Despite the fact that I have yet to actually ride for any length of time, I find that I am beginning to love kiting.  I love getting out in the water, love being active outdoors, and love the physical/mental challenge of it… including the challenge of staying calm while attached to a VERY powerful kite (more of a parachute really) while in the ocean.

I find that in the evenings I scan the wind forecasts to see if  I’ll be able to kite-board the next day!  And I am upset when the conditions are bad (as they were today).

Now if I can just get up and riding… I may develop a real addiction!!

Meanwhile, it’s great to be back in a place where I’m active and outdoors almost every day.  Big city life just isn’t for me (save for occasional visits)!

When I finally get up and running, I’ll have my wife shoot a short video and post it   Gotta celebrate those small successes!

This is an NLP term.  It means to see, feel and experience the (desired) future as if it is real and happening right now.

I believe that the reason that people choose normalcy over health is that they really don’t know how AMAZINGLY GREAT health feels!  They can’t put themselves (psychologically) into that future state.

Instead, most people focus on the discomfort of the getting healthier– the inconvenience of eating differently, the social challenges of eating differently, the physical discomfort of exercising.  They focus on these because they are more immediate.

Compared to the ease of being normal, these challenges feel very unpleasant.

Future pacing can bypass this.  The more you can imagine FEELING AWESOME, the more motivated you are to achieve that result.  Health isn’t about looking great.. it’s about feeling great:  energized, happy, passionate, vibrant and alive!

Helping people imagine that… and then see it and feel it vividly… is the challenge of the coach.  The more we can do that, the more we will help people!

In other words, the challenge is a psychological one.  You don’t really need to become an expert in bio-chemistry!  You don’t need to understand all of the complexities of nutrition.

The main challenge is to break the emotional conditioning that has been programmed into you (and me and everyone).  To be healthy, you must re-program your beliefs and emotions regarding food, fitting in, etc.

Most health programs focus on the details of diet and exercise… and they totally neglect the HUGE psychological challenge.

Most people need specific strategies and support for:  breaking limiting beliefs, breaking emotional conditioning, breaking physiological addictions,… as well as creating strong healthy beliefs, re-conditioning their emotions, and establishing healthy lifetime habits.

So that’s where my research and experimentation is taking me… I’m exploring methods that will help people change their psychology in order to create health and vitality.

And, as always, I am first experimenting on myself…

Results to follow…..

I am still shocked by it.  It’s an outrageous situation- one that Americans accept as “normal” (and therefore, somehow OK).

However, I don’t have the same harsh judgement about these people, because I now realize that the health situation in America is caused by something far more sinister than laziness and sloth.

Why have Americans become so fat and unhealthy so quickly?  My grandmother’s generation didn’t have this problem.

The answer lies in the food supply.  The corporate takeover of the American food (and drug) supply has caused the epidemic of fat, obesity, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.  Mega-corporations now control most of the food that Americans eat.  They have stripped that food of nutrients, added chemicals and hormones, and altered the genetics. They have purposefully added chemicals and ingredients to make their franken-food addictive (sugar, fat, salt, caffeine, MSG, and other cheap addictive substances).

They have also spent billions of dollars on propaganda campaigns to program Americans to eat this garbage.  They are the ones who donate “educational material” to schools to “teach” kids about “nutrition” (ie. program them to eat the garbage).  They control the US government and how it regulates food and drugs.  They control the media (through direct ownership and through the influence of billions in advertising dollars).  They control the mainstream medical schools and journals (through massive “donations” and other bribes/gifts).

The result has been a total reprogramming of what and how Americans eat.  The majority now eat mostly processed corporate food that is highly addictive.  Though most fat Americans want to lose weight, they find that they can’t break their addiction to the toxic garbage they have been eating.

At this point in America (and much of the world) it is impossible to eat healthy food if you eat at a restaurant.  To eat healthy at home, you must shop only at health food stores… and even then only in the organic produce and bulk food sections.

Processed food in “health food” stores (in a box, can, or bottle) is, in fact, made by the same mega corporations as the food sold in regular groceries  (nearly all processed health food companies are now owned by companies such as Coke, Cargill, General Mills, etc).

The American people’s greatest sins are not gluttony and slot- they are gullibility and conformity.  Despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary, most Americans continue to act as if  their government, their corporations, and their media are trustworthy.  They continue to believe that the people in these institutions really don’t mean them any harm. They continue to watch and believe TV and the “news”.  They continue to value “normalcy” over health.

The reason it’s so difficult for Americans to be healthy is that to do so, you must break completely with mainstream American society.  You cannot be both “normal” and healthy in America… because sickness and obesity are what’s normal.

To be healthy in America, you must become a “health nut”.  You must avoid the restaurants that everyone else eats at.  You must avoid the food that everyone else eats.  You must live a lifestyle completely different from everyone else.

For most people, this is psychologically too difficult.  They value fitting in more than being healthy (unconsciously).  It’s simply too difficult to fight against the entire culture.

This is exactly the situation the food and drug companies want.

Unfortunately, these companies are now taking over the food supply internationally.  Year by year, they extend their reach into Asia, S. America, and the rest of the world.

For example, Japanese people– once among the healthiest in the world– are now increasingly eating packaged, processed food.  They are getting fatter and less healthy.  This is happening everywhere in the world.

So here’s the “inconvenient” and difficult truth:

At this point, to be healthy you must be different and “weird”.  You must become a “nut”.

You can be “normal” or you can be healthy, but you can’t be both.

However, I was also greatly disturbed by most of the other people on the cruise.  If you’ve ever been on a cruise, you might know what I mean:

Most were extremely overweight.  They had trouble going up and down the stairs.  Some had walkers, or moved around in scooters.  When I see such scenes, I sometimes feel like the only sane person in a mad house.  I ask myself, “doesn’t anyone else realize how sick and insane this situation is?”

I find the health situation in America appalling (which is being exported to the world thanks to food and agriculture mega companies).

My heart goes out to these poor souls, most of whom have no idea why they have become so addicted to processed chemicalized food and a sedentary life.  They don’t realize how they have been programmed by hours of TV.  They don’t realize how their own bio-chemistry has been hijacked and manipulated.  And they look around and see that nearly everyone else is overweight, in pain, etc…  and conclude that it’s “normal”.  Normal it may be, but it’s certainly not a natural or sane situation.

Which brings me to my new pet project– developing a system of health and fitness training.  I’m slowly working on this, with the goal of eventually helping people wake up from the nightmare and achieve strong, vibrant, lasting health.

My model and hero in this area is Jack Lalanne… who lived strong, fit and healthy into his late 90s.

I’m now in the process of building my own strength, endurance, health and happiness in order to be a true model for people.  More importantly, I’m studying psychological techniques to help change people’s addictive cravings, limiting beliefs, etc.

It’s slower going than I hoped, simply because I want to develop something that will really make a difference in people’s lives.  It’s a huge challenge– because it’s a fight against a massive onslaught of programming and bio-chemical warfare.

During this trip, I visited Indonesia for the first time.  Before visiting, I had no information about the country.  I traveled there with 3 good friends… and let them handle all of the travel arrangements. I didn’t know what to expect.

What I found was one of the friendliest places I have ever visited– and one of the most beautiful.  The people were absolutely wonderful.  And because tourism is not as widespread as in Thailand (Bali is the exception)– you meet fewer jaded individuals.

We visited three places:  Jogyakarta– a university town, Bali (Ubud)– a funky tourist hub, and Bunaken Island– a diving paradise.

Indonesia is now near the top of my “places to visit” list… and I will certainly be returning there.

Part of the year we will live in Hawaii (Maui).  Part of the year we’ll be in Asia (Japan and SE Asia).  And a month or two will be spent on the mainland US (mostly in the West).

This is purely for the purpose of “following my bliss”.  The big city life in San Francisco was not good for my psyche.   My wife and I found ourselves getting progressively more stressed, irritable, and unhappy.

The chilly, windy, foggy weather got to us too!

So, true to the Hobopoet spirit, we wised up and realized “we can live anywhere we want”.  We talked about our favorite places in the world-  Hawaii, Japan, and Southeast Asia.   And then we said, “duh, let’s just split our time between those places… in whatever proportion feels right each year”.

So goodbye San Francisco, hello warm sunny tropics!

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.

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!

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