Doctors will tell you that eight glasses of liquidity per day is enough…any liquidity. I disagree. While eight glasses are far too little, many women have a problem drinking even that much water every day. Many clients tell me that they have a problem swallowing the water.
The main reason is because your body is not used to drink plain water. It may take several weeks to get used to drinking water at all and then to get used to drinking up to three liters per day. That’s the amount a slim person needs. Now if you’re overweight, you will even need more than that. But let’s start with three liters per day.
Now why am I saying that it has to be water. In fact, I will even as far as telling you that everything else you drink during the day will not count towards the three liters.
There is something very important to understand about drinking. Water is an information carrier, and your body distinguishes between water and liquid “food”. Anything added to the water is considered to being “food” and not used for cleansing purposes. But the body desperately needs the water for cleansing. Ask yourself, would you ever use coffee, tea, juice, soda pop or a smoothie to clean your house? Rather not. In order to carry out the toxins and acids, your body needs clean water without any additions.
Now to the problem to swallow water (what many people have who are not used to drinking plain water). First of all, you and your bladder will get used to after a while. Start small and add one glass per day every week. One way of making it easier to drink water is to find out what temperature works best for you. My body, for example prefers the water to be almost hot, others want it warm, and still others need it ice-cold. To begin with, drink it at the temperature that works best for you.
Generally speaking, to enhance the metabolism, hot water is best. But don’t heat it in the microwave oven, otherwise you will start another negative and fat-creating chain reaction. Boil the water in a water heater and add as much hot water to the cold water as you can tolerate.
How to Know If You’re Dehydrated
Unfortunately, most people live in a chronic state of dehydration. This leads to massive health issues. The problem is that most people don’t even recognize the sensation of thirst anymore. When your mouth is feeling dry, you’re already heavily dehydrated.
Other symptoms are dry lips and eyes. If you don’t deal with dehydration ASAP, heavier symptoms will be chronic fatigue, irritability, brain fog, constipation, and rapid pulse.
Why water for better weight loss?
You have more energy and being active is easier.
Your body can better detoxify what leads to faster weight loss.
Your body can better release acid what leads to faster weight loss.
Your liver needs the water to better burn fat.
Water increases calorie burning.
Most people can’t distinguish between hunger and thirst and eat when they’re thirsty what leads to more food intakes than they really need. Thus drinking more water leads to weight loss.
It may suppress your appetite.
Water boosts your metabolism.
Drinking more water make exercise easier and more efficient.
Most drinks contain calories. Drinking water could help reduce your overall liquid calorie intake.
Water transports nutrients in our bloodstream and aids in digestion. Thus you get less hungry.
Water improves the lubrication of your joints.
Additional benefits:
You’ll save a lot of money
Your over-all health improves.
Water may improve motivation and reduce stress
Drinking enough water reduces brain fog and increases focus and concentration.
Water keeps your skin bright
Water regulates blood pressure
Water is vital for the function of nearly all of the body’s systems.
What kind of water should you drink?
The best water would be clean spring water, but many people don’t have access to spring water.
The second best is tap water. If you don’t have good tap water, invest in a good water filter.
I don’t recommend drinking bottled water. But sometimes you just don’t have a choice. In that situation I recommend changing the water brand often and don’t drink any mineral water with carbonic acid.
If you want to speed up your detoxification, you can drink a glass of distilled water per day.
How much water do you need?
Slim people need 3 liters of water per day. Overweight people need 4 to 5 liters of water per day, depending on their weight. You can check the color of your urine. If your kidneys are healthy, your urine will be dark and smelly when you don’t drink enough water. Light yellow is ideal.
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in the United States recommends women to drink 2.700ml per day and men to drink 3.700ml per day.
How can you track your water intake? It helps me to keep track on the amount of water by filling four 1-liter glass bottles in the morning. By dinner they have to be empty.
Why salt?
80% of the planet consists of salt water. Likewise our body is made of 80% of salt water. Most of all, you need the salt for the electrolytes.
Forget about any additives. The only thing your body absolutely needs is a few grains of salt in every second or third glass of water, but only enough for the water to taste soft and not salty. But please, don’t use any salt. Organic sea salt, Himalayan salt, or organic stone salt is best.
Reasons why you need salt with your water:
Because of the electrolytes
Because our body consists to 80% of water
Our blood is “salt water” as well
Your body can better bring the water to every part and transport all the toxins and acid away from your soft tissue
It makes the water feel soft and thus it’s easier to drink
How to change your drinking habits step by step
Week 1: Replace all other drinks by water – use the same cup or bottle you usually use for your coffee, tea, pop, juice, etc.
Week 2: drink a glass of hot water right after getting up in the morning before breakfast
Week 3: drink a second glass of water right after the first one in the morning and add a few grains of Himalayan salt, organic sea salt, or organic stone salt
Week 4: whatever else you drink, take an additional 2 glasses of water before lunch (500ml)
Week 5: whatever else you drink, take an additional 2 glasses of water before dinner (500ml)
Week 6: drink an additional 500ml of water between breakfast and lunch
Week 7: drink an additional 500ml of water between lunch and dinner
Further tips:
Make it a habit to finish a glass of water all at once. Don’t put the glass out of your hands until it’s empty.
Fill three to four 1-liter bottles in the morning and make it a habit to drink throughout the day so that all four bottles will be drunk before dinner. Start slowly and increase your daily water intake every week or two. Your body first needs to learn to deal with more water.
Stop drinking water three hours before going to bed.
At the beginning you will have to go to the toilet more often. That’s normal. After a few months your body begins to deal with the increased amount of water differently and increase the volume of the bladder. So be prepared that you will need to visit the toilet more often at the beginning. That’s the price you have to pay for faster weight loss and improved overall health.
Habits are among the biggest stumbling blocks regarding weight loss and make it close to impossible to move beyond a certain weight. Habits constantly sabotage even your strongest weight loss goals. They can completely bypass your mind and your willpower and make you act without you even being aware of.
Habits can’t be overcome with discipline and willpower. There is no discipline strong enough to over-rule habits.
Habits can’t be eliminated. They’re burned into our brains. For these reasons, habits seem to be very hard to overcome because most people try to overrule them with willpower and discipline. That will never work.
Habits can only be transformed.
Learn how to transform all fattening habits and you’ll start losing weight seemingly automatically. By the way, there are eight groups of habits which contribute to weight gain and the inability to lose it.
Changing your fattening habits will not only make it much easier for you to lose weight, it will also automatically help you improve any other health issues you may have.
If you want to learn more about improving your drinking habits and other slimming habits, check out my free webinar about Habit Transformation. During this 90-minute webinar you will learn the eight groups of habits that contribute to weight gain and how to transform poor habits vs. trying to fight them with willpower and discipline, among many other important things.
Is your health and weight loss goal worth five to fifteen minutes of your time every day?
If you want to learn a process that leads you to constant weight loss success by baby stepping, check out my Facebook group.
Here you can get a feeling for the 4 Pillars of Weight Loss process for free. Simply join my closed Facebook group where you can go through the process by taking tiny daily baby steps completely stress free and still make tremendous progress.
This group is only for women who are willing to take daily action steps for 150 days!
In 2016, a physician from the UK, Dr. Rangan Chatterjee gave a TEDx talk about disease, and the title of his talk was How To Make Disease Disappear, chronic diseases. He started overthinking his medical knowledge when his 5-year old son nearly died. So he went back to study human health further and learned in the process that he was much more efficient as a doctor when he eliminated the root causes instead of treating the symptoms.
While I was watching the video I always thought, “This is exactly the same like with weight loss.” Being overweight is most of the time a chronic disease as well.
Then he said something that pieked my interest even more – something I have already known for years, but now I got proof for that by a physician. He said that the medical society is quite good at treating acute diseases, but that the problem is that they try to treat chronic diseases the exact same way like they treat acute diseases. He continued saying that chronic and acute diseases are two completely different things and require completely different strategies.
While I was watching I was jumping up and down on my seat and constantly exlaiming, “Yes! Yes! Exactly! Finally a doctor is talking about that important topic! Yeah!”
He then went on talking about the causes, and named things like:
eating too much junk food
chronic stress
sleep deprivation (just one night of sleep deprivation can lead to the same insuline resistance like six months of eating junk food)
chronic inflammation
physical inactivity
a lack of exposure to the sun (lack of Vitamin D)
discruptions in the gut microbiom
Does that sound familiar to you? If you’re on my list for longer, it certainly should.
“The problem is that there are many different causes of insuline resistence (for example). And if we don’t address the causes for that particular patient, we will never get rid of the disease.” –Dr. Rangan Chatterjee
Now when he said, “Diseases are the symptom…” he really began to speak my ‘language’. Instead of asking, “What is the cure to this disease?” he began to ask, “What is the root cause? What triggered the disease?” Like I say it regarding weight issues, Dr. Chatterjee also says that when many people have the same disease, they can all still have different root causes which lead to the very same disease. This is exactly the same like with excess weight. Each overweight person has her own individual set of root causes.
The root causes he lists for ANY diseases are:
Stress
Sleep
Physical Activity
Gut Health
Infections
Environmental Toxins
Sunlight
Diet
Every single chronic disease he was talking about could be associated with one or several of these root causes. And he clearly said that once ALL of the INDIVIDUAL root causes where eliminated, the body could begin to heal and the disease will be reversed.
All these causes plus many more I have been sharing with you for years. But did you take this seriously? Did you believe me? Did you take care of your root causes? If not, it is my hope that you begin to listen now and believe what comes from a doctor’s mouth.
“We need to update our thinking. Our genetics are NOT our destiny! Our genes load the gun but it’s our environment that pulls the trigger.” –Dr. Rangan Chatterjee
Although this talk only covers physical causes like sleep, exercise, gut health, etc., it still applies to maintainable weight loss as well. Because extra weight – especially obesity – is nothing else but a chronic disease.
Everything – literally everything – Dr. Chatterjee said in his talk completely and totally applies to our topic weight loss as well. EVERYTHING, with no exception.
Just think about, if you only could start changing these eight physical root causes Dr. Rangan mentioned, how far would you get? Changing the physical root causes is what leads to fast weight loss. Then, once you will be ready to take it a step further, you and I can begin to talk about the impact your emotions, your mindset, your subconscious mind – your psychology – has on your weight and how you can reverse that part of the issue.
Those of you who know me longer and better will not be surprised when I say that I take this further….much further. I firmly believe that we humans are body, mind, and spirit and that we can’t get cut in pieces or slices. We are whole beings and need to be treated as such, on the body, mind and spirit levels. Then you will begin to make your weight loss MAINTAINABLE!
“We need personalized medizine. We need precision medicine. If you actually take a step back, this is preventative medicine in its purest form.” –Dr. Rangan Chatterjee
Likewise we also need a personalized weight loss strategy. Each of us has her individual bunch of possible root causes that need to be addressed to lose weight. That’s why the diet approach is so ridiculous. Although exercise is very important for good health as well as for a nicely toned body, it still should never be the only tactic, especially for women.
“We have to stop applying 20th Century thinking to 21st Century problems. We need to take back control, empower ourselves and re-educate ourselves away from our fear of disease and right back down the curve to optimal health.” –Dr. Rangan Chatterjee
For thousands of years people got only fat through crapulousness. Therefore cutting down on the amount was the only way of losing weight back then. But today we live in a complex world with complex problems. We have hormonal problems, we have a toxic overload, we have food intolerances, we live in an overradiated world where our sleep is constantly disturbed. No longer is diet the only cause of weight gain, actually, with so much healthy food we have today it hardly ever is. And therefore it seldom is the solution either. It can sometimes be part of an overall weight loss strategy, but even then you would look behind the eating habit and ask “Why?” Very often overeating has deeper causes, some are of physical nature (i.e. a parasite overgrowth) and other causes are psychological.
Complex problems call for complex solutions. So let’s start right away by eliminating one cause after the other, like pealing an onion.
Now allow me to change one of Dr. Chatterjee’s statements and adjust it to the topic weight loss:
If we do that (take back control, empower ourselves and re-educate ourselves away from fear to optimal health) – you and I together – we can not only change our weight and health, the weight and health of our families, next the weight and health of our communities, and eventually the weight and health of the entire world.
Did you know that from your body’s perspective weight gain is a life saving mechanism?
In my last blog post I scratched the surface of the acid-alkaline imbalance and the toxins.
In its wisdom, our body stores acid and toxins away in fat tissue.
Why does it do that?
Because, if toxins and acid would get into the blood stream and the vital organs, we would quickly die. Storing these substances in the fat tissue does the organism the least harm. Of course, the body knows that it begins to look ugly, but this is the lesser of two evils.
Fortunately the body knows exactly what it has to do and it does that without fail….as long as it is mainly healthy. Of course, when the toxic and acidic load gets too much, there comes a point when the body can no longer deal with.
“I think now we are in the experimental time with all of human creation in genetically modified, and irradiated, and sprayed with pesticides, Monsantos injecting into seed round up ready alfa alfa seeds and corn and all of these stuff that have pesticides injected right into it, so you eat the pesticide when you eat the food. And we are in a experimental world right now, we don’t know the nightmares that we are creating.” –Cherie Calbom
Let me repeat that:
We don’t know the nightmares that we are creating for ourselves, our weight, our health, and our longevity.
Thank goodness our body is smart and it follows exactly the rules of nature….without fail…..24/7……365 days a year.
Isn’t that a good reason to be very grateful to our body and to love it deeply?
But you and I know that most overweight women are far from being appreciative toward their bodies.
When you buy a new car, you probably decide to use premium gasoline because the car runs longer with the better quality fuel. You know that if you would use the cheaper regular fuel your car would die sooner and you don’t want to buy a new car earlier than necessary. Besides, repairs would cause even higher costs. You treat it well to prevent it from getting rusty. You get regular oil changes and the breaks tested. You treat it well and clean it well. So you are wise and you do what’s best for your car.
When the oil lamp goes on, you take the car to the garage and get the leaky oil tank fixed. You pump gas before it’s completely down because you don’t want to walk miles to the next gas station. You treat your vehicle wisely and take care well.
But how about your body?
Do you eat organically grown fruits and vegetables? Do you eat clean animal products from grass fed and organically fed animals? Do you eat foods that haven’t been tampered with and genetically modified just for the sake of bigger profits? Do you take your time to lovingly cook a healthy meal or do you just throw a pre-made pizza or an aluminum box with lasagne into the microwave oven?
Are you taking care of your body well? Do you love, pamper it, thank it, shine it?
“And it’s the same way with us, we can say, well this food it’s cheaper or tastes better or whatever and I would just rather do this, but what is happening to our bodies when we do that? They are dying.” –Cherie Calbom
What is very interesting is that we often treat our cell phones, TV sets and cars wiser than we treat our own body.
Why is it that people don’t get that?
The consequences come faster and are costly. When the body aches, you can go to the doctor and get a pain killer or a sleeping pill.
The body is saying, “Hey, wak up, wake up, I’m in stress, I need your help!” It’s constantly trying to communicate with us for our best survival.
But we don’t wake up. We don’t listen. People complain about the pain, about their headaches and sleeping problems. And then they go to the doctor and say, “I need a pill”. They don’t consider that their headache, pain or sleeping problem might be caused by a toxic or acid overload. And by taking pills that are loaded with toxins they make matters even worse.
“Often times we go to the doctor and they give us a pill and the pill has side effects, and then they give another pill to people and then another pill because it creates other side effects and they never get to the root of what caused the problem in the first place. Was the body screaming for help, either saying you are giving me too much of this bad stuff and not enough of what I need to create a healthy body?” –Cherie Calbom
Symptoms like headache, fatigue, sleeping problems, etc. are really all just signals, warning signals sent from our body.
Here too, I like to use the analogy with the car. When suddenly the oil lamp goes on, you have three choices: you can change the oil, you can smash the lamp so that it doesn’t burn anymore or you can ignore it. If you ignore it, the car will break and you will either need a new motor or a new car. You would only do that once and then never again. You can also smash the light bulb so that it doesn’t burn anymore, but that’s only symptom treatment, it doesn’t treat the cause. For every kind of problem you need to solve, you always have to look at the cause. The symptom is nothing but a warning signal that wants to encourage you to look at the cause and to eliminate the causel problem.
When you are faced with a symptom, you have three choices to deal with the symptom:
a) You can ignore it.
b) You can silence it (by taking pills).
c) You can eliminate or reverse the cause.
With your car you do that, you take care of you car. But most of us forget that symptoms like a headache or weight gain, for example, is nothing but a signal as well. It’s a lamp that goes on and tells you, hey, be careful, take care, there is something you have to change. But people take pills. You would be surprised how well many people can live without ever taking a pill.
Weight gain is a SYMPTOM too!
You don’t need to get a gastric bypass. You don’t need to take appetite suppressants. You don’t need to buy pre-maid and packaged ‘Light’ food. You don’t need a 1000 calorie diet.
All you need is common sense and love and respect for your body.
“We’ve been given on this earth all that we need for our good health, the herbs and the plants and the green leaves and the fresh vegetables and the whole grains that haven’t been tampered with, genetically modified and then if we are not vegan then clean animal products that are grass fed and pure and that was given to us on this earth. It’s time to go back to whole foods, that’s what gives our body that vibrant health and life.” –Cherie Calbom
But what can you do, you may ask.
Well, I’m glad you asked, because then there is hoope for you.
Keep your common sense and apply a healthy lifestyle. The answers are all there provided in nature.
Good health!
*****
A few years ago, I did over two dozen interviews with several health and weight loss coaches with a different approach than the diet approach. One of these experts was the bestselling American author Cherie Calbom. She is an expert in healthy eating and juicing. If you want to hear the whole interview with Cherie, you can go here and claim your free 2-week membership trial.
During such a difficult time, improving our overall health is more important than ever before. Nobody on this entire planet wants to be vulnerable to viruses right now. And there is much we can do about to improve our immune system.
One method is healthy eating and juicing.
One of the two dozen experts I have interviewed some years ago was bestselling author Cherie Calbom, and her field of expertise is juicing.
The first question I asked her is what she thinks the reason for the rising obesity epidemic might be. And this was her answer.
Toxins
“Because we increased sugar and we refined carbs to a great degree, and it’s in so many things that we eat. High fructose corn syrup and all forms of sugar like dextrose and maltodextrin, on and on, things that are hidden in packaged foods, prepared foods that we don’t even know are there, they cause imbalances in our body. All those junk foods, pesticides, toxins from so many sources cause weight gain. Toxins are very destructive to our delicate tissues and organs and so our body is going to do whatever it can to store those in fat cells which is the safest place to put them. And when it does that, it’s going to hold on to those fat cells and even make new ones to protect our bodies.”
“And so, when people start getting rid of the toxic food that are in their diet and detoxing with these wonderful vegetable juices that are so high in anti-oxidants, in come all the anti-oxidants and the body says, ‘I can let go some of these toxins now that are stored in fat cells and so I can let go of the fat cells’.”
pH Imbalance
“And then also acidity, we have a huge emphasis today on acid forming foods. That is different than acid tasting foods. People get very confused thinking how could meat or grains or sugar or alcohol, coffee, black tea, soda pop, sports drinks, energy bars, be acid forming, but they are. Those are acid forming foods and it’s how it breaks down in the body.” — Cherie Calbom
Unfortunately, people don’t eat nearly enough of those to balance their acid diets. You don’t have to cut out all acid forming foods. We need some of those too. But we need many more alkaline forming foods than acid forming foods.
Like with the toxins, the body is going to story acid in fat cells because it’s the safest place to put them. And then it will hang on to those fat cells literally for dear life.
Probably every weight loss coach on the planet has heard statements like, “I don’t eat hardly anything and I am gaining weight or not losing it.”
Then, when you look at what they’re eating, you can see that they’re eating all the wrong stuff. They even may be on a thousand calorie diet a day, but they are not feeding their body with the right food to assist it to get rid off the extra fat.
Sugar and Yeast
One of THE most acid-forming food is sugar.
“Sugar in our diet set us up for sugar imbalances and craving more sugar, insulin imbalances, spikes and dips when the insulin dips low. Then we need something to raise that blood sugar up quickly and people would turn to sweets. And when you eat a sweets, then the body shoots up more insulin and then it dips low and you are on a roller-coaster ride all day long of highs and lows and craving sweets and eating more and more of the stuff that just keeps you in a trap. And then all of that sets us up for yeast imbalances in our body,” Cherie said.
The Candida Albicans is a particularly tough yeast to get rid of because the yeast will cause strong sugar cravings. In fact, the Candida Albicans yeast can be very adament and persistant when it comes to eating sweets. The yeast feeds on sugar and refined carbs and in order to grow, it needs more and more sugar. And all the time you believe that it’s your body that is craving the sugar, but it’s the Candida.
So as we get on a good balanced, alkaline balanced diet, get the sweets out of our diet, begin to control those yeasts, our sugar cravings go away.
By understanding this simple truth and by taking the right action, even the worst chocoholics and sweetaholics can become free, get on a healthy, alkaline diet and lose massive amounts of weight.
Poor Absorption
Cherie continued, “All of these terrible foods that people eat so much of today, the packaged stuff with the refined foods, the junk food, the fast food, sets us up for poor digestion. And many people have come to me said, ‘my doctors told me I am not absorbing the food that I eat.’ Their systems are just not taking in the nutrients. Said that their calorie is high but the nutrients that the body is absorbing is low, so they’re literally starving in the midst of a high caloric intake.”
Cherie concluded: “And no wonder we have the obesity problem and all the health problems that we have. We are way off track.”
To remedy that, the fresh juices are a great solution because they are broken down so the body can absorb them easily.
Eating more greens and more fresh vegetables and fruits is an important first step, especially now during the Covid-19 pandemic. We need lots of vitamins from natural sources.
Then everybody who has a juicer wants to press their daily glass of fresh juices, preferrably from leavy foods like beet leaves, multi-colored Swiss chard, cauliflower leaves, cucumber, herbs, lettuce leaves, a couple of carrots, etc.
Eating healthy is not difficult at all. Humanity has made it complex and complicated because of all the prefabrication and the toxins added to make people addicted to unhealthy food. Just stay with the natural produce and you will not have a weight issue much longer. On top of that, you will soon realize that you and your family get healthier and have more energy.
Isn’t that worth the price of cooking from scratch?
Good health!
*****
A few years ago, I did interviews with over two dozen health and weight loss coaches with a different approach than the diet approach. One of these experts was the bestselling American author, Cherie Calbom. Her expertise is in healthy eating and juicing. If you want to hear the whole interview with Cherie, you can go here and claim your free 2-week membership trial.
What the whole diet industry is telling you is that diets were the solution for weight loss because of the calorie in vs. calorie out theory, but that theory is wrong and an utter lie. The fact is that dieting is not a cure for excess fat. Of course, healthy eating should be part of any sensible weight loss strategy. But dieting is not a healthy approach and causes many health issues.
One of the very important topics Dr. Susan Smith Jones talked about in our interview was the control mechanism for weight loss.
After you finish a diet, you may have lost some fat, but you have not lost your tendency to get fat. According to Dr. Susan, what we eat does not change muscle metabolism.
Most women are not happy with the shape of their bodies because most people go about it the wrong way by dieting. A woman I know is a fan of the vegan lifestyle, and she tries to convince every person she meets to go vegan as well, and she is very pushy about that. Although she is short and very thin, her body has a terrible shape. This is one of the typical results of a vegan lifestyle, and it’s the most harmless of all results.
Dr. Susan clearly says that diets don’t work, and she recommends, “You want to throw away any diet book you might have that tells you that you can lose weight and keep it off without moving a muscle.”
After you finish a diet, you may have lost some water, muscle mass, and maybe even a little fat, but you haven’t lost the TENDENCY to get fat.
Here is what you need to understand about metabolism:
The control mechanism for being overweight is not diet; it’s muscle metabolism.
“Your base for metabolic rate is the rate at which your body utilizes energy. In other words, how many calories you’re burning throughout the day.” –Dr. Susan Smith Jones
The higher your metabolism, the more fat you burn and the easier it is to lose weight, provided that everything else is working properly. To this, Dr. Susan adds that you can feed your muscles and your bodies with the best supplements, but if exercise is not part of the plan, you are not going to burn all the calories you need. And you will probably not have the nicely shaped body you want.
As we age, if we don’t keep lots of good lean muscle tissue on our body by working out, then the metabolism goes down. So the key to controlling metabolism is exercise. Exercise must be part of a good, sensible and effective weight loss strategy. Never settle for one tactic only.
To have a nicely formed body, we need aerobic exercise like walking, cross-country skiing, hiking, jogging to burn fat out of the muscles. And then we need to do some weight training to build up muscles which, in turn, increases the metabolism.
In my work as a weight transformation coach, I realized that about 50% of overweight women hate exercise. I was one of them for many years. But I promise, once you begin to do just a little bit of exercise, and if you do it daily no matter the weather, you will begin to like it, and then after a while, you even begin to need it, and it will get super easy to follow through with your exercise plan. To make it easier, Dr. Susan recommends the buddy system, especially at the beginning. When you know that your friend is waiting around the corner at 7 am, it’s easier for you to get out of your bed.
To begin with, just choose those activities you like the best. Most people can find something that they like to do. And if you can’t take 30 minutes or an hour a day, start with as little as 15 minutes per day. Even the busiest person can squeeze in 15 minutes. The main thing is that you do it daily without fail for the first 30 days. As soon as you realize that it works, you can find ways to increase the time or exercise for 30 minutes or 15 minutes twice daily.
Just in case you are one of the super busy women whose first reaction to this recommendation is, “But I can’t afford to take so much time for exercise every day,” let me ask you a question. What will happen in ten, twenty or thirty years if you don’t exercise regularly now? I’m sure you will come up with several health issues right away. And you’d be right.
Therefore, the question should not be, “Can I afford to take time for daily exercise?” Instead, the question should be, “Can I afford not to exercise daily?” What many people just don’t realize is the costs of a sedative and busy life.
If you want to lose weight, a minimum of half an hour of aerobic exercise every day is the minimum. Then make it a commitment to add some muscle training three times a week for 30 minutes consistently for the next six months. Within those six months, your body will add ten extra pounds of lean muscle tissue, and these ten pounds of muscle tissue will burn 500 more calories a day. These muscles will help you lose weight faster.
And here is an additional bonus. If you do as recommended, you can look 15 to 20 years younger within only one year. And this is according to major studies done at Duke University. Can you get that? Just exercise for one year and build 10 pounds of muscle tissue and look 15 to 20 years younger. It will work, no matter your current age. Isn’t that a no-brainer!?
Please remember what Dr. Susan said regarding choosing to be the CEO of your body and life. Therefore, adding that kind of exercise to your weight loss strategy could be the first step to being the CEO of your body and life. All it takes is a commitment.
We are creatures of habit, and when you get in a rut of doing the same things day in and day out, it may take some effort to change the habits. Just keep in mind that your current “rut” was created by your past choices and habits. So now, you can choose to implement new habits and create a new daily procedure. The right kind of exercise should always be part of our overall weight loss strategy.
*****
A few years ago, I did an interview with several health and weight loss coaches with a different approach than the diet approach. One of these experts was the bestselling American author, Dr. Susan Smith Jones. She quickly turned out to be one of the most amazing interview partners, and she spilled the beans in that interview. She held nothing back. If you want to hear the whole interview with Dr. Susan, you can go here and claim your free 2-week membership trial.
Currently, the world seems to be hidden under a gigantic clowd of fear, worry, and panic. The news channels seem to have only one topic: Coronavirus. It seems like the world has come to a screaching halt. There are so many different and even contradictory reports about the spreading of the Coronavirus what leads to even bigger confusion. Although the death numbers more sound like normal numbers like with any other winter flu to me (people are dying at any time of the year, not only during a so-called pandemy) the media publish new numbers every day. And the worst numbers are the added up ones what makes it look like quite a daunting number.
Corona-Gift #1: Relaxation Island
Hello and welcome!
During such a situation that is very stressful for many of us, I decided to give you a gift my clients usually have to pay for. May this help you get through the current corona crisis with less stress.
As you may know, stress is making matters worse not better. Stress is even adding on pounds and we want to prevent that from happening.
As a former stress-relief therapist I have created this short 10-minute relaxation for you to use as often as you like. If staying healthy is important to you, I recommend to do it three times during the day (although not directly before going to bed).
It takes some time until the body will react to, but once it will, you can be certain that your immune system is getting stronger daily.
Here is your gift:
Don’t use this relaxation tape shortly before going to bed becasue it increases your energy. The best times are upon waking up before breakfast, before lunch and before dinner.
Corona-Gift #2: 13 Tips to prevent yourself from getting sick
Almost all governements worldwide have issued various protective measures and implemented restrictive orders for the the people, which are, “Wash your hands”, “Sneeze into your ellbow”, and “Stay at home”. If we are facing a real pandemy, this seems quite rudimentary advice to me.
The importance of effective prevention and the appropriate strengthening of the immune system is hardly mentioned by the media, authorities and experts. Although this should be our very first concern. But the media are more concerned about which celebrity got infected and how much toilet paper they have to produce to cover the increased demand.
Prevention should always be given attention in the winter months anyway, but nobody seems to care about prevention for the 99,99999% of the people who are healthy.
Here are the most sensible preventive steps that can help your body to remain immune for viruses and to activate its fabulous self-healing power in case of an infection.
13 Steps how to remain healthy and give Corona no chance:
1.) Keep in mind the following fact: the body is perfectly capable of warding off any viruses and bacteria IF it has everything it needs. Therefore, as long as you are taking well care of your body and its immune system, you don’t have to worry about viruses. Just feed your body the right food.
2.) One of the best preventions is keeping an optimistic mindset. While fear weakens our immune system, positivity strengthens it. That doesn’t mean that we have to adopt a Polyanna mindset, but it means to be conscious about how we think and feel. Thoughts and emotions are energy, and if you are familiar with the law of attraction, you understand that we always attract what we are afraid of. Therefore, if you do not want to attract the Coronavirus, you should not even think about it, let alone allow fear, anxiety and panic to dominate your thinking and emotions.
Each time you realize that you are being fearful, stop and take a few deep breaths. Then shift your thinking to something else, preferrably to something you can still be grateful for. For instance, you can be thankful that you have more time with your family now, that you have more time for yourself, that you now finally can read that book you never had the time for, that you can meditate and relax every single day, that you can finish tasks you never had the time for and so on and so forth. Or you can simply be grateful that you and your loved ones are healthy and alive.
3.) To be on the safe side, follow the hygiene instructions of your government. Your own protection is only one part why I add this to my list. The second part is that when you follow these instructions, nobody can blame you for being irresponsible. Besides, a correct coughing and sneezing etiquette is always a good idea and should simply be part of good manners.
4.) Deep abdominal breathing has a profound effect on the flow properties on the blood. The blood then can transport more oxygen to the organs what increases the detoxification process what keeps your organs healthier. If you are not allowed to leave the house, step out on your porch or balcony or open the windows several times a day. Then hold your face up to the sun and breathe deeply for 10 minutes. Make sure that you breathe into your abdomen and breathe out deeply again. Imagine that your breathing is like the waves of the ocean: coming and going, coming and going, coming and going…. Do that several times a day. “Before and after” haemograms always proof clearly a big difference. While the red blood cells are often clumped together before the breathing exercise, they can float freely afterwards (no more clumping).
5.) Stress is one of the biggest contributing factor to any disease. Nothing weakens our immune system faster than stress. Therefore stress relief is the call of the hour. Although it may seem like normal to be stressed in such a worrisome time, the necessity to stop and refrain from what’s going on is life saving. Besides, most of us have more time now since we can’t leave our homes. So why not take advantage of this situation by giving your immune system a boost and practice to relax? With my last message I have sent you a gift, an audio with a relaxation session you can do at any time. Just don’t do it while driving or working with heavy machines. To do it properly you need to lay or sit down, close your eyes and allow your nervous system to completely let go. In that process of relaxing and letting go your immune system can recharge itself beautifully. The more often you practice this relaxation, the better you get and the faster and easier you can relax, even in times of stress. You can use my relaxation audio (it only takes 9 minutes) or any other relaxation method you may like. Just do it on a regular basis several times per day.
Here is the audio “Relaxation Island” (Corona-Gift #1) again:
Don’t use this relaxation tape shortly before going to bed becasue it increases your energy. The best times are upon waking up before breakfast, before lunch and before dinner.
6.)Fresh air and exercise is another way of improving your immune system. The combination of fresh air, sunlight and movement is simply ideal. Besides, it makes you feel great, happy and strong. Oxygen is more important than food. If you are one of those individuals who can’t go to work, it might be a great idea touse that time and go for a daily one-hour walk, play with your children outdoors, go on a bicycle tour or hiking tour. You will see that afterwards you will feel like all the power is back in your hands….and it is.
7.) Did you ever hear that a lack of sleep will lead to weight gain? So now you have the chance to sleep more (ideally 8 hours per night) and by doing so you can improve your immune system and at the same time lose weight. Especially during the flu season good and enough sleep is very much recommended.
8.) It’s no secret that a healthy and balanced diet supports our immune system. Health begins in our intestine, and optimal digestive function as a prevention of flu-like infections is crucial. A light and well-balanced diet – fresh and light meals, cut back on the carbs, eat lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, herbs, wild plants, sprouts and seeds – will aid your intestine to do a better job what will aid your immune system. Also cook from scratch and give your microwave oven a break. Microwaved food is dead and altered, thus toxic – your body simply can’t recognize it as food and stores it in fat cells to keep it away from the vital organs. This cloggs up your entire system, weakens the immune system, toxifies the body and leads to weight gain. If (since) you have more time now, there is no reason to use the microwave oven.
9.) When I was a child, each winter we had to swallow fish oil capsules in order to stay healthy. Gosh did I hate that. But today I understand why this was necessary. Thank goodness we have better alternatives nowadays. Vitamin D, E and C in high dosage are very important during the flu season. The combination of these two substances has proven to be very effective for the long-term strengthening of the immune system. This is a very important part of preventing a flu. But make sure that you get supplements from natural sources and not syntetically manufactured ones. Rather pay a few dollars more in your health food store than for supplements from the drug store. Together with vitamin D3 you should also take K2. And please don’t hesitate to add an Omega3 supplement.
10.) Besides the vitamins, minerals also play an important role for a healthy immune system. Zinc in particular increases the body’s defense mechanism and the protection of the lung – very important when facing the Coronavirus. Selenium is a strong antioxidant mineral and essential for various functions of the immune system and also for detoxification and cell protection.
11.) Many medicinal plants have an immune-strengthening, protecting and antioxidant effect. For prevention use products with echinacea, thyme, parsley, rosemary, basil, mint, ginger, turmeric, oregano, liquorice, rockrose, elderberry, rosehip, and horseradish. These plants can be ingested as tinctures, teas, in capsules or fresh in meals. The good news is that some of the mentioned herbs are great additions for the kitchen and improve every meal in taste. Nothing beats a salad with a handful freshly chopped parsley and basil or a pesto with fresh oregano. Why not take advantage of the unplanned “vacation” to experiment with new, healthy menues?
As soon as you begin to feel some flu-like symptoms, take 40 drops of echinacea tincture in a glass of water every two hours during the entire day until the symptons will be gone. Most of the time the flu will take its leave before it can really break out. If these symptoms don’t go away within a day or two, call the doctor. Keep in mind that the mentioned herbs are for prevention.
12.) The better your body can release toxins, acid and slag, the healthier your body remains. And to get rid of those in the fastest way possible, your body needs a lot of pure water (nothing added to it). If you are at a normal weight, three liters (102 oz or 300ml) per day is enough. But if you are overweight, you need four liters (135 oz. or 400ml or 1 gallon) of water daily. Add a small pinch of a healthy, organic salt to every third glass of water but nothing else. If you live in a city or in an area where you depend on community water, you should ideally filter your water. If you are not used to drink so much water, first replace all other drinks you usually drink during any given day with water. Then increase the amount of water slightly from week to week (for instance, increase your daily water intake for 500ml/17 oz. every week until you will have the three or four liters).
13.) Speaking of prevention we shall not forget one of the biggest contributors to illness. The virus has always been around and part of the winter flus. So why is it more severe this year? The problem is that the governments do not yet understand the severe danger of radiation (EMF). Some scientists are warning us from microwave radiation for many years, some even for more than two decades. So far that radiation has gone up linear, slightly increasing from year to year through cordless phones, mobile phones, Wi-Fi and all technical devices that communicate wirelessly. The cell phone and smart meter technology is based on microwaves and as we know, microwaves heat. Over the years the radiation was increased only slightly but regularly and steadily so that most people didn’t feel a difference. But last year in many western countries they began the roll-out of 5G which is said to be 17 times stronger than 4G. And that lead to a rapid increase of microwave radiation all around the planet and in the entire atmosphere.
Therefore, for the sake of prevention I highly recommnd to go hard-wired and reduce the use of cell phones, wireless phones, Wi-Fi, smart phones, robots, etc. to an absolute minimum and only for emergency cases if nothing else will work. At this time of your life you don’t need to be available 24/7 anyway, unless you have to work from home. But maybe even then your boss could call you on your land line. This will help your immune system to recover.
The electromagnetic radiation of such devices weakens the defence and detoxification ability of our organ systems and cells and impairs the regenerative and self-healing powers. Giving your body and immune system a break from radiation will be a very welcome change and help your body to improve its immune system and keep you healthy. Isn’t this the most important thing right now anyway?
Don’t forget the joy of life. Like attracts like! We can only attract the same Energy we send out through our thoughts and emotions. Negative thoughts and emotions bring back negative situations and circumstances and vice versa. If you start your day with a feeling of gratitude that you are alive and healthy and go through your day with joy and enthusiasm – by celebrating feelings of friendship, love, trust, hope, faith, and strength – that’s exactly what you will get. Pay very close attention to your thoughts and emotions and softly the negative ones into a more positive direction by changing your thinking. Pay very close attention to the information and news you are currently consuming. Don’t allow to get inundated. News are seldom positive and can make us feel helpless and hopeless. This is not helpful at all. Negative emotions have been proven to weaken our immune system. Whenever you feel helpless or hopeless, turn your attention back to gratitude, people you love and life-enhancing things.
And let’s not forget laughter – it’s said to be the best Medicine!
Aids for acute cases Should you have to stay in bed with symptoms of cold and fever, there are still several things you can do to support your body in the healing process.
Herbal teas with ginger, thyme or sage strengthen the immune system and free the respiratory tract. Camomile tea reduces the Inflammation. Drink a lot of these teas.
American Ginseng supports the lungs.
You can also apply a warming chest ointment from the drugstore or pharmacy.
Inhale with thyme, eucalyptus oil, American ginseng root or baking powder.
The intake of Umckaloabo (tincture) or acetylcysteine (available from the pharmacy) promotes the expulsion of mucus.
With bronchitis and pneumonia, potato, onion and mustard seed poultices have been found to be very effective.
If your symptoms do not improve, you should consult your naturopath, homeopath or doctor for individual advice.
As disasterous the effects of the corona virus are for the economy may be, there is still an advantage most people don’t realize. This crisis is forcing us to look at some things closer and change a few things in our lives for the sake of our health and the health of our loved ones.
Don’t allow the death numbers to impress you. Compared to the world population this is a minimal number. Of course each life counts, but please keep in mind that the people who die are old and/or have other diseases of which they probably would have died anyway. This may help you keep things in perspective. Follow the instructions of your government (just to be on the safe side) and on top of that try to implement these 13 steps to strengthen your immune system. This should get you a long way.
Corona-Gift #3: 17 Steps to healthy weight loss during Covid-19
Yesterday I read in the newspaper that because of the home quarantine people begin to gain weight. That doesn’t surprise me. Of course one issue is that people are sitting around more and move or exercise less. Then they also tend to eat more junk food because this gives them kind of a cozy feeling. But then there is also another psychological component to that.
In such a time where we are being told that our life is in danger – regardless whether this is true or not – we choose to prevent ourselves from starving by allowing the body to add more fat. This is a totally unconscious agreement between our brain and the body and is part of our survival mode. But that doesn’t mean that your weight gain is a given. You can still choose. You can over-rule your subconscious mind by becoming aware of. More about that in a minute.
Crisis always contains chances. And the Covid-19 crisis is no different. Everybody who is at home quarantine has received the gift of more time. And with that time we can do wonderful things and apply some new weight loss habits.
17 Steps how to lose weight during the Corona Crisis (instead of gaining weight)
Since most of the instructions above that lead to better health and a stronger immune system also lead to faster and easier weight gain, I highly recommend to keep applying the 13 Tips in my gifts #1 and #2 above. These steps will also aid your weight loss.
The next step is really to become aware of what’s going on subconsciously and then make a decision. As soon as you do that, it’s no longer subconscious and you gain the control back. That’s how you can over-rule your subconscious mind.
Tell your body that you are perfectly capable of taking care of its needs even during such a crisis and that there is no need to shovel in junk food to gain and store fat. You have to tell your body that in an assertive and determined tone and it will understand you.
Of course, you then will have to deliver on the promise so your body will learn to trust you when you say that you are taking care of it. One way to do that is by giving it the healthiest possible food your money can currently buy. This has to include a lot of fresh greens, salads, vegetables and fruits. The more fresh food the better.
Since sleeping is very crucial for healthy weight loss, I want to repeat that step here again. Make sure that you sleep between seven and eight hours every night. Do not underestimate the power of a good night’s sleep.
Just because you have to stay at home doesn’t mean that you can’t get out and get some fresh air. This is simply essential for effective weight loss. Your body needs a lot of oxigen to burn fat. If you have the opportunity to go for a walk in a nearby park or if you live in the Country, go for a daily walk of between 30 and 60 minutes. I hear you say that you still have to work from home despite of corona. Yes, that’s right, but since you don’t have to commute to work and back you gain time. That time should ideally be spent for your body in order to remain healthy And why not also use that time to lose some extra fat? That way you demonstrate your boss that you are able to take responsibility and he or she will appreciate that.
If you have a yard – whether you have children or not – play outdoors a lot.
When the weather is wet and cold, you can also move in the house. If you are so lucky to have stairs in the house, you can climb the stairs up and down. Just keep in mind that for the sake of weight loss, any kind of exercise has to be done at least 30 minutes. That means that you would have to walk up and down the stairs several times. To make this more interesting and to prevent boredom, you can use motivating music while exercising this way.
Speaking of music, dancing really intensive for at least 30 minutes is another way to exercise and it’s fun. Dance in a way that makes you sweat.
The good news is that many things that provide weight loss are actually free, and so is water. Water is a great help for weight loss. The bodies of overweight people have a higher need of water, therefore try to increase your water intake. Now is a very good time to train your body to hold more water. Three liters per day is a minimum. You will see that you will be less hungry.
Years ago I began to make weekly meal plans. That habit is now making my life significantly easier and helps me to eat healthier. Every day I know exactly what to cook and when I go shopping I don’t just fill the cart with food but I fill it with healthy food I know I will actually need during the week. This not only forces me to make healthier choices but also saves me money because I have to throwe away less food.
Cooking from scratch can be really fun. Spoil the body with healthy food instead of purchasing pre-cooked stuff that contains lots of sugar, carbs and toxins. I never liked cooking until I realized how much more tasty my meals get when I use fresh herbs. There is no comparison to pre-made meals. After cooking from scratch during four weeks of home quarantine it will become a desire to keep cooking that way after the crisis will be over. And thus you will find good ways to keep that healthy lifestyle beyond the Covid-19 crisis. After all, millions of European women still cook from scratch three meals per day and every day, although many of them have their jobs as well.
Don’t eat microwaved food because it’s void in nutrients. I know they told us that microwaved food contained the most vitamines over other cooking methods, which is only partly true. That means that the vitamins can be found in the food. But what they don’t tell you is that food that has been defrosted or heated in the microwave is being altered in a way that your body can’t recognize it as “food” any longer, and thus it becomes toxic for the body. Because your body doesn’t understand what to do with that “matter” it stores it in fat cells labeled as “toxic” what leads not only to a little bit weight gain but to massive weight gain and obesity.
Reduce the starchy carbs. Since you are now eating more vegetables and fruits, you will not need any starchy carbs anyway.
Some of the biggest stumbling blocks are snacks. It’s so easy to grab some sugary snacks or a bag of potatoe chips, especially when working from home. By eliminating them from your home completely helps your tremendously to make better and conscious choices. Unsalted nuts, for example are very healthy and you will only need a few of those to reduce your hunger. Then, again drinking a glass or two of water reduces the appetite as well and you will see that you will need way less food (and money). One of the healtiest snacks are apples, but only if it’s organically grown. One apple is enough between two meals.
I think by now we are all aware of the fact that stress leads to weight gain. You can easily reduce stress drastically by applying #2, #4, #5 and #7 of my Corona-Gift #2 above. Fresh air, deep breathing, regular methodical relaxation and good night’s sleep help reduce stress tremendously and although it may seem like costing time, at the end of the day these tactics help you reduce time. The Managers of some Fortune 500 companies I used to work with are not only allowed to relax regularly during the work time, they are also encouraged to do so. This for a very good reason. Relaxed employees are much more effectice than the stressed ones. Therefore, whatever you do to reduce stress in your life will increase the quality of your work and you can do much more.
Visualize. Imagine how you are slim and happy. Do that one a day for a couple of minutes.
Simple? Yes. Simple and effective.
Like I said earlier, we have been given a gift: the gift of more time. This gives us the great chance to implement some new and better habits and get rid of some old, fattening habits. It would be a shame not to take advantage of that gift of life.
Leading a healthy lifestyle has always been the best way of lasting weight loss.
Just in case that you might think that you already knew all that, I believe you. But how many times did we Forget About even the simplest Things because life was creaping up on us and then suddenly realized one day that we have forgotten what we wanted to do? And don’t we all need some motivation from time to time? So see this as a friendly reminder from me.
Especially during such an unprecedented time the world has never seen before we tend to run through the days mindlessly not realizing the chances this may bring. And when that happens, it is so easy to feel powerless and that we have lost control over our lives and health.
Now it’s time to be gently lead back to a healthy lifestyle and to gain your control back.
Take care….and stay healthy, slim and happy! You are worth it!
Corona-Gift #4: 3 Secrets and 4 Elements of Lasting Weight Loss
Gift #4 is the recording of a class I did about three years ago. So far nobody ever had access to this recording. This is my gift to you so you can learn what the four elements of a sensible and powerful weight loss strategy are.
With this gift we are going more into depth regarding lasting and healthy weight loss and also integrate the psychology of losing weight (it’s the psychology of weight loss that makes it last, by the way).
Corona-Gift #5: Weight Loss Experts Reveal The Truth
At the end of the webinar (Corona Gift #4) you have the chance to claim your $144 gift.
P.S. If you have any questions regarding Covid-19 and how to keep yourself and your loved ones healthy during these unprecedented times, please post them below and I will answer them personally.
Did you ever wonder why losing weight with a diet is quite fast and easy, but why you soon gain that lost weight back after a while…equally fast and easy?
If you have read my last blog post Causes of Weight Gain, then you have begun to understand that the weight issue is quite a complex thing – not complicated, just complex.
This is very good news. Because, once you understand what is standing in your way to a sustainable slim body personally, you know exactly what to do. That moment your search for the right diet, pill or answer stops immediately and your weight loss process becomes much more effective and efficient.
In this blog post I’m going to spill the beans and share with you some of the most important insights I have gained over the course of the 32 years as a weight loss coach. This can give you a better understanding of the real nature of weight issues and you begin to understand what you really need.
The real nature of human beings
The most important and crucial thing to understand is the real nature of your being.
You are not only body, but also mind, emotions, and spirit. The easiest way to understand what I mean is by visualizing a building with four pillars.
The building of your health – and weight – stands on four pillars.
One pillar is your physical pillar (the body), one pillar is the emotional pillar (the emotions you have daily and how you react emotionally to certain things and situations), the third one is the mental pillar (your thinking, what you think, say… your mindset), and the last one is your psychological pillar.
One of the biggest problems regarding weight loss is the misconception that you were the physical body.
You are not your body – you have a body. You are a spiritual being in a physical body. That’s a bigger difference than you may think. As soon as you understand that your physical and visible body is only a part of the equation – like the tip of the iceberg –, you will find it much easier to find the right weight loss solution that really work for you and that will bring you the desired lasting results.
The problems for you begin when you treat your weight exclusively on one pillar: the physical body, what most overweight people do by dieting and exercising. That’s why the dieting approach is so very frustrating. In fact, it’s the hardest way possible with no real chance of bringing you lasting results.
Even on the physical level there can be many causes of your weight problems beside poor eating habits and a lack of exercise.
Now let me ask you a question.
What happens to a building, if one of four pillar gets weak, breaks or falls away?
Not much, as long as the rest of the building is stable and strong. It may not be leveled perfectly anymore, and with every heavy storm it may get a crack here and there. It’s just not so resistant to strain or stress anymore, but it still has a good chance to stay for a while.
It’s the same with our health and weight. When one of the four pillars is temporarily weakened, we may face some headache, a flue once or twice a year, or a few pounds of weight gain. Maybe you can’t sleep so well as you could some years ago…yet nothing serious.
Now what will happen when two pillars are broken? The building suddenly is in severe danger of not surviving the next heavy storm. Most likely it will collapse before the next storm. Translated to your health this could be some stubborn overweight, muscle pain, joint pain, chronic headache, a heart disease, regular heart burn, two to four flues every year, allergies, and so on and so forth.
As soon as three pillars break or disappear, the whole building will collapse completely. It can’t stand on one pillar. It’s not possible.
It’s exactly the same with our health. The more symptoms and diseases you have and the heavier you are, the more is your whole health building in danger. This is the point where you have serious chronic diseases like fibromyalgia, diabetes, loss of your teeth, or other life-threatening diseases, such as cancer. You may even be obese (not just overweight), and consequently it will take you longer to bring your weight back to a healthy weight.
On the other hand, the healthier and more stable your whole health building is, the faster your body will react to even slight changes.
Of course, when the last pillar breaks, the building does no longer stand at all. For the human body this would mean death.
Again, translated to your health, the less you’re taking care of your body (eat unhealthy, diet, don’t exercise, don’t sleep enough, smoke, eat toxic food, etc.), the more you have negative thoughts, the more your emotional state is on the negative side, and the more you think about your sad past, the faster you’re going to become severally sick, the faster you’re going to age, and the sooner you’re going to die.
On the other hand, the better you take care of your body, the more positive your mindset, the more gratitude and love you feel, the more you have forgiven all those who have hurt you in the past, and the more you’re living in the now, the faster your physical body can heal, the faster you’ll lose weight, the slower your aging process and the longer you’re going to live a good, healthy and happy life – a quality life.
The best and happiest life you have, when these four levels of your being are so aligned like four horses that are pulling a wagon. Imagine if just one of these four horses would want to run in another direction. This would lead to a chaos. The same is true for your health and happiness. If only one of your lower levels is not in alignment, problems and health issues are certain.
The good news is that the reins of your personal “wagon” are entirely in your own hands. All you have to do is to take the reins and lead.
Therefore, good health and weight loss are to a great extend in your own hands, although it may often not feel that way. If it doesn’t feel that way to you, then it’s because you don’t know the truth about sustainable weight loss.
All you need to begin with is understand the correlation between these four levels and take care of them in a conscious way. Eat healthy, exercise regularly, make sure that you sleep well and enough, get your hormones balanced, detox and cleanse your body regularly, take care of your pH, think positively, be grateful and loving, forgive, find and fulfill your life purpose, let the past go and live in the here and now…and you will not have much to complain about in your life. And, as a result, your weight will eventually automatically commute in a healthy and perfect weight that is right for you and your body, just like the four horses.
By the way, this is exactly what a normal, healthy, and wealthy life looks like.
Pretty simple and straight forward.
The Difference Between Causes, Symptoms and Effect
The next topic we need to understand so that things will begin to make sense is the difference between causes, symptoms and effects. Unfortunately this is one of the most ignored pieces of the whole weight loss puzzle.
Just like the Law of Attraction is true, there is also another Universal Law that is true for everybody and everything under the Sun. It’s the Law of Cause and Effect. Every effect has a cause, and likewise every cause will inevitably have an effect. Therefore your excess weight must have a cause. And your decisions, thoughts, emotions and actions (or the lack of it) must have an effect.
The adage of every diet is: “You eat too much, that’s why you’re fat. Ergo, you have to eat less and you will lose weight.” And this is the biggest misconception behind dieting and weight loss.
The diet approach sees the eating as the cause of your weight problem. I can tell you with absolute certainty: it hardly ever is. No healthy person can eat too much and too much of the wrong food, if there is not another issue. That’s another reason why diets make no sense at all. They don’t address the real problem.
More often than not the eating too much or craving the wrong food is just a symptom that shows you that there is something wrong either on your physical level (the body), your mind, your emotional level, or your psychological level.
Before we proceed, let me give you a definition of these 3 terms.
The cause is the reason, what is behind a problem, the source, the root and origin. The cause can be on one of the four levels, but most of the time it’s a combination of several causes on several levels.
Symptom
A symptom is a sign, an indicator, a warning signal. Its purpose is to alert you that there is something wrong, so that you can make the necessary changes.
Effect
This, of course, is the result, the visible effect, the reaction, or the outcome. In other words: the printout.
As soon as you understand these differences, you will stop searching for the wrong answers.
Most people mistakenly believe that poor eating habits and a lack of exercise were the causes of their weight issues. Again, the adage, ‘all you have to do is eating less and exercise more’ is utter nonsense. Sometimes an overweight person needs to eat less, but just as often or even more it’s not the eating that is the problem. Sometimes a person even needs to eat more at the beginning in order to lose weight.
Dr. James Carlson, a New York obesity physician told me and my webinar attendees how he and his patients lost weight by increasing the daily caloric intake up to 4000 and more calories per day. This is only one proof that counting calories is nonsense and will not bring you lasting results. Yet, millions of women are now following the false recommendation to reduce the calories and are deeply disappointed each time this approach doesn’t work.
Of course, healthy eating and exercise are very important for good health and weight, as you have heard before, and I’m the last person who would debate that. But…
healthy eating & dieting is not the same
a change in your eating habits plus exercise alone will hardly do a good long term job, if you want to lose excess weight for good
They will only bring short-term results, if you don’t address the real causes at the same time. I’m going to explain why in just a minute. But first let’s look at what causes, symptoms and effects are regarding weight.
Psychological imbalance, disharmony, disequilibrium, discontent, dissatisfaction, unhappiness, fear and anxiety, need for protection; lack of self-confidence, self-esteem and self-worth; past trauma, abuse; an imbalance between receiving and giving, poor habit, and so on and so forth. Up to this point I have detected 58 possible causes.
Symptom
Over-eating or poor diet, lack of exercise, lack of some vital nutrients, toxins, parasites, hunger attack, cravings, sleeping problems, hormonal imbalance, an incapability of loving and taking care of yourself, etc. – these are all signs (symptoms) that there is something wrong and out of balance. Some of the symptoms can turn into causes, if unaddressed.
Effect (result)
Excess weight or obesity, sickness, problems, conflicts. Effects, too, can turn into causes if not addressed for a long time.
Symptoms are always trying to teach you something, they are your body’s warning signals. Symptoms show you that there is something wrong on another level. They indicate that you’re dissatisfied, frustrated, fearful, or that you’re subconsciously trying to protect yourself, etc. In fact, weight problems only want to teach you something and provide you with a necessary learning opportunity. When you ignore the symptoms, the warning signals for too long, you will eventually have the physical effect.
It’s your body’s way of communicating with you. The bad news is that as long as you ignore these signals, you can’t get long-term weight loss results. The good news is that eliminating the cause is often enough to turn things around. The symptoms (signals) are not needed anymore.
Most of the time there is a whole complex of several causes active in you, and therefore most of us have to dig a bit and eliminate several causes before we can strip those extra pounds for good.
Once you get that, it doesn’t matter how much you want to lose, as soon as the causes are eliminated, losing weight becomes easy, fast and effortless. The body has no longer a reason to send you signals after signals and to hold on to that extra fat.
On the other hand, if you can’t lose your weight for good, this is a sign that you have not found and eliminated the real cause of weight gain.
If you have read my last blog about causes, you already understand that overeating and craving the wrong food has a cause. Hence, the overeating and binging is not the cause of your weight struggles, but a symptom that there is something wrong on another level. The symptom cravings alone can have several possible causes.
So your poor eating and exercise habits are just symptoms that are trying to alert you of a deeper problem (i.e. toxic overload. lack of the right nutrients, parasites, emotional imbalance), and your excess weight is the outcome.
When you follow a diet, take diet pills, get a liposuction, or even worse, a lap band done, you’re simply trying to cut off the symptom. You can put on layers of make-up on an ugly face, but the next morning that person will still wake up with the same old, ugly face. Likewise, masking the symptoms is never going to bring you long term results. It can’t. Besides, by doing these things you’re damaging your health and deliberately destroying your health pillars and setting new and even worse causes for weight gain and other severe health issues.
Did you ever wonder why there are children born with terrible deformations and disabilities? Well, this can be the karmic consequence of plastic surgery or terrible body neglect, for example. We can’t pretend to know it better than our Creator without having to suffer the consequences. In many cases – especially in the very stubborn ones – the cause of severe weight issues can be karmic.
Unfortunately no surgery, no pill, no diet changes a bit in your real causes of your weight problems and they will remain effective, causing your body to gain the lost weight back soonest possible. So you are not only still having that extra weight again, but you’re also a lot unhealthier and have added several more health problems simply by trying to go the short route. And this will go on until you’ll understand what the body really wants to tell you and make some significant changes.
It can happen that a dieter solves her inner causes during a diet subconsciously and thus loses her weight without gaining it back. But this rarely happens. Most likely such a person has already done a lot of inner transformational work before starting the diet so that she doesn’t need her excess weight as a “growth teacher” anymore, like it happened for me.
Unfortunately these people often mistakenly believe that it was the diet that helped them lose their weight, but it was their inner work, something they suddenly got and solved on a conscious or subconscious level.
And, of course this also happens when a participant understands the correlation between her individual causes and her excess weight and solves the problem or problems on that inner level. Then you will not only see fast results, but also lasting results.
I remember one of my former participants who attended a weekend workshop of mine. That workshop was all she needed to understand the real issue behind her weight struggle. After that weekend workshop she moved out of the house of her sister where she had been raped by her brother-in-law, worked on her inner self-protection and lost weight without dieting. That one weekend course was enough for her to understand and solve the real cause.
The good news is that eliminating the cause is often enough to turn things around. The symptoms (signals) are not needed anymore and you can begin to lose weight almost effortlessly. This is exactly how I lost 65 pounds without even realizing.
One day I was standing in a store for clothes because I needed a new pair of jeans. I was totally shocked when I realized that my original clothing size didn’t fit anymore. It was too large. So I tried a smaller size…and it was too large as well.
Can you image the dumb face I had when I realized that even two sizes smaller didn’t fit anymore? Then I tried another size smaller and I was still loose. Then I tried a size I couldn’t ware since I was 15, and it fit.
First I thought that the clothing company had changed the numbering system. Now most people would be happy, but I simply didn’t understand and was puzzled at best. I didn’t understand because I had not realized up to that moment that I had lost weight, because for many years I only wore clothes that had those rubber bands that are flexible enough for weight fluctuation in any direction. Besides, I didn’t follow a diet or changed my exercise regimen, and since I didn’t weighed I did not realize that I had lost weight. In my inner perception of myself I was still fat. That’s why my dumb face. I simply didn’t understand what had happened.
It took me several years of studying behavioral psychology to understand why I had lost that weight without changing anything about my diet or exercise regimen. What I did was working with a psychologist on my inner issues and my self-love at that time, when I had to go through a divorce. That’s why I simply didn’t realize that I had lost so much weight. I never thought that working on my inner issues and on loving myself would help me lose weight. But fact is that I lost 65 pounds that way in the easiest and most effortless way you can imagine.
Most people make that process unnecessarily hard. They fight the symptoms – their real friends – without eliminating the actual causes, thus forcing the body to gain the weight back until the real problem will be resolved. Most people never get that, that’s why obesity is still on the rise despite of the thousands of diets and fitness programs.
It could be so simple. Instead of listening to their inner teacher they go out and get a gastric surgery, causing a new and additional problem for them and early death without solving their weight issues. The sad thing is that most people who get a gastric surgery done will gain their lost weight back after a while. And it could be much cheaper, simpler and easier…and much less painful.
Of course it seems easier to solve the problem on the physical level. But that seldom works. And if it does work, then only on the short term.
You can run away from your real problems for the rest of your life and suffer from your excess weight and the health problems this causes. But this will not get you slim in a healthy and lasting way.
Or….you can accept the obvious and transform the inner problems what is the real and only short cut and much less painful than yo-yo dieting.
So, tell me, isn’t that much easier, faster and simpler than going from diet to diet for years just to gain that lost weight back after a while?
Symptoms speak a very clear language. Once you understand that ‘language’ of your body, you will know exactly what to do or what to give to your body. I’m going to explain that in just a second. Let me use an analogy.
Most likely you have a driver’s license. Imagine that the oil lamp in your car goes on while you’re driving. This is a signal, or a symptom, if you like. It tells you that there is something wrong with your car. In most countries the burning of the oil lamp is a sign that there is no more oil in the car, what is a sign of severe danger for the engine. The burning of that oil lamp means, that you have to stop your car immediately and fill in some oil, otherwise the engine will break down.
So what do you do in such a situation?
You have three possibilities.
One is to ignore the signal and continue driving. The consequences are going to be very expensive and your car will need a new engine.
A second possibility is to smash the light bulb so that the light will go off, and the result will be the same: you’ll need a new engine or a new car.
The third alternative is to stop the car, fill in some oil and the lamp will go off. You have eliminated the cause and the symptom, the signal will stop automatically. No harm done.
In example one you simply ignore the problem and go on. Translated to your body you would completely ignore a pain, thirst, sleeping problems, or cravings.
Regarding the second example, this is exactly what you do when you take medication, follow a diet, or get a gastric surgery or liposuction done. You literally silence the symptom, the alarm signal, your real friend. The symptom (alarm light) may be gone for a while, but the real cause still remains. And as long as the causes remain, the problem will frequently pop up and come back over and over like a boomerang. You literally force the problem to pop up again and again, until the condition will be chronic or so severe that your body can’t survive any longer. This is the stage of all those frequent dieters who can’t lose any weight anymore no matter what they try, who have muscle pain, brain fog, fatigue and other alarming conditions. That’s a severe situation, and the sooner you’ll take care of the better. The longer you either ignore or fight the symptom, the louder the alarm signal will get.
The only way to solve a problem for good is by eliminating the cause. Once you fill in oil, there is simply no more reason for the oil lamp to burn, and it stops burning. Likewise there is no more reason for your body to hold on to some excess fat once you have eliminated the underlying cause. Your body knows that you got the message and can now stop the nagging.
Causescan be physical (such as acidity, toxic overload, hormonal imbalance, deprivation, etc.), it can be a certain emotional pattern, a particular thinking pattern or some subconscious issues or past trauma. How is a diet (any diet) supposed to do that job!?
Silencing the symptom does not solve the issue at all. That would be putting your head into the sand.
The sad fact is that most of us do to their body what they would never do to their car.
Why?
A car has a shorter lifespan than a person and you have to face the consequences much sooner. You know that you can’t afford buying a new car within the next 12 months. When it comes to your body we tend to think that we have enough time to fix and reverse the problem later. For some reason we tend to believe that we can get away with poor habits and an unhealthy lifestyle for until we’ll be retired. We tend to go the path of least resistance. We want to have the fun now and take care of our health later, forgetting that there is no fun whatsoever in being ill and overweight.
Many then calm their conscience and tell themselves that they eventually have to die of something anyway. They delude themselves into believing that their health is out of their hands and that it’s all up to their genetics – or worse, up to God. That is blasphemy. When we do stupid things and don’t take care of our health, we can’t blame God for the results. But, oh boy, do these people complain when they develop a chronic illness. They tell everybody who is willing to listen, how much their body aches.
We have been given free choice. We choose every second of our lives. We may be able to get away with poor habits for a while, but there will come the day when the bill will come due…for sure. The price for such a behavior has always to be paid by the individual herself. Therefore we shouldn’t complain. We had the choice in the past and, apparently, we have made the wrong choices.
Each choice brings consequences. Every cause has an effect and every effect has a cause. If we don’t like the consequences – for instance the consequence of being overweight – we have to choose and cause differently NOW. It’s that simple, really. We can change things at any time, as soon as we decide to take responsibility for our health.
When the oil lamp goes on in your car, then this is a sign that there is no more oil in the tank. So you know exactly that you have to instantly stop the car and fill in oil, because you know what the consequences would be.
When you receive an invoice, you do your very best to pay it within the 10 or 30 days period allowed for payment. You know exactly that if you don’t pay your bill in time, you will soon be charged with a reminder fee and interest. And if you still ignore it and don’t pay, you will face bankruptcy and you will lose your house, and all that for not paying a lousy bill. So, in order to prevent yourself from bigger problems, you pay your bills in time.
It’s exactly the same with the language of our body. Once you understand that principle, it will be easier for you to eliminate the causes instead of treating or silencing the symptoms.
We just have to take the time factor into consideration. Changes on the mental, emotional and psychological level can be made quite quickly, but we have to understand that the body needs time to adjust to those changes. So many overweight women have disturbed that lasting slimming process because they were impatient and stupidly went on another diet.
Now let’s talk about possible causeson all four lower levels.
Causes
Up to this writing I have found 56 causes of weight gain. This is not the place to talk about all of them. For that I shared the list with my subscribers lately.
In this article I want to share some of the most common ones to give you an idea. Some possible causes on the physical level, the first pillar:
First of all Dieting/diets – yep, diets lead to weight gain for sure
Acidity
Toxins
Parasites
hormonal imbalance
Sleeping problems
Insulin resistance
On the emotional level it can be things like:
Self-rejection
Emotional imbalance
Lack of love, fear of being loved or not being loved
Inner void/feeling empty
Insufficient boundaries – not being able to say “no”
Too strong boundaries (fear of being close)
Unsatisfied hunger for life
Frustration
Imbalance in giving and receiving
Boredom
Not feeling valued
Living with toxic and negative people
Negative/distorted self-image
need of protection
The 3rd pillar is your mental level. On the mental level, possible causes can be:
Negative thinking
Negative self-talk
False tips and misinformation
Misconceptions (i.e. it runs in the family, no matter what I do I just can’t get rid of those extra pounds, etc.)
Your mindset
And, on the psychological and spiritual level, it can be things like:
Violence
Trauma
Abuse
Unwillingness to forgive
karma
Of course, not every woman has all of the causes. However, every woman has several causes on several levels. Which ones are effective in your body? Your symptoms are your clues.
Now, understanding that there can be so many possible causes and culprits standing in your way to lasting weight loss, you may begin to understand why reducing a weight loss strategy to just two tactics – diet and exercise – is utter nonsense and CAN NOT work…EVER. It’s just a big waste of time. Of course, we need to lead a healthy lifestyle to remain healthy, but weight loss diets are far from being healthy. Moderate exercising should always be part of a sensible weight loss strategy – but please so not go about it the way they do it in The Biggest Loser. This is very dangerous.
You can’t remedy a traumatic situation that forced a subconscious mind to use fat for protection to let go of that protective shield through a diet, for example.
You can’t solve the problem with a diet when one of the causes is acidity, because every diet literally floods the body with acids what forces it to gain the lost fat back ASAP. Dieting and exercise make matters worse when your body is heavily over-acidic.
How on earth could a diet help, if you lack some vital nutrients?
You can’t hope to lose weight through a diet if your hormones or your brain chemistry are out of balance. That would only make the problem worse and would be a very ridiculous attempt.
When an imbalanced metabolism is your culprit, then diets are making matters way worse.
How can a diet change your mindset or your emotional patterns? It can’t. Exercise can change it to a certain extent, yet it would still not be enough.
Your subconscious mind will always sabotage your attempt to lose weight unless the cause has been taken care of. Then you can lose weight even without a diet. This is your chance to change your weight.
The necessary mindset shift – Tactics vs. Strategy
What is needed first and foremost is a mindset shift – not another diet.
The first step is to understand the difference between tactics and strategies. Tactics are short-term activities with the purpose to achieve some short-term results.
Strategies, on the other hand are combinations of several tactics that are well designed to bring the desired long-term results.
Diets are tactics and have short-term effects; they don’t lead to sustainable weight loss because they don’t address the real problem. A healthy way of eating is different from a diet and should certainly be part of an overall weight loss strategy that is designed to bring you lasting results. Please learn to distinguish between a diet and healthy eating. There is no such thing as a “healthy weight loss diet”. Either you eat healthy or you follow a diet.
Without a good overall weight loss strategy even eating healthily alone is not enough to get you slim for good. What you do instead is checking the possible causes and creating an integrated strategy for your weight loss that addresses your individual causes. In other words, you combine several well chosen tactics and create a strategy, your personal weight loss program, if you wish.
To illustrate the difference between tactics and a strategy: tactics may win a battle or two, but strategies win the war.
By creating a strategy you simply connect the dots.
Think Outside of the Box – Connecting the Dots
The necessary mindset shift is to start thinking outside of the Diet Box!
Look at yourself as a whole being. Therefore a holistic strategy takes care of body, mind, emotions and the spirit.
Whatever you do on the physical level will make you feel better and therefore also influences your emotional level. Just remember how you feel after a healthy meal with living food or after a 1-hour walk.
On the other hand what you do on the emotional level will also make your body feel better. Just think about a moment when you were very happy. You didn’t feel any pain and didn’t bother about your weight. You were just being happy and you felt good in your body.
When your emotions are high, you will find it hard to think negatively, therefore working on your emotional levels has also an impact on your mental level.
On the other hand, your thoughts directly influence your emotions within seconds. One moment you can feel happy and you could hug the whole world. Then one thought creeps into your mind and you suddenly begin to feel miserable. Of course the same is true when you have positive thoughts. When you feel bad and decide to think about what you can be grateful for, you instantly begin to feel better emotionally as well.
The 4th level is the unconscious mind or the level of your memories. When you have positive thoughts, this will also create new, positive memories.
And when you think about positive and happy experiences, your thoughts will be happy ones as well.
Going down memory lane has, of course, also an impact on your body. Depending on whether the memory is a good or a negative one, you will either feel well or not so good.
Likewise good physical experiences also create new, positive memories.
As you can see it’s absolutely impossible to only treat one level alone as they are strongly inter-connected with each other. You can turn this all around and start with negative memories. These will automatically bring negative thoughts, the negative thoughts will lead to negative (sad or angry) emotions and the negative emotions will make you feel bad physically, for instance give you a headache or elevated heart rate. In such moments many women tend to reach for comfort food.
You may now begin to understand why I continue saying that you need a weight loss strategy and not a tactic or two.
When you start working on the physical level you automatically also change – at least for a moment – the emotional level, the mental level and the psychological level (by creating new experiences and memories). Changes from the lower levels up have a smaller and shorter impact than the changes we make from the higher to the lower levels. And when I speak about “high” and “low”, I’m referring to the vibrational rate of each of these four levels.
Molecules vibrate higher than cells, atoms vibrate higher than molecules, and electrons vibrate higher than atoms. This is just plain physics. The psychological/memory level vibrates the highest and the body vibrates the lowest, that’s why it takes a while to see physical results.
When you eliminate the causes on the mental level you improve your physical level, your emotional level, and your psychological level.
When you transform the causes on your emotional level, you automatically help your body, your mental level and your psychological level.
And when you start eliminating all the problems on the physical level, you improve your mental, emotional and psychological levels as well.
Can you see now how working on all four levels is by far THE fastest way of losing extra weight?
Build a strong, solid foundation by designing a sensible weight loss strategy.
4 Pillars of sustainable weight loss
With the article Causes of Weight Gain and this one we have come to full circle now.
I have the hope that you begin to understand now the necessity to have a well-balanced weight loss strategy that goes beyond eating healthy and exercising. And it’s much easier than you may think and years faster than going from one diet to the next.
In the past you have gone from one diet or program to the next, each time abandoning what you have previously done. And I bet all this together has cost you way over $1,000. In fact, an overweight person spends about $50,000 in the average during her lifetime just to lose that excess weight, not to speak about the higher costs for XL clothes and the loss of money many have to suffer because they don’t get the higher paid jobs due to their extra weight.
So don’t you think it’s time now to change that and reduce the extra costs for XL clothes, for special ‘lite’ food, for supplements, books and programs that don’t work? Now you can change your strategy. Instead of doing one tactic after another, you add a few of them to one single strategy and follow that strategy until you will have achieved your weight goal.
Keep in mind that tactics may win a battle or two, but it’s the strategy that wins the war. Now you want to win the whole game, not just a little bit here and there. If you are determined to make 2016 the last year you will ever have to worry about your weight, then this is your chance. And don’t wait because, each time you start a new diet or program your motivation continuously decreases.
Recently I read an article by one of my peers who suggested you take a particular supplement instead of juicing. He went on telling how tedious juicing was and how much simpler and cheaper it was to simply take a teaspoon of the particular supplement he was promoting.
This sounds so intriguing and although I firmly believe that nature still provides the best food, it made me thinking.
It made me thinking why we need juicing and supplements at all. So I put together a list of advantages and disadvantages of juicing.
Disadvantages of juicing:
it’s expensive because it requires a lot of organic vegetables (it doesn’t make sense to juice with produce that had been sprayed with chemicals)
It’s quite a task to purchase large bags of carrots and charts full of greens every day
even if you have organic produce, it still takes a lot of time to wash and cut the vegetables and run them through the juicer; and if you don’t use organic produce, you even need to peel every piece; this is only realistic for stay-home mums, retirees, and unemployed people
if you’re over 30 years old and/or more than 20 pounds overweight, you need to start juicing slowly in order to prevent acid and toxins flooding your organism more than it can handle
our bodies are not designed to consume such concentrated food like juices are; we need fibers
in order to have the desired effect, juices have to be freshly juiced and be consumed within 24 hours; you can’t store them longer and bottled juices are more harmful than helpful
juicing creates a lot of waste and you have to through valuable food away that is rich in healthy fibers
juices are not really good to consume; to make them tasteful it requires quite some mixing, and you need to know which produce go together well and which doesn’t (there are vegetables I love eating, but when I juices that contain these produce are absolutely disgusting)
you need to learn first which fruits and vegetables go well together and which don’t
I don’t know how about you, but there are phases when my body completely refuses fresh juices
On the other side there are tremendous advantages in juicing nothing else can beat.
Advantages of juicing:
our bodies are so deprived because fruits and vegetables have lost between 30% and 80% of their nutritional value due to the current farming methods, and there is currently nothing else that can fill your empty vitamin deposits as quickly as juicing
many chronic diseases are caused or aggravated by a lack of vital nutrients and many of them can be easily reversed simply by juicing
juicing has an alkalizing and detoxifying effect what is great for young people and those who only need to lose a few extra pounds (if you’re older than 30 years and more than 20 pounds overweight, you need to know exactly what to do so that your body can deal with the flood of acid and toxins without creating more fat)
we are living in times where it’s not enough to just take one vitamin or one supplement (no matter how balanced they may be); our bodies lack vitamins, minerals, trace elements, enzymes, amino acids, phytohormones, etc.; all these things have to be consumed through food because only in food these substances are well enough balanced so that our bodies can really use them (an overload of some nutrients can lead to health problems, too)
juicing is a great way to start a cleansing and weight loss process
We all know that juicing was not meant to be the way we eat, and it’s not the final solution. Because of our ways of eating and time-saving cooking methods we have created a world that makes eating healthy a real challenge. Facts are…
…that we only want shiny and spotless produce (organic food can never look so perfect)
…that people want to cook their meals as quickly and easily as possible and increasingly purchase finished menus
…that using microwave ovens as the defrosting and heating method
…that makes eating healthy and keep the family healthy nearly impossible (at least long term).
But please, don’t let us complain. It’s us – every single person on this planet – who contributed to the lifestyle we currently have with all its advantages and health challenges. It’s always the consumer who dictates what we are being sold to. And only we have the power and the possibilities to change that.
How can you know whether your personal lifestyle is healthy or not?
The weakest link in the family will always become sick first.
As soon as one family member develops a chronic disease or cancer, the way you cook and eat is at least partially the culprit, and the health of your family can quickly and drastically be improved by changing your lifestyle.
Fact is – and you’re probably going to hate me for that, but keep in mind that I’m just the bearer of the message – that if we want to keep our families healthy, we have to cook from scratch, using all fresh, organic fruits and vegetables that are rich in vital nutrients. Convenience definitely jeopardizes our health.
Keeping yourself and the ones you love healthy starts with what is on your kitchen table…it starts with a healthy lifestyle.
“But I don’t have time to cook from scratch. I have a job, three kids and an elderly parent to take care of!” you may object.
I hear you. I really do. I used to be a single mom with my own business, and I know exactly where you’re coming from.
However, please keep in mind that the way we live is nothing but a series of choices. Maybe you have made the choice to purchase a house that requires both parents to have a job. Maybe you have chosen the false safety of a job over working from home and now you’re constantly afraid of losing your job, if you don’t work long hours. You have made choices regarding your budget. You have made choices regarding cars, televisions, and vacations. Sometimes it just requires a little bit of a cut down or a slightly simpler lifestyle and a family may be well able to live on one pay check and a smaller budget.
It’s all about setting priorities. Only you can decide what priority the health of your family has and what you’re willing to sacrifice for. This time of the year is the perfect time to reconsider your personal life priorities and make new choices.
What I’m saying is that we ALL constantly need to reconsider past choices. Many of us need to choose differently for the sake of their family’s health.
Currently I’m living in an apartment that comes with its own 500 square meter garden. When I moved in I decided to cut a little bit back on my work and use that time to grow my own produce. And I realized that just a small piece of land or backyard can easily save me $200 every month in food just for one person. Plus the organic food I grow myself is the healthiest you can get. Because my own vegetables are so full of vital nutrients, I need much less food to get my body satisfied. From a peer of mine I know that one acre of backyard is enough to almost fully feed a whole family of five.
I understand that many women just don’t think that they might have time for their own garden. But if something resonates within you with what I’m sharing here, then you may want to try and at least get your feet wet.
Before I moved to this place I started with pots on my balcony. I grew my own tomatoes, potatoes (you read that right), herbs and salads on my porch and balcony. If you have rich soil, you can easily grow a zucchini or cucumber plant on your porch or balcony. I even have several pillar fruit trees (they only have a stem but no side branches and require very little room) and berries on my balcony. The waste I get from juicing I utilize as mulch for my pots and beds and spray some living organisms over the compost for a faster decay. That way nothing is lost and nature beautifully provides me with more and more healthy food because my soil gets richer from year to year.
You can slowly grow into a healthy-food gardener. The first step would be to purchase a book about correct composting and organic gardening – maybe you would even find a book on organic pot gardening.
Then decide on one thing you would like to grow on your patio or in a bed in your back yard. This could be a few seedlings of spring salad (the sort you can constantly harvest the outer leaves and the salad keeps growing in the middle). This gives you and your family a healthy salad every day. Then you may want to grow some basil, chives and parsley to make the salad more tasteful and add some more vitamins. Very easy to grow is Swiss chard and you can constantly harvest the large outer leaves. The leaves are great for juicing and the stems are a delicious vegetable when cooked with onions and garlic.
If you’re not yet a gardener, then I recommend start slowly. Now is a good time to make plans for next year and start purchasing or creating the right containers. Also start composting now.
Please add your own ideas and experiences below. We are eager to learn from your experiences.
If you want to learn how to apply a healthy lifestyle step by step and stress free that works individually for you and your family, you may want to check out my 30-Day Triple Power Weight Loss Challenge.
The American Cancer Society estimates that this year (2015) about 231,840 new cases of invasive breast cancer will occur and that over 40,000 women will die of breast cancer.
Cancer is an environmental disease. That means we can do more to prevent and reverse it than we may think. I was so fortunate to be the witness of four cases of last-stage cancer that could be reversed in the most natural way. These four persons became entirely cancer free within two to twelve weeks.
One of them was a woman with last-stage breast cancer. Had she known what you are about to learn she may have been able to prevent herself from going through painful chemo therapy and radiation.
Today we want to talk about 13 natural and healthy ways of preventing breast cancer and lift that cloud of fear so many women are carrying around. There is enough proof that breast cancer can be prevented through a healthy lifestyle. The American Institute of Cancer Research estimated that about 40% of breast cancer cases in the U.S.A. could be prevented with a healthier lifestyle. Dr. Joe Mercola even believes that these estimates are far too low and that the breast cancer could be avoided to 75% and 90% by strictly following some simple lifestyle changes.
Here are 13 possible lifestyle changes that can reduce the risk of getting breast cancer. Combined they can be a very powerful weapon against that terrible disease.
Remove all wires of your bras: there is enough evidence that metal underwire bras can increase your breast cancer risk. Wires act like antennas and conduct electromagnetic pollution directly to the breasts.
Electromagnetic fields: Avoid them as much as possible because they do increase your cancer risk. Electric blankets, digital alarm clocks, televisions in the bedroom, mammograms, cell phones, electric heating, nearby cell phone towers, and wireless phones all have a very high radiation and can contribute to cancer. The worst of all – by leaps and bounds – are microwave ovens and everything related to cell phone, wireless and WiFi technolgy (which are also based on microwaves). There is so much evidence of the dangers of microwave ovens (over 70,000 scientific studies), yet they are just too convenient to be banned from today’s kitchens. If you’re serious about drastically reducing the risk of getting breast cancer, replace your microwave oven with a steamer, which is as convenient as microwaves and entirely harmless and the food tastes much better. By the way, did you know that microwaves can make you obese even without overeating?
Avoid sugar and fructose: all forms of sugar are known to promote cancer. Dr. Mercola states that fructose is clearly one of the most harmful sugars and should strictly be avoided. By avoiding sugar and grains and increasing exercising you also improve your insulin receptor sensitivity.
Get a lot of sunshine to optimize your vitamin D: Vitamin D is known to be one of nature’s most potent cancer fighters. (If you have to supplement with Vitamin D3 you also need to increase the vitamin K2)
Vitamin A: it helps prevent breast cancer, especially when consumed with vitamin A-rich foods like organic egg yolks, organic raw butter, and beef or chicken liver.
Avoid soy products: unfermented soy is high in isoflavones. Some studies show that unfermented soy increases the chances for mutations and cancerous cells.
Maintain a healthy body weight: Fat produces estrogen, and estrogen can increase the danger of getting cancer. As soon as you begin to eat healthy and exercise plus add the next step, you can also lose weight naturally.
Drastically reduce acidity: cancer can only survive in an acidic body, and when you’re overweight, you are over-acidic. Cancer cells have no chance in an alkaline environment, therefore alkalizing your body should be one of the first steps for weight loss and cancer prevention. If you’re only slightly overweight, drinking a lot of organic green vegetable juice daily is a great way. If you’re over 40 years old and/or more than 10 pounds overweight, your alkalizing has to be softer and more strategic.
High-quality Omega3 fats: Omega3 deficiency is a known factor for cancer. Choose animal-based Omega3 fats, such as fish oil and krill oil.
Breastfeeding: research shows that breastfeeding up to 6 months can significantly reduce the risk of getting breast cancer. So if you want to have children, consider to breastbeed them as long as possible – one year is ideal for the baby and helps you reduce the risk of breast cancer. Win-win!
Avoid synthetic hormone replacements and birth control pills: if you are experiencing excessive menopausal symptoms, you can use bio-identical hormone replacements. Birth control computers are safer and more accurate than the pill.
Avoid iodine deficiency: iodine has potent anticancer properties.
Reduce your fear of getting breast cancer: according to the law of attraction, fear increases the danger of getting what we’re afraid of.
According to Dr. Mercola, breast cancer has become big business, and routine mammography is one of its primary profit centers. Mammograms deliver ionizing radiation what contributes to cancer. Stirring up fear has always shown to be very profitable for any industry, especially for the health industry.
The founder of Greenmedinfo.com, Sayer Ji, posted an article on mammograms a while ago, stating that…
“Remember that …theNew England Journal of Medicinepublished a shocking analysis of the past 30 years of breast screening in the US, finding that 1.3 million women were overdiagnosed and overtreated for breast cancer – euphemisms formisdiagnosed and mistreated. The only calculable dimension of this world-historical failure is the billions of dollars that were made in the process of converting healthy, asymptomatic women into ‘patients,’ and if fortunate enough to make it through treatment, ‘survivors.'”
Therefore, don’t allow fear to dominate your life.
Keep your common sense.
Preventing breast cancer naturally is far more important and effective than trying to detect and treat it, and it’s far cheaper than regular mammograms. A healthy lifestyle and eliminating all the contributing factors reduces the danger of becoming sick drastically plus can help you lose weight.
Stay healthy; the world needs you!
**********
Is your health and weight loss goal worth five to fifteen minutes of your time every day?
If you want to learn a process that leads you to constant weight loss success by baby stepping, check out my Facebook group.
You can get a feeling for the 4 Pillars of Weight Loss process for free. Simply join my closed Facebook group where you can go through the process by taking tiny daily baby steps completely stress free and still make tremendous progress.