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By , February 24, 2010

I just finished reading, or listening to, (unabridged audiobook) Jill Bolte Taylor’s book, My Stroke Of Insight.  Here’s the basic concept of the book from Amazon:

“On the morning of December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a thirty-seven-year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist, experienced a massive stroke when a blood vessel exploded in the left side of her brain. A neuroanatomist by profession, she observed her own mind completely deteriorate to the point that she could not walk, talk, read, write, or recall any of her life, all within the space of four brief hours. As the damaged left side of her brain–the rational, grounded, detail- and time-oriented side–swung in and out of function, Taylor alternated between two distinct and opposite realties: the euphoric nirvana of the intuitive and kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete well-being and peace; and the logical, sequential left brain, which recognized Jill was having a stroke, and enabled her to seek help before she was lost completely.

One of the main points of the book is the complete change that came to her life, not only during the time she was rehabilitating herself back from the stroke, but years later after she realized that the stroke had been an agent of change and deep insight. She experienced a complete change in her attitude and fundamental beliefs about life from that time on.

It reminds me of the concept of “born again” from the Christian tradition. Jesus told people that in order to find “the kingdom of God, they would have to be born again.” What he meant was that they would have to make a complete change, that they would have to see the world in a completely new, different way. He was telling them that their change would have to be deep and complete, and then the rest would be easy.

So it is with a healthy life. If we really want one, and I think it’s clear that all of us do, we need to be completely changed, to suffer a “stroke of insight.” We need to be “born again,” and come out on the other side with a whole new way of looking at the world. If we’re really able to do that, to profoundly and completely change our way of looking at life and the world, a healthy, fitgevity lifestyle will be easy and fun to obtain. In fact, doing anything else will be difficult.

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By , January 13, 2010

Right now in the US congress there are on-going arguments about how to handle the billions of dollars needed and spent on health care every year. The interesting back story to all of this is that a good portion of the money spent is on conditions and diseases that are preventable. Billions and billions of dollars per year are spent to treat people who would not have medical problems if they would change their lifestyles. In other words, they have a lifestyle that brings them illness and early death.

Why would people choose such a lifestyle? There are different reasons. For some it is a lack of knowledge. Others generally know what they need to do to gain back their health and preserve their life, but for one reason or another, refuse, or aren’t psychologically able to change. In drug and alcohol addiction often one of the reasons people can’t change their self-destructive behavior is because of a thing called co-dependency. What that means is that they have someone in their life who is enabling them to continue as a drug addict or alcoholic, someone they can blame, someone they can depend on to take the responsibility for their lives so they won’t have to. Often that person, on one level, wants the best for the alcoholic or addict, wants them to stop their self-destructive behaviors and preserve their health and life, but for some complicated reasons continues to enable that unhealthy behavior.

All throughout human history there have been those in communities and societies who have helped others attain, maintain, and regain their health. For the last hundred years or so in the US, that job has fallen mostly to MDs. When I was a young boy in the 1950s, the MD or doctor’s word was law. It was never questioned. It was very similar to the way community religious leaders were treated. We all knew the religious leaders had the truth. They were not questioned. This may seem stifling and confining, but often people are willing to give up their freedom and let others take responsibility for their lives so they won’t have to.

The truth of the big picture is that for most people their health, their longevity, and their fitgevity is up to what they choose to do. Your doctor cannot make you stop a self- destructive lifestyle that is ruining your health and shortening your life. Only you can do that. It might seem comforting and easy to blame someone else for your behavior and your health problems, but is that really any different from the alcoholic or the junkie? And is it really easier in the long run? Choose health, choose life, choose fitgevity, because you deserve it!

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By , December 11, 2009

There are some things we hear that we know must be false. There are other things we hear, and they sound like they could be true or not. But there are some things that, when we hear them, we just know they must be true. One of those things is that movement is necessary for health and wellness. In fact movement, even mild movement, promotes, encourages, and sustains health and wellness.

When it comes to human movement we often see pictures like the one above. Dramatic pictures of someone in a high state of fitness. But in one sense, the picture below is just as dramatic. No, these people are not accomplished gymnasts, but they’re obviously over 50 and just this quick look at them tells you they can still move their bodies in all sorts of ways that give them a natural vitality. Juts this quick view tells you they are not hindered in their interaction with the world.

The picture of the gymnast at the top is a little like the idea of fitness and “working out” in the past. It was presented as the way to be the toughest, baddest, fittest person on the block. That is not the idea of Fitgevity Lifestyle. With age comes the realization of how important the common, natural things are, like flexibility, normal strength, and the ability to move with joy through the world.

While it’s true that some people seem to be amazingly more fit than others at an advanced age, with age we’re wise enough to look at these individuals, not as someone to compete with, but as examples that show what is possible.

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By , November 10, 2009

I’m writing in a more personal way today about health, wellness, and fitness. I have hypothyroidism, or a thyroid gland that doesn’t make enough of the thyroid hormone.  There are pharmaceutical solutions for this problem, some of which can be good, but I’ll discuss that in another post. Today I’d like to write about my journey to find a nutritional solution for this problem. I realize that a nutritional solution is not always possible, but it seems obvious to me that trying a nutritional solution should be the first thing to do, rather than the last.  If I can, and if possible, I try to solve any physical problem with my diet.

One of the things I’ve tried that really seems to help my condition is eating sea vegetables, or what is sometimes called seaweed. Seaweeds, like dulse and kelp, convert the rich minerals dissolved in the ocean into an edible form. Just a handful of dulse will provide all the vitamin B-6 you need, 66% of your vitamin B-12, all your daily required iron and fluoride, and many other minerals. It’s low in sodium and high in potassium. One tablespoon of dulse flakes has 175% of the DV, or daily recommended value, of iodine.

I’ve included a picture of the kind of dulse flakes I am currently using. There is nothing added to this. It is just dulse seaweed, gathered, dried and chopped into flakes. I use a tablespoon of it every day on my salad. I know the idea of eating sea vegetables seems strange to most Americans. I’m famous with my friends and relatives for eating strange things, but this one I think most everyone will like. It’s particularly important to eat if you have hypothyroidism. Adding a tablespoon of it every day has certainly made a difference for me.

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By , October 30, 2009

Does the culture we live in and were raised in affect the way we eat and exercise? That’s the question this week’s video asks. You can see it at the following link: www.WhatIfElvis.com. I think we all can agree that the answer is yes. When we’re adults we can do something about our culture. We don’t have to eat and move the same as we did when we were growing up.

There is still a lot of culture affecting us when we’re adults, but more than any other time in human history, we have the ability to set up our own personal movement and diet culture. When we’re finally adults we’re free to build one that suits us and is in line with how we really want to live our lives. Though finding good and nutritious food is a little difficult and some trouble, it is possible. Finding ways to work out, move our bodies for strength, wellness, flexibility and health is more available than ever before.

The health, wellness, and fitness we’d all like to have in our advanced life is available and doable. Our job is to find it and start our own improved, personal culture as soon as possible. There are many roads. Fitgevity Lifestyle can help you on the journey.