Ammunition For The Masses

In speaking with one of my readers today, the statement was made, “Yesterday’s blog was excellent, but how does the average layperson go about beginning self-change, self-education, and self-becoming?” This is a very relevant question; after all, you cannot change a nation if you do not first change yourself.

The first question you must ask yourself is “what am I changing for?” Since you are reading this blog, and read yesterday’s post, you know that the change I called for was reform of the educational and healthcare systems. How are you, one reader, going to change the healthcare and educational systems of the United States of America? Simple, one choice at a time; and with each new choice you make, a colleague, friend, or family member notices and thinks, ‘it’s working for them, why can’t it work for me?’. It is in this grassroots, role modeling fashion that you, dear reader, are going to change the nation, and the world.

In order to make large scale changes in health and education on a national level, we must make large scale changes in our health and education as individuals. Now don’t worry, large scale change does not have to occur all at once. As my friend and mentor Dr. James Chestnut teaches, “Change should not be an upstream struggle, change should be like floating downstream on your back on an air mattress soaking up the sun.” In other words, if we try and change all at once, we will not succeed because wholesale change is stressful and stress is not conducive to success or health. Therefore, we must go about change in a gentle way. We do this by adding positive things without taking away negative things. Eventually, you realize how great it feels to perform the positive actions and they just become habit. The negatives gently, and sometimes unknowingly, fall to the wayside.

There are 3 key daily functions that we must target for change in order to accomplish our goal. The 3 areas we must make changes in are the way that we eat, move, and think (Chestnut, 2003). The following are simple changes for each category that you can institute today to begin changing the world:

EAT

The first addition you can make to your daily eating habits is DRINK MORE WATER. Shoot for at least 64 ounces of water per day. That is 8 normal size glasses.

A very close second is what Dr. Chestnut calls FRESH FIBER FIRST. This novel idea suggests that we begin each meal with some form of raw fruit and/or raw vegetable. Raw fruits and raw vegetables contain loads of cancer fighting phytonutrients and antioxidants that are lost when cooked. Your best choices are the cruciferous vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, rutabaga, etc. An added bonus is that raw fruits and veggies are loaded with fiber which helps clean out your intestines and decrease your appetite. So start each meal with an apple, salad, or your favorite raw green food.

SHOP ON A FULL STOMACH. When you go to the grocery store with an empty stomach, you know that you make poorer choices than if you were full from a recent meal. So eat before you shop. And when deciding if you should purchase your favorite junk food, make the decision based on how you’ll feel after you eat it, not while you are eating it.

AVOID PROCESSED AND REFINED FOODS. The closer you buy a food to the form in which it is found in nature, the better it is for you. If it comes in a box or is microwaveable, it is probably not good for you.

READ FOOD LABELS. If you cannot pronounce it, don’t eat it. If grocery stores have an “Organic” and “Healthy Food” section what is the rest of the store called, the Death and Disease section? In short, yes. Avoid foods with artificial flavors and sweeteners, colors/dyes, high fructose corn syrup, MSG, preservatives, additives, and propylene glycol (which is literally anti-freeze).

Our food supply is DEFICIENT in healthy Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil) and probiotics (good bacteria). Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for a healthy brain and joints. They are also anti-inflammatory and great for your skin. Probiotics are healthy bacteria that are supposed to live in our gut but don’t because of all the toxins in our food supply and the multiple courses of antibiotics taken each year by the average American. Probiotics are important because they produce B vitamins and Vitamin K for us. They also fight off bad bacteria thereby keeping us healthy. The best company I have found to purchase these products from is Innate Choice (www.innatechoice.com).

The best way to eat is to focus on meals consisting of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grass fed meats. Buy organic when you can. Avoid grains and dairy because they are pro-inflammatory and lead to autoimmune diseases, GI disorders, and a plethora of other negative health problems.

MOVE

EXERCISE EVERYDAY. It does not have to be crazy, you don’t have to be a bodybuilder or a marathoner, just get moving. Start today by stepping outside and taking a deep belly breath. Tomorrow go outside, take a deep belly breath, and walk to the end of your driveway. In this way, add distance and difficulty (i.e. stairs, ankle weights, run, etc) as you feel ready. Research shows that just 30 minutes of walking a day (equal to burning 200 calories) 5 times a week prevents 30% (949,619) of deaths due to coronary heart disease and stroke, 50% of colon cancer (24,000 deaths), and reduces Alzheimer’s risk by 50%, just to name a few benefits.

HAVE A PARTNER. Exercising with a partner increases your chances of success because you can encourage each other and hold each other accountable. Eventually you can compete with each other, loser buys the broccoli smoothies.

MAKE IT FUN. If you have children and they hate “exercise,” how do you get them to exercise without them knowing its “exercise”? Make it fun, wrestle them, throw the ball with them, ride bikes with them, have push up, sit up and standing squat contests with them. Be creative, there are endless possibilities here.

CREATE EXERCISE. By this I mean incorporate more movement into your daily routine. Instead of taking the elevator, take the stairs. Don’t park in the parking space closest to the building, park in the one furthest away and walk extra. If you need to run errands or go to a friend’s house that lives close by, walk, run, or bike over instead of drive.

GET YOUR SPINE CHECKED. In order for your body to express full health, you must have 100% communication between your brain and the rest of your body. The brain communicates with the rest of your body by sending messages down the spinal cord and out the nerves to every cell, muscle, and organ. Every cell, muscle, and organ then communicates back to the brain in the reverse direction. If your spinal column is not properly aligned, this communication is dysfunctional and you are not expressing 100% health. We cannot reach our full human potential if we are not 100% healthy, so make sure you are getting your spine checked regularly.

THINK

READ 1 HOUR PER DAY. Brian Tracy, a high school dropout, self-made millionaire, and self-help guru says that the average American reads one book per year. ONE! How does that look for an educated country if we are finished with school (where we learned very little) by age 18-23 and our continuing education is one book per year. And what if that book is TV Guide? You see where I’m going with this. If we are to reform our health and our educational systems, we need to be educated and make educated decisions. Reading one hour a day equates to 365 hours a year. That is 15.2 days a year you would spend reading. I think you could learn a lot in just one hour a day. That one hour a day equates to about 50 books per year. Do you want to get ahead in your profession, or be an expert in your area of interest? Simply set aside one hour a day and you’re on the road to expertise. If you don’t know where to start, I recommend Think And Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, or Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude, by Napoleon Hill.

AUDIOBOOKS. Instead of listening to the same 5 songs on the radio each day during your commute, purchase or download some audiobooks that cover an topic you are interested in. You’ll be amazed at how much time you spend in the car and how much you can learn by listening to audiobooks while you drive.

COMMUNITY. Surround yourself with positive, like-minded individuals. This way you can all support each other and encourage each other. Form a mastermind group and meet weekly or bi-weekly to bounce ideas off of each other. Have each member read a different book or look into a different topic for each meeting and share the best of what they found with the others. This will stimulate massive creativity and brainstorming sessions. Everyone will walk away enriched, and who knows, maybe a business, invention, or non-for-profit company will be born.

VOLUNTEER. Volunteer in your community. Get outside your comfort zone and go meet people. Recruit people to your cause. Volunteer with a genuine attitude of service and love and all new doors will be opened for you.

Dr. Chestnut teaches SUCCESS LEAVES CLUES. Look at the people at the top of your profession or area of interest. Read their biographies, Google them. What made them who they are today? How did they get to the top? I guarantee they’ve left clues as to how they’ve achieved prominence. Incorporate those things into your life. Start your day with positive affirmations such as “Everything my mind can conceive, and believe, it can achieve!” Say it out loud and with emotion, your subconscious mind will manifest your affirmations if you really believe them. Also, set goals and put them on paper! Make them challenging but realistic and set a definite deadline.

GET SPIRITUAL. Whatever that means to you. Whether it’s spend more time in nature, meditation, prayer, reading your Bible, going to church, or just laying on your back looking at the stars. A recent TIME magazine cover story was titled “How Faith Can Heal”. One article stated that regular church attendance provided an average of 2 to 3 years of additional life for churchgoers versus non-churchgoers (TIME, 2009). Founder of the Harvard Mind/Body Institute, Herbert Benson, MD, said “Religious commitment is consistently associated with better health. The greater a person’s commitment, the fewer his or her psychological symptoms, the better his or her general health, the lower the blood pressure, and the longer the survival.” (Benson, 1996).

WHISTLE WHILE YOU WORK. Literally, hum, sing, and/or whistle your work day away. It is hard to be negative when you are humming along to a tune you enjoy.

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So there you have it. I hope these suggestions help you on your quest of self-becoming. Remember, ROME WASN’T BUILT IN A DAY!!! You don’t have to wake up tomorrow and eat, move, and think to perfection. Start small, implement the steps that naturally make sense to you, and add as you see fit. You will see and feel changes almost immediately. This will lead to excitation and happiness. Feel free to let your joy be known. Please email me with any questions and share this with all of your friends and family. If we can change ourselves and get our friends and family on board, we will soon not only be CREATING OUR LIVES, but also CREATING OUR NATION.


REFERENCES

Kluger, Jeffrey. “The Biology of Belief.” TIME. February 23, 2009; pp. 62-72.

Benson, Hebert. Timeless Healing: the Power and Biology of Belief. New York:
Fireside, 1996.

Chestnut, James. The 14 Foundational Premises for the Scientific and Philosophical
Validation of the Chiropractic Wellness Paradigm. Victoria, B.C.: The Wellness Practice-
Global Self-Help Corp., 2003.

Chestnut, James. The Innate Diet and Natural Hygiene. Victoria, B.C.: The Wellness
Practice-Global Self-Help Corp., 2003.

Chestnut, James. Innate Physical Fitness and Spinal Hygiene. Victoria, B.C.: The
Wellness Practice-Global Self-Help Corp., 2003.

Chestnut, James. The Innate State of Mind and Emotional Hygiene. Victoria, B.C.: The Wellness
Practice-Global Self-Help Corp., 2003.

Tracy, Brian. 21 Secrets to Self-Made Millionaires. Audiobook

A Call To Arms

The great 19th century American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of it's members...Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist." This quote portrays his strong conviction that the opinions of the majority of American society lead away from Self-Trust and into conformity.

Call me crazy, but Emerson wrote and believed those words in the 1830s and it doesn't look like anything has changed in 2009. We are a conformist, materialistic society that allows our "leaders" and television to dictate our lives to us. Where does this conformity begin? In our schools.

Look at this quote from Emerson, "Education is of value only insofar as it draws out one's own intellectual force. If education merely trains students for a career, it will lead them to despair."

Wow, somewhere along the way that quote got swept under the rug. Our schools today do exactly what Emerson warned against, they destroy any and all forms of creativity and creative energy. Creativity is destroyed by the structure of the education system. We sit at a desk and receive a brain dump from the teacher day in and day out for 18 years. We are given tests on this information that do not test our ability to understand and synthesize information, but whether or not we can memorize facts long enough to pick the right answer out on a page and then forget it all when the test is over. The only facts that stick are the ones we are forced to regurgitate repeatedly. Having to sit all day not only destroys our creative energy, it drains us of all energy. So instead of leaving school and going to exercise and be in community with others what do most students do? Go sit in front of a TV or computer somewhere.

At the end of their education, the students are robots who do what they're told to do and just spent $100,000 to learn how to do a job that they may or may not like doing. I remind you that the diploma does not even guarantee them a job! This should make you angry and sad.

Emerson saw this, he also saw the immense opportunities that were (AND STILL ARE) available to the average citizen of the United States. He saw these opportunities being squandered as the ambitions and values of every citizen were determined for them by the marketplace mentality that has come to dominate American culture. He saw then that, like today, American culture needs a change. Who can argue?

Where has our elitist, brain dead, "do as your told" culture gotten us? How about into the deepest national debt our country has ever seen? How about the most unhealthy, depressed and disease ridden state this nation has ever been in? Our poor health has been achieved by we as a people being lazy, brain dead, and willing to adopt the "pop a pill" mentality for any and all problems instead of being accountable for our own health and the way that we eat, move, and think.

According to the World Health Organization, the U. S. spends 16% of its Gross Domestic Product, or an average of $7,000 per person per year on sickness care. We have more doctors, more hospital beds, and more pills per capita than any country in the world. Where has that brought us? Try 34th out of 39 in the newest ranking of the healthiest westernized nations. Try 29th best country in infant mortality rates. Try an average of 9 prescription drugs per person and a national consumption of 25 million pills per HOUR! (Time, 2008)


It's time for a revolution, America. We as citizens need to take back our health freedoms and our brains from Big Government and Big Pharma. It has to be grassroots. They are not going to ever relinquish control on their own. How do we make this change? I bet our buddy Ralph has an idea:

"The power which is at once spring and regulator in all efforts of reform, is the conviction that there is an infinite worthiness in man which will appear at the call of worth."

In other words, Emerson thought that for social reform to be effective, it must absolutely be preceded by self-reform. He believed that self-reform was an ongoing process of self-becoming: "Every man believes that he has a greater possibility."

More evidence of his belief is seen in this quote, "A new degree of culture would instantly revolutionize the entire system of human pursuits." What is the key word in that quote? "Culture." In order to change the laws of this country, we must first change our minds as citizens, and this is done through "culture", or education. Not the education system, we know that has already failed us and needs reform. The education I speak of is self-education. It is every citizen taking it upon ourselves to educate ourselves and our neighbors about what it means to live a healthy lifestyle. We mustn't become complacent once we have the knowledge, or education. That knowledge is worthless unless we apply it. We must LIVE it. By living it we become healthier and happier and people begin to take notice. They take your example and adopt it in their own lives. The light comes on. Then we band together and start using our purchasing power to demand that our government protect our health instead of the interests of Big Pharma, the FDA, the USDA, and the dairy industry.

As Emerson said, "the State must follow, not lead the character and progress of the citizen."

If we, as a nation, want to climb out of this recession and the sorry state of health that played a huge role in causing it, we must return to the self-reliance and nonconformity that this nation was founded on. We must wake up and CREATE OUR LIVES on a daily basis instead of have them dictated to us by those who do not have our health or interests in mind. We live in a time where negativity and pessimism abound in the media and therefore in our thoughts. This constant negativity crushes creativity and the human will. It's time that we the people be fed up and take it upon ourselves to make a change.

"The power of the human will comes into being precisely through its encounter with limitations, and what is true for the individual will also be true for the nation. Do not go where the path may lead. Go instead to where there is no path and leave a trail."
-Ralph Waldo Emerson




References:

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Essays and Poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York:
Barnes & Noble Classics, 2004.

Dykman, Jackson. "5 Truths about Health Care in America." Time. December 1, 2008: 42-48.