Wellness
My background...
Sports and fitness, rather than music, were the cornerstones of my family growing up. My dad coached high school football and wrestling, my sister, Lynn was a champion AAU swimmer, my sister Kathi went to college on a soccer scholarship and plays to this day, and my brother, Tony wrestled and played football, including a full scholarship for football to Ole Miss, and is currently a high school football coach (and has won the Virginia State Championship). I wrestled through high school, briefly on the collegiate level, swam, and most of all played football for ten years... I just happened to have this little guitar habit on the side which I mostly kept to myself.
Since college I have been an avid whitewater kayaker, runner and cyclist. Currently I cycle and lift weights aerobically. I have always believed that it would be somewhat incongruent to exhort people to personal development and the realization of their full potential, while walking around overweight and unhealthy. So, I place a high priority on staying healthy and physically fit.
I do not pretend to be any kind of health guru, so don't consider my words as those of an authority... I'm merely sharing what works for me. My wife, on the other hand is an amazing and passionate Healthy Living Coach (go to www.nourishingyourfamily.com to see her work), so I've learned from a great authority.
Health to me...
is way more than a diet or work out regimen. It is the way we do everything and includes...
- what we eat and how we eat it
- sleep
- working out
- health care choices
- mental and emotional health
- spiritual health
- where and how we live
- our outside environment - sun, air, nature
- our inside environment - air, water, the chemicals we use in our homes and on our bodies
- thoughts and attitude
That said, here is a general overview of my approach to health.
Diet...
A few years ago I was diagnosed as being pre-diabetic. So, cold turkey I cut almost all carbohydrates and sugars out of my diet. Of course I still eat vegetables, but those are of course very good carbs. The only foods with sugar I could continue consuming were red wine and organic fruit. I dropped twenty pounds in three weeks, going from 190 to 170. (You wanna lose weight? I say cut way down on the carbs). About four days after quitting I went through withdrawal with grumpiness and serious cravings, but got past it after a couple of days.
It took a year but I got my blood sugar under control. And in the process I learned just how bad sugar - especially white, processed sugar - really is for us, and most importantly, how absolutely inundated and drowning in sugar we have become as a society. They put sugar in everything, and I advise against that. I am 6'3'', 170 and fluctuate between 5%-8% body fat, and I attribute that to diet, lifting, and cycling. Another positive move was a few years later when I quit red wine or alcohol of any kind.
Again, to really learn something valuable I invite you to check out my wife's books or attend one of her health presentations... or have her come speak to your organization!
Mike's Workout...
1. I lift weights aerobically, focusing on core. I try to lift every other day, but it ends up averaging about three times per week, for 30 - 75 minutes each time. The key is, if you skip a work-out, or a bunch of work-outs, don't beat yourself up, just get back to it. My mantra is, "Just show up, just show up," meaning, just get to the gym. If I get there, even with low motivation, I'll do something and usually I end up pushing pretty hard. My favorite quote is from an olympic gold medalist from years ago who said, "When I felt good, I worked hard. And then when I didn't feel good, I worked hard." Working out isn't nearly as hard as going to the gym, right?
I won't attempt to describe the exercises I do and instead advise you to do as I did: Learn from a certified personal trainer, or from a respected and sound workout program. My trainer in Virginia is fantastic and his name is:
Bill Mines - Back 2 Basics
Personal Training and Sports Conditioning
703-994-6208
B2Bpersonaltraining@gmail.com
Keep in mind, you don't have to hire a personal trainer for every work out. If you're motivated like me, hire someone for once a week, or every two weeks, or every month, learn what they teach you, and then apply it on your own. Or, just get a respected book by a respected fitness authority.
2. I cycle! (click here to check out my cross country concert tour on bicycle). I'm a road biker and ride a 2000 Trek 5200 (the Lance Armstrong bike of that year). In fact it used to have the "Postal Service" team decals but I've ridden it so long I had trek re-paint it. While I would love to ride more, I have time for two hours gone from home a few times per week. So I currently drive 30 minutes to Red Rock Canyon (west of Las Vegas), I do pushups and a 2 mile warm up, ride the 13-mile loop as hard as I can, do a short warm-down and head home. I can do the loop in 49 minutes on an average day (and it's got some serious climbs). I have ridden it in 107 degree temps, and in the snow (pictured).
Also, if you ride, be careful. As mentioned on my spirituality page, I have been in a fatal bicycle crash. And more recently, I have broken three bones, been broad-sided by an SUV, had severe cuts requiring staples, and of course have had plenty of road rash. I always wear a helmet, and I now ride knowing I have a wife and two kids who need me around for a while.
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Mike's Health Secrets...
It should actually say, "Tara's Health Secrets" because almost all of these came from my wife, Tara, her work and study, and our collective experience. Our story in a nutshell is that our kids were born with severe allergies... to EVERYTHING! Peanuts, dairy, wheat, soy, pet dander, pollen... you name it. The doctors all said they'd need to be on drugs and injections weekly for... ever? Well, to her infinite credit Tara simply did not accept that. She also noticed that so many more kids these days seem to have allergies than did when we were growing up. So, this became Tara's mission. To understand - not as a nutritionist or a doctor or an allergist, but as Mom - why this is happening and how we can change it.
You just need to read her story, and it's contained in two books which you can get from her web site: www.nourishingyourfamily.com.
One is called Flies Won't Eat This... So Why Are You? and the other, A Hundred Healthy Habits. I can, though share with you the quick result: Our kids are healthy and happy. They eat incredibly healthy and enjoyable diets. Many of their allergies are gone and all are assuaged greatly from what they were.
They take no injections or drugs of any kind. In fact, we don't even have to use antibiotics because they have such strong immune systems. Oh... and in the process, Tara has not only revolutionized the way we eat, it's become her mission in life to share what she's learned and help people. Though I say this cautiously, there are mothers who credit Tara with saving their kids lives. I have always been the skeptic to her ideas (in a good way, which she needs) and I can tell you she's right... she's indeed, fighting the good fight.
That said, here are a few of the things I/we do:
- Puree vegetables and put them in everything. You can get an enormous amount of healthy vegetables into your system when you put purees in - smoothies, eggs, spaghetti sauce, taco or barbecue meat, anything! We put squash puree in deserts even.
- Take a swig - one sip - of unfiltered, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar before meals, or just 3-4 times per day. Supplies digestive enzymes and other healthy stuff.
- If you're one who simply won't eat vegetables and fruits, consider taking Juice Plus (available at www.nourishingyourfamily.com). Supplies the nutrients from 17 fruits and vegetables
- Use Essential Oils (also at www.nourishingyourfamily.com) instead of traditional meds, wherever possible. In "La Chureca," the massive garbage dump in Managua, Nicaragua - considered one of the most toxic places on earth - I cut my leg on rusty barbed wire. All I did is rub Purification oil on the cut about every 30-60 minutes and it never even got infected. It healed in about 3 days. It's totally natural, rather than diminishing my immune system with antibiotics.
- Chew, chew, chew. Chew your food to almost a liquid before swallowing. Yeah, it takes me longer to eat than others. But my doctor confirmed, my body processes and metabolizes food and gets more out of it than anyone he's tested. I attribute that to chewing, apple cider vinegar, natural digestive enzyme supplements, and eating raw and real foods.
- One of the major diet challenges we as a society face is snacking. Find healthy snacks. I eat lots of raw cashews, macadamia nuts, and the like.
- Stay away from sugar and carbohydrates. I firmly believe that carbs and sugar, not fat, are the reasons so many of us are overweight.
- As I stated above, when it comes to working out, just show up. Don't build up a bad association with the process. When you really don't feel like being there, just resolve to go. Tell yourself, I'll make it easy. Then, even if you do only a light workout, it's sooo much better than not working out at all, and you at least maintain the progress you've made up until then and don't lose anything.
- Also stated above, if you mess up and eat poorly for a while, or you find yourself not having worked out in a long time, let yourself off the hook and just start up again. No biggie. It happens. The key is not to let a slip up or hiatus become a permanent change.
- Change your food mindset, what you associate with eating. In our society food has become a reward system. We eat more to pleasure ourselves than for health.
- Eat organics. I know there are people who'll debate this, but really, the main deterrent is price, right? It costs more to eat healthy. My response is, how expensive is cancer? How expensive is diabetes? You can pay now, or you can pay later, but later is usually a whole lot more expensive.
- Beware the myth of low-fat/no-fat. I observe that fat doesn't make you fat - bad fat makes you fat. Sugar and carbohydrates make you fat. What people don't understand is our bodies need fat. Our brains need fat. But they need good fat and that comes from organic meats, fish and poultry with no hormones, antibiotics, nitrites or nitrates, or from raw dairy, and certain vegetables such as organic avocado. And if you're worried about cholesterol (which is a whole other controversy better addressed by my wife), I eat all the supposed "wrong, high-cholesterol" foods and my cholesterol is perfect. The key is to eat the kinds of foods listed above, and to get the proper digestive enzymes your body needs to process good fat in the right way.
- Eat vegetables! How old school is that? We as a society simply do not get enough vegetables in our diet. Green, leafy veggies are always good, but also pay attention to colors - have some green, yellow, red, white, purple, etc - with every meal whenever possible. A simple garden salad can take care of all of these.
- Finally, start slowly and build. You don't have to change everything at once. Choose one change you want to make and implement it over a month. Once that has become a habit, choose something else. You'll make progress and feel good about it, and you'll start to see other unexpected positive changes begin to happen.
As mentioned before, for more information, please check out my wife, Tara's site: www.nourishingyourfamily.com.
