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.

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!

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 

 

 

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!

Detoxing

One thing you should know about adopting a radically healthy, mostly raw diet is that you will go through bouts of powerful detoxification.

I’ve been abusing my body with toxins and junk food for 40 years… so there’s a lot that needs to be purged!   In addition, we are all now constantly exposed to toxins in the air we breath- both outdoors and in our homes.   And if you eat any non-organic food… or any processed food.. you are taking in poisons.

When you become radically healthy, your body will attempt to eliminate many of the toxins stored inside… especially in the fat cells.  When this happens, you’ll suddenly feel very tired.  Some people even feel flu-like symptoms as they detox.   It’s nothing to be worried about.. in fact, this is a process to celebrate!

The key challenge during detoxification is not to let it overwhelm your body.  In other words, while detoxing is great…  you must be careful that it does not happen too quickly.  Your body may release more toxins (acids, heavy metals, etc.) into your bloodstream than can be quickly eliminated.  That’s when you start feeling tired, bad, sick, etc.

So what can you do when this happens?

What you need to do is help your body eliminate the toxins faster.. give it some help.

The two most powerful channels of elimination in your body are the colon and the skin.

Therefore, colonics (or colonic irrigation) are the most powerful aid to detoxification that I know.   Colonics help your body quickly empty the colon of all accumulated waste and toxins.  It’s not a subject most people want to talk about– but colonics (or even enemas) are a powerful detox tool.   Whenever I experience severe detox symptoms, I get a colonic and IMMEDIATELY feel 100% better.

The skin is the next best detox channel… and Far Infrared Saunas are the best way to help the skin flush out toxins.   Saunas, obviously, induce lots of sweating.   Sweating is good!  Your body will flush a tremendous amount of waste from your body… via sweat.  Try to sweat every day by doing exercise and/or a sauna.  I typically combine infrared saunas and colonics for a powerful detox.  During the first 6-12 months of eating a mostly raw diet,  I plan to do this colonic/sauna combination 3-4 times a month.

After that, I expect to drop that down to just once a month.

In this way I help my body detox and assure that I remain full of vibrant health and energy!  I highly recommend this approach when you decide to adopt a very healthy way of eating.

Super-Health Update

My newest life experiment, Super-Health, is progressing nicely.

I’m now eating about a 95% raw food diet, and feeling great most of the time.  I have more energy, and a steadier energy level throughout the day.   Mentally, I’m also steadier… with none of the cloudiness or loss of concentration that I used to experience (due to eating sugary foods).

I’ve now settled into a nice daily routine…  veggie juice in the morning, followed by a superfoods shake.  Another juice in the late afternoon.  A healthy meal in the evening.  And sometimes another superfood shake at night.

I’ve been “upgrading” each of these meals… adding in more nutrition-packed foods.   With the veggie juices I now routinely include beets, sprouts, wheatgrass, and cabbage (in addition to the staples:  kale, spinach, celery, parsley, carrot, apple, lemon).

The shakes have been upgraded by adding in the super-mushrooms–  reishi, chaga, shiitake, and maitake.   I sometimes also add in a super-herb tea which includes:  astralagus root,  horsetail, nettle, pau d’arco, and cat’s claw.   The normal base for the shake includes a rotating mix of:   sprouted rice protein (from sunwarrior), bee pollen, udo’s oil, coconut oil, goji berries, maqui berries, acai, hempseeds, spirulina, marine phytoplankton, afa algae, green powder (alfalfa, wheatgrass, etc.),  maca, aloe, cacao, astralagus, and yacon.

Dinner is my main solid food meal (in addition to snacks).   Typical things I eat for dinner (and lunch sometimes):   salad with mixed greens, natto, tofu, miso soup with wakame, almond butter, tahini, avocados, coconut, steamed broccoli,…..

So that’s the update on what I’m eating!

Super-Health Heroes

Here are links to a few of my super-health heroes… people who have taught me a great deal about health, fitness and vitality:

Fred Bisci: http://anydoubtleaveitout.com/

Jack Lalanne:  http://www.jacklalanne.com/

David Wolfe:  http://www.davidwolfe.com/

Joseph McClendon III:  http://makeyourfate.com/products-change-your-breakfast-book.html

Matt Monarch:  http://www.rawspirit.org/index.php

Sounds Like Someone I Knew

It is oftentimes remarked that vegetarians are frequently not particularly good examples of health and vitality.  Would it surprise you if I said that I agree with this criticism?  The vegetarians who display minimum standards of health and vitality, are those who have merely eliminated meat.  They [still] consume vast quantities of cooked grain and starchy foods.  They do not eliminate sugar from their diets and, often, they cook all or most of their vegetables!  They do not usually drink fresh vegetable juices.  On such a diet it is difficult to have a healthy body.

–Normal Walker

The above quote summarizes my own situation for the past 16+ years.   That’s when I became a vegetarian.  Of course, I did notice some health benefits as a vegetarian.. especially when I ate a vegan diet.   However I never got the tremendous health, energy and vitality that I hoped for.

Now I understand why.  Though I eliminated meat, I continued to eat a lot of VERY harmful junk:   processed sugars,  cooked grains, breads,  and fake meats.   Processed starches (carbs) and sugars are as harmful,.. or more harmful… than meat.   So I eliminated one very toxic element (meat) but continued to poison my body with these others.

A month ago, I finally changed to a natural healthy (still vegetarian) lifestyle.   I have eliminated processed sugars completely!   I also no longer eat bread, nor cooked rice.  I no longer eat fake meats.

Instead, I now focus on eating LOTS of raw fresh vegetables and “superfoods”.   Green Juices are my staple food.   Each day I have 1-2 Green Juices consisting of:  Spinach, Parsley, Celery, Carrot, Apple, & Ginger.  Sometimes I add Wheatgrass and Kale too.   It’s like a mega-shot of energy and nutrition!   Each day I also have at least one “Superfood Shake”… consisting of (all raw & organic):  cacao,  maca, spirulina, AFA algae, bee pollen,  udo’s oil,  coconut oil,  hempseeds,  sprouted rice protein, goji berries, maqui berries, yacon, and digestive enzymes.

And, of course, I love to eat big green salads.. with Kale, Spinach, Lettuce, Cucumber, Avocado, Olives, Red Peppers……..

Since changing to this new way of living, I am finally experiencing the super-energy and super-health I was aiming for.   I have energy all day, every day.  I run 9 miles a day without fatigue… and workout (with weights) twice a week.

I no longer have energy crashes during the day.   I’m not extremely moody, as I used to be.   Instead I feel steady energy from when I wake up until I go to bed… and a steady, positive, happy mood.

The most amazing result, for me, is that my sugar cravings TOTALLY disappeared after only TWO weeks of eating like this!  Since I was a child I have craved sugar and battled with these cravings.  Suddenly– they are gone!  I walk by bakeries all the time and feel no urge to eat anything inside.

A nice side benefit is that I’m actually adding some muscle to my body too… and have lost 10 pounds (5kg) of fat.  My goals are not cosmetic, but it’s still a nice side benefit of getting healthier, more energized, and stronger!

So the secret to super-health is actually very simple:

A Natural GREEN Vegetarian Lifestyle–   full of fresh Green Juices,  Healthy Shakes,  and Big Green Salads.

Enjoy!

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