Sarah’s Blog

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

A Candle In A Dark Week

Unless you hitched a ride on NASA’s Lunar Orbiter, you’ve heard the news.

In a single day, we lost two people that almost everyone in this country, if not this world, felt as if they knew personally.

In the same week, there was a candle flickering in the darkness.

A candle fueled by science. By research.

By hope.

We lost Farrah Fawcett to cancer. But this week a promising new cancer drug has a large number of folks highly optimistic.

And of course we lost Michael Jackson. We don’t know why yet. I wonder if we ever will.

But still, the candle burns.

The light here is a light of reckoning. A light that says, “You are but dust in the wind.” To dust, we return.

In a sense, at least.

You are also the stuff of stars.

I’m not talking about movie stars — I mean literal stars.

The inspiration for this article comes from one of my personal heroes, Carl Sagan. In his brilliant book, A Demon-Haunted World, Carl brings is wit, intelligence and sobriety to bear on the candle in the dark — science.

Science has helped liberate us from the dark ages, literally.

Science has cured more people in a single generation than all the wars in “history” have taken. Can you believe it?

During this dark week, science enabled us to launch the most sophisticated lunar probe in history to the moon.

And science will eventually find a cure for that monster we call cancer.

But science may never find a cure for what killed the King of Pop.

You see, I don’t think it is as simple as it seems. It may be. Who knows. But I think Jackson died of loneliness and self-abuse.

It just took time.

That, combined with stress (the number-one killer in the world) is enough to do anyone in.

The candle in the dark? Managing your health is really under your control… more than you think. That includes your mind.

Not totally, but in a few years, who knows.

That’s a candle that burns bright to me.

Brighter than the sun.

A bit of honesty:

My first thought upon hearing Jackson died was, “Wow. Too young. How?”

I’ve always recognized his contribution to music, but I’ve never been “attached” as a fan per-se.

When Kurt Cobain died, I cried. When Gene Roddenberry died, I cried. I cry every time I watch the end of “Contact” that just says, “For Carl.”

When Michael died, I shook my head in disbelief, skepticism, and reflection.

My candle was burning at both ends, I suppose.

How fragile we are. Yet, like Sagan loved to say, we are all “starstuff.” Literally.

Every atom in your body with the exception of hydrogen can be traced to a red star, billions of years old.

That makes me hang my head in utter awe. How beautiful, yet how chaotic our universe and our lives seem to be.

The reason I do what I do is not to try and extend “just years” to your life — it’s to help you make your life the best it can be.

To extend the healthy, happy, joyful aspects of your life.

To give you the candle in the dark called “self-management”.

Your time can come in a snap of a finger. In a breath, your light can go out.

But until then, I urge you to fight the good fight.

And keep your candle lit for all the world to see.

Fit Bits: This Will Kill You. Really.

Inflammation.

That’s the ticket. That’s the answer.

That’s what you must address if you want to live a longer and more productive, healthy life. No ifs, ands or buts.

Inflammation is caused by insulin resistance, among other things.

I’ve decided to share this week’s Fit Bits with you in an entertaining video I made called “Low Carb Lunacy.”

Get ready for the facts like you’ve never seen them before…

Please press the Play button to start the video. Thanks!

P.S. For those of you who really want to take charge of your health, I do encourage you to adopt a dietary plan you can live with. The best I know of is found below.

The Every Other Day Diet     Lose Weight. Lower Inflammation!

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

In this video I hope to shed some light on some provocative issues. First, craving fatty, sugary, high-calorie foods is not your fault. However, it is your responsibility—you have to learn to manage this vestibule pattern passed down through generations of DNA.

I have included a transcription of the video below. Enjoy!

Note: Thanks to too many years in scuba, I continually say “vestibular” in the video. The correct term of course is vestigial. But other than that… ; )

Please press the Play button to start the video…

Note: You can learn more about how to escape the “vestigial loop” covered in this video while still eating your favorite foods and losing all the weight you want by picking up my book The Ever Other Day Diet below…

TRANSCRIPTION

Hi, Jon Benson from Jon Benson Fitness dot com. Again, excuse the video-less video… my iCam is busted, but I’m getting it fixed this weekend.

If you missed the first video in this series, “Low Carb Lunacy”, be sure to check that out. Link below:

Low Carb Lunacy Video

Fat is not your fault.

Craving foods high in fat is not your fault.

Craving foods high in sugar is not your fault.

Craving high-calorie foods is not your fault.

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? Well, it’s a biological and evolutionary fact.

BUT….

Guess what.

Just as a ruptured appendix is not your fault, it’s damn well your responsibility.

Just as your appendix is primarily useless; a vestigial organ no longer required for daily function, so is… yep.

Your cravings for sugar, fat, and calories.

Picture yourself living on the Savannah countless thousands of years ago. Everything you ate you either hunted or gathered—and for most of your days hunting was far more rewarded by your clan and by the females than gathering.

Gathering was the sign of a poor hunter. In fact, there’s an old joke: Vegetarian in the Cherokee tongue means Bad Hunter.

Turns out there may be more to this joke than you think.

On the Savannah, you might go days without food. Hunger and discomfort was associated mentally with “gathering” — picking up second choice. Is it any wonder so many of us as children seem to have a built-in aversion to vegetables? Our ancestors probably viewed what little vegetables were available during the warmer seasons as scraps from a table — not nearly enough calories, protein or fat to sustain themselves against the ravages of the day.

But bring home a nice tiger or lean game and presto: Hero status. The clan celebrated. The women swooned (great hunters were like rock stars in that day, or so I can imagine.) And the clan ate like crazy. Why? Who knew when the next high-fat, high protein, super-filling meal would come?

Folks, this same pattern, now just a vestigial mental organ if you will, is very much alive in your DNA. The problem? That tiger is now conveniently packed in your grocery’s freezer section. You may expend about 75 calories driving to the store, picking up a nice fatted piece of beef, drive home, cook it, and serve it. Hardly worthy of lavish praises from the female in your “clan”… but again, that genetic memory is a monster. It kicks in. The “provider” is still “worshiped” in the recesses of your DNA guys.

Unfortunately, it’s now a matter of economics, not hunting prowess. And being good with money rarely entails expending calories. So, that same drive to collect high-calorie, high-fat, energy-sustaining food is all but useless in today’s evolved society.

Same with sugars. When sweet fruits were in season on the Savannah, they provided the energy needed for the hunt. They tasted great. They were, as some anthropologists suggest, a type of early aphrodisiac. Sugar can trigger powerful “feel good” hormones, especially in its refined form. So, if you cannot eat filling food, how about a quick fix of feel good food?

Again, you were rewarded for this, albeit probably not as much — and definitely in different ways — back on the Savannah.

So you’re bucking eons of societal evolution folks… countless thousands of years of how humans ate, every time you sense hunger. Every. Single. Time.

Only now, everything is at your fingertips. Ladies, you no longer need a “hunter” — you can “hunt” for yourselves. Unfortunately you expend far less calories than males, both then and now. Some theorize than the females were responsible for preparing the meals. that, in and of itself, was very demanding calorically. Now… er… not so much. Guys, the hunt is over. All that’s left is brining in the cash to pay for the meals — one of the reasons, btw, many psychologists believe women are attracted to security of wealth. Yep — it all goes back to the hunting fields.

The obvious problem is that we now have these foods — but we have them at our fingertips and we have them on steroids multiplied by infinity. Our sugars are 100x sweeter than any fruit ancient man could have ever tasted. Our beef is loaded with hormones and unhealthy altered fats never known in the ancient world.

But our vestigial cravings are still there.

So, while craving foods that are high in sugar and fat makes perfect biological sense, it is no different than your appendix. It is a useless vestigial organ if you will, and it must be removed.

That part is your responsibility. It is the price we pay for societal evolution. But you can do it. As we’ve evolved, we’ve also become far more intelligent. More aware of our actions and their consequences. And we can fool the body quite nicely into thinking it has all the nutrients it needs.

I cover more about how to trick the body out of this historical “loop” of hunter/gatherism in my book The Every Other Day Diet…

Think about it. Comment below. Let me know if this resonates with you at all.

Thanks.

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

Please press the Play button to begin the audio. Thanks!

Related Product:

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

Please press the Play button to begin the audio. Thanks!

Related Product:

I’ve been too long in doing this!

But the saying goes "better late than never" right? So here goes:

A straight link (no affiliation here) to http://www.ancientelementssoap.com/index08.htm Brian’s old fashioned, home made soaps made with all natural ingredients and beautifully scented. To top it off, they’re really reasonable, so you can treat yourself to an assortment of scents for your every mood.

Seriously, other than telling you that I love relaxing in a lavender-scented bath with my lavender soap, that lank is all I wanted to share with you today!

Brian and his wife gratiously sent me a few bars of their soap a while back, and I am planning on trying out a few of their other scents as well soon.

Enjoy   A good workout will leave you a little sore. Relaxing in a warm shower of bath with some nice scents … totally deserved.

Sarah, CPT (www.trainwithsarah.com)

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

Please press the Play button to start the video. Thanks!

Related Product:

[ Note: This article was written by fitness and nutrition author Jon Benson. I have his permission to share it with you. ]

Please click the Play button to start the video. Thanks!

Related Product:

Very true, yet mostly we do it the other way around

When it seems to you that there are « too many » things in your life, when 24
hours seem insufficient … remember the jar of mayonaise and coffee !

There was a philosophy professor who placed large mayonaise jar in front of his class
and without saying a word started to fil lit up with golf balls.

This is just so true … I received it from a friend this past week, and just had to translate it from French because it’s a life lesson. It’s also very much in line with his M-Power Series philosophy.

We have to set priorities. In order to do that, we have to stop and think, figure out what our inner values are, what Jon calls the core values. Actually, after reading this I think I’ll take out my M-Power audios … again! Not pushing you at all, but I just noticed that there’s got a super promo on it right now of under 200$ for a limited time! Normally it’s 600$+ and it’s worth twice that, so if you can spare a bit of cash check it out (http://tinyurl.com/M-Power-Series), I happened to notice because I was checking that the link worked total fluke that I scrolled to the end of the page too – usually when I check a link I just let it open and close it again.

I guess I’m branching into life coaching a bit here, but it’s all linked. Heck, look at that mayo-jar and tell me it’s not!

Are you worried about your scale weight? Do you obsess over it even? To the point of getting depressed if it’s even a little bit up from yesterday?

You’re not alone, and there is a cure.

The first thing to realize is that bodyweight overall fluctuates enormously from one day to the next, due to retained water, lack of bowel movement, or the opposite of these two things. For us women, there’s a natural jump up of the scale weight once a month – water retention coupled with that crazy chocolate craving!

The second thing you should consider, is not so much your actual scale weight, total body weight, but your body composition. What is that weight made up of? You feel you are fatter than your best friend and you know you are heavier, but is this really true?

I once had two girls come to my gym asking me to check their bodyfat percentage. Not with these electronic scales or hand-held things, I use calipers. One of the girls was a skinny-looking little thing, coming in very confident and certain that she was lean. The other was rounder-looking and obviously just doing this because her friend was, she was more apprehensive and nervous about the outcome. Who wants to get it confirmed that they “are fat”?

The funny thing was that the rounder girl left my gym smiling from ear to ear and her thin-looking friend  looked like she’d been kicked to the curb!

It turned out that the skinny-looking girl carried more bodyfat than her round-looking friend.

Why care if you are “round” if this is due to natural, womanly curves? Who wants to look skinny, if this is just an illusion and they carry hidden fat around their vital organs – yes, including the heart! This won’t show necessarily, but it’s just as dangerous as if it did show.

The thing to do, is a mental reprogramming of your brain, your mind set, the way you look at your self and your body, what you really want, why you want it. Soul searching, but on a different level than usual.  Is this easy? Heck no! Try it by yourself, and you may never get to the bottom of it, or get the optimal solution. Or you do it in 48 weeks with the M-Power Series (http://tinyurl.com/M-Power-Series ).

48 weeks? Almost a year? Yikes!! Not “yikes” J this is one of the best gifts you can give yourself. You’ll be your own “shrink” and probably a much better one than those who put you on their couch too, because you care about you and you know you, they want your money (overall and generally speaking, I guess some do care).

One “lesson” or session a week, but unlike your shrink (assuming you’d even go to one – I know I’d resist and even refuse!) the audio is available the whole week, as many times as you want to listen to it. You can – and should – go over it a few times to get all the angles, the subtleties, do the exercises – even re-do them, you may give different answers and get different results after having listened to the audio a few times.

Another thing to know about the scales … yes, you do need them, although some “gurus” say throw them out, I don’t really agree. Without the scales, you don’t know what’s going on. The trick is to see it only as a part of a whole.

I completed a 3-week pre-contest-type plan and dropped a lot of “weight” – about a 50/50 mix of water, sh(beep) and fat. This was 3 weeks ago, and since then the scales keep showing a steady increase in numbers.

Now, I could panic, get depressed, jump back on the 3-week plan right away … but I don’t. Why? Because I’ve been doing 7 Minute Muscle (http://tinyurl.com/7MinMuscl) every weekday morning for the past 3 weeks. I know from my calipers, that the bodyfat percentage is not going up at all, the added weight is

-          Muscle

-          Some water

-          Some not-yet-eliminated “matter”

I care more about my body composition than my overall weight. I look at how my clothes fit. I check that waist chain for tightness, I look for visible muscles – not just abs, delts, biceps, triceps, quads, calves … the back is harder to check unless you have access to a 360º mirror, but you can get someone to take a photo (or do a self-shot).

Am I still following Every Other Day Diet (http://tinyurl.com/myEODD) ? You better believe it J frankly, you don’t throw out something that works. Ever since Jon Benson “threw” that e-book out over the Internet in January 2008, I’ve been convinced.

First that it was a great idea – and with 3 different plans to follow there was no problem finding the one that suited me the best – following it I saw the results and was even more convinced it was the best thig I’d ever done. With the 2.0 version SNAPP, there are now 4-5 different Plans, no way not to find a match to anyone’s lifestyle and preferences!

Where most diets and nutrition plans tell you to eliminate all the things you like and enjoy eating, EODD works these into the plan, you can still enjoy … I don’t know, grandma’s brownies, dad’s cheese steak, a pizza from the Italian guy down the street, even a burger from you-know-who! Now, if that’s not a cool nutrition plan, I don’t know what is! Cool, and it works!

So no, I “don’t care” about the scales anymore. Or at least I don’t obsess or get depressed if it goes up. And I know that when I do do the 3-week plan again in July, it’s going to reveal a lot of new, lean muscle! So I may never see 130 lbs (59 kilos) on the scales, so what? 14-15% bodyfat is a much more gratifying goal, and healthier!

Check your goals, check your tools and “maps” for getting there, set out to conquer and don’t let anyone deter or stop you.

To your success!

OK, this is not from me. I’ll admit to borrowing this idea from a great abs-expert, David Grisaffi (www.flattenyourownabs.com). He wrote a few years ago (not exact quote): “tie a string around your waist so you can feel when you eat a little too much, clothes may stretch, a string won’t”.

He’s right of course, but being a girl, the idea of a string around my waist just didn’t sit right. I headed for the nearest “bling-store” and looked for a waist-chain. Sure, there were some, and some were cute too, but at the time … they were all too short for me! I guess that at 205 lbs you’re not expected to wear a waist chain … so what to do? I did not want that string!

Next stop, after having measured my then voluminous waist, was the hardware store. You read that right. They have sections of the store with different styles, types and thicknesses of chains. I chose one I found nice enough, rounded links, not too large but enough to hook something into to close it around me, and a little piece of hardware to do just that (there was a guy showing me different options, don’t remember what he called the things J but it kept the chain closed). Of course, I didn’t say what I was going to use it for!

My goal was to “get into” the nice bling-chain I bought instead of the hardware one, and I did. However, being fancy it broke very quickly. Those things just aren’t made to wear when you squat and lift, just to show off at the beach in a bikini, or with hip hugger jeans while strolling somewhere doing nothing. I was in the garden lifting some rocks and roots, and snap … no more bling.

Solution: hardware store chain again, but I added a small ring to it at a distance from the end to hook into, leaving the rest dangling. After a while I also found a metal bead to hang at the dangling end to make it look nicer if I wore something showing a bit of bare waist (since now I could!).

My main tools for achieving this “showable” waist, were BFFM (Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle) for about 6-8 months, but I switched to a winning combination of EODD (Every Other Day Diet) and 7MM (7 Minute Muscle) that I’ve been following for the past year and a half and I don’t see any need to ever change to anything else as far as nutrition plan, and the workouts I’ll change a little just for variety’s sake.

You can get your own copies right here:

EODD   http://tinyurl.com/myEODD

7MM     http://tinyurl.com/7MinMuscl

BFFM    http://tinyurl.com.4ez2ga    

I still use the chain-trick too. When I know we’re going to a “do” where I suspect the presence of a lot of foods, I strap on my chain under my clothes and make sure it’s hooked up snugly. As soon as I feel it dig into me, I slow down on the consumption of the foods presented. And it works.

Believe you me, I’ve tried the

Detailed eating and drinking plan written down before I go

Note on my cell-phone set to go off during the meal to remind me to watch out

Writing my goal weight/ bodyfat percentage in my hand like a school girl’s cheat-note

Hubby telling me the goal-weight number during the meal if I reach for something I shouldn’t

Kicks under the table for the same things

The chain works better, because it’s a physical reminder which is there all the time.  I often didn’t hear the cell; hubby wouldn’t notice and warn me because he was caught up in a conversation and didn’t see I was having my third of something one would have been plenty of; the detailed plan, even well rehearsed, evaporated from my mind at the sight of a freshly made lemon pie; and the note in my hand? Heck, there was a fork in that hand people!

Just a little trick; but it’s often the little things, the details, which keep you on track. If you can, get a bling-chain (remember, no lifting while you wear it) or a sturdier hardware chain; or if you can afford it a length of gold or silver chain, why not!? I’ve made a silver one out of two necklaces and one bracelet (I had a set and mom had just the necklace but gave it to me years ago) for dressier occasions like a pool party in a bikini

Battles are won, battles are lost; what counts is to win the war – the declared war on excess bodyfat. This little trick is tool to help win one type of battle: the eating-party battle.

Until next time, train with purpose and eat clean!

Sarah, CPT

www.trainwithsarah.com