Sunday Story…No More Resolutions

Every year about this time the media is filled with talk about New Year’s Resolutions. Every year about now many of us start talking about how we are going “lose weight” or “get in shape”, or “eat better”, or “go to the gym”, or, or. STOP doing this now. Resolutions are weak. Most of us never get close to completing our resolutions. We might get a few weeks or even a month or two but we rarely complete those resolutions. Then about this time of year we look back and realize all those things we wanted to accomplish but never did. And we start the cycle all over again.

Stop making resolutions and start setting goals. A resolution is a vague conceptual idea of something you want to have happen (if it isn’t too hard or it doesn’t take too long). A goal is S.M.A.R.T….Specific, Motivational, Accountable, Realistic and responsible, Timely.

Last year I decided it was finally time for me to get fluent in Spanish. I have taken first year Spanish about 6 times and still can barely hold a rudimentary conversation. 2012 was going to be my year to finally get real with Spanish. I got my hands on the Pimsleur course and got through about 18 ½ hour lessons. This is not even the whole 1st lesson set. The 3rd and 4th boxes have never been opened. What happened? It was a resolution, not a goal. Although it was specific---become fluent in Spanish, it did not have a time limit, it did not have the motivation---the why of doing it, it was realistic and responsible.

So here is the S.M.A.R.T. goal: On or before September 1st 2013 I am fluent in Spanish (notice the goal is stated in present tense like it has already happened)…I will finish unit 1 by February 28th, unit 2 by April 30th, unit 3 by June 30th and Unit 4 by August 30th. I will do this by doing one lesson (or more) every other day. During this process I will start a conversation with a Spanish speaking person once in January, twice in Feb. and increase by one every month until September when I have at least 9 conversations during the month with different people. Obviously by announcing this in this forum I am accountable to each of you as well. I will also place this goal on my project board in my office so I can see it every day and be reminded of the goal. This is a doable goal; it doesn’t over reach my time restrictions or ability. It has a set time for beginning and ending.

I have talked with many of you about doing the “dare” or the “double dog dare” starting on January 2nd. That goal might look or sound like this: On January 30th I completed a 30 day course of eating no grain, no dairy, no sugar, and no legumes. I did this by eliminating all banned food from my pantry and refrigerator by Jan. 2. I will prepare my food on the weekend for the coming week and I will avoid temptation by not eating out or allowing myself to be caught without healthy food choices nearby (this is the specific and small breakdown of the goal). At the end of the 30 days I will feel healthier, my clothes will fit better, my immune system and my digestive system will work better, my skin will be clearer, and my sleep will be more restful (this is the motivation part!) I will let my friends and family know about this shift I am doing in my eating lifestyle. I will ask for their help and understanding in my journey. I will post my new eating lifestyle on my refrigerator so I can see it every day (this is the accountability part). I will read the books and the articles about eating this way so I can be properly informed. I will follow the recipes and the menus. I will be responsible and ask for support from my fellow challenge participants (responsible and realistic). I will do this for 30 days (the month of January and at the end I will be happier and healthier and I will meet all the challenge participants for a potluck meal on Saturday Feb. 2nd.

Make all your goals SMART and see your results skyrocket. Specific, measurable, motivating, attainable, accountable, responsible, realistic, timely and touchable goals are goals you will achieve.

I hope to see all of you on Tuesday for the kick off of the Food and Fitness Challenge at either noon or 6PM. If you can’t make those times, let me know I will make sure you get a packet of all the information.

Oh and Happy New Year…I hope 2013 will be your best year ever!

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story…Taking the Dare?

If you are up to taking the Double Dog Dare I issued last week you should be getting prepared right now. But maybe you just want to take a single dare? Or maybe just a double dare?

I am going to let you in on a little secret…there are three levels of commitment for this dare.

First and most committed (double dog dare):
Clean out your pantry and your refrigerator of any and all food that does not fit into this description…meat, vegetables, fruit, seeds, nuts. Get rid of all processed food…all of it. This includes most condiments, by the way, as most of them have added sugars and chemicals that are forbidden on this dare. Throw away all dairy products except pastured butter…all of them, yogurt and cheese included. Keep all your herbs and spices. Keep your olive oil and other healthy oils (walnut, avocado, coconut).

Next get to the store and buy more of the food on the allowed list: meat, vegetables, fruit, seeds, nuts. Try to buy organic if you can but if you can’t you can’t. try to buy grass fed beef if you can, sustainably raised chicken and pork, pastured eggs and butter but if you can’t you can’t. Don’t sweat it and don’t not pay the mortgage in order to eat.

Last get to www.thefoodee.com for recipes and ideas for cooking all this food. Spend an afternoon cooking food for the week if you can…I like chicken drumsticks…cheap and simple to cook just put them in a baking dish and dust with paprika, garlic powder and pepper…cook uncovered in the oven for 45 minutes at 350 degrees…easy to eat, easy to transport, and healthy.


Second and the mid-level commitment (double dare):
Get into the pantry and refrigerator and throw out all the worst offenders…the cookies, the sugary desserts, the BREAD and all WHEAT products. Wheat is probably the worst offender in your kitchen…stop the wheat madness now! Segregate or put in storage all the food you just can’t get rid of…out of sight out of mind (we hope!). Eliminate all white, brown, powdered sugars and if you must sweeten try stevia, (best), local honey, maple syrup (real not the fake crap most stores sell), or agave syrup.

Next get to the store and buy more of the food on the allowed list: meat, vegetables, fruit, seeds, nuts. Try to buy organic if you can but if you can’t you can’t. try to buy grass fed beef if you can, sustainably raised chicken and pork, pastured eggs and butter but if you can’t you can’t. Don’t sweat it and don’t not pay the mortgage in order to eat.

Last get to www.thefoodee.com for recipes and ideas for cooking all this food. There are lots of ways to prepare the food that are tasty and fun. Boil a dozen eggs to take in your lunch…3 eggs on a salad (filled with lots of different veggies) with olive oil and vinegar and its lunch!


Third and the simplest level of commitment (single dare):
Dump the bread! All of it…the bagels, the croissants, the muffins, the cereal, anything made with any form of wheat flour. If you want to take it a step further and I highly suggest this…get rid of all wheat products in your house. Two weeks after this change…Dump the Sugar. Anything made with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, honey any kind of sweetener at all has to go. These two changes will give you the biggest bang for your buck and although the shock to your system will still be great it shouldn’t be horrible.

Next get to the store and buy more of the food on the allowed list: meat, vegetables, fruit, seeds, nuts. Try to buy organic if you can but if you can’t you can’t. try to buy grass fed beef if you can, sustainably raised chicken and pork, pastured eggs and butter but if you can’t you can’t. Don’t sweat it and don’t not pay the mortgage in order to eat.

Last get to www.thefoodee.com for recipes and ideas for cooking all this food. If you can’t cook at all…learn! It is not rocket science and you can do it. Start simple with ingredients you can understand and methods that are clear. With no bread you may wonder…what’s for lunch? Soup and salad are always good choices…or wrapping a burger in lettuce…or a chicken drumstick or two along with some asparagus or broccoli (raw or cooked).


No matter what your level of commitment…this is your life and your health you are doing this for. Cutting out the wheat will make you feel better, look younger and have more vitality. Cutting out the sugar will increase and level out your energy throughout the day. You won’t feel the need to suck down a pot of coffee to stay awake. Your brain will clear of the fog it normally sets in and your joints may stop aching.


I want to be clear about this…I am on a mission to achieve OPTIMUM health and fitness for myself and everyone I can influence to start thinking the same way. Notice the word OPTIMUM. I define OPTIMUM as the absolute best, the top, and the pinnacle the it doesn’t get any better than this point in the journey. Then we are going to stay right there or get even better. This is a journey not a destination and honestly it has been one I have been on for a very long time.


You can do this. I will help, including coming to your house and cleaning out the food, going shopping with you, giving you recipes and menus and being your cheerleader. Your life is at stake. Everyone I know who has taken the plunge and stayed with this way of eating has lost weight without trying or feeling deprived, started thinking clearer, felt more energetic and started enjoying eating and the process of nourishment more than ever before.


January 2nd…Your day of liberation from the addiction to sugar, wheat, and processed edible non-food products. Call me, write me, or show up here and we will start you on the path to Optimum Health!


Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...A Double Dog Dare

I have to admit I have no idea what a “double dog dare” really is. It is something I remember my children saying and doing. But it is a really big dare and one you just can’t walk away from without a huge bit of shaming and ridicule. At least if what I have seen people do after being double dog dared to do something is any indication.

So here is your double dog dare: Starting on January 2nd 2013 go 30 days with no grain, no sugar, no dairy, no legumes, no alcohol, and no processed food (yes this includes all forms of soda and other beverages with processed ingredients). None, nada, zip, zero. There. It is that simple. Its only 30 days. Start on the 2nd and finish on the 31st. No excuses, no reasons why it won’t work for you, no cheat days, and no whining.

Here is what will happen:
Depending on your level of addiction the first 3 to 14 days will be hard, very hard. You may feel tired, cranky, out of sorts, hungry, craving sugar and your body might hurt. You might have low energy, feel like something the cat drug in, and you digestive tract may be off in some way.

You may not know what to eat (especially for breakfast).

You will start rationalizing your way out of the activity…just one won’t hurt, this is stupid, no-one really eats this way, blah, blah, blah.

Remember you took a double dog dare…it is as serious as the pinky shake and we all know how sacred that is!
After about 2 weeks your energy level will increase into an area you didn’t know existed.

Your digestion will become more and more regular.

Your blood sugar (if you are tracking that one) will become more constant.

Your sleep will become more consistent and deeper and more restful.

Some of your auto-immune system symptoms may decrease or disappear.


Here is what you do:
Spend the next 2 weeks getting ready. Go here: http://www.thepaleosecret.com/resources/getting-started/ and learn more, then follow the directions.

Here is the basis of this dare:
http://www.thepaleosecret.com/2012/08/20/the-paleo-secret-30-day-challenge-2/
This is not some fad thing (unless 2 million years of evolution is a fad).

Over the next 2 weeks get to the right stores:
The Great Basin Food Co-Op (Flint and court streets off Arlington south of the river… http://www.greatbasinfood.coop/)
Trader Joes
Whole Foods Market
168 Asian Market (on So. Virginia north of Moana a few blocks). There are some other Asian markets (one off Prater and Rock)
Farmer’s Market near the House of Bread on select Saturdays during the winter

Go to:
www.theFoodee.com (the Foodee Project) for recipe ideas you can find lots of links to other recipe sites that utilize the same real food ingredients

Read:
The Paleo Diet by Loren Cordain… http://thepaleodiet.com/
The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf… http://robbwolf.com/ (a personal friend of mine by the way.)

On January 2nd, hit the ground running.

This is not complicated so don’t over analyze and try to figure it all out. Eat real food. Stop eating processed edible non-food products. Eat more fat…by the way fat does not make you fat. If you don’t believe me just look around you at all the people eating low fat diets and ask yourself why they are all over weight. It also turns out that cholesterol and saturated fats don’t give you heart disease…check with Dr. Oz if you want and his interview with Dr. Davis the author of “Wheat Belly “ (another book I recommend) here: http://www.doctoroz.com/episode/are-you-addicted-wheat?video=15896 and watch all 3 of the episodes.


We are going to do this 30 day challenge here at the studio. We will provide support, recipes and menu plans. We will have a little contest involving daily workouts, eating clean and there may even be a prize for all our finishers.

I have been eating this way for more than 2 years and can tell you I have never been healthier or felt better. I never feel under nourished or deprived. I am a huge believer in the lifestyle that eats this way. I want you to join me…go ahead I double dog dare you!

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...You Got to Move It

Sunday Story…You Got to Move It

You got out of bed and sat down at the breakfast table, maybe slumping over a bit as you read the paper, watching the news or read the back of the cereal box (the same one you read yesterday by the way). Then into your car for the commute to work…which might be 30, 40, 50, minutes or more. Entering your office you proceed to spend the next few hours sitting in a chair, bent over looking at reports, staring at a computer screen or making notes from the boring and meaningless meeting you are required to attend. Then it’s back in your car for the commute home, sitting at the table for dinner, then over to the couch for some T.V. time or maybe your home office chair for some home-work or recreational computer time. Do you notice a pattern here?

Maybe somewhere in there you went to the gym for some “cardio” on the bike or the stair stepper or the treadmill where you also slumped over reading this week’s People or Time magazine. 30 or 40 minutes 3 times a week is what all the “experts” say you need to do to be healthy and fit. And yet…
You hurt. All the time you hurt and you hurt all over. Maybe you had a trauma, an accident some injury that was unpreventable but more likely you are victim of your own ennui. There you are…a new syndrome…”ennui-itis” or injury caused by lack of movement and more specifically lack of proper movement. There are thousands (if not millions) of people suffering the devastating effects from this horrible condition. And you don’t have to take my word for it, all you have to do is go down to your local senior center or nursing home and you will see people unable to walk with a straight spine or unable to look up. This is not the normal state of the human condition.

You were made to move. Look at your body…from your feet to your head all your joints articulate and move in several directions. They are made to bear weight. They are made to extend and contract, your muscles are there under whatever you have covered them in; your nervous system is conditioned from birth to handle the stress of movement. Yet we have spent the last few hundred years devising ways that will allow us to move less. True, we can move longer distances faster and more efficiently but our bodies no longer participate in the getting us from point A to point B and beyond. Instead we hop on a plane and go thousands of miles to arrive and just sit around more.
Maybe you are one of the lucky ones…the ones aware enough to know you need to move more and better but you just aren’t sure what that is going to look like. So we do crunches and sit ups and bench presses…all exercises designed to improve your “front”…the parts you can see in the mirror. But what you really should be concerned with is the part you can’t see...your posterior chain from your mid back down to your knees. Remember back when you were a kid and someone was always saying “sit up straight” or “stand up straight”, “fix your posture” and things like that?

The fix for your pain is simple. Start moving and start moving properly. Lift heavy things once in a while. Run really fast (or swim or bike or row) occasionally. Walk more, a lot more. Stretch and work on your flexibility and your mobility regularly (like every day or so.) Make it fun and enjoyable...this should not be tedious and it certainly shouldn’t show as work. Hire someone to help you (I am available!) The penalty for not moving is also very simple…more pain which will have you move less, which will give you more pain which will give you more pain and on and on and on until you need a handful of drugs every day just to get out of bed and another handful to go to sleep at night. All of which will contribute to not wanting to move, stand up straight, or walk to the mailbox.

The only real question you should want to answer at this point is this: Why aren’t you taking steps to live in less pain and more health?

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story…the Only 3 Reasons You Really Need to Improve Your Diet

Sometime this whole food thing can appear really complicated. It isn’t unless you choose to make it that way. You can go down the road that says only eat this or that or the one that espouses some weird ”franken-food” processed thing that you shake up twice a day, or count all your calories or count all your carb grams or your fat grams or fiber grams. But it does not need to be that onerous.

Food is simple. Eating food is simple. We seem to be filling some strange need to make it more than that. That science can make food better than nature. I think not.

You can rationalize any food choice you make by the way. Recently I heard this one…”well wine is from grapes and grapes are paleo so wine is OK, right?” Sorry, no dice. But if that reasoning works for you go right ahead and use it. Just understand you are not being completely compliant. I made a raw chocolate banana pie for dessert on Thanksgiving and it was delicious and I enjoyed every bite but because it had honey in it, it was not 100% compliant with the no sugar part of my eating plan. But I did enjoy it. And that is O.K., as long as I don’t make a habit of it.

Just to iterate this simple and easy and cheap way of eating:
Eat meat
Eat vegetables
Eat seeds and nuts
Eat healthy fats
Eat fruit occasionally
Don’t eat sugar
Don’t eat grains
Don’t eat legumes
Don’t eat dairy
Don’t eat processed edible food-like substances

Simple, easy and cheap if you do it right. But if all you do is substitute processed crap for processed gluten-free crap then no it isn’t cheap.

Here are the 3 reasons to do this:

You will feel better
You have no idea how much your body is struggling to process the junk you are putting in it. Grains create an inflammatory response in your digestive system…this, in turn, creates inflammation in your body which is considered the source of most illness and all chronic diseases. The same problem exists for dairy…your body is trying so hard to extract the poor nutritive quality of dairy that it begins to fail miserably at doing the things it should be doing. Sugar acts on the same receptors in your body as the opiate class drugs do. When you do this diet you will have a week or two of withdrawals…just like any other addiction. But this will pass.

You will perform better
When you fuel your body with the nutrients it was made to receive your performance will improve. Whether that performance is on the playing field or just chasing kids around the house you body will start operating the way it was meant to operate instead of spending all of its time trying to get rid of toxins or process crap food into something salvageable for energy. You don’t have to be an elite level athlete to appreciate this. It is not normal for all your joints to hurt when you get out of bed or out of the chair. It is not normal to be tired all the time, it is not normal to sleep poorly and it is not normal to get sick all the time.

You will think better
Your brain function is closely related to how well your digestive system is working. Your brain needs fat to survive…if you could stop all fat ingestion your brain would begin to fail. As it is your brain (if you are burning sugar for fuel) is burning the wrong fuel for proper performance. It is not normal to go through life in a fog of unclear thinking. It is not normal to need caffeine to stay awake. It is not normal to forget simple things. All of these things are symptoms of poor eating choices. Today I was going through Costco and sampled some dark chocolate almond cherry clusters…I had a gut ache in moment and almost immediately felt like my brain was in mud. It passed after about 30 minutes but it was not worth the few seconds of fleeting taste sensation I enjoyed…the chocolate pie on the other hand…

Here is the bottom line:
Eat real food.
Stop making excuses for not eating real food.


Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...10 Great Excuses to Eat Bad Food (part 2)

Food plays a central part in everyone’s life. Although we don’t have to forage and hunt for our daily meal we do have very tough choices and a huge amount of conflicting information about what we should and shouldn’t eat. Here are some of my favorite excuses for poor (processed, sugary, bad fat) food choices. With a slightly incredulous tone of course!

I can’t eat (fill in the blank ---vegetables, broccoli, fish), I don’t like the way it tastes
Two choices…1. You are a grown up, get over it. 2. You are a grown up, figure out a way to get the same thing without opening a box or a can of crap. I do not like split pea soup, never have. Won’t cook it for myself but if I go to your house I will eat it without a word (but I will decline a second bowl, thank you!)

Diets never work for me and I have tried them all
I agree with this one. Stop dieting. Stop counting calories, measuring portions, drinking a shake in the morning and one at night, buying pre-packaged diet food designed to separate more of your money from your wallet than fat from your body. Don’t diet…EAT REAL FOOD. Food that came out of the ground somehow. Food that did not come from a box or a can or a vacuum packed envelope.

That’s the way my parents ate and look at them!
The food your parents ate and the food you are eating are not the same and it is even more obvious when we look at our grandparents. The current generation of children (the ones born after the year 2000) are projected to be the first generation that does not outlive their parents. 16% of children today are already obese and 35% of adults…that is obese, not just overweight. And it is getting worse. By the year 2030 it is predicted that, at the current rate of increase, 42% of adults will be obese and in some states it will be 60%. (http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/18/health-obesity-us-idUSL1E8KHGGJ20120918 ) Maybe eating at Mom’s isn’t such a great idea (not my Mom’s of course!)

Michael Phelps eats a ton of fast food and he is an Olympic champion
And the last time you swam 20,000 yards was when? I mean do you really want to compare yourself to an 18 year old multiple Olympic Gold medal winner? The question is this…how good could he have been if his training table was filled with nutritious healthy food? You and I do not need to eat 12,000 calories a day to maintain our training regimen. We need to eat food designed to promote health and fitness.

I don’t like boring food
Here are the 5 recent recipes on www.thefoodee.com:
Bacon butternut squash soup
Bacon-chanterelle Lamb Roast
Roast Beef with mushroom-brandy sauce
Grilled chicken with Greek sweet potatoes
Paleo Cranberry sauce
Boring? I think not. The soup takes 15 min to prepare and an hour to cook. Anyone could do it. But then you would have to start tasting what real food taste like again.

The Bottom Line
It doesn’t have to be expensive (stop replacing cheap crap food with expensive crap food…just because it says gluten free or lactose free doesn’t mean it is any better for you). It doesn’t have to be time consuming or hard unless you want to make that way. It won’t be boring if you open your mind to something besides boiled chicken and steamed broccoli. “They” make more money form you being sick and tired than “They” will ever make from you being fit and healthy. Don’t diet, eat real food prepared in a real kitchen by a real person (Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines are long gone and beside they never really put that crap in the box anyway) with real care and love. You will eat less, you will feel better, you will perform better, and you will be healthier.

Call me…I can help.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...10 Great Excuses to eat Bad Food (part 1)

Food plays a central part in everyone’s life. Although we don’t have to forage and hunt for our daily meal we do have very tough choices and a huge amount of conflicting information about what we should and shouldn’t eat. Here are some of my favorite excuses for poor (processed, sugary, bad fat) food choices. With a slightly incredulous tone of course!

It’s too expensive to eat real food
Have you ever bothered to do the math? What does a bag of carrots cost? Or a whole pot full of broccoli? Have you compared that box of Hamburger Helper with the cost required to make it yourself? And all I am asking about is the real monetary cost not the secondary costs of poor health and diseases caused by poor nutrition.

It’s too much work
Well it isn’t as brainless as add water and microwave that is true. But then you are a grown-up, not 6 year old trying to feed yourself. How hard is it to put some chicken on a baking dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper and turn the oven on for 30 or 40 minutes? Or break 2 or 3 eggs in a pan of hot butter and stir until they are cooked? This is not rocket science; it is a really simple and easy skill to develop with just a little bit of effort and a decent cookbook.

“They” (the government/scientists/experts) said I should eat this way
“They” rarely have your best interests at heart. A very good example is the food pyramid…when it was first developed by a solid scientist it was just about upside down from what it is today. But after the government and the business interests got through with it we are told to eat tons of grains (the cereal companies), dairy (the milk lobby), and breads and pastas (industrial food companies). The vegetables didn’t have a lobby; neither did the seeds or nuts. The question we should be asking ourselves is this: If this was such a great way to eat, why, after 40 years of a low fat, high carb diet, are we fatter and sicker than ever before? We are the most well fed and worst nourished people in the history of the world.

I could never give up my (fill in the blank again --- Ice Cream/Soda/Pie/Cake)
What if the choices were stop eating it or die? Then what would you do? Because in many ways that stuff is killing you…slowly but it is killing you in ways you won’t even know about for years to come.

I’m too busy to plan/cook/shop
How busy will you be when you are making all those trips to the Doctor’s office, the labs for teats and the pharmacies for all the pills your Dr. is going to need you to take? You get the same 168 hours in the week I get. At the Foodee site (www.thefoodee.com ) they will even make a shopping list for you for crying out loud. It really isn’t difficult but you do have to want to do it. You have to want to make the shift.

The Bottom Line
It doesn’t have to be expensive (stop replacing cheap crap food with expensive crap food…just because it says gluten free or lactose free doesn’t mean it is any better for you). It doesn’t have to be time consuming or hard unless you want to make that way. It won’t be boring if you open your mind to something besides boiled chicken and steamed broccoli. “They” make more money form you being sick and tired than “They” will ever make from you being fit and healthy. Don’t diet, eat real food prepared in a real kitchen by a real person (Betty Crocker and Duncan Hines are long gone and beside they never really put that crap in the box anyway) with real care and love. You will eat less, you will feel better, you will perform better, and you will be healthier.

Call me…I can help.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...10 Reasons NOT to CrossFit

It's hard, really hard

Well not really but that is what you will tell yourself in order to not do it or to stop doing it or to discourage your friends from doing it. Anyone can do it if they want to…after all it is only movement you already doing…or would be doing if you got off the couch long enough.

You will get injured.

As if sitting on your big ole behind isn’t injuring your heart, lungs, and joints already. It isn’t safe to drive your car 200mph down a crowded street either…and that is why you don’t do it. Use your brain, get your ego out of the way and learn to do something right before you go hard and heavy.

You don’t want to bulk up.

Which is different than bulking up that spare tire you’ve been working on, right? If anything you will lean out, your muscles will lengthen and you will look more like Tarzan than Conan (the barbarian not the late night guy)

It’s a cult.

And Fox news isn’t? And blindly following diet advice that hasn’t worked for the last 40 years isn’t? And Richard Simmons, and Jane Fonda, and Jim Fixx, and Zumba, and Spinning, and P90x, and Insanity are all what? Are we CrossFitters a rabid bunch? Only because we see the transformation but really if you don’t join us it’s OK, there are only so many barbells to go around anyway.

There aren’t any cool machines or slick salesmen or valet parking.

And those contribute to your fitness how? Enough said.


CrossFitters eat weird food.

Yep…all those real vegetables and meat are nowhere near as normal and natural as that big bag of white protein powder and pre-digested Franken food from some laboratory in China. We all make fun of MREs (meals ready to eat) and then join some group that makes us buy their packaged laboratory produced processed food that in no way resembles real food. Learn where your kitchen is and start figuring out how to use those strange appliances that live in there.

The clothes are strange looking.

What? Really? Clothes? If they keep you warm or cool and cover the bits you don’t want the world to ogle what difference does it make?

There isn’t any scientific basis for the workouts

You are kidding right? Since when did you do any real scientific research? Last time I checked there wasn’t much research that said eating French fries, drinking beer, and watching T.V. was going to make you healthier or happier. Unless you count Homer Simpson. Besides a P.H.D. in Physical Therapy, or a Doctorate in exercise physiology, or a Masters in Sports Conditioning probably don’t really count as real education (just to name a few of the qualifications from the leaders in CrossFit).

I don’t need a coach to help me with such simple movements like pushups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and squats.

Michael Jordan had a coach his whole career. Barbra Streisand has a voice coach; Marlon Brando had an acting coach. But you know it all…that’s why you are in such great shape. A coach gets you where you want to go in the safest, fastest, most efficient way possible. Unless the only place you are going is to the bathroom during commercial breaks.

And finally…

If CrossFit was really all that there would be a celebrity endorsement and ads on T.V.

Like Mariah Carey or Jay-Z or the Kardashians know anything about real fitness. And we all know that if it isn’t on T.V. is just isn’t real. Not. We just don’t care about that stuff…we care about how well you move, when you move and what you move…little things like moving large loads over long distances quickly.

What CrossFit is:

Constantly Varied
Functional Movement
Highly Intense
Designed to create Fit Humans who are ready to perform whenever and however they choose to.

Simple.

Not Easy.

Do It.

Now.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Who's Going to be a Black Belt?

This past Saturday I spent the day in the incubator we call “Test Day.” In this case I was testing one of my younger students for his first degree black belt. This young man has been with me for over 80 months and has, over the years, been a great student, a horrible student, a great example and a bad one, someone to be proud of and someone to be ashamed of. But through it all I believed this day would come if we just worked, believed and had faith in the basic goodness of humans. He rose to the occasion in a way that surprised almost everyone. Everyone was surprised but me that is. I knew it was there…the it is that thing that spark that light that unseen energy that can arise when one is place in the crucible, when the game is on the line, when the choice is rise or fail.


At the same time it was also my test day. After 20 years I still test. And it was a milestone…the sixth (6th) degree. This achievement has always been so far off in the future that is still seems unreal to have arrived here. I have been working with the same partner for over 12 years and on this day the hours (and the pain) paid off.


Today’s story is an excerpt from the 8 page essay I wrote for my test. Enjoy.


Who’s Going to be a Black Belt?

Twenty four students are standing at ready position at the end of class. The work out is over. We have practiced punching and kicking, techniques and forms, flying and falling, victory and defeat. Sweat and smiles permeate the atmosphere. Various degrees of success have been achieved. As the head instructor I look out at eager faces waiting for that single nugget of wisdom that is going to make them into the super hero they all want to be. I have none. I have no word that is going to propel each of them into greatness. Instead all I have is a question:

Who is going to be a black belt?


This is a question I ask after every martial arts class I teach. The expected answer is, “I am Sir.” There are two reasons to ask this question. The first reason is to condition the student into the thinking that he or she is going to achieve their black belt; that they are going to stick around long enough, practice hard enough, and transform themselves from a white belt into a black belt. The second reason (and the more esoteric and important, in my opinion) is to begin the transformation from normal, mediocre thinking and attitude into a higher level of thinking and attitude…one of excellence and belief in the ability to get things done in the face of no agreement, in the face of adversity, in the face of pain and suffering, in the face of mediocrity.


For over seventeen years I have donned my Uniform and stood in front of expectant students waiting to be amazed, educated and inspired. Over those years I have succeeded in doing that. And I have failed many times, fallen short in so many ways. And after each day, the good and the bad, I got up and did it again. When I began this journey I began it as a father wanting to spend time with his just teen age step son who wanted to “give it a shot.” Then it morphed into a way to feel confident with self defense based on the environment I was working in. After a number of years I became a teacher. Then the vehicle became a way of life and personal growth and achievement. Today it has become who I am.

Who is going to be a black belt?
I am, Sir.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...You are in Charge

Your health care is up to you.
What you eat is up to you.
How you spend your time is up to you.
Who you spend your time with is up to you.
What you put in your mind is up to you.
Your fitness is up to you.

Self control says that we are in charge of what we think, say and do. And we are, except when we abdicate our responsibility. Which way too many of have done way too often over the course of our lives.

Somewhere along the way someone started piling on “shoulds” onto our lives. Somewhere we thought we could get a magic pill to be skinny, fit, funny, and rich. There is no magic pill. There is no magic formula, no secret that is going to make you millions of dollars if you just think or say a certain thing. There is no expert who, if you just do exactly what he/she says all your prayers will be answered and your life will perfect from now on forward.

Too often we want to give up our self-control and just take the easy way out. Let someone else be responsible for once, let them tell us what to do and let them take the blame when it doesn’t work. This is not good for you. This is not a recipe for success. This is not a way to have the life you want to have. This is the way to try and live someone else’s life. This is the road to frustration and unhappiness and this road is paved with good intentions, shoulds, and the broken shards of other lives.

Do want to be healthy? Do you want to lose weight? Do you want to get off your medications? Then start taking responsibility for the way you look and feel right now. Fat is not genetic. Sure you can be heavy and healthy and you can be skinny and sick. But health is best measured by fitness. Your physician is in charge of your sick care. You are in charge of your health care. You are in charge of your fitness. You don’t have to be an Olympian, unless you want to be an Olympian, that is. But, honestly, you should be able to lift things over your head, pick stuff off the ground, not be afraid to fall down (because you can’t get up), and you should be able to walk for an hour or two without thinking you are going to die.

The facts are pretty simple…you are the most important person in your life. To put it in another way…in the movie of your life you are the star not a bit player. Your doctor is not the star, you kids can be very important but they aren’t the stars of your movie, they have their own movies to star in! Take responsibility for what your life looks like right now. You have made it what it is at this very moment. For better or worse it was all your doing. You don’t have to, though. You can blame your parents, your doctor, your employer, your spouse, your kids, your dog, your whatever or you can say wait a minute I am in charge of this thing and I am going to make it right.

Listen up…if what you have been doing isn’t working…CHANGE IT! Why do think that if you keep doing the same thing over and over and over again you will get a different result? You have just defined insanity. You have been going to the gym 5 day a week for years and you still are as unfit as ever? Gee...maybe you need to do something else…YOU THINK? You have tried every diet known to man and nothing ever works a permanent solution? Maybe you need a different food LIFESTYLE! You doctor says you must be on this pill or that pill even though your symptoms have abated? Why? Because he knows you have not changed the thing that caused the symptoms!!!! Once you change that you won’t need the pills anymore! But that is up to you not him or me or anyone else.

If you want what you have never had…you must do what you have never done. You Must Do What You Have Never Done to Get What You have Never Had. Simple but it does require a quantum shift in your perspective. A shift of epic proportions, maybe, but a shift nonetheless.
Let’s get busy and be the star of our own movie!

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Excuses

“Excuses are the nails used to build a house of failure.”

I have a pocket full of excuses, both mine and the ones I hear every day. There is no shortage of excuses anywhere in the world for any endeavor. The list is long and very imaginative. And they can be used to rationalize just about any failure to perform or even to attempt.

I am not going to catalog the parade of excuses here although I have to admit to being highly amused by many of them. The fact is simple: if you want to have an excuse for not doing something it won’t be hard to find one or two or one for everyday of the week. The problem arises when you employ a year of excuses and look down at the growing belly hanging over your belt, or your continuing health problems, or your poor financial condition. Those excuses are building a house of failure. Those excuses are an anchor tethering you to the bottom of an ocean of despair and desperation. Those excuses are killing you.

Here is my favorite excuse: “Everything in moderation.” Really? Heroin in moderation? Bank Fraud in moderation? Meth in moderation? Ask Lance Armstrong…a little blood doping in moderation? Maybe a bee sting for those of you allergic? Does that epi-pin come in a moderate size? How about a little pesticide in your cereal? It’s in moderation! Most things are not good in moderation. Everything in moderation is an excuse for being non-compliant on your diet, exercise program or attitude. How about your bad attitude…OK…in moderation? Really?

We see this a lot around food…you are lactose intolerant but anything in moderation, yes? How is your bellyache? Moderate? How about the brain fog you get after eating gluten? Moderate? I mean you can’t tell me to eat dairy in moderation when one bite will start the process of my intestinal distress. Everything in moderation is the worst thing you can tell yourself. Just a little bit won’t hurt, right? I mean everything in moderation! NOOOOOO! Not everything in moderation, nothing in moderation…just don’t do it…don’t eat sugar, not one bite, not one because it’s Halloween and you love peanut butter m&m’s or peeps on Easter and you always have to eat some of Aunt Jane’s fudge and we wouldn’t want to offend her even though a lifetime of eating fudge has, well, let’s not go there shall we?

We are going into what I refer to as the candy season…Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years are all going to pile temptation after temptation upon you. If you take the moderation approach you will still end up with that house of Failure on January 2nd and a New Year’s resolution that is going to look a lot like every other year’s resolution. Don’t go there. Just SAY NO.
This leads us to the real point:
“Today I will do what other people won’t so Tomorrow I can do what other people can’t.”
Results are the bricks that create the foundation of a house of success. So go out and start building that house.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Here Comes da Judge

So, I’m out shopping the other day at my local grocery store (a place I don’t go very often) and while I am in the checkout line I look around at my neighbor’s cart. And as much as I hate to admit it, I am looking at the contents of the cart and looking at him and making a cascade of decisions about who he is and why he is the way he is. Keep in mind I have never seen this person before today. Yet here I am deciding what kind of diet he is eating, why he has a 30 pound keg hanging over his belt and maybe even throwing in a couple judgments about his education, career, and child rearing.

This is horrible and wrong of me. There is no other way to put it. And what is even worse? I also get up on my high horse about what’s in my cart and who I am. This is arrogant and ugly. I have no business being this way, my mother taught me better than that. I teach my students better than that. And, in my heart of hearts, I know better.

But I can’t help it. As hard as I try I look over at that cart laden with soda, boxes of crackers and breads, frozen prefab food and I smirk a smug little smirk. I get to feel superior with my meat and bacon and coconut oil and odd vegetables and lots of green things. All because I am sure my eating habits are vastly better, more well thought out, and healthier.

Honestly I do the same thing in any number of other places.
And to be totally honest, with yourself, so do you. Maybe you are looking in my cart and smirking the self assured smirk of the committed vegan or vegetarian. Maybe you look over and see self abnegation and no fun in my cart. And you judge. Sometimes harshly sometimes relatively kindly but you still judge.

I suspect I will never break this habit.
The part of it I (and you) need to temper, to dial down, is the critical condemnation of the other person. Judgment helps keep my safe in certain circumstances. Judgment helps me discern the behaviors that align with principles.
Being critical of others does not help me with my own principles. As a matter of fact, it is in direct conflict with many of those principles…compassion, understanding and empathy come to mind.

I don’t know where the other person has been to get where they are today with the cart they have. For all I know they used to eat only ice cream, Oreos and chips and drink coca-cola exclusively. Their cart today is stupendous improvement over that. And maybe that keg hanging over the belt? Used to be 2 kegs. I don’t know. And I am wrong to be critical of who that person is being today since I have no concept of who they were yesterday.

My judgment says more about me than it does about the other person. What I do with that judgment says everything about me. Do I use it to find compassion, to find a way to be of service, to be understanding and empathetic? Or am I using it to feel better about myself, to let my arrogance and snooty nature rear up?

You get to decide. In the meantime don’t let your cart judgment get away from you…you never know who might be sitting in judgment of your cart!!!

Happy Shopping!


Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...56 Birthdays

My birthday was Thursday…again for the 56th time on the 4th of October. This is something odd about being this particular age at this particular time.

I have had a hard time with my birthday for a long time. Some of it is the time of year…early October and the seasons are changing. Shorter days, colder mornings, crispness and a nip in the air signal winter is coming. I love summer, the heat and the sun and the water and the seemingly free feelings that go along with my memories of summer. So there is a certain melancholy around now that I have a hard time shaking off. So when my birthday arrives, for me, I know summer is lost and winter is just around the summer.

That being said, I do love the early fall….fresh apples, pumpkins and squash, falling leaves and the warm, warm afternoon sun. A time we often refer to as “Indian Summer”. And, although winter is coming there is sweetness in the air that comes before the winter’s long sleep. So, for me my birthday time is a bittersweet neighborhood that I often have a hard time enjoying.

Some of my trouble around my birthday is sadness for the things I have not done, have not yet accomplished. And it seems, the longer I live the longer the list is of things left undone. I can’t change this. Some of those things will never be done…they are the province of a much younger me. A me who didn’t have the will, or the wherewithal, or the drive to get those things done and looking back probably didn’t even know he should have been doing them. Such is a life lived, a life viewed in the rear view mirror.

This year I had no big plans, no “thing off the bucket list to do”. I have jumped out of airplanes once or twice for my birthdays, gone helicopter snow-boarding (no, not in October, later), and several other adventures (OK I did do the Tough Mudder a couple weeks ago). Not this year. This year I am on a mission…a mission to go to the CrossFit Games. This is a 12 month long quest to improve my fitness across the board. At the “open” part of the Games (the qualifier) last year I was 53rd in my age group. To get to the games I have to be in the top 20. There were over 500 competitors in my age group last year (55-59) worldwide. I am sure there will be more this year and I am sure they will be stronger, faster, and better than last year.

My diet has to improve. For those of you who know me you may find that one hard to believe. But yes it needs to get even more dialed in, even more exact with less room for “cheats”.
My rest has to improve. This is a huge hurdle for me. Like many of you I came up in a time when we bragged about how little sleep we could operate on. ‘I got 4 hours of sleep and I have been going for 16 hours now…”this is bad juju folks. You cannot improve performance on less sleep. Your cortisol (a stress related hormone) goes off the charts and your diet becomes less effective and your performance goes down the tube. Your body and your mind can only take so much of that and then bad things begin to happen. Too much cortisol and you put on weight. Too much cortisol and you get injured. Too much cortisol and your emotional state goes from “happy-go-lucky” to “there’s a dark cloud hovering over my head”. None of those things will contribute to peak performance.
My technique has to improve. This is a practice thing. This is showing up every day and working on movements that are difficult and challenging. Even in the face of failure. Even in the face of often going backwards or having to take 3 or 4 steps back towards the beginning. This is approaching things with the “beginners” mind...listening to coaching and implementing the suggestions.
My strength has to improve. That means increasing the volume of work. That means moving more weight longer distances. That means finding reserves of strength that I don’t know about at present. That means getting up in the morning and hurting from the previous day’s work and doing even more today.
Overall, my general physical preparedness needs to improve. Then my ability to perform on demand needs to improve. Then my mental fortitude needs to be strengthened. This is my quest this year.

This morning I did a workout called “Grace” it was part of a fundraising effort in the CrossFit community to provide mammograms for low income and uninsured women and men. The workout was simple…take 135 pounds, pull it off the floor to your chest and then jerk it overhead (a clean and jerk). This year I finished in 5:20…an improvement of over 2 minutes and 30 seconds from last fall and I will need to be faster yet. It is possible to get stronger, no matter how old you are. It is possible to get faster, no matter how old you are. It is possible to get better, no matter how old you are.

Someone asked me what I wanted for my birthday…how about a donation to Barbells for Boobs? Go here: https://support.barbellsforboobs.org/individual-fundraising/JMariotti/
Support the effort. My good friend, Wendy Tustin, has, in 1 year, gone through hell with breast cancer. Support this effort so other people can get early detection and maybe experience less hell than she has.

In the meantime, I will get better. And in April I will be ready to qualify for the Games. And in July I will be ready to run with the big dogs and yes give them a serious run for the top dog slot!


Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Tough Mudder

Last Sunday I completed a challenge called the Tough Mudder. It isn’t a race, it is a challenge. We (me and about 10,000 of my closest friends) ran up a mountain about 6 miles and back down about 6 miles. Starting elevation was about 6,500 feet and at the top we were around 9,000 feet. So just that part of it was pretty big in itself. Remember, I have not run any significant distance since 2008 after my last 50 mile race. So that was the first real challenge. I have run 2 or 3 miles at a stretch but nothing significant as this. Mentally I had to get my head around running for distance again.

The Tough Mudder was designed by British Special Forces to test your all around strength, stamina, mental toughness, and camaraderie. Over 500,000 people have participated across the world and almost 4 million dollars have been raised for the Wounded Warrior Project (http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/ ). The idea of this challenge is to discover, within you, reservoirs of strength and mental grit you did not were there. Along the way you will discover how working as a team gets everyone home and home with an amazing sense of accomplishment.

To get to the starting line you have to climb over an 8 foot wooden wall. It is the first of many. After the National Anthem the crowd begins to move up the hill. The day is chilly; it is September in the Sierras after all. The first obstacle has us crawling in the dirt under a barbed wire barrier. Raising your head or your butt would be hazardous to your skin but no big deal. When we hit the next wall and have to climb about 15 feet and jump into a pond of murky looking cold water it is obvious this is not going to be a nice hike in the mountains. The day before I heard over 20,000 people ran the course. This water looks nasty and it is cold.

Luckily for me we rarely have to run more than 2 miles at a stretch and on the uphill portion some of it is so steep you have to walk anyway. I remember at mile 4 thinking…”this is bad. I would have put this at 6 or 7 miles.” This is not your boring marathon…there are rocks and dust and shale and crowds to avoid. At one of the worst obstacles for me I finally start getting it. This is really about looking at your fear of ____ and going ahead anyway. I am looking down at a vat filled with green water and ice…enough ice that you have to push it out of the way before you duck under the barrier and come up on the other side to push your way through to finally get out of the vat. It is cold, super cold and when I get out I have a couple body parts I am afraid have suffered permanent damage. The mental part is worse than the physical part but at least the mental is over quickly. Now I am cold and wet and the temperature outside is not helping.

That being said it is obvious that this is fun…hard, yes but fun and not to be taken too seriously. Yes, you signed a death waiver. Yes getting shocked by 10,000 volts of electricity may be outside the normal definition of fun. But people have brought their children and parents and friends and they are wearing costumes, working together and completing things that if you asked them 6 months ago were probably viewed as impossible. That is, if you even considered doing them…I know I have never really considered crawling under barbed wire through mud and water while the risk of getting an electrical shock is imminent. And, by the way, when you put your hand in just to check you get, yep you guessed it, shocked.

I did not do this alone. I had a partner, Ellie McKenzie, with me. She was doing this in celebration of her 43rd birthday. She had been training all year along with me and 4 other people in my gym (Rebecca Woosley, Linda & Brian Pike, Natasha Pierre). We worked together, we helped other people, other people helped us and everyone found out something about themselves. Maybe they found an inner reservoir of physical strength and ability that they weren’t aware of before. Maybe they discovered a fear of heights or of tight places that had to be faced and overcome. Maybe they found the mental fortitude to finish something that looked impossible yesterday.

At the end after you have run the 12 miles, faced 20 or so military style obstacles you are looking at the finish line and the last barrier is the electro-shock treatment…about 20 or 30 feet of mud puddles, hanging electrical wires and the finish line. And as in life there are lots of ways to get to the end.

But most of all, as in life, the only way through is the way through. When you reach your finish line you want to be sliding in, muddied, bloodied, smiling, laughing and proud of your life.

You are living your tough mudder…are you facing your obstacles and going through or are you shirking them, turning around, letting those scary things defeat you? Don’t…you are bigger than that. You are better than that. You can do this…whether it is a vat of ice cubes, a electrical shock, a divorce, a loss of a loved one or anything else life puts up for you. You can do this.

So face your fear and go ahead anyway. Get muddy, have fun, be scared for a minute or two, and then smile at how much you can do, how amazing you really are.
You are going to love it!

And if you want to see some pictures of me go here… http://www2.brightroom.com/email/98198/43768/146239043

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Grandma and the Ham

This story has had poetic license applied to it! Once when my mother was making a ham for dinner, she got her pan out, got the ham out, cut the ends of the ham off and put it in the pan. I was watching closely as I often did (this is how I learned to cook after all). So I asked, thinking there was some magic kitchen secret in this procedure, “Mama, why did you cut the ends of the ham off?” She paused in her preparation and thought for a minute and said “Well, that’s the way my mother did it. Maybe we better call Grandma and ask her why.” So we called Grandma asked her why she cut the ends off the ham before she cooked it. And her answer was very simple…she said “the only way the ham would fit in my roasting pan was to cut the ends off of it!”

There is a ton of stuff in your life and mine that are being done because, like “Grandma and the ham,” it is the way it has always been done. Now there is no reason to cut the ends of the ham off unless it won’t fit in the roasting pan any other way. What else are you doing in your life because that is the way it has always been done?

There are lots of reasons to have “rules” in life. Washing your hands after using the bathroom, jumping out off airplanes with no parachute, or not looking both ways when you cross the street, for instance, are a good rules for safety, health and hygiene. Cutting the ends off the ham, not so much. Some rules you make up for your life when you are young based on your experiences. You are older now and it is time to look at those rules and get rid of some of them. You have more information now, more data points upon which to make an educated decision.

Sometimes we make rules to keep ourselves interested or to make an activity more fun. You might want to keep those rules. You can always change them based on the shifting situation or boredom. The problem is created when those rules get set in stone and begin to look immutable. Then you end up with things like “Grandma and the ham”. Except those are really dumb when you begin picking them apart.

Sometimes society makes rules that are equally dumb…interracial marriage, separate but equal schools, slavery, or women and children as chattel (owned property) just to name a few things that used to be the law of the land and have since changed. There are lots of things in our lives right now today that in 20 years are going to be looked upon as really dumb, backward, or asinine rules that no one in their right mind would ever follow.

You need to start inspecting and thinking and deciding for yourself which rules are a good idea and should be followed and which ones belong on the dung heap of bad ideas, rules, laws and policies. It’s your life and your choice of rules to follow. Do the research, investigate, think it through, cast a critical eye upon them no matter where they come from and make your own considered decision. Take charge of the rules in your life…it’s your life, it’s your movie and you should be the primary mover and shaker in your movie!

On the other hand sometimes when Grandma does stuff you should too!

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...It's all about You

I subscribe to a number of lists for lots of different things. Almost invariably I get “hit” on every day (several times) telling me that if I just buy this or that I will be more successful, have more students, be healthier, lose weight, build muscle, get more clients, keep more of my money, blah, blah, blah.

The fact is simple: none of that stuff will actually work. What works is you. Plain and simple…it is all about YOU. You have to work. You have to shift. You have to learn something else, something new. Just buying this or that won’t make you rich, skinny or healthy. You have to get up and do it.

There are a million and one things to buy that someone wants to sell that will be the answer to all our dreams. Just send your money and in 3 to 7 days you will be on your way. Sorry it just doesn’t work like that. But the answer really is simple:
YOU HAVE TO BE BETTER.

There it is. Want to be in better physical condition? Get better. Work harder. Want to be more intelligent? Read more. Learn something new. Want to lose a few pounds? Change your eating habits. Make real food your focus.
All of that stuff relies on YOU doing, being better. There is no magic pill. There is no secret book of knowledge, no double top secret trading strategies just discovered and withheld until you fork over you hard earned dollars. Someone has been selling snake oil as long as there has been commerce. Someone has always been willing to promise the sun and the moon and someone else has always been willing to buy that promise. Stop it. It doesn’t work. It won’t work. It never does.

What will work is You. The better You. Maybe the better you than that guy or girl over there. Maybe the better you than all those people over there. But most certainly the better you than you are now. This isn’t easy. Becoming a better you is going to take courage, commitment, drive, perseverance, and effort.


The problem isn’t the system or the product the problem is you. You aren’t good enough yet. You haven’t put the time and energy and effort into becoming good enough. You could be a smashing success, a hopeless failure or someone drowning in a swamp of mediocrity…the one thing we know is that it is you. Nothing else but you. So quit trying to find the magic pill. Quit searching for the Holy Grail that is going to shift heaven and earth and you to create the life you think you deserve.

Admit it…it is You. Admit that your life looks this way because of you and get off the crying stool and get to work on you. It is pretty scary when you think that everything in your life is about you and everything in your life is your creation.
Want more? Get better.
Go…now.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Change is going to come

Or not. It is up to you. No one can make you change. I can’t nag you into change although it may feel like it. You can’t be dragged kicking and screaming into change.

It’s that whole lead a horse to water thing. I can show you why it makes sense. I can give you the scientific articles, the scholarly works proving that change is worth your while. I can show you anecdotal evidence of why change is going to work for you. I can be a living example of what change could do for you.

And none of that matters one whit. It just doesn’t matter until YOU decide to change. It can show up as a good idea, it can show up as great advice, it can show up as the right thing to do but until YOU make the decision that change is what you want it will never manifest into reality.

It really is that simple. Once you decide to change you will find all the evidence you need for change to be in your best interest. That really is the easy part. The hard part is change itself. Remember the old saying…”we have nothing to fear but fear itself?” Well we could just as easily say…”we have nothing to fear but change.” You are afraid of change. If you weren’t you would change. If you knew what was behind door #3 (the change door) you would bust that bad boy down. Instead you sit, cowering, in front of change trying to get up the courage to change. And most of the time your fear wins. Your fear conquers your desire to change.

Ever wonder why people with heart attacks go right back to the bad habits that got them there in the first place? Or the liver transplant recipients who continue drinking alcohol? Or the smoker with the oxygen tank attached to them? All of those people have been given really good reasons to change yet they don’t. Just like the thirsty horse standing in front of the trough staring at the water and not drinking. You are sitting right in front of the life you want, the body you want, the bank account you want, the education you want or the relationship you want and you are staring at it…frozen, unable to act. Maybe that isn’t what you really want? Maybe that “thing” is someone else’s dream, someone else’s life? Maybe you should figure out what it is you really want in life. Then maybe you will get off your duff and change. I don’t know what the answer is but I do know that when you get the right motivation, the right passion, and the right fire in your belly you will change.

It still won’t be easy. It still won’t be a walk in the park. It will still have setbacks and challenges and obstacles. You just won’t be deterred from getting where you want to go.

Change is simple:
Decide what you want.
Believe you deserve it.
Figure out how to get it.
Go get it.
Not easy though.

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Validate This

We live in a world where it appears to be more important to be right, to get our ideas and beliefs validated than it is to be right. We spend an inordinate amount of time proving we are right, pursuing other stories and anecdotes that prove our case. And we do so in the full light of factual evidence to the contrary.


A case in point: the F.D.A. food pyramid has been around for about 40 years. The F.D.A. puts this pyramid forth as the answer to the question...What should i eat to be healthy. yet in the same 40 years the rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other nutritional diseases and disorders have skyrocketed. But then maybe those aren’t facts. Maybe we can just ignore the facts and go on believing what we are told and not worry about the dis-ease in our bodies. You know it isn’t working but the “authorities” are telling you otherwise.


The facts are simple...too many people have a dog in the food fight. The governments, the food companies, the pharmaceutical companies, the various alphabet soup groups of bureaucrats are all fighting to keep their piece of that pie. Even the average person whose health is being harmed using that pyramid really doesn’t want to the truth to win out...if it does he will have to admit that he needs to change and change is hard and scary (of course, so is a heart attack but...)


You have a specific set of beliefs and “customs” that you employ to help you make sense and help you maintain a facade of control over your own life. When it looks like those beliefs and customs may be wrong we will fight tooth and nail to maintain the status quo.


This is the validation we seek. We look for the proof that we are right, ,that we are doing the right thing. The stories that validate our position, the experts who agree with us. And we will do it in the face of evidence to the contrary. It is much easier to do this than it is to change our position and our belief system.


Then there are results. The empirical proof, the what happens when the actual benefits and detriments, the consequences of our actions. results are what counts. You can deny the results. you can say they don’t count especially when they conflict with your validation but you can’t deny their existence.

We really need to get out or own way on this one. Look at the results the same way a scientist does...objectively without expectation of validation. We should want to know what the reaction to the action is. We should crave the real knowledge that arises from knowing the results of our actions.


Results count. Validation is an ego massage. Validation might feel better but results create growth and movement. And isn’t that what you are really after?

Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Please Mr.Sandman

Bring me a dream. For many people sleep is an elusive moment. They can’t get there and then when they finally do they can’t stay asleep or get back to sleep once awakened. This is so bad for your health and here is why (and yes these are drawn from scientific studies):

Sleep deprivation:
Wreaks havoc on your immune system. Ever notice you are more likely to get sick or sniffle or couch when you have not been getting enough rest? This is why! This is also why you feel the need to sleep and rest when you have a cold, flu, or something else.

Make you less intelligent. Our ability to think clearly and reason and problem solve lessen when we are tired. If you want to be more efficient the answer is not more caffeine, its more sleep.

Your ability to handle stress is impaired. And this then becomes a maelstrom you get sucked down into since the more stress you have the harder it is to sleep.
Your risk of psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety is going up exponentially the longer you are sleep deprived.

Just one night of decreased sleep leads to systemic inflammation and insulin resistance. And in case you don’t know it almost all disease begins with one or both of these two things. That’s right, lack of sleep is making harder for you to lose weight (as if it wasn’t already a struggle).

At its most extreme you can go longer with no food than you can with no sleep. Yes no sleep will kill you.

Why?

Way back before the turn of the last century (1900) the epidemic proportions of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, cancer and others was unheard of. So what changed?
Very simply we are now living in the cycle of endless summer. Our bodies think it is summer all year long. We have artificial lights telling us to stay up later. We have lots of berries and fruits available all year long. Longer days and shorter nights, an abundance of carbohydrates (fruit) and lots of stress tell our bodies it is still summer. So we want to eat more, pack on the fat and prepare for the coming winter…which never comes.

Back around 1900 we used to sleep on average 9-10 hours per night. Today that average is less than 7 and a lot of that is not restful rejuvenating sleep. The sales of sleeping aids (pills) have passed 5 billion dollars and are increasing every year. We have lost touch with the natural rhythm of our bodies and the annular cycle of the earth. And it is killing us as sure as I am sitting here. Granted it takes a while and your headstone is never going to say”died of lack of sleep” but it is affecting the quality of your life every day.

The Fix

We have covered many of these before but it is well worth re-doing:

1. Turn off the electronic devices: T.V., computer, phone, ipad 2 hours before you go to bed. Yes that means no T.V. in the bedroom. This especially true of show that might over excite you (horror, suspense, the news).

2. Turn off the lights! Sleep in a pitch black room and use black out shades to keep the ambient light out. There are a lot of lights on in our world and any amount coming through will tell your body it’s time to wake up. This includes all the digital lights…the clock, the phone charger, all of them.

3. Eat less before going to bed. This is my bugaboo. I have a tendency to eat late and go to bed full. It turns out that when I do that my body is digesting food when it should be tending to repair and rejuvenation.

4. Try to get in touch with the rising and setting of the sun. Get up at dawn and go to sleep as close to sunset as possible. Too tough for most of us I know but get aware of this and give it a shot.

5. Wake up and get up at the same time every day. You will find a rhythm here and get to sleep at the right time each night.

6. Try magnesium as a sleep aid. It has a calming effect and is very good for other (digestive) processes.

7. Start meditating every day to help handle stress. Even 2 or 3 5 minute breaks during the day to just sit and breathe. Breathe in and breath out, let the stray thoughts pass through without judgment or holding on to them. This practice will help you calm your mind when it comes time for sleep at night.

8. Turn the lights down, use softer indirect lighting and candles.

9. Turn the heat down in your bedroom. Use blankets to make a nest but keep the room under 68 degrees.

10. Exercise every day. Get up get moving and get sweating. It is the natural way of our people folks. You were born to move. Do Crossfit for functional intense movement.

11. Eat a diet full of quality protein, lots of vegetables and good fats. Stop eating inflammatory processed and refined foods. Some of us call this paleo…it doesn’t matter what you call it just stop eating CRAP. (Calorie Rich And Pathetic).

12. Stop watching and reading so much news. It is toxic to your mind and creates a mental state of confusion and chaos. You won’t sleep well that way.

13. Get outside. Spend some time in nature every day. Nature has an ebb and flow and you are part of it. Being in touch with nature is good for your soul Get out there and enjoy it.

14. And last but not least and my personal favorite: Take a cold shower every morning. Try to get in the shower within 2 minutes of waking and try to get 3 minutes of cold water on you. You will jumpstart your cortisol production, kick your immune system up and awaken you Chi energy. Try doing it within 2 min of waking up for at least 3 min. And of course, do it without screaming like a little kid!


There you have it…your recipe for a good night’s sleep. Now go out there and get one!


Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

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Sunday Story...Perfect Diet

In Search of the Perfect Human Diet is a documentary created by a C.J. Hunt who almost died at age 24 of a heart attack while running. He spent the next 22 years searching for what and how to eat in order to find perfect health. The movie is full of scholarly references, interviews with many knowledgeable people in the fields of nutrition, human evolution and many more. This is a movie everyone should see. This is a way of eating everyone should adopt. It isn’t a fad, unless you consider a fad lasting about 2 million years!

I am not going to recap the movie here. I will be hosting a viewing of the movie soon and I will invite all of you to join me. The bottom line is very simple: eat real food. Real food is the kind of food that is recognizable, close to the ground, and simple to prepare and eat. Real food does not have a nutritional label attached to it. The turnips I pulled out of the garden did not have a label on them. Real food does not have an ingredient list. The grass fed beef I bought this morning has only one ingredient: beef. This is really simple.

The hard part is doing it. We, as a society, have made it really easy and cheap to eat bad food. I was traveling recently and away from my own cooking and regular food sources. It was difficult to find food that I wanted to eat. I could eat lots of crap (Calorie Rich And Pathetic) food. I didn’t but it was everywhere. However, it is possible to eat healthy even in the face of airport food stands and fast food kiosks crying out. It just isn’t easy.

As with everything the question is how to start? It seems terribly radical to go into your kitchen and remove all the processed foods, all the sugars, the dairy, the grains, the legumes and replace them with natural meats, a variety of vegetables and sources of healthy fats. You could do it that way or you could take a more measured and gradual approach. Change one thing. Add another a week or a month later.

So here is a ten step approach to shifting your diet in a more healthful direction.
1. Drop the Soda, Gatorade, energy drinks anything over 1 cup of coffee or tea with water. Drink lots of water…if you normally drink 8 sodas a day 8 glasses of water of the same size should be a piece of cake. Drink coconut water or use Emergen-C if you are worried about electrolytes.Does this really need explaining? There is very little good in any of these drinks. A quagmire of chemicals and sweeteners (most of which don’t occur anywhere but in a laboratory) designed to make you want more of the same. Stop it now and back away from the bottle.
2. Dump the sugar. STOP adding sugar to your food. Sugar is addictive so when you stop using it you are going to have withdrawal symptoms just like any other drug like caffeine, alcohol, or heroin. And it is everywhere so this is going to be challenging. If you must use sweetener try to get closer to the real deal...honey, stevia, or ?. Minimal processing and no lab creations (high fructose corn syrup, aspartame).
3. Change your plate. Make sure there is a fresh green vegetable on the plate every meal. Just one. It’s a start and I don’t want you to freak out!
4. Increase your protein intake. Protein is a macronutrient (the other 2 are Fats and Carbohydrates) necessary to your survival. Notice there is no fried Twinkie necessary for survival. Eat meat, eggs, and nuts at every meal. The breakfast cinnamon roll is not doing you any good, even if you cover it in bacon.
5. Eliminate milk and replace it with… (guess) Water! Milk is not necessary for your survival despite what the dairy producers lobby would have you believe. Lactose is a sugar and we are going to eliminate added sugar from our diet.
6. Stop buying from the middle aisles of the grocery store. Stick to the produce section, the meat section. There are lots of different vegetable other than carrots and broccoli and lots of fruits other than bananas! The only reason to venture anywhere else is for a specific need…paprika or laundry detergent.
7. Go to www.Foodee.com and start using recipes from there. They are simple, healthy and don’t use any of the things we are trying to avoid for the most part. Learn to enjoy preparing food and eating flavorful delicious meals
8. Give up grain and legumes. Bread, pasta, cereal, and all the rest of the grain family. It is full of sugars and other things that don’t serve you in your quest for health.
9. Give up dairy...all of it…cheese (this one was the last thing to go for me), yogurt, and anything else dairy related. Except butter, especially butter from grass-fed cows...mmmm Butter! We won’t use a lot of it but we will use it from time to time.
10. Go to the clothing store and buy yourself new clothes that now fit because you are nearing your optimum healthy weight!

That’s it. All in all very simple and healthy way to get to the Perfect Human diet…meat, vegetables and fruit, some nuts and seeds. No sugar, no grains, no legumes, no dairy. You won’t be deprived, trust me. And you may just release yourself from the shackles of corporate food slavery!


Namaste
John
“Teaching Focus, Inspiring Transformation”
www.martialartsnevada.com

Follow me at:
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