Archive for Food Revolution
Self-regulation and sugar (updated)
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Can too much sugar wreak havoc on the best of our efforts to remain healthy?
From coast to coast, the New York Times and Seattle Times recently reported on how dietary recommendations have been formed to guide us in what can appear as conflicting information.
So we may have to clear our way through the maze of 30 years of nutrition misinformation to get back on track.
Those efforts pay the dividends of living an easier life.
At the heart of our practice in Somatics Exercises is the notion of self-regulation to ease discomfort and regain comfort so it can be maintained.
While our main focus has to do with the application of conscious brain-based movement towards refining our self-perception and the subtle feelings which can flow as a result of natural processes.
This intimate knowledge gives you a leg up on how you feel and how your body responds to life.
When we eat, our senses can be fooled and we can simply overindulge without knowing why since the brain is getting tricked.
So our healthy efforts are like moving 1 step forwards, 1/2 a step back or more.
It’s no wonder the majority of us are weighing 25 lbs. more than 20 years ago.
Look at this about our fat intake (from the Bitter Truth).
Our brain’s are having to deal with food-beverage trickery and our body, well you know the story.
Heck, when I won a t-shirt for winning intramural sports at the University of Texas in the late 70’s, I was given a large.
A couple of years ago, I was given a Wall of Fame large t-shirt to commemorate the past.
Wouldn’t you know when I compared the present to the past t-shirt. The large got larger.
Doing the Right Thing
So, at sporting events for young and older duffers like myself, I continue to see how athletes (and many people in general) are moving backwards, though they “think” they are doing the right thing.
Having kids hydrate with Gatorade is not in their best interests for the long run since their brains too can begin to form a stubborn habit to change.
Our subtle senses, which serve us through feedback mechanisms, can go through an ongoing temporary battle over a longer run causing a disarray and host of unhealthy problems.
Self-regulation
Self-regulation is about learning and tweaking to live the fully healthy life you deserve. So some of those best efforts and right things to do have to change.
Plus, it can be fun where we come to understand how sometimes the simple things in life are quite powerful.
When it comes to regulating sugar – which can be difficult in these times – watch the Bitter Truth below.
This is heady stuff so you can watch the long version below
Not nice to have our brain think it is starving and take us on that path.
All that sugar consumption is helping to continue a downward spiral in healthy activities. Bummer!
For a another and shorter version, watch this.
Learn more how we self-regulate and bring the brain and body up to speed so you can stay on a healthy track.
Food Revolution
Posted by: | CommentsJamie Oliver is at it again with Food Revolution.
If you’ve got to learn the fundamentals of reading and writing so you can support yourself later in life. Doesn’t it make sense to learn about the very thing you put in your mouth everyday ?
The body experienced from within, aka somatics, also has to do with how your body feels.
Food Revolution at school
How your body can be a barometer in what you eat and how it makes you feel wasn’t particularly addressed in any of the schools or university I attended.
OK, that was awhile back when we had real – not REAL – food devoid of many the insidious ingredients that many of us can’t pronounce or actually know what it is.
So Jamie has a petition where you can sign:
https://www.change.org/p/jamie-oliver-needs-your-help-fighting-for-food-education
to help kids know how to simply prepare a meal and find out what ingredients – like tomatoes, asparagus, and apples – are actually about.
Food Revolution Question?
Did you know one of the definition’s of food says this: any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth.
What is necessary for health and growth is one thing. You probably know or have an idea of what it takes to thrive and feel great when it comes to food or its next level of nutrition.
It’s almost hard to believe in an abundant society, there is a need for a food revolution – but what do your eyes see at schools today?
Do you think a food revolution makes sense today?
Cow’s Milk Alternative
Posted by: | CommentsMom & Dad kept telling me to drink milk. There are billboards and commercials telling me to drink this stuff to get enough calcium to help our bones.
Oddly enough, cows don’t drink cows milk according to Jason Vale from Super Juice Me.
He says a bull elephant with those great big tusks drinks no milk, yet maintains their big pearly whites with another source.
They get all their calcium from green leafy vegetables and fruits..
Fruits and vegetables like the ones in the list below – can make a fantastic juice and help supply your calcium needs.
They may even be a better source too.
Here’s the list in case you want to give Jason Vale’s Calcium Refresher juice a try.
1 Apple
1 Pear
1/4 Cucumber
1” or so of Broccoli stem or the tops
1 Lime peeled
1 Handful of Fresh Mint
1 Handful of Spinach Leaves
1/2 Turnip
This cow’s milk alternative juice comes with magnesium, sulfur, iron, vitamins a, b & c.
Plus he says the pear is good to help lower cholesterol and is in rich in pectin.
That cucumber is a natural diuretic and rich in silicon to help your hair, skin and nails too.
Plus when is the last time you juiced a turnip and some mint together?
So happens, Jason’s movie, Super Juice Me is Free to Watch until midnight February 15th, otherwise you can get a copy of it and watch how people go through a 30 day juice fast.
In the meantime, hope you enjoy the bull elephant’s cow milk alternative in a juicy way.
Sugar in School for Athletes Please Get Off the Bus
Posted by: | CommentsRemember the days when we didn’t have a soda machine in the school. I know as you know, things have changed. Kids still want to be or act like adults, like we did, for better or for worse.
How sports drinks ever made it into schools and be acceptable for young athletes still puzzles this 52 year old athlete who has greater hamstring flexibility than most 15 year old athletes.
Granted, as a young athlete I drank raw eggs in orange juice, ate a piece of Brach’s cherry candy in between sets at tennis practice, tried the protein drinks, and remember trying electrolytes. Maybe it was the 100 degree heat of West Texas which caused my eyes to squint and tastebuds to go off… Who would drink this stuff?
It seemed to taste awful, but a lot better than cod liver oil.
Today, I can’t tell you how many young athletes I see drinking what amounts to sugar – in their drinks, and in their coffee too. And I hear them say how tired they feel? At 15 or 17, that statement wouldn’t have occurred to us old school types who walked or rode a bike to school.
Wonder what would happen if we took away the busses and the sugar at school? How would any young person function? They could be all a twitter, no doubt.
When it comes to their future health care costs, they may roll their eyes. For you, what steps do you take to make sure you can feel well and keep on playing like you used to?
Related Blogs
Hungry for Change
Posted by: | CommentsHave you seen the movie Hungry for Change?
If you haven’t, you can order the book Hungry for Change and then you can get access to the movie and watch it on your computer or ipad.
Check out this trailer for the movie Hungry for Change.
The Hungry for Change people will not only give you online access to watch the movie.
You’ll get these goodies after you get the book, Hungry for Change:
• the audio version of the movie
• Food Matters Recipe ebook
• a Visualization mp3
• and the soundtrack from the movie
+ more.
If you’re not into dieting or you’ve tried any number of them, you might found out there’s another way to feeling good which can be way easier and tastier too!
After you order the book, to get all the goodies… which by the way, you’ve got until Saturday afternoon to do so. Then go here and get all the freebies listed above.
Get on Board with Hungry for Change
When Mom said to “eat your vegetables”. She knew what she was talking about. Thanks Mom.
Watch the movie, Hungry for Change, with your kids and lets end all the silliness about why kids are bigger and can’t move as well as we did when we were their age.
Dr. Blaylock and Excitotoxins
Posted by: | CommentsDr. Blaylock, the author of Excitotoxins, has caught the eyes of folks like Bill Maher who thinks this merits some credibility. There is of course the establishment who will counter what they call pseudo-science based medicine.
Dr. Blaylock – The Taste that Kills
Dr. Blaylock contends what we don’t can kill us or is a pointer to what may ail us in what we eat.
Whether or not Dr. Blaylock is correct, our body experienced from within is our own gauge, which if we listen to it, we can heed its feelings of wellness and signals for help, though it can be tricked and seduced. Where’s my chocolate!
The book is a fascinating read and may have you checking the food labels a little more closely.
Here’s a video on what Dr. Blaylock has to say:
Our kids aren’t a big fan of Dr. Blaylock
I know our three children are tired of seeing us put back items on the shelves. Our motto is, if we can’t reasonably explain it to them, we’ll investigate further before we eat it. They’re not a big fan of Dr. Blaylock but we were doing that long before we heard about him.
Of course, they’re tired of the story I repeat, that in the pre-historic 60’s when we were thrilled with a transistor radio that sort of worked. We all knew the one fat kid and we all the knew the kid who was hyped up.
Have you walked around the school halls today? There isn’t just the one kid anymore, is there?
It amazes me that our youngest gets rewarded in primary school with candy of all things. With candy machines and the prevalence of too much sugar readily available by teachers and all the other children who have it on hand, we’ve learned we’re the meanest parents on earth.
We don’t get a chance nor stand the chance to provide a sweet to enjoy because we know the sugar overload is evident besides, we don’t know what’s in natural flavors.
But hey, eat that food stuff, just don’t check those labels.
Has your health deteriorated because it is supposed according to the commercials on tv? Do I really need a pill for what ails me? Or is Dr. Blaylock and others onto something?
Is it in the food supply?
Somatics, the Body Experienced from Within
Thomas Hanna who coined the term, Somatics, defined it as the body experienced from within. The more we pay attention to our experience, we can do as Hippocrates may or may not have said, we can let our food be our medicine.
Is Dr. Blaylock close to the truth or pseudo-science as some are saying?
Omega 3 Fatty Acids
Posted by: | CommentsDo we get enough exercise? Do we have simple ways to decrease the stress we feel in our muscles? Can we reduce joint pain?
Somatics exercises is one avenue we can all use to keep our living movement system free from a lot of the aches and pains that many people endure. We can also enhance and complement our life with a diet richer in omega 3 fatty acids.
Where do I find Omega 3 Fatty Acids?
If you’re into keeping your brain healthy, your mind sharp, and moving well, then a diet rich in omega 3 fatty acids will also calm your mood too.
When we eat certain nuts, seeds and wild fish like salmon, tuna & sardines our body tends to build up resiliency instead of breaking down when we eat processed foods.
Did you know that 90% of Americans are low on the intake of omega 3 fatty acids?
Since our bodies can’t produce it, we’ve got to include a rich source of it through what we eat.
Increasing the amount of omega 3 fatty acids can help with lowering the risk of heart disease, reducing the risk of cancer and increasing our low levels of energy.
Our heart, eyes and even the immune system can be optimized by a proper intake of omega 3 fatty acids.
What is the right level of omega 3 fatty acids?
Well I don’t know but the people looking into this like Dr. Mark Hyman who will appear on the Dr. Oz show this week will talk about a test created by Dr. William Harris who is an expert on omega 3 fatty acids on human health.
Dr. Harris has created an at home test called the Omega Quant HS-Omega-3 Index.
Now there’s a mouthful but I hear the health problems we encounter are sometime easier to fix and reverse than we think.
Often times people are very surprised with the simple somatics exercises. Their minds are literally boggled at how such simple movements can be so profound. Could the fork we use be another tool?
Simple Diet Change with Omega 3 Fatty Acids
Same thing goes with our diet. OK, I know some of us love to eat the stuff we think is food and it can be daunting to give it up.
But what if you could help prevent asthma, improve blood sugar levels to protect you from diabetes and slow down the decline associated with Alzheimer’s just by changing your diet a little.
You can take the test and find out for yourself if Doctor’s Harris, Hyman and Oz are onto something beneficial for you.
Somatics which is defined as the body experienced from within not only relates to how well or not well we feel when we move or not move, it also has to do with paying attention to the signals our bodies generate from what we put into it too.
Dr. Mark Hyman may tell you that your fork can be your friend or enemy and one of the important tools when it comes to your health and well-being.
The sugar that kills
Posted by: | CommentsSugar is sugar. So they say.
Watching young athletes consume the overdose of sweetened drinks makes me wonder who will I get to play with when I am older. Will we lose still more people to the excess and addiction road we’ve unconsciously taken ourselves down?
Not being able to sense ourselves internally may also be a blunting of our self by what we eat. Can things go out of kilter without our awareness?
Dr. Mark Hyman, has written the 5 Reasons Why High Fructose Corn Syrup Will Kill You.
Did you know that mercury has been found in what we’ve been told is sugar?
Can heart disease, cancer, liver failure and tooth decay be stopped by the tooth fairy?
Will consuming more of this fake sugar improve our ability to be healthy or will we react with inflammation and wonder why all our other healthy activities aren’t enough?
Processing information internally is what somatics is about. The body experienced from within is hugely affected by what we think, how well or not well we move, and certainly from what we eat or don’t eat.
If you’re one of those people adding 140 pounds of sugar per year to your diet, then obviously you’ve advanced civilization since our hunter-gatherer ancestors consumed 20 teaspoons per year. Of course, they also walked on average 4 hours per day.
Quantity and quality affects our internal sense or blunts it out. Furthering our lack of awareness until the pains of our body shows up in interesting ways.
Most nutrition experts agree that sugar isn’t sugar despite what we’ve told.
Our kids on the other hand, think we’re crazy when we tell them this “stuff” because when they look around and see they can get a beverage right at school. What kind of learning message does this signal?
Even the teachers are being duped and we have to be the parents always saying no since every week there is too much sugar being given freely without understanding the consequences of the disease and epidemic of obesity by trying to please children and being fed mis-leading information.
For the sake of the young athlete and child, there are many more beneficial ways to help them live a good life, otherwise, people like myself will have job security since we already have enough people dis-empowered with poor health choices.
Read why fake sugar kills and pass it on.
Somatic thoughts on Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution
Posted by: | CommentsSomatics is defined as the body experienced from within. Thomas Hanna coined this term which not only relates to movement as is taught in Hanna Somatic Education®, it also relates to our entire being.
While I normally comment on movement as a key to well-being. Moving to the refrigerator and in the grocery store or sitting down for a prepared meal in a restaurant is another part of a strategy to well-being.
If you’re loading yourself up on packaged foods and expect your body to move well… please try it again and see if you get the same result. I applaud the efforts of Jamie Oliver’s television show and his intent to plant seeds to improve not only how school children eat… it’s a lesson for us big kids too.
Moving well also requires you to nourish your being with food that gives you positive energy and one of the simplest of foods is merely drinking clean and healthy water.
Lack of hydration, ill nourishment and medication, both legal and illegal will take you away from moving well as nature intends, otherwise, all the pandiculators, the healthy vertebrate animals would be in a mess too. Some of them are on account of what they have access to as well as your children and the community you live in.
I know when I travel and can’t get organic food, I’m in a literal bind, which thankfully only lasts for a small duration and when I discover areas which have co-ops and healthy restaurants which I even discovered in Sin City, Las Vegas in a soccer tournament I was competing in…
My hope is that Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution will re-spark what so many have come to understand how food is delivered to children at school, what is available at the grocery store, and what we ingest as fast food.
Healthy minds thrive on good food, physical activity, great relationships and the inner feeling of connectedness. This is somatics. To move with intelligence is our birthright as is evidenced by how we pandiculated in our mother’s womb. To continue to move well is fostered by this intelligent act of pandiculation.
To eat well is a choice to wield another and further intelligence to allow us to move, think and act freely with a consciousness promoting well-being for all of us. Our health care reform moves onward when we all participate in promoting well-being and practicing it… and modeling it for all children.
It’s not always easy to take the time to prepare a good meal, move with intelligence, think clearly and act in a positive manner… but when the seed is planted and we repeat the simple practice of hygiene in all it’s varied forms, then we truly progress to living life as easy and as well as it can be.
It’s an effort that is well rewarded with feelings of pleasure, confidence, and self-actualization. Life is simple… eat well, move well, think well, be well. The paths can be varied, overlap and your somatics sense of yourself will feel and know it. It’s just practice and revolutions such as Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution remind us of our greatness, our capacity to feel it, and that desire which calls us to move forward.
