And the Lab Results are in...

Just a quick blog for this week.

I had my annual physical yesterday and am incredibly happy with the results. I had a full work up done and everything checked out in the ideal range except for random glucose - that was still within acceptable limits but not ideal, so no worries - and this is the first time it's all been this good. This is a concern as there is type 2 diabetes in my family history. I just need to tighten back up on my use of raw sugar and the occasional junk that has made it's way back into my diet, and focus more on lower glycemic fruits.

In the past when I was weighing 220-230 my BP and lipid profiles were always a concern and not in good ranges - this was my main health concern for switching from a cannibal diet to a predominately vegetarian plan and it's worked very well based on yesterday's results.

As a Cannibal:
BW-220-230 lbs
blood pressure - usually around 125/85 when it was "good" to 135/90 when it wasn't "good"
total cholesterol - 220 mg/dL
HDL - 41 mg/dL
LDL - 130 mg/dL
triglycerides - best was usually 135 mg/dL worst was just over 300 mg/dL


As a Pescatarian:
BW-178-182 lbs
blood pressure - worst was 112/72 best was 102/67
total cholesterol - 151 mg/dL
HDL - 43 mg/dL
LDL - 95 mg/dL
triglycerides - 65 mg/dL

To say I'm thrilled with the results is an understatement! My goal now is to continue to improve these levels and continue getting healthier. Screw aging gracefully, I'm kicking ass the entire way to my next lifetime!

Stay Strong AND Healthy!

-Scott

Day 22 or Raw for 30 Days!

As I write this blog it's Day 22 of my Raw for 30 Days birthday plan. So far it's been an outstanding experience! This morning my body-weight was at 180 lbs. I haven't seen 180 lbs since 2002, and I'm definitely a lot leaner and carrying more muscle than I did back then, so at least something good came from being a fat and bloated 220 lbs for all those years.

#1 question I've been asked for the past 22 days - Where do you get your protein? If I had a dollar for every time, I'd have a Bugatti by now...

Despite the lack of "direct" protein consumption I have not atrophied, gotten sick, become "skinny fat", or spontaneously combusted. Yet.

If anything my body composition is changing for the positive, I'm leaning up, getting tighter and definition is improving and the cool thing is I train less than I did before. I still put effort into the workouts, but I have cut my training time down tremendously. Plus my recovery is better and overall I feel a lot better.

This cracked me up! It's funny, this is the type of crap I always used to say about vegetarians and vegans - now I'm on the receiving end. Karma I guess. Oh well - you can't argue results!

Where do I go from here?

With one more week left on my 30 day experiment I've been thinking about this quite a bit. Will I stay 100% raw vegan? Nope. That was never my intention. My goal was to improve from the 70-80% raw vegan plan I was following since September of last year. I wanted to go the 30 days for a couple of reasons, one to prove to myself I could do it since one of the biggest obstacles I see with my clients is motivation and discipline to change their nutrition habits. 

Look, I'm just as busy as everyone else. I work 6 days a week, run my own business and do all the domestic stuff everyone else does. I still have time to eat healthy and workout. 

I'm sick of hearing excuses from people. You are responsible for what you put into your mouth and it takes the same amount of effort to put a handful of goji berries into your mouth as it does a handful of M&Ms. More people need to take ownership of their lives and stop making excuses.

In addition my goal was to use this 30 days to detox and cleanse a bit as well as tighten up my nutrition so that I can maintain an 80-90% raw vegan plan with only 10-20% coming from cooked vegetarian foods. Basically I will continue to follow what I'm doing now with 1-2 servings of cooked food a day. However there will probably be 2 or 3 days a week that are 100% raw and I will continue to do 100% raw periods as well as periods of juice fasting throughout the year to detoxify and maintain the improved health I am experiencing now.

One reason is personal, I want to be healthy and have a very high quality of life through my twilight years and when it's time for me to trade this body in I want to make that transition as strong and healthy (mentally, physically and spiritually) as possible.

I also need to be a role model for my clients. How can people take health, weight loss, and training advice from someone who doesn't embody what they teach? One of my top rules "Don't be the fat trainer selling a fat loss program, DVD or book!"

As a side note - I recently read Dr. Gabriel Cousens' book and watched his DVD on reversing diabetes naturally, due to the fact I have relatives who are diabetics as well as knowing many people who suffer from this horrible disease. It was incredibly informative and enlightening, then my friend Antony posted a link about Dr. Cousens recently on Facebook which reminded me about this - his approach to treating diabetics and getting both Type 2's and 1's OFF insulin and medications is a raw food nutrition plan. Here's a great video intro of his program:

And here's a link to the preview for Dr. Cousens' video I purchased my father:

I'm looking forward to seeing what the last week has in store! Also, last year for my birthday 6/13/11, I conducted a personal fitness test. I repeated the test for my birthday this year and will be posting my 1-year comparisons in the upcoming week.

Thanks for reading!

Stay Strong and Healthy!

-Scott

Meditation

Scott Trying to Calm Down his Monkey Mind

Meditation is something I've been struggling with over the past couple of years. When I first started meditating it was tedious. All I ever heard was meditate for 30 minutes every day. That didn't make sense to me.

As I understood it meditation was supposed to be a complete quieting and calming down of the mind. If I magically entered some enlightened, zen-like state, how was I to know when 30 minutes was up? If I came out of my meditation at 29 minutes, would my efforts have been a waste?


Even if I could last the 30 minutes, was I doing it wrong if I had thoughts? If I couldn't let the thought pass and dwelled on it, was I not meditating correctly?

I read as much as I could, I listened to meditation programs on CD and MP3, I read some more.

Then something happened.

Shifu Leading Meditation

When training with my Shifu, grand master Shi Deru, at my Shaolin School's annual Qi retreat this past February, he guided us through meditation each day.

That is when it hit me.

Meditation is simply about being present and rediscovering your true nature.

Rediscovering your true nature happens when you can disconnect from your ego-by ego I mean your physical self, all the things here in the physical plane that make you, you.

When you can fully quiet your mind and observe your ego - it hits you - you are not you. Your real nature is that of being, of pure consciousness. The problem is you will begin thinking about it and lose "it".

If you are meditating, simply be. Be present. That is all. Sit cross legged on the floor or a chair with your hands placed one on top of the other thumbs touching, just make sure your feet are grounded and your back is straight. Begin to relax every muscle in your body, but don't go limp. Be alert, meditation is not about zoning out-it is about pure awareness-just be relaxed. Breathe. Listen to your breathe. If a thought enters your mind don't freak out. It is fine. Just observe the thought and let it go. Do not attach to the thought. If your "monkey mind" (as Shifu refers to it) begins to take over that's ok - just calm down and focus back in on your breathing.

That is it. That is meditation.

Rediscover Your True Nature-Your True Self

At our retreat when Shifu was asking us all about our experiences many people gave great answers - but I particularly liked Shi Xiong Chen Zhe's response, he said, "When I meditate, I feel almost invisible."

Don't become particularly wrapped up in how long you meditate. I think it is a mistake to think that the only way you will achieve any sort of benefit is to meditate for exactly 30 minutes every day. If you do this you bring meditation into the realm of time which is a complete contradiction. Meditation is about being present, not yesterday and not tomorrow but now. Simply sit quietly, focus on your breathing and relax. Finish your meditation when you finish. Whether it is in 3 minutes or 3 hours.

This idea was confirmed to me when I listened to the excellent audio-book "The Joy of Living" by Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche.

In it Rinpoche states (and I am paraphrasing) "that it is far better to meditate properly-when you are calm, relaxed, happy and at peace-for multiple two or three minute sessions throughout the day, than one longer session where you are forcing yourself to meditate". Please keep in mind that is very loose paraphrasing, but you get the idea.

Meditation is not magic-it is simply learning to be present and identifying with your true nature, your true self.

When walking just walk, when sitting just sit. Above all, don't wobble.

However, I would venture to say that ANYTHING that brings us into the present that does not require a lot of thinking or analysis, may be considered meditation.

Think about it, a weightlifter going for a record attempt, a rock climber hanging by their toes and fingertips off a rock face, a skydiver plummeting toward the earth, a martial artist practicing a form. All of these things bring you immediately into the present.

I don't think there is a better description than the ancient zen proverb that Alan Watts reiterates in his excellent book, The Way of Zen, "When walking, just walk. When sitting, just sit. Above all, don't wobble."


Thanks to Tom Kreutzer for the photos!


Stay Strong and Healthy!


-Scott