Now for his weight he is trying a different approach. He has taken up weightlifting. In appearance, he now looks more muscular than fat. His shoulders, arms and neck are filling out and look muscular. He looks stronger and powerful, without the muscle-bound look of a body builder, because he is not working on appearance, he is working on results. He can now bench press 340 pounds. That is very impressive. That is more than double my weight, and he weighs more than twice as much as me. If he gave me one good push I’d be gone.

Weight training has never thrilled me. I have attempted it about a half dozen times through my life, but didn’t stick to it. Not my thing. I am very pleased with his efforts, am delighted that his weight training is going very well, and wish him well.

I don’t consider myself remarkable, and think that if I can do something, everyone else should be able to do it. I am coming to realize that is not the case. For health, I know of very few people that successfully, long-term changed their lifestyles for the better, improved their health, lost weight and kept it off. I know too many that failed. In early 2002 I weighed around 200 pounds. As of this writing my weight is 165 pounds. Read more about my health on my About Me page.

I have a cousin who says he could not do what I do. He gets a steady paycheck. He’s had a steady paycheck for the last 25 years, is aiming to retire soon with a good pension, and has a ‘dream job’ created and waiting for him, whenever he wants. I’ve been self-employed for the past twenty years, with a family to support, and until my company was established and growing, didn’t have a steady paycheck for most of those twenty years, and didn’t know how much money I’d make each month. Some months were good, some were very lean. My cousin doesn’t know how I could do that. I don’t know how he can do what he does. He is in the military. He has done two tours in Afghanistan, one in the Gulf, one in Haiti, a couple in the former Yugoslavia. He has spent years out of the country and away from his remarkable, supportive family. I don’t know how he gets on the plane sometimes. I don’t think I could do what he does. I will say he is braver than me, but that is relative for some things.

We are not all able to do what others do. We are all unique, with our own views, beliefs, fears, and biases on how we see the world, which comes about as a result of our biology, experiences, knowledge, and current physical and mental states. When we are presented with a situation, we don’t see that situation in isolation. We filter it through that combination of all our views, beliefs, fears, biases, biology, experiences, knowledge, physical and mental states. The best term for this is the Id.

The Crash You Can Avoid

2:07 PM Tuesday July 20, 2010
by Tony Schwartz

We live in a world that defines “more, bigger faster” as invariably better.

It’s an ethic that places the greatest value on companies that offer ever more products and services, and generate ever higher profits.

It’s an ethic that rewards and prizes people who work the longest hours, move at the highest speeds, take the least downtime, and juggle the most tasks at the same time.

But it’s also an ethic that can survive and prosper only so long as capacity — the planet’s resources and our own — exceeds the demand we make on it.

For generations, we’ve acted on the belief that we can consume as many of the earth’s resources as we want, blithely confident that there will always be more where they came from. We’ve done much the same with our internal resources. We spend our own energy at more and more furious rates, on the assumption that our capacity naturally expands to meet rising demand.

The jig is nearly up.

The problem with “more bigger faster” is that it generates value that is narrow, shallow, and short term — diminishing returns until there are ultimately no returns at all.

Was the BP disaster an anomalous event, for example, or an inevitable outcome of the world’s unquenchable thirst for more and more oil, and a big public company’s hunger for higher profit, more and more quickly?

Was the sub-prime debacle a surprising development, or the inescapable outgrowth of a race among large financial institutions to run up profits by creating and selling a product — deceptively packaged mortgages — to customers who couldn’t reasonably afford them?

Were the flaws in recent cars produced by Toyota — a company that built its brand on reliability — anything more than a predictable consequence of ramping up production to manufacture more cars, more quickly to earn more money, faster?

The complexity of the problems we’re facing is growing, but our capacity to meet them is diminishing, precisely because we’re moving so fast. We feel compelled to push ourselves harder and more continuously, so we’re sleeping less, resting less, sitting at our desks for longer, moving and exercising less, eating fast foods faster, and becoming fatter and less healthy.

In the face of relentlessly rising demand, we feel constant pressure to get more done. Seduced by the new technologies, we juggle multiple activities to try to keep up. We’re partially engaged in many things, but rarely fully engaged in anything. By splitting our attention, we sacrifice the qualities we need most: absorbed focus, reflectiveness, creativity and the capacity to think big picture.

Calmness is critical to being able to think clearly and deeply. Instead, feeling stretched and stressed and pushed, we increasingly fuel ourselves with adrenalin, noradrenalin, and cortisol. These “fight or flight” hormones not only wreak havoc on our bodies, but also progressively shut down our prefrontal cortex so we’re more reactive, impulsive and focused on our immediate survival rather than thinking long-term.

The way we’re working — and living — is unsustainable.

We’re in a shared conspiracy of denial because we don’t want to face the sacrifice, pain, and change that recognizing our limits would require. We can’t remain numb to the consequences of the way we’re living indefinitely, but we also can’t change what we don’t notice.

So what has to change to make us wake up? What will it take for us and our employers to connect the dots between the way we’re working, and the accidents, breakdowns, and destructive business decisions that occur with increasing frequency?

Sadly, I suspect the answer is pain. Change rarely occurs until the pain of our current behaviors exceeds our fear of doing something new and different. My own bet is that another severe downturn in the stock market, and the economy, is the most likely trigger.

But why wait?

What if you set aside a specific time every week to get off the treadmill you’re on? What if you stopped moving, quieted down, put away your technology, and took some time to reflect on the consequences of the choices you’re making? What would it look like to move from “more, bigger, faster” to “richer, deeper and more satisfying?”

Try our energy audit for starters. (Click on the link.) It will tell you a lot about whether you’re building your capacity, or draining it.
Tony Schwartz is president and CEO of The Energy Project.

Copyright © 2010 Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing is an affiliate of Harvard Business School.

In the front on one side of the driveway we have a rather tall, thin weed with sparse leaves and yellow flowers. They grow en masse every year in the spring, then die off by the summer drought. Thanks to the book, I’ve identified them as either Prickly Lettuce or Wild Lettuce (Lactuca). both of which are edible. I tried a few leaves today, and they were good. I had one leaf in my mouth, was savoring it, and my tongue touched something that was moist. But these leaves weren’t moist. I took it out of my mouth and discovered it was a caterpillar, which i quickly returned to the ground. I’ll examine the leaves more carefully from now on, but if I am wrong, it is added protein.

Tomorrow’s smoothy is Wild Lettuce, and Dandelion shoots from the yard, with some berries and banana. Yum!

Processed meat raises risk of diabetes, heart disease and cancer

A new study published in the journal Circulation reveals that eating processed meat products significantly raises the risk of heart disease and diabetes. Previous research has linked processed meats to cancer as well.

The new paper involved a meta-analysis of 20 different studies covering more than one million people from 10 different countries. The study found that eating just 2 ounces of processed meat each day resulted in the following:

• A 42 percent increase in the risk of heart disease.

• A 19 percent increase in the risk of diabetes.

Interestingly, the analysis simultaneously found that eating non-processed meats was not linked to these increases in disease risk. The study authors concluded that it was the processed salt and chemical additives in the processed meat that caused increase risk of disease.

Read the full article, including Why sodium nitrite is poison, and How many children are dying from processed meat? and more on the Natural News website.

One summer, years ago, I worked in a unionized government warehouse. The older guys would take smoke breaks, frequently. When I came along, one in particular would watch me move two boxes, then would stop me while he had a smoke break. I’d move two more boxes, then he’d smoke another one. It was such a waste of time and effort that it really motivated me to continue my education. Truthfully it wasn’t the smokers that did it. It was when the highlight of the day for the warehouse crew was putting sheets of bubble wrap over the floor and then driving the forklift back and forth across it and listening to it pop. I refused to end up like that.

I’ve wondered, would a non-smoker be more productive? Not necessarily. Smokers just need to limit their breaks. But since I’ve been changing my eating habits, I find I can have high energy all day. Am I more productive because I don’t get dozy after lunch and run out for a chocolate bar? Or vegetate in front of my computer until it passes? I don’t need to frequent the coffee machine either. I don’t need the morning java juice to get me going. Is someone who eats like me more productive?

I hear from other raw food people: cookbook authors, sprouters, health advocates, that yes, they are high energy, and they are more productive since they started eating like this. Next time I hire, I’ll look for this on resumes.

Over the past month, as good as the cereal had become, I don’t do it anymore. Two weeks ago after I killed the Magic Bullet, we purchased the Vita-Mix 5200 Blender, and it is terrific. Now I put everything in, and I mean everything: greens, fruits, berries, nuts, spices, herbs, olive oil, water, and blend it up. That super-smoothie is breakfast and my daily drink, with an apple or salad for lunch. Fast. Easy. Healthy.

Many people who eat mainly raw foods talk about percents of the food mix in their diets: vegetables vs fruits vs nuts. One very healthy person I use as a personal example has 80% fruit, about 15% vegetable, and the remaining 5% nuts. Another has 1/3 of each. I am learning where I fit, and it seems closer to 50% vegetable, 20% fruit, and 30% nut.

After a month my weight is still the same, my waist is still the same, blood pressure is still nice and low. My legs seem more muscular, though 20 KM a day sure helps. But my understanding of which food affects me has certainly increased. Now that the vegetable garden is in, I’ll be eating many more greens at harvest time, and looking forward to learning more.

• A spoonful each of raw almonds, walnuts, pecans, and pumpkin seeds that had soaked overnight.
• A couple of spoonfuls of extra virgin olive oil.
• Half a banana.
• Buckwheat groats that had sprouted for six days.
• About 1/16 each of a teaspoon of spirulina, maca root, and hemp seed.
• Three drops of iodine.
• Filtered water.

After blending, I added in some more sprouted buckwheat groats and the rest of the banana, sliced up, for something to chew.

It sat, in the Magic Bullet cup, for two hours until I ate it, after my morning cycle commute and settling in.

It is quite good. It is not sweet, but has a palatable taste. Less than 8 grams of fructose. I’m getting there.

The agave was great in our raw food recipes, and once the bottles were empty, we found that our neighbourhood Costco had begun selling it, cheap. I wondered at the time what effect a distribution network like Costco would do to it. Could the quality be maintained when it was mass produced? What about the source of the agave plant? Would mass production be harmful for the, and its, environment?

We have been buying and using agave, but after hearing some potentially negative things about it, I decided to do some online reading. Along with about a half dozen articles, I found a Dr. Mercola article This Sweetener Is Far Worse Than High Fructose Corn Syrup which also discussed fructose. The middle of the article has a chart with the fructose levels of various fruits:

Fructose chart from Dr. Mercola

After reading the article I realized that maybe I am eating too much fructose. Last summer I cut out processed foods, and other than the rare treat (holiday feasting), and eating out 1-2 times a month, about 90% of the fruits and vegetables I eat are raw. Having gone from 200 pounds down to 173, cycling 80 KM a week, other exercising and yoga about 2-3 hours a week I still have a belly. a beer gut, even though I was never a beer drinker and now don’t touch any alcohol at all. Even when I was running half marathons and did lots of sit-ups, I still had a gut.

You may be thinking that is is alright to eat fructose in fruits, because that is ‘natural’ versus the fructose in processed foods. From what I read, maybe not. Fructose may be fructose, with the same effect on our bodies, in whatever form. I’ll experiment with my food regimen for the next month and see what happens.

My morning cereal, which is mainly almonds, pecans, walnuts, and various seeds soaked, rinsed, and put through a Magic Bullet, sometimes with rejuvelac (wheatgrass) and dates, and poured over a bowl of sliced fresh fruits, may be too much fructose. I’ve eliminated the dates and all fruits except for one banana, and have added in locally grown blackberries and raspberries.

My daily smoothie, an eclectic mix of, in descending order: fruits, vegetables, sprouts, nuts, olive oil and spices, has had the fruits removed. This morning’s was barely palatable. It needs some work.

Over the next month I’ll try to eat this way, and see how eating much less fruit, but more vegetables, affects me and my gut. Hopefully I will find ways to make raw food relatively sweeter and more palatable without using fruits with high concentrations of fructose.

Then I realized the buzzing was intermittent. As I walked closer to the wood stove, when the buzzing stopped, I could hear a bird. The bird’s calls were coming from within the chimney!

I opened the wood stove. I didn’t expect to see the bird, because there is not a direct wide enough pass-way from the chimney intake to the wood stove. The wood stove is full of paper and wood, because I don’t use it, except in an emergency, and there has been no emergency in over two years. It is full and waiting to go.

I realized that if a bird is trapped inside, we have to get it out. How? Do I leave, and leave a note on the table to cal the SPCA or some such? No, thaought would not be fair. I should try to get it out. That means moving the wood stove. But it has never been moved since it was installed ages ago.

I cleared it off, and tried to move it. Heavy. Too heavy for me alone. All the while, in between the buzzing and rattling, I heard the bird calling. Poor thing. Maybe there is a nest in there?

I decided to go outside and see. That is easier and quicker than moving the wood stove.

I went on the rock and looked up at the chimney. There is a metal cap over the chimney, keeping rain from dripping in. On top of the metal cap was a woodpecker. The woodpecker would peck the metal cap, like woodpeckers do, which caused the buzzing. When the woodpecker stopped, it would sing out, then resume the pecking. I burst out laughing. While thinking of ways to chase off the woodpecker, it flew away. Woodpeckers are not the smartest birds out there.