Introduction
I love food. I love everything about food. I love growing it, picking it out, cooking it, the way it looks and smells - you name it. What I don't like is "Dieting" in the modernized sense of the word. I do, however also like clean eating and doing your best to be healthy.
I have always been somewhat of a healthy person, but I'm no stranger to Ben and Jerry's and Netflix either. I would say that I was an average 'healthy' eater about one month ago. I would eat my fruit and veggies but I would also have the occasional fast food and soft drink.
Although I've never struggled with being overweight, after having two children and slacking in the eating clean department, I knew I wasn't reaching my full potential and certainly wasn't back to my pre-baby weight. I was easily tired and often sluggish. I had no 'extra' energy to workout etc.
So... how did I do it?
On September 13th I began my weight loss adventure. On October 5th I checked my weight and I had lost 13lbs! I couldn't believe it! By simply keeping a routine (That's not hard to keep up with) I had actually made a physical change.
So what did I do? There are several things that I did, and you can do them too!
First things first. You must try to cut out soda, ice cream, and other junk as much as possible. I know that is easier said than done but it only takes 28 days to make or break a habit. I can attest to this. When I began this, I was drinking at least one soda a day. Now if I have a drink of soda, it just tastes like a gross syrup and chemicals. If you can cut it out all together you will see dramatic results!
Don't go for the boxed or bagged dinners, no matter how good the advertisement looks. These things are just salt and carbs. Very detrimental to your health. Instead choose whole foods as much as you can. Whole foods have no ingredients they ARE the ingredients.
My first thought being introduced to raw whole foods, was "No one can eat and get full on just salad and veggies!" Well that's true. It's all about what you do with those greens and veggies. For instance.. 2 eggs and one banana make killer pancakes that are packed with protein and will keep you full at least until your snack before lunch. There is the true secret! Protein! See, with sugar and carbs you're getting no protein so you can eat and eat and it takes forever to get full, then you're hungry again in 30 minutes.
Another helpful hint is to switch things up by using herbs and spices in the kitchen instead of sugar and salt and you can replace (In almost any baking or cooking) coconut oil in the place of butter. When you do use butter, make sure it's real butter and not margarine.
Now that you have a good platform to start..
Here are my 10 weight loss tips..
- Stay Hydrated - I began drinking two glasses of water upon waking (One of which was lemon/cucumber water) and a glass of water before every meal and throughout the day. Staying hydrated is very important. Otherwise you gain water weight as your body tries to store and retain water.
- Make breakfast the largest meal (with desert!!) - If you give your metabolism a jump start first thing in the morning -after hydrating of course- it will stay high throughout the day. Your lunch should be a bit smaller than breakfast and dinner should be the smallest meal of the day. This is the 'norm' in many other countries but unfortunately in the U.S. we see the opposite as conventional.
- Green Tea - This one I cannot stress enough. So many health benefits including cleaning arteries of plaque and minimizing lower belly fat. It's great for lending a helping hand to your digestive system just after a meal and it's a wonderful way to energize.
- Vitamins - Vitamins will give you that little extra pep in your step and that's always a good thing! Make sure you get a good brand. Don't fall for a marketing scam like "Leading Brand" look at the ingredients and don't get any that contain harmful chemicals like red40 or aspartame. I take Vitafusion Miltivitamin and Omega-3 EPA/DHA.
- Remember that eating fat doesn't make you fat! - Healthy fats in your diet will help you burn fat. Very good for your body. Beware of "Low fat" and "Non fat" as that usually means it's a chemical sh*t storm! Stick to the natural, good fats. Your body needs them for many different reasons and they reduce your risk of cancer.
- Portion control - This is one of the more important tips to remember.. your plate should be half fruit and/or veggies, and somewhere around 1/4 protein and 1/4 grains. (A bit more or less if you prefer)
- Work it - Working out at the right time is very helpful. Working out first thing in the morning has been proven more effective. Working out about an hour before bed ensures that you burn off your extra fat from your last meal or snack before you go to sleep.
- There's no wrong way to exercise - Whether you're running a marathon or choosing a parking spot a little farther away from your destination than usual, you're exercising. You have to start somewhere. Don't be afraid to take breaks as often as you want or do less reps than the instructor suggests. Do your best and do it comfortably and make sure it's something you enjoy doing.
- Avoid added sugar - Forget the soda, sweetened waters, and energy drinks as they are detrimental to your overall health in the first place, not just weight loss. Eliminate junk foods, reduce carbs (like breads, pastas and rice) Watch out for "Diet" or "Low Fat" labels as most of the time they are replaced with carbs.
- Get your beauty rest - An adult needs no less than 7 hours of sleep per night.
..and don't forget...
I would like to share with you, why I, like many others (Doctors, Lawyers, Scientists, breast cancer survivors and patients) have chosen to boycott the Susan G Komen Foundation and expose the breast cancer fraud.
Breast cancer is a very real thing and effects 1 in 8 women in the U.S. Unfortunately these statistics are not exactly accurate, somewhere between 50,000 and 90,000 women are falsely diagnosed with breast cancer every single year. Due to faulty Mammogram readings, or due to the exposure to the mammogram itself. These women are told they have cancer, treated unnecessarily (Chemo and radiation) and sometimes they even lose their breasts or portions of their breast and ultimately their lives. Because these women never had breast cancer to begin with, the radiation and chemotherapy kill perfectly healthy cells, which overtime can claim lives. However you seldom hear of this. It is usually just said that the cancer itself claimed the life.
For those who are accurately diagnosed, it is such a tragedy. There's nothing 'Pretty in Pink' about it. Which is why so many are in outrage about the Susan G Komen fraud and pinkwashing. This Foundation donates less than a dime for each dollar they make to finding a cure. Many Scientists are already on this rising tragedy and are calling for a boycott of the Susan G Komen Foundation which also supports sales of products which cause breast cancer, simply because they put a pink ribbon on the product.
So, what is Pinkwashing?
"Breast Cancer Action coined the term pinkwashing as part of our Think Before You Pink® campaign. Pinkwasher: (pink’-wah-sher) noun. A company or organization that claims to care about breast cancer by promoting a pink ribbon product, but at the same time produces, manufactures and/or sells products that are linked to the disease."
For more information:
http://youtu.be/3QPZfcYTUaA
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/02/22/breast-cancer-awareness-ribbons.aspx
In the 1840's many women giving birth in hospitals contracted puerperal fever.. it was the most common cause of maternal mortality in Europe. Dr. Semmelweis (Who was obsessed with the problem) realized that many of the students and Doctors were entering the maternity wards directly from dissecting rooms, where they had been touching corpses. He said that mortality rates would drop if Doctors would simply wash their hands before their next surgery or delivery. Sadly, nobody believed him because at the time the germ theory hadn't been proposed, much less proven.
Because of his (At the time) outrageous theory, he was ridiculed. He didn't stop though, he grew bitter and angry but he kept fighting for hand washing.. until 1865, when his wife and others committed him to an insane asylum where he died two weeks later, reportedly due to a beating by the staff.
The lesson.. Society is cruel and ignorant. An ignorant mind will dismiss and ridicule something it doesn't understand while a wise mind will be intrigued..
A smart man will sound like a crazy man to an ignorant man.
In Romans 14:13 it says that we should never judge others, and never place an obstacle or impediment in their path that could cause them to stumble. It says that no object in and of itself is unclean. HOWEVER, if fellow believers are convinced that something is unclean, then it IS unclean to them. If the food you eat harms your Brother, then you have failed to love him. Do not let what you eat tear down your Brother.
In other words, If someone is convinced that (Lets say for example) dancing is a sin.. don't try to convince them that it's not, because to them it is.. and if they dance while thinking it's bad, then it IS bad. Don't judge them for thinking that dancing is a sin.. and don't dance while they're around.
It is good to be a free Christian and to not be all law-bound and legalistic but if someone is, then love and respect them and their beliefs.
Moderate alcohol drinking increases longevity while decreasing the risk of heart disease by 25-50% in men and 20-40% in women. Moderate drinkers undergo fewer hospitalizations and have fewer disabilities than the general population. Also, if a moderate drinker DOES have a heart attack, they are 32% less likely to die than a non-drinker - and 59% less likely to have another attack. Moderate is defined as 1 drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men. "One drink" means 12oz. beer, 5 floz. wine, or 1.5floz. of 80 proof distilled spirits. Wine ia the best for you.. having many other benefits. Moderate drinking also helps reduce stress, which is a health boost in itself. If you easily get addicted to things, don't do this, any more than moderate drinking will be detrimental to your health, obviously.
In 1250 Doctors used maggots to treat people who had bedsores.. Recently it was discovered that this was actually a really good idea. Maggots will devour dead tissue from open wounds and eradicate bacteria by excreting a solution similar to ammonia.
In Genesis 6:3 we are told that our days shall be 120 years. In the early 50s Leonard Hayflick, a scientist at the university of Cali discovered that all human cells are able to reproduce themselves only a certain number of times. Estimated to be about fifty cell divisions, equating to a maximum of 120 years.
We need fat! All this "Reduced fat" and "Fat free" nonsense.. it's not good for you. If you want to lose weight eat healthy fats, your body NEEDS them to burn fat. Every part of your body needs those essential fats. Especially your brain. Organic vitamin D milk, grass-fed meat and butter, good oils (Olive, coconut etc etc..) By eating healthy fats daily you will be doing your body a favor AND reducing your risk of cancer. Don't fall for the FAT FREE and LOW FAT scam.
Psychologist Howard Gardener argued in his book, Frames of Mind, that human intelligence is not a single unitary property. (Which I know we can all agree) Instead, he suggested there are at least 7 types of intelligence: Linguistic, Musical, Logical-mathematical, Spatial, Bodily-kinesthetic, Interpersonal and Intrapersonal. Arguably, only two or three of these are touched with common schooling..
For those children whose gifts lie within the areas that common school chooses to disregard, they are judged as learning disabled or even handicapped in some manner. Parents are then falsely informed that their child/children are learning disabled or handicapped. This could even result in falsely medicating the child/children.
We can have much better relationships and friendships when we realize the needs of Men and Women. Men need and want honor and respect above all else. Believe it or not, once in a while it's important to give men an ego boost. (even if they already have a big ego) Women need and want security above all else.. and there are many forms of security. Apply this knowledge and see how it changes your relationships, be it at work or home.
Think before you drink (Bottled Water)! Bottled water is the second most popular beverage in the USA. By drinking bottled water you are supporting that industry, an industry that horribly pollutes our environment, our health and empties our pockets one ‘small expense’ at a time!
Lets start with something that (unfortunately) almost everyone is passionate about.. Money! Drinking 8 glasses of water per day for a year costs:
Tap water: 50 cents! Bottled water: $1,400
Back in 2012 bottled water sales hit $11.8 billion dollars! 40% of bottled water comes from municipal systems anyway, meaning it’s the same as tap! Plus, that water is paid for by tax payers and sold back to the public at a steep price inflation!
Now lets talk environmental- It takes 50 million barrels of oil to pump, process, transport and refrigerate bottled water and takes 40,000 18 wheelers to transport it each week. Producing bottled water requires up to 2,000 times the energy cost of producing tap water and more than 80% of bottled water ends up in landfills. SOME of them are recycled, the rest end up as litter on roadsides and in waterways. Plastic bags and bottled water make up the majority of litter on beaches and in our oceans. Every square mile of the ocean has 46,000 pieces of plastic in it.
As for our health, there is NO guarantee that bottled water is ANY safer than tap! You heard me right! In fact only about 30% of bottled water is even regulated at all! One study found that 22% of brands tested contained levels of chemical contaminants above health limits. Plastic bottles in general can leach phthalates into water, soda, tea, juice (or whatever liquid is in the bottle) which has been found to disrupt hormones in humans who consume it. Also, most people haven't even thought about the fact that cancer blew up by A TON whenever we introduced plastic into the kitchen. Putting our drinks, food, and other consumables in plastic rather than glass.
Not to mention, for every person supporting the bottled water industry, they are supporting less attention being paid to public water systems.
I don’t know about you, but I want to be able to drink my tap water and not have to worry that the next day it could be under boil order! The only way we can make this happen is if we stop buying bottled water and take a stand. Demand higher standards for tap water.
-Whit
Simplified, Quantum Physics is this: Your thoughts, - (which are also energy) determined by your beliefs that then form your perceptions - are broadcast out, and into the infinite field of "Wave" energy much like a radio frequency, transformed from waves to particles and join together with additional energies which vibrate at a harmonious frequency and collectively join to mold what you come to see and experience in physical form, in the physical world.
Over a quarter of a million crocus flowers must be harvested to obtain one pound of saffron, and three stigmas from each crocus must be collected by hand. This is why Saffron is the single most expensive spice.
The word 'Drug' comes from the Dutch word "Droog" which means 'Dried Plant' It's such a shame that in the last couple hundred years the word has become something entirely different.
So.. When Cholera spread across the U.S. in the 1830s Doctors were left scratching their heads. They did however use three popular forms of treatment at that time which included: 1) Bloodletting (Applying leaches, or often times cutting open a vein) 2) Opium (for stress relief, and to help patients relax) 3) Calomel (To purge) However, with casualties well over 150,000 between 1832-1849 and another 50,000 in the fourth pandemic in 1866 they decided to use homeopathy. Discovering that it was in fact their best shot at survival. Not only was this saving many lives, but also this form of medicine could be used on Pregnant women, had absolutely no side effects, was not addictive, did not interfere with other medications, and was relatively inexpensive.. We may not be having a Cholera outbreak, but we should definitely learn a lesson from this.. Homeopathic medicine is absolutely amazing! Go alternative!
Fascinating: A tribe of Indian bone-setters are dying out, and their secrets with them. However it's known that one of the compounds used in their unique bone setting process is the very helpful Comfrey Root. It is so "Powerful to consolidate and knit together that if they were boiled with dissevered pieces of flesh in a pot, it would join them together."
So many things we learn on our journey, and what I've been learning lately is this: You hear people say all the time: "Go with the flow." That is such a powerful thing to do.. Once you can train yourself to release mental toxins (be they Negativity, pride, judgement, etc) with (In my case) meditation, you slowly learn to stop resisting things, and when you stop resisting things, you are then 'going with the flow' and when you can do that a whole new level of peace comes to you mentally, and physically. With a combination of meditation, positivity, and love, I have entered into an entirely new realm of living. ..and all that coupled with an unconditional love from above, life is amazing.
It has been shown that people with rheumatoid arthritis don't get enough vitamin C.. Something to think about.. If you have a loved one with RA you should suggest they add some vitamin C to their diet.
Gotu Kola ("Memory Herb") stimulates circulation to the brain, makes one of the best nerve tonics, and is often used to increase learning ability. Among many, many other things.
My Beef and Arabian Rice with a Celtic twist. This meal alone has unbelievable health benefits: Anti-inflammatory, Antioxidants, Pain reliever, muscle relaxer, Treats upset stomach, Compounds in this meal have been known to bind to human serotonin receptors, which is a good influence on the body. It has many anti-cancer properties, and it boosts the immune system and metabolism! Not to mention very cheap.
Little FYI.. During the bubonic plague, Doctors wore these bird-like masks (they thought) to avoid the sickness. They filled the beaks with spices and rose petals so they wouldn't have to smell the rotting bodies. A theory during this period was that the plague was caused by evil spirits. To ward away the spirits the masks were intentionally designed to be creepy.
June 2013: "I feel so amazed that I've had the gift of seeing the things I've seen, experiencing the things i have, and meeting the people I've met.. So many beautiful things! I can't wait to see what's in store in my future. I feel a new chapter of this book is about to open. It's a good, and exciting feeling to have."
This was around the time (One year ago) when I decided that I was going to see how far the rabbit hole of all things alternative goes. I have always had an interest in alternative medicine and holistic living, so I decided to dive in head first. Here I am, one year later and my life is much more wholesome and I am in much better health. Physically, mentally and spiritually. -Whit
