The Holistic Guide to Weight Loss, Anti-aging and Fat Prevention

T he Holistic Guide to Weight Loss, Anti-Aging and Fat Prevention By Thomas Goode, ND The Holistic Guide To Weight L...

Author: Thomas Goode

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T he Holistic Guide to Weight Loss, Anti-Aging and Fat Prevention

By Thomas Goode, ND

The Holistic Guide To Weight Loss, Anti-Aging and Fat Prevention

The Holistic Guide To Weight Loss, Anti-Aging and Fat Prevention ISBN 0-9767032-0-3 © 2005 by Thomas O. Goode No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher except where permitted by law. Disclaimer The information contained in this book is intended for general reference purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional advice. Guidelines and strategies are meant to acquaint you with procedures currently available and the manner in which they can be carried out. We cannot take responsibility for any diagnosis or treatment you may make on the basis of the guidelines in this book. Product trade names or trademarks mentioned throughout this publication remain property of their respective owners.

Full Wave Breathing and Full Wave Breath are trademarks of Inspired Living International, LLC

www.InspiredLivingInternational.com www.FullWaveBreathing.com www.InspiredParenting.com

Book Design & Publishing Assistance by [email protected]

Printed in United States of America

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Author’s Note I wrote The Holistic Guide to Weight Loss, Anti-Aging and Fat Prevention as a holistic health management program because I want you to feel better physically, have more energy and resilience, and enjoy personal success and happiness. Repeatedly, I have seen that health is the underlying wealth of our life. One of the most effective ways to improve your health is enhancing your relationship with your body. Learning how your body operates and how to live in accordance with its nature are two of the best things you can do to achieve good, and even great, health. Weight loss, anti-aging and fat prevention are one subject because weight gain is one of the signs of premature aging. In addition, when most of us speak of losing weight or becoming younger, we really desire to lose fat. Plus, there is an almost limitless amount of information about weight loss; yet little that goes beyond food and exercise. The Holistic Guide enters the picture to give you what you need – to explore how you function with respect to your food intake. Using this holistic approach includes and integrates physical, emotional, mental and spiritual perspectives. My program will help you learn more about achieving your ideal weight and discover practical action you can take to feel and look younger.

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Motive to Action My job is to give you information and help you take action. Just picture how your life will naturally become vital, even easier and more loving, as you take action. Welcome to a new you!

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Table of Contents 1 The Four Pillars of Health

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2 Full Wave Breathing 21

3 Only Three Steps

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4 Two Choices 29

5 Rebuild Your Health 33

6 The Cure for Being Overweight 35

7 Fuel 37

8 Taste

41

9 Psychological Satisfaction 47 v


10 Vanity 52

11 Thirst 57

12 What Is Going On? 59

13 The Solution 64

14 Use Your Lungs 71

15 Drink Water 75

16 Food for Thought 79

17 What Can We Eat? 87

18 Exercise 109

19 Yeah And … 117

20 Meditation 119

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Introduction The Holistic Guide to Weight Loss, Anti-Aging and Fat Prevention offers solutions for society’s overweight epidemic and details how you can personally achieve and maintain a healthy weight while having greater energy and feeling more relaxed. You’ll learn how to view weight management as an important aspect of your overall health and take small, doable steps that will produce big results. WHAT DO YOU WANT? Would you like to enjoy the best health possible? Of course you would! But that brings us to the next question, which may have a more complex answer. EFFORT REQUIRED Are you willing to make the effort necessary to manage your lifestyle according to the mind-body’s natural development? Most of us would like to keep doing what we’ve always done, hoping that somehow the results will be different next time. We become addicted to doing the things we have always done. Yet repeating the same patterns will only yield the same, and most likely undesirable, results. You must change for the outcome to change. There is no other way. There are no pills, potions, procedures or prayers that can replace investing YOURSELF into your life. You simply have to participate if you want to make progress. You already know that this is true in your job and in your relationships with others. It also applies to managing your health and weight. I can make it simple for you and even easy. Yet if it is to be, it is up to thee!

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SELF LOVE Can you love yourself enough to take action that is in your health’s best interest? Good! Your willingness to take action is the key to your success. It is the first step to living a longer, livelier, more abundant life. EGO DESIRES Our egos prefer pleasure and the status quo. The ego reaches a certain comfort level and then locks into it, at times even convincing you that change is futile. This takes place on a biochemical level and is usually happening beneath the level of your conscious awareness. OWN PARENT You can change your body’s habits as you would change the habits of a young child – gently encouraging and reinforcing daily. Doing so, over time, will create a new habit. Your body will then reach a new level of comfort and lock into it – for your benefit. REINFORCEMENT The new habit will replace the old one. As this takes place, you will feel better. Remember, this is a process that takes place very naturally. Because you like feeling better, you are then motivated to continue improving. LOW ENERGY STATE The body, usually allied with the ego’s preference for comfort and ease, resists change. Part of the reason this occurs is that the very habits we have developed keep us in a sub-optimal state of low energy. This low-energy state can then make it seem impossible for us to do the things needed to make the changes we say we desire. CONSIDER As soon as we make a change – for example, eliminating toxic foods – we feel discomfort as the mind-body system rebalances its chemistry. If a long-time smoker stops smoking, withdrawal occurs. The smoker experiences cravings and may feel anxious. When you likewise stop eating toxic food, you may also experience withdrawal symptoms, including aches and pains. What happened is that the body has 8

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gradually accommodated the toxins and now depends on them to feel normal. This happens even though “normal” may be compromising your health. NORMAL TENDENCY When we don’t feel very good, even thinking about doing something for our health can be overwhelming. We most likely decide to discontinue any change and resume or continue, perhaps with minor modifications, the same health-disabling behaviors as before. Maybe you know people addicted to soft drinks, candy, coffee, or some other drug. For them, the very thought of giving up that item will produce stress. IF THAT PERSON IS YOU Do you worry that starting a fat-loss program means being deprived of your favorite foods? If so, focus instead on being in an optimal state of health. Substitute that empowering thought for the one of loss. Feed yourself this new thought throughout the day, visualizing yourself as active and healthy. SHIFTING OUR STANCE It’s helpful to know beforehand that any positive alteration in diet is going to produce a result and our body will make adjustments that may initially create discomfort. It’s no different than starting a new exercise program. At first, your muscles may feel sore. But as you continue with your program, becoming stronger and fitter, the soreness vanishes. In the same way, it’s important to maintain a new food regimen until the changed biochemistry is recognized as the new “normal” by your system. STAY THE COURSE We must put up with minor, interim discomfort for the long-term gains we seek. Fortunately, the discomfort doesn’t last very long as the body adapts quickly. You can help with this process by trying some of the activities and suggestions you’ll find in this book. VICTIM OR VICTOR? To help us choose the best health possible for ourselves, we have to realize that taking no action is the same as choosing to be overwhelmed by our past and our 9


environment. Pain, misery, suffering and premature death are the natural results for most of us if we continue as we have been. Normal, as defined in our culture, is not so healthy. Absence of a disease is only the midpoint in your movement to wellness. NEW CHALLENGES If you suffer from excessive stress, you must learn stress resolution and management techniques. This area needs your conscious attention if you are to be healthy. You will learn how to go beyond just dealing with the stressors that greet you every day. You will find out how you can absolutely erase old, stored stressors. Learning how to deal with stress will empower you and help you teach loved ones to reduce stress in their lives. EVERYTHING WORKS TOGETHER Anything you do to improve your health will be helpful. From this book, you will learn the single most important exercise – and how to rationally take charge of your eating habits. Your results will far exceed the relatively little effort involved, and you can look forward to feeling better quickly. THE LATEST INFORMATION As I stated earlier, my job is to make it easy for you – easy to understand and easy to take action that works for you. I share with you what has been learned from the latest sciences – neurobiology, quantum mechanics, and cosmic physics – as well as from the oldest philosophies. START FROM HERE You may have already experienced injury, surgery or accident with a residual effect. Recovery may require long-term involvement in new behaviors. I know this from experience. When I lay on my back in a hospital awakening from a ten-day coma, I knew things were going to be different. The casts on my head, arm and leg made it clear to me that my process would take time and that I would need to be patient. INDULGENCES Either unknowingly or deliberately, we’ve abused our health in our youth. We may 10

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have eaten things we knew were unhealthy. Hopefully we have now stopped the abuse that was deliberate. But we’ve also been exposed to toxic environments without fully understanding them or the effects of certain food choices we’ve made. BYSTANDERS Our health may not be so good as a result unconscious exposure to health-reducing circumstances. For example, being exposed to mercury in fish or amalgam dental fillings, or having to drink or bathe in chlorinated water. Our health suffers nonetheless from our lack of awareness or information. SLOWS DOWN Years of accumulation of toxins wear the system down. The body becomes sluggish and inactive. Then it can no longer eliminate toxins and naturally heal itself. We find ourselves turning to drugs, but these introduce new pollutants that the body now has to handle. Eventually the body will break down as symptoms that we call cancer, heart disease and obesity begin to appear – unless we make changes to reverse this spiraling deterioration. BEST HEALTH POSSIBLE Your current state of health may already be compromised through the effects of time or circumstance. The “best possible health” may be an ideal no longer available. You may never become an athletic competitor or scale mountain peaks, owing to chronic conditions already developed. But you certainly can improve from this point in your life forward, and that’s a worthwhile venture! YOUR CONDITION Even if you have experienced decline, your health can be measurably improved. This is true even if your shape that is genetically determined doesn’t change much. You can now reverse many of the effects of inactivity simply by improving metabolic functioning. The body periodically replaces every single cell, from your skin to your heart to your bones. What would happen if you created the most favorable circumstances for renewing yourself?

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SELF-REPAIR You can achieve your best health possible. The mind-body system is absolutely amazing in its ability to self-repair and regenerate. There are countless stories of individuals overcoming difficult, even seemingly impossible health limitations. Most of us personally know people who overcame the odds to enjoy life more fully despite handicaps or history. I have such a story to tell, so I know it is possible – and worthwhile. If life is worth living – and I assume it is for you or you wouldn’t be reading this book! – isn’t it worth living more fully? WHAT ONE CAN DO What one of us can do, so another can do. You definitely can learn how to feel better than you do now. It is a matter of progressive realization of increased energy. In other words, small steps add up. Naturally and easily, your energy level will improve, and you will feel better. Feeling better will encourage you to continue your fat-loss plan and expand your activity level. It is only logical, then, that you will improve your health, living longer and livelier. NO STRUGGLE REQUIRED Following the program outlined here to harmoniously manage your weight is easy because there is no struggle. You will be working with, instead of against, your body’s evolution and genetic make-up. Follow the plan and you cannot fail to achieve the results you seek. SUCCESS GUARANTEED Success in our Western culture is defined as the progressive realization of a worthwhile goal. You are an energetic being, undergoing continuing change. Make your goal to increase your energy. Everything else will fall into place as you do things to increase your energy and stop doing things that deplete it. More energy will enable your mind-body system to balance and harmonize itself – and help you achieve a healthier weight. AFFECTS EVERYONE Weight management interests most of us, even the currently slender. Even they will 12

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discover that as people age it is “normal” to tend to gain weight. A pound a year is the current norm, or ten pounds per decade. If you weighed 160 pounds at age 21, expect to weigh 190 by the time you are 51. If you were 115 when you were married, you will probably move up to 151 or more — unless you do something about it. (Now, think of weighing your most healthful weight. Notice that you already feel better.) The skinny teen all too quickly becomes normally overweight. It doesn’t take long. Plus, drugs such as steroids, some antidepressants and environmental toxins contribute to weight gain beyond the healthy norm. MORE IS BETTER? Most of us have been conditioned to consume more. Through advertising and our culture, our eating habits have spawned a growth industry with food as its full focus and fixation. Our food habits are recorded, examined and analyzed so that we can be sold and made to eat more. Then we are sold a lifetime supply of remedies to “cure” the ailments caused by overeating. Most often these remedies fail us. RICHES OF INFORMATION Impressive in its sheer volume is a wealth of information about what you should eat along with how, where, what time and in what order. Some of this advice may be sound, but the problem is that recommendations are often made to a general audience without any regard to individual differences. At times, “expert opinions” are either conflicting or confusing. Worst of all, some of the information we receive is simply inaccurate, outdated and ignorant. SEEING THE EFFECT NOW Current food providers, restaurants and manufacturers are already offering smallersized choices as the trend begins to shift from “more food is better” to “more sensible portions are healthier.” But in many instances, they have given us low-fat solutions without considering the whole story — and we have increased our intake of sweeteners. We may think we’re eating less, but even one 12-ounce soda a day translates into enough calories to create 20 extra pounds of body fat in one year. Temptations are everywhere, beckoning us to eat, eat, and eat and drink, drink, drink. 13


SOMETHING WE CAN SEE Weight gain has caught the public’s attention, reported in daily newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and an annual wave of diet and recipe books. We have become a nation of fat people, and we keep getting fatter. Researchers analyzing USDA food consumption tables from 1967 through 2000 found that, by the end of that time period, obesity affected 30 percent of the population, increasing by over 30% every ten years. Recent statistics show the problem is growing even faster. A BRIEF HISTORY • The average body weight of Americans rose slowly from 1900 to the late 1980s, at which point the average began to climb sharply. Accompanying this increase in weight was the consumption of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), up 1000 percent between 1970 and 1990 — far exceeding the intake changes in any other food group. • Obesity in children has grown out of control over the last 25 years. The percentage of obese teenagers has tripled, from 5% to 15%. Preteen obesity more than doubled, from 7% to 15%. • Two-thirds of adults are now overweight and that figure doesn’t consider that, in recent years, the “normal” weight charts have added 10 pounds to the old so-called normal figures. WEIGHING US DOWN IN OTHER WAYS Fat is more than a cosmetic problem. Excess weight overtaxes the organs, impairs movement, and decreases the ability to breathe. The cumulative effects of being overweight lead to a decline in the quality of life and even premature mortality. The direct cost of obesity is estimated to be over $300 billion annually – and that doesn’t even count the costs of overloading healthcare staff and facilities. THE NUMBER ONE CAUSE Obesity is now having as widespread an effect among people as smoking. It is currently thought to kill as many, and disable more. It is taking place across our entire society as well as personally. It is covering us like a fog, making us more sluggish and non-responsive. Some refer to it as digging our own graves with a fork!

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VESTED INTERESTS Commercial interests often override health considerations while nutrition-poor guidelines in most schools establish poor habits, leading to disregard for dietary considerations. Next time you read about children with ADHD or ADD, substitute the phrase “nutritionally bankrupt” and you will have a more accurate label to apply. Poor thinking from poor nutrition doesn’t just plague children. It is a national problem that affects people of all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds. Aside from any poor habits we may have developed, chemicals that cause weight gain pose a hidden danger. They are in our everyday world and we are absorbing them mostly unknowingly. Eat them and you gain! IT’S PROTECTING YOU There is also the hidden overload we consume through other chemicals added to foods – antibiotics, preservatives, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. Yes, we may appear to eat less, but the body continues to gain weight, doesn’t it? YOUR LIVER When your liver becomes overloaded with toxins, it stores those it cannot process–as fat. More toxicity = more fat. Your fat is actually protecting you from toxic overload. To get rid of the fat and prevent its reappearance, you are going to need to eliminate as many toxins as possible. BIG BUSINESS $30 billion is now spent on the attempt to lose or maintain weight each year. Judging from the articles, ads and remedies offered to us, weight management is a national hobby. However, 97% of dieting Americans gain back any lost weight within five years, according to the National Institutes of Health. You will learn that there is a way out of this predicament, too! IT DOESN’T ADD UP We also know from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that the average caloric intake increased about 7% for men and 21% for women between 1971 and 15


2000. During that time, however, the percentage of obese adults rose by 113%. That is a nine-time increase in obesity compared to caloric intake! Clearly something just doesn’t add up. CUT IT OUT The problem is so serious that even surgery is used to deal with obesity. Over 100,000 people had “bariatric,” or bypass, surgery in 2003. The average weight loss is 75 pounds in the first year. So far people undergoing the operation have been able to lose half their bodyweight and keep it off for at least five years. Some researchers claim this surgery saves lives. But one particular study shows that the mortality rate after only one month is 2%. Critics point out that surgery also sets people up for malnutrition with a long-term success rate of only 10% and complications that include bone loss, immune system damage, and liver failure. ONE GOOD THING Most of us don’t qualify for surgery because we aren’t 100 or more pounds above our ideal weight. We also may not be able to pay for an average cost of $25,000 or have insurance that will cover the operation. Even Medicare won’t cover it all. Taking care of ourselves naturally is the best solution, and it is highly affordable. TECH TIPS There is even a medical procedure to trigger feeling full. An implant sends signals to stop eating. What many people don’t realize is that nature already gave us a similar device. Almost all of us have turned it off without knowing it. The pharmaceutical companies are working diligently now to produce a pill that will artificially provide a feeling of fullness. NOT AS SIMPLE AS JUST SAYING NO Finding out how all of this weight gain is happening and what to do about it is important to everyone interested in health. What is going on? For most of us the issue is far more complex than simply “eating less and moving more!” People do differ and no one formula is going to work for everyone. You need to be in charge of you own, 16

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individual program based upon your nature and genetic make-up. GENES Obesity may be genetic, resulting from a missing protein code for leptin. Almost all obese persons have excess leptin in direct proportion to body mass measurements. For these people, supplements can work wonders. Others may inherit a body type that will never measure up to today’s cultural fashion for slenderness or muscularity. Perhaps we find that waist to hip measurement ratios tend to remain constant in spite of exercise and diet. However, regardless of our genetic predisposition, we can all improve our overall health and condition. MEDICATIONS Drugs such as steroids and some antidepressants can cause weight gain directly. Others may increase your desire for food, alter taste preferences, disable signals that tell you to stop eating, or cause hormonal imbalances. With so many different factors coming into play, it can seem as though there is no way out of a corner in which we find ourselves. But there is a solution to the problem. HOW LONG? Most of us gained unwanted weight gradually. Others may have attracted it more rapidly following trauma, or even natural life events like childbirth. In any case, the body will shed the weight as quickly as is in the interest of your health. It will take time. Get used to the idea that gently and easily will be better for you. As a Self-love exercise, give yourself the gift of patience. What would happen if you gave yourself a year to reach your optimal weight? How would you look and feel? How much would you weigh? Even a measly pound a week of fat loss is a tremendous 52 pounds reduction in a year. THE END RESULT (Pun Intended) As far as weight gain is concerned, everyone is guilty and there is no one to blame. We are all in this together, so let’s focus on what can be done for 17


ourselves and, thereby, for everyone else. Depending on your outlook and personality type, your choice to do something for yourself and your willingness to make healthy changes in your own behalf are: 1. Powerful weapons in your war against weight. 2. An irresistible force for harmony and balance in your life. I recommend that you aim for harmony and balance. Everything else will take place naturally and easily.

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Chapter 1 THE FOUR PILLARS OF HEALTH

My life management model consists of four pillars of health: 1. Breath

The key to vitality and inspiration

2. Nutrition

The key to nutrients and fuel

3. Exercise

The key to clarity and flexibility

4. Meditation

The key to calm

These four pillars form the structural foundation of your well-being. Your optimal performance requires that they all become part of your health regimen. HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE Holistic health embraces the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of being. All is energy, and all energy flows from the spiritual to the mental, emotional and physical levels. These planes make up one whole system with interrelated and overlapping parts, separated for examination and discussion. As the developer of this program, I take into consideration what each of us would do holistically if we were conscious souls responsible for the health of our mind and body. WHO IS IT? The one who lives in your body is the one who eats. The one who looks back at you from the mirror occupies your beautiful, sensuous body and is responsible for it. Will you honor your Self? THE KNOWING YOU There is a soul in you who knows intuitively how to eat well and be well. There is also 19


another part of you who, perhaps habitually and unconsciously, sabotages your wellbeing. It is up to you to choose which one will be in charge of your eating and your health. SECRETS REVEALED Throughout this book I’ll share with you some little known, easy to use secrets to overcome disabling habits of both thought and action. you’ll learn how to really feel and perform better, starting right now and improving progressively. ALREADY KNOWLEDGEABLE You already know a lot about weight management. There are, however, some things that I share with you that may be new and will help you. They may even provide you with the breakthrough you have been looking for! WHO DECIDES? It is up to you to personally determine the validity of any idea presented before you adopt it for yourself. It will then be up to you to make the best possible choices for your higher nature in order to have all the energy you would like to have for all of your life. YOU ARE THAT What I mean by your higher nature is the part of you that is loving, considerate, calm and caring. You are expressing your higher nature when you are being the person you want to be. THE BODY TEMPLE Most of us are familiar with the phrase, “The body is the temple.” Indeed, it is the temple for our higher nature, the one who lives from the heart. It is up to each of us to create the optimum mind-body conditions so that our higher nature can express itself more easily and fully.

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Chapter 2 FULL WAVE BREATHING

My holistic approach introduces a major element you won’t find in other weight loss programs: Full Wave Breathing™. It is a natural method of stimulating your own healing resources and directing them toward health and balance. THE ONE THING I have found Full Wave Breathing to be the one thing that will help you do everything else you need to do to take care of your weight. It’s the foundation for your optimum performance, emotional harmony and ideal state. MANY POSITIVE RESULTS Testing results and testimonials show that you can have more energy and become more focused and motivated by using this simple method. Additional information can be found at www.fullwavebreathing.com. WHO IT BENEFITS Regardless of our age or current condition, we can all live fuller, richer lives of greater contribution to those around us and to Life itself. Taking action benefits all of us, individually and collectively. ENERGY CRISIS First, we must have the energy to take action. To have the energy that we need, we must decrease those things that take our energy and begin doing things that increase it. You’ll learn how to do this step by step while losing fat and unwanted weight.

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EMOTIONAL AID Full Wave Breathing will become your primary energy management tool to deal with low energy states that result from toxemia, the anxieties that drive you to eat, and the cravings that arise. You can perform this breathing movement anywhere as a daily exercise — a self-responsible method to alter your blood oxygen ratios and shift sluggish and toxic biochemistry to a positive state. You can also use Full Wave Breathing intermittently throughout the day to manage cravings. IMPROVEMENT NOTED If you were to observe people in diseased states, you would notice that impaired breathing accompanies virtually all diseases. From a holistic perspective, altering any one component automatically alters all others, so you will automatically improve your health as you improve your breathing. IMMEDIATE ACTION Altering your breathing enables you to alter your biochemistry and electromagnetic field. Applying Full Wave Breathing immediately alters a disease state by redirecting respiration. Use it to manage your emotions and remain calm and alert. LOGICAL RESULTS You will find that Full Wave Breathing can be employed for a variety of healthful purposes. Since your breathing affects everything else, it makes sense that you can improve a variety of conditions simply by improving the way you habitually breathe. OXYGEN FOR LIFE Most of us know that a good supply of oxygen is essential to our health. How well do you think your body will run if you progressively decrease the amount of oxygen you receive? That is exactly what happens “normally” as you age — unless you take action. Oxygen-poor foods only add to the problem. HEALTHGUARD Even old studies point out that cancer cannot live in an oxygen-rich environment. Newer studies show that when our blood oxygen ratio declines to a certain level, our 22

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organ systems simply stop working. BREATHE AWAY FAT? Some weight management programs maintain that your breathing is even more important than calisthenics or diet when it comes to burning calories. That may be the case and you’ll have to see for yourself. If you want to burn fat fast, you need oxygen! How much fat you burn while you exercise depends on the ability of your cardiovascular system to deliver enough oxygen to your cells.

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Chapter 3 ONLY THREE STEPS

Full Wave Breathing™ consists of three easy steps and is appropriate for children over the age of six as well as all adults. A step-by-step description of the process appears at the end of this book. You can write me with any questions at [email protected]. CONSIDER THIS Doesn’t it make good sense that if we are going to be doing something for the rest of our lives, we should do it in a way that strengthens rather than weakens us? Of course it does, and we can certainly strengthen ourselves through proper breathing, eating, exercising and meditating, our Four Pillars of Health. NOT JUST ONE THING You cannot isolate or single out fat control or weight management as an item to be manipulated or managed by itself. Everything affects everything else. Improving your breathing is simply the first step and one that you will thank yourself again and again for taking. BASICALLY If our respiration doesn’t work right, nothing else can! The first step of action is to measure where you are. So let’s take a few minutes to evaluate your breathing as you read.

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BY THE WAY If your breathing isn’t healthy, you are already experiencing the ill effects. You probably even know you “should” do something about it. Here’s your chance! TEST Right now, while you are sitting or reclining and reading, take a deep breath. Did it begin low in the belly or up in the chest? If it began in the chest, you’re not breathing optimally yet. Just by changing your breathing you are going to feel better immediately. After a month, you’ll be one of the many people who write me about the

rev-

olution in their health. Your life will improve, just like theirs did. LIMITED INTAKE If you are breathing by moving your chest muscles, you are not getting all of the fuel your body needs for its optimum functioning. By retraining your muscles and redirecting your breathing patterns, you can improve almost everything about your health. I know you will feel better as you do this. HOLDING TENSION Chest breathing is so tiring that many of us feel run down just from its ill effects. It also keeps us tense and on edge. ALREADY THERE? If you are already a belly breather, you are probably a generally healthy individual. If you begin to practice Full Wave Breathing, you’ll be amazed at what happens for you. You have already established a strong basis for your health and will experience even faster gains as you optimize your breathing through the Full Wave Breathing exercise. WORKS WELL Those completing their Full Wave Breathing retraining say they feel stronger and more confident. One of the major reasons its effects are so immediate is that you are giving yourself a positive chemical cocktail.

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FITS ALL SIZES It makes no difference how small or large your frame is, or how much weight you carry. Improving your breathing will immediately help you feel better. You can feel better even when you are in bed! NO STRAIN You feel good and your body will like the way it feels, causing it to develop a preference for feeling that way. After a short time you will be automatically enjoying a healthier breath pattern that will last throughout your livelier life. GOOD NEWS FOR THE FEW If you are of a third variety of breather with your breath beginning deep in your abdomen below the navel and expanding up into your midsection, chest and shoulders, then this is the book you have been waiting for. Give a copy to your family and friends so they can keep up with you, and together all of you can enjoy a longer, more vital life. THOUSANDS OF PRESENT-DAY RESULTS I’ve shared this program with thousands of now-happier people. Today, program graduates are teaching this powerful yet simple method across the world. GUARANTEE Rather than a Money-Back Guarantee, I am offering you a Misery-Back Guarantee. Use the ideas, suggestions, and secrets I share with you, beginning with your breathing. If at the end of 30 days you don’t have more energy, a better attitude and improvement in your battle of the bulges, you have my permission to return to your former way of life. NO RISK Of course you won’t want to. You will feel SO MUCH BETTER that you’ll want to do even more for yourself.

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Chapter 4 TWO CHOICES

We have two basic choices we can make regarding our lifestyle and activity. We can choose discipline, or we automatically choose regret. WHAT MATTERS We can be more or we can be less. We can create meaningful rituals of self-love where we breathe, eat, exercise, and give our body quiet time — OR we can experience ourselves as less than all that we could be. TRAINING WHEELS Rituals provide us with structure, a framework to build upon. A morning ritual that involves breathing, stretching, exercise and meditation only need be repeated for a few short weeks before it becomes a habit. Wouldn’t your life work better if you established such a habit? Of course it would! Make it easy and start with Full Wave Breathing. BATTLER OF THE BULGES I have been an avid researcher in weight management and overall health since being in an automobile accident in 1955. Within a year my weight went from 175 pounds to 125 pounds and then up to 200 pounds. I dieted to lose 30 pounds in one month. It took me six more months to lose another five pounds after stopping the diet. BACK THEN My diet for rapid weight loss was 800 calories per day and one pizza splurge on

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Saturdays. I could eat only a few slices. This is not a regimen I recommend for you today. It is too severe a restriction and the splurging was not healthy. STUDENT BLISS My adolescent hormones kept me burning calories and still enjoying plenty of energy for everything. An 800-calorie diet today is generally regarded as too stringent and unlikely to provide needed nutrients. I don’t recommend starving yourself. I lost the first 50 pounds after the auto accident because my jaws were wired together for several months. I don’t recommend that, either. WEIGHT LOSS One of the first things I learned was that it wasn’t the weight I wanted to lose, it was the fat. By exercising, I was able to retain the muscle and lose the fat. You know whether you are fat or not. No test or device is really required, is it? HEALTH PROBLEMS At age 38 I was diagnosed as having a degenerative disease. I had to learn how and what to eat to first halt and then reverse its course. In the process, I found out still more about how to help others lose fat rapidly, and I learned the secret of maintaining an optimal weight as we age. My credentials in the field of weight management are much more than academic. I’ve been there! ONE DISEASE I am a naturopath, a teacher-physician who sees and treats one disease: toxemia. Every disease can be related to the accumulation of toxic substances in our glands, organs, and blood. Obesity is a disease subject to the same rules. We get fat because we become toxic. EVERYWHERE We breathe, eat, drink and surround ourselves with toxins. They are found in the environment and in the substances we use to control our environment. Our health improves immediately when we eliminate toxins within and around us.

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UNNATURAL CAUSES Toxemia leads to our eventual UNNATURAL death. Death from toxic overload may appear normal, but it is not natural. SELF HEALING If we did not pollute our bodies, they would be self-healing, self-restoring and selfregenerating. We would all live longer, more vital lives of improved quality and contribution. GONE CRAZY? A particular school of thought within the medical community holds that many — if not the majority — of our psychological issues reside in our tissues, not in our minds. We have poisoned our body and it makes us act crazy! You can believe these experts and you can be your own authority. Make some changes and see what happens! WE THE OVERWEIGHT ARE EVERYWHERE! As each of us wages a personal Battle of the Bulges, we also see all around us more and more people becoming overweight and obese. Weight gain in our society places two out of every three of our family members at a greater health risk. The cost to us individually and to our society is overwhelming. NO PUN Healthcare systems are straining under the load imposed by our overweight society. Many of us have watched the growing problem with our own bodies and are finding out that two-thirds of our obese children are now heading for diabetes unless we and they take charge of our health. CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM Fortunately something is being done about this widespread problem. General public interest and awareness is growing. People everywhere are being encouraged to lose weight.

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THE RESULTS Not so many are achieving long-term results yet. But many people are learning a great deal about themselves in the process. Since the cause is more complicated than

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ple lifestyle changes in diet and movement, the pursuit of fat loss is likely to lead a person into emotional issues and an exploration of underlying beliefs. EVERYONE’S GETTING INVOLVED Preachers now voice concern from the pulpits, warning their flocks about overeating, sponsoring new fitness activities, and often leading the way. Public health officials are re-examining long-held conclusions about what is healthy and making new information available. Even the government is changing the food pyramid, though some say the change doesn’t go far enough. To read the latest guidelines, visit the government’s site at http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2000/document/build.htm. To view an article from the Wall Street Journal that claims the government’s food pyramid contributes to obesity, visit http://www.karlloren.com/diet/p109.htm. SHOULD BE EASY? With all the knowledge and public attention given to the subject of weight loss, it ought to be easy. Yet most of us are still not making the necessary changes and freeing ourselves of poor eating and exercising habits. WISDOM FOR ALL Yes, we rightly have concern for family and friends who weigh too much. Let’s do what we can to help them and ourselves take some easy steps to solving any weight gain problems. WRONG DIRECTIVES? While the pervasive problem of excessive weight gain negatively impacts our collective and individual health, relationships and performance, we can do something about it. Only it is not what you may have already been told!

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Chapter 5 REBUILD YOUR HEALTH I know you can feel better and get stronger. I lost my health and have rebuilt it twice. The first time was the result of an auto accident as a teen. I was told to prepare for a life of limited cognition and mobility. With the brain damage I suffered, no one expected me to complete regular high school, so I was offered the opportunity to simply receive a diploma and then apply to a trade school. I rejected that advice and graduated tenth out of a class of 150 and, on a disability scholarship, went on to college. TIME TO THINK I was also told that after six months on my back, I would be fitted for a leg brace to be my companion for the rest of my life because without it, I couldn’t walk. I, of course, didn’t believe my doctors. And while I now understand that denial is the first step in recovery, in this case my denial worked. VALUABLE EXPERIENCE Earlier in my life, I had recovered from polio and rebuilt my body so I could be an athlete in high school. I did this despite the fact that numerous authority figures told me to be careful, as if I were fragile and could be damaged with exercise. I let my denial fuel my recovery. RECOVERY WAS SLOW I recovered enough to be able to wrestle and play touch football and softball in college. I also graduated in four years from a major university. So whatever your current condition is, I know you can do things that will help you feel better and get healthier

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… and even lose fat, if that is your goal. REPEAT As a grown man I lost my health from disease. Told I had two years before it became terminal, I immediately turned to alternative treatment and care. From my teen experiences with polio, I learned not to give up and to move through the pain and discomfort. This later experience with degenerative disease became the turning point for my own good health. ONE-YEAR TURNAROUND I put into practice what I learned from alternative medical and healing approaches. In a little over a year, I was symptom-free and disease-free. I was also able to reduce and then discontinue altogether the drugs I had been taking for 17 years as reported in a story in Prevention Magazine. WHAT’S THE POINT? The bottom line is that if my body can do it, so can yours. We both had the same maker. Our bodies are truly miraculous creations with amazing capabilities. Take action, then watch and see what can happen for you!

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Chapter 6 THE CURE FOR BEING OVERWEIGHT

The “cure” will come first from understanding: • How we pollute our bodies • How to avoid doing so • How to detoxify • How to keep the body clean LONG TERM The Holistic Guide helps you start and keep going. Sadly, 75% of those who start a program at the beginning of any year drop out in the first couple of months. You, however, will be able to continue your program. WHEN TO START How about starting now? When I decided to lose weight I was only fifty pounds overweight. When I later began learning about the four pillars of health, I was sick and dying. But you don’t have to wait for some dire happening or catastrophic event to push you to action. Get started now because you deserve to feel the best you possibly can. AVERAGE SHAPE IN THE BEGINNING When I was given a two-year outlook for my life, I was a smoker, a drinker and a “sitter-arounder.” I also was eating a lot. Two Big Macs and a shake were a good start when it came to lunchtime. The prescription medications I was taking burned off excess calories, but I was loading up on toxic substances that stayed in my body.

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Almost everything had to change for me to regain my health. Looking back almost thirty years, I can say it was definitely worth it. It will be worth it for you, too, as you make the changes you need to be at your best. MANY SECRETS One of the greatest secrets is that staying healthy doesn’t have to be difficult! Choose to feel better now and I’ll help you find an easy way. If you are more than fifty pounds overweight, you don’t even have to lose it all to feel dramatically better, look younger and be significantly healthier. A LITTLE CAN BE A LOT Instead, lose ten pounds and regularly increase your activity with exercise. Being fit is far more important for your health than the specific amount of weight you carry. Over time, the excess poundage will decrease as your regain your health. NO SURPRISE Numerous studies show that fit people of all weights and body shapes live longer and are healthier. Fitness will also help you with your appetite. The positive chemistry you’ll generate will offset old needs for comfort food consumption or “pigging out.” WHY EAT? We eat for a variety of reasons: • Fuel • Taste • Psychological satisfaction • Vanity • Thirst • Organ malfunction. In the following chapters, we’ll explore each reason in depth so that you can learn more about why you’ve formed certain eating habits and how you can choose healthier options.

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Chapter 7 FUEL The first reason we eat is to fuel our bodies. Ideally we would only consume foods that provide nutrition. If the things we eat are not nutritious, then they aren’t really foods. Imagine saying that you are feeding your body instead of saying that you are eating. Holding the perspective of “feeding” instead of eating can help you detach from those things that do not feed your mind-body system. HOWEVER Yet we all eat for taste and psychological satisfaction too, don’t we? The problem is that when we eat too much or consume food too quickly, our bodies slow down. The digestive system quickly becomes clogged and unable to repair itself. To keep your body working right, keep the mind-body system clean. SIMPLE It is simple, and the obvious way out of such a predicament is to stop eating what does not benefit us and eat only those foods that are of benefit. As most of us already know, it is not so easy to do. THE AIR WE BREATHE Nutrition is one of the four pillars of health. The first nutrient to consider is oxygen. Are you getting enough to keep your system clear of harmful bacteria and viruses that can‚t live in an oxygen-rich environment? Is your brain getting all it needs for you to be clear and alert under pressure and stress? Probably not! FOOD FAILURE Most people are also not getting enough nutrition from their foods due to either poor 37


food choices or eating denatured produce. Since the body cannot exist on devitalized food and uses more oxygen to digest it, you begin to run an oxygen deficit if you eat oxygen-robbing foods. SLOW DOWN Your body adapts to the lower levels of available fuels and slows to conserve energy. The digestive process also slows and toxins build up in the colon to then be reabsorbed into your blood. Your organs become overloaded and all of your normally resilient systems are degraded. IMPLICATIONS Poor food choices and the process of aging lead to less oxygen available to your body. But there’s also another culprit here. Most people slip into becoming shallow breathers, resulting in a sluggish metabolism. Your vital capacity decreases so your metabolic rate also decreases. Your cells become starved for fuel. SERIOUSLY Without adequate oxygen, your body can’t possibly perform all of its natural, revitalizing functions. The oxygen deficiency from food just adds to the problem and you become unable to burn off the body’s wastes, which not surprisingly accumulate around the waist. IT ADDS UP Stress also accumulates. It gets stored within your breathing muscles and mechanism as well as in other areas of your body. As you age, the decline in your breathing seems natural. It’s so very normal that most of us simply run out of energy and never ask why. ACTIVE The body was designed to move and breathe! Today’s more sedentary lifestyle is proving to be dangerous. We aren’t getting the activity necessary to build or restore our energy supply. Fortunately there is an easy answer to both dissolving stress and replenishing our energy. 38

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AGING One of the reasons to practice Full Wave Breathing is to reverse the normal trend of aging metabolism. The rate at which the body burns calories for energy slows as most people grow older. So the tendency is for everyone is to gain weight as the body slows and ages and the vital capacity shrinks. Fat replaces muscle so less fuel is burned and more is stored. EFFICIENCY We very quietly and gradually wind up with a resting metabolism that functions minimally to keep us alive. The body then very efficiently conserves energy as if we were asleep. EFFECTIVENESS We can reverse this tendency to decrease activity. We can wake up the metabolism, stimulate it, and restore its more natural state. We can choose to nurture ourselves and take corrective action instead of falling victim to the passage of time.

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Chapter 8 TASTE

FIVE FLAVORS The second reason we eat is for taste. There are five unique kinds of taste: sweet, sour, salty, astringent and bitter. The body seeks to have them all. SPECIALIZED Taste is an individual matter. Children have very specific and narrow tastes that broaden as they mature. Over time, older bodies generally experience a decrease in their sense of taste. HOT STUFF A surprising number of us have unwittingly damaged our sense of taste with peppers and spices. When this happens, the natural result is to eat more to satisfy taste. PLASTIC? Denture wearers and others with appliances that cover the palate may miss out on many tastes and textures enjoyed when eating. They, along with those who lose their sense of taste as they age, may wind up actually eating less since it provides less pleasure. AUREVEYDA A dietary regimen from the Vedic tradition attempts to solve the problem of eating for taste by applying the method of inclusion. Each meal is planned around all of the tastes being satisfied. It is a sound principal that can be incorporated in any dietary program. 41


CHANGES Tastes change throughout our lifetime. They also can be cultivated. And unfortunately, natural aversions can be overridden all too easily. YUMMM Who among us doesn’t remember the first time we sipped a beer or had a taste of whiskey or wine? The body probably had a reaction causing it to recoil. If you have to cultivate a taste for a specific food or drink, your body probably doesn’t like or need it. PEER PRESSURE If you continued to drink you purposely developed a liking for it. Over time young taste buds were educated to choose beer as an everyday beverage and make wines and other alcoholic beverages popular. RECALL Like aromas and sounds, tastes are remembered. A taste can make such a strong impression that we may overeat attempting to find satisfaction from a certain taste preference or combination. MORE LIKELY When we are driven to seek more of a certain taste it is usually to fulfill a craving rather than find nutrition. We may think these cravings are natural until we consider the consequences of giving in to them and eating this way: Low energy Digestive stress Cellular starvation A RULE? The “rule” about taste is simple: Train yourself to eat what benefits you and avoid what doesn’t. Resist the cultural forces that beckon you to give in to endless temptations posed by manufactured drinks, fattening grain products and sugary snacks.

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IN ADDITION We may not even know or be able to find out if most of our snacks have additives that fit into a category of substances called “excitotoxins.” The most common of these “flavor enhancers” is monosodium glutamate, known as “MSG.” ALLERGY Many people are allergic to MSG and develop a splitting headache when it is ingested, even in small amounts. MSG was developed as a flavor enhancer during World War II. APPEALING It is so powerful that Allied soldiers were known to scavenge foodstuffs that contained MSG from the packs of Japanese soldiers to spice up their own tasteless survival (K) rations. MSG is made from kelp, available in abundance to the island nation of Japan. WOW! Eating it produces a neuronal firing in the brain creating a sensation of pleasure. We then associate this sensation with the food or food substitute to which it was added, and we become “hooked.” JUST ONE BITE The chemical craving we experience is engineered by design into the product. The only way out of the excitotoxins influence is to avoid them. NO BENEFIT These chemicals have no nutritive value and only tax our organs of elimination, creating more stress. They may appear in our diet unnamed, referred to merely as a flavoring additive or as an unlisted proprietary ingredient. OH? By the way, the second most known excitotoxin is aspartame, the sugar substitute. It’s found in many commercial beverages and served in most restaurants. Simply stop using this poison and your health will automatically improve. 43


RETRAINING Eliminate excitotoxins and re-train your taste. Learn about what is in the foods and beverages you consume. Make an agreement with yourself to absolutely avoid those things that do not contribute to health. Why wait until you get sick to take action? OF SERIOUS CONCERN For more information on excito-toxins and the links to degenerative disease, read the book by Russell Blaylock, MD, Excitotoxins, The Taste That Kills. His website address is http://www.russellblaylockmd.com MODIFICATIONS In order to keep carbohydrate and fat levels down, many processed foods are now made with chemical additives and sugars as replacements. You many not know what you are eating or what it is doing to you. Think of those additives as “Emoto-toxins.” EMOTO-TOXINS These are ingredients in the so-called comfort foods that make you feel good now even though a hang-over may await you. They are in high glycemic carbohydrates that shift your state temporarily before rebounding against you. Eliminate these as well as the excito-toxins. FIND OUT Many soy protein products list additives that contain MSG without naming it directly. The same is true for many other packaged and processed food offerings. Avoid processed and packaged foods if possible. CONSPIRACY THEORY Perhaps your taste buds are actually being chemically engineered for you to eat more, causing you to gain weight. Further research on your part will reveal this notion to be on target. KEEP IT SIMPLE Avoid these things altogether. Keep chemical additives and artificial flavors out of 44

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your personal food chain to guard your health. You may think a little won’t hurt you. Let’s go a little further before you decide. ANALOGY Telling you to simply cut back on junk foods with unhealthy additives is like telling an alcoholic to just have a light beer. It doesn’t work! You need to become focused about what goes into your magnificent body. FEED IT FOR HEALTH Your body was designed by nature to be the vehicle of Spirit. Francis of Assisi referred to it as his good and faithful servant. It is difficult to lead a full life of contribution without a healthy mind and body. NEVER TOO LATE Feeding your body lovingly is a wonderful step to take as opposed to simply eating or indulging appetites. Many of us have to learn to love the body later in life, having never been taught to do so as children. IF I DID KNOW How would a person who loved their body feed and care for it? This is what I hope you will learn (or remember) by reading this book. Start to lovingly care for your body today. THEN Take a simple step or two to doing it full time! You’ll be developing powerful habits of taking better care of yourself. As you do this, you’ll feel better and perform better in all areas of your life.

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Chapter 9 PSYCHOLOGICAL SATISFACTION A third reason we eat is for psychological satisfaction. Ordinarily the desire for food is a natural signal from our body, but it has become corrupted from a variety of influences. INSTINCTUAL Hunger is a survival signal that we learn to obey. The desire to not over-eat is also a natural signal. You can be tuned-in to both signals, appropriate at different times, by regaining balance. OVERRIDE CRAVINGS To curb your emotion-based desire to eat, substitute Full Wave Breathing for food. It works just like using Full Wave Breathing for smoking cessation. You distract your mind and exercise your body until the urge passes. Those who have done so are surprised at how little effort is involved and how great the results turn out. TRANSIENT DEMAND The urge to “eat now!” usually doesn’t come from hunger but is, instead, a passing thought, like “I need to smoke.” By using Full Wave Breathing, you fully inspire your mind-body system and the urge automatically disappears. ON THE WAY OUT Think about this too: Your body may be naturally eliminating a toxin associated with a certain food. As it’s doing this, your responsive body tells you about it. You then experience a craving. Allow the craving to be there and breathe until it dissolves. It will dissolve.

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COOKIE MONSTER CALLING Can it be that easy? Yes, it really can! Trust me, when I watch my wife’s urge for “cookie” rise up during an evening movie, and I watch her breathe instead, I know it can work for you, too. (By the way, we don’t keep cookies in our house, so it is easier for both of us to let that particular urge pass.) WHAT HAPPENED? Our psychological food drive arises from the body seeking a feeling of comfort and ease. For example, when may have been given food as a substitute when requiring only loving attention. Now when the feeling arises, we turn to food as a form of affection. CARROT We likely associated eating with rewards and pleasure. Many of us remember that our goal was to have dessert, and eating everything else was just a means to earn it. AND STICK If we were often sent to bed without a meal, we likely remember food differently than if it had always been available. A lifetime of overeating can be the result of having food withheld from us as children. BONDING Or maybe we imprinted happy feelings of Thanksgiving dinner with the family in our mind, associating “happy” with the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and pumpkin pie smothered in whipped cream. Plus, a memorable camping trip can produce an uncanny fondness for baked beans and hot dogs. HELLO! Next time we feel deprived, our brain will remind us that we can end our suffering by eating! Whenever we feel unfulfilled we’ll automatically think of a food we consumed under happy circumstances – and desire it. AN ALTERNATIVE TV commercials constantly tell you that you can feel better if you eat this instead of 48

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that, wear these clothes, and drink this beverage. Instead of just craving remembered foods, people today are given vast, seemingly unlimited choices to fulfill ego longings, complete with large, tempting food images on the television screen and magazine pages. ANOTHER ALTERNATIVE Picture yourself at a happy occasion from your past and remember how you felt. Now breathe in ten Full Wave Breaths through your mouth and then resume your normal activities. Still hungry? Go for the water. LET’S EAT How often shall we eat? If “when you are hungry” is your conclusion, you may have identified a potential trouble spot for yourself. Too many of our food drives are not physiological. UNDERLYING IT Your eating may be strongly influenced by the drive for psychological satisfaction. One thing everyone does is eat certain foods that turn us off, numb us out and quiet the mind. They should be called “deadening” instead of “comfort” foods. STRESS EATING If we haven’t dealt with the stress present in our lives, we may be using food as an unconscious crutch. Or we may be making a conscious decision to eat in order to cope with excessive stress. Forgive yourself and get on with the program for a new you! DEFUSE THE BOMB Here is an extremely effective exercise for dealing with your emotional stressors. Use it when you feel like you are about to explode. SIMPLE ACTION Make a list under the heading: “Emotions I Would Feel If I Allowed Myself ”

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These emotions may be anger, sadness, regret, or any other feeling you hold back. You may have even repressed positive emotions such as praise, gratitude and love. Cutting off emotions creates chronic stress and contributes to weight gain. Expressing them constructively is the only remedy. GENTLY List the emotions and then, one by one, go down your list. Focus on each item and allow yourself to feel that particular emotion while slowly practicing Full Wave Breathing. Stretch between each listed emotion after breathing and move on to the next one. Regular use of this exercise will provide a healthy outlet for difficult emotions. MIND POWER Turn your mind to a thought or a picture that produces the emotional recall, and then breathe. Think of the person, place or thing that triggers this emotion and, as you breathe, feel and imagine. Make it real in your mind and body as you breathe to integrate the emotion. ANY TIME ANY PLACE Even just repeating a word in your mind can elicit the response you are looking for. For example, repeating the word “sadness” can be the only trigger you need to evoke the feeling and raise it to the surface. Stay with it, holding your focus on the word or incident as you practice Full Wave Breathing. You will definitely see improvement. QUICK RESULTS Feel whatever energetic response arises, keep breathing, and allow any tension to soften and relax. Stretch and repeat the Full Wave Breathing pattern until you feel calm and peaceful. CALMING Through your breathing you will have signaled to yourself that you are in a safe environment, and that you accepted (and thus respected) any of your emotions. You will be communicating to your inner self your desire to accept these emotions. You may 50

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notice that your shoulders and neck become more relaxed as you continue. NATURAL REMEDY You will also have disconnected some of your eating triggers during this process. Most people will notice a feeling of lightness and feeling better overall. Another positive result is that you free the energy you had used to hold onto or suppress your stored emotions. You will now naturally feel much freer! THOROUGHBREAD You’ll be more successful in your quest to improve your health if you begin by “feeding” your body. If your body was a thoroughbred race horse that would earn millions of dollars over its lifetime, you’d take care of that horse and feed it the best available food, wouldn’t you? SAME SECRET Do the same thing with your body. Feed it at regular intervals and keep its blood chemistry in the optimal range. To do this, you need to feed your body breakfast, lunch and dinner along with snacks in between. And you need to make Full Wave Breathing part of your day, every day. EFFORTLESS Your energy level and mood will automatically improve as you adopt these ideas and put them into practice. You will also be able to accomplish much more with significantly less effort.

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Chapter 10 VANITY

SHAPE UP A fourth reason we eat is for our appearance. Maybe we’d like to look a certain way and so we change our diet in an attempt to change our appearance. The usual result is frustration. IDOL OR IDYL Perhaps we think we will be more popular if our body has a particular shape. But the fact is that for the most part, our shapes are genetically determined. Looking our best, then, is a natural result of healthy living. GENE THERAPY I won’t go into our genetic predispositions in this book. You can find more on this subject in other books dedicated to the topic. WORKS FOR ALL Instead our focus here is on health regardless of your body type. Restricted calorie diets by themselves just don’t work, and what we eat is only one element of the weight gain mix. IT’S ALL GOOD What would happen if we stopped criticizing our size? It would be a good step for anyone to take. We all respond better to praise than to criticism – even from ourselves.

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NATURAL WEIGHT There are many sound health reasons to be thin. But losing weight to be liked or feel more love isn’t one of them. You deserve to be loved no matter what you look like or how much you weigh. BEYOND DENIAL I’m not suggesting that you deny that you would be healthier losing some fat. I am suggesting that from this point forward you get off your case about it. And, of course, do something about it! THE PHYSICS OF IT If you put yourself down, you send a negative signal to your cells. The cell receptors then adapt to handle the negative chemistry. Over time these negative receptors grow and expand, crowding out the receptors meant for repair and restoration. The result is that future generations of cells develop with a predominance of negative receptors, robbing you of health and happiness. DOG OR DAWG In terms of being liked or attractive, consider meeting a loving and friendly dog. We usually don’t care how the creature looks; it’s the energy that we like. We can learn a lot from dogs. Maintain your own positive energy by feeding it daily. WHAT GOES AROUND It would be better to learn to be friendly and to put out loving vibrations than to place so much of our attention on appearance. Refocusing our attention would also result in creating more meaningful relationships. CLEAN IS GOOD Most of us don’t need to do too much to be attractive beyond being clean and neat and smiling. A wholesome diet usually automatically produces a healthy, attractive body and good breath.

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IT HAPPENS BENEATH OUR NOSES Strictly speaking, attraction is not a visual phenomenon – it’s a biochemical event owing to pheromones exuded in our perspiration. Sure, the exceptional in appearance will initially attract our attention. But there is so much more going on after someone does get our attention. MAGIC AT WORK It’s the pheromones that perform the magic. Relax — attraction is automatic. It is a bonus if you are already friendly and loving and remember to smile.

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Chapter 11 THIRST

NUMBER FIVE A fifth reason you may eat is that you are thirsty instead of hungry. Many of us consume less than the 48 to 64 ounces of water recommended each day. MORE To lose weight by flushing fat from your system, increase your water intake so you are drinking 64 to120 ounces per day. Compare it to priming a pump and getting water to flow through. WATER RETENTION If you haven’t been getting enough water, your body has been retaining it. Drinking more water is actually the cure for water retention problems. The body has been holding on to it because it needed it. FAT FLUSHING Expect increasing your water intake to help you lose weight. Most of it will be fatty waste loss, and getting rid of it is healthful. SUMMARY We have looked at five of the reasons we eat: 1. Fuel 2. Taste 3. Psychological Satisfaction 4. Vanity 57


5. Thirst. It’s also possible that your eating is driven by organ malfunction. Or you may have disabled your endocrine system. Ask your doctor for a test to make sure that your weight gain isn’t the result of a hormonal disorder. Then put all of the things that you are learning into action.

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Chapter 12 WHAT IS GOING ON?

As a Soul, the only reason to eat that works long-term is the first one: for fuel — for our health. We need to feed our body as if it really is a prized possession as in the example of the race horse. Taking care of it will enable us to look good and successfully compete in the “race”– the human race, that is. BIG GAINS Considering the statistics quoted earlier, we see only a relatively small increase in the amount the average person is eating during the last ten years — less than ten percent. What is going on that the number of overweight people has grown so dramatically? THE APPESTAT Most of us have become insensitive to our body’s‚ natural hunger cessation signal. It is called the “appestat.” ENOUGH The “you are full, stop eating” signal arises from the appestat, a group of digestive organs. It tells us when the body has had enough and signals a “full feeling” when it is working. But regularly overeating, and thus ignoring the signal, turns it off. Plus environmental toxins may cause it to become erratic and ineffective. LISTENING WITHIN We actually would stop short of being full if we obeyed the signal the appestat produces. However, we all have the strange ability to eat beyond what our bodies need or can easily digest.

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EXPANDABLE When we override the signal, the stomach stretches in response to overeating. Continuing to ignore the signal turns it off, and our stomachs continue to stretch as we continue to overeat. TENSION Another reason we may gain weight is our psychological state. When we are distressed we produce the weight gaining hormone, cortisol, which signals our system to store fat. MANY TRIGGERS Imagine that you are angry with the driver in front of you. When this happens, your body produces the message, “Store fat.” And when you get all wrapped up and stressed out over a soap opera, sports event, bad relationship, or negative thinking, the result is the same. Your system tells itself, “Store fat.” BRIEFLY Under stress? • The nervous system releases adrenaline, epinephrine and norepinephrine. • Blood flow for digestion decreases. • The result is poor digestion and assimilation. • Production of antibodies and T-lymphocytes slows, increasing your vulnerability to flu, colds and other infections. ON GOING This process of reaction to stress takes place all day long, beneath our conscious awareness. It goes directly into our subconscious and lays in wait (or weight) for us. MANAGEMENT Since stress produces cortisol and increases hunger, instead of eating to relieve it, we need to manage our stress. We need a way to disrupt the signal that says “you are in danger” and results in fat being stored for an imagined emergency.

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STRESS SOLUTION Full Wave Breathing can work wonders in helping you to quiet that kind of demand that ranges from merely annoying to incessant. To resolve it, take three Full Wave Breaths and continue with the exercise in sets of three until any anxiety passes and you are calm and relaxed. OVERLOAD Unless we can turn stress off periodically, we are headed for trouble. Acute stress can turn chronic unless we consciously interrupt the process. Chronic stress can lead to adrenal exhaustion, depression and burnout. TWO RESULTS Unwanted weight is one consequence of not allowing enough time for recovery between periods of distress. Declining health is another. You can begin to reverse the process today. STRESS AND RELIEF Normal growth occurs as part of an alternating cycle of exertion and recovery. Without regular recovery time, even a minor stressor becomes chronic. When subjected to constant strain, any of the bodily systems can break down. LESS OXYGEN Then, in addition to everything else that is contributing to the mind-body breakdown, our food is increasing our stress! Dense carbohydrates and refined foods take oxygen from our system. We become sluggish, less active and “naturally” gain weight, right? FAULTY SIGNALS A final reason we gain unwanted weight is false signals from the hypothalamus. This can happen when we get clogged up from any of the variety of pollutants available to us. It happens over time and is also beneath our conscious awareness.

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OOPS Our brain then may think that our fat stores are too large. So it sends a message to burn off the excess. The larger problem, however, is that it encounters stressors and then thinks we aren’t getting enough food. Now the brain tells the body to store fat. We begin issuing confusing mixed messages to ourselves. IMPAIRED COMMUNICATION Next, the messenger hormones that enable the body to communicate with itself become disabled. We don’t register that we are receiving the necessary amount of nutrients. Again, the brain signals the body to eat more – even when it has enough. HUNGER STRIKES! Your body will also ask for more if you are not receiving adequate nutritive value from what you do eat. Denatured foods from denatured soil combine with packaged foodstuffs in your diet to deliver substandard nutrition. You wind up eating more and more of the same thing without getting what the body is seeking. The inevitable consequence will be weight gain. VITAMIN DEFICIENT Overweight people tend to be markedly deficient in vitamins A, B, C, and E, and in the minerals zinc and magnesium. These vitamins are notably absent from most processed foods. MOST OF US According to a 1992 USDA study, only 4% in a test group of 22,000 were receiving their recommended daily allowance (RDA). Another survey of 21,000 people found that none met minimal standards. For your best health, you need more vitamins than just the amount suggested to prevent death or serious illness. RICH FOOD CHAIN Our long-lived ancestors consumed food from rich, healthy soil and ate meat from animals that fed from the same vital sources. They got their vitamins and minerals naturally and easily. Things are very different today. 62

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LIFE SUSTAINING Their diet also included naturally fermented foods that easily took care of potentially harmful bacteria and pathogens. Making sure your intestinal tract is equally responsive is an important consideration for your overall wellbeing. Antibiotics destroy healthy intestinal flora and bacteria. These organisms that live in your body need help from time to time. How often you might supplement for their and your health depends upon individual circumstances. Most naturopaths recommend taking acidophilus, available at health food stores, following a period of being treated with antibiotics. With acidophilus, you will be providing the nutrients that enable healthy bacteria to thrive, and that otherwise is missing from your everyday food supply. STILL HUNGRY? Overweight people may have more difficulty utilizing their nutrients, or they may just require more. It depends on the individual’s situation. It is likely that both conditions contribute to the problem.

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Chapter 13 THE SOLUTION

REGULAR REDUCING DIETS Eating less may not be your answer to the question of how to lose fat. Part of the reason is that your body may not be receiving adequate nutrition and will cause cravings that drive you to eat the wrong foods in the attempt to fulfill the nutritive need. And, of course, eating less may trigger fat storage all by itself. WE ARE SURVIVORS The reason restrictive calorie diets usually don’t work is because of our genetics. Cut back on food and our survival instinct thinks we are heading for a famine, causing our mind-body system to “stock up” and store fat. USUALLY don’t WORK Reports based on ongoing research show that diet changes alone are ineffective in 97% of adults after five years. Diet with exercise is better, and only lifestyle change is truly effective. TAKE YOUR PICK There are over 300 diets. All of them work to some extent, in the short run. Some have unfortunate health consequences, especially those that allow saturated fat, grains and artificial sweeteners. MORE TO IT Long-term weight maintenance involves a broader approach than just eating less and avoiding poisons. Dedicated time is also required for both stress management and exercise. 65


ELIMINATE SUGAR Even sugar stresses us! This is not good news to those of us whose food cravings arise in response to stress. The result of giving in to cravings for stress relief isn’t relief. It is even greater stress! Sugar robs your body of oxygen. Stop eating it! OUR SWEET TOOTH Researchers demonstrate an increase in heart rates up to 33 more beats per minute after we eat sugar. This is combined with blood sugar spikes of up to 150%. OUCH! Imagine being lifted off the floor a distance of one and a half times your height and then dropped! This gives you some idea of what happens inside when you consume a candy bar, a slice of cake, or a plate of pasta. The initial blast of serotonin is calming, but then everything goes out of whack. CONVERSION OF CARBOHYDRATES Most of our comfort foods are those that our system turns into sugar. We get the buzz, but then we pay the price – twice. TWO RESULTS The first price we pay is the let down after the rush of energy. The second price is longer term, as our body obeys the “produce fat” signal that goes along with sugar. VALUES CONFUSION? Sugar was once a treasured commodity and very expensive. Up to the year 1700, average sugar consumption was around one pound per year. In the 1800s it increased to over 16 pounds, and now the average is around 170 pounds per person according to the United States Department of Agriculture. This translates into about 50 teaspoons per day if you are “average.” CHEMICAL CONSEQUENCE After consuming sugar or any high-glycemic food, the blood sugar level rises. The pancreas releases insulin to move blood sugar into the cells to be used as fuel. Unused, 66

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it becomes fat. SYMPTOMS Too much insulin creates low blood sugar with symptoms of fatigue, depression, and headaches. These symptoms are then accompanied with cravings for more sugar! NEXT STEP Over time, our cells develop a resistance to insulin, forcing the pancreas to secrete even more insulin. When the pancreas is overwhelmed in this way, diabetes results. MOST OF US KNOW When we consider the effect of sugar on our weight, the evidence is compelling. Researchers note that after 80 years of minimal change, the average body weight of Americans began to climb sharply. HIDDEN SUGAR At the same time, consumption of sugar in the form of high fructose corn syrup grew by over 1000 percent between 1970 and 1990. This particular increase greatly exceeds the intake changes from any other food or food group. SUGAR SUBSTITUTES Artificial sweeteners aren’t the answer, either. The most popular is aspartame, a chemical combination of two amino acids. It can trick the body into releasing too much insulin with all of the attendant problems for the body. HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS In addition to generally widespread symptoms of hypoglycemia and diabetes, about two-thirds of heart attack victims have blood sugar problems. It is best to abstain from both sugar and its artificial substitutes altogether. WIDESPREAD NO SUGAR ADS Aspartame, marketed as NutraSweet and Equal, appears in over 5000 supposedly “healthy” products. They are not healthy. Consuming the components of aspartame 67


may lead to a wide variety of ailments including: • Birth defects • Diabetes • Emotional disorders • Epilepsy/seizures • Migraines • Lowered sperm count NEW CHOICES Even the latest addition to the substitute list, Splenda, is absorbed into all of the cells of the body and has a long list of side effects from its ingestion. Think about it, if it is chlorinated sugar in its essential form, can it be good for you? A short article explaining the dangers of its use can be found on the Internet at http://mercola.com/2004/apr/14/splenda_reactions.htm. AN ALTERNATIVE If you have to have sweeteners, what you can do is purchase xylitol, a plant sugar discovered in the 1800s, or stevia, sold as a supplement. Substitute xylitol 1:1 for sugar. REALLY SWEET Stevia is, however, ten times sweeter than sugar, so start with just a small amount. You can purchase either product at your health food store, or visit www.iHerb.com for online ordering information. PROCEED CAUTIOUSLY Be aware that even stevia can elevate insulin levels. If you are one of the 70% of Americans with excess insulin, it is best to avoid sweeteners altogether. SWEET TOOTH Vegetables and fruits are sweet to those who have eliminated sugar and other sweeteners from their diets. It simply takes time for the body to readjust after you have eliminated them. Substitute a protein-based snack whenever you do have a craving for sweets. Your body will thank you and you will be more energetic. 68

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JUNK FOODS Our love affair with food resulted in American consumers spending over $110 billion last year for fast foods. Many of these empty foods simply turn to sugar, dragging the system down. Others clog it up. If you think of something as junk food, respect its name and discard it from your diet.

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Chapter 14 USE YOUR LUNGS

The lungs are the largest and foremost organs of elimination. The skin is next. When the lungs, designed to eliminate 70% of the toxins, are not fully utilized, poor skin conditions are the result. PROGRESSIVE DECLINE Next to go is colon health. The bowels become sluggish and waste stays too long in the body. The body reabsorbs the waste and poisons itself. This is a vicious cycle that will destroy your health. AMAZING INFORMATION It is considered natural for a 60-year-old person to have one half the vital capacity as that of a 30-year-old. Yet the lungs do not shrink! REVERSIBLE CONDITION The decrease in capacity is from lack of use, not shrinkage. Capacity and elasticity can be restored through exercise. you’ll find your breathing muscles quickly regain their tone with your practice of Full Wave Breathing. SMOKER? Even smokers can recover some of their breathing ability. First they have to stop smoking. Fortunately the lungs have excess capacity and can sustain us even when badly damaged.

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UNNECESSARY CONSEQUENCE There is no need to run out of oxygen as our bodies age. Remaining active has proven to be a highly effective antidote to the lower energy states thought to arise from aging. The single most important exercise I have found in this regard is Full Wave Breathing. START BREATHING Full Wave Breathing: • Increases lung capacity to hold oxygen • Increases circulation and improves blood clarity • Improves lymph movement through the body • Massages the colon to improve circulation and encourages the movement of food through the digestive process • Relieves the overload inherited from the skin when there is insufficient oxygen. FIRST AID If we do tend to eat too much, we can decrease the amount we eat by substituting positive, supporting behaviors when the urge to eat arises. Full Wave Breathing will shift your mindset away from food. Make it a point also to drink clean water when the eating urge does arise. SELF REPAIR Even if we have developed a habit of eating too much, we can put ourselves back on automatic pilot. Learn to obey the signal from the appestat. It usually comes around 21 minutes after eating. THE PROCESS One serving is enough to start; then wait. Any feeling of hunger usually quiets down after the 21-minute time delay. SLOW DOWN PLEASE When you eat slowly, nature works with you. Your body produces a hormone named ghrelin as your stomach fills. It tells your brain that you are full. Spend longer eating by chewing your food more thoroughly, sipping water, cutting small bites and eating 72

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them one bite at a time after setting your utensils down, and talking more. AND THEN? Still hungry? Have a smaller second helping. Do stop eating after the second serving. You will be glad you did. COMPETITIVE STUFFING If you have ever watched an eating contest you’ll note how fast the contestants fill themselves. They eat that way because the body will otherwise shut down from consuming more. Remember that you can make this natural tendency work for you just by making it a point to slow down as you eat. Chew your food so that you reduce everything to a watery substance before swallowing.

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Chapter 15 DRINK WATER

Our bodies are comprised of 70% water: Brain=74.5% Blood=83% Kidneys=82.7% Muscles=75.6% Bone=22% Too little water places the body under a tremendous strain. THIRSTY? Our body sends us a signal we misinterpret as hunger. Instead of eating, breathe. Along with your breathing, have a glass of water each time your body says, “Feed me.” DUAL BENEFITS You’ll be flushing toxins from your system and avoiding weight increase from empty snacking at the same time. Another benefit to drinking plenty of water is that it keeps your muscles pumped and ready for action. DEHYDRATION You may not be hungry at all, just dehydrated. An easy way to take care of both situations and contribute to a holistic program for weight management is to consciously consume extra amounts of clean water. HOW IT WORKS When you drink water it promotes weight loss by prevention. If you become dehydrated there is a 2% to 3% drop in your resting metabolic rate. 75


HIDDEN CAUSE UNCOVERED The resting metabolic rate is our normal state. When we engage in exercise, our body adjusts to the new level. If we then cut back slightly, even a small decline in the number of calories burned will make it more difficult to lose weight. PURE WATER Home purification systems are available in whole house or at-the-spigot applications. There are three basis types: 1. Reverse Osmosis—acidic pH 2. Carbon Filters—are easily contaminated and pass fluoride 3. Distillation—may cause mineral deficiency. The whole home system I recommend is made by Hague Quality Water International. It removes sediment, chlorine, and over 150 other possible contaminants while softening the hardest water. APARTMENT DWELLERS Hague also has a reverse osmosis system for drinking and cooking water usages that you can take with you if you are renting and do not want to invest in an entire home treatment system. Visit www.haguewater.com for more information. ADDED CONSIDERATIONS There are approximately 35,000 combinations of industrial chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, and metals reaching our water supply. Most municipal water treatments do nothing to remove these substances, doing little more than killing bacteria. CHLORINE Municipalities generally use a form of chlorine to disinfect the water. Chlorine is a known carcinogen and those drinking it are thought to be at a 44% greater risk for contracting cancers of all types. A ten-minute shower in chlorinated water can provide the equivalent amount of chlorine as drinking eight glasses of chlorinated water. Limit your bathing time when exposed to chlorinated water and keep the water temperature down so your pores don’t open fully. 76

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POISONOUS TO HUMANS AND OTHER LIVING CREATURES Avoid all fluorinated waters. They are poisonous and have no known benefit to humans. For more information, visit www.drlwilson.com. CONSUMER UPDATE Pure bottled water is available. Most, however, are municipal or spring waters passed through a filtering medium. They may not remove all of the sediment and may be acidic as well. I buy the AquaFina® and Dasani® brands from Pepsi® and Coke® respectively. Other safe bottled waters come from members of the Bottled Water Association. Look for the designation on the bottle. ANOTHER PROBLEM Bottled water does create another problem that bears consideration. Millions of empty plastic bottles are being dumped into our environment each month. They remain for many years and as they degrade, they further pollute our water supply. WATERING SPOTS Bulk reverse osmosis water stations and home deliveries are available in many communities. Local stations charge a quarter for a gallon and a dollar for five gallons. Home delivery is about $30 a month. WATER ADDITIVES Additives can alter the structure, oxygen level and hydrogen content of your water. Use on animals and plants indicate benefit to the entire organism from each of these. Changes are observable under microscopic examination and generally rely upon minerals to alter the electromagnetic fields and molecular forms of water. INTERNET SEARCH To find out about these, use your Internet search engine and type “Water Supplements.” you’ll be led to some interesting information for your further consideration. Claims include improved health, vitality and longevity.

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Chapter 16 FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Your body needs fuel. We need to eat to live, don’t we? Gabrielle Cousens, MD, once said that we are designed to receive 90% of our nutrition from the air and the rest from our food. It looks as if we have reversed those figures somehow, doesn’t it? HOW MUCH? Another perspective on weight management is that the amount we are to eat is as individual as our bodies. Nature, in her wisdom, gives us a measure of how much we are to eat by the size of our hands. CUSTOMIZED PORTIONS Ideally we would only eat the amount we could hold in our cupped hands. One rounded handful is the quantity that is easily digestible for us. YEARS OF BUILD UP If you have been abusing food you probably know it. So before starting on a new program, you may find it beneficial to clean out or rebalance with a fast. FASTING One way to put your automatic how-much-to-eat mechanism back to work is to take a 2- or 3-day fast. Ram Dass, former Harvard professor, puts it very simply by saying that if you‚re having trouble with overeating, stop eating. EASIER SAID THAN DONE While teaching a class in nutrition in Richmond, Virginia I gave students an optional 79


assignment to skip food for the next 3 days, drinking only water. I subsequently received calls from people who were sure they were going to die! HELP! They felt hunger pangs and experienced dizziness and mild head pressure as stored toxins began exiting the body. They imagined all sorts of things going. Some even misinterpreted their stomach gurgling as an early sign of a heart attack! BACK OFF THE REMEDY I had suggested that if any group members felt fatigue, they could drink apple juice diluted with 75% water. Analgesics took care of most of the headaches, and, as a last resort, eating was recommended for the treatment of symptoms. GROUP RESULTS Out of a class of 30, 20 began the fast and eight were able to finish it. They reported feeling better, lighter and more energized. DO IT YOURSELF For people in normal health, no medical consultation is necessary to stop eating. A long weekend would be an ideal time to begin. REALITY TV? Have you ever seen a TV drama or heard of a real-life drama where someone begins a hunger strike? People rush around very concerned and we become convinced that 1. Not eating is dangerous to health and 2. Not eating is an effective form of emotional blackmail and manipulation. STARTING OUT If you do decide to stop eating for a few days, I’d suggest you begin your own 3-day regimen on the weekend while at home. Then you can deal with your symptoms from detoxification without interrupting work or having to interact with your co-workers.

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THREE DAYS ONLY Don’t plan to fast any longer than three days at first. Then with more research and experience on your part, you can undertake a longer fast. IT MAKES SENSE One good reason to fast is to give your body a break from digestive activity and to detoxify your cells. The body expels poisons and toxins naturally and can handle a tremendous number of chemical and environmental stressors when healthy. MOTIVE The correct motivation for a fast is for health. By not eating, the body automatically releases stored toxins and wastes into the excretory system for discharge. Keep those wastes smoothly flowing out of your body by drinking extra amounts of clean water. FAT LOSS Another great reason for fasting, along with restoring the appestat and sharpening the sense of taste, is to manage weight. Even resting, we burn about one-half pound of weight daily for energy. If you just lie around and don’t eat, you’ll drop weight because your body is using stored fat for fuel. STARVE FAT CELLS Flush your system and then feed it live food and quality proteins. You actually shrink the fat cells in your body and will be able to see the difference. TIME OUT The process of fasting gives your digestive system a vacation and helps make up for times of indulgence or dietary indiscretion. Each of us may have followed a dietary path that was likely abusive to our mind-body system at some time. We probably didn’t know any better. NOW Taking action now is the best cure for any past abuses. Your system is amazingly resilient if you give it what it needs to function optimally. 81


AMAZING RESULTS POSSIBLE The Four Pillars of Health include fasting under the category of nutrition, or that which nourishes. Fasting from or eliminating many foodstuffs can produce rapid improvement in the way you feel. AS AN EXAMPLE Think about a person who drinks coffee and then stops. There may be withdrawal symptoms as the toxins leave the body. Once the body has shifted its biochemistry as a result, there is improved calm and relaxed cardiovascular function. Afterward the person forgets the anxiety and muscle tightness that were earlier side-effects of the coffee. HEALTHY CHOICES A less drastic step than stopping coffee altogether would be to purchase only organic coffee. This way you avoid the effects of the chemicals used in processing the bean. Grinding your own beans may also slow your consumption by making coffee drinking less convenient. GENTLY Diluting your coffee with clean water is also an effective way to cut back if you are considering reducing your intake. One thing coffee does for you is to stimulate respiratory processes, and it’s an old-fashioned remedy for treating an asthma attack. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH FASTING I have fasted approximately 10 times with the longest period being 30 days. During that longest time I lost only 7 pounds and my body then maintained my ideal weight. NATURAL REGULATION What I burned off was excess fat. Each body has an ideal weight and when you reach yours, weight loss naturally ceases. HUNGER PANGS The hunger from a fast is normally felt during the first 2 or 3 days only. After that the 82

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body achieves a state of ketosis where it consumes its own fat and cellular waste and hunger generally disappears. Remember to increase your water intake to prevent the possibility of your body becoming dehydrated. ALERT! Long term fasting is not recommended if your body is exceptionally toxic. What happens is that your body, in consuming your stored fat for energy, re-toxifies itself. A three-day fast is long enough to get you back on track with your eating and short enough that you won’t run into complications. SHRINKAGE Many people experience unusual sensations with an empty and shrinking stomach as it returns to a normal state. Your stomach has already stretched over time to accommodate any overeating. As it contracts, the stomach gurgles and growls, tenses and relaxes. Smile when you hear that sound because your plan is working! STARVING YOURSELF Some people believe they are starving when fasting. They aren’t! There are approximately 900 million Muslims who fast for the entire month of Ramadan. This fact alone should quiet any concerns about the safety of not eating for two or three days. RESEARCH If you do decide that fasting completely for a few days is of further interest or would be of benefit to you, there is good information available on the Internet and at your health food store or naturopath’s office. Two sites for you to visit are: http://www.healthy.net/library/books/Haas/detox/FASTING.HTM and http://dmoz.org/Health/Alternative/Fasting_and_Cleansing/ - Cached SAFETY FIRST Fasting as outlined is safe for most people in normal good health. Check with your physician before beginning if you are under a doctor’s care for a chronic illness.

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FASTING ASSISTANCE There are products to help you while you fast to decrease your hunger and prevent faint-headedness. There are also remedies to help with the discomfort from some of the poisons leaving your systems. MORE BREATHING Full Wave Breathing speeds up the detoxification process and will improve your comfort level. Afterward you’ll feel fresher and cleaner. Your food will taste different and your tasting discernment will be enhanced. BACK IN CONTROL A 3-day fast is a wonderful way to get eating back under control. Plus you will restore your appestat to its normal functioning. PAY ATTENTION If you then pay attention to your body’s signal you will be free from overeating! Your body really will cooperate with you. First you have to stop abusing it, either from improper eating or negative self-talk. LONG TERM A long-term plan might include fasting one day a week or even every other day. If you continue for 3 days or longer, give yourself an enema daily or engage a colon-cleansing specialist to assist you. THE EASY WAY A more moderate approach is simply to fast from those things listed for you as non-foods. Eliminate them from your diet, exercise and stay hydrated and any nonnutritive buildup will leave your system over time. You will feel the difference. CARBOHYDRATE FASTING When you think about it, you realize that the current fat diets engaged in by 10 million or more Americans are mostly fasts from carbohydrates. The attendant side effects include headaches, nausea, dizziness and lack of energy. Yes! Toxins are leaving 84

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the body and your blood sugar is dropping. To offset the symptoms, eat every two or three hours. I recommend a quality protein snack rather than high calorie choices like bacon, cheese, nuts and peanut butter. THOUGHT FASTING Avoid altogether those thoughts that keep you in negative behavior patterns regarding food. There are people who don’t think they are attractive and who then eat to be in alignment with their thoughts. More stress and tension results; then, more weight gain follows. SPARK OF LIFE Think well of yourself. You are a child of the Universe and are born with gifts to be expressed. Feed yourself so you can develop and share your gifts. BORING Some say that healthy eating is boring. Well, I guess it is if you have become addicted to engineered tastes and psychologically driven eating. Change your mindset to that of feeding your body in the most beneficial way instead of eating to satisfy an appetite. In other words, get over yourself! MENTAL FOOD The best way to fast from negative thoughts is to build a diet of positive ones. Make it a practice to read positively reinforcing material of a spiritual nature each day. Read or repeat positive affirmations to yourself as you take Full Wave Breathing breaks. EMOTIONAL FOOD Set a weight management goal for three months. Make this a part of a one-year revitalization program. Use Full Wave Breathing and visualize your ideal condition. Feel it and make it real in your body. Repeat this exercise throughout the day. ELIMINATE THE NEGATIVE Fast from things that don’t concern you including a great deal of the daily news. Decrease your television watching as well. Your daily intake of everything counts 85


when it comes to managing your weight and enjoying health.

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Chapter 17 WHAT CAN WE EAT?

We live in a world that offers us a smorgasbord for our delight and pleasure. What, then, can we eat if we are interested in effectively managing our weight? D-I-E-T Consider that diet is an acronym, meaning the Daily Intake of Every Thing. It is to our benefit then to: • Develop a physical practice of healthy eating • Manage our emotions for our well-being • Direct our thinking so that what we think produces a healthy biochemical response instead of a disabling one. ARE WE THAT? Since we are what we eat in a literal sense, nutrition is of vital importance. The body is composed of cells, all of which require protein to function. ADAPTABLE While the body can get along on less than an optimal amount, it won’t function as well as it could. Wouldn’t you like to have all of your energy available to you on demand? Of course you would, and more protein may be needed. MAJOR JOB Protein is responsible for the rebuilding process for tissue and muscle, red blood cells, and hormone synthesis. It also keeps us mentally alert.

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UNREPLACEABLE While the body can make carbohydrate from protein and fat, and produce fat from carbohydrate and protein, it cannot manufacture eight of the 20 amino acids that constitute protein. Health comes from consuming those essential eight every day. READILY AVAILABLE Protein sources for food include fish, lean meat, cheese and some dairy, eggs, nuts and legumes. Organic sources are healthiest. RANGE-FED, PLEASE Grocery store bought meat usually comes from cattle that are fed grains, a cheap and effective way to increase weight. The high glycemic index of corn and other grains causes over-secretion of insulin resulting in really fat animals. We then consume these substances second-hand. The result is really fat people. HEALTH RISK Meat from chicken, cattle, swine and sheep usually has hormonal additives to make these animals grow and gain weight faster. These additives will increase your weight, too. Plus, these food sources have antibiotics added to their food, which are passed on to you, decreasing antibiotic effectiveness when you need it and eroding your digestion and assimilation process. Stick to free-range and organic sources that have neither hormonal additives nor antibiotics. VEGGIES Vegetables can’t really be considered as significant protein sources, and rice and beans usually wind up as a carbohydrates because of the proportion of grains to beans. Eat much less rice or eliminate it altogether and eat more beans if you are seeking vegetarian sources of complete proteins. Beans are an excellent protein source and add needed bulk to your diet. INSURANCE Make certain that your meal includes a complete protein so your system picks up and utilizes any incomplete protein. Your body needs protein! 88

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HOW MUCH? The amount of protein you need depends upon your activity level. Approximate amount of protein, per pound of lean bodyweight: • Active adult — 0.5 grams • Inactive adult — 0.4 grams • Athlete — 0.6 to 0.9 grams. NORMAL RANGES A normally active woman of 130 pounds with 15% body fat thus requires about 55 grams of protein daily (130 - 15% x 0.5 grams = 55.2 grams). An active man weighing 170 lean pounds would require 85 grams. Most of us can get enough from dietary sources, and the more active among us would benefit from supplementation. AN INDICATION Protein Values in Grams Cottage Cheese, 1 cup

= 28 grams

Burger, lean, 6 ounces

= 50 grams

Eggs, 3 large

= 21 grams

Fish, lean, 6 ounces

= 42 grams

Poultry, 6 ounces

= 42 grams

Steak, 6 ounces

= 52 grams

SMALL AMOUNTS Do you get enough protein daily? If not, add it to your earlier meals. Breakfast and lunch are the best times to consume protein. MORE IS BETTER? Even though protein is responsible for building muscle, excess protein doesn’t mean more muscle. It just means excess calories and weight gain. This is true even though your body works harder to digest protein, burning more energy in calories in the process.

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WAY TOO MUCH! Protein, eaten in excess, turns into fuel and winds up as toxic waste to be eliminated in the forms of as ammonia and urea. Any remaining protein is largely converted into glucose. So you are training your body to turn protein into sugar. Then, when sleeping, your body turns bone and lean muscle into sugar. CAUTION Some physicians already caution against overloading the kidneys by eating too much protein, so stay within the guidelines. Additional pure water intake is highly recommended for those on a high protein diet. ADDING SOURCES If you are very active, it would be surprising if you received your daily protein requirement from your regular diet. You can easily add what you need with a protein shake or by eating other sources of protein. SOY Think of soy as a processed food. Vegetarians consuming soy products report developing sensitivity or intolerance to powdered soy protein. Soy is generally difficult for most people to digest and may contain unwanted additives. Use it sparingly in your diet or, preferably, not at all. The chemicals in soy products also inhibit thyroid function, which can contribute to weight gain. WHEY Powdered whey or egg proteins are other good alternatives to regular meat protein sources. Use the purest product you can buy. Avoid maltodextrose which adds carbohydrates. DAIRY Cottage cheese is also a good source of digestible protein. Milk is not recommended as a source of protein because of the hormonal additives and because cow’s milk is best suited for calves.

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FIND OUT Raw milk from a reliable source is your best bet if you must drink milk. Independent research on milk usage is available on the Internet. http://www.theherbsplace.com/childrenmilk.html http://www.mercola.com/article/milk/no_milk.htm Please drink pure water if you are thirsty. SHIFT SOURCES Your body will do better with a variety of protein sources instead of only one or two, so regularly mix your buying and your consumption. If you aren’t getting enough protein now, you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes in how you look and feel. HIGH PROTEIN OR LOW CARBOHYDRATE DIETS All of the approximately 300 different diets currently available have you fast from or avoid certain things. For example, the most popular recommend you eat fewer carbohydrates and more protein and fats. MARGINAL DIFFERENCES The exact ratios differ among them and utilizing most of them for a brief period can benefit you. Remember that long-term, none work very well by themselves. Continue to avoid sugars and refined carbohydrates regardless of the diet you select. Toxins are still toxins and your healthy body doesn’t want them even if they are on someone else’s approved list. ALL DIFFERENT Some of us thrive on the high protein diet; most of us don’t. If our metabolic type calls for a diet high in carbohydrates instead, then we are doomed to failure from the beginning if we follow a high protein diet. It is estimated that 1/3 of the population needs a high carbohydrate diet from vegetable and fruit sources. FREE INFORMATION For more about metabolic typing and the proportions of carbohydrates, proteins and fats you need, visit www.mercola.com. Take his test to see if you are a Mixed, Protein 91


or Carb type. The Vedic system designates constitutional body types and tendencies defined as Pita, Vata, and Kapha. Each type must have differing foods to thrive. 100 YEARS AGO The first high protein diet was published in London in 1863. Written by William Banting, it was a tremendous success with the public. The phase passed in England and then it reappeared just after the turn of the 20th century in the United States. It popped up again in popular literature in 1949. It works for a while and to a point. VARIETY Fulfilling the body’s requirement for protein is a valuable first step. Man, however, cannot live on meat alone — at least not for very long or very well. Long term, our bodies function better with a variety of foods that help us achieve and maintain healthy weight and function. CARBOHYDRATES In addition to consuming more protein, eliminate starchy carbohydrates, grains and corn from your diet along with artificial sweeteners, and you can pretty much relax. Check to see if your current fad diet includes these items. If it does, don’t follow it. VALUABLE Carbohydrates do play an important role in our nutrition and are absolutely required for long term health. The amounts that are healthy differ among individuals. Healthy sources are vegetables and fruits. GENERAL RULE You can have virtually any carbohydrate that is unprocessed. This essentially means fruits and vegetables. A processed or refined carb is one in which the nutrition for metabolism has been taken from the carbohydrate, turning it into sugar. WHAT HAPPENS The pancreas is unable to remove all of the sugar from the blood stream so it directs it into muscle tissue where it is burned as fuel. Any excess is stored – as fat. 92

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THEN… The fat picks up toxins and relies upon the metabolic process to burn them off and dispose of the waste. That process is dependent largely upon your breathing and this is where exercise comes in as a key element in your health because it stimulates your breathing. MORE GOOD FAT Getting enough of the right kind of fat is also vital for your health. While recommended total fat is no more than 30% of your total caloric intake, do consume EFA’s – essential fatty acids, those high in Omega 3 factors, cold pressed and from non-hydrogenated sources. If the label says “partially hydrogenated,” avoid it. This includes all sorts of chips, cookies, crackers and snack foods. FORGET THE LOW FAT DIETS You need fats. The old diets that had you limit fat intake to only 10% of your total calories did you a disservice. What is needed for heart health is to eliminate the transfatty oils. Cook with olive oil, sesame, oil, coconut oil, ghee and butter. Do not cook with lard, margarine or vegetable oil. GOOD CHOICES Keep carbohydrates choices healthy, concentrating on fruits and vegetables. Diets with a high percentage of dense carbohydrates overload the body’s capacities. Keep sweet fruits to a minimum if you are insulin sensitive. A CALORIE ISN‚T A CALORIE One interesting research point is that calories consumed with a high-fat, high-protein diet appear to count less than those from an equal high carbohydrate intake of calories. Researchers theorize more energy is required to digest and assimilate them. HIDDEN WEIGHT GAIN One of the most overlooked of all considerations in weight management is the effect of chemicals. They really do cause weight gain. Artificial substances are not food; yet cause us to eat more and gain more. 93


ON THE HOOF The very same chemicals that are fed to fatten cattle are also sprayed on our fruits and vegetables. The result is that you can gain weight by eating less! Unwittingly you are being bioengineered to gain weight. TWO KINDS There are two main groups of these sprays, organophosphates and carbamates. In our bodies, they: • Reduce metabolic rate, slowing the rate at which we burn calories • Lower our overall level of physical activity and reduce our desire to exercise • Can damage muscles, compromising our ability to exercise • Can permanently damage nerves. FANTASTIC FAST Simply eliminating toxic products promoted as food from your diet is automatically “fasting” from those substances. You don’t have to fast to cleanse. Just stop throwing waste into the system and it will happen automatically over time. Most of the unfoods are high in carbohydrates, so virtually any diet that has you avoid eating them will be of benefit. TWO OTHER THINGS The remaining things to avoid include most fish and all soft drinks. Fish, even those from lakes and rivers have been found with high concentrations of mercury, and fish farms have been found to be contaminated. The only fish considered totally safe is wild salmon from cold water PERSONAL INSURANCE Whatever you eat, make it the best quality available. Consider the costs of organic meats and produce as an inexpensive form of insurance and a long-term program of prevention. Eggs from free-range chickens fed non-additive foods are another good source of protein.

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GRASS FED Choose grass-fed rather than grain-fed food sources whenever possible. Grains have been indicted for both their mucus producing tendencies and for their insulin boosting and chemical additive properties as well. If what we eat eats it, we eat it as well. You can find organic and grass fed meat suppliers listed at www.eatwild.com OLD STORY Anthropological studies indicate that the adoption of grain as a dietary staple during the agricultural revolution caused increases in infant mortality, infectious disease, dental disease and bone disease. Other consequences included decreases in life span and height. GENE PREFERENCES Genetically we are still dependent upon fruits, vegetables and wild meat for our well being. Living in accord with our nature is the best guarantee for long-term health and low medical costs. CHOOSE QUALITY Buy the best protein powder you can find. Use applied kinesiology to select your products, or learn how to dowse using a pendulum. The most expensive is not necessarily the purest and, instead, may be the most advertised or promoted. FOOD IN A BOX? Processed foods are those in which preparation has destroyed nutritive value and replaced it with a lifeless substitute. Mostly they come in boxes and sealed packages. Eating them results in toxin accumulation in the tissues, elevated blood sugar and mood swings. Eventually the digestive system will collapse under the strain. The likelihood of developing diabetes is also increased. FAST FOODS Fast foods are under attack for additives and preservatives. Most are refined-carbohydrate laden. The newest ones that cater to a high protein diet use soy as a wheat substitute. This is not an answer to the problem, but instead creates another problem. 95


Other fast foods are greasy offerings of meat laden with hormones, antibiotics and preservatives. Where is the food? THE PRICE Future health challenges are the consequence of indulgence in un-food. Your conscious food selection is absolutely required for your long-term health. MORE SAY ON SOY Soy, in addition to producing the hormone estrogen, is highly indigestible. Soy alters the effectiveness of thyroid medication and the cancer drug tamoxifen and contains oxalates, associated with increased risk of kidney stones. The additives contained in most soy protein products undermine rather than support health. AND SUGAR-FREE Declining health is also the result of consuming calorie-reducing additives and sugar substitutes with toxic chemicals. They produce needless stress for the body. Also, fat free offerings include similar chemicals engineered for our taste. The safest and most health-affirming choice for our best nutrition is to avoid them altogether. HOW ABOUT JUICES? Consumption of either undiluted fruit or vegetable juices produces a rapid increase or “spike” in your blood sugar level. Be aware also that those spikes in your blood sugar levels tell your body to create fat to get back to normal. BE AWARE In addition to sugar producing carbohydrates, avoid super-ripe, uncooked fruit and juices. Ripe bananas, for example, are almost pure sugar. In their green form, they are vegetables. In between is just right. SAFE FORMULA Mix fruit juices with water to avoid an insulin reaction. Combine ¼ juice with ¾ water. This ratio will still give you the taste of juice without triggering insulin. A 50-50 mix is too strong for most people. 96

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WHOLESOME CHOICES Straight vegetable juices can be equally difficult on the system, also triggering a rapid increase in blood sugar levels. It is likewise best to dilute them with pure water. Whole fruit and vegetables are better for you because they include fiber. HARVARD STUDY As reported and published in The Journal of the American Medical Association in October, 2004, after testing 50,000 nurses, the study concluded that drinking one sugared soft drink or juice drink daily put them at an 80% greater risk of developing diabetes. Those empty calories can be killers! http://www.usmedicine.com/article.cfm?articleID=958&issueID=67 FIBER FOR YOU Fiber acts as a broom to sweep out your digestive tract. Add fiber to your diet by supplementing with flax seeds. You can grind them yourselves and use the powder as a condiment or mix with water or an energy drink, or buy it already ground at your local health food store. It is inexpensive to purchase and a one-pound bag of it will last you a month or more. NIGHTSHADES Some nutritionists would like to see you avoid vegetables in the nightshade family: potatoes, tomatoes, and eggplant. These vegetables have been found to irritate the digestive tract, and starchy potatoes turn to sugar. The insulin effects and the mood swings that result are like those experienced by eating refined products, and are not healthy. FEELING DEPRESSED? Carbohydrates, including sugars, are generally depressing after the initial energy spike. Carbohydrates produce serotonin. Serotonin calms the nerves and quiets the mind, giving rise to carbohydrates being called “comfort foods.” CARBOHYDRATE LOADING Carbo-loading for exertion or extreme sports activity may be useful, and for most of 97


us, we could eat fewer of them than we do. If you are an extreme athlete, by all means conduct your own research into supportive nutrition to dispel the myths and to correct misassumptions that may have been marketed to the public. The general rule for athletes is to consume a snack before a light workout. Longer workouts are best supported by a meal an hour or two before starting. A high intensity workout is best after waiting three hours. The amount to eat is 0.5 gram of carbohydrate per pound of bodyweight. STARCHES Nearly all starches are refined products. They includes pasta, breads and cereals. There is no nutrition to speak of and what you are really consuming is interpreted as sugar by your system. Multi-grain products may be mostly white (dead with no food value) flour. NUTRITION ADDED When white bread was the only thing available to consumers, the most popular brand had vitamins added. It was regulated not by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, as in the case of natural food products, but by the Food and Drug Administration. PROCESSING IS THE CULPRIT 90% of our grains are highly processed. Eating them puts a strain on our bodies and increases the need for more fiber and vitamins. There is little vitamin A, no C, and no beta carotene except in yellow corn. B vitamins are notably absent except for B12, and two B deficiency conditions, beriberi and pellagra, are associated with excessive grain consumption. STACKED PYRAMID The current USDA food pyramid has as its base the “Bread, Cereal, Rice and Pasta Group.” These “foods” form the perfect recipe for obesity. Yet they are recommended with 6 to 11 servings daily. The dramatic increase in obesity in children coincides with the time that began with the FDA recommending these “foods.” The new pyramid introduced in January 2005 is better, and still inadequate.

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THE “X” FACTOR Carbohydrate consumption may be the root cause of the newly identified Syndrome X, the condition of insulin resistance, and a precursor to diabetes. Also called Metabolic Syndrome, eating high glycemic foods turns on the “store-fat” mechanism, and suppresses HGH and glucagon production. Human Growth Hormone is responsible for creating lean muscle mass and muscular development. Glucagon promotes sugar- and fat-burning. GUARANTEED RESULTS FAST! Eliminating muscle-creating and fat-burning hormones is a certain recipe for fat and weight gain. Think of it as a natural consequence of eating dense carbohydrates. Imagine eating a dense carbohydrate-rich meal and follow it through the stages of raising insulin, lowering blood sugar, creating craving, making you jittery and irritable and then leading you to eat more of the same. Eventually you wind up with an addiction. COLD TURKEY? Simply quitting doesn’t work either because your chronic condition includes elevated blood sugar and insulin levels that thwart your body’s ability to burn fat. Substitute eating carbohydrates that come from fresh vegetables and fruits that are low glycemic and don’t cause spikes in the blood sugar level and are non-insulin producing. You can easily obtain a chart of sugar value for foodstuffs on the Internet. http://www.mendosa.com/common_foods.htm. A COMPLEX SUBJECT Complex carbohydrates in vegetables and fruits provide you with long-term energy. Include them with your high protein diet along with adequate non-hydrogenated fat. After all of the diet wisdom that is sold to us, common sense must prevail. We are creatures of Nature. Following Nature’s plan provides the best results. WHAT NOT TO EAT To summarize, consider eliminating non-foods and irritants more so than compiling a list of specific foodstuffs to be consumed. My list of items to eliminate is: 99


• Salt – we get enough • Processed foods – they come in boxes and bags • White flour products – including pasta (paste) and grains • Irradiated Foods – we don’t know what will result yet. They are sometimes disguised in order to introduce them into our food chain, and reading the label may not tell you they are included • Foods with additives – including most processed meats, grains, dairy, poultry and soy protein products • Fish with mercury or from unclean waters and unsanitary fish farms • Sugar – a poison that comes in many forms • Aspartame – a CNS irritant and poison • Splenda – another irritant • Alcohol – it’s not a food; it causes depression and emotional instability • Trans-fatty Acids–An attack on your heart health PESTICIDES, HERBICIDES AND FUNGICIDES The five least contaminated vegetables and fruits are: • Asparagus • Avocados • Bananas • Broccoli • Cauliflower The five most contaminated vegetables and fruits are: • Apples • Bell Peppers • Celery • Cherries • Imported Grapes You can download a guide that lists the 12 produce items that are the least and most contaminated with pesticides from www.foodnews.org.

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THREE SQUARE MEALS Three meals a day was the way of our modern ancestors. The 19th century cultural norm was two meals, a morning breakfast before chores and a heavy meal after work. 21st CENTURY Does it still apply? How about snacking, and does eating late at night create weight gain? You’d be pleased to know that when to eat is more a matter of your choice for ease and completeness of your digestion rather than about potential weight gain. Of course, undigested food or poorly digested food robs us of our energy and drags our system down, so it is important to become better aware of the natural process that enhances our health. ANCIENT WISDOM An ancient dictum or recipe for eating was to eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. Eating this way assures that when we eat the most – at breakfast – our digestive powers will be on the rise, with the sun. Lunch comes at a time when our digestive powers are beginning to wane, as the sun moves toward the horizon in the west. Dinner is then a significantly smaller meal than either breakfast or lunch, taken in the evening when digestive powers are low and the sun is down. NATURALLY The best and most natural arrangement for our body rhythm is to eat within an hour after arising. This will stabilize the blood sugar and provide the optimal foundation for the day’s activity. Then conclude eating before sunset. You’ll require only 2-3 hours before the food is digested prior to bedtime. If you do eat after dark, it takes longer for digestion and can disturb sleep. FOOD HABITS To say you have eaten a banana and shredded wheat (with sugar) for 20 years (or 40) and you are still doing all right doesn’t change how the body works. Such a breakfast — grains with sugar and milk — doesn’t give the mind-body system much to go on. Add pure, undiluted fruit juice like orange juice to the mix and you have a surefire recipe for an insulin spike and subsequent letdown and low energy about 101


mid-morning. The resulting moodiness and irritability won’t help you much, either. PREVENTATIVE EATING Low energy states that result can be prevented by prior planning and action. Self management is involved if our objective is to have physical energy, mental focus and balanced emotions, Otherwise we become victims of our biochemistry. The carbohydrate and sugar diet will dull the mind, sap your energy and depress your emotions. FORAGING You feel the letdown that inevitably occurs and the next step is to start hunting for sugar to boost yourself, or another and then another cup of coffee to throw off the resultant lag in your energy. Since you didn’t really get any real nutrition, come lunchtime you’ll feel like you are starving. CATCHING UP Maybe next you’ll overeat, trying to make up for the deficit. You then return to work or some other activity numbed out with too much in your stomach and having overloaded the digestive system. Since one-third of your energy then goes to digest the meal, you naturally feel sluggish. NAP TIME AND THE DOWNHILL SLIDE Next you’ll feel like it’s time for a nap. Then, around 3:00 PM, your adrenals have had enough of the ups and downs and even the afternoon coffee does little to stimulate you. WELCOME HOME Now, dragging yourself home or turning to “family time” and feeling irritable from stimulants and fatigue, you are really hungry. At this point it becomes all too easy to overeat at dinner and wind up going to bed stuffed and worn out. EVERY MORNING IS MONDAY The next day the cycle of ups and long downs continues as if it will never end. You can interrupt and end the cycle by applying the tips you have learned about breathing and 102

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drinking water combined with your new knowledge about diet. BREAK OUT You can break out of the lousy routine thus far described by consuming an adequate amount of protein in your breakfast meal. Protein stimulates dopamine production, making you alert and active. You need protein in the morning to get you going and to keep you operating at your best. REMAIN ALERT Also consume protein as a major part of your meal before any afternoon or evening that you expect to be active. You only need the protein intake if your goal is achieving optimum performance and feeling your best. HELLO VEGETARIANS As a former vegetarian for over 20 years, I have more energy now and am more alert and creative on a diet that includes a variety of protein sources. My morning protein sources include eggs, fish, organic poultry and organic beef. I also enjoy a high quality protein shake, usually on the weekends. PERSONAL FORMULA My shake formula is 8 ounces of water, 1 tablespoon of flax oil, 1 tablespoon of flax powder, 1 raw egg, 2 scoops of protein powder and ½ of a ripe banana (or ½ apple). These are mixed in a blender with ¼ teaspoon each of turmeric powder and ground black pepper. These last two ingredients are for heart and immune function. You can also substitute 2-3 ounces of fruit juice for the banana or apple. If you do use juice, please make it just juice — no sugar added. OTHER TIMES On most mornings, I eat three organic eggs from free-range chickens, substituting lean organic beef or fish, along with a small amount of fruit. The underlying chemistry is similar to that of the shake.

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ALTERNATE You now have several choices of protein in the morning. The body responds better with variety and you won’t become as bored with breakfast if you mix your selections from day to day. SLOWLY The way you consume the drink is important, too. This drink is a hefty meal, so don’t just throw it down and take off. Drink it slowly as if you were actually chewing and swallowing a meal. The consequence, otherwise, is a distended abdomen and a feeling of bloat to the point of discomfort. I speak from experience! SALADS Most people will do best eating salads, which are serotonin producing and calming, in the evening. It is generally not a good idea to have salad for lunch and then expect to be awake and focused in the afternoon. Feed your body what it needs! BUSY, BUSY In our desire to finish all of the household tasks and get out the door, we may decide to forego breakfast, or, worse, settle for a donut and coffee and sabotage our metabolism for the entire day. This translates into our burning fewer calories and generally feeling below par. CONSEQUENTLY A donut or bagel breakfast is the beginning of that truly vicious cycle that confounds your desire to maintain a healthy and attractive weight. It can absolutely wreck any plan of healthy eating you may start. It also wreaks havoc on your mood. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS If you are overweight, you may find your sleep disturbed because of your weight. A side effect of overweight is sleep apnea, a condition that results in sleepers startling themselves awake as the body gasps for a breath.

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SLEEP APNEA If you already have sleep apnea, determine to reduce your weight. There are exercises, devices and even surgery to remedy the malady. Professional football players, generally linemen, are particularly prone to developing this condition. It can be life threatening at worst and a major inconvenience at best. SLEEP Sleep is important in weight management because we need time to recover from the stress of living. Seven or eight hours is optimal for most people adults. Children and teens may require up to 11 hours of sleep. Here are some tips to help you get the best sleep possible: • Arise at the same time each day – even if you got less sleep than you wanted. A regular schedule is the best sleep aid. • Keep your bedroom dark, quiet and cool. Watching TV in the bedroom is a sleep killer. • Go to bed when you are sleepy. If you don’t fall asleep within thirty minutes, get out of bed. • Limit naps to ½ hour maximum. Eliminate them if they keep you from sleeping. • Exercise regularly and avoid caffeine for at least 5 hours before bedtime. • Visit www.sleephomepages.org for more information. Getting Enough Sleep is important for your weight too. The shorter your normal sleep period the greater the probability that you are obese. Lack of adequate sleep = excessive stress = weight gain. MORE ON BREATHING Full Wave Breathing is a great way to encourage sleep at night or to use if you wake up in the middle of the night. Breathe through your nostrils. As you inhale from your deep abdomen, imagine that you are filling your entire body from the bottom up. Gently control the exhale so that it is longer than your inhale. Slow your breath and allow it to become progressively quieter and slower. Stretch as you inhale, relax completely as you exhale.

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SNACKING AND GRAZING A snack between proportionately smaller meals is easiest on the digestion and can help keep blood sugar levels in the optimum range. I recommend high protein snacks from natural sources including whey. Avoid the so-called energy bars. They are generally a sugar treat with few benefits and way too many detriments. DIETARY SUPPLEMENT This is particularly true if you have purchased a “meal-substitute” bar. They tend to be loaded with calories – and chemicals. ONE A DAY Apples make a great snack with good fiber and nutrition. You’ll probably have to peel the skin on most apples to avoid the toxins in the spray used on them. Washing fruits or vegetables in general, even in special baths, has not proven effective in removing toxins. Organic apple skins are, however, safe to eat. Wash them well to take care of any contamination during handling. THE STRESS SITUATION Avoiding stress when you eat is important for digestion and overall health. The thought of having to write a report, run an upcoming meeting or participate in some other event – even watching television — can keep us on edge. Being upset for any reason when eating will affect us negatively. An easy remedy is to take a few minutes with the family or yourself and take a few Full Wave Breaths before you begin eating. SIX MEALS PER DAY? If you decide to eat small meals up to six times a day, you may experience the stress of not feeling full about every two hours. Presumably, people on the eat-often-plan do become accustomed to feeling hungry virtually every other hour. SKIP THE SNACKS Other types of stressors, however, can be managed without eating. One way to change the impact of a stressor is to change perspective. In doing so, you “reframe” the stressor. 106

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BIOCHEMICAL BOOSTING When you positively alter your visual image of an event or consequence of an event, you automatically improve your biochemistry. When confronted with an uncomfortable situation, think about the best thing that could happen and picture it taking place… and breathe! QUANTUM PHYSICS Even though the optimal result, at the time, is only taking place in your imagination, your biochemistry “gets it.” This action diffuses and even eliminates the stressor’s negative impact. THE EFFECT OF DREAD If you are dreading an event, it will compromise your breathing and can put you back into the stress cycle of shallow breathing that creates stress—that then creates shallow breathing, and on and on. This is another way you unconsciously send your body the signal to store fat. TOO MUCH WORRY The other end of the spectrum is seen when you worry so much that you lose weight. Usually you have been able to numb out to your stress on the outside, so it starts eating at you on the inside. IMPORTANT FOR YOUR WEIGHT AND YOUR LIFE Either way, Full Wave Breathing is a much better way to handle excessive stress in our lives. It’s free to use and always at hand. Several sets of three or four complete breaths will shift your focus if the stress is acute. A 15-minute or longer daily session will take care of chronic stress. A NEW HEALTHY HABIT Another reason to practice Full Wave Breathing for 15 minutes every day as an exercise is that you will build a new habit. This habit will support you for the rest of your life. As you exercise and restore the muscle tone and stretch joints and ligaments, you are increasing your vital capacity. As you teach your body how to breathe in the Full 107


Wave pattern, you are educating it so that it will breathe deeply in the future even when you aren’t thinking about it. SELF EMPOWERMENT The average person’s rate of breathing is too rapid. By conditioning your body to take deeper breaths you will slow your brain waves and cut off the chronic shallow and more rapid breathing of “normal” life. Do you know people who are always jumpy and nervous? Watch them breathe sometimes. They are likely shallow breathers. You don’t have to have that happen to you. SUMMARIZING THUS FAR We’ve looked at when, how often and what to eat. Our discussion has covered the first two pillars of health, Breathing and Nutrition. What else is there? Let’s now consider the third pillar of health, exercise.

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Chapter 18 EXERCISE

Exercise burns energy (calories). Losing weight is still a thermodynamic matter: Eat fewer calories than you burn. If you lose weight rapidly and that wasn’t your plan, please consult your licensed health care provider before continuing with your exercise program. CALORIES One pound of body fat is equal to 3500 calories. Making a small change, say by consuming 10% fewer calories, is the way to proceed. You can lose somewhere between one half and three quarters of a pound weekly with just this small change. The change will be small enough not to trigger survival mechanisms that actually cause you to gain, as if the body were expecting a famine. Gain Two Pounds, Lose Twelve One pound of muscle burns around 45 calories per day. A pound of fat, on the other hand, simple sits there. If you were to build just two pounds of muscle, it would burn off an extra pound of fat each month. Body Mass Index (BMI) The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a method of determining if you are normal, overweight or obese. It is calculated based upon the ratio your height to your weight. A BMI of 30 or over defines a person as obese; from 25 - 29.9 is overweight, and below 24.9 is normal weight.

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CALCULATION Here is how you determine your BMI using a desk or pocket calculator. Take your height in inches and multiply it by itself. Let‚s say that you are 66” tall (5‚6”): 66x66 = 4356 Divide the amount you weigh by the number above. Let‚s say that you weigh 150 pounds: 150 divided by 4356 = .0344 Multiply this last number by 703: 703x.0344 = 24.18 A BMI of 24.18 indicates that you are in the upper range of the “normal” zone. WARNING SIGNS Research from Utah State University indicates that women with a BMI in the obese or upper end of the overweight range should pay close attention. Findings indicate they may be at a significantly higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease with aging. RECOMMENDED The average recommended caloric intake per day is 1600 for women and 2200 for men. However, most of us slow our activity as we age and burn fewer calories than when we were younger. Unless activity is maintained or intake reduced, weight gain is a certainty. LOSE ONE POUND WEEKLY Combine a modest caloric reduction with moderate exercise and you’ll easily lose approximately one pound at the end of each week. It may not sound like much when you start, but if we all stuck to it, most of us would be dramatically different people at the end of the year, wouldn’t we? TOO FAST MEANS TROUBLE In addition to the difficulty of keeping this weight off, you are losing muscle. After water loss, your body is limited to a loss of about 1.5% of your bodyweight per month. Anything above that represents loss of muscle tissue. 110

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BURN OFF THE FAT To achieve weight loss, the body needs to burn more calories than it consumes. The best way to do this is by exercising. Exercise burns calories and makes muscle tissue that burns more calories than fat. Consider a cleansing program or fast to help increase your metabolic rate of burn. THIS ONE THING The single most important activity for your health is exercise and the single most important exercise is Full Wave Breathing. As those of you who have utilized it know, it IS an exercise. Plus, it does increase your metabolic rate. Interspersed throughout the day, Full Wave Breathing is an invaluable part of a plan to burn more calories and dissolve stored stress – even when resting. BREATHING AND LOSING WEIGHT Greer Childers, founder of Bodyflex®, found that increased oxygen helped her lose fifty pounds and seven sizes in three months. Jill Johnson, developer of the Oxycise® method, has a similar story. Both of these women have developed successful programs of weight loss through oxygen increase-based programs. As their infomercials say, however, individual results vary. MAYBE The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has attacked the claims of Bodyflex and detractors of Oxycise point out that while deeper breathing is healthy, by itself it won’t burn fat. Full Wave Breathing supports exercise by increasing energy. Since it is an exercise it does increase caloric consumption and improve metabolism. WALKING The next exercise to perform is walking. You can even walk in place if you are determined to get your exercise. I won’t romanticize the advantages and sometimes disadvantages of walking outdoors. You’ll have to decide based on the beauty outside and also exposure to pollution, weather and insects.

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LUXURY A treadmill or combination stair-stepper is a nice luxury to have. However, you don’t need it because you can walk in place and listen to music without the device. It is, however, large enough to get your attention as a reminder TO walk. In addition, treadmills are relatively expensive so they have a high “use me!” factor for most people. BORING? You really can do just as much for yourself by walking in place and lifting your knees high with each step as you can with a treadmill with its variations in incline, speed and pace. Vary your speed, run and jump up and down in place. Any location works pretty well. THE BENEFITS Walking is known to have the following benefits for you: • Adaptable to individual fitness levels • Allows time with family and friends • Bone strengthening • Costs nothing • Cuts cholesterol • Decreases waist • Easy on joints • Enhances sexual performance • Lowers blood pressure • No special equipment required • Portable – can be done anywhere • Reduces risk of heart disease and diabetes • Uses almost as many calories as jogging. HOW OFTEN? Daily walking is best for at least 30 minutes. Start with a few minutes and increase your distance and intensity. If you like to walk more, do so.

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HARD BODIES Just don’t expect your result to be a hard, lean body. Most walkers and joggers can, however, become thinner. To lower the percentage of body fat you’ll need to add lifting weights or other muscle-building activity to your regimen. EXPERIMENT Experiment with breathing cycles as you walk. All breathing while exercising is through the nostrils. You can begin with 6 in and 4 out with each footfall coordinated with one count or “sniff ” of air. Relax as you exhale to the 4 count and resume your breathing without pause. The continuous breathing will increase your lung capacity even as you walk. FOR THE ABS You can work on strengthening and tightening your abdominal muscles after you have mastered the circular breath. To exercise them, draw your stomach strongly toward your spine as you exhale. STRONG BONES To stimulate your bones to grow, simply jog a short distance every few minutes. You can do so gently without adding unnecessary stress to joints and ligaments. Just take it easy. STAY AWAKE If you remain conscious while walking and breathing, you can use affirmations, play motivational tapes and otherwise encourage your self-growth while you are burning calories and reducing weight. Listening to your favorite upbeat music on tape or a CD helps keep you energized as you walk. HIGHER EDUCATION Some people like to use the time to improve their education by listening to personal growth programs and recorded seminars. Others prefer to make their walks quiet times to observe nature or be with their dog. Your dog can probably benefit from the brisk walk, too! 113


EASE INTO IT Begin slowly when walking and then increase the pace. Many experts recommend a few minutes of stretching first. Recent research recommends lightly bouncing in place instead. You can skip the stretching and bouncing altogether if you start very slowly and stretch naturally as you warm up and walk. When you increase your pace, however, take shorter and more frequent steps rather than longer ones. This way you’ll burn more calories. RAINY, COLD AND MISERABLE If it’s raining outside and you don’t have a treadmill or other training device, simply crank up the music, move and breathe! In general, breathing in for longer than the out cycle increases stimulation. A longer exhale than inhale decreases stimulation. Begin with four counts for your inhale and three for the exhale. Increase to 6, 8 or 10 counts, as you are comfortable. HOW LONG? A few years ago it was adequate exercise for us to spend 20 minutes three times each week. Then it became 30 minutes three times weekly. MORE Next, many experts concluded that we have to exercise 30 minutes for six days to enjoy good health. Now, according to the Institute of Medicine, the guideline is up to one hour daily. The recommendation for this much time, however, is for those who are eating the standard American diet (SAD). AND LESS If your diet is already healthier than the standard, you will need less exercise. You are already less toxic so there is less that you need to do. MODERATELY Generally, 30 minutes per day is adequate for cardiovascular health benefits. To lose weight, however, or even maintain weight loss, one hour is the daily target. The idea 114

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behind this is that you burn your stored energy during the first 30 minutes and after that time you begin to burn reserves of fat. INDIVIDUAL DECISION The added time is suggested to offset the condition of most people who do not have healthy diets. Also consider that 90% of the 50,000 random daily thoughts that pass through the average mind are negative, producing more stress and less health. If you are an athlete or seriously involved in restoring your health, half-hour exercise intervals 6 days a week is the minimum recommended regimen. Remember, however, to eat consciously. MAKE IT A HABIT It is most helpful to make exercise a habit. It is estimated that as few as 15% of the population gets even moderate exercise. The causes of overweight are not a mystery for the majority of people: Too much intake, too little output. FIT VERSUS FAT It is a lot easier for some people to become fit and not be so concerned about their fat. Since statistics favor the fit at any weight, by all means include exercise in your holistic program. Also add weight lifting to your regimen for bone health as well as muscle strength. BUILD MUSCLE One advantage of building muscles is that doing so increases your metabolic rate. This occurs both when you exercise and after you have built muscle. Just having developed muscles burns more calories. It’s important, too, because as we age we generally lose from 3% to 5% of muscle density every ten years. Do include weight resistance exercise three times weekly to stay firm and lean. PUSHING WEIGHTS Weight training and other resistance exercises are best performed in the afternoon after the muscles have warmed and stretched through their normal daily activity. Warm up further before lifting to avoid strain. 115


STIFF AND SORE Muscle soreness that results from engaging in a new type of exercise is normal, even if you are in good shape. Soreness normally occurs about 24 hours following the activity. Soaking in warm water, applying an analgesic ointment or massaging the area afford easy treatment. BEGIN SLOWLY In any event, take it easy and remember that you are conditioning your body, not attempting to make up for years of neglect. Stop before you tire and build the habit of exercise into your daily activity. START WHERE YOU ARE I was bedridden for several months and watched as my muscles and strength gradually disappeared from inactivity. As soon as activity was restored, the rebuilding process began without any special effort. I then increased the activity to regain and later exceed my prior limits of fitness. You can do the same. Start where you are now. EVERYONE CAN BENEFIT Weight training is for people of all ages. Seniors particularly benefit because, in general, the older we get, the more important muscle strengthening, toning and flexibility become. The fat-burning benefits of preserving or increasing muscle mass are important. However, less well known is the fact that weightlifting is the only proven way to avoid age-related loss of muscle tissue. FOOD TIP Consuming protein an hour after weight training helps your body repair damaged tissue and most effectively grow new tissue. A protein drink or high protein snack would be ideal. Then, an hour or so later, eat a real, balanced meal.

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Chapter 19 YEAH, AND …

If this all sounds like a lot of work to you, remember, some exercise is better than none. Get it in when you can, where you can. Take stairs instead of the escalator. Park away from stores and walk. Instead of waiting around in airports, walk and windowshop. WATER AGAIN Keep your body hydrated when exercising. It is easy to become dehydrated and not even know it. Err on the safe side and drink extra, pure water – at least two extra glasses daily – when you exercise. If you do drink coffee you’ll benefit from extra water to offset the diuretic effect of the caffeine. TIME FOR IT ALL Thus far you are spending 15 minutes daily for Full Wave Breathing and 30 minutes for walking at least three times per week. Now, you’ve just added 20 minutes per day for three days of resistance exercise on the other days to your weekly schedule. Where’s the time coming from? UP TO YOU If you were told you could solve your health problems and insure feeling better for entire day – even your whole life — just by investing an hour a day, would that be too much? If you really think you don’t have the time, you may want to re-examine your priorities. If you do and still think there isn’t adequate time for your exercise, there is an easy answer.

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RISE UP! Getting up earlier each morning is the easy answer. Just be certain you are getting 7 hours of sleep each night. If your day is already full, you are going to have to make a decision about how much you love yourself. Is that love strong enough for you to give yourself the time you need so that you can lead the life you’d like to live? LIFESTYLE ADJUSTMENT Yes, it’s true that you might have to give up some television watching or computer usage. If you could feel 10% better, would it be worth it? How about 20%? It is your life, or it could be IF you put more of yourself into it! EXERCISE TIME When’s the best time to exercise? I like to do my walking first thing in the morning along with my breathing and do the weight and resistance exercises in the afternoon. On my days off, I perform yoga stretches. Since I like to walk outdoors with the dog, this means I have to adjust my preferences to the seasons of the year. Either that or bundle up heavily in winter. ADJUST It’s easier to adjust to nature than to force my rigid preferences upon my world. So in the winter I may walk and work out in the afternoons, having performed my breathing exercises in the morning. IS IT IMPORTANT? Since the activity is important to me, I do find (make, select, create) the time. The first step for you, then, is to make the activity important. Remember, discipline is simply remembering what you desire.

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Chapter 20 MEDITATION

The fourth pillar of health in holistic health management is meditation. Countless books explain how to meditate. STRONG EVIDENCE Over thirty years of scientific research proves that meditation is an effective stress buster. It is taught today in corporations, hospitals, prisons and schools. ELEMENTAL Meditation reorients the brain from anxiety to calmness, reducing cortisol and other stress hormone levels. Mechanically, meditation is the creation of a relaxed mental state. QUICK RECOVERY The meditative brain wave rhythm provides an accelerated recovery state for both the mind and body. Unfortunately, as reported by the American Institute of Stress, up to half of all Americans are unable to meditate. Fortunately, virtually everyone can breathe. NO EFFORT REQUIRED If you simply sit after performing your Full Wave Breathing exercise, you will receive the same benefit as if formally meditating. Some people find it difficult to sit quietly, so I developed the Cosmic Waltz musical CD. All you have to do is listen to the Cosmic Waltz and your brainwaves automatically shift to the meditative state.

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RITUAL OF RELAXATION The idea is to create a time when the mind can be quiet. Prayer may produce a meditative state, along with the repeating of a mantra, gazing at a flame, watching trees sway, and so on. Sitting and observing the inflow and outflow of your breath will also produce a beneficial meditative state and is a method that has been utilized for centuries. Still another method is to repeat one word or meaningful phrase as you inhale and another meaningful word as you exhale: “Thank you” as you inhale; “Spirit” as you exhale. COMPARISONS A recent study analyzed meditation, Tai Chi and Qi Gong to compare their health benefits. All were found to be good and about equally effective, and the principal benefit was not in one particular form versus another. Instead the benefit came from the relaxation response. RELAXATION RESPONSE Harvard Professor, Herbert Benson, MD, documented the positive effects of the relaxation response in a book with the same name. He details the benefits of the profound relaxation achieved as the brain wave pattern shifted from Beta (12-30cps) to Alpha (8-11cps). AND IF YOU ARE DOING YOUR BREATHING EXERCISES Full Wave Breathing produces an alpha brain wave pattern with no movement or mantra. My own practice is to begin with Full Wave Breathing, followed by sitting and listening. There is no mantra and no mysticism, simply sitting after Full Wave Breathing and focusing attention on the sounds around me to relax and calm me. IF YOU LIKE Of course you can add a mantra or repeat affirmations as you desire. Affirmations repeated when the brain is operating at the alpha level are reported to have greater effectiveness than when performed at the beta level.

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MINDFULNESS The mindfulness meditation exercise, popular as a health regimen, is the name given to the practice of sitting and watching your breathing. As you focus on your breathing, thoughts will come and go. If you become distracted by any thought, return your awareness to your breathing. USE WITH ACTIVE BREATHING You can add mindfulness meditation to the sitting part of your Full Wave Breathing. An additional benefit is that it increases your ability to to concentrate and think about one thing without becoming interrupted or distracted. PINPOINT AWARENESS If you are experiencing health challenges in any part of your body, focus your attention on that area as you breathe. It is more effective to imagine that you are breathing through the afflicted location. You can visualize colors or energy entering and leaving as you inhale and exhale. SUMMARY We have now examined Exercise and Meditation combined with Breathing and Nutrition to make up the 4 Pillars of Health. We’ve considered them with respect to holistic health management, and you now know a great deal more about how to embrace your spiritual responsibility for the care and maintenance of your mindbody system. DO GET WORKED UP Now, after everything – the why, what, when, how much and how often to eat, how to exercise and how to meditate – let’s not get too hung up on the body. Instead, remember it is the vehicle of Spirit. As such the body deserves the respect any earth creature might receive from us. AND we want to be feeding the body for its greatest benefit, not just let it eat its way into oblivion. YOUR ROLE Remember that you are a conscious being with a body. It works best when you take 121


care of it. Become aware of the things that have positive and negative effects and take appropriate actions. It is helpful for you to eliminate the negative and instead affirm that your body is serving you well and to think of it kindly. Thousands of factors make it what it is and cause it to look like it does. Treat it well and it will respond positively. LOVINGLY AND PATIENTLY If you were treating your body like a well-loved child, you would do certain things for yourself that you may not have planned on. For example, if you learned that an activity like watching a certain television program — such as the news or a soap opera — depresses your immune system, you could choose to avoid it, substituting exercise, meditation or inspirational reading. If you learned that a certain food was discovered to be toxic to you, you would easily eliminate it. SELF-CONTROL Control your thoughts so you think like a thin person if your goal is to reduce. What would a thinner, fitter person eat? How much would they have to eat? How would they exercise and meditate? What would they read to keep themselves motivated? How would they forge their attitude to support their health? HANDLE ANY CRAVINGS Replace cravings with Full Wave Breathing. The underlying stressor will be integrated into your consciousness and a new feeling association will be created that will support health. Think about how you will feel when you reach your optimal weight. AVOID BINGES Even one lousy meal loaded with fat and calories can harm you. You unleash inflammatory chemicals in a three-hour flood into your bloodstream and leave artery walls vulnerable to arteriosclerosis. Frequent binging can keep your arteries constantly inflamed even at a young age and raise your risk of a heart attack. NEW COMMON SENSE Feed the body the most nutritious diet you can, complete with supplements to offset 122

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environmental degradation and support natural rebuilding processes. Most people benefit from a minimum addition of a high potency multi-vitamin and mineral capsule, 1 gram of Vitamin C, and 1000 units of Omega-3 Oil in capsules taken daily. Specific suggestions can be obtained at your health food store and from your naturopath or other licensed healthcare provider. GOOD BEGINNING If you are managing your own holistic health management program, please consider this supplement suggestion as a starting point. Increase the amounts if and when you are under severe stress. Purchase the highest quality supplements you can buy. AMAZING POTENTIAL One study reported that just one daily multivitamin taken by older Americans could save Medicare more than $16 billion over the next 5 years! Plus, by fortifying your system with a multivitamin, you are better able to bounce back from bouts of overindulgence and too many meals of “fast foods.” TOM’S TIPS A healthy diet helps with cravings also. Along with eliminating hot spices that burn out taste buds, restoring the function of your appestat will help keep you conscious of what your body really wants. If you eat what the body requires for its best operation, the natural result is maintaining a healthy weight. PROSCRIPTION Don’t even think about using drugs to lose weight or using questionable herbal concoctions that may threaten your overall health. And don’t believe those ads that promise you can just take a pill and lose weight without dieting or exercising. Instead, rely upon conscious eating, lifestyle choice and exercising for your future success in achieving and maintaining your desired and your optimal weight. It is your health we are talking about and it deserves your serious attention. GOOD HEALTH There is no such thing as bad health. The opposite of health is disease. Wellness is a 123


state of natural disease prevention. A program of holistic health management confers the benefit of both prevention and remedy. Focus on your health and wellness rather than on fighting fat. Take the steps outlined here and you will see the fat go away without struggle or strain. TIME IS ON YOUR SIDE You will be more vibrant by following your exercise program. It is a small investment into a wonderful asset: YOU! Fat will give way to muscle over time if you are exercising and as your metabolic rate naturally increases. Use Full Wave Breathing to build your energy. Take your supplements WITH your food or after a meal. The body will be able to utilize them more efficiently. EASY WAY OUT If thoughts were tangible things, you wouldn’t worry about what you ate or when. You would simply adopt the dietary regimen considered to be the healthiest and train your taste preferences to accept it. You would teach your body what to eat for your greatest benefit. And you’d adopt a belief that provides you with the greatest health so you are relaxed even while being productive. ACTION You’d also take the action deemed best for your body type, getting adequate exercise and rest. In that vein, you might consider re-deeming your Soul, too. Unless you have been living as a spiritual being in a human life, you likely deemed your Soul to not be particularly important. You may have even deemed yourself unworthy of self-love. UNDERNEATH IT ALL Many therapists now think that our self image requires repair before we can love ourselves. Love yourself and see if your self image doesn’t improve. Feed your body and mind things that strengthen instead of weaken. YOUR INTEGRITY It is time to take back your power that has become invested in other’s value, and to become the most important person in your life. When you consider that everyone 124

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who depends upon you is better off when you are dynamically healthy, taking care of yourself is a gift you give yourself and then share with others. IN THE FLOW Thoughts of unworthiness and a preoccupation with the purely physical take you “out of the flow.” Re-deem yourself now. Apply Full Wave Breathing with an intention of feeling your worthiness. See what happens. Take the steps to a healthier you. They are easy if you take it easy. GOING BEYOND This discussion about a solution to the problem of obesity through holistic health management has taken us beyond restricted-calorie diets that muck up your metabolism and create hunger. It has also taken us beyond fat blockers, fake fats, and artificial sweeteners, and beyond thinking you didn‚t have any willpower. It has examined both the underlying causes of your overeating and some of the hidden causes of weight gain. Thus informed, you are empowered to take action. BACK TO BASICS The first action we suggest is Full Wave Breathing. It will help you remember to love yourself. The second action, eating less, will be easier along with the third action, becoming more active. Finally, the fourth step, eating better will become just another good idea that you adopt. Be Blest, Be Prosperous, Be Well… and Bon Appétit!

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THE TEN STEP WEIGHT LOSS, ANTI-AGING AND FAT PREVENTION PROGRAM

1. Identify your ideal weight 2. Set a goal to reach it within a given timeframe 3. Visualize reaching your goal as you practice Full Wave Breathing; feel it and make it real in your mind-body 4. Drink more pure water daily 5. Avoid non-foods at all costs 6. Feed your mind-body instead of just eating 7. Consciously eat less and less and less 8. Eat small health snacks between meals 9. Drink pure water between snacks and meals, and 10. Exercise regularly to burn more calories.

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FULL WAVE BREATHING

SIMPLE INFO Only the basics of Full Wave Breathing are given here. Scientific and empirical background, case studies and testimonials positively support incorporating it into your life. It is likely to be the single most important step you will ever take in improving your health. Much additional information is available in books and recordings. Visit www.fullwavebreathing.com. TO BEGIN The following information is enough to get you started on this wonderful process. These are the breathing basics in the effective practice of Full Wave Breathing: • Open throat – allows comfort and good airflow. • Mouth breathing – We start all Full Wave Breath retraining by breathing through an open mouth rather than through the nostrils to increase the flow of our oxygen. • Open Mouth – Hold the mouth open as if you were cradling an egg inside and imagine that you are breathing around it. • Relaxed Jaw – allow the jaws to part in a relaxed, open, and comfortable manner. • Connected inhale and exhale – breathe in and out without a pause in between. NOSTRIL BREATHING First learn the mechanics of deeper Full Wave Breathing with an open mouth. Then you can use nostril breathing to focus your mind and quietly clear your head and quiet your body. CIRCULAR BREATH There is no pause or break between the inhale and exhale. The oxygen flow is 127


continuous and you are aware of your breathing rhythm. RELAXED BODY Exhaling fully by releasing progressive layers of tension is profoundly relaxing. The body may twitch or tingle as relaxation takes place. CLEAR MIND More oxygen to the brain clears cloudy thinking. Intuition is enhanced as thought slows. PACE Everyone is encouraged to find their most comfortable breathing pace. Beginners safely begin with slow, deep breaths and relax into their comfort zone. More advanced breathers may enjoy a faster rhythm. FOCUS Those with experience in breathing are invited to direct your intention toward the feeling of Joy. Alternatively, intend Peace as you inhale. STAY WITH IT Learning Full Wave Breathing, although simple, does require a little time and patient application. We didn't get to be the way we find ourselves in an instant. It happened over time. Your improvement will take place over time. It will take more than once or twice to become proficient in your breathing. Tissues and tendons relax and stretch and muscles become progressively toned as you continue. RETURN ON TIME INVESTED As weeks go by you will realize that learning to breathe in this new way is the best investment in time that you have ever made. Nothing else can do so much and so quickly. PLEASURE To retrain your body and mind to a breath pattern you haven’t experienced since 128

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infancy is not always comfortable. You may associate a stressful pattern in your body with emotional trauma or fear. It will resolve itself as Full Wave Breathing continues. Stay receptive to your own pace, pattern and comfort. THREE STEPS The three steps of Full Wave Breathing affect three body sections (ABC): lower Abdomen, Belly, and Chest. This breath begins in the abdomen (1), expands into the solar plexus or belly (2), and moves into the chest (3). EASY MASTERY Mastering the Full Wave Breathing movements takes practice. Combining Full Wave Breathing with other stress management strategies greatly enhances the effectiveness of both. Full Wave Breathing has been successfully combined with singing, drama, movement, dancing, imagery, and other expressive activities. SINGLE PATTERN All of the steps of Full Wave Breathing flow together into a full, connected breath, with a long inhale and a relaxed and complete exhale. This continuous breath is a relaxed way to bring oxygen into the body and increase energetic flow. NEW SENSATIONS During the first few practice sessions, as tension relaxes you may feel new sensations such as a gentle tingling and a little light-headedness. This is the normal influence of increasing oxygen to the body. MORE FUEL Your body has probably been taking in minimal oxygen up to this point in your life. Now it is learning to handle more. If you do feel light-headed, simply ease your breathing pace, breathing more slowly and deliberately, and the symptoms will quickly pass. Within a few sessions, your mind and body adjust quickly to the increased oxygen and will be comfortable with the changes.

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INHALING Begin your Full Wave Breathing practice either sitting upright or lying down. If you lie down, place a pillow under the knees. A pillow under the head restricts air flow. BALLOON BELLY Inhale and expand the belly. Expand and round your abdomen as if a balloon had been filled within. Relax your neck and continue to keep your mouth open and jaws relaxed. Direct your inhale to be longer than the exhale. EXHALING Exhale your breath with a gentle, complete release. The abdomen naturally becomes flat, like a deflated balloon. The exhale is of shorter duration than the inhale. Allow the exhaled air to rush out of the body on its own without pushing. CONNECTING THE BREATH Gently inhale again and expand the abdomen. Your immediate goal is to smoothly connect one breath to the next with no pauses between your inhale–exhale cycle. Smile as you perform the exercise to further encourage your body to relieve tension and stress. STEP 1—Abdominal Breathing The recommended form of deep abdominal breathing consists of inhaling deeply and slowly through your mouth and expanding the abdomen as you practice. Visualize the air traveling right down to your abdomen and think the word “relax” as you breathe in. Then breathe out slowly and gently through your mouth. As you exhale, imagine the stress and tension leaving your body with your breath and think the word “calm.” Deliberately let your muscles become soft and pliant as you exhale. STEP 2—Breathe Into the Belly & Solar Plexus The second step of Full Wave Breathing brings the breath from the lower abdomen into the middle of the body — the belly to the solar plexus. During the inhale, first breathe into the lower abdomen, and then with muscular action expand the lower ribs, exercising the diaphragm and intercostal muscles. 130

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HANDS ON Placing your hands on your body orients you concretely to exercising your diaphragm and feeling the lungs expand and contract. Note how the ribs lift and stretch for the next step. WHERE Place your hand on your abdomen, and then move your hand to the solar plexus area, directly under the sternum, in the hollow area where the ribs meet. That is where the diaphragm is located. Combine Steps One and Two Inhale through your mouth, expand your abdomen (step one), then expand or pull the breath into your solar plexus or belly, expanding the rib cage (step two). Exhale completely, relaxing and deflating the entire area. Breathing continuously, inhale again following the same pattern. NO EFFORT The abdomen and solar plexus deflate naturally as a result of the exhale. There is no need to force it or try to make it happen. Rather, just observe that it does happen. LIFTING THE BREATH Your abdomen is rounded and your mouth is open as you expand the inhale from your abdomen into the solar plexus region. Imagine a wave of breath moving up through your body as you perform steps one and two. TWO STROKES Another way to move your breath from your abdomen into the solar plexus area is the two-stroke breath. Counting in your head: • On stroke or count one, inhale deeply into the abdomen. • On count two of the inhale, move the breath into the solar plexus. Exhale smoothly, and repeat the two-stroke breath. This two-stroke breath can be done lying or sitting. 131


STEP 3—Into the Chest The third step of the Full Wave Breath is to expand the breath all the way into your chest from your abdomen (1) and belly (2). At this point, the Full Wave Breath truly becomes like a wave that begins low in the abdomen, rises smoothly in the midsection and then moves up through the chest. Even and Rhythmic The three separate steps of the Full Wave Breath become a smooth flow of breathing. As you did when teaching yourself the previous steps, follow the flow of breath by placing your hand on your abdomen, solar plexus, and then chest. Practice breathing from deep within the abdomen and expanding into the chest while emphasizing the wave-like movement. STRETCH The Full Wave Breath moves from the expanded abdomen and solar plexus into the chest. The muscles of the neck stretch upward. Your shoulders move naturally upward as well. GO LIMP Think of the exhale as a gentle and completely relaxed deflation of the abdomen and diaphragm. As you exhale, notice that your expanded abdomen flattens as the air leaves your mouth. PERFORMANCE Practice the continuous breathing process. Practice will allow you to easily coordinate the wave movement of breath and body. Make it full and deep. AN ACHIEVEMENT Learning the Full Wave Breath is an important milestone for anyone seeking to improve their health in all respects. Here are some of the benefits: • Sharper, more prolonged focus while performing a task (increased concentration) • Enhanced awareness of emotional patterns • Increased energy, improved physical and emotional well-being 132

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• Ability to choose to breathe for specific reasons, such as to relieve stress or anxiety or for intellectual or task focus • Ability to notice and consciously regulate emotional patterns, such as impulsive eating behaviors • Increased problem-solving ability • Ability to apply new knowledge and breath skills in everyday life. SUMMARY Healthy, effective breathing is the result of practicing the three steps of the Full Wave Breath. It is suitable for all adults and children above the ages of six or seven. OPEN MOUTH Start all breath retraining using an open mouth rather than the nostrils for increased oxygen and bodily relaxation. Full Wave mouth breathing is stimulation; nostril breathing combined with the Full Wave pattern clears the mind and quiets the body. THREE SECTIONS The three steps of Full Wave Breathing correspond to these three body sections: Abdomen, Belly, and Chest – A-B-C. All the steps of Full Wave Breathing consist of a full, connected breath, with a long inhale and a relaxed and complete exhale. REVIEW Full Wave Breathing Instruction: Take a deep, full inhale with your mouth open and relaxed; then release gently and completely on the exhale. Do not pause between breaths, thus breathing in a continuous, gentle cycle. Breathe easily into your abdomen, then expand or pull your breath up into your solar plexus, and then up into your chest stretching your neck and shoulders. Exhale, and allow your muscles to become soft and completely relaxed. Make your Full Wave Breathing gentle to begin with and more vigorous as you progress. Give your health a major boost and … ENJOY!

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INTERNET HEALTH RESOURCES

http://www.health.gov/dietaryguidelines/dga2000/document/build.htm http://www.karlloren.com/diet/p109htm http://mercola.com/2004/apr/14/splenda_reactions.htm http://www.iHerb.com http://www.haguewater.com http://www.drlwilson.com. http://www.healthy.net/library/books/Haas/detox/FASTING.HTM http://dmoz.org/Health/Alternative/Fasting_and_Cleansing/ http://www.theherbsplace.com/childrenmilk.html http://www.mercola.com/article/milk/no_milk.htm http://www.mercola.com http://www.mendosa.com/common_foods.htm http://www.fullwavebreathing.com http://www.sleephomepages.org http://www.foodnews.org. http://www.usmedicine.com http://www.russellblaylockmd.com http://www.eatwild.com

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Goode, ND, is an author, inspirational speaker, and seminar leader. He received a Bachelors degree in Commerce and Finance from the University of Virginia in 1961 and a Doctorate of Naturopathy degree from The Clayton College in 1993. He learned a great deal about health in recovering from polio at age eight and a near fatal auto accident at age 16. He sold and serviced individual and group health insurance for 12 years, learning about America‚s healthcare systems and hospital conditions. Diagnosed with a chronic degenerate disease at age 38, Goode healed the condition naturally. As a result, he began a new phase of life and dedicated his life to helping others. Prevention magazine published Goode’s recovery story and he began his second career as a health researcher and teacher. He conducted a private healing and counseling practice for the next 12 years and was an instructor for energyhealing modalities and life-empowering strategies. Goode then co-founded the International Breath Institute in 1991 to teach people about their first, most valuable step in enhancing health and preventing premature aging. He created and has presented IBI‚s Life and Spirit Mastery for 14 years, training practitioners in proactive, natural healthcare. Program graduates offer seminars throughout the US, Canada, Europe, South America, Russia, South Africa, and Australia. Goode is a member of The Life Extension Foundation, The American Holistic Health Association, The National Health Federation, The Institute of Noetic Sciences, and the International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine.

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Dr. Goode and his wife, Caron B. Goode, Ed.D. , jointly manage a transdenominational health ministry with three current outreach projects: International Breath Institute, LLC–the leader in breath training for health and spirituality. Website: http://www.internationalbreathinstitute.com —free ezine subscription Inspired Living International, LLC,— offering products to enhance the whole person http://www.InspiredLivingInternational.com Inspired Parenting, LLC–An Internet resource for Whole Child Parenting Website: http:// www.inspiredparenting.net —free ezine subscription Inquiries are welcome. Questions may be sent directly to [email protected]

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ORDER FORM _____ The Holistic Guide To Weight Loss, Anti-Aging and Fat Prevention $18.50 by Tom Goode, ND _____ Nurture Your Child’s Gift, Inspired Parenting $14.95 by Caron Goode, Ed. D Help Children succeed through the three keys of success: confidence, expression, and action. Nurture the whole child and provide strategies children can use when you are not around to help them - breathing, music, creative problem solving, self-dialog, affirmations, and imagery. _____ Cosmic Waltz™–One Hour of Beautiful Music for Breathing $18.00 by Tom Goode, ND The Cosmic Waltz is a revolutionary technological and musical breakthrough. Designed to pace your breathing, the gentle music relaxes and restores your mind, body, and spirit. _____ Subtotal 4.00 Shipping & Handling _____ Total included _____Please place my name on your mailing list _____Please send me a catalog _____Please send me workshop and other announcements

Name__________________________________________ Address_________________________________________________________________ City_____________________________________ State__________ Zip_____________ Telephone_____________________________________ Email Address__________________________________ Bring Dr. Caron or Dr. Tom Goode to your next convention or meeting for a dynamic alternative to the mundane and the latest in holistic health, healing and parenting. [email protected]; [email protected] or call 520-977-7562. 137

Thomas Goode, ND

Full Wave Breathing Training A Complete Program For Mind-Body Balance And Harmony We start out with tremendous energy as children and seem to wear down as time goes on. Much of this decline, however, is optional in that it comes from habits we have developed that undermine health. One of the most detrimental habits is shallow breathing. Medical experts agree that shallow breathing puts our health at serious risk. Since 1991, thousands of people have improved their lives, revitalized their physical health and removed emotional baggage all with the power of Full Wave Breathing. Are you ready to join them? IBI formulated Full Wave Breathing, predicated on both the medical scientificallyproven fact that proper oxygen intake is a necessity for good health as well as empirical scientific evidence that healthy breathing improves function at the physical, emotional, mental and spiritual levels. Think of Full Wave Breathing as the anchor technique in a program of Holistic Health. It brings you into your body and enlivens it! Holistic Health–Mind, Body and Spirit–founded upon 4 Pillars: Breath, Nutrition, Exercise and Meditation. The mind-body is one system, integrated and whole. Treating it as such provides new answers for effective 21st century living. Full Wave Breathing Training will show you how to… 139


• Use deeper and more effective breathing to improve your health • Use the breath to calm and resolve distressful emotions • Connect to the feeling of joy • Relax deeply • Accelerate your personal evolution • Energize your natural healing ability • Keep the “body temple” at its optimal levels physically, emotionally, and mentally with small steps that IBI will teach you. IBI delivers life-affirming ideas and instruction with methods that are natural and safe. Our proprietary methods provide fast results, are simple to use, safe and selfempowering. Are you ready to have true optimal health? We invite you to join the scores of people who have found new and better ways to lead healthier, happier and more productive lives through Full Wave Breathing. You don’t have to struggle to live a healthier and more fulfilling life. For more information regarding times, dates and locations, visit our website at: http://www.internationalbreathinstiute.com

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