Friday, December 30, 2011

in beauty may i walk: Blessing the New Year

A friend of mine wrote this, and I wanted to repost it for you. This is a real gift.

in beauty may i walk:
Blessing the New Year
:

In the Circle and Mystery of Life
there is no Beginning or End.
Seasons Change One to Another
Moving Seamlessly,
Affecting the Heart of Creation.
Sleeping or Awake, it Doesn't Matter,
The Drum Beats of Eternity
Continue Blessing
Us with Renewal, Rest,
and Infinite Possibilities.
The Moon and Tides
Carry on their Graceful Dance,
Ebbing and Flowing they Whisper
Softly to the Night Sky.
Balanced by Each Other's Strengths,
Yielding and Blending,
the Power of Unity,
a Lesson for All.
The Gift of a New Year Before Us.
Steps Taken to Arrive,
are Important
Only in the Fact
of Who We have Now
Become.
May Hearts and Minds Remember
All those we Hold Dear.
May the Wisdom of Choices
Guide our Footsteps of Tomorrow.
May Our Experiences Mirror
the Beauty
of this Sacred Circle
We are Born Into.
Knowing We are All Connected,
Trusting the Reflection of Our Spirits
Shimmering on Ocean Waters,
Under the Blessed Light
of the Full Moon.

Donna M Roux-Valliere © 12/20/10

Monday, December 26, 2011

Eating For Your Life

I am a huge fan of Food TV. I can name all of the celebrity chefs, and I even frequent an occasional Iron Chef restaurant or a Diner, Drive-In, and Dive every so often. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE tasty food. However, I have had a major wake up call with my relationship to food, and this is it: I EAT FOR MY LIFE.

Eat For Your Life
What does that mean? Well, it's a simple concept. Eat foods that promote ongoing health. There are foods that tear us down, and there are foods that build us up. Below is a very powerful video only a few months old from a doctor who suffered from Multiple Sclerosis and is now recovered because of her change in diet.



What Should You Eat?
According to the video, here's what you need: B vitamins, sulfur and antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids.

You get it all from leaves, fruits, berries, and fish...a hunter/gatherer diet. Here's what it looks like:

  1. 3 cups of green leaves (kale, parsley, cooked greens, smoothies, dehydrated kale chips -- daily)

  2. 3 cups of sulfur-rich vegetables (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, turnips, collards, rutabaga, radishes, kale, onions, garlic, chives, shallots, mushrooms, asparagus -- daily)

  3. 3 cups of different colored vegetables (beets, carrots, peppers, red cabbage, berries, peaches, and oranges -- daily)

  4. Omega-3 fatty acids (wild fish like salmon and herring, grass-fed meats -- get to know your local farmers -- daily)

  5. Organ meats (liver, hard tongue, gizzards -- weekly)

  6. Iodine (Seaweed -- weekly)


Why Not Just Eat Vitamins? "A to Zinc," Right?
Vitamins aren't bad. However, they are manufactured pills with only the things that we've identified so far from food. In other words, we don't really know all of the nutrients that are in food. So, getting vitamins from pills is not as beneficial as getting them from food directly. The beauty of getting vitamins and nutrients from food is that you get the ones you know about along with the ones that we don't know about. That's really important. When I eat a salad, I'm getting so much more than when I eat a vitamin pill because nature includes more than we can in our fancy little pills.

Say Yes to Shakeology
This is why I sought out Shakeology. It is made out of the Earth's superfoods like sacha inchi, chia, goji berry, pomegranate, astragalus, and many, many others. Vitamins in pill form just simply cannot do what Shakeology does. The only thing done after harvesting each of the fruits and vegetables is powderizing them. They are all natural, and I get the complex combination of vitamins and minerals directly from the fruits and vegetables themselves in ways that I never could from vitamins in pill form...or unless I bought each of the plants separately. Not going to happen...



I keep sharing with people how amazingly important this kind of eating is, and how it's changed my life. You want to change your health? You have to change the way you eat. There's no easy way around it. Like I said, I'm a foodie on some level, but there is a huge difference in my life because I've changed how I eat. Every day, I focus more and more on eating fruits, vegetables, and clean meats. I am striving to do what is suggested in this video, and I know I have a head start because I use Shakeology which has 70+ ingredients that have many of the nutrients discussed in the video above. Find out more of where the ingredients come from here.

I am asking you, whether I know you personally or not, to seriously ask yourself to consider doing exactly what the first video is suggesting...take a major step towards controlling your health in a way that will build you up. You know you owe it to yourself, and you know you deserve to have a healthy life. Is it a shift in how you might be thinking and relating to food? I suspect that if you're anything like me, it's a major shift, but I also suspect that you know that it's a must-do.

Talk to me. I can help you with this. Starting every day with Shakeology is my first step towards reclaiming my health. My wife, who is an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, and it's the only thing she will endorse as a medical professional. Why? She saw her cholesterol level drop over 30 points in one month after using it.

You can reach me at drkurtlove@gmail.com. You can get more information at my website LavaBodyWellness.com or at my Shakeology website. This is no joke. Getting healthy foods, knowing what you need to get and how to do it, and doing it are the differences between a healthy long life and a short life filled with sickness.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

You Need to Eat A Lot in Order To Lose Weight

If you're in the world of fitness, you probably already know this basic principle of eating, but so many everyday people generally don't know. I was talking with a dear friend just recently about eating in a way so that she could lose weight. During that conversation (one where anyone might feel a little defensive...myself included), she was expressing her frustrations with eating healthy equating to being hungry most of the day.

The very night before this conversation, I was up until about 1am (I have a really busy day with teaching, so I don't get a lot of time during normal daylight hours) working on my own nutrition. I was going through a bunch of recipes that come with P90X and P90X2 in order to make a list that I could follow so I didn't have to constantly guess what my next meal should be.

When I finalized my plan while accounting for the fact that I'd like to lose about a pound or two per week, I figured that I needed to eat about 2100 calories per day (you can find resources online like caloriecounter.com in addition to using the P90X and P90X2 nutrition plans).

Really? Eating More is the Answer?
The whole notion of starving oneself in order to lose weight is completely wrong and outdated. Unfortunately, that notion still remains popular despite it being completely the wrong approach. On average, most people would need to eat about 1800 - 2100 calories in order to LOSE weight!

If you're eating 800 or 1000 calories a day, you're actually telling your body to hold on to the fat cells. Why? Well, it's a pretty simple concept. The less you eat, in general, the more your body thinks it needs to be prepared in case there suddenly isn't any more food available. If you think back to our ancestors who did not always have a steady supply of food around prior to farming, agriculture, etc., those who survived were those who could efficiently store energy in their body...in the form of fat cells. Eat less, and tell your body and hang onto fat cells.

So, eating more HEALTHY food, not less...and eating BEFORE you get hungry is key. This is why the five small meals plan works better than the three big meals plan. If you have a fairly steady stream of food coming into your body, you're not going to go into hunger mode. Once you're feeling the twinges and twangs of hunger in your belly, the body has already gone into "hold onto the fat cells" mode.

Eating a lot of HEALTHY Foods!
Clearly, eating 800 calories of donuts and drinking 1000 calories of soda isn't what I'm talking about doing. The food needs to be nutrient-rich. Think of it this way, Burger King is a horrible source of fuel mostly because it's only 15% meat and 85% filler...true story. However, a locally grown, organically fed bovine turned ground beef is a much better, higher "octane" fuel source. If you're a vegetarian or vegan, you know that you can't live on mac and cheese, either, and be slim and trim. You have to choose higher quality, higher nutrient-dense foods. My gorgeous bride just wrote a great deal about this in her blog (click here to see). Basically, food choice matters.

I have to talk about Shakeology for just a second. Shakeology is the reason why I am so much more actively involved with my own health today. It's probably the healthiest thing on the planet. Get it out of your mind that this is some kind of jock juice that someone takes after working out. It's not that. There are plenty of muscle shakes out there if that's what you're looking for. Shakeology is all about using nutrient dense foods like goji berries, maca, astragulus, pomegranate, sacha inchi, probiotics, lots of antioxidants, phytonutrients, and the list goes on in order to give you solid base of nutrition every day from all natural resources. I drink one amazingly delicious chocolate shake with natural peanut butter and banana every morning. I don't have cravings for junk food any more...true story. I eat much better throughout the rest of the day, too. It's really amazing, and I really believe that everyone should have it because there's just no way to get this quality of nutrition into your body for $3 or $4 per day. I would pay $20 a day for something that is this remarkably healthy. Seriously...for the all the money that I waste on things I don't need, this is quite a reasonable purchase. It makes me happy and healthy! Shakeology has really changed my life for the better. I don't say that about a lot of things, and I can't say that enough about Shakeology.

What Does 1800 Calories Look Like?
That said, what does my diet actually look like? I put together an 1800 calorie nutrition plan for myself to follow using the "Fat Shredder" model which has about 50% protein, 25% fat, and 25% carbohydrates as the guide. A normal diet is somewhere in the neighborhood of 30% protein, 30% fat, and 40% carbohydrates. When I make that one up, I'll post that. In any case, here's what one week of eating looks like:

So a couple of things about my food choices that probably need clarification. "Results and Recovery" refers to the Results and Recovery Formula that I use when I am working out. It's made specifically for the muscles during the hour of recovery directly after working out. It's a 3:1 ratio of sugar to protein that accelerates muscle repair, which is a really good thing to do so working out the next day is not a drag. I also use P90X Bars as a snack. It's just a convenient for me to get that extra snack in. As I've said, my life is pretty busy during the day, so having a salad or 200+ calories of something that I'd have to make is time that I generally don't have. Now, I said that I need about 2100 calories, so why not just make a plan that does that. I can get a couple hundred extra calories with drinking milk and having some fruits or a salad with dinner, so I leave that open for me to figure out during the day, which is much easier than figuring out the remaining meals.

The larger point is of course that I am eating more and losing weight. I'm more concerned with being able to eat that much than feeling like "I'm on a diet" where I starve myself.

Eating less, starving, and feeling low on energy are all not how to go about doing losing weight. Get that thought out of your head entirely!

As always, you can find more info at: http://lavabodywellness.com or http://beachbodycoach.com/drkurtlove. You can contact me at drkurtlove@gmail.com, too!

Let me know if this helps.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

I Didn't Believe in New Year's Resolutions...Until Now

I've never been one to like the idea of making a New Year's resolution. I always thought that resolutions were made because they eventually would be broken. Making a significant change in one's life is not a terribly easy process, so my approach was less about making a flashy, trendy, go-with-the-crowd New Year's resolution and more with just gradually trying to make changes in my life.

This past summer has changed that thinking for me...somewhat.

Since July, I've lost 26 lbs, I'm stronger, healthier, and all-around much happier and balanced. As you may have seen in other posts, it all comes down to me making time to exercise regularly, using a well-structured program (both Insanity and P90X), and incorporating Shakeology. I've always been a pretty happy person, and even critically aware of how our dominant culture slowly strips us of deeper forms of happiness, but I've always felt rather trapped by that culture, especially when it came to my physical health and wellness. See my last post ("Is P90X or RevAbs for Everyone?") for more on critical awareness. That being said, I finally figured out that having a well-structured and appropriately challenging fitness program was how I would finally make a significant positive change on my physical health and start to move away from the self-destruction that is our consumer culture.

So, I am a believer that making significant changes long term is possible...thus, the New Year's resolution. So, mine is to resolve to make significant growth in my health, strength, and spirit. Here's what I'm going to do:

1. I going to do P90X2! In fact, I'm starting my New Year's resolution a little early because I'm starting this TOMORROW!!! I figured that Insanity and P90X were such amazing programs for me, in effect, creating the new path for me, I would take it to the next level and really push myself into the upper levels of the stratosphere.

2. I'm going to eat healthier. I'm going to use my meal plan on teambeachbody.com, the recipes from P90X2, and other workout programs far more often and eat healthier more regularly. Shakeology has been the most significant impact in getting me there so far, and I want to build off of that.

3. I will meditate more regularly...as close to every day as is possible. I have been doing a meditation on my chakras that I just love! I will post that soon.

If I go beyond three, I'll probably overwhelm myself, but this where I want to go.

And just because I am so ecstatic about going onto P90X2 tomorrow, I thought I would share this with you!



As always, you can get this and any other amazing fitness and nutrition products at my website http://beachbodycoach.com/drkurtlove

Is P90X or RevAbs for Everyone?

If a 400+lb person can do it, so can you.

The simple answer is yes, P90X and RevAbs is for everyone who is able to exercise.

Let's Be Honest...This is More Than Just Not Liking Exercise
I hear all too often people saying things like, "I am too out of shape to do P90X," "It's for young people only," or "I can't do pull-ups." It's one thing when somebody says statements like these because they are just looking for excuses to not exercise. That person should be honest with him or her self and just say, "I don't want to work out because I like sitting on my big butt way better than getting healthy and in shape," or something to that effect ;-) In a way, I get that. Not everyone is ready to commit to taking care of themselves, and in a society that's inundated with cheap, superficially entertaining and addictive foods that have a firm grip on us. So, even though people who are choosing that path CAN do a challenging, structured workout program, in their own heads the answer is still "no," which is very, very sad to see when it happens.

If you find that you're constantly giving yourself reason after reason to not do a higher quality workout program, then ask yourself if those reasons are just because you don't want to lose certain parts of your lifestyle (i.e. comfort foods, emotional eating, daily routines that you may not readily see alternatives for, etc.).

This is Bigger Than Just Deciding To Be or Not To Be Healthy
Problem #1: Knowledge
A lot of fitness people will just say to make the commitment to being healthy, and that's going to be the most important first step. On some level, I can agree with that because ultimately we do have to make that decision, but there's more to it than that. People can say to themselves that enough is enough and that they want to be healthy, but getting there is often a very difficult process with lots of questions of how to do it. If you don't know how to cook well, don't have a decent bank of recipes where you can afford the food, or don't know how to create a structured work out program that will appropriately challenge you, it's going to get frustrating. It's no wonder that so many people start up at the gym at the beginning of the year (for their New Year's resolution) and by March are pretty much giving up. So, problem #1 is having the knowledge.

Problem #2: The Large Hyper-Consumer and Addictive Food Culture
For us, in the United States of Obesity (2/3rds of all states have 25% obesity rates or higher), excuses are a big part of our plus sized developments. To actually address a problem like this is not as easy as eating cheesy poofs and watching Desperate House Wives or Fear Factor. The dumber and fatter we are, the more profits the big corporations such as Pfizer, Altria (formerly Phillip-Morris), Unilever, Kraft, General Mills, Nestle, and Wal-Mart make. From the perspective of the food and pharmaceutical companies, the fatter we are, the more big box stores, pharmaceutical companies, and large food companies profit. Conversely, the more we are in shape, use locally grown foods as part of our diets, and avoid foods that come in cans or boxes, the healthier we are, and the more we are empowered to shape the issue of nutritional food accessibility issues (aka food security issues). Foods are often made with the intention of creating addictive behaviors, which equals bigger profits. The right combination of sugars, fats, and salts is well known by food companies and they exploit the crap out of it. This is very predatory on their part, and the first step is us having that level of awareness.

Clearly, I'm speaking from a deeper place of frustration, but our dramatic recent increase in rates of obesity (in 1991, there were no states with obesity rates at or above 20%) in the US is deeply alarming and is most definitely a social justice and civil rights issue at this point. The only ones who have access to healthy foods are those who can afford them, which is tied to issues of transportation, education, and socioeconomics.

Problem #3: Mindset
So many people are basically backing up this system of injustice when they say that they aren't willing to do a strong, well-structured fitness program. Have you ever said any of these: I'm too old, too much overweight, too busy, or too injured. There are answers that can address every singly one of these issues, but these become mental blocks for people that they hunker down on. Don't be stubborn. You owe it to yourself to say, "Even though I am _________, I can still do an appropriately challenging and well-structured workout program to get me into amazing shape and be healthy."

Problem #4: Money
The one excuse that can be a real barrier for some people is not having enough money, especially if we're talking about purchasing a program like P90X. If you're struggling paying for food and keeping your home, clearly this may not be the right time to spend money on a fitness program. Once again, accessibility becomes an issue for the same reasons as food insecurity issues. It cannot be overstated how much health/wellness and socioeconomics are tied to one another. There are some simple ways around that which are mainly resolved by people working out together in spaces that do not require memberships, dues, or buying equipment or, yes, DVD workout programs like P90X. Access to exercise, in my view, is relatively easier and seems to have less challenges.

However, there is a group of people who are spending their money on superfluous things and could easily afford a fitness program that can have a huge impact on their personal health, happiness, stress level, and relationships with food. This is the group that needs to take a second look at how money is influencing their long-term happiness. You know who you are! Going out to over-priced dinners, crappy movies, and buying things you know you don't need at the mall (not to mention the fact that those things were mostly likely made with child labor and sweatshop labor in a country most people probably can't find on a map). You know you can put your money into something much better for you and something that will give you much more balance in your life. Take a moment and ask yourself what you really want in your life, and I'm sure your answer will include deeper levels of health, balance, and happiness. Eating better, exercising, and having real meaningful relationships in life are pretty much the basic ways of doing that. Everything else either enhances them or distracts us from them.

One more thing about money...and this you'll never find from any gym on the planet. You can make totally legit money by working out with a program like P90X and sharing it with friends and family who are interested. You can get fit and healthy, help others to get fit and healthy like me, and money doing it. So far, I've made about $400 since September doing this. It's not a gimmick, or a racket at all. So, I've actually earned money working out with P90X. No gym is going to do that for me, even if I refer people to the gym. I know it might sound different, and I know you may have never considered doing it, but why not? Here's more information...click here.

Simple Answers
"Soul-ution" #1: Modify Your Exercises
It can seem really quite intimidating at first to anyone who is not terribly knowledgeable about exercise and good nutritional practices...BUT, anyone can do a challenging fitness program like P90X and RevAbs and take back their health if they are willing to commit to the process and modify exercises. Whether you think you're too old, too overweight, or too weak, modifying exercises it the answer you're looking for. If a 400+lb person could figure it out (click here for an amazing story of how someone lost 233lbs using P90X), then you can do it. The biggest trick is sometimes figuring out how to modify an exercise. Fortunately, this is why P90X and RevAbs are so good. They instructors give modifications for every move. And yet, there are more modifications that can still be done if you have a basic understanding about exercise. I am going to be posting several blogs on this topic very shortly. Keep an eye out for them.

"Soul-ution" #2: Make a Schedule
This is key. I am an assistant professor (untenured), so I have such little time in the day to do anything besides work. After about a year and a half of not working out at all, I did final say to myself that enough was enough. I'm not on this planet to work myself to death and be in constant imbalance with my mind-body-spirit connection, which is exactly where I was up until July 2011. I reset my priorities to put my health and happiness first (which also meant spending more time with my beautiful wife and daughter). As part of that resetting of priorities, I made getting in shape and reclaiming my health an important part of it. As a father and husband, I want to be happy, healthy, and full of energy for my family. I found that I was getting more and more cranky, and more and more unhappy. That was totally unacceptable, and I started by simply finding time in the day to work out by making a schedule. That was the start of everything for me. I spent less time working, getting more done because I was using my time more wisely, and I was generally feeling much less stressed about work. By taking the simple step of looking at how I was using time in my days and making a commitment to having an hour everyday to do a workout (still less time than I was spending with going to the gym when travel time was factored in), it made it possible for me to do a high quality workout. My mind is less stressed and so much happier, my body is already so much healthier, and I feel much more connected to my spirit and soul. I've even found time to meditate more often...something that is central to my spirituality. This is probably too much information, but sex is better, too!

"Soul-ution" #3: Mo' Money is Mo' Money!
In late August, I decided that I would become a BeachBody Coach, and it has been such a great decision. I'm a professor, so it's not like I needed a second job, to be honest, but it's provided another outlet to connect with and support people, and even another income source. If you don't think you can afford this, give it a second thought. I buy Shakeology monthly at $90 for us Coaches (rather than the regular $120), and I pay $12 monthly for an online membership at TeamBeachBody.com, which is a great resource for person-to-person support, meal plans, and charting my progress. That's the "cost" of being a BeachBody Coach. The startup fee is $40. So, I've made back all that money so far, every month is growing a little more and more, and I'm even more focused on having good health and wellness because it's part of how I earn some extra income. I've lost 26 pounds so far, I eat healthier, I'm far less stressed, much happier with life, and I'm earning an extra income. After signing up two other coaches, I have BeachBody sending me customers now. I'm loving this!

So, these are 3 easy "soul-utions" that have made a hugely positive effect on my life.