The Canadian Broadcast Company's Science Channel National Geographic Reports on SUGAR. (2015)

like a bird hunting for a worm, you have to work for it.

well, i may be onto something here, as this is the third blog post on the same topic: laziness. in conversation with a friend today i was discussing the topic in the context of not only food but life. about being tired and the times when one doesn't feel like choosing the right foods and then have to chop and prepare them or when one doesn't feel like going for a walk and she reminded me that there is so much joy in these processes. for instance, taking a walk and noticing that what was no more than a little seedling yesterday was a flower today. these simple pleasures, that are the food of life, are lost when we choose instead to stay home and sleep or spend just a little longer checking our facebook profile updates like status. and then she said something that may stick with me for the rest of my life, she said, (in regard to whole living practices)

"health is my first job. just like a bird needs to go out a catch a worm to eat in the morning."

i love that: "it's my first job". my first job is to take the action required to keep my body+mind+spirit in good working order so that i may truly be present and serve in some way on this planet. you have to work for it. that's very different from being lazy. in our culture we are taught that you earn money (or acquire money) and then you are entitled to buy things. the more you have the more you can get. you can have what you want, pre-fab food, a sedentary lifestyle,and mindless consumption. why? because you can pay for it!
to have stuff is to prove you are worth stuff. more stuff = more self worth. really? i could get into the whole hoarding culture thing here, or obesity/self worth thing here, but that's not really the point. it's simpler than that:

matthew 6/26
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.

the future and food

to celebrate my birthday, it flew north to spend some time with a friend in the bay area, land of the original fruits and nuts. i'm enjoying my stay. people seem smarter here. more open here. more connected here. so it does not surprise me that they are ahead of the curve on food consciousness too. every body up here knows exactly what i am talking about when i go off on probiotics and integrated nutrition. even my friend's healthy young son, a berkley student, was talking about white fat cells vs. white fat cells and how it relates to weight loss. it seems the next generation will have a whole new wealth of information about body science to help guide their nutritional choices (thanks in part by all the research that has gone into space travel)

the future of food is changing. experts are predicting that by 2030 nearly half of americans will be obese. the fat will get fatter and the strong will get stronger. it's a matter of educating ourselves, changing life habits, and demanding healthier, whole food options from our schools, stores and eating establishments.

30 pounds to passion (i'm getting there!)

i have now lost 30 pounds, turned my diabetes around and have perfect blood pressure!

to day is my birthday! i started this blog and my new improved 50 POUNDS TO PASSION lifestyle just a little over 3 months ago and have now i have now dropped 30 pounds, turned my diabetes around and have perfect blood pressure! the first thing i see when i look in a mirror or reflective glass window when i am walking down the street is no longer my big belly protruding from my body, but someone i barely recognize: the new improved me!

i am so happy to know that there are a few individuals out there who are following me on this journey and even joining me in it. it pleases me to know that i have inspired others to take action towards a healthy, more passionate life. but i really do want to reach out to more people out there who are suffering now the way i was just a few months ago. feeling hopeless that the medical community's idea of fixing diabetes and obesity is just prescription drugs and lighthearted encouragement to "exercise". i want to reach those people. can you help me?

for my birthday gift today, would you forward this link to 3 people you might know who could use a dose of improved health in body+mind+spirit: 

https://www.50poundstopassion.com 

thanks for being here. thanks for caring. and thanks for sharing!

the "killing me softly" carbs

these foods will kill you if you eat too often.

TOP 10 WORST DIABETES-CAUSING "FAST CARB” FOODS

these foods help to heal your body and mind.

1. White bread, toast, bagels, English muffins, bread sticks
2. Fruit juice, soda, energy drinks and all sweetened beverages
3. Waffles, pancakes, French toast
4. Pastries, coffee cake, muffins, donuts, cupcakes, cake
5. Jams and jellies, especially those with added sugar or sweeteners.

6. Boxed breakfast cereals
7. ―Instant‖ hot cereals, including instant oatmeal
8. Tortillas; corn or white flour
9. Large portions of home fries, hash browns and other potato dishes
10. White ―minute‖ rice

Other foods to avoid, because they are high in sugar or other sweeteners, dangerous oils and/or processed flours (and low in fiber and nutrients): Snack cakes, energy bars, marshmallows, candy, flavored gelatin and pudding, commercially flavored and sweetened yogurt, potato chips, corn chips, pretzels, crackers, desserts, cookies, cake, ice cream, pie, commercially-made sweet breads and pastries

food as medicine

once you get beyond the idea that processed and fast foods taste good and nourish you, there is a whole new world of food that awaits discovery. educating oneself about herbs, enzymes, probiotics, roots and sprouting has can be a steep learning curve, but a welcome one. when i first started researching juicing, i was amazed at the long list of healing properties associated with most fruits and veggies, and the lack of nutritional value, even detrimental effects of others foods. as difficult as it is to stay focused on healthy eating habits when not actually losing much weight, i have to remind myself that with every healthy eating choice i make i am actually healing my body from the inside out.

in dr. andrew weil's anti-inflammatory diet (for weight loss) he lists turmeric, ginger and boswellin as key nutrients to aid in healing.

real food doesn't need a label

trust your body's ability to heal

diabetes: an animated explanation

diabetes is a not an easy thing to understand. this video is the best explanation i have found on this complicated topic, so i am sharing it here with you today. take the time to educate yourself about the signs of diabetes so that you may spot it in yourself or a loved one in its early stages. the mainstream medical community is slowly coming around to the idea that this disease may be managed, even reversed, to some extent by exercise and dietary restrictions. as you will see in this video, obesity is a contributing factor in type 2 diabetes. learning to spot the warnings early is vital in managing good health.

Probiotics are the good!

In my search for reasons for my slow weight loss, I found this information:

While diet is important, what is metabolized and utilized is key. Without proper utilization of nutrients, weight does not come off, diet changes are ineffective, and you become disillusioned. In order to metabolize the foods eaten, a working digestive system is essential. The pancreas makes enzymes that break down all carbohydrates into sugars. Carbohydrates are eaten in the form of breads, pasta, grains, cookies, candy, fruit and vegetables. As the body ages, the pancreatic output of enzymes decreases by 12% each decade starting at age 30. By age 50 pancreatic enzyme production is down by 25%. This is one of the reasons why digestive issues start around age 30.
Enzymes are also present in the food we eat, if raw foods are eaten. Years ago, people ate a lot more raw foods than we do today. Whenever food is cooked or processed, the digestive enzymes are destroyed.
Any time antibiotics are taken, both good and bad bacteria are destroyed. This is the reason there are often digestive problems during or after antibiotic use. Probiotics are the good, live bacteria that coat and protect our digestive tract, which are destroyed by antibiotics. Probiotics assist pancreatic enzymes in breaking down the food we eat. This is why it is important to take an enzyme and probiotic supplement together, especially when there are digestive issues.
With the decrease in pancreatic production as we age, and the increased consumption of cooked foods, we simply do not have sufficient enzymes to break down the foods we eat. When food enters the stomach and there are an insufficient amount of enzymes to break it down, the stomach produces more acid to try to break down the food.

To successfully burn fat you need a delicate balance in your routine. Make sure you have optimal digestive function, with the right amount of digestive enzymes and probiotics so that your body can easily lose weight by burning fat. Eating a diet rich in raw foods, alkaline fresh fruits and vegetables, and eating frequently will aid with weight loss. Combining every area of fitness is what will enable you to reach your goals, along with consuming the proper nutrients from your foods and supplementation.

Here is some additional info on Probiotics.

liver cleanse tea

as i re-boot my diet, i am 
 increasing fresh raw foods and adding this liver elixir cleanse. i am discovering as i continue my research that diabetes and obesity are almost always linked. and as noted here these things are often associated with heart disease and liver issues. (gosh, the news just gets better and better!) however, according to dr. oz this liver restart can actually help heal the liver and get it to functioning normally again.

start your day right: with a "greenie"!

i kicked the coffee habit and replaced it with green smoothies. it's better to get real nutrients in my system early in the morning than a cup of coffee, which seems to trigger my old desire for bagels, bacon and eggs and my endless (fruitless) quest for the perfect american-cornbeef hash. just because "the greenie" is popular with health nuts, runners, dancers and athletes doesn't mean i can't join in on the fun. all you need is a blender and some fresh and frozen foods. i like smoothies (with protien powder) better than pure juices as they don't tend to spike my sugar levels as much, which is something i need to be mindful of. there are a million smoothie and juicing recipes online but not all are low-cal and some are actually packed with fruit sugars, so choose wisely. here  is one of my own recipes that sounds kind of gross, but tastes great!

timo's greenie
add all into blender and blend until smooth

3/4 cup coconut milk
1/2 cup frozen kale
1/2 frozen banana
1 sliced (and cored) granny smith apple
1 scoop low-carb protein power
1 heaping spoon flax seed power
1 big dash of cinnamon 
 3/4 cold green tea
1 scoop clear fiber (orange flavor)

of course the best thing about greenies is that you throw what ever you have in the fridge that's fresh and it ends up tasting good...and when they don't taste good, you still know that what you're drinking is good for you! experiment!

emo-eating

there has been lots of talk about emotional eating. and the ins and outs of what that means is probably very complicated. clearly the sub-conscious mind is at work here, and the ego, and probably self-loathing of one kind or another for one reason or another. i have never heard of anyone who has lost weight as a direct result of psycho-analysis. but recognizing the warning signs of when this type of eating is occurring may help to putting an end to it. 

what are the telltale signs of emotional eating? what foods are the most likely culprits when it comes to emotional eating? and how it can be overcome? 

How to Tell the Difference

There are several differences between emotional hunger and physical hunger, according to the University of Texas Counseling and Mental Health Center web site:

1. Emotional hunger comes on suddenly; physical hunger occurs gradually.
2. When you are eating to fill a void that isn't related to an empty stomach, you crave a specific food, such as pizza or ice cream, and only that food will meet your need. When you eat because you are actually hungry, you're open to options.
3. Emotional hunger feels like it needs to be satisfied instantly with the food you crave; physical hunger can wait.
4. Even when you are full, if you're eating to satisfy an emotional need, you're more likely to keep eating. When you're eating because you're hungry, you're more likely to stop when you're full.
5. Emotional eating can leave behind feelings of guilt; eating when you are physically hungry does not.

restriction now or restriction later?

while telling a friend about the 50 POUNDS program he said, wanting to be helpful, "it's not a diet, it's a life style!". and i said, "no. it's a diet and a lifestlye". i know where he was going with with this: nobody wants to be on a diet anymore! but guess what. it is what it is.
yes i am changing the way i eat, think and move, but at the end of the day i am still eating way less than i used to and sometimes i am hungry and sometimes it's hard. there is no way i am going to lose weight unless i restrict what i eat and how much i eat. no way around that fact. you can sugar coat it until the cows come home but them's the facts mame.
like "diet" and "obesity", "restriction" is an unpopular term. nobody likes hearing about that. if this conjurers up feelings, like "i don't get to have what they're having? what am i, a second class citizen?" you are not alone. and the answer is YES! you don't get to "have what they are having" because you are obese and they are not.
the good news is. if you can live with restricting what you EAT now, you will not have to restrict what you DO later. you will be able to sit where you like, walk where you want for as long as you want, hike, go to parties wearing dapper outfits and anything else you have a mind to do. what i am saying is: with restrictions comes freedom. you choose.

here is a link to the it sux to be fat blog that lists many of the things that being over-weight restricts.

response-ability

taking responsibility for our actions in nothing more than paying attention to what we see, hear, touch (external stimuli) and then react to the best of our ability. (response-ability). taking response ability seriously is important in many ways. when we go to see our doctors we are temporarily employing them to use their response-ability to assess our physical or mental needs. but it is our response-ability to make right choices every day ultimately determines if we flourish or perish?

hey this is funny: 
if we train ourselves to get fast at making good responses we could call it response-ajility! training our minds to make the right choice time after time in quick succession.

can't vs won't

do you remember when you were a child and asked "can i go to the bathroom" and the answer was not yes or no but rather a correction? because the proper way to ask is "may i go to the bathroom".
these distinctions are important.
bearing this in mind, consider how we are likely to speak when we are on a diet. one might say "oh i can't eat one of those frosted doughnuts. i'm on a diet!". but this is stinkin' thinkin'! because fact is, we can eat the doughnut (or whatever) if we want to...our mouths can chew, right?
when we say can't we are denying ourselves a pleasure we may think we deserve. and eventually we will build-up resentments which will culminate in a splurge or eat-fest or worse the end of our eating program.
the place we want to be in body/mind/spirit is to say "i won't eat that doughnut and further more, i don't want that doughnut. because my own good health is very important to me." or even "i respect myself too much to eat that doughnut". no denial there! just self empowerment, awareness, personal responsibility.
try it!

the obesity factor & stigmatization

for me, coming to terms with the fact that i am actually obese has help me begin to deal with my current weight in realistic terms. i started by looking up the ugly word OBESITY online. then i began to appreciate some of the complexities of the problem that i had been ignoring in the past. i was interested to know that: Obesity is stigmatized in much of the modern world, though it was widely perceived as a symbol of wealth and fertility at other times in history, and still is in some parts of the world. A person who is stigmatized possesses a weight that leads to a devalued social identity, and is often ascribed stereotypes or other labels denoting a perceived deviance which can lead to prejudice and discrimination. Common, “weight-based”, stereotypes are that obese persons are lazy, lack self-discipline, and have poor willpower, but also possess defects of intelligence and character.

"the bacchanal is over"

while speaking with my new (unbeknownst to her) mentor, who is about 80 now and freely speaks her mind, i was told on no uncertain terms that i was "too round" and "unhealthy". Then she moved in and almost whispered into my ear, "You've had a pretty good go of it! but look at you now, and if you don't make some kind of change in your diet and exercise where will you be when your 60?" She raised her eyebrow in a knowing way and then said,"For you... the Bacchanal is over!".

 "well!" i thought to myself, "that's quite a bold thing to say. and it's true!"
it suddenly struck me like a bag of bricks that what she was saying was true! my physical ailments were bound to start popping up as i age, and those ailments will only be complicated by my increasing morbid obesity. it was time to make some positive changes in my awful habits.

it was in that moment i decided that i would change! this was the beginning of a new me. a sensible me. a healthier me.
i'd start improving my health immediately. i'd discontinue my use of alcohol. unlike food, i don't need THAT to survive i rationed. it's would be a very clear and simple change. ending the bacchanal would be a sobering experience. no more happy-hour drink specials, accompanied by happy hour foods, which often lead to post-happy-hour binging, which could ultimately leads to feelings of guilt and self-loathing, followed by more drinking+eating and a sort of sluggish hang-over the next day that would not be conducive to an early morning walk, or swim or any other types of healthy exursion.

so be it! the bacchanal is over!

finding the balance

recently, when i was "home" visiting family for the holidays, i experienced some emotional upsets. it seems that i am still so sensitive about certain trigger issues after all these years. when talking to a brother later on about my experiences, suggested that i needed to address these unresolved emotional issues in an unusual way: by losing weight. he reasoned that getting my weight into balance may help resolve the other mind/spirit issues. this is something i never considered before. is my body out of balance because of the mind/spirit issues? or is my mind/spirit out of balance because of the body imbalance? just as in making adjustments to the colors on a painting, changing one thing changes everything else, perhaps making a few corrections in one or two areas can help bring the whole into correctness.

the "hoarder mentality"

in america today we are taught from a very early age that the more you have the better you are: more money=success. we were raised and live in the advertising age. fancy cars, huge burgers, the newest fashions, the biggest houses are all the symbols of success. it's no wonder that our culture is the first to develop a a thing called compulsive hoarding. although researchers have only recently begun to study hoarding, according to the mayo clinic, "It is not clear whether "compulsive" hoarding is a separate, isolated disorder, or rather a symptom of another condition, such as OCD".
like obesity, this is a complicated issue. but one thing is clear, there is a growing need in our society to have more. because not having enough is a sign of weakness. could these concepts be the under-pinnings of some people's desire to eat more, as if they cant get enough?
compulsive hoarding and compulsive eating are related enough for me to wonder about my insatiable desire to eat. does my compulsive eating attempt to fill the same empty hole inside me that compulsive hoarding fills? i am not an expert, but i do know that it sometimes feels that way.
for years i have said, "most people struggle to have more. but i struggle to have less".  and it's true, it is a struggle to have less. i live simply and believe in the power of austerity. as i am beginning to come to terms with my over-weight reality, i wonder if it would be possible for me to transfer my approach to "having less" to one of "eating less"?