Be Strong and Healthy

[Gem]

I think it because in modernity we have the underlying philosophy of freedom, and have drawn the conclusion that freedom = choice. This is represented in 'the land of the free' by having 87 choices about everything. How many ketchups are on the supermarket shelf? In the 'whole food' market it has gone the other way. For example, there are so many heirloom tomato varieties, but probably between 3-5 varieties of tomato on any supermarket shelf. Where I grew up in a third world county there were so many varieties of banana in the marketplace I couldn't give a number, but what about the supermarket? Cavendish, ladyfinger and perhaps one variety of cooking banana. But there is a whole supermarket isle for just chips.


Under the philosophy of 'give them a choice and tell them they are free, we attempt to incorporate freedom ideologies into policy which is 'fair', but such policy is strongly biased toward the 'free market' which provides choices to the consumer. However, the free market is not concerned with the betterment and well-being of their consumers. They only want you to consume their products, and consume as much as possibly can - plus throw out what you can't!



The symbolism of the image of 'great American food' laid in abundance beneath the portrait of Abraham Lincoln is so poignant. A choice between a whole lot of cr4p is what 'freedom' has come to be. But people miss it because it is concealed in plain sight by the invisibility of normalcy which defines 'American'. Thus, the image of the white-house lunch represent how policy determines the standard (or normal)American diet, and how people are the unwitting slaves of policy - even though the policy gives them choice.

Freedom is not choice. If you attended the white house lunch, what choice did you have? Similarly, the same choice you have given the 'great American lunch'. Choice is not freedom. People are merely bound to the choices available to them in their environment and influenced by the pressures acting upon them. Freedom is the ability to discern what is for the best and making the 'right' choice.

[Gem]

No man is an island and everyone is a product of their environment. We just don't need to be fit and strong to survive in our environment, and all we are doing is adapting to survive in the environment we have.


When we have a simple view, like fitness is a personal choice, that's all a myth, because almost all people want to be healthy and strong, and they are free to choose, but they do not do what it takes. People, like other animals, have evolved to conserve energy for essential survival. The body works that way on the mechanical level - and when underfed during a 'hungry time' it draws energy from fat and non-essential muscle tissue to preserve vital functions. We are not naturally inclined to 'exercise' for this reason, but we are naturally designed to move a lot because during our evolutionary history we had to work hard to get enough food.


In remote locations where people live a subsistence lifestyle, everyone is strong because you have to be to survive, and no one is fat because accessing enough calories is hard work.


We deal with modernity, so rather that being active because it's hard to survive, we have to 'exercise' and 'eat right' to be healthy and strong. We have to 'artificially simulate' what we have evolved over eons to be - which is not necessary for survival - but rather, part of our designer lifestyles.


Even though it is not natural for animals including humans to do unnecessary work for which there is no food (reward), it is natural to be highly active, so our bodies release 'happy hormones' through activity. Movement makes you feel good.


I already know everyone wants to be healthy and strong, and that's what they choose. The only issue then is following through and living the strong healthy life that you want. Being true your yourself and making it real.

It isn't spiritual secret like 'visualise and the universe will provide'. It's spiritual like you are truthful and realistic. The truth is, 'being strong and healthy means eating the right stuff and doing the right things'.


Dig deep, because the truth is what it is, and something primal and ancient and deep inside is felt rising - a primitive animal, raw physical energy, is trying to get out, and you have the key to the cage.

[Gem]

I sincerely hope people are following this thread, because I am speaking about true things which will be effective in reality.


I'm not prescribing diets because I'm about life-long nutrition, and in the real world where things really happen, the best diet is the diet you can maintain for the rest of your life. The vegan diet is fine, but the same nutrients apply to any human diet, and depending on the individual personality and their fitness/weight goal, there are different ways of getting the appropriate nutrients.



I'm not pushing any kind of exercise because as is the case with nutrition, the best exercise for you is the exercise that meets your goal, and can keep doing for your life long.


In short, this is about your life, your whole life, and nothing but your life, and it isn't up to me to tell you what to do with your life! You do what you want to do, but be very honest about what you want, and be realistic about doing what it takes to make it happen.


If you don't keep it real it will not work. The universe just gives you consequences - it works according to what is true - and you do brings the consequences that you want - understanding there is a process of 'doing what it takes' to get there.


Face the truth, because if, for example, you are over-weight and have body-image issues, there is nothing wrong with being truthful in saying, 'I'm carrying too much fat'. Accept it because it is true, and feeling bad about it is normal given the circumstances are not only actually adverse, but also highly personal. It's an uncomfortable truth, but true none-the-less, so accept it and accept any feeling that goes with it, because that is truthfully facing reality as it is.



Being healthy and strong depends on truthfulness and realism, and the easiest person to fool is yourself, but in reality you are accountable and have a serious responsibility, so there are no fanciful excuses or justifications - just real life.

[JustBe]

Originally Posted by Gem

I sincerely hope people are following this thread, because I am speaking about true things which will be effective in reality.


I'm not prescribing diets because I'm about life-long nutrition, and in the real world where things really happen, the best diet is the diet you can maintain for the rest of your life. The vegan diet is fine, but the same nutrients apply to any human diet, and depending on the individual personality and their fitness/weight goal, there are different ways of getting the appropriate nutrients.



I'm not pushing any kind of exercise because as is the case with nutrition, the best exercise for you is the exercise that meets your goal, and can keep doing for your life long.


In short, this is about your life, your whole life, and nothing but your life, and it isn't up to me to tell you what to do with your life! You do what you want to do, but be very honest about what you want, and be realistic about doing what it takes to make it happen.


If you don't keep it real it will not work. The universe just gives you consequences - it works according to what is true - and you do brings the consequences that you want - understanding there is a process of 'doing what it takes' to get there.


Face the truth, because if, for example, you are over-weight and have body-image issues, there is nothing wrong with being truthful in saying, 'I'm carrying too much fat'. Accept it because it is true, and feeling bad about it is normal given the circumstances are not only actually adverse, but also highly personal. It's an uncomfortable truth, but true none-the-less, so accept it and accept any feeling that goes with it, because that is truthfully facing reality as it is.



Being healthy and strong depends on truthfulness and realism, and the easiest person to fool is yourself, but in reality you are accountable and have a serious responsibility, so there are no fanciful excuses or justifications. This is real-life.

.

Good points.

The truth told to yourself for your own empowerment applies to everything you are within, inclusive of food and your health in general. Set a dietary change goal and it will open up feelings connected to old habits of eating. Honesty no matter what you feel is so important. Last week my niece says to me. “I’m going on a health kick”This week feelings of vulnerability are arising. Without her realising it all connects. One step in your truth of your mind/body connection opens the truth where your not aligned in other aspects of truth. Radical
Self honesty takes courage, but that courage is what moves you closer to your intentions of truth for yourself in what you seek to embrace as a new truth.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by JustBe

.

Good points.

The truth told to yourself for your own empowerment applies to everything you are within, inclusive of food and your health in general. Set a dietary change goal and it will open up feelings connected to old habits of eating. Honesty no matter what you feel is so important. Last week my niece says to me. “I’m going on a health kick”This week feelings of vulnerability are arising. Without her realising it all connects. One step in your truth of your mind/body connection opens the truth where your not aligned in other aspects of truth. Radical
Self honesty takes courage, but that courage is what moves you closer to your intentions of truth for yourself in what you seek to embrace as a new truth.

Too-rooooo dat!


And not speaking as perfect person, the areas of physical exercise and food are in check for me, but other areas of life are not, and this same approach of facing the reality applies to me in areas other than eating and activity, so I'm not just preaching the fitness gospel from a-high here. I'm speaking from where I am myself.


You see, it is so much harder to than it is to not because complacency creates a comfort zone, and as the poet Kahlil Gibran put it, "...have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master?"

[JustBe]

Originally Posted by Gem

Too-rooooo dat!


And not speaking as perfect person, the areas of physical exercise and food are in check for me, but other areas of life are not, and this same approach of facing the reality applies to me in areas other than eating and activity, so I'm not just preaching the fitness gospel from a-high here. I'm speaking from where I am myself.


You see, it is so much harder to than it is to not because complacency creates a comfort zone, and as the poet Kahlil Gibran put it, "...have you only comfort, and the lust for comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host, and then a master?"

Your not perfect? Hehe

As humans we tend to share what we know, where we are, what our focus is etc etc . Where you are in yourself, at any given time can support others in some way they relate or are open to hear. It’s part of being yourself. Our natural drivers to share our realisations to the world in some way. From an outsider looking into your sharing, about this topic, you seem to present sound balanced awareness, even as you choose the way, that works for your current lifestyle. That will only come through someone more aware of balance, within the whole mind/body connection. For me, even as you chose,what is right for you, where you are, you can always get a guage on where another is coming from. Whether the extreme, or a more inclusive awareness of their mind/ body. I think if you have that your more open and inclined, to let your focus grow into more beyond just what is right now. Their is no fight or push to make this way or another the right way.

In the end people chose their health path,until they know more, want more and make the changes, to make it happen. I know from my own personal experience that shifts out of my comfort zones at times, supported necessary change, for a healthier way of living and being. Those times often in ways, where we least expect them. I think this applies to our health and our changing needs within this as well. The thing with health and the body is that, you can see visually where you are. So if you look at yourself as overweight and unfit, can’t walk more than fifty yards, the capacity to break through your comfort zone,especially alone, can be so much harder. You see the mountain of yourself and it would feel like an external mountain to climb to overcome your own.

[Gem]

..........

[Gem]

Originally Posted by JustBe

Your not perfect? Hehe

As humans we tend to share what we know, where we are, what our focus is etc etc . Where you are in yourself, at any given time can support others in some way they relate or are open to hear. It’s part of being yourself. Our natural drivers to share our realisations to the world in some way. From an outsider looking into your sharing, about this topic, you seem to present sound balanced awareness, even as you choose the way, that works for your current lifestyle.

I had become very unfit and that is also a sad state, and I had done a lot of meditation, which is a great part of well-being, but well-being is a balance of mental/physical and spiritual. It's not as though we don't know that, it's just that we sometimes forget and run wild with one to the neglect of another.

That will only come through someone more aware of balance, within the whole mind/body connection.

Yes.

For me, even as you chose,what is right for you, where you are, you can always get a guage on where another is coming from. Whether the extreme, or a more inclusive awareness of their mind/ body. I think if you have that your more open and inclined, to let your focus grow into more beyond just what is right now. Their is no fight or push to make this way or another the right way.

True, what I do is not 'the way'. 'The way' is a much deeper thing within the truth and reality - so for example, it is 'the way' that less calories will result in weight loss, and there are better nutrient options for that effect, but I do it one way, and there are a thousand other ways, which is why I don't say eat this way or do this exercise - because if I don't know you, your values, your health history, your fitness level and fitness goals, your busy lifestyle and what you like, prefer and don't like; I have no idea what works for you - but I know 'the way'.



Even if I did know everything about you and the whole scope of your life, your life is up to you, so I can only lay out the information and some realistic options so you can make informed/realistic decisions for yourself. I don't 'tell you what to do'. I support you in doing what you want.

In the end people chose their health path,until they know more, want more and make the changes, to make it happen. I know from my own personal experience that shifts out of my comfort zones at times, supported necessary change, for a healthier way of living and being. Those times often in ways, where we least expect them. I think this applies to our health and our changing needs within this as well. The thing with health and the body is that, you can see visually where you are. So if you look at yourself as overweight and unfit, can’t walk more than fifty yards, the capacity to break through your comfort zone,especially alone, can be so much harder. You see the mountain of yourself and it would feel like an external mountain to climb to overcome your own.

Yes, that is too hard alone and people need a supportive social group, and they need to alter their food environment.


Food addiction is a very difficult addiction. Too give up a smoking or alcohol addiction, you can abstain, just stop smoking. But you can't just stop eating. You need to eat. Hence, dealing with food addiction is like an alcoholic trying to drink less, and we know that ain't gunna work. But food is nourishing, so we can just start by replacing empty or detrimental food with beneficial or nutrient dense food. For example switch sugary soft drinks for zero calorie soda is doable, and later on switch zero calorie soda for water, herb teas etc. There is no point saying 'don't drink soft drinks', 'Only drink water' because it isn't actually doable for the person... All I'm saying is, transformation is a process and people only have to change one small thing which they know they can do, and keep doing that, like, one small thing every week. That will make a big difference in just a month, and then two months, and after three months you wouldn't believe what happened! But it takes the steps of incremental changes that people are doubtless that they can do for the rest of their lives.

[Gem]

The Canadian Food Guide for 2019 is very interesting. Have a look at the picture of a plate of food they recommend. https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/


The vegetarians and vegans should be very pleased with this because there are mostly vegan 'protein foods' and not so much meat protein on the plate, and there is no dairy at all (I don't know what that white stuff is in the little bowl on the plate).


I looked through the website and in regards to protein they say 'choose protein foods that come from plants more often'. Immediately following, in regard to fat: 'choose foods with healthy fats instead of saturated fat'.

One main message of the Canadian Food Guide (implicit though it is) is clearly: Eat less animal. Eat more vegetable, and that is a good message within the North American context.


It is a big change, and here is how it happened. The 2016 guidelines were based on:

• scientific basis
• relevance in the Canadian context
• use of existing dietary guidance

But the 2019 Guideline states only, "... focuses on the scientific basis... of evidence on strong relationships between food, nutrients and health."



They scienced the hell out of it.


Impressive, no?

[inavalan]

Let's just keep in mind that "scientists" are people too, and can be wrong. We tend to quote science when it confirms our beliefs. Faith in science is still faith ... :)