This piece has but one goal: to help you feel, do and be better!
I. PHYSICAL HEALTH
We’ve heard it a million times---“DIET AND EXERCISE” Well, that’s true, but the trick is to turn what are “chore” words to JOY words! Finding food that is HEALTHY and PLEASURABLE to eat, doing exercise that you look forward to doing is the key!
A. FOOLPROOF DIET—this is guaranteed to make you feel better and lose weight.
FIRST—DESIRE! You gotta want it, “it” being a combination of losing weight, feeling and looking better, being healthier.
SECOND—“eye of the tiger!” You gotta have an inner conviction of change that second guesses all you have thought about food, been taught or conditioned to think about food your whole life. YOU HAVE BUT ONE LIFE—max it out!
HERE’S THE DIET:
1) ELIMINATE—
a. ALL transfats (partially hydrogenated oils), which means margarine and just about all processed/packaged foods. PS—when I say “all” I mean ALL!
b. ALL artificial sweeteners—Splenda, Nutrasweet. These are POISON, they screw up your neurology, can make you nervous, cause numbness, give you cancer AND….MAKE YOU GAIN WEIGHT!! Try Stevia instead if you must have a sweetener (go here for a fuller critique of Aspartame);
c. MOST ALL sugar—meaning granulated sugar, high fructose corn syrup, other syrups and other sugars “raw” or not, including juices, but NOT FRUIT, natural, raw fruit is just fine. PS—“ALL” would be preferable, but settle for “most all”—which for most of you will mean about a 90% reduction of the sugar you are currently taking in. Put simply, sugar is a killer, a robber of long term health at the expense of a few minutes of sublime pleasure. You don’t need it and can enjoy the satisfaction of sweets without it with frozen fruit smoothies and natural, raw fruits!
d. ALL FAST FOOD—there are occasional non-threatening choices at some fast food restaurants but, really, these places are disastrous for long term health. Taste good? Sure, sometimes, but so what? Limit your visits—to something like zero times over the course of a year.
e. EXCESS CALORIES!!! You simply must count calories IF you are overweight and want to shed pounds. If you are more than 10% over your ideal body weight (go here, http://www.halls.md/body-mass-index/bmi.htm, to find out) then you must limit your calories to no more than 1500 a day. When you near your ideal weight, eat no more than 1800-2000 calories a day—DEPENDING on how much exercise you get. The more you burn, the more calories you can take in. BUT it is essential to insure your calories come from the right foods, therefore…
2) EAT—here it is, the eating plan that will maximize your health and happiness:
a. Eat whole, healthy foods…that you LIKE! Get lists of healthy foods. Here is one list: http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php. Another idea is to get the book “Eat Right for your Blood Type” which lists foods that are theoretically geared for your particular blood type. On either list CIRCLE THE HEALTHY FOODS YOU LIKE to eat, and forget the rest! THEN, eat only—or at least, mostly—those foods on the HEALTHY lists….THAT YOU LIKE.
By: 1) eating ONLY the healthy foods that you like, 2) ELIMINATING trans fats, artificial sweeteners, and sugars and 3) counting calories to stay under 1500 to lose weight, around 2000 to maintain weight you will lose weight and feel hundreds of times better, I promise! More energy, mental acuity, etc.
b. OPTIONAL--what I did because I had a cholesterol problem and hated the thought of killing animals was to…GO VEGETARIAN (no meats or fish—I will eat fish once in a while), even VEGAN (no dairy either, although I do eat cheese now and then). I can’t tell you how much more energy I have, and how any indigestion and/or constipation and other such disorders DISAPPEARED on a vegetarian diet rich with greens, fruit, beans, lentils….and for me movie popcorn—but without butter!
c. OPTIONAL II—GO GLUTEN FREE! I discovered I had an intolerance to wheat products, soy products and NUTS (and I used to LOVE each of them). The intolerance manifested itself in a horrible, uncontrollable eczema breakout that lasted about 4 years and as many dermatologists. Skin eruptions, up-all-night itching, including my eyes. My own research indicated that many people suffer food intolerances of one sort or another. These are different from allergies, which is something that manifests itself in an IMMEDIATE swelling or shortness of breath. An intolerance will produce symptoms sometimes days after the offending food.
Anyway, I have been 100% better after giving up all wheat products. And have found it easier to stay in shape and retain energy without them. PS--Udi’s is a good brand of gluten free bread I get when I long for good toast, and Amy’s gluten free pizza is superb!
By the way, if you haven't yet discovered it, Dr. Mercola is a GREAT site for overall health information. Here is his introductory post on nutrition. You can sign up for daily informational emails, which I find TERRIFIC!
http://www.mercola.com/nutritionplan/index2.htm
3. DRINK—
Lots of water—and yes, tap water will do (I have a great doctor and I trust his word on this, although I also have two water filters at home, a Nikken water gravity tank and a filter in my refrigerator, so I drink a combo of tap and filtered water).
Coffee and tea are fine, even healthy—WITHOUT sugar and artificial sweeteners.
SMOOTHIES---With fruit (plus whatever whole foods like nuts, etc that you like, and or protein powder) crushed ice, rice milk, unsweetened yogurt or a little fruit juice (3 ounces). Here are two of my favorites for instance—but once you limit yourself to the plethora of healthy ingredients that are available the options are limited only to that of your imagination:
a) STRAWBERRY, BLUEBERRY, BANANA frozen smoothie: Take 1-2 cups frozen strawberries, 1/3 cup or so frozen blueberries, thaw in “defrost” microwave setting for a little over a minute (depends on your microwave). Take blender, add 5 ice cubes, 1 really big banana, or 2 smaller ones. 3 ounces of WELCH’S grape/cherry 100% juice (I have used a number of juices and or rice or soy milk in the past and any are fine, but I this is my favorite!). Blend to puree setting for 15 seconds or so. Unfreakin-believable how good this is!
b) SPINACH, ORANGE AND PEAR frozen smoothie---
Get the Organic baby spinach in the plastic tub at the store—already pre-washed and ready to go! Start with 3-4 ounces of water, one whole orange, peeled, 6-8 ice cubes, half a pear and a BUNCH of the spinach. Put on blender and after crushing ice go to LIQUIFY setting for about 30 seconds. You won’t believe how good this tastes and what a beautiful lime green color it turns out. You just KNOW you are drinking a chloro-phylled glass of pure health and it tastes GREAT to boot. Talk about having your cake and eating it too!
FRESHLY SQUEEZED juice is good but NOT, NOT basic canned/bottled juices. A little (6 ounces or less) is okay, but usually people drink much more and therefore get way too many calories without the fiber from the whole fruit that is so healthy.
NO SOFT DRINKS. To wean yourself off them try getting a cold Coke (or whatever you drink—with the sugar, not the “diet” version), get a cold can of carbonated water and mix the two. Start at half and half and gradually add more carbonated water and less Coke until you are able to go without it.
NO MILK SHAKES, FROZEN YOGURTS (wayyyyy too much sugar!!) There is enough good stuff, you don’t need this junk.
YOU CAN DO IT!!
B. EXERCISE—
Do….SOMETHING! Do whatever is comfortable for YOU! Walk, run, exercise or yoga classes, whatever, but do something. A nice walk in the park or in the neighborhood will do just fine.
I do not enjoy health clubs therefore I never frequent them. Instead I follow a wayyyy abbreviated version of my old football days workouts. Pushups, sit ups, and then run for about 30 minutes in the morning. I talk walks in the afternoon wherein I will pray, then mediate (just think about NOTHING, focus on the breath and live fully in the present moment, accepting whatever I experience in that moment without judgment).
YOU CAN DO IT!!
My next installment will focus on tips for emotional health and well being….
Richard Dawahare 8/21/11
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