Nomadic Life

I’m a nomad.  A “neo-bedouin”.  I simply love the variety and challenge of travel.

I have lived in a car.  I’ve lived in a van.  I’ve backpacked around Asia.  I’ve lived in several Asian countries on a shoe-string.  They were all great experiments- interesting and growth-producing.

Over the past few years, however, I’ve been a lot more stationary…  kind of “stuck” in San Francisco. It has never truly felt like home.

That situation is soon to change.  Tomoe (my wife) and I have decided on a nomadic lifestyle that fits our needs.

I, starting this Fall, will be a true nomad–  splitting my time every year between Southeast Asia (probably KL, Malaysia), Kyoto Japan, and the US.  I’ll spend roughly 4 months in each place.

We plan to rent a house in Kyoto.  Kyoto is a fantastic place– the old capital of Japan. It is filled with marvelous temples, traditional houses, and bamboo-lined paths (in addition to a fully modern city).  Kyoto has tons of artists and artisans, lots of students, and lots of health-conscious people.  It has the most vegan/veg. restaurants of any Japanese city I’ve visited.  The city is also surrounded by hills and mountains– plenty of hiking and nature nearby.  It’s an ideal place to spend the summer– which is what I’ll be doing.

Tomoe has given me the task of learning Japanese while I’m in Kyoto- so that’s one project I’ll be focused on there!  In addition, I’ll be doing classes and seminars for Japanese companies (and for my planned non-profit Foundation), doing seminars in other nearby Asian countries (Korea, China, Taiwan,..), and writing & planning lessons.

Kuala Lumpur is a fully modern SE Asian city.  Tropical, diverse… and packed with fabulous food- incredible Indian food (better than India, in my opinion),  Chinese food, and Malay food… and an amazing bounty of tropical fruits and veggies.   It’s a bustling place… but unlike Bangkok… has clean air.  My good friend Kenny (another Georgia boy) already lives there and, next year, also becomes an entrepreneur.  KL is always hot and sunny– a perfect place to spend the Winter– which is what I’ll be doing!

While in KL I’ll be mostly focused on doing as many seminars as possible– in Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, S. China, and India.  We’ll also enjoy hiking trips.. and of course, lots of diving.

The final 4 months of the year I’ll spend in the USA– visiting friends and family, attending seminars, and recording lessons for Effortless English.

I’ve felt a giddy excitement building inside me every since we decided on this schedule.  Taking to the open road and the open skies….  moving with the seasons…  the nomadic life is calling me again….

The Health and Aging Threshold

There is no doubt at all that we can all age with incredible vitality, strength, health and energy.  We can all have 80-100+ years of incredible vitality… long lives full of life.

There is also no doubt that in our teens and 20s,… and for some, in their 30s,..  it’s possible to heap a massive amount of abuse on the body and still feel relatively decent.

However, there is a threshold– a point at which the chemicals, garbage food, and sedentary life catch up with nearly everyone.

That threshold, for most people, is around the age of 40.

Here’s the common pattern in America–  a person eats badly for decades.  They gradually add fat to their body in their 20s and 30s….  but aren’t necessarily “obese” (though more and more are becoming obese younger and younger).

These people aren’t athletic, but they don’t consider themselves to have bad health.

Then they get near age 40.  The decades of abuse rapidly catch up to them.   More pounds of fat get added.

And it’s at this time they begin to notice other disturbing things happening–  their energy and drive start dropping, their sexual drive drops, their muscle mass begins to slowly and gradually drop.  The vitality begins to seep away.

Most people go into denial and say “it’s nothing”.  Or they pass it off as “normal” aging.  I can’t tell you how many older friends I’ve heard say, “Well, I’m just getting older”.

This is tragic.  To start losing one’s vitality at 40…  and live the next 3-5+ decades feeling ever weaker, ever more fatigued, ever more grumpy,… with a diminishing zest for life….  it is so unnecessary.

The challenge is this–  after the age of 40 there is no more leeway.  When you abuse your body for 40 years, you have no more room for error if you want to be fantastically alive.  At that point, you must adopt a 100% healthy lifestyle.  You must cut out ALL of the garbage.  You must eat such that your hormones will remain balanced and normal. Most people also need a few key supplement.

And everyone needs exercise– both “slow burn” aerobic exercise (ie. walking) and muscle building exercise (ie. weights, kettlebells,..).

The problem for most people is that after 40 (or 50, or 60) years of living a trashy, unhealthy lifestyle- they become addicted to junk food.  Most even connect their identity to the garbage food they eat.

And so most choose to cling to garbage comfort foods– mistakenly thinking that the small pleasures of eating them are greater any benefit they’d get from becoming a “health nut” and eating all that “strange” health food.

Now that I’m on the other side of that threshold… and have become a full-fledged “health nut”, I can say unequivocally that NOTHING compares to the incredible every day vibrant high of super-health!   Nothing compares to feeling constantly energetic… all day long.  Nothing compares to feeling generally happy and emotionally positive… all day long.  Nothing compares to being mentally sharp… all day long.  Nothing compares to having a strong motivation and drive- and a feeling of life purpose and mission… every day.. all day long.

No donut, no bread, no pasta, no packaged chemicalized garbage food of any kind… no matter how skillfully prepared… no matter how much it stimulates the body… can compare to how I feel now.

It’s not too late to feel fantastic.

No matter what your age- you can change now.

You must simply decide that your life, your friends and family, your vitality… are more important that an addiction to garbage food and sedentary TV watching.

Get disgusted with your deteriorated life!  Get passionately excited about what is possible.

And take massive, consistent action.

Once you achieve a feeling of super-health, you’ll never go back… and remaining healthy will feel effortless.

The Disease Conspiracy

The horrific state of health in America is NOT natural.  It’s not accidental.

I don’t understand how anyone can look around and not see that there is a HUGE problem.

Obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart-disease.. all are proclaimed “epidemics”.

Yet people shrug and pop the pills their doctor gives them… and few people seem upset by the situation.

It absolutely horrifies me.

Something is very very very wrong.

The industrial food industry and the industrial medical industry have created the sickest and most miserable population on the planet.  Through relentless marketing and total control of the media, they’ve convinced people that fast food, diabetes, insulin injections, chemotherapy, anti-depressants, and cholesterol drugs are “normal”.

It’s worse than anything found in Brave New World.

Health is the most basic right and gift of every human being– and it has been systematically destroyed in this country.

When I think of people I know who are over 45 years old… I can hardly identify a single healthy person.

It’s a tragedy.

It’s a tragedy because we can all have the vibrant health of Jack Lalanne, or Paul Bragg, or Fred Bisci.  We can all be strong, vibrant, pain-free, and alive in our 80s, 90s, and beyond.

This health is possible– but only to those who wake up from the media-food-medical nightmare and reclaim their lives.

It’s not too late for you.

Dangers of Personal Websites

I’m back for some more sporadic posts on Hobopoet!

A while back I deactivated my personal Facebook account,… and avoided this blog too.  I find the two can be quite dangerous!

I’m a pretty impulsive person– and when I get an idea my first instinct is to jump into action.

That instinct has served me very well in many areas of my life.

Unfortunately, it’s not so good when I’m upset about some aspect of the decline and death of American democracy (can it go any lower?  I’m sure it can and will).

I tend to write fast and loose when I’m upset by yet another example of:

• the horrific health of Americans (and indeed, most of the world)
• the death of the US constitution
• the constant invasions and bombings and torture
• the overwhelming fraud and lies

Maybe I’m just sensitive, both those things bother me!

But.. I’ve learned that I often upset my more mainstream friends and acquaintances when I rant against these evils.  Most people, it seems, don’t even see the problems… much less are upset by them.

So…  I’ll do my best not to upset you while sharing my ideas and feelings as honestly as possible.

Cheers!

Not Willpower

For many many MANY years I struggled with blood sugar problems.  For much of my life I was a sugar “addict”.

This produced terrible consequences both physically and mentally.  Physically I found my energy crashing at several points during the day.  To raise my energy back up, I would eat more sugar or drink a coffee.

The mental consequences were even worse.  I became very moody– sometimes super-energized and manic and enthusiastic…  other times depressed, frustrated, and irritable.

Of course I recognized that I needed to change.  I tried many times to kick the sugar (and coffee) habit… using willpower.   I would decide to eliminate sugar…  then struggle for several days or weeks.   During that time I’d feel strong cravings and would have to battle those urges constantly.  Inevitably I’d see something sugary, or pass a coffee shop… and then my willpower would break and I’d start eating sweets again.

It was an up and down battle for years and years.

And then suddenly, it all changed.  Suddenly, avoiding sweets became easy and effortless.

The “secret” was a focus on what I would ADD to my diet… not on what I wanted to avoid.

I began to study nutrition (especially raw food nutrition) and realized that if I fed my body highly nutritious foods that would keep my blood sugar steady, I could eliminate the strong cravings for sugar.  And that’s exactly what I did.

First, I increased the amount of healthy, easy to absorb protein I ate each day.   I did this with superfood smoothies containing:  raw sprouted rice protein, bee pollen,  blue-green algae, spirulina, goji berry and maca.

Next, I increased the amount of FAT– healthy fat– that I ate each day.  Fat is NOT the enemy of health and weigh-loss… we need HEALTHY fats.  To my smoothies I added coconut oil (raw) and Udo’s oil (flax, borage,…).  I also began eating avocados daily.

Finally, I added polysaccharides to my diet.  Polysaccharides are “healthy sugars”…  slower burning, steady energy sugars.   I got these from chaga mushroom, reishi mushroom, sprouted barley, and goji berries.

By adding these three elements to my diet in significant quantities… I eliminated cravings for sugar.

Now, when I pass by a coffee shop or pastry shop, I feel no physical craving for what’s inside.  As a result, I no longer require willpower to resist sugar.  I simply make a rational decision to avoid eating things that will destroy my health.

This is the key to achieving lasting changes in your diet.  Don’t try to rely on willpower… and don’t obsess about what you want to avoid.

Rather, ADD in more and more foods that will stabilize your energy and blood sugar.

As David Wolfe says,… these healthy foods will gradually crowd out the unhealthy junk… until you no longer desire the crap.

The result– you’ll experience the most energy and vitality you have ever felt– all day long!

4 Corners Fitness Plan

My drive towards super-health and super-fitness continues…..

For the past 3 months, I’ve been eating about an 80% Raw Food diet… comprised mostly of fresh veggie juices, “super-food” smoothies, fresh salads, brown rice, miso soup, and sea vegetables.   I’ve lost fat and gained energy.

Most importantly to me, I have tamed the blood sugar problems that plagued me most of my life.  No more blood sugar spikes or crashes!

I continue to follow this basic nutrition plan.

In addition, I have been slowly and very gradually building a fitness plan.

This started with lots of walking to build a solid aerobic base.  In my opinion, walking is the most basic and essential human physical activity.  It is highly alkalizing and puts the body in an aerobic fat burning state.   Is it the most intense way to lose weight?  No.  But it is probably the core activity for lifelong health and all-day energy.

The next stage in my fitness routine started three months ago with weight lifting.  I tried a new approach– power lifting.  With this approach, I lifted heavy weights– 2 sets of 5 repetitions.  I never lifted to muscle failure.. always made sure my muscles still had energy and still felt fresh at the end of the workout.  The result was that I achieved personal bests with both the deadlift and the (one arm) dumbbell press– the first time in my life I have ever made significant strength gains.  My deadlift maximum increased about 30% in that three month time period- and I’m very satisfied with that result.

I am now gradually adding one more element to my “super-fitness” routine– kettlebell swings/snatches.   I’m starting with a fairly light kettlebell (25lbs) and doing snatches for 10 minutes some days… and heavier swings (50lbs) on other days.

So the “four corners” of my fitness routine are:

1.  Deadlift:   3 times a week.   2 sets of 5 reps

2.  Side Dumbbell Press:  3 times a week.  2 sets of 5 reps (each arm)

3.  Kettlebell Snatches:  3-4 times a week.  14 snatches a minute for 10 minutes (alternate hands every 7 reps).

4.  Walking:  Daily, 2+ hours a day.

With the first two “power” exercises,  I cycle every 3 months… aiming to peak during the last month of each cycle.. achieve new personal bests… then drop down and begin a new cycle.  During the starting (low point) of those lifting cycles (the first 1.5 months)… I aim to do the kettlebell snatches more intensely and frequently.   As the power lifts get heavier, I’ll scale back the frequency of kettlebell workouts.

Walking is a constant base aerobic activity that I always do… and have done most of my life.

My goals for this year are to Deadlift 300+ pounds,  side press 75+ pounds (each arm),  Snatch the 50lb kettlebell 50 times in 5 minutes,… and, of course, walk 2+ hours daily.  For the year after that my goals are to Deadlift 400+ pounds, Side Press 100+ pounds (each arm) and Kettlebell Snatch 50lbs 100 times in 5 minutes (the RKC test).

And where am I now?   Current maximums for the above are:  Deadlift- 265 pounds,  Side Press- 55 pounds (each arm),  Snatch 25lb kettlebell 140 times in 5 minutes,… and walk 2+ hours daily.

Once I achieve these milestones personally, I’ll feel I’m ready to go for RKC Certification (Russian Kettlebell Certification Coach) and begin coaching/training other people to help them attain higher standards of health, fitness, and vitality!

I’m greatly saddened by the extremely poor levels of health and fitness of most people.  It saddens me so much because I can see the tremendous limitation these poor standards place on people’s lives.  I see the soul-crushing loss of energy, vitality, enthusiasm and physical capability and I’m highly motivated to help people escape that half-life existence.

But first, as Gandhi said, you must become the change you want to see in the world (and others)… and so,  whipping my own ass into shape is now job number 1 

 

 

Why The Silence?

Another year, another war launched by the United States.  We’re now killing people in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran (covertly),… and now our “president of peace” is bombing Libyans.

What I find most sickening is the silence from so called “liberals” in America.  When Bush was president, these people whined and complained about “his” wars, about the loss of freedoms, etc.  It was all personalized to Bush– the evil idiot.

Now that suave Obama is president, these same people seem to have no problem with the occupation of Iraq, the occupation of Afghanistan, the bombing of Pakistanis, and now a full-scale bombing of Libyans.  These “good Americans” also seem to have no problem with the renewal of the “Patriot Act” and, indeed, the acceleration of the destruction of personal liberties.. and the Bill of Rights.

Americans are all about fashion and image and TV performance.  Liberals like Obama because he sounds educated and seems suave… and says soothing things about “hope” (and says bad things about rich people).   The average American doesn’t care about reality or actions… just about image and talk.

Likewise, “Conservatives” love Bush, Palin, etc. because they sound “down to earth” and “straight-talking”.  They say soothing things about patriotism, family, and business.  They also care nothing about reality or actual actions.

And so the American government (with it’s British pets) continually launches wars for oil… regardless of who is president.  The government continually clamps down on civil liberties.. regardless of who is president.  The government continually serves the mega-banks and mega-corporations, regardless of who is president. And CNN, the BBC, Fox News, etc. continually churn out the propaganda to promote the core agenda of every American government:  banks, oil, mega-corps, control.

That’s fine with most of my fellow countrymen & women, just as long as their president presents an image they can identify with….   in America, politics is nothing but lifestyle marketing.

 

 

 

No Price To Pay

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to becoming healthy, for most people, is a medical belief system.

Most people are thoroughly propagandized and programmed by the medical and drug industry.  What this means is that they have a symptom-cure mentality.  Another way to say this is that people are looking for a “magic bullet” that will cure their ailments or will accomplish their goal (more energy, less fat, whatever…).

This kind of thinking leads people to jump on the latest fad supplement or food in hopes of achieving health.   They hear about Acai… and start drinking Acai juice every day.  Then they hear that dairy is bad, and switch to soy milk… but drop the Acai juice.   Then they hear that blueberries have a lot of anti-oxidants, and they start throwing blueberries into their morning cereal.

The problem with this mentality is that it’s haphazard and insufficient.  The problem is that while these individual changes might be good… most people continue to eat huge amounts of processed, sugar-laden, salted, chemicalized frankenfood for most of their meals.

Believe me, I know.  I used to do the same thing.  I used to think I was healthy simply because I was a vegetarian… though I could feel that something was still wrong.

A few supplements or superfoods WILL NOT change your life.

What is required is a complete lifestyle and philosophical change.  To be healthy, you must eat only healthy food!  It’s simple and elegant, but requires a huge change.  Eating this way also means becoming a total non-conformist… because the entire economy, culture, and society are focused on eating poisonous processed “food”.

Rather than looking for magic bullets and “cures”,… you must shift your thinking.  You must see health as a threshold–  you keep adding in more and more and more and more healthy foods….  each one giving you a small improvement.. perhaps barely noticeable.  You keep improving.. keep adding in even more healthy foods.. until you reach a threshold.. a tipping point.  That’s when all of those changes and all of those healthy foods begin to multiply their effects.   Suddenly, your health, energy and vitality explode!  You feel fantastic!  You have more energy than you’ve ever had in your life.  Petty ailments disappear.   Fat begins to “melt” off of your body.  Sugar cravings disappear.

The challenge is that it takes faith to reach that point.  You have to keep making improvements even though, initially, you don’t feel much of a change. Just keep improving.  Keep adding in healthier and healthier foods in larger and larger quantities.  Keep cutting out processed (even cooked) foods more and more. Do that with relentless persistence and you will reach the tipping point!

This is the process I followed.  I finally reached the tipping point last December.  I switched to a “mostly raw” foods diet.  I added in superfoods.  I cut out coffee, sugar,…

And suddenly I felt amazingly better.  Not just a little better– but 1000% better!

There’s an old quote from Zig Ziglar that goes something like, “You don’t pay the price to achieve good health, you THOROUGHLY ENJOY the price of good health”.

In other words, when we first look at all the changes we need to make, we believe that it’s a big “price to pay”.   We focus on losing all those foods we think we need and love so much.  We think we’ll have to use tremendous will-power all of our life to stay healthy.

But once you cross the threshold (gradually or all at once), something amazing happens– you feel so damn great that you NEVER, ever, want to go back to being unhealthy.   No will-power is required because you no longer crave unhealthy foods.   I couldn’t believe it when it happened to me.

After a lifetime of struggling with sugar cravings, suddenly I had absolutely no desire for processed sugar.  None.  No will-power is necessary for me to avoid it.  It’s the same with coffee.

In fact, I am enjoying food now more than at any previous time in my life.  I used to eat at restaurants all of the time, because I didnt really care about food and found cooking to be inconvenient.

Now I’m excited about healthy food–  I love learning about new “superfoods”… I love experimenting with juices and shakes and salads and herbs.

And most of all..   I love feeling energetic and alive.

I thoroughly enjoy being healthy.

And you will too….  just keep your faith… continue making relentless improvements… continue eating more raw healthy foods & juices… continue cutting the junk….

… and you will reach that incredible threshold too.

And at that point-  you’ll never want to go back!

Longevity Tea

I finally broke a decade long coffee habit and have replaced it with drinking tea.

I drink two kinds of tea:  Japanese green tea (Sencha, Matcha, and Genmaicha) and an herbal concoction I call “Longevity Tea”.

The herbal concoction consists of a mix of super-herbs known to have broad and powerful health benefits.

I vary the exact ingredients of the tea, but the “base” almost always includes:

Cat’s Claw:  Great for brain health

Pau d’Arco:  anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, immune boosting

Goji Berries:  immune boosting, boosts growth hormone, anti-aging,…..

Reishi Mushrooms:  immune boosting, anti-aging,…

One secret I’ve learned is to use LARGE AMOUNTS of each herb.  I typically use a small handful of each in a big pot… heat the water (hot but not boiling) and then drink the tea all day.  I can get several brews from the same pot.

I’ve found this a great way to energize my body without the acid of coffee.

Super-Strength

Phase two of my Super-Health program is exercise.   Now that I’m eating very well, I have added a fitness component to my daily routine.

Of course, I continue to walk and/or jog a lot.  I don’t even consider that “exercise”– that’s just a normal part of healthy maintenance- like brushing my teeth.  So my baseline “fitness routine” is centered on lots of very moderate aerobic activity.

I have decided that I want to build a great deal of strength on top of that… and so I’m now lifting weights.

A bit about weights–  I have tried many weight lifting approaches at various times in my life.. and each has met with failure.   I have a “runner’s body” and always assumed that genetically I just wasn’t meant to be strong.

However, I was wrong.  The problem was not my genetics, but the type of weight lifting I was doing.

After doing a lot more research on this topic, I realized that I had always used lifting routines that were influenced by the “sport” of body-building.  Bodybuilding, of course, is solely focused on the external– on building big muscles that “look good”.   Quite honestly, it’s a vain and shallow pursuit.

In bodybuilding, the goal is to tear down muscle… then flood the body with tons of protein (and all kinds of supplements) so that it will re-build the muscle bigger.   Now that I understand health more, I realize that this approach creates a TREMENDOUS amount of acid in the body.  Working muscles to fatigue is a sugar-burning activity that produces a lot of acid.  And flooding the body with protein (usually animal protein) also creates a TON of acid.

Bodybuilding exhausts the body… which is why I always felt so fatigued when working out in that way.   I typically need 4, 5, 6, 7 or more days to recover from each workout.  During those recovery days, I felt tired and certainly didn’t want to do any other kinds of exercise.

I found the eating approach to be horrid too– trying to choke down a horrific amount of protein.  Sometimes I gained a bit of muscle… but never increased my strength significantly.   And then I quit because I intuitively knew that what I was doing was extremely detrimental to my long-term health.

A New Approach

Recently, I began lifting weights with a totally different approach– a power-lifting approach with one and only one focus:  Strength (not big muscles).

First, that’s what I want– real functional strength that enhances health and quality of life.

Power-lifters, it turns out, lift weights in a VERY different way.   They almost NEVER work a muscle to fatigue.  Rather, they use heavier weights but do only a few repetitions per set.   And while the advanced guys might do a lot of sets…  most lifters do only a few sets… and only a few exercises.

Bodybuilders focus on lots of exercises in order to isolate muscles.  Powerlifters do a few exercises that use LOTS of muscles at once.

What does this mean practically…..

Well, here’s my current routine:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Deadlift  (2 sets of 5 reps),  Side (Overhead) Press (2 sets of 5 reps),  “Janda” Sit-ups (3 sets of 5 reps).

That’s it!  I use as much weight as I can to do 5 reps WITHOUT exhausting my muscles (in other words, I always feel I could do an additional 1-2 reps).

Results after 4 weeks:  My strength is improving steadily– for the first time in my life.  This week I lifted a personal best in the side press!  After just 4 weeks.  I never achieved those kinds of results in the past.  Another great result:  I feel FANTASTIC after every workout.  The workouts energize me– rather than fatiguing me.  As a result, I still have tons of energy to do other activities– some martial arts practice, walking/jogging,.. whatever.

I should note that there are, of course, many approaches to power-lifting.

My approach is one that’s often used with martial artists, sprinters, and other athletes.  It’s designed to create tremendous FUNCTIONAL strength while leaving plenty of energy for sports-specific training.

I’ve been most influenced by the approaches of Pavel Tsouline– a crazy Russian who used to train the Soviet special forces and now trains athletes in the United States.

For a more detailed description of his program, get his book “Power to the People“.

I highly recommend it–  unless your goal is to add lots of bulky muscle and stare in the mirror all day.   If you want to look like a mutant and pump up your vanity- go with bodybuilding.  If you want wiry functional strength- go with Pavel!

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