Sheehan Training

Less Than 1% of Your Week to Get Healthy

2011-11-16T15:32:00.001-05:00

This morning I had a great conversation with a couple of my clients after our session. We talked about how such a small investment of time can pay such huge dividends in the quest for good health.

Busy, Busy, Busy

A lot of times I hear people say that they are just too busy to exercise, and I try to put it into perspective. There are 168 hours in a week, but if you make the commitment to training twice, you are still only using up .89% of it! That’s 1.5 hours to contribute to your health!

Is 1.5 Hours Enough?

Although this may not be the optimum number of hours you should invest in your wellness, it’s a start! We always encourage people to at least make a beginning, and our experience has shown that once this happens, it is only a matter of time before the physical (and mental) changes take place that compel you to want more of the same.

Improved Health Equals Improved Life!

It was once said that every perspective or thought we have flows through the lens of our physical body, therefore our attitude on virtually every subject is influenced by the way we feel about it. Starting to exercise today will not only improve your health, but the way you feel and deal with everything in your life!

Click Here for 50% Off Professional Personal Training Services by November 30, 2011!

Is it Really Hereditary?

2011-11-10T15:51:00.000-05:00

“I have to take 4 different types of medications because my blood pressure is so high and my cholesterol levels are out of control. It is hereditary though and has run in my family for generations.”

This was spoken to me by a friend who is 50 pounds overweight and smokes two packs of cigarettes a day.

At this point I no longer try to convince people (even my friend) that genetics play a miniscule part in the total scheme of a person’s health. After years of doctors and family members feeding the myth that their diseases are hereditary, it is virtually impossible to crack that wall of belief.

What is most unfortunate about this fact is that each individual can now be a victim, with pharmaceutical companies coming to the rescue with one pill after another to treat their symptoms. That’s right, symptoms. Taking pills does nothing to address the underlying cause of the disease or risk factor, but it allows the person to feel more comfortable that they are doing something to address it.

Brilliant marketing done by the pharmaceutical giants today helps increase the apathy of the millions of people that are looking for the easy way out in regards to their health. People love seeing new ads for the latest miracle pill that is going to help them “cure” the distress they feel from one of the common sicknesses today. After seeing one of these ads, people are more than likely to run to their primary care doctor and cajole him into prescribing the drug that the commercial boasted was so effective in “clinical studies.” These “clinical studies” were conducted by their own company, and all they had to do was present one case that beat the placebo before presenting the drug for approval.

Take Lipitor for example. In their ads, the people depicted are in great shape and shown exercising and living the quality of life we all deserve. And then they qualify their product by stating that “when exercise and diet are not enough, ask your doctor for Lipitor.” This is as disingenuous as you can get. Diet and exercise are always enough, but we are conditioned by the messages to take a pill instead. Although doctors may encourage their patients to take the path of diet and exercise, many are compelled to follow through with pharmacological solutions when no progress is made.

The bottom line is that we do not have to be victims, and genetic expression will only take place if the environment is right for it. What you eat and how active you are will trump any genetic history of chronic disease 99% of the time, but you first have to see through the ads and ostensible mis-information to take control of your health for longevity, and more importantly, the quality of life you want to experience in the future.

Only Two Weeks Left!

Take Advantage of This Fabulous Offer

By November 30, 2011

Enjoy the BBQs on This Fabulous July 4 Weekend!

2011-07-01T15:47:00.000-04:00

It looks like the Gods will be smiling this weekend as we begin the summer with a fabulous July 4 weekend. Call me a killjoy, but I love to educate people on the foods they will be eating at one or more tasty BBQs.

This blog is to provide you some helpful information to guide your decisions over the next few months in regards to your health. Summer is the time for barbeques, and they can be dangerous events if we are not prepared to make good decisions about what is served at them. I hear so many people use summer barbeques as the reason (excuse) for the gaining of weight, so maybe with my real-life description of the food served at most of them, you can avoid falling into this trap.

At 99% of barbeques, you can bet that the food served is usually at the low end of the quality scale. Unless you are being served by an annoying self-proclaimed nutrition expert (such as myself), you are going to be served the food that was the best value one could receive at the bulk type stores such as BJs or Costco. You know, like the Bubba Burgers or the 700 pack BBQ chicken wings where you will find more chemicals and preservatives than in a puddle at the parking lot of a Dupont plant. The next thing on the table will be some potato salad where the potatoes were made from genetically engineered seeds and the mayonnaise has enough casein in it to kill 100 rats.

A little further down we will find the “healthy” salad which is not organic and where you can wring enough pesticides out of the lettuce to scare the roaches out of your kitchen. Sounds yummy so far huh?

Don’t forget the hot dogs filled with sodium nitrate which is used to give them that reddish color and will also give people who eat a lot of them a 67% increased risk of pancreatic cancer. Don’t walk away yet though before you grab a handful of potato chips or pretzels that have gathered the germs from every hand that reached into the bowl before you. Maybe the host felt bad and got some of the reduced fat ones. Yippee! Only 6 grams of fat per serving versus the regular 10. Thinking about skipping the main course?

No worries, because there is usually a table full of desserts like cake, ice cream, cookies, and other products filled with sugar, white flour, and fats. We can usually stock up on our total calories required for a week in just two short hours. It always feels good to be in that wet bathing suit as the drawstring starts to tighten and we have to untie it, or create a permanent groove that circles our mid-section.

So what’s the point of my story? Eat healthy before you get to the party, and let the fat people call you a snob. I’d rather be a healthy snob who feels comfortable with my shirt off, than be the lard ass at the front of the line when the first round of future diseases come off the grille. Have a Happy July 4 everyone!

Is Your Meat Glued Together?

2011-04-01T11:48:00.000-04:00

This morning I want to talk about yet another substance that the people of America are eating, yet most of them do not even know it. It is a substance by the name of transglutaminase. Ever heard of it? I didn’t think so. An easier way to identify it is by what it’s used for. Meat glue.

So why would we need glue for meat? The answer is that consumers do not need glue for meat, but the producers of the meat need it to explore a way to squeeze some extra profits from the scraps of meat which may have otherwise been discarded. Transglutaminase is a white powdery substance that was designed by molecular gastronomists to manipulate proteins in meat, chicken, and fish to keep pieces sticking together like superglue. And it works.

Nutrition Labels

If you are wondering why you haven’t noticed this on the label of your meat, it is because it is not there. The United States FDA had declared that this product is GRAS, or generally recognized as safe. I guess we should trust the FDA because a study was done on the safety of transglutaminase and the results indicated it was safe. And why shouldn’t we believe the results of the study? It was funded by Ajinomoto, the product’s manufacturer. This is the same Japanese company that produces MSG, and if you are not familiar with the dangers of MSG, toggle down and view a previous post I did a few weeks ago.

How Safe is Transglutaminase?

Although the one study that was done might ease your worries, I wouldn’t be so sure. I found that the ingredients in the most popular brand, Activa RM, also contain maltodextrine and sodium caseinate, a milk protein. Casein, as I have stated in numerous blogs, was shown to accelerate the growth of cancer in 100% of the rats that were dosed with a potent carcinogen when fed their diet of 20% of this protein.[1]

Microbiologist Glenn Pener also voices concern over meat glue and food poisoning. “The amount of bacteria on a steak that’s been put together with meat glue is hundreds of time higher,” he says. The bacterial count in patched-up meat is extremely high because scraps that were outside pieces but are now glued together inside are hard to cook thoroughly.

Tuna/Scallop appetizer, Elmer's style
If the thought of chicken parts glued together or pieces of scrap meat mended with this powder doesn’t bother you, eat away! It works brilliantly and you won’t even taste the glue. It has been working for McDonalds with their chicken nuggets for years and we know how healthy their food is….

[1] Campbell, T. Colin, The China Study, Benbella Books, 2006

Is Your Doctor an Expert in Nutrition?

2011-03-24T17:04:00.000-04:00

It is not too often that something actually takes me off track, but just recently my temper rose to the point where I had a difficult time letting it go. Today I am going to talk about sabotage, and the definition of the word is as follows:

“deliberate destruction or hindering of one’s property or progress”

This past week I received an e-mail from a client with a lot of interesting questions. Before I delve into the questions, let me explain the history of the client.

This client came to us with a goal of losing weight and making it permanent by learning about nutrition and incorporating her new habits into her lifestyle.

pH Balance & Nutrition

Her results were remarkable, and after two months she lost 18 lbs and increased her performance in every one of the fitness modules we tested her on. She was believing in her nutrition plan and seeing the fruits of her labor. After years of research, we are believers in regulating the pH balance of our bodies with proper nutrition, and we reduce the amounts of acidic foods which most people eat on the Standard American Diet.

Now it is 4 months into our program and her e-mail started with the following points:

1. I feel better when I eat alkaline foods

2. I feel tons better than I did 6 months ago

3. I have been losing weight and have more energy

I was thrilled to hear this, and then I read on. Our client ran into someone who threw a wrench into our devious plan, you know the one to get her healthy and in shape. This saboteur planted seeds that pH balance was not a good measurement to determine whether one was healthy or not. Apparently some medical “bloggers” contradict our information and obviously must have superior information than what we have gleaned from our research.

Just like that, years of research and experience is undermined by someone who wants to use his technical knowledge to shoot down the success achieved by this happy and motivated person.

So what type of person would do this you ask? Well it just happened to be our clients’ brother, and what would his profession be?

That would be a doctor, and I don’t mean a doctor of philosophy. I mean a medical ER physician.

I have to premise my next paragraph by saying that I have the utmost respect for anyone who invests such a large portion of their life to the education and time commitment of the steps to become a doctor. The hard work and endless hours of study could only be accomplished by someone who truly desires to help people. We also are acquainted with some absolutely amazing doctors who understand that through living an active lifestyle and following a proper nutrition plan, many major diseases of today can be prevented from ever occurring. Unfortunately between the time of Hippocrates and today though, the vast majority of conventional doctors have become conditioned to accept disease and treating the symptoms of it, instead of finding a way to prevent them in the first place.

Are You Afraid to Question Your Doctor?

Today the majority of doctors are reactive instead of proactive. With some of the best medical schools in the country being funded by pharmaceutical companies, is it any wonder that doctors are trained in the protocol of administering drugs as a first option in the treatment of their patients? We also know that drug companies now provide major incentives for doctors who prescribe their drugs, and we recently have seen another company (who had been previously fined $515 million for defrauding Medicare) in the news being sued for providing kickbacks and bribes to doctors who prescribe their drugs.

Does a Medical Degree Guarantee Nutrition Expertise?

You might ask why doctors do not advise their patients on proper nutrition when discussing treatment options. According to Rupert Weldon, author of No Animal Food and Nutrition, dietetics, a science dealing with the very first principles of health, is an optional course in the curriculum of a medical student. In a recent study conducted on nutrition courses in medical school, the results indicated that only 25% of the accredited 127 medical schools in the US required a dedicated nutrition course.[1] A study conducted by the Intersociety Professional Nutrition Education Consortium reported that physicians remain insufficiently informed about the role of diet in the prevention of disease, and less than 6% of medical school graduates receive adequate nutrition training.[2] Some people would argue that we have the best hospitals and doctors in the world in America, and I would love to agree, but don’t statistics account for anything? Cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and just about every major disease is on the rise, and the medical establishment looks to the pharmaceutical companies for yet another pill that will supposedly give us relief.

The sabotage this doctor provided is a little more serious than our normal every day sabotage because he can claim expertise with those two letters after his name. We also must watch out for normal daily sabotage which comes from comments such as “you look too thin,” or “are you sick?” We also love the pushy (and usually fat) relatives that won’t take “no” for an answer when pushing their massive calorie-laden cookies or cake at us during family events.

When it comes to our health we need to own it ourselves and conduct the due diligence required to determine what treatment works best for us. We also need to keep our guard up against the sabotage that will undoubtedly come if we are doing what it takes to get healthy and in shape.

[1] Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges, September 2010 - Volume 85 - Issue 9 - pp 1537-1542

[2] American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 1998;68.

Don't Touch My Animal Protein

2011-03-16T17:17:00.000-04:00

If you’re thinking it’s pretty safe because the government is protecting us, time to take off the utopian sunglasses. In fact, if you are eating meat that is non-organic, this might make you sick to your stomach. The vast majority of animals who are raised for consumption in this country are from factory farms. Most people know in their heart that animals are treated very poorly and put through tremendous suffering, but would prefer not to acknowledge it. I am not on a crusade, but people should know as a result of this treatment, massive amounts of antibiotics must be administered to these animals, causing antibiotic resistance in people who eat them. According to David Steinman in Diet for a Poisoned Planet, more than half of all antibiotics made in this country are for farm animals! Walter Willett also reports that these same factory farms feed their animals grains sowed and reaped specifically for the purpose of consumption, and this requires increasingly large amounts of petroleum, fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. Factory farms also pump large quantities of growth hormones into their animals to increase profits by decreasing the growth period necessary before harvesting. Do you think these chemicals and poisons magically disappear in the process between harvesting and making it into your mouth? Of course they don’t, and you don’t even have to pay extra for these lovely substances that food manufacturers use to pump up their profits.

Does this sound like bias from a militant vegan? Consider this. The Food and Drug Administration, yes the United States FDA, conducted an evaluation called the Total Diet Study that found bacon had 48 different pesticide residues, bologna and other luncheon meats had 102 different industrial pollutants and pesticides, fast food hamburgers had 113 residues, hot dogs had 123, and ground beef had 82 industrial and chemical residues. I’m sure the FDA wasn’t jumping for joy when they had to release those results, but chances are they didn’t call in the media for a press conference either.

People who choose not to eat meat or animal products altogether do not have to work hard to meet the body’s protein needs. The American Dietetic Association reports that eating a vegetarian diet provides twice the amount of protein needed daily. Beans, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and soy products (all organic of course), provide more than enough nutrients for us to receive sufficient protein.

There are some great documentaries that are in DVD format now, such as Food Inc, Food Matters, and Processed People. The newest and most progressive documentary to come out on what our food is doing to us has been released. It is Forks Over Knives, and highlights work done by Dr. T. Colin Campbell, author of The China Study. As powerful and formidable as the food manufacturers are, there are still many organizations and people (such as us!) who will work tirelessly to provide the truth about the massive health problems in this country. We will also keep working to present solutions to preventing these problems from becoming an issue in the lives of the people who work with us and read our material!

I Can't Be a Vegan Because I Require Protein

2011-03-11T08:42:00.000-05:00

It is often that we hear people ask how vegetarians and vegans get their protein, so once in a while I like to post the truth about how much protein we need. You will not find this in most fitness magazines, but you will find hundreds of "studies" conducted by the people selling supplements themselves that state you need considerably more protein than you actually need, especially if you want to be bulked up like the models in their pictures!

More Protein = Giant Muscles (not)

Most people are conditioned to think that we need more protein than we do, and that it is healthiest to attain that protein from animal sources. That fact is that people are wrong on both accounts. People who have worked out at a gym or who have worked with a personal trainer have heard for years how we need to eat much more protein if we are to build muscles, and usually they are the ones that can sell it to us! I cringe when I see high school kids pouring scoop after scoop of whey protein into their post workout drink because they think that 3 times what is recommended will make their muscles three times as big!

Although protein is an energy source, it is not a major one. They are many other vital roles that protein plays for our metabolism and the body will only metabolize them for energy when the other energy nutrients are not available. Our skin, hair, muscles, and multitude of enzymes that keep us alive and active are made up mostly of protein, and our body is made up of at least 10,000 different ones. Protein also plays the role replacing worn out cells, transporting various substances throughout the body, and aiding in the growth and repair of our tissues and muscles.

Are animals the only source of protein?

If this was the case, there would be a lot of dead vegan and vegetarian people out there. Yet this is the question we get 90 % of the time after learning we are vegans. Although we do not influence our lifestyle on others, it is important for people to know that there are much healthier sources of protein than animal products. In Walter Willett’s bestselling book, Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy, The Harvard Medical School Guide to Healthy Eating, it states that worldwide surveys of protein consumption and heart disease death rates hint that the more animal protein in the diet, the more heart disease, and the more vegetable protein, the less heart disease. It also reflects that there are studies that hint that people who regularly eat hot dogs, bologna, bacon, and other processed meats are more likely to develop type II diabetes than those who don’t.

Next week I will talk about the risks with consuming protein from animals, so keep an open mind and if you are skeptical, do a little research over the weekend and you will be amazed at what you find when you discover our true protein requirements.

How Do We Make Like the Zebra and Stay Skinny?

2011-03-02T19:13:00.000-05:00

Last week I talked about the internal mechanism that all animals possess, but that doesn’t seem to be working in humans. It wasn’t always this way, and it apparently is still working in some humans, albeit the minority of them! If you ever have a chance to peruse old photos of people and crowds at the beginning of the 20^th century, you will be surprised to see that the vast majority of people were not overweight and were healthier with fewer incidences of most of the major diseases of today.

In the early 1900’s cancer was a rare occurrence in the American population. Now one in every 2.5 people will get some form of invasive cancer in their lifetime, and half of them will die from it.[1] Recent studies have shown that certain animal proteins can accelerate the growth of cancer. Studies are also showing that there are many foods that provide nutrients to our cells which build our immune system to recognize these cancerous cells and remove them from our body.

Heart disease is another affliction that has consistently risen in occurrence, and it is still the leading cause of death amongst our citizens. Studies have shown that the risk of such vascular diseases is associated with cholesterol levels, which are heavily influenced by our dietary cholesterol intake. In the 35 years of the famous Framingham Heart Study, Dr. William Castelli has reported that not one single subject with a cholesterol level under 150 ever suffered a heart attack.[2]

Could re-building the internal mechanism that will keep us zebra skinny help us to lower the risk of these diseases?

To re-build the mechanism that will keep us skinny and afford us the bonus of building our immune system to fight diseases, we need to re-train our minds to seek the food that will not only satisfy us, but will provide us the nutrients and sustenance that will allow us to feel full and satisfied when we’ve had enough. There is a complex set of neural circuits embedded within every animal’s brain known as the mechanisms of satiety.[3] By consuming whole natural foods not laden with harmful chemicals, we can restore this mechanism which will eventually lead us to our optimal weight. What most people do not understand though is that taste buds can actually change and new tastes can be developed within weeks of eating a food that you might not have found palatable earlier.

I meet many people who think that they cannot change their eating habits. I hear comments like “I could never live without my ice cream every night,” and they do not get the correlation that if they continue their eating patterns they won’t have a choice. I also met a man who was slowly killing himself with obesity and suffered from Type II diabetes, but couldn’t stop eating the Volkswagen sized desserts after dinner. I would ask him if he understood the possible consequences to the path he was on, and his response was always, “Tom, but it tasted soooo good.” Nice. Yumminess now, amputated leg later.

[1] American Cancer Society. “Cancer Facts and Figures 2003.”

[2] Barnard, N. D. The Power of Your Plate. Summertown, TN: Book Publishing Company, 1995

[3] Lisle, Douglas J.,Ph.D & Alan Goldhamer, D.C., Healthy Living Publications, The Pleasure Trap, (2003)

Have You Ever Seen a Fat Zebra?

2011-02-24T17:53:00.002-05:00

Most Likely Not!

In the book The Pleasure Trap by Douglas Lisle and Alan Goldhamer, they cite the fact that overweight wild animals are non-existent. These same animals have an abundance of food resources and can eat as much as they want, so why don’t they gorge themselves?

Maybe it's because their primary meals don't consist of prime rib, pasta primavera, chicken parmegian, and scallops covered in cheese. Humans have become conditioned to eat processed and massively laced fat foods, and they taste good! The only problem with this is that these foods that taste so good are also the ones which are creating disease and making this country the unhealthiest that it has ever been. The foods that have been shown to greatly improve our health and reverse such diseases as cancer and heart disease are also the ones that people seem to eschew. While animals have the opportunity to gorge themselves and eat until they explode, they do not. Yet most Americans know the dangers of eating the above mentioned diets, yet still indulge in chemically laden and fat filled foods with reckless abandon. Why is that?

They don’t because of the “Law of Satiation” which states: In a natural setting of caloric abundance, animals will consume the correct amount of food needed for optimum function.[1]

What this means is that there are millions of humans that struggle to count their calories and constantly battle to keep their weight under control, but there are billions of animals that can do it effortlessly. Today it is estimated that more than one half of Americans are either obese or significantly overweight. The number of people classified as obese has doubled just in the last 20 years.[2] It doesn’t seem to make sense, unless you examine the types of food that are eaten today in the Standard American Diet.

Over the past one hundred years, there has been an exponential increase in not only overweight Americans, but in the disease suffered by them. If all animals have an innate mechanism that signals the body that enough sustenance has been eaten for optimal function, then why isn’t it working for humans?

Despite the misguided speculation of “diet experts” and the over 25,000 books that have been written on them, the solution is simple. Our modern diet is artificially concentrated, and this artificial concentration causes our internal calorie counting machinery to make errors. Specifically, our calorie counting machinery consistently underestimates the caloric value of artificially concentrated foods, and this inexorably leads to overeating.[3] Our machinery is breaking down and causing our disease-fighting and health creating cells to end up looking like a scrapyard.

The diets of most Americans are artificially concentrated with high-fat animal products, oils, sugar, and mostly refined carbohydrates. People regularly eat butter, eggs, burgers, ice cream, fried food, fast food, and other processed foods which have chemicals and high fat percentages vastly greater than what would be found in a “natural” diet. Fat is always calorically concentrated so it has a greater caloric density. It is this unnatural concentration that causes mistakes by our calorie counting machinery.[4] This in turn leads to overeating, obesity, and disease.

[1] Lisle, Douglas J.,Ph.D. & Alan Goldhamer, D.C., Healthy Living Publications, The Pleasure Trap, (2003)

[2] Shell, E.R. The Hungry Gene, Atlantic Monthly Press, (2002)

[3] Lisle, Douglas J.,Ph.D & Alan Goldhamer, D.C., Healthy Living Publications, The Pleasure Trap, (2003)

[4] Ibid

Why is it So Hard to Lose Weight?

2011-02-23T17:08:00.002-05:00

This is a question that can be answered one thousand different ways, but today I am only going to be talking about one of them.
How believable would it be if I said that food companies actually include a chemical in their foods that not only causes you to gain weight, but also has been proven to create illness by causing damage to your brain?

If you are a frequent reader of these blogs, you will know it is highly believable, and it is happening every day. The substance that I am going to talk about today is an excitotoxin called monosodium glutamate, or MSG. An excitotoxin is a substance added to foods and beverages that literally stimulates neurons to death, causing brain damage of varying degrees.

The chemical MSG was developed by a Japanese chemist in 1908, and it was used initially in military rations fed to the Japanese soldiers. It was added as a flavor enhancer and in World War II American soldiers were impressed with how tasty the rations were. This led to an investigation by the military and discussions ensued with most of the major food conglomerates at the time. It did not take long before this “flavor enhancer” was being added to prepared foods, and its use has doubled every decade since the 1940’s.[1]

Unfortunately the FDA allows MSG to be disguised as an ingredient on most products. It can be listed as “hydrolyzed vegetable protein”, “vegetable protein”, “natural flavorings”, or “spices”.

The chemical process of creating hydrolyzed vegetable protein consists of first boiling vegetables in sulfuric acid for several hours, then neutralizing the acid with a caustic soda, then drying the resulting brown sludge. When combining this with certain amino acids, it brings out a “beefy” and “creamy” taste and is added to many processed foods we get in the grocery store such as canned soups, salad dressings, sauces, and “instant” soups and products. And don’t forget, this is a staple of American fast foods to enhance the flavor of the poisons they are feeding us.

Analysis of MSG found that it contains three very powerful brain toxins – glutamate, aspirate, and cysteic acid. It also contains several known carcinogens. The FDA does not regulate the amount of carcinogens allowed in hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or the amount that can be added to food products.[2]

The box on the left implies there might be some healthy ingredients, but click on above to expand the ingredient image.
Although many people seem to associate MSG with Chinese restaurants and all you can eat buffets, it is far from the case. If your diet is primarily one of processed food products, you may be ingesting far more of it than the people who only occasionally eat out at restaurants and fast food establishments.

When was the last time you saw this label on a food product?

[1] Dr. Russell Blaylock, Excitotoxins, 1997
[2] Ibid

The Powerful Brain

2011-02-23T17:05:00.002-05:00

If someone were to ask you what the most powerful computer in the world is, what would you say? There are computers that can fly airplanes, design buildings, guide a laser beam during intricate surgery, and calculate where a missile will land within millimeters.

But can any of them get up and walk away?

The most powerful computer on Earth lies between our two ears, and that is our brain. This mass of tissue performs complex functions and calculations that not only keep us alive, but allow us to make decisions which create the reality in our lives.

When we break down this high-powered computer into two parts, the conscious mind and the sub-conscious mind, we find that the true power center lies in the latter. Unfortunately most people do not take advantage of this massive power plant and choose to utilize the conscious mind when attempting to create new realities in their life that will bring them happiness.

According to John Assaraf in his Mindset for Success program, the sub-conscious mind controls 96-98% of perception and behavior and averages over 10,000 trillion electrical/chemical reactions per second. The sub-conscious mind sees in pictures and patterns cannot tell the difference from real or imagined.

Why is this significant?

It is significant because once we begin to train the sub-conscious mind, our perceptions and behaviors will automatically change to find and produce the desired results we have planted in it. Can you imagine achieving every single thing that you have ever dreamed of, and doing it just by changing the pattern of your sub-conscious thinking? Could it actually be true that “if you dream it you can achieve it?” The answer is yes, and anyone who has undertaken the effort to change their belief patterns and strive towards and achieve a goal will verify that it can.

I ask people all the time what the most important thing is in their life. The responses are usually my family, my kids, my job, my house, or someone that is close to them. What most people miss though is that without one thing, you cannot enjoy any of them. What is that one thing?

YOUR HEALTH!

We know that exercise, lowering stress, and especially proper nutrition can provide us with the best health. Imagine if we could train our brain to follow a lifestyle incorporating all of these so that it becomes as much a habit as brushing our teeth in the morning…..

Guru Nutrition

2011-02-23T17:03:00.000-05:00

This week we introduce our new nutrition only product, Guru Nutrition.

Over the past 5 years we have trained and helped hundreds of people change their life through their physical health. Although we believe that all components of fitness are important, we believe that 80% of the equation is nutrition.

Proper nutrition will not only help you lose weight and look better, but can drastically improve the quality of your life by drastically reducing the risks associated with contracting all major diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

We also feel that is is crucial to change the way we think if new habits are to be developed for the long term. We have developed a highly sophisticated program which focuses on the neural re-conditioning of our brains so that we replace the habits and behaviors that have kept us from enjoying optimum health.

We highly encourage you to check out our new website and investigate our very affordable and successful product. We truly believe we have found the "Holy Grail" of permanent weight loss and superior health and we would tell you about it.

You can access our new website, Guru Nutrition by clicking on the link.

Can What We Eat Affect Our Mood?

2010-12-06T13:04:00.005-05:00

It certainly can. According to Dr. Russell Blaylock, author of Exitotoxins, there is irrefutable evidence that the foods that we eat can greatly contribute to the behavior and moods that people experience by their diets. Depression is one of the most common moods suffered by people who frequently eat high sugar content foods and starchy carbohydrates. These foods can lead to excessive insulin release, which in turn leads to falling blood sugar levels, or hypoglycemia. This causes the brain to secrete glutamate in levels that can cause agitation, depression, anger, anxiety, and panic attacks.

Depression, and subsequently the amount of people on anti-depressant medication, has grown in correlation with the rise in the obesity rate which was up 50% from 1991 – 1998. Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Eat to Live, studies the effects of nutrient rich food in one’s diet. It is clear that people are more prone to depression and other diseases when their intake of high nutrient-containing plant food is low. Deficiencies of plant-based minerals such as folate, iron, and selenium tend to be more common among people diagnosed with depression.

Researchers at the University of Sheffield in Great Britain also report that they have found a significant association between the severity of depression and the levels of fatty acids in both the diet and red blood cell membranes. The team of researchers speculated that proper intake of essential fatty acids can play a critical part in the prevention and management of mood disorders.

The physiological aspect of how chemicals are released from eating these foods is also joined by the psychological aspect that occurs as a person gains weight. The blow to one’s self-esteem and confidence cannot be overlooked as people change their perspective on many subjects and issues of life when they no longer feel healthy or look attractive. The following quote says it all in regards to the effects of our psyche from eating foods that are harmful to our health:

“Since every perspective or thought that we have flows through the lens of our physical body, our attitude on virtually every subject is influenced by the way we feel about our physical body.” Abraham

Sneak Peek Video on Upcoming Product!

2010-12-02T04:21:00.000-05:00

This is a quick video where I talk about staying on track for the holidays, and a quick mention of a nutrition only program that we will launching in January. We believe nutrition is the most important component of fitness and health, and we have come up with some innovative solutions to not just learn what to eat, but to make the changing habits and behaviors permanent.

Don't Blow it Now!

2010-11-18T08:33:00.002-05:00

It's hard to believe it's that time again, but here we are at the annual starting line for weight gain for most Americans.

Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the most dangerous time of year for people who are striving to get and stay fit! The average weight gain for most Americans is between 1 & 2 lbs a year, but 1/2 of that occurs between Thanksgiving and New Years. If we kept up that pace all year we would put on about ten to twelve lbs a year and the obesity rate would skyrocket.

I will list a few tips to avoid this ahead, but first let's address what so many of us do on Thanksgiving.

1. We gorge ourselves on 6 helpings of turkey and trimmings and then stuff ourselves with unhealthy desserts because, "it's Thanksgiving".

2. We wake up the next morning with the intent of getting back on track but....look at all that yummy leftover turkey and those delicious desserts - what the hell, one more day of binging won't hurt.

3. We wake up two days later feeling like a giant pantload and say we will get it going again after New Year's Day.

That is the mindset that invades so many Americans every Thanksgiving week. Do not fall into the trap. Sooooooo, here are a few innocent tips to keep you on track:

1. Do some cardio (or Bikram yoga) Thanksgiving morning! It will not only elevate your heart rate and make you feel less hungry, it will release those natural opiates that will remind you of how good you feel now that you are in shape and moving towards your goal.

2. Eat a big salad before the main course so you are not ravenous when the bird crawls out of the oven.

3. Concentrate on the activity of eating and savor every bite of food. Do not treat the meal like it is a race and the person who eats the most wins. Appreciate the experience.

4. Do not succumb to the pressure from your in-laws or family when they try to drive food down your throat. People are threatened by anyone who is trying to lose weight and get fit, and they will do anything to sabotage your efforts! Comments like "you look fine the way you are" and "you are losing too much weight" are chubby code for "the skinnier you get, the fatter I look", and "why can't we all just be fat and happy?"

5. And most importantly, give gratitude for the food you have been blessed with, and take some time to visualize what you are going to look like and feel like in your perfect body!

Goodbye Ice Cream & Butter!

2010-11-16T15:48:00.000-05:00

Last week we covered the dairy alternative for cheese and milk, and this week we will cover some great substitutes for butter, ice cream, yogurt, and mayonnaise.

When making lifestyle changes to benefit your health, it is imperative that you maintain an open mind. Human beings have the ability to “acquire” a taste for new foods, but not if we possess an attitude that we are not willing to sacrifice anything to get healthy. That being said, LeAnna and I truly believe that the products we will talk about today are not only much healthier than their dairy counterparts, but extremely tasty too. We have three years of experimenting to back that up, so here goes!

Butter

Some people treat butter as the elixir to enhance the taste of all food, and this is unhealthy even with an alternative. Whether it is butter or a healthy alternative, there is going to be a high fat content. Our choice for healthy alternative is Earth Balance spread. It is a soy based alternative, and it is difficult to taste a difference from butter. It is made from non-GMO plant based oils, and we have been using it for over a year now.

Mayonnaise

I will be honest and tell you that we have only tried one mayonnaise substitute, but it was so good that we never had a reason to try anything else. Vegenaise brand sandwich spread is what we use, and we find it tastier than any dairy based spread we have ever used. It is made with canola oil, apple cider vinegar, brown rice syrup, soy protein, sea salt, lemon juice, and mustard flour. It has the exact same consistency and great taste as dairy and egg-based mayonnaise, but without the negative health effects.

Ice Cream/Yogurt

Ice Cream is usually where people like to dig in their heels, so this might be a tough one to accept. People actually get militant about defending their ice cream, so do not ‘shoot the messenger’ when I tell you how unhealthy it is. I have been in social situations where people have actually bragged to me how much they eat ice cream, thinking it will get me mad because I am vegan do not indulge. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the taste of ice cream, as well as donuts, chocolate, and pure cheese, but I love being healthy and in shape more. Therefore I don’t eat them!

A great alternative for ice cream is a brand by the name of Purely Decadent which is an ice cream alternative made by Turtle Mountain. They make a multitude of flavors such as Cookie Dough, Belgian Chocolate, Blueberry Cheesecake, and more!

There are also many great alternatives for cow’s milk yogurt, and our favorite is the So Delicious brand of cultured coconut milk. Some other great options are Whole Soy & Co. soy yogurts, and Riceria brand rice yogurts. I will admit it does not sound appetizing at first, but they are actually very good! Riceria offers many different flavors such as vanilla, strawberry, blueberry, etc., so there is a good chance you will find one that you like.

We always get many questions about where to find these products. All of these products can be purchased at Whole Foods, but many can also be found in your local grocery store. We have seen these products in different Shaw’s, Hannafords, and Stop & Shops, but you will have to check with your own local store to see if it is carried there. The good news is that more and more people are making a decision to choose healthier foods, and the stores are responding by adding more alternatives. If your store does not carry any of the above, ask the store manager if they would consider ordering some. The more demand, the more supply!

If Not Milk & Cheese, Then What?

2010-11-10T16:14:00.001-05:00

Last week I wrote the blog on the negative effects of dairy, and I received a plethora of comments from people who want to know how you replace milk in your diet. I first want to remind everyone that milk isn’t the only dairy product most of us consume, although it is what immediately comes to mind. Let’s not forget that cheese, butter, ice cream, yogurt, and any other derivative produced from an animals’ milk, is dairy!

After 2 and ½ years being animal product free, LeAnna and I have tried just about every product there is in an effort to find the healthiest and tastiest alternatives. As always, we strongly recommend buying organic when available. This week we will offer some alternatives for milk and cheese.

Milk

These are the different types of milk we have tried; soy, rice, almond, hemp, and coconut. My favorite was the Whole Foods 365 brand rice milk, and LeAnna’s was the 365 brand soy milk. That’s until we tried the So Delicious Original Coconut milk. It is a little thicker than some of the other alternatives, and it tastes excellent in coffee. Remember, this is our opinion only, and we urge you to give some of these other types a chance. They usually come in small cartons in the store to give you an opportunity to test them without having to buy a whole gallon at a time. Remember, it will not taste exactly like cow’s milk, but keep an open mind because we can acquire new tastes for anything, and your body and cells will thank you for it!

Cheese

Americans now eat an average of 33 pounds of cheese a year, nearly triple the 1970 rate. Cheese has become the largest source of saturated fat; an ounce of many cheeses contains as much saturated fat as a glass of whole milk. Most cheeses also contain the dangerous substance casein, which is linked to cancer in the studies conducted by T. Colin Campbell in The China Study.

Although I can honestly say I do not miss eating animals, I still pine for a slice of Rustic pizza from Papa Gino’s now and then. Thankfully LeAnna has found a great alternative to regular cancer causing cheese, and that is in the brand name Daiya cheese. I have tried a lot of cheese substitutes, and most of them taste like the little Styrofoam puffs they use to pack boxes. Not the case with Daiya. LeAnna uses a whole wheat crust and makes the tastiest pizza with this product, and it is delicious.

One other company that has come up with tasty alternatives is Galaxy Foods. They make an unbelievable grated cheese topping with soy and the taste is dead on for parmesan cheese.

Next week we will offer some great substitutes for butter, yogurt and ice cream!

How Can I Improve My Health Instantly?

2010-11-03T04:48:00.003-04:00

If there is one thing that just about every person could do to start feeling better and losing weight, eliminating dairy would top the list. We challenge our clients to give it a shot and see how they feel after a few weeks, and the ones that do always thank us for suggesting this action. There are no minerals in dairy that cannot be replaced with healthier foods, and the negative effects of dairy to our health far outweigh any minimal benefits which can be gained by eating these products.

Mucus. Even the word sounds gross, but this is what the body produces when we eat or drink dairy. According to Harvey Diamond of Fit for Life fame, the body will develop a cold or allergies to fight the invasion of mucus which results from the ingestion of dairy products. In his best selling follow-up Fit for Life II, he clearly states that “Dairy products are disease producing…They’re the perfect thing to eat if you want to be sick and have a diseased body.”

Don’t we need milk to prevent osteoporosis?

According to Adolph Hitler, if you tell a lie long enough, it will eventually be believed as truth. Case in point, see the question above. People think that “milk does a body good” due to the millions of dollars spent on irresponsible ads by the dairy industry. Unsuspecting (and naïve) celebrities, athletes, and politicians, have sported the ubiquitous milk mustaches which have conditioned the general public to believe that milk is healthy for our diet. It is not.

According to John Robbins in his book The Food Revolution, four different studies were conducted to test the efficacy of the claims that milk lowered the risk of osteoporosis. In every one of these studies, the results were conclusive that milk did not lower the risk of osteoporosis in all demographic groups that were targeted.

In addition to this, we also know that a high percentage of dairy cows found on factory farms in the US are injected with recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH). This is a genetically engineered artificial growth hormone injected into dairy cattle to increase the production of milk. Due to the unnatural methods of milking these cows for extended periods of time, its use has led to the increase of bacterial udder infections in cows. This has then led to massive doses of antibiotics in these cows and are now part of the substances that we ingest when consuming non-organic milk and dairy.

According to a press release released by the FDA itself, (rBGH) was approved in 1994 based solely on an unpublished study submitted by the producer of this hormone; Monsanto Corporation. Milk from cows that have been injected with this hormone has higher levels of another hormone called IGF-1 which has been linked to colon and breast cancer.

Thanks to Dr. T. Colin Campbell, a professor of nutritional biochemistry at Cornell University, and author of The China Study, we also now know the dangerous effects of casein, a protein that is found in the majority of dairy products. His studies showed conclusively that casein accelerates the growth of cancer in rats dosed with the powerful carcinogen aflatoxen.

Need more proof? We are blessed to have the world at our fingertips and within minutes you can acquire the research which will change your thinking.

Need an easier way?

Try eliminating dairy from your diet for one month. When people react like it would be akin to losing their children, I just walk away. To be healthy, some sacrifices have to be made, although I don’t see giving up dairy as a major lifestyle change. If you are committed though and possess the mental toughness, give it a try and see what you think. I have yet to have anyone return to me after a month and say they felt better when they were wolfing down their casein laced cheese. Nor did they still have cravings for the cow's milk and ice cream laden with synthetic hormones and anti-biotics.

Relieves Muscles Strains & Fights Cancer!

2010-10-28T14:33:00.001-04:00

About a year ago I wrote a newsletter about the cancer fighting effects of a spice called turmeric. In the process of researching a natural alternative to alleviate the inflammatory effects of muscle strains, LeAnna found that turmeric is also highly effective. In many studies the inflammation has been reduced significantly and as well as a cortisone shot, without the side-effects that come with the shot.

In the many books and studies I have read on cancer over the last 18 months, rarely does one fail to mention the effects of this spice called turmeric. Another name for it is curcumin, and it is a tasty spice that is very inexpensive. In fact, I usually buy about a 1/3 of a cup each week at the Dennisport Natural Market, and it costs me less than a buck. So what is Turmeric? Turmeric is a perennial plant and part of the ginger family that is found in tropical South Asia.

When cancerous tumors form in our body, a process called angiogenesis takes place. This is the formation of new blood vessels which supply the tumor by expanding their blood supply. According to Bill Faloon, the founder of The Life Extension Foundation, tumors cannot grow beyond the size of a pinhead without expanding their blood supply. Levels of growth factors that increase angiogenesis have been shown in various studies to be reduced by the administering of turmeric. Researchers at the Emory University School of Medicine have noted that turmeric is a direct inhibitor of angiogenesis that functions by down-regulating the formation of new blood vessels that feed the tumor. Dr. Russell Blaylock, a renowned proponent of alternative therapies and author of the book Natural Strategies for Cancer Patients, calls turmeric one of the most powerful cancer inhibitors.

Turmeric is a natural spice which has never been shown to be harmful in any studies. Try buying a little (organic of course) at your local grocery store, and see if you can incorporate the taste into a dish you might serve to yourself or your family. The only thing you have to lose is a few cents and your chance of getting cancer!

We are Going to Pump...You Up!!!!

2010-10-20T19:51:00.000-04:00

“So where do you get your protein?”

Being a vegan now for over two years, I have heard this question now hundreds of times. It doesn’t annoy me, but it just goes to show how powerful the food companies are at conditioning people to think that they need to eat animals to get sufficient amounts of protein. Not only is this utterly false, but the protein that we do receive from animals comes at quite an expense to our overall health.

Why do we need protein? As one of the three macronutrients, protein is the nutrient that produces enzymes, hormones, and antibodies; participates in virtually every process within our cells, and aids in the growth in repair of our muscles and cells. Yes, we do need protein in our diets. The problem with this though is that if you believe conventional (health club) wisdom, you would think that you need a tub of whey protein per week if you want to build muscle and get ripped. This is a fable, and consuming large amounts of protein will not make you look like a bodybuilder, but will tax your kidneys and liver, and eventually make you fat. It is also important to note that protein derived from animals (meat and dairy) is highly acid forming and contributes to an acidic environment which upsets our pH balance, contributing to a higher risk of disease.

According to Dr. Raymond Francis, author of Never Be Sick Again, most Americans eat an average of 90 grams of protein per day. The average American requires only 35 to 40 grams of protein, so what happens with the excess of what we are putting into our bodies? Unfortunately the protein which cannot be processed ends up putrifying in our digestive system and creates putrefactive bacteria that thrive when food is rotting in our gut. The more the protein is processed and the more it is cooked, the more of the bad bacteria that is produced in our intestines. Although we have friendly bacteria that is produced by our system to combat this, most Americans have destroyed this through the overuse of anti-biotic medication and the anti-biotics which reside in cow’s milk and animal protein which is not organic. This bad bacteria produces chemicals such as indole, skatole, phenol, and hydrogen sulfide which result in toxicity to our intestinal system.

Another ingredient of the protein that is found in dairy such as whey is casein. In numerous studies done by T. Collin Campbell, author of The China Study, full blown cancer was observed in 100% of the rats that were first dosed with a carcinogen and then fed 20% of their diet in casein. The results were conclusive.

So where do I get my protein? In just about everything that I eat, including vegetables, seeds, nuts, beans, and whole grains. Even the American Dietary Association says that most vegetarians are getting twice as much protein as the body needs.

So the next time someone recommends a new brand of muscle-building protein, or you get mesmerized by the ridiculous “studies” that you see in Pumping Iron magazine, picture the putrified sludge that is getting hard as cement in your small intestines and know that emergency rooms around the country rarely see anyone rushed in because of “protein deficiency.”

How Bad is Salt for You?

2010-10-14T13:16:00.001-04:00

What about Salt?

Whenever Tom or I talk about “The Four Evils” of nutrition, which we do frequently, the number one most common question is, “What about salt?”

Mostly everyone is surprised to hear that we are salt eaters, and we feel that salt is an important component in your nutrition plan. Of course I am not talking about the iodized table salt found in most kitchens and restaurants. That stuff is beyond toxic and should be thrown away immediately, along with every other no salt and low salt type of salt product. And for good reason!

According to Dr. Carlin Saldanha N.D., MPH, table salt is refined at extremely high temperatures, which alters its chemical structure and bio-availability. Furthermore it is chemically cleaned, bleached and treated with anti-caking agents. These anti-caking agents prevent salt from mixing with water and clumping in the jar.

However, they have the very same effect in your body, and therefore won’t dissolve easily, which frequently results in a buildup of salt deposits in your organs and tissues. Here is where it gets ugly. The two most common anti-caking agents in salt are sodium alumino-silicate and calcium alumino-silicate. These are both sources of aluminum, which is a heavy metal associated with Alzheimer’s disease and other health issues.

Additionally the use of common table salt has been linked to conditions including: high blood pressure, stroke, osteoporosis, arthritis, kidney stones, and stomach ulcers. The body must use a lot of its water reserves to metabolize refined table salt, leading to chronic dehydration on a deep cellular level. What’s more the body recognizes refined salt as poison and tries to excrete it as quickly as possible, causing a further burden on your body’s detoxification organs, especially the liver and kidneys.

The reason that we find high quality salt to be an important inclusion in your meal plan relates to the importance of minerals, especially sodium and potassium. Linus Pauling, PhD, winner of two Nobel prizes said, “All diseases of humanity can be attributed to the lack of minerals in our bodies…you can trace every sickness, every disease, and every ailment, to a mineral deficiency.” Essentially every cell in the human body is dependent on the presence of sodium and potassium. These two minerals need to be in constant, dynamic balance so the cells can exchange energy. Your body is constantly monitoring these minerals and working to maintain their delicate balance. Minerals are also a vital part of your cells, blood and lymphatic fluids. They are critical for all body functions, including muscular contraction, electrolyte balance, blood sugar regulation and pH balance - but you need all minerals, and in a form which your body can readily use.

Many people have started to use other types of salt such as sea salt or Celtic salt. While many sea salts may have more minerals than just sodium and chloride, rarely do they contain the full spectrum that your body needs. More importantly, sea salt harvested from today’s polluted oceans has the potential to contain petro-chemicals and unacceptable levels of heavy metals. Furthermore, many sea salts are refined in a similar process to table salt.

We recommend the use of Himalayan sea salt. Not only does it taste delicious, it contains 84 minerals vital for human health, which include sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iodine, iron, zinc, manganese and many more.

Check Out Our New Video Series!

2010-09-30T15:15:00.003-04:00

LeAnna and I have recently completed a video series focusing on the most important components of not only getting fit, but healthy! Sound confusing? Well a lot of people consider themselves physically fit, but they are constantly getting sick and still have a fear of contracting many of the most common diseases today such as cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

We will discuss the different components of achieving optimum health and even give some demonstrations of proper technique when your goal is to achieve those rock hard abs! Fill out the form below and we will send you the 7 day series! As always with any communication from Sheehan Training, we will not share your e-mail and you can opt out anytime!

What Do I Eat Before and After Training?

2010-09-23T07:42:00.000-04:00

One of the most common questions I receive is about the proper nutrition for before and after working out. It is a great question because if you believed what most advertisements say, they would have you eating two plates of refined carbohydrates the night before any workout and a gallon of Gatorade during and after your workout. Bad advice!

The first thing I want to mention is that all people will not need to eat or drink the same amounts of nutrients to successfully complete a workout. You need to gauge your own body when it comes to pre-exercise nutrition, especially if you are working out in the early morning.

For most people, the exercise session will last between one and one and half hours, and be fairly high-intensity. The most important factor is how the body digests the pre-exercise food, and we don’t want the body requiring a lot of energy to break down the food. The best foods for this purpose are simple carbohydrates, and the healthiest source is fruit. Fruits are rich in natural glucose and this goes straight to the liver for instant energy. The body does not have to convert it to a different form of carbohydrate to utilize it, so it makes for an awesome primary fuel. Apples, bananas, and mangoes are great choices and they provide quick and prolonged energy.

During training, you always want to stay hydrated, and the best way to do that is with filtered water with or without a lemon squeezed in it. Lemons are alkaline forming foods and great for balancing our pH level.

If you sweat more than the usual human, you also might consider replacing the electrolytes that are lost. Electrolytes are micronutrients made up of the chief minerals chloride, calcium, magnesium, sodium, and potassium. These electrolytes conduct charges that are essential for muscle contractions, heart beats, fluid regulation, and general nerve function. Most people think of Gatorade or other sports drinks when it comes to electrolytes, and yes they do contain them. They also contain tons of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup which are highly catabolic to our cells on a variety of levels. The best alternative is natural coconut water, which contains more electrolytes than the sports drinks, has beneficial nutritional qualities, and has no artificial sugars. I recommend Vita-coco water which I love and use every day during my workouts.

Immediately following your workout, it is essential that you fuel your body properly. When your body is fatigued from a workout, it often has trouble digesting. Digestion requires energy, and the closer that your post workout food is to liquid, the easier it is digested. A yogurt or a smoothie made with fruits (only) is a great choice. Bananas and blueberries mixed together are a super combination too because they consist of simple and complex carbohydrates, along with valuable electrolytes.

Once an hour has passed after your workout, you are then able to eat a normal meal, and you all know where I stand on that! Minimize the meat, eliminate all dairy, white flour, processed oils, and sugar, (4 EVILS!) and reduce your risk of illness and disease by 1000%!

How Easy is it to Make this Superfood?

2010-09-16T03:44:00.018-04:00

Is Eating Fruit Always Good?

2010-09-08T17:21:00.001-04:00

We know it’s good for you, and we know that we may not eat enough of it, but did you know that when and how you eat fruit are very important considerations?

We believe and subscribe to the theory that food should be eaten on an empty stomach and prior to other foods. Fruit digests quicker than any other food that we eat, and when consumed on an empty stomach reaches the intestines very quickly where it plays a major role in detoxification and energy creation!

Picture a banana, kiwi, peach, or pear, sitting on your counter top on a hot summer day. We all know that fruit would not last too long right? The same thing occurs within your stomach! Our internal body temperature is nearly 100 degrees! If that fruit is eaten after a longer digesting food, like a bowl of oatmeal what do you think happens? You’ve got it, it can begin to spoil and rot! How many times have you heard someone say that they can’t eat certain fruits because they make them gassy, or have indigestion? It’s almost always the combination of foods that cause the digestional distress, not the specific fruit itself!

Give it a try! Try eating your fruit first thing in the morning to break your nightly fast. You can also enjoy a piece of fruit 3 hours after your last meal if you enjoy fruit as a favorite afternoon snack. Just don’t eat it with other foods (like in your cereal, oatmeal, or yogurt), and don’t eat it as a desert to a meal. We think you will feel the energized and vibrant almost immediately!

Worried about the calories? Not to worry, we’ve done some of the counting for you:

Apples 1 medium 81

Apricots 3 medium 51

Avocado ½ medium 162

Banana 1 medium 105

Blackberries 1 cup 75

Blueberries 1 cup 81

Cantaloupe 1 cup 56

Dates 5 medium 114

Figs 3 medium 111

Grapefruit ½ 35

Grapes 1 cup 58

Guava 1 medium 46

Honeydew melon 1 cup 58

Kiwi 1 medium 46

Lemons ½ medium 8

Lime ½ medium 10

Mango ½ medium 67

Nectarines 1 medium 67

Orange 1 medium 62

Papaya ½ medium 59

Peach 1 medium 37

Pear 1 medium 98

Pineapple 1 cup 76

Plaintains ½ cup 89

Plums 2 medium 73

Pomegranate ½ medium 52

Prunes 5 medium 100

Raisins ½ cup 219

Raspberries 1 cup 60

Strawberries 1 cup 45

Tangerines 1 medium 37

Watermelon 1 cup 51

Am I Crazy or What?

2010-09-02T02:59:00.000-04:00

The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), is the manual that is used as the standard criteria for the classification of mental disorders. It is published by the American Psychiatric Association and the first edition of it was introduced in 1952. The first manual contained 106 disorders, and thus a new era was born in the world of mental health, and ultimately pharmaceutical company profits.

Some of the originally listed disorders have been removed, such as homosexuality, but the interesting fact is that it was not because of a change in scientific evidence, but because of social pressure. Can you imagine the political issue that would result today if the APA indicated that homosexuality was the result of a mental condition, thus requiring treatment and the use of chemicals to fix? No, me neither.

The DSM has become the standard of psychiatric classifications by researchers, regulatory agencies, clinicians, insurance companies, and the greatest recipient to this new text, pharmaceutical companies. What originally started as 106 disorders has now grown to 374 with the latest edition, DSM-IV, and look for this number to expand as the DSM-V is now in the works. It should be noted also that the “negotiations” that will occur when the final DSM-V is created will be entirely held in private.

The American Psychiatric Association uses the DSM to lend legitimacy to the proliferation of mental disorders, and this greatly expands the market for new prescription drugs to be created. The term “disease-mongering” was now created, and exposed pharmaceutical executives to their complicity as they worked with the APA to “create” new conditions that would need to be treated with drugs.

According to Dr. Methodius Isaac Bonkers, M.D., Bonkers Institute for Nearly Genuine Research, examples of government-approved disease mongering by drug companies and the APA include:

• Ritalin - approved for attention deficit disorder;
• Paxil - approved for social anxiety disorder;
• Wellbutrin - approved for seasonal affective disorder;
• Requip - approved for restless leg syndrome;
• Cymbalta - approved for diabetic nerve pain associated with olanzapine;
• Lyrica - approved for chronic invisible ailment of unknown origin (fibromyalgia)

The problem with the diagnosis of the disorders is this:

There has never been a subjective chemical or medical test or measurement to determine that there is some type of imbalance which denotes the disorder!

According to the documentary, The Marketing of Madness, the panel of professionals enlisted to determine these disorders bring their potential new maladies, along with a checklist of symptoms to the DSM conferences. People who have been present at these conferences describe a chaotic exchange as each professional lobbies for his or her disorder and the loudest voices tend to be heard. One member described it as resembling an “English Tobacco Auction” as people voted on each new disorder.

Why such spirited debate?

When the final product of the last manual, DSM-IV was completed, 19 out of the 27 psychiatrists on the final approval panel had financial ties to pharmaceutical companies.

Are you owning your health?

I Need a Pill!

2010-08-25T15:47:00.002-04:00

I recently finished two books which explored the explosion of pharmaceutical solutions in this country, and they both confirmed every snippet of information I have read over the past few years. I knew that the citizens of this country were under siege from the massive media machine that the pharmaceutical companies employ, but I did not realize how complicit our own government was in this venture.

In Death by Prescription by Dr. Raymond Strand, he examines the deadly partnership that now exists between the drug companies and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the agency responsible for protecting us from the dangers of harmful foods and substances. The line between regulation and partnership becomes very blurry when you understand how the drug approval process works.

In 1992, congress passed the Prescription Drug User Fee Act. This act allowed the FDA to collect a “user’s fee” from pharmaceutical companies to help cover the expense of getting new drugs approved. What started out as a short term experiment has now created a situation where over 50% of the money coming into the FDA is now received from the companies that the agency is enlisted to regulate. Does this sound like a conflict of interest? Of course it is, and it was the beginning of “fast-tracking” the time between new drug applications and the issuance of an Approval Letter. It immediately cut this time period in half, from an average of twenty-three months down to twelve.

In Selling Sickness by Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels, their premise is that the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies are turning healthy people into patients by convincing us that we are suffering from a disorder or illness. This works to the great advantage (and bottom line) of the big drug companies as they come up with a pill to treat such sickness.

Think about some of the common every day challenges that we all must go through, and how they have now been turned into disorders. It’s almost like it’s a badge of honor when we have one of these maladies, and now we can get our prescription filled to make us feel better. Here are a couple of my favorite ones:

Shyness – aren’t many kids and adults shy, and just not extroverts like some people who love being the center of attention? Guess not. Instead they suffer from Social Anxiety Disorder. Get them a pill.

Neatness, paying attention to detail, highly organized – I love the fact that I am like this, but guess what? I suffer from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder! Get me a pill.

Bad Temper, especially when drunk – Yep I had this too, and my doctor labeled me with Intermittent Explosive Disorder. They got me a pill, Prozac, and I was on it for three years. Funny how I finally cured myself.....by getting sober!

Sad when summer ends – Summer is a time for vacations and time with the kids, so doesn’t it make sense that it kind of stinks when it is over? Nope. You have Seasonal Affective Disorder! Get to the doctor quick because….you need a pill!

The problem with all of these disorders is that they are totally subjective. There has never been a test that can test of any of these maladies, and this is the same for all “chemical imbalances.” This term was coined by Dr. Joseph Schildkraut in 1965, and the industry took off running! They could now use their drugs as a way to “balance” the chemicals in your brain, even though they had no way to measure any of them. The public has fallen for this ridiculous explanation to what used to be normal changes in mood and behavior, and now the big drug companies can use (and create) any disorder as a way to produce more and potentially harmful drugs to treat it. Whenever there is an addition of any new disorder, there is always a drug following it.

Does Being a "Personal Trainer" Make You Fit?

2010-08-19T16:15:00.001-04:00

Last night I was talking to a woman that I had just met. Upon her learning that Tom and I are personal trainers, or more specifically run a personal training studio, commented “Oh that explains why you look the way you do."
Her comment ran through my thoughts overnight and into today and I could not figure out why it bothered me so much. Today I realize that that rational could not be further from the truth. My professional life, like millions of others in this country, consists for the most part of sitting at a desk in front of a computer; the amount of hours that I work highly out number the standard work week, and I have a family at home that I desire to spend time with. So guess what, I am fighting the same battle as everyone else!

Today as Tom and I were walking along the rocks on Parkers River jetty, we were catching up on the week, and through our conversation my thoughts came back to the topic of the night before…

You see I am challenged like everyone else. While I was a small person for most of my life, kids came, life happened, I got older, and I got fat! Here I stand three and a half years after I faced the facts and did something about it, and guess what? I still face challenges!

As I told Tom today, I do realize and appreciate the fact that I have worked very hard and am in very good shape. I know that I am missing one thing in my world that would get me into the best shape of my life though, and that is consistent yoga practice. So why don’t I just do it, right? Well I have previously set goals to practice one to two times per week, done it consistently for three weeks, and then guess what? I found an excuse! I didn’t have time to devote to a 15 minute drive, a 60 minute practice, a 15 minute return drive, and the icing on the cake – a shower!!

What would be my next idea? A friend suggested www.yogavibes.com which provides yoga classes streamed directly to my computer whenever my schedule allows. What a find! Guess what? I found another excuse…UPS and FedEx deliveries interfere with my focus – are you kidding me? Unfortunately, no I am not.

Here is the reality. I need accountability just like everybody else does. I need to know that someone is going to miss me (and reach out to find out where I am), if I do not show up to my committed session. I also need to know that someone is going to inspire me and give me that push to take it to that next level when I do show up.

At the end of the day we must face our own realities and our own humanness. We must face our weaknesses and figure it out. I must admit to another human that I have the weakness, and then set a goal for fixing it. Every day I now work to train my subconscious mind with affirmations that I am worth it, and it seems to be working!

No matter what your profession, home life, circumstantial events, taking care of our health and fitness must be paramount. We all must find the excuse to so the work, instead of the other way around!

Do You Believe in Luck?

2010-08-12T12:07:00.001-04:00

I don't! Check out my new video on how we can change our luck and use our subconscious mind to bring us everything we want and deserve...

Are Farmers' Markets a Good Choice?

2010-08-05T06:34:00.003-04:00

Are Farmer’s Markets a good option when it comes to buying fruits and vegetables?

You bet they are!

There are many reasons why a farmer’s market is a great option, and chances are there is one near you right now. First let me address a question that I often hear about farmer’s markets.

If it is local and natural, is it organic?

Many people wrongly assume that if it is locally or “naturally” grown, that it is organic. This is not the case. A food labeled “natural” is not organic, and unfortunately too many companies are now using this label very liberally and giving consumers a false sense of security. Even the best stores such as Whole Foods have made mistakes with carrying mis-labeled brands, and you must be vigilant to make sure you are buying from a credible source.

For a food to be certified organic, it must have the official USDA Organic label on it. What does it mean if it’s organic?

If it is labeled organic, this means that the food was grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides, growth substances, antibiotics, and genetically engineered (modified) organisms. In other words, it was grown without most of the substances that have been scientifically proven to create carcinogens in our system.

What if a local producer of these foods is not certified organic? The first thing I ask someone staffing these market tents is if they do grow their food organically. Many of them do, but have not gone through the tedious and expensive process to have their farm certified. LeAnna and I recently had a conversation with a newly certified farm owner in Dennisport who explained that it was quite a project to navigate the process of becoming certified. We were pleased to learn that extensive testing was done on his soil and produce for at least a year before he was able to attain the certification. He also added that it was a considerable expense and one that is ongoing which may prevent many small farms from taking this route.

Is it still better to buy vegetables from a farmer’s market even if they are not certified organic?

Yes it is! By virtue of buying your produce locally, you are decreasing two factors that are important to the freshness of your food. Time and distance to market.

The quicker we eat our harvested food, the more nutrients we can expect to receive from them. Also, when produce has to travel long distances, usually via rail or over the road, it has more of a chance to absorb many of the pollutants that are in the air, and contaminants from the road such as salt and petrochemicals.

So help out yourself and your local farmer by taking advantage of this growing trend! To find one in your area, click on the link below:

Local Farmers' Market

Is Radical the Way to Go?

2010-07-22T09:04:00.001-04:00

LeAnna and I have advocated taking small steps when it comes to changing your eating habits and fitness lifestyle, but is this really the way to succeed?

Over the last few months we have done some research to evaluate which of our clients have had the best success, and why. The results we realized were a little surprising, but after reading some recent information on similar studies, we are starting to change our tune.

In the publication Change or Die, Alan Deutschman writes about whether fear of death is actually a motivator when it comes to compelling people to make better decisions about their health. He wanted to find the reasons why heart patients who had undergone life-saving bypass and angioplasty surgery would return to the very same lifestyle that got them there in the first place.

Dr. Edward Miller, dean of Johns Hopkins University Medical School, estimates that 90% of coronary bypass surgery patients end up with the same problems after two years. What most people do not understand is that the procedures temporarily relieve chest pains, but rarely prevent heart attacks or prolong lives. It is switching to healthier lifestyles that reverses the disease and would prevent the patient from needing further surgery to give them comfort.

Enter Dr. Dean Ornish, a pioneer in the treatment of heart disease through lifestyle changes led by vegetarian diets and exercise. Dr. Ornish persuaded insurance company Mutual of Omaha to pay for a study of his program. Researchers took 333 patients with clogged arteries and helped them quit smoking and go on Ornish’s diet. They also introduced new lifestyle changes such as meditation, yoga, and exercise with these patients. Although this program only lasted one year, the study showed that after three years, 77% of the patients had stuck with the lifestyle changes and safely avoided further surgeries! These were remarkable results and well worth investigating.

Dr. Ornish found that radical, sweeping, comprehensive changes are often easier for people than small, incremental ones. He found that when making small changes in diets, people feel deprived and hungry because they are not eating everything they want, but are not making big enough changes to see results. When his heart patients in the study stuck to his radical program from the start, 91% of them noticed a decrease in frequency of chest pain in the first month. This was enough to give these patients a taste of what was to come if they stayed true to the program.

Another doctor who has been highly successful with helping people succeed through lifestyle changes and vegetarian diets is Joel Fuhrman. He is the author of Eat to Live and has coined the word nutritarian which is a person who strives for the highest concentration of micronutrients in their foods.

Dr. Fuhrman believes that when people eat healthy most of the time, but save a day or two to return to the standard American diet that causes poor health or weight gain, they never allow their taste buds to change and get to the point of naturally desiring nutrient rich foods. He also sees that people who do this never get through the withdrawal stage of overcoming the addiction of toxic foods.

Our own studies have produced the exact same results. The clients who have made the most long-term gains are also the ones that committed to the nutrition and exercise plan from the start, radically changing the way they conducted their lifestyle. This is not to say that there were no slip ups in regard to eating, but when they did they refused to let it derail their whole plan. The key is to let it go and get right back on track! As Dr. Fuhrman says, 100% commitment does not mean 100% perfection.

The rewarding part to taking this approach is the fast and life-changing results that it produces. Losing a considerable amount of weight and feeling a new level of energy after one month are great motivation to stay 100% committed. We liken it to a springboard into the rest of our life where the tastes for nutrient rich foods and exercise become a lifestyle that is so much more satisfying than the alternative!

Who Loves to Enjoy an Ice Cold Soda on a Hot Summer Day?

2010-07-15T18:21:00.010-04:00

600 cans a year. What does that represent? According to the National Soft Drink Association, the industry makes the equivalent of almost 600 12-ounce cans of soda per person each year. Per person! Each time someone drinks a can of regular soda, they dump between seven and nine teaspoons of refined sugar, the first of The 4 Evils of Nutrition, into their body. This does wonders for drastically increasing insulin levels which our system is unable to process. As the fat content in our cells continue to increase, we are now on the dangerous path to outright insulin resistance, or Type II Diabetes. But this is just the beginning.

Soda is a substance which has absolutely no nutrient value whatsoever. As I stated in my phytonutrient video last week, the Aggregate Nutrient Density Index rates soda at a .5. This is on a scale of 1 - 1000! Not only that, but in maintaining a pH balance which keeps our cells oxygenated and our bodies in an alkaline state, soda is listed as one of the most acidifying substances we can ingest. Studies have proven that cancer and other chronic diseases thrive in bodies where the pH balance is acidic.

With a can of soda containing about 150 calories, one a day equates to enough calories to gain a little more than a pound per month. Unfortunately, people treat "liquid calories" as somehow different from "food calories" and often don't make up for the additional calories by eating less.

Do you think diet soft drinks are any better? Not quite. Many studies show that people who drink diet soda do not actually lose weight. Artificial sweeteners induce a whole set of physiologic and hormonal responses that actually make you hungry and ultimately gain weight. Not to mention what has been a whole other topic of a blog....the dangers of the sweetener that is in most sodas, Aspartame. G.D. Searle Co. first introduced this dangerous new sweetener in the early 1970's.

Aspartame was rejected for approval by the Bureau of Foods EIGHT TIMES! Investigations revealed that aspartame had caused tumors, seizures, brain holes, and death in the studies done on mice. All the negative findings had been altered or scrubbed from the final reports delivered to the FDA when aspartame was first reviewed.

The FDA actually called for a grand jury investigation into these studies and charged Assistant U.S. Attorney William Conlon to head the proceedings. After dragging his feet on the issue, the investigation stalled. Coincidently, Mr. Conlon was then hired by the law firm that represented Searle and Co.

The drug was finally approved when the new head of President Reagan's transition team entered the picture. He hired Arthur Hull Hayes to head the FDA. Hayes ultimately turned over all 8 rejections to approve aspartame for human consumption. A short time later Hayes left the FDA. Where did he go? He was hired for a position making over $400,000 a year. Not too shabby in the early 80's. What company hired him? That would be G.D. Searle Co. But who was the head of the transition team that hired him in the first place? That would be a Mr. Donald Rumsfeld. Can anyone guess what Mr. Rumsfeld's private sector job was at the time? Chief Executive Officer, G.D. Searle Co......

Nothing good can come from drinking soda......

Are You Eating the Rainbow?

2010-07-06T08:20:00.003-04:00

I am shifting gears this week and have provided a video to help you understand the importance and nutritional value of foods that contain phytonutrients!

Is it My Belly or My Head?

2010-06-30T15:19:00.006-04:00

I’m hoping that some of you can relate to this issue. You follow your meal plan, lift your weights, do your cardio, and see the results of all of your hard work inching closer and closer to your goal weight – and then something uncontrollable happens. You get what I call “head hungry”.

I describe head hungry as something that strikes when you are not really hungry at all, but still you feel the need to eat something! So you set off and begin your nibbling fest eating this and eating that with every intention of stopping after one more bite…but you don’t until you are so stuffed and maybe disgusted by the sight of food (or yourself for that matter!).

I find that I get head hungry on a monthly basis, and it lasts for about three days. Or should I say it takes me about three days to get control of the situation and put an end to it. During those three days I do try to use measures to stop the problem … but they don’t work for me. Things like brushing my teeth after eating, waiting 15 minutes between snacks, etc.

The only thing that ever really helps me to put a stop to the insanity is to 1) Let it go, 2) Stop beating myself up 3) Pull out my trusty food journal and get back on track!!! That being said, I would love for someone to share any advice they may have for getting back on track – something that maybe helps stop the insanity before I stuff myself for another three days in July!!

Can I Get Some Cancer With That Sunscreen?

2010-06-23T14:54:00.012-04:00

Oh no the sun’s out. Grab me the SPF 75 before it’s too late!

I have to laugh when having conversations with people about sunscreen, because many times people think they “got us” when it comes to being healthy.

I don’t know why some people get so jacked up to try and find a kink in the armor, but I guess they feel better about themselves not being healthy if they can find some type of unhealthy vice that LeAnna and I are engaged in. We do have vices like most people, but we truly try to always do the right thing when it comes to our health and set the example for people who look to us for help.

This being said, tanning is always an issue that people like to throw in our face. I once had someone who was obese, smoked, ate fast food, and never exercised ask me if fast food was “really” bad for you. I explained that it was one of the worst foods that you could eat, and her response to me was, “well you guys tan.” I can’t even get a little excited to have an intelligent argument when someone is so demented to think that these vices are equal. Vitamin D is an extremely important nutrient that our bodies need, and it is produced by our skin in response to exposure of ultraviolet radiation that we can only get from natural sunlight. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to many diseases including osteoporosis, prostate and breast cancer, diabetes and obesity. Quite the opposite of what many people believe, we need a certain amount of exposure to the sun to provide this vital nutrient to our cells.

As I have stated numerous times, our bodies have hundreds of chemical contaminants coursing through them due to the environment that we live in. Whether it is from the chemically laden processed foods that we eat, to the pollution filled air that we breathe, or the thousands of cosmetic products that we use on our hair and skin that don’t have to be tested for human safety, we are exposed! I firmly believe that the more cognizant we are of eliminating as many of these from our system, the better chance we have of keeping our cells in a healthy state which allows for optimum health.

LeAnna started the research on this subject years ago, and I have brought myself up to date within the last two. I found it fascinating that some countries that lie close to the equator have very low incidences of skin cancer, and they do not use sunscreen. After a little digging on the subject, I found that studies have actually been done on some common sunscreens and some of the substances found in them produced cancer when being tested on rats.

The first substance found in many sunscreens is retinyl palmitate (RP). Senator Charles Schumer, who is pushing the US Food and Drug Administration to act in the interest of consumers, says the FDA is now reviewing data from several studies on the link between this additive and skin cancer. “One study found that tumors and lesions developed up to 21% faster in lab animals coated in retinyl palmitate-laced cream than animals treated with a cream that did not contain RP,” Schumer’s office said.

Another chemical that is found in 90% of sunscreens is octyl methoxycinnamate (OMC). New Scientist magazine cites a study that was conducted by the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority near Oslo where cells from mice died when being exposed to this chemical. The amount of the chemical that was administered to the mouse tissue was also a much lower concentration that is contained in the sunscreen products.

Lastly, FOX news recently reported that tests are showing that oxybenzone might also be causing health problems for people who are using sunscreens.

In 2008 the US Center for Disease Control released a new study linking this chemical to allergies, hormone disruption, and cell damage. It also stated that oxybenzone is a penetration enhancer, a chemical which helps other chemicals penetrate the skin. It has also been found that sunlight causes oxybenzone to create free radical chemicals that are linked to a plethora of cell damaging diseases, with cancer being at the top of the list.

The Environmental Working Group (EWG), a non-profit consumer protection agency, has been pressuring the FDA to institute new safety standards to protect the public. The FDA though has bowed to industry lobbyists and has delayed any sunscreen safety standards for over 30 years.

It is interesting to note that the statistics show that skin cancer rates began to rise with the increased use of sunscreens.

Should you stop wearing sunscreen and just let your skin fry up like a beef jerky? Of course not! There are some products on the market that are organic and do not contain any of these harmful chemicals. LeAnna has done some research and recommends products from Alba and Aubrey Organics, but there are more out there if you want to do some investigating.

So to the people who will continue to look for things we do that will make them feel better about their unhealthy practices, keep trying!

Fat Guys Get a Pass

2010-06-16T17:42:00.008-04:00

It seems like whenever we encounter couples, if the male is in good shape and clearly takes care of himself, the female who is with him also follows suit.

How come it doesn’t work the other way around?

The Boston Herald reported this week that European researchers found obese women had more trouble finding a sexual partner than their normal-weight counterparts, though the same wasn’t true for obese men. The study showed that obese women were 30% less likely than normal-weight women to have had a sexual partner within the last year, yet there was little difference among obese men and normal-weight men as to whether they found a sexual partner.

This subject is one I have talked about for some time, as my general observations of the public mimic this study. It seems to me that close to 100% of the time, if there is a couple and the woman is obese, her partner is also. In the case of a couple where the man is obese (or close to it), I am amazed at how many of the partners are not only in better shape, but for a lot of the time, in excellent shape! This is most vividly seen by LeAnna and me at Seagull beach, where we see many a fit woman in a bikini walking hand-in-hand with a man who looks like he swallowed a beach ball. What gives ladies???

I am pretty sure that LeAnna loves me with all her heart, but I’m not sure if she would yearn in lust for me if I had a stack of rolls hanging off my mid-section. I just don’t think she would have that twinkle in her eye if she walked into the bedroom and I was laying there naked with stretch-marked blubber hanging off my sides. I’m also pretty confident that for anyone who is in great shape and eating healthy foods, it might not be a bundle of joy to watch someone eat the crap necessary to facilitate the growth of that unsightly flab.

Kaye Wellings, a professor of sexual and re-productive health at the London School of Hygiene says that, “Maybe women are more tolerant of tubby husbands than men are of tubby wives.”

I’m not sure I buy this, but I would love to hear from the women out there to see what they think. Sign in with a fake name if you don’t want to hurt your fat husband’s feelings!

Somebody Toss Me My Z - Pack!

2010-06-10T15:36:00.012-04:00

Someone, quick, toss me my Z-pack!

As society continues to always look for the softer easier way out, anti-biotic use has grown to an alarming level. What most people do not understand though, is that you are getting plenty of anti-biotics in their daily food without even knowing it!

70% of the anti-biotics produced in this country are for agricultural use, so if you are not buying organic animal protein and dairy, you are already getting your fair share. Unfortunately when approval for use of these chemicals was granted by the FDA, the only studies that were done on their effects were done on the animals they were injecting. What about humans? Nope, we’re on our own!

Now that digestive diseases are the leading cause of hospitalization and surgery in this country, you think there might be a few studies to find out what is happening. Over a quarter of a million people died in the US last year from these diseases, and the trend is rising. If it isn’t the foods that we’re eating to absorb anti-biotics, it’s the prescriptions that many doctors are handing out like Pez.

Most people understand that anti-biotics do not work on viral infections, so why do doctors still prescribe them for such? I would fathom it’s because they get sick and tired of seeing the same patients come in and request them, even though they have been told numerous times they won’t help. Remember, the pharmaceutical companies have devised some brilliant marketing to entice the end user (patient) to badger their doctor for any pill that they fancy after seeing one of these ads. I can’t believe how many times I will hear someone get the sniffles or a little cough, and then announce that they’re heading to the doctor for a Z-pack!

A few hundred Z-packs later, they wonder why they are so susceptible to diseases and digestive malfunction as new strains of drug resistant bacteria form. According to Dr. Marcelle Pick, co-founder of the Woman to Woman clinic of Yarmouth, Maine, Friendly bacteria help prevent disease in several ways. They deprive invaders of nutrients and secrete acids that less friendly microbes can’t tolerate well. They also reinforce the mucosal barrier of the intestines, which block dangerous pathogens, toxins, and allergens and helps the immune system “learn” which ones aren’t safe. Some bacteria stimulate the immune system by increasing T-cell counts, while others produce natural antibiotic and antifungal substances.

So here’s a common theme you’ve heard from me before. Start eating right and exercising, and when you get the sniffles, suck it up and let your body do what is was designed to do – fight it off and build an even stronger immune system!

The Movie of Your Life

2010-06-03T11:00:00.008-04:00

A few days ago I posted a story on Facebook about an experience I had that morning. On Tuesday morning I went into the Cumberland Farms in S. Dennis to buy the newspaper. In front of me stood a very obese gentleman who purchased a 2 liter bottle of Cumby’s Cola, and 4 packs of the value brand cigarettes. I didn’t judge him, but I did think how unhealthy he must be. The next day at the same time I returned to Cumby’s for the same reason, and believe it or not, the same gentleman was right in front of me in line again. And what did he buy? That’s correct; a 2 liter bottle of Cumby’s Cola, and 4 more packs of “Maverick” cigarettes. My next thought was that he should be carrying a sign that said, “cancer please!”

Although most of the comments were of the “wow” variety, I did receive one that stated “it must be a burden to be as perfect as you and yours!”

This is reflective of a lot of comments that I encounter when people ask for nutrition or lifestyle advice and don’t like what they hear. Society today is conditioned to find the fast and easy way to health, but you actually have to work and make sacrifices if you want to be healthy and in shape. We encounter many people who come to us for nutrition help, and then inform us they are not giving up their pizzas and desserts. We do not judge anyone who wants to continue eating like this, but we tell them not to complain as their waste size grows and they begin to encounter more health problems in their lives.

I love to use the analogy about your life being a movie. Fast forward your life to 15 or 20 years from now. If you stay on the path that you are on, what will your health picture look like at that point? If you don’t exercise and eat the foods that we know contribute to sickness and disease, feel and experience the emotion that will result from listening to your doctor when you are sitting in his office after a physical. Imagine that the doctor informs you the following: “I am so sorry to tell you this, but you have cancer.”

Just the thought of this makes my skin clammy and elicits emotional pain. If you can truly imagine this scenario, then you will realize what a gift it is to not be sitting in that doctor’s chair. We have the chance to accept responsibility for our health and to begin changing our lifestyle today! There is no such thing as rewind in life, so we must embrace the gift of today to make a decision to get and stay healthy!

Summer BBQs Start this Weekend!

2010-05-28T09:06:00.015-04:00

The gateway to summer is upon us, and I hope many of you fired up 6 months ago as we entered 2010 to make this the year of better health! Each year I blog that you can’t wait until April to get ready for the skimpy clothes and warm weather, but the best way to do it is to just get healthy and in shape permanently so your own body doesn’t have to experience its own four seasons of weight disparity.

This blog is to provide you some helpful information to guide your decisions over the next few months in regards to your health. Summer is the time for barbeques, and they can be dangerous events if we are not prepared to make good decisions about what is served at them. I hear so many people use summer barbeques as the reason (excuse) for the gaining of weight, so maybe with my real-life description of the food served at most of them, you can avoid falling into this trap.

At 99% of barbeques, you can bet that the food served is usually at the low end of the quality scale. Unless you are being served by an annoying self-proclaimed nutrition expert (such as myself), you are going to be served the food that was the best value one could receive at the bulk type stores such as BJs or Costco. You know, like the Bubba Burgers or the 700 pack BBQ chicken wings where you will find more chemicals and preservatives than in a puddle at the parking lot of a Dupont plant. The next thing on the table will be some potato salad where the potatoes were made from genetically engineered seeds and the mayonnaise has enough casein in it to kill 100 rats.

A little further down we will find the “healthy” salad which is not organic and where you can wring enough pesticides out of the lettuce to scare the roaches out of your kitchen. Sounds yummy so far huh?

Don’t forget the hot dogs filled with sodium nitrate which is used to give them that reddish color and will also give people who eat a lot of them a 67% increased risk of pancreatic cancer. Don’t walk away yet though before you grab a handful of potato chips or pretzels that have gathered the germs from every hand that reached into the bowl before you. Maybe the host felt bad and got some of the reduced fat ones. Yippee! Only 6 grams of fat per serving versus the regular 10. Thinking about skipping the main course?

No worries, because there is usually a table full of desserts like cake, ice cream, cookies, and other products filled with sugar, white flour, and fats. We can usually stock up on our total calories required for a week in just two short hours. It always feels good to be in that wet bathing suit as the drawstring starts to tighten and we have to untie it, or create a permanent groove that circles our mid-section.

So what’s the point of my story? Eat healthy before you get to the party, and let the fat people call you a snob. I’d rather be a healthy snob who feels comfortable with my shirt off, than be the lard ass at the front of the line when the first round of future diseases come off the grille. Have a Happy Memorial Day everyone!