I get a lot of questions about fitness and working out. People like to talk to me about what I've done, what I haven't done, what they've done, what they think, and their philosophy on the whole thing is. People rarely talk about nutrition though, and it really is the bottom line to fitness. There isn't a lot of point in walking on a treadmill for an hour, then scarfing down a Honey Bun with a Starbucks White Chocolate Mocha Frappuccino to go on the side. It seems as if people miss or ignore the obvious things. One of those being:
Calories In > Calories Out = Increased Weight
The 500 calories you burned walking on the treadmill for an hour isn't going to offset that Big Mac (mmm good though!), Large Fry, and Coke. Dean Karnazes ate 28,000 calories during a 48hr ultramarathon one time and lost weight. Thats 2 weeks worth of food on a standard 2000 calorie diet. How is that possible? Easy, he burned more than 28,000 calories.
However, a surplus in calories is an over simplification of the problem in my opinion. I think the two biggest issues are ignorance and nutritional brainwashing. Lets take something simple like drinking a can of Coca Cola and analyze the process:
First off, it contains 10 teaspoons of sugar which is 100% of a standard persons recommended daily intake. The phosphoric acid in the coke helps keep you from throwing up such a large amount of sugar.
The entire calorie content of that soda will be metabolized within 30 minutes since the main ingredient in the drink is High Fructose Corn Syrup. It is easily broken down and absorbed by the body.
During the metabolization process your blood sugar spikes and large amounts of the hormone insulin flood your system. That insulin tells your body to stop burning fat and start using sugar for energy in an effort to balance out your blood sugar levels. However, if you're the average American your energy stores are full so that sugar gets converted to fat for storage around your body.
Your blood pressure rises because of the Caffeine.
Dopamine is released so you feel a high.
Your metabolism is increased. That burger and fries you just ate are now absorbed even faster.
Calcium and other minerals bind to the phosphoric acid.
Caffeine's diuretic properties cause you to pee. Therefore, you expell much needed water, calcium, zinc, magnesium, and other needed nutrients through your urine.
Eventually you have a sugar crash and start feeling tired and irritable.
Because there is a lag in insulin regulation your blood sugar drops lower than it should which has the adverse effect of increasing your appetite so you can repeat this whole cycle again.
This is where the nutritional brainwashing comes in. Barring the Caffeine, these effects can be found in the vast majority of foods you pickup at the supermarket. I had someone not to long ago tell me that Pop Tarts are good because they have fruit in them... insert BERTSTARE...
How about this idea that Lean Pockets or Healthy Choice TV dinners are good for you. Besides the massive amounts of sodium you will find in these things, you will also find 5-10 teaspoons of sugar in them. If it comes in a plastic package tucked away in a nice box chances are it is highly processed garbage devoid of nutrients and full of salt and simple sugars.
What is the solution to all of this? I really don't know. Crappy food is everywhere you look. Subway, while better than McDonalds is still highly processed for the sake of taste, looks, and shelf life. Heck, we label sticking a frozen pizza in the oven as, "Making dinner." People wonder why diabetes is such a huge problem now. It's obvious, look how much sugar is being consumed by people. Your body after a while starts building up a resistance to insulin which increases your risk of getting type 2 diabetes.
I'll be honest. The best I have ever felt was on a low carb, high protein, and medium fat diet. I was lean, strong, and full of energy. Starting January 1st I am going to be trying my modified version of the Caveman Diet. It is essentially unprocessed lean meats, fish, nuts, seeds, vegetables, and fruits. The idea is that as Homo Sapiens we evolved to a diet like this and not one with massive amounts of sodium and highly processed carbohydrates. I'm curious to see what the end results are for this diet.
I'm not a food Nazi. I love me a Big Mac every once in a while but, the common ideas about what is good or isn't good floating around are laughable. That 1200 calorie shake at the Jack Shack looks pretty tasty though...
It was Socrates that said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."
I unequivicably agree with his statement. I don't think truer words could be said. It is because of this statement and others like it that this year has been the most defining in my entire life. Had my thought process on things been different it is highly probable that I would be saying the exact opposite right now; That this year was the worst in my life.
What changed? The way I examine my life with respect to the world around me. For a while now I've been on a quest for truth, knowledge, and wisdom. It just so happens that everything came together this year. What I didn't see coming was all the life tests. It's as if God said, "So you think you've learned something? Well... lets see how well you do applying it."
I've been a member of a body building forum for a while now. Lately, I've been getting various private messages from people asking for my input on things. It's become appallingly clear to me that I and so many other people in this world have been force fed bullshit. The body building forum is rampant with statements like, "I'll be happy when I lose 20lbs" or "I'll be happy when I look like this guy." A while back I was playing poker in Lake Charles and I caught myself saying, "I deserve to win this hand." One of my all time favorites is, "The government owes me..." Life owes you nothing. We're not entitled to anything. You have as much money as you MUST have. You have the love that you MUST have. You have the happiness that you MUST have. You have the life that you MUST have. Life doesn't owe you these things, you owe them to yourself. You want more money? Get a second job, find a higher paying job, or go back to school. You want love? First, learn to love yourself, then find someone of equal value. You want to be happy and you want a better life? Make a choice and start living like it. Make those things a MUST instead of a SHOULD. We always get our MUSTS but we SHOULD all over ourselves.
Where does all this bullshit come from? They are all beliefs and therefore are a product of your mind or better yet... conditioning. We believe that touching a hot stove with our hand will hurt. Break it down, it is simply math:
Hot Stove + Hand = Pain
Where did this belief come from? Chances are when we were a kid we put our hand on a hot stove, it burned, and we felt pain. What is another one? How about fighting with a sibling. Chances are you got in a fight with your sibling and you got spanked by Mom or Dad. So...
Sibling + Fighting = Pain/Wrong/Spanked
Both of these are products of conditioning. When you are first born you know nothing. A baby knows nothing and its curiosity is marvelous. They wan't to touch everything in sight. They are the quintessential learning machine. I would venture to say that children are inherently perfect. Children are great teachers of clarity; We should model them to an extent. A child will be upset one minute and pefectly content the next. Children don't hold grudges. Children operate with a clear mind; They don't hold onto emotions and let them purposefuly dictate their actions.
As we grow older we get corrupted by society. I doubt a one year old looks in the mirror and says, "I have baby fat and I won't be happy until I lose it." That belief is predicated on culture/environment. There are perfect cultural examples where being overweight is good. Have you ever seen one of those Buddha statues where he is overweight and happy? The media does a good job with conditioning. It is no stretch to the imagination why Happy Meals are called exactly that. You probably wont see your favorite sports star with a frowny face when they're advertising something on TV. Parental figures (role models) play the biggest role. They are the ultimate filter. If your role models put great emphasis on physical appearance, chances are you will to. The same goes with money, sports, religion, materialism, and hundreds of other things.
There are so many things that we have been taught (like the stuff in the paragraph above) that is just garbage. All of it corrupts the mind. All of it clouds the true nature of things. Nothing has any meaning except that which we give it. Pain? There are some people in the world that feel no physical pain. Sound? What meaning does sound have to a deaf person? Don't underestimate the minds ability to make sense of bullshit...
The mnid is an azniamg mhaince but, it in iletsf connat be tsetrud. You msut dineetrme waht is rael and waht is bsihllut.
Unisg the icndeblire pweor of the hmuan mnid, aocdcrnig to rseecrah at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mttaer in waht oderr the lterets in a wrod are, the olny irpoamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rhgit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whoutit a pboerlm. Tihs is bucseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey ltteer by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Don't take things at face value. The true nature of things only comes by asking the right questions. The clip below is a perfect example of that:
Lets take an easy one. Why do you style your hair a certain way? Some typical responses might be, "I like it this way", "It looks cool", or "The girls/guys like it." Those are all viable answers but, they are all crappy. So you formulate a better question: "Why do you care whether girls/guys like it?" A good response might be... "Because it makes me feel good." Why does it make you feel good? Now you start getting into the true nature of things. Questions like these tend to evoke anger in people because the truth hurts. It signifies that they are broken, that they aren't who they would like to think they are, and that a real change is necessary. As I stated in my previous blog, people hate change.
The mind is a funny thing. It will answer whatever questions you ask it. Poor questions will come with poor answers. If you ask yourself why you failed a test you'll probably get answers like, "I'm dumb", "The teacher sucks", or "I'm lazy." None of those answers are very empowering. However, if you ask yourself: How can I make an A on the next test? You might come up with answers like, "I'll get a study group", "I'll put in extra hours", "I'll study every day instead of cramming." You have to recondition yourself to come up with better questions. I saw a guy on the body building forum asking something like, "Why does being short suck?" That's another question that stems from all the bullshit above. Being short doesn't suck but, he's conditioned himself to think it does. Maybe he should ask, "How might being short be beneficial?" Lets see... you can climb mountains better, you can move weight easier (physics), its easier to look bulkier, and you can probably do "the limbo" better than a tall person.
Do you see where all this ties in? Bullshit beliefs, lead to bullshit questions, which lead to bullshit answers. What is so amazing is that the real truth can stare us in the face and we just ignore it. The conditioning is that strong, that corrupt, and has perverted us that bad. Think about it...
Millions of dollars = happiness
Movie star looks = happiness
Being famous = happiness
A house, car, wife, and kids = happiness
If all of that is even remotely true then why do we have shows like celebrity rehab? Why are so many people that have all these things so miserable? Why is someone like Britney Spears so unhappy? If all the above is true... why was Gandhi so happy?
Start getting rid of the bullshit. Become like a child again. Be aware of your feelings and what they are really telling you. Be mindful of your thoughts, less you become those thoughts. The habit/conditioning is the problem. All you have to do is be conscious of your thoughts and actions, and accept responsibility for them. Take out the trash and replace it with the truth...
Get rid of all the bullshit. Get rid of every limiting thought someone has told you or that you believe about yourself. Get rid of all the bullshit people have told you about who you are, what you can do, what you can't do, how you're suppose to be, and what dreams you're capable of and which ones you aren't. Become like a child again: clear, happy, and limitless.
Jesus was once asked, "Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?" He responds by showing them that the way to greatness is to become like children. If you study Buddhism you'll notice the same truth. It's not a truth about religion but a truth about how to live your life. Free your mind.
After contemplating what my first blog should be, i concluded it should have something to do with the title of my blog... go figure. If you're not familiar with the symbols used above the title basically says, "The journey is what brings us happiness, not the destination." I picked that quote up from the movie The Peaceful Warrior and it rattled me. Here is the scene below:
Now, i certainly didn't take this scene at face value. Like most things, i analyzed it to death. In the movie Socrates (Old Guy) never tells Dan (Young Guy) what happiness is, he simply asks, "Are you happy?" Dan responds with, "What does happy have to do with anything?" and Socrates says, "Everything!" There is a clincher though. Happiness is subjective; If i'm to have it, i must know what it means to me.
Happiness to me, is the self-respect i give myself when i allow my Mind, Body, and Spirit to work congruently at embracing life. I put self-respect in there because happiness is a choice. If you're not choosing to be happy, then you're choosing to be unhappy, which leads to suffering. If you YOURSELF choose to suffer, what does that say about your level of self-respect? Next, I chose mind, body, and spirit, because it covers all facets of the human enigma. Lastly, i chose embracing life; Taking whatever life throws at you and finding a positive meaningful purpose for it. It means, accepting the fact that what happens in this life is ultimately out of your control; Surprises are around every corner. However, you can control the meaning you attach to those surprises and how the mind, body, and spirit will act accordingly.
What value does the destination have without the journey? What do you cherish more: That which is given to you or that which you have earned? Are you proud of your degree or, are you proud of what you went through to accomplish and achieve that degree? Do you smile when you see yourself in a photo with a bunch of friends because you like the paper it is printed on? Heck no! You smile because that photo represents a moment in time, a journey, and you embracing life. The destination means nothing without the journey. It is the journey which adds to your self-respect or takes away from it. It is the journey that causes you to smile with pride or frown with sorrow. It is the journey you reflect back upon when you're old and grey laying in a hospital bed. Remember one thing though...
What you do during your journey isn't as important as how well you do it.
All of the above is great, but what does it mean in context? Take the clip for instance, Dan is embracing the struggle to the top of the hill to see what Socrates wants to show him. Ultimately, his struggle (throughout the movie) and his recognition of the lesson, added to his self-respect and strengthend his mind, body, and spirit. The journey brough happiness to him, and he chose to accept it. So many people in this life choose the opposite. Many people believe that they don't deserve it, which ties back to self-respect. They believe they are less than everyone else, less than those who are happy, and therefore deserve less. The truth is, as Socrates would say, "You will never be less than anybody else. Just like you'll never be more than anybody else." That being the case, then you deserve to be happy... you owe it to yourself. There is a great rule of thumb that says, "Anything you can do unhappy, you can do better happy."
Life is a river than flows in only one direction, forward. You can either fight the current and drown sorrowing in the past, or, let the current carry you and enjoy the ride. Embrace life, and choose to respect yourself by allowing your mind, body, and spirit to be happy right now. Stop sorrowing about the past, stop worrying about the future, and be happy in the present. All it really comes down to... choice.
