The merchants make money by selling us stuff. That's cool - we all have to eat. The question is, are the merchants selling you freedom or dependence?
Will that Weight Loss 3-meal a day delivery plan give you freedom from disease, or just dependence on an unhealthy regimen that makes it slightly easier to reduce your caloric intake?
Will that huge hunk of gym equipment in your basement allow you to exercise anywhere and anytime, or will it tie you to a lonely, dull regimented workout that leaves your body imbalanced and fundamentally unequipped to deal with real life?
Do you habitually gear down through recreational drugs, or TV; or do you know how to breathe and think to find inner balance under whatever circumstances life throws at you?
Once you take a single step toward freedom, you start seeing additional steps in every direction.
Here's a video that blew my mind a little bit. I'm no water-skier, so I see it as a metaphor for finding freedom by letting go of external crutches. See what you think. Oh, the guy in the video is a new friend, Lane "Dawg" Bowers, and he swears he can teach this to anyone. I haven't taken him up on his offer yet, but if you'd like to give his method a free test-drive, click here.
Enjoy!
Joel Fuhrman, MD, author of Eat to Live and Disease-Proof Your Child, claims that salt and processed oil are both bad for us. Salt, he claims, citing dozens of "research studies" done by "scientists," raises blood pressure and can predispose us to stomach cancer. Processed oil, he would have us believe, contains 120 nutrient-barren calories per teaspoon, and when cooked at high temperatures, releases the potent carcinogens known as acrylomides.
Well, Dr. Fuhrman, I've got you now - I use about a tablespoon of salt per day, and about a gallon of oil. And I'm just fine. Let me explain…
Keep Reading…
Q: I want to get my family into much better health in 2007, but I'm overwhelmed at how unhealthy our lifestyle is. I don't know where to begin. How do I start?
A: When my son was learning to write, he loved composing letters to friends and family. I knew what he was up to because he always began the same way, by asking me, "How do you spell 'dear'?"
When I was distracted, I'd reply, "D-E-A-R."
He'd love up at my in frustration, not having begun to print the letters, awash in confusion. "Yeah, only what comes FIRST?"
When parents come to me looking to improve their own fitness and health, as well as that of their children, my urge is to go on and on about plant-based nutrition, about joyful movement, about deep awareness and relaxation. I want to load them up with recipes, with workouts, with meditation CDS, with coaching - oh my gosh, my professional life is all about self-restraint. I have to relax myself and remember my son's dictum: "Yeah, only what comes FIRST?"
So, as we approach the season of reflection and resolution, I'd like to provide three mindsets for getting started on a path of personal and family fitness for 2007. Next week, I'll talk about specific strategies, and how to create an action plan to create your own Fit Family.
Two months ago, I chronicled my daughter Yael's first encounter with a unicycle. Yesterday, in balmy NC December sunshine, we took some more video. You'll notice in this 10-second clip that the posture is improved and the balance much more fluid. I predict a breaththrough within the next 4 hours of attentive practice.
Today's New York Times features an article about a branch of homeschooling known as "unschooling." More or less, it's the kind we practice in our home, first with our daughter and now with our son. The thing that struck me about this otherwise fine piece of reporting was a two-word phrase in a caption of a photograph in the multimedia slide show that accompanies the article. Keep Reading…
Hey, I like video games as much as the next guy… if the next guy is Mahatma Gandhi. Reuters (reported in The Age out of Australia) shared research on the cardiovascular effects of the video game "Dance Dance Revolution" on overweight kids. They found that while playing the game increased heart rate and burned more calories (than, for example, sitting on their butts watching other people dance on MTV), essentially, it made no difference to their weight or fitness. Keep Reading…
I always have to slow down when a target seems this big and this easy. I mean, cancelling a Planet Fitness patron's membership because he grunted with a quarter ton of steel on his back? I grunt every time my son sneaks up behind me and jumps on my back. And he weighs less than 50 pounds. Keep Reading…
Just learned about this new workout that should be sweeping the world: the Urban Rollerblading Bottle-Playing Alpine Sprint. If you can't skate, maybe you could be one of the Chief Bottle Fillers…
Check it out:
Thanks to Mark Hurst for pointing this one out!
Q: Is it really possible to get fit in 10 minutes a day?
A: Fitness does not have to take 30-45 minutes at a time, despite what the fitness industry may be promoting. Keep Reading…
Peter Bregman called me yesterday to tell me about an article in the September 18, 2006 issue of The New Yorker, about the neuro-psychology of financial decision-making. He said there were a number of concepts very key to our understanding of health behaviors as well, specifically those related to doing things that involve delayed gratification.
One example is the "Christmas Account" many banks offer. Check out this deal: a zero-interest account with a penalty for early withdrawal. Woo-hoo!
Yet it's a popular option, despite the fact that it makes no "rational" sense. Why? Keep Reading…
