The Ecosystem of You
Our weight is an indicator of our health. It’s one of the gauges on our dashboard. It’s complicated, and we shouldn’t oversimplify it. It has a lot of moving parts and both internal and external factors at play. Obviously, our nutritional choices, exercise, and rest all play a role. However, if we back up a bit, take a more holistic view, we start to see other contributing influences. Factors like our emotional and spiritual health, think about it. Our relationship dynamics and environmental stress also influence the stability of our weight.
All these elements are independent, yet interconnected. They interact with each other, creating both positive and negative influences. From this perspective we start to view our health, our absolute “Being” if you will, as part of a larger ecosystem…the Ecosystem of You.
This was a huge epiphany for me. I had always focused on my weight as a separate vertical. I wasn’t looking at my weight as a byproduct of the overall health and balance of my personal ecosystem. When I started attacking the broader range of contributing influences I started to make sustainable positive progress.
Over a period of 24 months, I lowered my blood-pressure to optimal range, pushed my total cholesterol back under 200 and I reduced my blood sugar enough to get me out of the type-2 waiting room. I did this without the use of pharmaceuticals. Oh, I forgot to mention, I also lost ONE HUNDRED POUNDS! Not because I was trying to lose weight! Because I was focused on the health and balance of my ecosystem…my life.
Nutritional Reality
This can be a huge challenge for us. We don’t know what we don’t know, we trust, assume, and round down for ease and pleasure…ignorance is truly bliss. Once again, we feel this false sense of security in the status quo…until we don’t.
Before my reinvention, the only perspective I had about food was if I liked it or not. That needed to change immediately. What goes into, and comes out of the ecosystem matters. Our bodies are such magnificent designs, they can be enabling at times. Think about the crap we eat, fries, grease, processed foods we have no idea what the heck they really are, sugar, fat, mystery meat, meat and what the hack, more meat and the absolute freakish “science” we consume telling ourselves its food. We dump this crap into our bodies and it still runs the engine, grows hair and fingernails, keeps us rolling…until it can't anymore. Can you imagine what this incredible machine could do if you actually put real food into it?
You Can Start This Journey Of Discovery Today!
Your favorite search engine is standing by, Netflix has a ton of related programing, PrimeTV, YouTube, and podcasts as well. Schedule time every day to study, discover, and learn more about your body and your health. Here are a few rocks to turn over to help you get started.
What Is Protein And Where Does It Come From? You have to dismantle what you believe about animal-based protein and plant-based protein. Plants are loaded with protein, that’s how cows get to weigh 2000 pounds by eating grass. Look into the distribution of amino acids. Animal protein has a lot, so do vegetables! In vegetables they are spread across different plants, you need to understand what a healthy mix looks like.
We eat way too much meat. Period. It is the most marketed, most available, most governmentally protected food industry in America. In America, where we have an obese, stint-installing, cancer-afflicted, pharmaceutical-dependent society.
Where Does Your Food Come From? So much of what we eat is science, it’s not real food. Start with a simple list of whole foods you consume. Understand what they are and their origin. They come from the earth…just like you. Try to create a more balanced mix, less science more real foods. Think field or factory.
Food Libel Laws. Did you know you can be sued for libel in 13 states for criticizing a food producer? And, no matter the outcome, all punitive damages, and attorney’s fees are yours. I’m just saying…
What Do They Do With It Before I Eat It? Pesticides, GMOs, dyes, wax, chemically induced ripening…yes. This is about the quality of what you put into your body. Just because your system can take a steady long-term poisoning doesn’t mean you should make it.
How Much Is Enough? I ate meat two or three times a day, not just meat all the carbs, fat, and sugars that accompany it…can you pass the ketchup, please? When you travel outside the USA you see how out-of-control our portions are. Today, I eat a fraction of what I consumed in the past. I suggest you let yourself get a little hungry. I don’t calorie count but I know it works for some people. If you are a victim of the status quo, you are eating much more than your body needs and more importantly, more than it can process efficiently and effectively. Overeating kicks the ecosystem out of balance.
Intermittent Fasting. I was introduced to this during my chemo treatments. I was trying to stay in a state of ketosis to starve out the cancer which feeds on sugars. Part of the ritual included fasting. I would fast for two days before my chemo sessions. I was burning nothing but the fat, which I was consuming a lot of. The first few times it was hard. I was sick as heck anyway. Something happened, I got past hunger pains and then I started to feel like I was so much more in touch with my body. I stopped eating long enough to realize I was eating way more than I needed, more often than I needed. Look into the value of intermittent fasting.
Water. I can't believe I have to say it, you are made of it. Your brain is 73% WATER. Your heart is also about 73% WATER. Your lungs are 83% WATER. Muscles and kidneys 79% WATER. Get up and drink WATER. Drink WATER all the time. If you don’t… your ecosystem is going to look like a neglected, nasty fish tank. Don’t make your kidneys filter every ounce of fluid. Give your body what it needs. If you are serious about elevated health…get rid of everything and drink water. Stay away from soda, caffeinated drinks, yes that means coffee, drinks that claim to have health benefits. Look closely, read the labels. Give your internal organs a break, drink water.
Gut Health. The new term for digestive health plays a huge role in our overall health. I would challenge you to learn more about what happens to your food after you eat it. What foods complement each other, which creates issues. Foods digest at different rates. Fruit shouldn’t be eaten after slower digesting foods like meat. Food combining is something to research as well. Probiotics and the chemistry of your stomach. Be a fan, honor your body, it will pay huge dividends.
Micro Nutrient. This was a game-changer for me. Once I understood the value of whole foods, the next problem I had to solve was how to consume them in the quantities needed. It takes a lot of determination to chew a bushel of kale, spinach, carrots, and the like. Enter Vitamix. Sorry for the shameless plug but we wasted so much money, “saving money” on cheaper products. If you are going to drink a vegetable smoothie or two every day, you need a MACHINE, whatever brand.
In one delicious 10oz beverage, you can consume more healthy raw fruits and vegetables than you probably eat in a week…or two. Actual real food, from the earth, just like you! It digests easily, it’s efficiently absorbed in your gut, it leaves you feeling full and satisfied. And this is where it gets very interesting, after you drink it, you feel refueled and energized, not like you need to lay down. Food should always make you feel this way, renewed.
Stress-Related Influences
We know this can play a role. There are the classic images of hugging a tub of ice-cream when we are sad. Snacking our way through the day with pleasure food. “I’m just going to eat until the pain stops.” Our emotional and spiritual health has a huge impact on our overall health and as such influences our weight.
Meditation. Forget what you think you know about meditation and actually research it. Find a perspective that works for you. The benefits to health are clear and obvious. It will also aid in your reinvention. There are powerful visualization tools at your disposal if you have a curious open mind.
Spirituality. Lookup for a minute, consider bigger ideas, consider forces greater than yourself. We are the only life form on earth that has a spiritual nature. I didn’t say a religious nature, I said a spiritual nature. There are so many variations, over 4,200 takes on spirituality the world over. Most have a call to an elevated perspective on life. This can help keep you centered and prioritized correctly. Feed your spiritual nature, it will help bring balance to your ecosystem. Balance equals health.
Physical Health
You have to get physical exercise, it's essential. This is one area rich with excuses. Time is a big one. I won’t attack that here, but trust me, if you’re an average American, you have a good 20 plus hours a week that get frittered away. It doesn’t need to be a time commitment. But if it’s important, you will find the time, and guess what? It's important. Think about an integrated approach to balance. Work it in where you can, it's more important to start at any level.
Walking. This is the greatest all-purpose activity you can integrate immediately. You don’t need to walk miles to start just walk. When I started walking I could barely get around the block. My back was killing me, my knees, feet, and ankles ached. I walked to the end of the street and back. Every week a little farther. Today I walk three miles six days a week. It has solved so many physical ailments, aches, and pains.
Weight Lifting. I can see where this might not feel like a great fit for some people. I lift three times a week, at home. All I have is two 10 pound hand weights. These two weights and a half dozen routines completely reengineered my body. I can’t believe the benefits. Nothing improves without resistance. Don’t overthink it, or overdo it. Just get two light weights and start. They start at one-pound and go up from there. You will feel the benefits almost immediately as your muscles come alive, and increase the overall structural integrity of your body. Less stress on your joints. Find a simple routine that is sustainable.
Environmental Factors. The air you breathe, the water you drink, the energy around you, computers, regenerated air, pesticides, toxins, pollution, noise. All these things have an effect on the ecosystem. When the ecosystem is out of balance it becomes harder to sustain true wellness and other manifestations such as illness and weight control.
Detox. So, your garage deserves a spring clean, but your body doesn’t? Flush the toxins that build up over time. Detox is important, especially if you consume a lot of meat. Our intestines and colons are much longer than your standard predatory meat eater and shorter than pure herbivores like horses. We are somewhere in the middle. Meat will putrefy, spoil in the long stretches of our intestines, this alone is a great reason to moderate your animal protein consumption and try to balance it against plant-based sources. Detox will help you realize how good you feel when you’re not, bloated, carrying around rotten food in the nooks and crannies of your intestines.
There is a path that leads to greater measures of fulfillment, joy, and happiness. Join me here for the inspiration, perspectives, and tools to break out of the status quo, reimagine your life and take control.
Go Forth And Rock,
Rich
Comments