on their body or joints
they have the right outlook on life and a purpose that drives them on a daily basis, they purposefully slow their lives down to deal with built-up stress
they all take some “time off” to reflect or to relax on a very regular basis
they eat food based on what is found around them and it forms the majority of their diet
they eat mostly plant based foods, a little wine and rarely till they are absolutely full
they put their families and relatives first in their lives and have strong social contacts
longevity has no short term fix
The Bottom Line
A long, healthy life is a choice that involves incremental and small proactive steps through ones life.
I’ve now launched my latest book, Transforming Your Life From Blah To Legendary!: A Guide For Massive Positive And Lasting Changes In Your Life as a PDF Downloadable book using the WoodMarvels.com e-commerce system. This means that you can now get this book within a few minutes right onto your own computer if you do not wish to wait to get a physical copy or live where it isn’t available.
About Transforming Your Life From Blah To Legendary!
I decided at a very young age that I didn’t want a “normal life” and, through the years, have developed habits and studied how to improve the efficiency of my life, the thoughts, ideas and concepts from a lifetime of lessons are synthesized within this book. I had also read more than my fair share of motivational books and from those experiences, wrote mine to use extensive imagery using a comic strip of characters to help bring some humor to the information being given as well as a step-by-step guide. My hope is that this book can help turn your life into one that is remembered far after you are gone.
Where to find
You can find Transforming Your Life From Blah To Legendary! at WoodMarvels.com under Special / Books in the top navigational bar.
I started on my second book, part inspirational, part workbook and all passion. I originally started on this book on Feb 8th of this year and it has taken me till the 26th to get it proofed, laid out and a host of other changes before it became available on Amazon! (read about it here)
What did I learn publishing this book?
A hell of a lot, my first book, WoodMarvels.com: Top Sellers took about as long to publish and in hindsight, this one blows it out of the water regarding what I learned.
Get your proof proofed several times and double-check it digitally before requesting another one! I went through 6 proofs of this book because there was always one small thing that was missed which added well over two months to the publishing date.
Colors are a pain in the ass! My cover and inside was originally all full color, color correcting over 70 images isn’t any fun so I simply did everything in full color but decided to get it printed in gray scale to save me the trouble except for the front cover.
Have a good internet connection! Uploading a 200mb file several times isn’t any fun.
If you are not an American, you cannot get your book released on Kindle! Originally this book was to be Kindled but a few days ago, I was told this was no possible… I guess somebody forgot to tell this to J. K. Rowlings.
Why is this book special?
Other than the fact that there is a heck of a lot of work, which I did all myself, from layout, publishing, graphics, comic strip etc… I’ve read more than my fair share of self-help and motivational books out there and this one is the only one I know that has a mixture of humor, comics and simple task based projects.
Why is your name not on the cover?
Well, this is a book to help YOU transform your life… I though it would be silly to stick a big picture of ME on there with my name in bold letters. I’m taking a different approach towards self-help books… in that the focus is 100% on YOU, not the author.
Can I view a sample?
Absolutely, follow this link to view inside the book – be warned though, as of writing this blog, Amazon seems to have stuck a very early proof in the book in the “Look Inside” feature. I’ve just uploaded the correct versions of all these with the inside in gray scale and the cover looking far better, I figure it will be a few days before they update it. Somebody screwed-up somewhere and it should fix itself soon enough.
No actually, I’m less than a month away from releasing my second volume of WoodMarvels.com with 4 pages shy of 200 and a wicked upgrade from my first one… using what I learned from my first volume and this one has taught me how to do things right in the publishing world! Also, my science fiction story 2847AD is slated to be moving along in a few weeks as well. Stay tuned!
I saw this video yesterday about what happens to male chickens (chicks) in the poultry industry as was thoroughly surprised to say the least. I had *assumed* (a very bad word and set of ideas) that, like cows and other animals, they were fattened-up for slaughter like their female counterparts. It still isn’t pretty, but this is how our food supply is grown. Nope, these baby male chicks, a few minutes after being “hatched” by a machine get their beaks cut and then are ground-up alive.
Does this video convince me to become a Vegan or Vegetarian? Nope, but I can’t say I eat much chicken anyhow as, although healthy, it just doesn’t taste good in my opinion. Salmon or tuna are far healthier in every way than chicken.
At least the females get to live right? Well, give this video to watch their fate. I’m not sure if it’s much better then that of male chickens. If I had a choice, I would ask to be born as a male chicken to be honest.
Symptom of a larger problem
Alright, that was disturbing wasn’t it! Well, this is nothing compared to what humans are doing on a daily basis across various fields, from open pit mining activities to the incredible waste involved with clear cutting entire forests or deep ocean trawling. The reason why our species has done so well on Earth is because we are very good at controlling information (preventing others from seeing the truth), gathering once a resource is found (exploiting it with little regard as to the consequences that may happen to others) and continuing this myth regarding the importance of ourselves above all other creatures.
We have a serious Napolean complex, species wide, when it comes to the rest of the natural world. I sure hope that if aliens ever come to visit us, they don’t treat us the same way we treated Earth or its other living citizens.
What is the solution?
I think videos like this, and there are no lack of them relating to just about every intensive industry out there, should be used as a warning. I don’t believe in God nor any type of higher being but I do believe that what you sow, you will reap. As such, treating life no different than if it was a rock has and will catch-up to us big time in the future. What can we do to solve this situation? I think the first is a return to community based farming practices. For instance, it makes no sense why eggs need to be shipped all around the country (or world for that matter)… setting-up small regional co-ops for plant and other nutritional requirements needs to go away from this industrial scale enterprise back into small ones where children can learn about the food they eat and the real work involved with traditional farming.
I have no problem eating chicken or other animals, I am not nor will I ever become a vegetarian, but this senseless, unnecessary cruelty we are so well at perpetrating really needs to stop.
Humans are worse!
Considering the trillions of dollars spent every year on technologies that are dedicated towards the destruction and killing of other people (the military), humans may treat other animals badly but we also invest in the capabilities of spreading this ability onto others of our own race! I don’t know of any other animal that, on a daily basis, tries to develop weapons that will more “easily” kill another of its species. Nature is cruel, but because of our evolved consciousness, instead of trying to reduce the amount happening around us, we seem hell-bent on bringing it up to a whole new level due to insecurities, failures and unfounded fears.
The Bottom Line
When humans lose touch with nature, industrial farming practices are able to thrive.
The LegendaryLife.com Blog is all about making not only the most out of your life but making it a successful one. Be warned though, it may cause you to think about things that others do not want you to.
took about as long to publish and in hindsight, this one blows it out of the water regarding what I learned.
