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Unrestricted freedom can be as mentally and physically debilitating as no freedom at all.
Human beings require some measure of constraint for proper balance and health; whether provided by parents, a spouse, an employer, local laws or a limited bank account.
Appreciate that you have limitations on your time and behavior, because the alternative would ruin most of us…
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Every nutritient, substance or chemical within the food that we consume works for or against our health.
What we consume and what we don’t consume, will and does, make a difference to our past, present and future health.
More plant based food should be consumed and FAR less animal products, as well as processed products, should be consumed.
Nutrition is complex… so eat more plant based food and leave the complexity of necessary nutrients to your body’s physiology to figure out from the inside.
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Results: 3rd overall of 267 runners
Snacks, beverages and light meals from the award winning Encanterra chef are available for purchase throughout the event.
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A desire for men to be as big as possible is pervasive in this culture; it’s a symbol of manliness, machismo, dominance and even success to many.
The bottom line here… unless a man is naturally large, it’s nothing more than a sign of obesity, health problems and premature death.
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The Atkin’s Diet (essentially low-consumption of carbohydrates and over-consumption of fats and proteins) that Dr Atkins promoted through books and various other products spanning many years, didn’t seem to work for him at all. At the time of Dr Atkin’s death in 2003, not only was he obese at 260lbs, he was also suffering from heart disease and high blood pressure. However, what did work very well for him and his family was his unscrupulous efforts in getting rich…
“The Atkin’s diet” would be better named “The Make Yourself Sick and Fatter Diet”
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Gratefulness and appreciation require consistent effort, the more we exercise them internally and express them outwardly, the stronger and more natural they’ll become; gratitude is certainly a muscle that needs strengthening within most of us…
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Check out Chow Locally here:
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We should all have a hard time with the words “belief” and “believe“… both words by definition state that we hold a strong idea, proposition or premise to be true without actual proof of our position! Therefore, we should minimize the word “belief” and “believe” as frequenlty as possible in our thoughts and vocabulary… instead, choosing to favor critical thinking, due diligence, thoughtfulness and investigation.
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Currently Reading: The Paradox of Choice, Why More is Less
Publication Date: January 18, 2005
In the spirit of Alvin Toffler’s Future Shock, a social critique of our obsession with choice, and how it contributes to anxiety, dissatisfaction and regret. This paperback includes a new P.S. section with author interviews, insights, features, suggested readings, and more.
Whether we’re buying a pair of jeans, ordering a cup of coffee, selecting a long-distance carrier, applying to college, choosing a doctor, or setting up a 401(k), everyday decisions–both big and small–have become increasingly complex due to the overwhelming abundance of choice with which we are presented.
We assume that more choice means better options and greater satisfaction. But beware of excessive choice: choice overload can make you question the decisions you make before you even make them, it can set you up for unrealistically high expectations, and it can make you blame yourself for any and all failures. In the long run, this can lead to decision-making paralysis, anxiety, and perpetual stress. And, in a culture that tells us that there is no excuse for falling short of perfection when your options are limitless, too much choice can lead to clinical depression.
In The Paradox of Choice, Barry Schwartz explains at what point choice–the hallmark of individual freedom and self-determination that we so cherish–becomes detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being. In accessible, engaging, and anecdotal prose, Schwartz shows how the dramatic explosion in choice–from the mundane to the profound challenges of balancing career, family, and individual needs–has paradoxically become a problem instead of a solution. Schwartz also shows how our obsession with choice encourages us to seek that which makes us feel worse.
By synthesizing current research in the social sciences, Schwartz makes the counterintuitive case that eliminating choices can greatly reduce the stress, anxiety, and busyness of our lives. He offers eleven practical steps on how to limit choices to a manageable number, have the discipline to focus on the important ones and ignore the rest, and ultimately derive greater satisfaction from the choices you have to make.
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Personal Results: 59th place out of 22,000 finishers
See you there!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
6:00 a.m. Finish Line Expo & Kids Corner Open
7:00 a.m. Race Chair Start
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There are many mistaken notions concerning lactic acid and exercise. The greatest, by far, is the idea that there is lactic acid in the human body – there is no lactic acid in the human body – NONE!
Most people believe “lactic acid” is an end product of exercising hard and that it causes local muscle fatigue and muscle failure (a burning sensation by increasing the acidity of the tissues to the point where they can no longer function effectively).
What we are feeling are pain (nerve) receptors sensing a chemical breakdown of energy production that is reaching its physiological limit – not lactic acid.
I find it interesting that so called “professionals or experts” still bandy this term around…
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The ideas that we create in our minds make for peace or trouble, dissatisfaction or gratitude, eagerness or apathy… choose your ideas wisely.
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MAYA’S FARM at South Mountain is a small, sustainable operation which produces high-quality specialty vegetables, herbs, flowers and eggs for local markets, restaurants and schools. A community-supported agriculture program gives subscribers a weekly supply of produce that is cut by hand in the field daily and delivered to a location nearn you for pickup!
Maya’s Farm
6106 S. 32nd Street
Phoenix, AZ 85042
(32nd Street & Southern)
Website: http://mayasfarm.com/
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Over 2,000 years ago Plato wrote that “it is as important to exercise the body as it is to exercise the mind, in order to preserve an equal and healthy balance between them.”
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Currently Reading: The Athlete’s Way – Sweat and the Biology of Bliss
The Athlete’s Way program, focusing on cardio, strength, stretching, nutrition and sleep, uses neurobiology and behavioral models to enable you to think, train and behave like an athlete, making you more optimistic, resilient, and intense. You will want to get a glow on every day to increase your daily bliss quotient. Exercise will no longer be something to dread but something to enjoy and experience to the fullest.
The Athlete’s Way teaches you how to make exercise a source of joy and something you will want to engage in daily. Sweat will become a symbol of your striving for a standard of excellence and a solid work ethic that is synonymous with peak performance. The stamina, tenacity, and drive fortified through athletics–and this program–can be applied to any dream, obstacle, or goal you aspire to achieve. Christopher Bergland is a Manhattan-based world-class endurance athlete. He holds a Guinness World Record for treadmill running (153.76 miles in 24 hours) and has won the longest nonstop triathlon in the world three times. He completed The Triple Ironman, a 7.2-mile swim, 336-mile bike, followed by a 78.6-mile run (done consecutively) in a record breaking time of 38 hours and 46 minutes. He directs the triathlon program at Chelsea Piers and has been sponsored by Kiehl’s since 1996. He has been featured in dozens of TV, magazine, and newspaper articles including CNN, PBS, ABC, CBS, Fox, Men’s Journal, ESPN magazine, and the L.A. Times. He currently manages a specialty sporting goods shop in New York City called “JackRabbit Sports.” Inspiring Lessons from a World-class Endurance Athlete“I love to sweat. All told, I have run distance equal to four trips around the world on a treadmill and on the streets of Manhattan where I live. I have biked to the moon and back, dueling it out with a red, blinking pacer light on a LifeCycle control panel or logging countless laps in Central Park. I’ve even crossed the Atlantic a few times – in the pool – and I’ve swum in almost every ocean around the world competing in Ironman triathlons. When I am running, biking, or swimming, happiness pours out of me. I am not alone. Everyone who exercises regularly experiences this bliss. And it is available to you, too, anytime you break a sweat. The Athlete’s Way is an individual process but ultimately a universal experience. We feel good when we sweat. I have learned how to find Nirvana on the treadmill, and I am going to teach you my secrets.”
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The majority of diet books, on the market in recent years, all center around staying away from carbohydrates while eating as much protein and fat as we desire; the most popular of these books is the Atkins Diet. This dieting paradigm is misguided, unhealthy and simply wrong for long-term human health.
Research clearly shows that the vast majority of end-users of this type of diet lose weight initially (mostly through water loss and calorie restriction that can’t be sustained) only to gain more weight through increased body-fat and muscle loss within one calendar year of starting this dieting approach.
In addition, myriad cancers, heart disease and strokes… to constipation, depression and low energy are all problematic with this nutritional precept.
The stigma to avoid all carbohydrate consumption is sustained by those who choose to eat non-fat to high-fat processed carbohydrates instead of whole vegetables, whole fruits, whole grains and legumes (beans and lentils). Indeed, consumption of processed junk food carbohydrates frequently does lead to weight gain, but blaming the good carbohydrates for weight gain, when they aren’t even being consumed in the amounts necessary for longterm good health, while physical activity is nearly dormant, is foolhardy and short-sighted indeed.
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I’m absolutely convinced of the transforming power of physical exertion – it can change our lives. But the strength to change our lives is most powerful when married to intellectual exertion as well. Progressive strength and endurance training, when coupled with intellectual training is the most we can ask of ourselves.
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The majority of us are perpetually looking for something other than, who and where, we’re currently; this state of mind is nothing more than a permanent distraction. We need to think deeply about why we’re seeking what we’re seeking and make sure that it’s worth our mental time and physical effort. Endlessly buying new things just for the novelty of it and simply experiencing random physical stimulation without much forethought, does not lead to longterm self-improvement or happiness.
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Creating and safeguarding, consistent and adequate sleeping habits, is one of the most important personal habits we can follow to maintain mental stability and physical health; it’s as important as sound nutrition and even more important than physical activity.
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Amazon Description:
In this wise, humane inquiry, Csikszentmihalyi ( Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience ) argues that genetically programmed behaviors that once helped humans adapt and multiply now threaten our survival. These traits include obsessions with food and sex, addiction to pleasure, excessive rationality and a tendency to focus on the negative. A University of Chicago psychology professor, the author also believes we must free our minds of cultural illusions such as ethnocentric superiority or identification with one’s possessions. He urges readers to find ways to reduce the oppression, exploitation and inequality that are woven into the fabric of society. Further, he wants us to control the direction of human evolution by pursuing challenging activities that lead to greater complexity while opposting chaos and conformity.
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