Sunday Story...Playtime

Sunday Story…Playtime

Some of us are “play” challenged. We work hard at work, we work out hard, we go home and work some more in the garden or the house or the garage, we get up early to get more work done, we work at keeping the house clean and we just flat out work. But when do we ever just play?

I recently read an article about kids and weight training and exercise and working out. And the bottom line is that we should first make sure they are playing enough. And we should make sure that any “exercise” we have our kids do shows up as play not work.

Here is another interesting fact…people who are active have active kids. Isn’t that amazing! Your kids take their cues from you, their parents! If your idea of play is to sit at the computer, or in front of the television it is very likely that your kids will find their play outlets in the same neighborhoods.

The good news is you can shift your attitude about play. It isn’t that hard. Take your kids to the park and let them do whatever it is they want to do. And then do it with them. Put the phone down, stop texting and emailing, and go do what the kids are doing.

And let them do what they want. If they want to climb a tree, let them. If they want to swing really high, scary high, let them. And climb that tree with them, swing right alongside of them. You might just re-discover a part of you that has been buried for far too long, that you may have imprisoned your inner child behind the bars of work. Your child wants to play with you. Your inner child wants to get out and play as well.

Children run and jump and climb and invent games. This is how we find our place in the world. This is how we discover the joys of movement. Remember swimming? Just swimming? Not to see how many laps you can get, or how fast you can cover those laps, but just frolicking in the water. Getting out and jumping in with a big splash, diving under the water and surfacing like a whale, floating on your back and spitting water, having splash fights and playing “Marco Polo”. Just playing in the water…how long has it been? If you have to think about it it is probably too long.

And what about climbing a tree? Or playing hopscotch? Or jumping rope for fun with friends? Or making a fort of pillows and blankets and then crawling around it? Hide and seek? Kick the can? Tag? A simple game of Tag you’re it? You know where you just run around and try to tag someone or not get tagged? What about dodge ball or kick ball? Just games where the score doesn’t matter and no one remembers anything except how much fun it was and the only concern is when are we going to play again?

Our children get very little free time to just play and explore movement and how their bodies move. Many schools no longer allow tag or other “contact” games. As a result our children don’t discover how to play “nice” with each other. They don’t know where the limits and boundaries are and they are constantly going over them because they have no idea they even exist. The recesses the kids do get are shorter and often lost to incomplete homework or other disciplinary measures. P.E. is pretty much non-existent in today’s educational system. So the burden is going to fall on us…the parents and family members who want to see our kids grow up healthy, strong and fit with a love of play and movement.

The side benefit for us is huge though. We get up and get moving. We start burning some calories that would have just become little bigger love handles, or muffin tops, or saddle bags. We start relieving stress…that is correct...stress is relieved when we play. Have you ever seen a child worried about his grades or the spelling test when he is going down a slide screaming? I didn’t think so. Here’s another little side benefit…when I have less stress I have less of a hormone called cortisol which is one of them main hormones that tells my body to hold onto fat and to keep storing fat. If I play more I will sleep better, also reducing my stress levels. If I play more I will be connected to the people I play with and the world I am playing in. When I am more connected to those things on a playful level I will feel better and guess what? Yep, you got it…less stress.

There is our prescription for the week. Go outside and play for an hour or more. No agenda, no winners or losers, no teaching, no nothing…just pure unadulterated fun play. Go for it…take the kids and just go!

Last week after seeing the video from Dr. Terry Wahls I decided to eat more greens. Here is a simple recipe that anyone can do…
Put some greens…kale, spinach, parsley, cilantro, chard (etc) in a slow cooker (crock pot ---I had to dig one out of my garage) or in a large pot on the stove. Add water or stock. Cook covered all day on low. Eat like soup when the greens are all soft and mushy.
Here are some variables:
Put some chopped up bacon in the pot first and let the bacon (or ham, or hambone , or ?) cook a bit and then put the greens on top.
Throw other veggies in…broccoli was good for me, but carrots, beets, rutabagas would all work. They are all going to end up mushy anyway.
Use spices!!! I used turmeric and cumin, garlic powder, paprika and salt and pepper. My version is pretty spicy which is how I like it.
Make sure you drink/eat the juice. The nutrients from the veggies are infused in that liquid and that is what you want in your body!

Play more, eat your vegetables, and play while you are cooking! Have fun!
By the way I am taking reservations for my first cooking class, gourmet dinner garden fundraiser. If you are reading this and interested let me know…seating the first time around will be very limited so first come first served!

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

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Sunday Story...There is no Magic Pill. Or is there?

Sunday Story…There is No Magic Pill. Or is there?

This is something I have said before…”There is no magic pill”. There is no one thing to take or do that will turn your life around, make things easier, or magically turn your body into the shape you desire. There is no eat this and you will find your perfect weight and never have to struggle with craving and eating the “wrong” stuff again. This is no one workout routine that get you the 20” biceps and 500 pound squat (if that is what you want!). But we all know that. And we all keep searching for “it”. Whatever “it” is? Honestly we have been searching for these things for millennia…the holy grail, the golden city of El Dorado, the fountain of youth, the formula to turn lead into gold, the pill that lets you eat anything you want and lose weight and enjoy perfect health, or the cure for everything that ails you. We haven’t found it yet and we never will.

Or maybe we already have it and we have been ignoring it all these years. Maybe it is too easy, too simple for us to really grasp what the answer is. Maybe we just don’t want to put the effort into making it work and maybe the magic pill isn’t really a pill at all.

This video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc details a Doctor’s fight back from the edge of paralysis from a particularly insidious form of MS (multiple sclerosis). If you are not familiar with MS it is a disease where the myelin sheath that protects the nerves is attacked and breaks down. Over time this will result in impaired motor movement and eventually paralysis and death. It is slow, painful and incurable. Except for Dr. Terry Wahls. She has managed to fight back from near paralysis to almost full mobility. Her story is inspiring and remarkable.

Did she find a magic pill? An amazing cure from some previously unknown and exotic source? No and no. She tried every therapy available…physical, pharmaceutical, alternative and nothing had any lasting effect. Finally she did the research and figured out what her brain needed to be healthy and started giving it to it. It didn’t come in the form of a pill, a drug, or a shot.

Her cure: Food. Yes food. The same food that is available to all of us in this country every day. She started eating green stuff. Leafy greens to be more exact. She started eating more sulfur rich vegetables and more colored fruits and vegetable. She eats 9 cups of all that every day. That’s 3 large, heaping dinner plates full of mostly vegetable and fruits. She also eats several times a week grass fed meat, organ meat, and fish. She makes sure she gets plenty of minerals and vitamins from her food.

In 5 months she went from barely being able to walk with 2 canes to being able to make hospital rounds with no assistance! All from eating the right food. You have heard me go on and on and on about this…the “paleo” diet or the “caveman” diet, or the “hunter gatherer” diet…call it what you will…here is the bottom line…eat mostly plants (leafy green ones), add in some other vegetables that are available, a few fruits and berries, some healthy meats and your health will improve.

Lots of people say they don’t like the taste of _______(fill in the blank). They seem to find it a source of pride to not eat any vegetables. If you were faced with the choice of wheel chair for the rest of your life or you had to eat liver and onions twice a week what would you choose? And if you say the wheel chair stop reading now, don’t watch the video, and enjoy your life. There are lots of things that cause you discomfort including learning to like foods you didn’t previously enjoy. That discomfort is nothing compared to the discomfort of poor health. You see, poor health never leaves you. The pain of diabetes never goes away. The awareness of not being able to walk is always there. But if you could turn your poor health around just by eating natural foods…wouldn’t you?

So why aren’t you? I mean what do we have to do to get you off the CRAP (Calorie Rich And Pathetic) you are eating and feeding your children too? You don’t offer your children cigarettes and alcohol do you? Yet you feed them and yourself sugar (as addictive as heroin and cocaine, the main cause of diabetes and obesity, and shown to cause many forms of cancer), artificial sweeteners (cancer, diabetes, obesity), grains (a major source of food allergies, auto immune disorders, diabetes, and obesity), dairy (the 2nd leading source of food allergies, and digestive difficulties) with no compunction.

The evidence is mounting. Clear and present danger is in front of you. You can continue running toward the cliff with all the rest of the lemmings destined to fall into the sea of poor health, chronic disease, diabetes, obesity, dementia, and premature death and a quality of life plagued by Doctors, Hospitals, Pharmacies, and Drugs. Or you can make a different choice. You can choose vital health, nourishing food, a brain that is elastic and healthy until the day you die (naturally), children whose moods are more even, who learn better, and are happier.

The choice is yours. The magic pill is there…in the food you eat. So is the other pill by the way…the one that is going to make you sick and cause you pain and misery…it’s in the food as well.
You are already choosing one or the other…which is it?

Here is the link to Dr. Wahls’ story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc
And here is a link to the article I got her story from: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/why-you-should-eat-leafy-greens/#axzz1mUXsu6Ye

When I want a treat I eat “Paleo Candy” from my recipe stash (thanks Scott D.!)
Throw about 1 cup of cashews in the processor. Chop to desired size. Put in a different bowl.
Put about 1# of dates in the processor with about ½ cup of almond butter and let the processor mix all that up into a mushy paste.
Put all that in the bowl with the cashews and combine together using your hands.
Spread it over a ¼ sheet cookie pan covered with saran wrap and flatten out. Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate for an hour or two. Cut into squares.
Nom Nom…Don’t eat too many…lots of calories here.

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

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Sunday Story...Poached, Pureed, Sliced, Diced

Sunday Story…Poached, pureed, sliced and diced

As promised this post is a primer on how to cook. I posed a couple questions to a gathering of friends last weekend…where did you learn to cook, and what would be the single motivating factor to learn to do it today or learn to do it better?

Overwhelmingly most of the people said they learned to cook from the kitchens of their homes…watching Mom or Grandma cook, being asked to help do things, learning by observing and doing.
And the single motivating factor? To learn to have a real appreciation for food. Not food as sustenance, mind you but food as a joyful celebration of taste, smell, and sensual experience. And this is not just for the consumer…this is for the one doing the cooking…the joy of preparation, of cutting, chopping, sautéing, reducing, of putting together tastes and flavors in ways you have never thought of and then sitting down and savoring that very first bite. That is the joy I am talking about, that is the appreciation for food that strikes me deep in my core.

Look, cooking is really not that hard. It may seem as if there is some big mystery to it but I am about to debunk most of that…first like anything else you have to learn the language…
Boil…really hot bubbling water (or any liquid) you put things into…not always the best way to cook but it does have its purpose from time to time
Steam…put the food over the boiling water and let the steam cook the food…better than boiling since the good things in the food don’t get lost in the water
Sauté…a way to quickly cook food in a small amount of oil with fairly high heat
Fry…more oil, hotter than Sauté
Broil…under high heat close to the food
Bake…in the oven at a specific temperature
Roast…in the oven like baking but usually covered but not always…think of it like this…I bake cookies, I roast a turkey
Grill…hot fire (gas, wood, charcoal) under the food
Braise…very quickly sautéing the food and just browning it enough to seal the juice in but not to cook through.
Microwave…duh
Raw...duh again
Chop…large chunks (1 inch square or so)
Slice…large thin pieces
Dice…small chunks
Mince…really small chunks
Some tools that are necessary…
Knives…the sharper the better as they are more efficient and safer
A set of pots and pans of varying sizes…pots are deeper, pan are shallower, just like some of your friends
A cutting board to cut stuff on
A set of measuring spoons and cups
A slow cooker or a crock pot
A blender or a food processor or a hand blender or all 3!
There is a bunch of stuff I am sure I am forgetting but if I walked into your kitchen and it had all of the above we would be very good to go!

Things your pantry must contain (these are staples that get used almost constantly):
Salt (sea salt not chemical salt)
Black pepper
Dried basil, oregano, parsley, tarragon, thyme, cumin, turmeric, chili powder, paprika, dried red pepper flakes, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger
Fresh Garlic (you could also have some garlic powder)
Squash...butternut, spaghetti, acorn come to mind
Sweet potatoes and/or yams
Olive Oil (extra virgin is best)
Coconut Oil
Coconut milk in a can
Onion (you could also have some onion powder)
Dijon Mustard
Vinegar (apple cider is a staple but red wine and balsamic have their uses as well)
Tuna (I prefer dark in oil myself)

Things to find in your refrigerator:
Vegetables…use your imagination but…carrots, broccoli, eggplant, zucchini, kale, chard, spinach, lettuce (not iceberg), beets, radishes, and ginger, the list is endless
Meat…grass fed, pastured, free range, wild…whether its chicken, beef, fish or ? it needs to be raised as cleanly as possible
Eggs…vegetarian cage free and local if possible
Butter…grass fed if possible, organic for sure

Got all that? Pretty simple really. So let’s cook something for dinner…maybe some chicken, potatoes and a salad…
Grab a medium pan of water and put on to boil. Peel 4 sweet potatoes or yams and cut into small pieces (the smaller the pieces the faster they will cook.) and place in the pan
While that is cooking…
Get your large sauté pan out and put 2 tablespoons of oil and heat on medium…chop up an onion and throw in the pan…grab your chicken and put in the pan with one clove of minced garlic…btw you can use pretty much any cut of chicken you want…cook for 4 minutes on each side…take the chicken out of the pan and put on a plate…scrape the pan, leaving the oil in the pan and add a diced carrot a teaspoon each of paprika and oregano and cook for 2 minutes on medium and ½ a can of coconut milk…heat to boiling and let boil uncovered to reduce to ½ the amount you started with…maybe 7 or 8 minutes, put the chicken back in reduce heat to med/low and cover for about 10 minutes
Take the pot with the potatoes off the stove and drain the potatoes. Put them in a bowl and mash by hand, in the blender, food processor or hand blender add 2 tablespoons of butter and salt and pepper to taste (that means as much as you like to taste).
About now when you are done with the potatoes grab some broccoli and cut into florets (the little trees) and throw on top of the chicken and put the cover back on for 2 minutes.
Throw some green lettuce in a bowl put some olive oil and your favorite vinegar on it.
Serve the chicken, covered in the sauce on a plate with the potatoes, the salad in a bowl. Your choice of beverage (water, lemon water, glass of wine).

There you have it…from start to finish maybe 45 minutes...a healthy, good, for you meal prepared with love and care, a feast for the senses. Not that hard.
You can do this.
Let’s eat…more later


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

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Sunday Story...Whatcha going to Eat Willis?

Sunday Story…Whatcha going to eat Willis?

OK…Food…one of my favorite topics as most of you know…so you gave up grains, dairy, legumes, sugar (duh…should have been the first thing btw)…So, what are you going to eat?

I mean this whole food thing sounds like a lot of “No”. No pasta, no bread, no cereal, no beer (gluten), no Boston Baked Beans, no refried beans, no cheese, no Mexican, Chinese, Italian and more restaurants, no sandwiches, no peanut butter, no pancakes, waffles, hot chocolate, no wheaties, no oatmeal, no yogurt, no corn on the cob (corn is a grain), no, no , no, no. That is just the very short list and it feels like a lot of NO. It feels like, when I look at that list, deprivation and despair. So quit looking at that list and start looking at the Yes list.

Yes to all the vegetables I want to eat…broccoli, turnips, parsnips, carrots, lettuce of all kinds, arugula, beets, radishes, plantains, pumpkins, peppers, squash of an infinite variety, tomatoes (technically a fruit but…), eggplant avocado, and on and on and on. Yes to herbs and spices…cilantro, basil, parsley, oregano, cumin, coriander, turmeric, pepper, salt (real salt from the sea or the ground not chemical salt), cayenne, etc. Yes to meat, poultry and fish (sourced from real farms meaning grass fed, pastured animals)…beef, bison, lamb, goat, chicken, turkey, ostrich, elk, venison, pork, boar, quail, salmon, cod, sole, shrimp, octopus, scallops, oysters, and more. And yes you get to eat the whole critter because it hasn’t been created from bad feed using GMOs and franken-animals. Yes to seed and nuts…cashews, almonds, walnuts, pumpkin, sunflower, and my favorite…macadamias. And of course the nut butter from those nuts. Be cautious here though it’s easy to go nuts on those! Yes to fruit in moderation…apples, oranges, berries, bananas, kumquats, kiwis, persimmons, pomegranates, and so on. Best if you can consume these in season by the way (which means not much in February!)

Lots of yeses on that list but that really doesn’t solve a couple of the big big problems. Like what am I supposed to eat for breakfast which is supposedly the most important meal of the day (who made that up anyway?). We are so conditioned to eat certain things for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that it seems inhuman to eat a salad for breakfast. Let see if you can channel you Paleolithic ancestors for minute…what would the first meal of the day looked like? Because you haven’t been out foraging and hunting yet. It would have to be whatever you had leftover from yesterdays hunting and gathering forays…if they were successful. And if they weren’t well tough luck…no food for you this morning until you get out there and find some. You are a modern human and missing a meal once in a while is not going to kill you. As a matter of fact, going all day without eating won’t kill you, waste your muscles away, stop your fat burning mechanism or really have any detrimental effect whatsoever. I cannot imagine that there is any one of you reading this who is on the verge of starvation. So think outside of the cereal box for breakfast and eat dinner in the morning once in a while. First problem down.

The next problem is significantly more challenging. I don’t know how to cook. I don’t know how to cook vegetables. I don’t know how to prepare food that doesn’t come with a 3 step instructional list. When I read an ingredient list I have no idea what is healthy and what isn’t (here’s a hint…if there are more than 3 ingredients put it down and back away…real food doesn’t come with an ingredient list). My kids won’t eat ___________(fill in the blank).

Learn to cook. It isn’t that hard. And no, it doesn’t take that much more time. Grab a knife and chop some stuff, throw it in a pan and see what happens. Add some spices and taste it. Use bacon (the good uncured no nitrite, nitrate stuff), use olive oil; use coconut oil to cook with. Throw meat over a fire (aka the bar-b-que grill) without slathering it in commercialized sugar sauce and cook it up…put it on the plate with some of those veggies and a salad and there you are…a meal made with healthy intentions, love and that isn’t killing you slowly. More on the how to cook thing next week by the way.

This Sunday is the day where way too many of you will be overeating really crappy food. Not me…here is my super bowl Sunday menu with links to the recipes and a full recipe for my special dessert bar…
Oysters on the half shell…no recipe necessary…shuck them and eat them raw…protein, in abundance.
Brazilian fish stew…pretty simple and very tasty and if you make it the night before it will be even better on game day… the recipe is here: http://www.radiancenutrition.com/2011/10/04/brazilian-fish-stew-moqueca-de-peixe/
Chorizo (you can use any sausage you want) stuffed sweet potato skins…use the guacamole recipe for other stuff (like the chips below, duh) too…the recipe is here: http://paleomg.com/superbowl-snacks-avocado-chorizo-sweet-potato-skins/

Sweet Potato Chips with Red Pepper dip…Ya gotta have chips and dip…here is the homemade version that is actually good for you:
http://paleomg.com/superbowl-snacks-sweet-potato-chips/
and the dip:
http://paleomg.com/superbowl-snacks-roasted-red-pepper-dip/

Date-licious Dessert bars: This is so simple that you will wonder how this can be so awesome for so little work:
Get a pound or so of pitted dates, about a cup of raw cashews (no salt, no oil), and about a half cup of almond butter. Throw the cashews in a food processor and chop up to the consistency you want (don’t powder them). Put them in a big bowl. Put the dates and the nut butter in the processor and process to a paste. Put that mixture in the bowl with the cashews and using your hands mix it all up together. Put some saran wrap on a cookie sheet (1/4 sheet) and pour the mixture on the cookie sheet. Press it flat with your hands, cover it with another piece of saran wrap and put it in the fridge. Pull it out 3 or 4 hours later and cut into squares. Eat sparingly because these are very addicting and calorie dense.

So…Whatcha going to eat Willis?

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

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Sunday Story…the 9 Save Your Life Reasons to Work Out (not exercise)

Sunday Story…the 9 Save Your Life Reasons to Work Out (not exercise)

I often rant and rave about the benefits of working out. You notice I said working out not exercising. I exercise my rights, I exercise my math skills, I ride an exercise bike but I don’t exercise. I work out. I get moving, get moving fast and intentional, and do things I haven’t done before and sweat and pant and effort.

The other day my little tiger class (4 &5 year olds) was doing push-ups and I asked them why push-ups were important. I got a lot of interesting answers, most of which were related to the things we all know…to be strong, to get bigger muscles, to be in shape, to exercise, even to get good at doing push-ups. Then after a bit more prodding and having them watch the student instructors move a bin of sparring gear to reach something else I finally got the answer I was looking for…to be able to lift heavy things! Are all those other things true? Of course they are. But in the final analysis the only real reason I want to work out is so that I can lift heavy things, move heavy things, run fast, climb stairs, help my invalid relative out of a chair, or work in my garden all day. In other words when I work out I need it to serve me in my life.

So here are the 9 Save Your Life Reasons to Work Out (not exercise)
1. Fresh Air, sunshine, and earth are all healing and contributory to your spirit. Hamsters run on wheels, not people. You don’t need to spin your wheels for 45 minutes going nowhere just to sweat. Get outside and see the world, even if it just your own neighborhood. You will be amazed at the changes over the course of a year.

2. Lifting heavy things builds muscle but it also builds will. When you set up or get under a weight you have never lifted before your mind is going to work against you. Your mind is going to say no, is going to want to stop, to quit. Your will, your drive, your desire is what has you step up and go where you have never gone before. This part of your body is under-developed and the only way to get it bigger is to challenge yourself with things that are seemingly impossible to your former self.


3. Sprinting empowers you. Remember the old saying about not having to outrun the bear, just outrun the slowest camper? If you sprint you won’t be the slowest camper. And in this day and age it more likely you will need to outrun the taxi cab barreling down at you than a bear but still…

4. Use it or lose it. Sitting around doing nothing is like watching a car rust in the rain…it is going to fall apart sooner rather than later. Doing the usual exercise pattern you have done for years is like watching the same car die of neglect. It needs new stuff to keep that shiny new look and feel. So does your body. You need to challenge yourself by doing different stuff, by creating some interest in what you are doing…it is body AND mind after all not just body.


5. Play more, work less. When you were little you played a lot. As a matter of fact it may be all you did. Working out is play. Exercise is drudgery. Play more, work less.

6. You are a miracle. Never before in history have you existed here. You have been gifted an absolute marvel of bio-mechanical engineering. Man has never been able to create the machine that rivals the sum of all your parts working together. If we were to try to reverse engineer your biology and mechanics that allow you to be alive we would be faced with an impossible task. Appreciate the how and why and wherefore of even the simplest movement let alone your ability to run fast, play hard and drip sweat.

7. Look better naked. However good you look now, you can always look better. Enough said.

8. Sleep. Sleep enough that you don’t get fired or divorced but sleep a lot. You will need 8 or 9 hours if you work out. If you exercise, well watching TV while you exercise might as well be sleeping right?

9. Eat more and eat better. When you work out…when the sweat is pouring off of you and drenching the floor, you legs are shaking, your heart is pounding, and your breath is strangling in your throat…you know you are going to be slicing fat off your frame for hours. Eating will be a little piece of heaven that drink of water will be like the nectar of the gods. And because #7 is true you will want to put premium fuel in the tank.

10. You will be an inspiration. Let’s face it we all want to be looked up to. We all want to be famous in some way, even if it is to the 5 people in our lives we see every day. Getting in great physical condition, eating right, sleeping a bunch, looking great, feeling great, having an amazing attitude and a sense of wonder are all contagious. The people around you are going to want to get some of what you got. And you get to be their hero. And that may be reason #1.

Run fast, lift heavy stuff, learn new ways to move, play, sleep, eat, inspire. Work out. Have fun. A simple recipe for honoring yourself and the amazing vehicle you inhabit. It’s never too late to start unless you are already dead.

Let’s be grown ups and start playing like we were kids again!

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

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Sunday Story...The 9 Big Butt Reasons

Sunday Story…The 9 Big Butt Reasons

The other day I was talking to somebody about food and why you shouldn’t eat certain things. And I was about half-way into my usual explanation about foreign proteins and anti-nutrients and sugars and such when she stopped me short. “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said, “now give me the big butt reason.” I looked at her a little puzzled. And she said,”you know, why shouldn’t I eat something because it will make my butt big. That’s a reason I can really understand and stay with.”

So here goes The 9 Big Butt Reasons for eating certain foods and certain types of foods.
1. Why should I not drink soda? First (logically) there is too much sugar in them and the chemicals used to make soda leach calcium from your bones. BBR (Big Butt Reason): Too much sugar gives you too many calories and causes you to want even more sugar and makes your butt big(ger).

2. What about diet soda? First the artificial sweeteners are just chemicals and not good for you and your brain does not recognize the difference between fake sugar and the real thing, so you still release insulin and store fat. BBR: The more you drink the more you want and you want sugar even if you aren’t getting it so you eat more other crap to get it and that makes your butt big(ger).


3. You say not to eat gluten and wheat…why not? First there is the whole story about lectins and other proteins and the allergic reactions many people have with gluten but I won’t go there now (let me know if you need to hear this again). BBR: The gluten and wheat create an insulin reaction like sugar and cause you to eat more and more often , not to mention the calorie dense nature of the food makes it easy to over eat and that makes your butt big(ger).

4. Sugar? No Sugar? First it is addictive like crack or heroin or nicotine and the more you eat the more you want. BBR: it creates over time an insulin resistance that makes it harder and harder to lose weight because you aren’t processing sugar efficiently except to store it as fat and that makes your butt big(ger).


5. No pasta, no bread, no rice, no cake or pie, and no grains? First (after re-reading the gluten thing above) your digestive system does not process these foods in an efficient manner, they have almost no micro-nutrient value, and you can easily pile on more calories than you need. BBR: you eat too much, too often, and with no intention and that makes your butt big(ger).

6. No Processed food? First if it came out of a box it came out of a factory and it has been created to last a long time on the grocery shelf and will do the same thing in your body. BBR: there is little to no nutrient value except in the chemicals they put back in so you are eating calories that won’t increase your health and that makes your butt big(ger).


7. No peanut butter? No legumes, peas, beans? First (see the gluten thing above again) the allergic reaction many of us have and don’t realize it, the proteins are indigestible, the sugars create the same havoc with your insulin as the above. BBR: makes is hard for your digestive system to work properly, puts little holes in your intestines to let the proteins out and messes with your immune system and makes your butt big(ger).

8. No Alcohol? First sugar (see all the stuff before this) and gluten (beer) and then there is the toxic nature of alcohol in general and the ill effects it may have on your liver. BBR: if your liver isn’t working right it makes it hard to process sugar correctly, alcohol and most mixers we put alcohol into are full of sugar so you drink too many calories and that makes your butt big(ger).

9. No dairy? First your body does not have all the necessary tools to process lactase after the age of 2, it is more efficient to get calcium from other sources other than the chemicals producers have to add back in after pasteurization and the milk sugars and proteins act in your body like all the things we have already discussed. BBR: too many calories, too easy to eat too much of it, and that makes your butt big(ger).


The BBR bottom line? It is too easy to Over-eat these foods. They are calorie dense and nutrient weak, chemically dense and crowded with things your body was never meant to absorb, let alone try to process into a healthy body. On one hand the formula is simple…eat too many calories and it makes your butt big(ger). You can never exercise your way skinny. On the other hand the type of calories does matter…1500 calories of sugar will react differently in your body than 1500 calories of vegetables. Sugar provides no micronutrients and Vegetables are the best source of micronutrients.

The Standard American Diet consists of 60% processed food (CRAP in a box and yes this includes “diet” food, specially designed foods for weight loss), 30% meat, 5% white potatoes and rice, 5% vegetables. If you eat like this your butt will get big(ger). You should be eating something like 60% veggies, 30% meat, 10% or more fat (nuts, seeds, olives, avocados and the likes). If you do your butt won’t get bigger and if you add some exercise in your butt might even get smaller. And after all, isn’t that the real question you were asking anyway?

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

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Sunday Story...Practice

Sunday Story…Practice

Over the years, I have found the answer to a lot of questions to be: Practice. If you want your performance to be mistake free: Practice. If you want to get good at something, anything: Practice. If you want to be a master, a virtuoso: Practice.

There is also the practice of doing something. I may have a yoga practice or a medical or dental practice. This is to say that I am doing that thing repeatedly on a daily basis. So I have, in essence, a yoga habit. I have a medical habit; I do it repeatedly on a daily basis. I have a work out habit, a work out practice.

We become what we do repeatedly. No you are not going to become down dog or crow pose but you might become a yogi or yogini (someone who practices yoga). But then not everyone who does yoga has a yoga practice and not everyone who does yoga is a yogi or a yogini. So what separates the doer from the practitioner? What makes the difference between the fighter and the martial artist, between the painter and the artist, between the horseman and the equestrian?

In a word: Intent.

What do you do every day? You live. You get up, go do something, then some more things, then some more things, eat a few times, maybe relax a bit and go to bed. Tomorrow more of the same. Lather, rise, repeat. Go to the gym today…it’s Thursday and I must go get on the bike for 45 minutes. That’s what “they” say will keep me healthy so I go grab a magazine or my iPod and zone out for 45 minutes on the exercise bike, treadmill, whatever you hamster wheel is. “They” told you that was what was needed so there you go. Friday, something else”they” told you to do. Eating food “they” told you to eat. This week no carb, next week, no fat, next week cabbage soup, next week pineapple. No intention, no motivation…is it a habit, sure. So is brushing your teeth or putting on clean socks but that doesn’t mean you are actually practicing brushing your teeth, or eating with intention, or working out with intention or dressing with intention.

Intention changes everything. So does the awareness of what it is you are doing. Because if you are practicing mindless, by the numbers stuff your life will become a mindless by the numbers sort of life. Maybe you are OK with that…just going through and taking whatever life gives you and just doing whatever you can to get through until tomorrow.

So what are you practicing today?
Are you practicing eating good quality meal prepared with love and care or are you practicing throwing some junk down your pie-hole standing in front of the sink?
Are you practicing increasing your health and fitness through working out or are you practicing by exercising in some mindless robotron way?
Are you practicing living intentionally or are you practicing living by default…whatever you get handed?

You don’t have to have an intentional intention. You are creating intention by practicing what you are doing everyday…surfing the web and wasting time…or intentionally seeking out new knowledge? Your tomorrow’s are being determined right now…by how intentional you are doing what you are doing right now. Wonder why you aren’t in better shape? How is your intention when you exercise? Do you approach every workout with the intention to be better than the last one---faster, stronger, better? Wonder why your nutrition plan isn’t working? Do you approach every meal with the intention to fuel your body with the healthiest, cleanest food you can possibly put in your body? If not, why not?

Why not, indeed? What is stopping you from having intention? You are going to love this…you can guess, I know you can guess…what is the thing that is stopping you from living and intentional life, from intentional building the body, the fitness, the health you want, from having the nurturing, kind and loving relationships you desire?

Practice.

That’s right you must practice intention. I can practice leaving dirty dishes in the sink or I can practice cleaning up after myself immediately. I can get up in the morning and start running after all the mundane tasks and jobs that come up with no intention or plan. Or I can get up intentionally and practice eating with mindfulness, doing my work with the intention to provide my employer and clients with the best possible experience possible, and practicing living my life with intention.

How are you going to do this? How are you going to shift into an intentional life? Start by deciding to be intentional. Then become aware of what it is you are doing. Do you really want that 3rd cup of coffee? Do you really need to stay up an extra ½ hour just to watch that program? What is the intention, what will you get, how will doing that activity move you forward toward your intentional life? After the decision and the awareness we can begin to hone our intentionality. Is it possible to be intentional about brushing your teeth? Yes. Is it possible to be intentional every time you walk into your office? Yes. Is it possible to take every meal with intention? How about every bite? What would happen, how would your life be different if everything that passed between your lips was the result of intention or had conscious intention behind it? Every word going out was intentional, every drink, every bite of food intention as to its purpose? What would life look like if that was your practice?

Practice intentionality. It’s simple, really, just not easy.

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

Follow me at:
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