Disease Prevention

The fabulous Dr. Mercola has been a great influence on my health practice. Here is a review of his recommendations for disease prevention.

What are the underlying causes of most, if not all, disease? I strongly believe it boils down to three basics of equal importance:

Your emotional and mental state
Making poor fuel (food) choices
Lack of physical activity (exercise)

All of my advice essentially falls under one of these three basic necessities for optimal health.

Dr. Mercola believes that you can VIRTUALLY ELIMINATE your risk of cancer and chronic disease, and radically improve your chances of recovering from cancer, if you currently have it, by following these relatively simple risk reduction strategies.

You won’t read or hear much about them because they have not been formally "proven" yet by conservative researchers. However, did you know that 85 percent of therapies currently recommended by conventional medicine have never been formally proven either?!

There are twelve simple strategies that you can easily adopt to improve your health right now, whether you are ill or not.

Here are the twelve strategies and, over the next twelve posts, I will elaborate on each one of them:

1. Reduce or eliminate your processed food, sugar and grain carbohydrate intake

2. Control your fasting insulin and leptin levels.

3. Normalize your ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats.

4. Get regular exercise.

5. Normalize your vitamin D levels and vitamin A levels.

6. Get regular, good sleep.

7. Eat according to your nutritional type.

8. Reduce your exposure to environmental toxins like pesticides, household chemical cleaners, synthetic air fresheners and air pollution.

9. Limit your exposure to and provide protection for yourself from information carrying radio waves produced by cell phone towers, base stations, phones and WiFi stations.

10. Avoid frying or charbroiling your food.

11. The CDC states that 85 percent of disease is caused by emotions. Have a tool to permanently reprogram the neurological short-circuiting that can activate cancer genes.

12. Eat at least one-third of your food raw.

Stay tuned for a more in-depth look at each of these strategies over the next twelve posts. In the meantime, consider how you can begin to adopt some or all of these strategies into your own life...

Whatever the Mind of Man (and Woman) Can Conceive...

I have written at length about the body systems and why it requires a consistent, no-nonsense plan to achieve your weight loss goals.

Today, we're going to look at body weight and weight success from a different angle - the angle of the mind.

We're going to look at the role of the thoughts we think on our success in achieving the body we desire.

In the early 1900's, James Allen, from As a Man Thinketh, wrote "They themselves are makers of themselves by virtue of the thoughts which they choose and encourage; mind is the master weaver, both of the inner garment of character and the outer garment of circumstance. As they may have hitherto woven in ignorance and pain, they may now weave in enlightenment and happiness."

While "the inner garment of character" would be a very worthwhile topic for a blog, we're going to focus here on "the outer garment of circumstance", the body we are walking around with.

As a Life Skills Coach, I have focused much of my work on helping people get from where they are to where they want to be. And, in my experience with hundreds of participants, most people don't make a connection between their thoughts and where they are at in their lives.

In Step 4 of the Get Your Body Back manual, we look at your "Why"... the strong reason that will propel you to make the changes that you know you'll have to make in your lifestyle and habits, in order to see the changes you want in your body.

Stay with me here and we'll walk through a fairly typical scenario.

Jane is unhappy with the way her body looks. She figures she's gained about 40 pounds in the last ten years. She's not sure how that many pounds crept onto her 5'4" frame but, by the way her clothes fit, and the size she is now buying, there's no escaping the extra body fat that she's carrying around with her.

Depending on how she feels on any given day, Jane may berate herself for over-eating at a recent party, she may blame her weight-gain on her desk job and her lack of mobility, she may struggle with the demands of being a single mom with no time for herself, or she may decide that she's just too tired to care today.

Consider the possibility that, with each of these scenarios, Jane is thinking thoughts, and her thoughts are keeping her stuck.

Now either you're still with me and ready to keep reading, or you think I'm a bit nuts, and you're ready to move onto another blog, where the writer is blessed with a little more sanity.

Let me take you back to a few years ago when I had reached my highest weight - 150 pounds. At 5'1", this was a lot of weight for me to carry around. From time to time, I would think about what had gotten me to this place. I added up the logical reasons:

1. I had recently ended a 5-year relationship, where the fella and I had spent every weekend dancing at the club until our clothes were drenched with sweat.
2. The new boyfriend was fairly well-to-do and we spent at least 3-4 nights a week eating at fancy restaurants (and he didn't dance).
3. I had just given up a job that had allowed me to make my own hours and completely control my own schedule, and I'd stopped going to the gym.
4. I had started full-time school and was sitting at a desk from 9-5, Monday to Friday.
5. Between homework and getting the kids and myself off to school in the morning, I couldn't make it to the gym and still get to class on time.

Obviously, these reasons were clear proof that I was not in control of the circumstances, and I had no power to control the state that my body was in.

But I wasn't happy with my body and dissatisfaction can be one of our greatest motivators.

When I first saw Bill Phillips' book, Body for Life, I was inspired by those before and after shots. I was sure that, if they could do it, so could I. Then I got my before-photos back from the drug store, and I was horrified at what I saw. I collapsed in a crumpled heap, in tears, on the bed.

Some time later, I heard an ad on the radio about a local company that was hosting a Body Transformation Challenge. I went to the info session, signed a monthly contract, and started again. The before pics didn't upset me quite as much that time, I was a little more determined.

But, as life often does, my circumstances changed and I felt that I couldn't afford the monthly fees any longer, so I dropped out of the program. An important thing had happened in that time, though; I'd seen myself lose about 7 pounds of body fat, and I knew I wanted more of that.

Time passed by, the weight had returned. I was in California at a Nutrition conference and the company announced a Body Transformation Challenge. They suggested a program of lifestyle and behaviour change. I liked some of what I heard, and I found myself feeling angry about the rest. But the prize was a share of $40,000...and a chance to be featured on the website and in the company promotional materials.

Armed with the new plan, I headed back to Vancouver. What did I do differently this time around?

I decided what my new weight was going to be. As Linda Proctor (wife of Bob Proctor) would say, I made the decision in advance.

My new weight was to be 125 pounds.

I wasn't thinking about losing weight, I was focused on weighing 125 pounds.

How I was going to accomplish that, I had no idea.

I went through a few of my favorite magazines with scissors, cutting out "125". I placed my cut-outs all around me. On my computer screen, on my fridge; I even wrote it on my hand in ball-point pen.

Most of the time, it felt completely impossible that I would achieve a body weight of 125 pounds. It had been twenty years since I had seen that weight on the scale.

But I kept the number 125 in front of me at all times.

You can probably guess what I weigh today - that's right, 125 pounds. Sure, for the contest, I even weighed-in below 125 but, guess where my weight settled out, after everything was said and done...

Yup, 125 pounds!

So back to James Allen...and, in fact, back to Bob and Linda Proctor, Napolean Hill, U. S. Anderson, Shakespeare, Rhonda Byrne, John Assaraf, Jack Canfield, James Arthur Ray, Joe Vitale, Denis Waitley, Neale Donald Walsch, John Kehoe, Michael Losier, George Winslow Plummer, etc, etc, etc...you get my drift?

"Thinking makes it so" (that's from Shakespeare's Hamlet)...and, "What you think about, you bring about" from another wise source.

Don't ever doubt that your thoughts are creating your reality. When you're ready to see yourself at your desired body weight, you decide what that number will be, and you fix that number in your mind.

Then, and only then, can you and I get to work...

Luv ya...

See you at your ideal weight! Billie

A Goal is Just a Good Idea Until You...

Over 66 percent of adult North Americans are considered overweight or obese by recent studies, so it is not surprising to find that weight loss is one of the most popular New Year's resolutions.

I have been setting goals my whole life.

I'm sure I had a goal in Grade 5 that went something like, "get Johnny to take me to the school dance".

And in Grade 12, "get elected as President of the Student Council".

While my dating and political aspirations have changed over the years, setting goals is still a part of my life.

But a goal is just a good idea until you...

1. Write it down. What exactly are you going to have happen? I am going to weigh 125 pounds. Why is writing it down important? You may have heard this a hundred times or this may be your first introduction to the now famous quote by W. H. Murray...
   "Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself,then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would not otherwise have occured. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour all manner of unforseen incidents and meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would come his way." What more reason do you need to get that pen and paper?
2. Determine what you are willing to give for the achievement of that goal. In order to weigh 125 pounds, I am going to follow a plan of healthy food choices and regular exercise. If you think that you're going to achieve a new goal, without "doing something different", you're fooling yourself. Whatever you've been doing in the past has gotten you where you are today. There's no way that doing the same old things will get you to a new place or a new result. I highly doubt that you've been following a plan of healthy food choices and regular exercise, so this is an excellent start!
3. Determine "by when" this is all going to come together. It's January now. It will take some time to implement your new strategy. You might come upon some resistance along the way; you might have to re-group and re-strategize a little here and there. By June 30, 2008, I will weigh 125 pounds and I will weigh within 2 pounds of that weight for the rest of the year. Give yourself time to get to your goal weight but, once you're there, hang on to it. If summer means fun and frolicking to you, use the excitement of the coming season to motivate you. Go bathing suit shopping. Decide what you want to look good in. Envision yourself on the cruise ship, looking sexy, healthy and strong. You have 6 months to accomplish this and it's entirely possible. A strong reason why will be crucial to your long term success.
4. Make your plan. This is where it gets specific. No one loses weight with a little effort here and a little effort there. Everything in your life that works does so by a system. Your body is a system and burning body fat requires a plan. Write it out - this is what I will do on a daily basis... If you're not sure what to do, that's where your coach comes in. I will help you devise a strategy, based on energy in and energy out, whereby you will see results on a weekly basis. We start by taking measurements and a body fat reading. We look at your current lifestyle and food choices. And then we go to work, creating a plan that takes into account some of your favorites. We put this together like pieces to a puzzle.
5. Put your goal and your plan together, preferably in a new journal that you'll use just for this purpose. Choose a journal with a colorful cover. Write in it daily. Know where it is at all times. Never leave the house without it. Make a collage with images and words that conjure up happy, excited thoughts about the achievement of your goal. Find pictures of exotic warm locations, sandy beaches, trim figures, beautiful clothing. Use words and phrases of inspiration - whatever inspires you personally.
6. Review your plan frequently. Do you think that CEOs get to review their business plan now and again? Of course not, they are on it every day. They are looking at each action they are taking. Is it leading them towards or away from the goals that they've set for the company? Your body is no different; remember I said it was a system. Repeat your goal and review your plan twice a day, preferably morning (when you first wake up) and evening (just before you go to sleep). Gaze at your collage, feel happy and excited, and imagine that you're looking at your life and your body in those happy circumstances.

This is the strategy I adopted to help me lose over 20 pounds of body fat. As I've said in this blog before, I Did It, So Can You!

For a more personalized look at getting from where you are to where you want to be, send me an e-mail at billiesinclair@mybodywise.org .

Let's make this the year that you achieve the body that you've dreamed of for the past few years!

The Future of Food

Let me introduce you to The Future of Food, an 88 minute film, produced by Deborah Coons Garcia.

Please take a few minutes to view the trailer and consider purchasing the full length film to show to your friends, family, and colleagues (there is no financial benefit for me, if you do that).

Learn about the creation and planting of genetically engineered crops.

The following link is from Dr. Mercola's site. Watch the You tube version and then go to the website: www.thefutureoffood.com

The You Tube short...

http://www.mercola.com/2007/jan/11/the-future-of-food----you-need-to-watch-this-video.htm

It's never too late to start making changes...