A: Fitness is NOT the Answer - Now what was the question ?
Q: How can I lose this excess fat?
Now this may very well get me disbarred from the fitness industry Hall Of Fame but who am I kidding I was never in the running (I hate running). With over 20 years experience of being a professional "trainer / educator" in the fitness and health industry I have long held the belief that we need to get more people active which was my indoctrination over the many years.
I no longer believe that to be correct for the majority of the population that has health issues.
You see a common goal in the fitness world and promoted belief is that we need to get you active for three hours per week, and this isn't often achieved by most of the people that need it and in fact the latest recommended Heart Foundation advice is an hour of activity each day. This has no chance of succeeding.
Part of the problem exists that we use either the three (3) hours per week or seven (7) hours per week as our "penance" for our social lifestyles. With one hundred and sixty five (165) hours each week we use these small amounts to combat the excessive intake of calories which more often than not are less nutritious.
I want to qualify this blog by saying that I would rather give people practical solutions then remain another person who preaches "balanced lifestyle" because it is this mantra that I believe has been a fundamental problem and NOT a solution. No one really knows what that statement means and don't even care until they are looking for a reason to allow them to waiver off their "supposed" healthy food path or have that third or fourth glass of wine.
You see how flawed this approach is !!
So how can we find a way that will start to have an impact?
When I was making my animated movie health project for children, we worked with some very talented and highly educated experts in learning methods for young children and it was incredible to see the patterns that are employed that I had been unaware of.
Now this is "stealth training at it's best".
The first one I found out about was repetition. I knew about repetition but hadn't realized the iomportance behind it. It is like learning to tie your shoelaces (long before velcro was invented), you practiced and practiced until you had the skill learned. Or think back to your Multiplication Tables as this is another easy common denominator for everyone to remember. You didn't just say them once, it was a repeating pattern and this was then reinforced on a regular basis. Working with these experts I learned the "rule of three". They explained that it works best with important points being repeated three times over.
Another way that we teach children to learn most things in life is through boundaries or rules, which allows them to know what is right and what is wrong. If they do things right they are rewarded and if they do things wrong there is consequence. Sadly as we get older those rules set out in black and white seem to fade to grey and beige.
So why is it that I believe that fitness is not the answer. It comes from trying to find a solution to the two competing fields of fitness and nutrition. Now in the sports world they can co-exist and do so well. But in the real world of most people's lives it is a recipe for disaster.
If most people aren't even completing the minimum of three (3) hours per week of activity on a consistent basis (think of the rule of 3 for repetition to achieve a benefit or gain a result), then we need to look at the other element for health protection. Those that read my blog regularly know that I don't talk about prevention, as I want to make this personal, so we need to learn about protection of YOU and your Human ECO System elements.
So now it comes down to calories. Let's first dispense with the calories in vs calories out equation as most people have no accurate ability to recognize or even understand that concept. I have been in conversations with nutritionists and dietician friends and even they fail to grasp how best to convey to people practical solutions, other than word for word that which they have been taught, again perpetuating the current problems through a lack of understanding.
Great, now I have been booted out of the running for Nutritionist Hall Of Fame too. This is a tough and lonely journey out here in the fat loss tundra trying to forge a new path.
Oh well, onwards husky dogs - mush mush !!
Walk into any bookstore or look at any online dieting site and they will have their own variation of eating plans based around some form of "healthy eating". They can each vary from the amount of total calories you consume, to the type of macro-nutrient you avoid or eat most, like the low carb, or Atkins or any of the others.
My favorite has always been the 80/20 rule (or 80% healthy and 20% lifestyle) that seems very popular. Now for those that ARE actually exercising on a regular basis more than four (4) days per week this will probably work, it's not a definite, but it will improve both your physical appearance and also your health status.
So what about Joe and Jill Average whose lifestyle is different. They try to be consistent but it's not easy, they work out some weeks and not others, who on the weeks they do workout can't always get in their three (3) times as it's expensive to workout with a trainer so they just have a gym membership. The token gym membership is like a "get out of jail card" that they play when someone says "how is the training going?" to which they reply "yeah, haven't got there too often due to work and family but at least I have it here with me, just in case. Would you like another glass of wine ?"
I'm smiling because if I had a dollar for every time I have been told that story I would be a rich man but to be fair, most people nowadays work quite hard with long hours and less spare time, which means they have to organize to catch up with family and friends making for a hectic social life that they see as their "weekend" and so becomes their 20% allowable downtime of lifestyle.
So I did some maths calculations based on the 165 hours in the week.
- 80% of healthy lifestyle (eating properly and being active) = 134.4 hours or 5 and half days
- 20% of lifestyle (not sure what YOU deem that to be) = 34.6 hours or 1 and half days
In theory this seems to be the explanation of a lifestyle weekend. Sounds good so far in theory.
Now here is the problem with the "lifestyle element".
With so many years of experience training clients, what I found is that the weekend normally starts on Friday after work, and completes on Sunday evening. This is approximately 30% of lifestyle and with today's social activities occurring during the week we are moving the range closer to 50/50.
This is then further eroding our chances of health success with the majority of people not being able to (or wanting to) meet their activity requirements, compounded by breakfast meetings, coffee catch-ups and it ends up looking like the 80/20 rule has become 80% lifestyle and 20% healthy which explains our obesity problem.
Does this sound familiar?
Can YOU really look at yourself in the mirror and say "why am I getting fatter?"
If YOU know the answer to these questions then the solution lies in PROTECTION through personal responsibility so let's stop playing the "blame game" and start acting on real ways to take better care of YOUR Human ECO System.
It's YOUR Body - It's YOUR Life !!
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Thursday 19th June 2008 - It's Official Aussies are the FATTEST
In the year of the next Olympics it seems that Australian adults are already winners cause it is GOLD GOLD GOLD !!!
Sadly this isn't a positive result and will definitely reduce our long term health for the Australian population. This comes as no surprise to me and in fact if you read my blog from last week it reflects the very point that I raised and is supported in the latest research released today.
The ALARMS are ringing (louder) but no one is hearing !!!
At a Nutrition Conference last November I presented this number and it was debated fiercely by the "nutritional experts" in the room as being too high. Well I am by no means a mathematical genius - I have school reports to validate this :-) but can
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This is from the report:
The report, entitled Australia's Future Fat Bomb, was released ahead of the federal government's obesity inquiry. It presents the results of height and weight checks carried out on 14,000 adult Australians nationwide in 2005, giving the most thorough picture of obesity since the AusDiab study in 1999. The report reveals that nine million adults (9,000,000 out of 21,000,000) have a BMI over 25, making them overweight or obese, an increase from seven million. Four million are obese, up from three million.
NOTE - This report reflects adults and not children in that number. I am saying that we have about 4 million school age children and numbers from over 5 years ago stated that we had 25% overweight which is another 1,000,000 children at risk of health issues. I think this is NOW higher and I would be willing to hypothetise that we are closer to 1,500,000 so that means they will likely grow up to be overweight adults. Not looking good is it !!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This shows a pathetic attempt at health "protection".
I am talking about YOU taking some responsibility in your own health care and managing those words by supporting actions. You see "prevention" is a great step and definitely necessary, but it doesn't deal with self efficacy. It is often too easy for most people, and by the climbing numbers this is growing, to ignore their own health problems and even allow them to cope with this issue as a seasonal "excuse".
In Australia right now it's not Summer so you don't have to deal with any body issues (which are also health issues) for the next 4 to 5 months. By then you have most likely added 5 kilo's (about 10lbs) of excess bodyweight. Then it will be too hard so you will give up and again continue to add to those 5 with another 5 and before YOU know it - YOU ARE A STATISTIC !!
Again I want to qualify and give a definition what I believe "unhealthy" is :
It is ANY additional weight that places stress on the Human ECO System and causes additional health concerns. Remember there is clear evidence that being overweight is a contributor to the following diseases - Hypertension (stress), Diabetes (type II), Coronary Heart Disease (heart attacks).
Now if any of those personal health issues don't motivate YOU into action then reading another headline is in no way going to cause more than a ripple on your daily media coverage until you turn the page or hit backspace.
We need to start ensuring our own Border Security in the Human ECO System which is about CELL protection. There is that word again "protection". Maybe the headline should be something like this :
"TERRORISTS ATTACK HUMAN ECO SYSTEM - YOUR MISSION IS TO STOP THEM" - and we could make you all "Jack Bauer and give you 24 Hours" to start protecting yourself for the future. I think that if we start to adopt practices of health actions and stop waiting for the diseases to cripple us we might start to change the facts being produced in reports.
Tomorrow I start my series of articles on the Protecting the Human Cell.
Don't miss out on putting yourself first and finding out how your body works so that YOU can protect it against the enemy - health diseases !
Sadly this isn't a positive result and will definitely reduce our long term health for the Australian population. This comes as no surprise to me and in fact if you read my blog from last week it reflects the very point that I raised and is supported in the latest research released today.
The ALARMS are ringing (louder) but no one is hearing !!!
At a Nutrition Conference last November I presented this number and it was debated fiercely by the "nutritional experts" in the room as being too high. Well I am by no means a mathematical genius - I have school reports to validate this :-) but can
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This is from the report:
The report, entitled Australia's Future Fat Bomb, was released ahead of the federal government's obesity inquiry. It presents the results of height and weight checks carried out on 14,000 adult Australians nationwide in 2005, giving the most thorough picture of obesity since the AusDiab study in 1999. The report reveals that nine million adults (9,000,000 out of 21,000,000) have a BMI over 25, making them overweight or obese, an increase from seven million. Four million are obese, up from three million.
NOTE - This report reflects adults and not children in that number. I am saying that we have about 4 million school age children and numbers from over 5 years ago stated that we had 25% overweight which is another 1,000,000 children at risk of health issues. I think this is NOW higher and I would be willing to hypothetise that we are closer to 1,500,000 so that means they will likely grow up to be overweight adults. Not looking good is it !!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
This shows a pathetic attempt at health "protection".
I am talking about YOU taking some responsibility in your own health care and managing those words by supporting actions. You see "prevention" is a great step and definitely necessary, but it doesn't deal with self efficacy. It is often too easy for most people, and by the climbing numbers this is growing, to ignore their own health problems and even allow them to cope with this issue as a seasonal "excuse".
In Australia right now it's not Summer so you don't have to deal with any body issues (which are also health issues) for the next 4 to 5 months. By then you have most likely added 5 kilo's (about 10lbs) of excess bodyweight. Then it will be too hard so you will give up and again continue to add to those 5 with another 5 and before YOU know it - YOU ARE A STATISTIC !!
Again I want to qualify and give a definition what I believe "unhealthy" is :
It is ANY additional weight that places stress on the Human ECO System and causes additional health concerns. Remember there is clear evidence that being overweight is a contributor to the following diseases - Hypertension (stress), Diabetes (type II), Coronary Heart Disease (heart attacks).
Now if any of those personal health issues don't motivate YOU into action then reading another headline is in no way going to cause more than a ripple on your daily media coverage until you turn the page or hit backspace.
We need to start ensuring our own Border Security in the Human ECO System which is about CELL protection. There is that word again "protection". Maybe the headline should be something like this :
"TERRORISTS ATTACK HUMAN ECO SYSTEM - YOUR MISSION IS TO STOP THEM" - and we could make you all "Jack Bauer and give you 24 Hours" to start protecting yourself for the future. I think that if we start to adopt practices of health actions and stop waiting for the diseases to cripple us we might start to change the facts being produced in reports.
Tomorrow I start my series of articles on the Protecting the Human Cell.
Don't miss out on putting yourself first and finding out how your body works so that YOU can protect it against the enemy - health diseases !
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Thursday 12th June 2008 - People DON'T die from being TOO FAT !!
No one dies from being too fat.
Why would I say that? Because it's true!
However, I am worried (and angry) about the apathy and general lack of self care that relates to health. No one really seems to be able to hear the alarm bells ringing about obesity and I think that this is as much a problem as the issue itself. Is it because the problem is growing so bad that the media talks about the "dangers" nearly every other day but we never see any of the terrible outcomes?
For example - have you ever seen someone in real life "explode" from eating too much or being too fat - NO, of course not.
In fact it became a famous comedy skit in the movie "Meaning of Life" by Monty Python that has been seen by many millions of people all over the world and that dialogue is now a common response when someone actually feels too full from food. I remember laughing when I first saw it as being so ridiculous that it was humorous. You see in the skit a man exploded from eating one final "wafer thin crisp" after gourging himself on too much food.
Now this physically is impossible, I'm pretty sure but if anyone has seen this in real life let me know. You see our bodies just keep getting fatter and fatter to the point where we can't move through physical impossibility. There was a show on television the other night that had a man who weighed 500kgs or about 1000lbs. He couldn't move and probably hadn't been able to move for quite some time.
So how does he continue to be able to live or get food?
Also does watching something like this lull us into a false sense of security or comfort us that we really aren't that bad. Well there is always someone worse off so I'm doing okay.
You don't see someone that is as fat as that man being at such an extreme risk of health issues from just eating fast food as their sole nutritional intake. But let me add that pretty much anything they eat (or drink as remember a lot of poor nutrient calories come from drinks) will be stored by the body as they have not only now a very low metabolism but they can't physically move to burn any calories.
Now we get to the real issues surrounding obesity. You see obesity is not classed as a disease. It is ALL the associated illnesses that result from the breakdown of the Human ECO System and how the body presents this such as Diabetes, Hypertension, Coronary Heart problems which by the way are ALL classed as diseases. They have support from Governments in medical subsidies, they have help from care based Associations who are providing advice, they have help from pharmaceutical companies who help to manage the illnesses.
And being classed a disease, allows the Pharmaceutical companies to garnish billions of dollars or profit with medications designed to reduce or lessen the impact. You see no company that is in the business of disease management wants YOU to be cured. It would be business suicide.
Why fix the problems when you can have a patient who constantly needs to pay for your medicines to "improve the quality of their lives" and who constantly is a "paying customer".
Check to see what the profits are in disease management. It will not surprize you at all I am sure but it may put shed some light on how much of an impact we could have on global health if we started to improve the actual health of people and specifically our young children.
So why isn't the health and fitness (wellness) community capitalizing on this multi-billion dollar business by promoting activity programs to assist and most times reduce the requirement for medications and an additional result will be to definitely help improve the quality of someone's life? Oh yeah it doesn't come in a pill bottle and requires some actual physical effort for a result.
Here is the next trillion dollar health product that I am going to create. "Fitness in a bottle".
Here is how it works. When you join a fitness facility you get a small bottle with 30 tablets in it. You take one after you have been physically active for one hour everyday and I guarantee that you will lose more bodyfat than ever before.
What is in the tablet ... well it is actually a secret ingredient but I will share it with you because we are friends. (Ssshhhh ... it is really a very small dose/shot of glucose that you take after the workout to stimulate the blood stream with energy after working out for the hour ... please don't tell anyone as I plan to make trillions of dollars from this ....)
Now back to reality.
To validate this concern about obesity I did some research and found at there are very few cases of death from obesity alone. Yes there are millions and millions of cases of death from obesity "related" diseases that present themselves like heart attacks from coronary conditions, diabetes complications like blindness and loss of limbs, blood pressure and stress illnesses and the list goes on. I haven't even touched on Cancer related conditions and there is no doubt that this is ONE concern that motivates people into action.
You see I have been passionately involved in the business of "health and fitness" all my life or as it's now evolved to be known - "health and wellness". This has happened because marketers and sales people in advertising have realized that fitness is becoming a less popular trend and harder to sell but as people are now looking for lifestyle related solutions that include being less active or fitness related, the wellness brands are starting to explode onto the market.
So as I see it here is the danger !
Drink Driving does NOT KILL.
Think of the small impact that the "Drink driving" campaigns have had on reducing the road tolls all over the world. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for people NOT drink driving but really it is up to the individual to personally decided because with drink driving death only occurs when you crash or you run someone over. So if you don't crash or run someone over is it really that dangerous? Yes, the health risk actually happens long before you get behind the wheel!
So are they really effective campaigns in stopping this from happening, and as it's mostly the young, but equally the stupid from driving while drunk. I guess that this depends on how someone assesses if they are drunk and how capable they think they are to make that assessment.
Smoking does NOT KILL.
Now to that other less effective yet no less important media campaign for "Smoking". Really is there are person alive that hasn't seen an advert where it has been scientifically proven that the damage smoking causes really is not a myth and actually is harmful.
So why don't people stop? Is it because we see it everywhere and build up a tolerance to this. I think it is because most people believe that Smoking doesn't kill you but Cancer does. So if I don't get cancer then smoking really isn't bad. Are you crazy? What do you think is damaging the cells that present themselves as cancer and where did they get the "internal pollution" from that turned them cancerous?
You see the cell is your personal home. Damage it through either drinking too much, smoking at all, or getting fat to the point of being unhealthy and YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN DEATH.
Scary isn't it. I wanted to draw some parrallels here to the pitfalls around the obesity campaigns and why people are switching off and I hope that it as resonated with YOU.
Don't switch off.
ACT NOW and ensure that your Human ECO System is "protected" by your actions and not just by my words. It's YOUR body and it's YOUR Life !!
Why would I say that? Because it's true!
However, I am worried (and angry) about the apathy and general lack of self care that relates to health. No one really seems to be able to hear the alarm bells ringing about obesity and I think that this is as much a problem as the issue itself. Is it because the problem is growing so bad that the media talks about the "dangers" nearly every other day but we never see any of the terrible outcomes?
For example - have you ever seen someone in real life "explode" from eating too much or being too fat - NO, of course not.
In fact it became a famous comedy skit in the movie "Meaning of Life" by Monty Python that has been seen by many millions of people all over the world and that dialogue is now a common response when someone actually feels too full from food. I remember laughing when I first saw it as being so ridiculous that it was humorous. You see in the skit a man exploded from eating one final "wafer thin crisp" after gourging himself on too much food.
Now this physically is impossible, I'm pretty sure but if anyone has seen this in real life let me know. You see our bodies just keep getting fatter and fatter to the point where we can't move through physical impossibility. There was a show on television the other night that had a man who weighed 500kgs or about 1000lbs. He couldn't move and probably hadn't been able to move for quite some time.
So how does he continue to be able to live or get food?
Also does watching something like this lull us into a false sense of security or comfort us that we really aren't that bad. Well there is always someone worse off so I'm doing okay.
You don't see someone that is as fat as that man being at such an extreme risk of health issues from just eating fast food as their sole nutritional intake. But let me add that pretty much anything they eat (or drink as remember a lot of poor nutrient calories come from drinks) will be stored by the body as they have not only now a very low metabolism but they can't physically move to burn any calories.
Now we get to the real issues surrounding obesity. You see obesity is not classed as a disease. It is ALL the associated illnesses that result from the breakdown of the Human ECO System and how the body presents this such as Diabetes, Hypertension, Coronary Heart problems which by the way are ALL classed as diseases. They have support from Governments in medical subsidies, they have help from care based Associations who are providing advice, they have help from pharmaceutical companies who help to manage the illnesses.
And being classed a disease, allows the Pharmaceutical companies to garnish billions of dollars or profit with medications designed to reduce or lessen the impact. You see no company that is in the business of disease management wants YOU to be cured. It would be business suicide.
Why fix the problems when you can have a patient who constantly needs to pay for your medicines to "improve the quality of their lives" and who constantly is a "paying customer".
Check to see what the profits are in disease management. It will not surprize you at all I am sure but it may put shed some light on how much of an impact we could have on global health if we started to improve the actual health of people and specifically our young children.
So why isn't the health and fitness (wellness) community capitalizing on this multi-billion dollar business by promoting activity programs to assist and most times reduce the requirement for medications and an additional result will be to definitely help improve the quality of someone's life? Oh yeah it doesn't come in a pill bottle and requires some actual physical effort for a result.
Here is the next trillion dollar health product that I am going to create. "Fitness in a bottle".
Here is how it works. When you join a fitness facility you get a small bottle with 30 tablets in it. You take one after you have been physically active for one hour everyday and I guarantee that you will lose more bodyfat than ever before.
What is in the tablet ... well it is actually a secret ingredient but I will share it with you because we are friends. (Ssshhhh ... it is really a very small dose/shot of glucose that you take after the workout to stimulate the blood stream with energy after working out for the hour ... please don't tell anyone as I plan to make trillions of dollars from this ....)
Now back to reality.
To validate this concern about obesity I did some research and found at there are very few cases of death from obesity alone. Yes there are millions and millions of cases of death from obesity "related" diseases that present themselves like heart attacks from coronary conditions, diabetes complications like blindness and loss of limbs, blood pressure and stress illnesses and the list goes on. I haven't even touched on Cancer related conditions and there is no doubt that this is ONE concern that motivates people into action.
You see I have been passionately involved in the business of "health and fitness" all my life or as it's now evolved to be known - "health and wellness". This has happened because marketers and sales people in advertising have realized that fitness is becoming a less popular trend and harder to sell but as people are now looking for lifestyle related solutions that include being less active or fitness related, the wellness brands are starting to explode onto the market.
So as I see it here is the danger !
Drink Driving does NOT KILL.
Think of the small impact that the "Drink driving" campaigns have had on reducing the road tolls all over the world. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for people NOT drink driving but really it is up to the individual to personally decided because with drink driving death only occurs when you crash or you run someone over. So if you don't crash or run someone over is it really that dangerous? Yes, the health risk actually happens long before you get behind the wheel!
So are they really effective campaigns in stopping this from happening, and as it's mostly the young, but equally the stupid from driving while drunk. I guess that this depends on how someone assesses if they are drunk and how capable they think they are to make that assessment.
Smoking does NOT KILL.
Now to that other less effective yet no less important media campaign for "Smoking". Really is there are person alive that hasn't seen an advert where it has been scientifically proven that the damage smoking causes really is not a myth and actually is harmful.
So why don't people stop? Is it because we see it everywhere and build up a tolerance to this. I think it is because most people believe that Smoking doesn't kill you but Cancer does. So if I don't get cancer then smoking really isn't bad. Are you crazy? What do you think is damaging the cells that present themselves as cancer and where did they get the "internal pollution" from that turned them cancerous?
You see the cell is your personal home. Damage it through either drinking too much, smoking at all, or getting fat to the point of being unhealthy and YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR OWN DEATH.
Scary isn't it. I wanted to draw some parrallels here to the pitfalls around the obesity campaigns and why people are switching off and I hope that it as resonated with YOU.
Don't switch off.
ACT NOW and ensure that your Human ECO System is "protected" by your actions and not just by my words. It's YOUR body and it's YOUR Life !!
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Tuesday 10th June 2008 - The RoadMap of Life
For the last few days I have been busy expanding a business concept that is consistently proving a challenge for even someone as determined as I claim to be. While I experience the usual questions of "will it or won't it succeed" and "what if ..." I have taken moments to remember that hopefully this will only make the reward that much sweeter.
While there are moments of challenge I come back to a life mantra I have always held strong to - "have the courage to finish what you start". Of course your path may change direction or you may move slower along it at times, but constant evolution is a key for success.
Now having a positive outlook and limiting self-doubt is surely a benefit but equally there needs to be a strong balance of reality. I can look back over the last 10 years and honestly say that there have been other times when I have had absolute faith in my own ability to get the personal satisfaction that is important to me with my career but through certain choices, beliefs or actions have not crossed that "finish line".
Instead of sitting on my butt and complaining I seem to be able to "let go" and I am reminded in many of the spiritual readings I have encountered that "failure isn't always a bad thing and renewed growth for passion comes from re-birth". Yeah deep I know but for me it means that we need to adjust our compass from time to time and not get discouraged.
My constant fallback position has always been that the most important aspect of my life that I covet is a healthy body and healthy mind. Now there will always be moments of "pollution" in the mind's thoughts and it is the subsequent evaluation of outcomes that keeps me, I hope, heading along a pro-active path.
To support my actions (and words to others), I always make time to fit in physical activity and combine this with a healthy nutritional intake.
For over 10 years I have used the analogy of the body being a machine and we need to become "mechanics" with food serving as "fuel" but to also remember that most of us travel along our paths without a chartered course or along an unmapped path.
So I want you to think of what I provide as "roadside assistance", and through my experiences and journey of health education and translation, allow me to shine a little light your way so you can see the pot-holes and pitfalls up ahead and possibly show you even the "exit" signs from this unsuccessful path and the "entry" signs to a better future.
The world is becoming a "fat place"but I am not the "fat police". The world is overflowing with the abundence mentality providing an ever decreasing health status through our choices of living inactive lifestyles and over-feeding leading to disease riddled "machines".
Be a better body mechanic and make choices for the better - drive safe and remember the road rules .................. they are there so we can all live longer !
While there are moments of challenge I come back to a life mantra I have always held strong to - "have the courage to finish what you start". Of course your path may change direction or you may move slower along it at times, but constant evolution is a key for success.
Now having a positive outlook and limiting self-doubt is surely a benefit but equally there needs to be a strong balance of reality. I can look back over the last 10 years and honestly say that there have been other times when I have had absolute faith in my own ability to get the personal satisfaction that is important to me with my career but through certain choices, beliefs or actions have not crossed that "finish line".
Instead of sitting on my butt and complaining I seem to be able to "let go" and I am reminded in many of the spiritual readings I have encountered that "failure isn't always a bad thing and renewed growth for passion comes from re-birth". Yeah deep I know but for me it means that we need to adjust our compass from time to time and not get discouraged.
My constant fallback position has always been that the most important aspect of my life that I covet is a healthy body and healthy mind. Now there will always be moments of "pollution" in the mind's thoughts and it is the subsequent evaluation of outcomes that keeps me, I hope, heading along a pro-active path.
To support my actions (and words to others), I always make time to fit in physical activity and combine this with a healthy nutritional intake.
For over 10 years I have used the analogy of the body being a machine and we need to become "mechanics" with food serving as "fuel" but to also remember that most of us travel along our paths without a chartered course or along an unmapped path.
So I want you to think of what I provide as "roadside assistance", and through my experiences and journey of health education and translation, allow me to shine a little light your way so you can see the pot-holes and pitfalls up ahead and possibly show you even the "exit" signs from this unsuccessful path and the "entry" signs to a better future.
The world is becoming a "fat place"but I am not the "fat police". The world is overflowing with the abundence mentality providing an ever decreasing health status through our choices of living inactive lifestyles and over-feeding leading to disease riddled "machines".
Be a better body mechanic and make choices for the better - drive safe and remember the road rules .................. they are there so we can all live longer !
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Sunday 8th June 2008 - Saving the world one CHILD at a time
First off the feedback emails about the last blog have been welcomed and thank you for all those who know have said they feel better about knowing the implications of their actions and also after trying the Human ECO Cleanse many have decided that a Colonic is not quite enough (that was my point).
Now to today's topic. I'm talking about your health and the health of your family - do YOU really care ?
I think that most people would answer that they do although their actions don't support their words. Otherwise the numbers of preventable illnesses would not continue to climb, or empty fitness centres on most days of the week would be full to overflowing, the parks would be teaming with life and they aren't, the average pant size wouldn't be increasing for both men and women and the true tragedy of childhood obesity would be a fictional story - which it isn't.
Most people who aren't in the health industry coping with this problem have started to switch off when they hear the "obesity" word and I have even seen reports stating them as alarmist. Television media reports often provide a different point to these claims from a well intentioned medical expert who counters the "need for a call to action" and they label this as "balance".
I find that a cop out for the TV program and if I hear one of the hosts of these morning shows state again "well it's all about balance" they will lose my viewership for good. They are not experts but only opinion makers. They seem to forget that they can influence in ways both good, and bad, and it is these comments that seem to soothe their own conscience. Also it has become a "me too" mentality, meaning well most of us are overweight so I must not be doing too bad.
All too often when it comes to health we hide behind the easy excuse of "well I'm very busy" and I will translate that for you - it means that "it takes too much time to see a result". You see we live in an ever increasing age of "instant gratification". There is text messenging, IM'ing (meaning online chats) and if only there was instant fat loss with no work, we would all be healthier. Well there isn't.
I don't believe that any parent wilfully inflicts harm to their children's health by over-feeding them and allowing them to be under-active however it is these two symptoms combined that adds to the high levels of excess that contributes to the weight gain and health problems.
You see there once was a time when the odd can of soft drink (soda) or sweet treat was actually alright to have due to our constant movement. Those days are long gone and have been replaced with multiple daily feedings, fast food snacks, which provide excessive amounts of sugar and salt and to cap it all off there has been the extinction of "Play-time" when most of the additional calories consumed outside of the three basic meals were used to provide the body with energy during activity.
So what do we do to combat this problem ?
I have spent the weekend trying to understand and strategize how best to assess and then help the families out there that have a desire to improve the health of their children and the family unit. Bottom line it's not easy and we are failing at it. Both in action and solutions.
To compete with the billions of dollars spent by both food and drink companies it will take an army of motivated individuals. You see the simple prescription is easy.
Eat Less and Move More!
That mantra hasn't changed since I started saying it to clients 15 years ago and in fact I think it has less impact now.
So we need a new method.
I made a conscious choice some five years ago to work on getting to the future generations by finding a way to relate to them. With their interest in technology, websites, animated adventures, super-heroes, comics and cartoons I felt that this would be the place to not only find them but appeal to them in a way that they like.
That was my inspiration for the Body Mechanics. They are actually a group of good guys (and are in fact human elements) fighting bad guys (diseases) and if they lose the body dies. Interestingly enough we had first designed the DVD Game to not have "death" mentioned but the children were adament that it had to have a consequence like real life - even more impressive as our peer group were aged 8-10 year old children both boys and girls.
Two years down the track and what we thought would be well received, has been, as it has garned 11 awards from US Parents and Childrens Advocacy Groups but it has failed to achieve the sales that we would have expected after the overwhelmingly great positive feedback and increasing need.
I think that we lie in between two major battlefields.
One is the entertainment industry. Although our Body Mechanics product is both an animated movie and interactive DVD game our budget while large by educational comparisons is miniscule in comparison to what a full studio animated budget is, which averages around $100M. I know cause I am in the process of making my next movie which is all entertainment.
The other area we cover is the educational industry. Now this is a very interesting area for providing the elements of education where children need additional help to grasp aspects or it is an area that provides advanced learning. Both of these are very lucrative and companies that specialize in reading, writing, arithmetic and science are doing really well.
Now there are other aspects which include "outside initiatives" that are focussed on getting children active at schools due to the lack of P.E. classes and an outsourcing of these also creates an income stream for fitness trainers. It is relatively low cost in comparison to media options.
However when it comes to programs based around nutrition they seem to be based around cooking for older students or gardening for younger ones as there were no easy ways to help children cover what is happening inside the body.
From all my years of learning when I was challenged to deliver understanding for clients on the human body and it's functions for getting healthy I remembered something and our team on the Body Mechanic project returned to the old adage of KISS. Keep it simple.
We used the good guys vs bad guys roles and even children as young as 5 were able to see from watching our movie, that if they take certain actions, then the bad guys goal or aim to damage the body, is that much harder to achieve.
For our good guys we provided them with nutritional solutions as weapons (for example if you eat green leafy vegetables you load up the body on Anti Oxidants) which are then used to combat the damage being done by the Free Radicals, Cholesterol and Diabetes II and this motivated the children to then adopt physical habits and practices to reduce the damage being carried out Cortisol (the stress hormone).
You see they don't want to get ill and no parent wants it either. It wasn't planned to be rocket science but maybe it is. Maybe it works for understanding because we don't assume that children will be challenged to follow a storyline of good vs evil and then we allow them to be their own health super-heroes.
I am now even more committed to getting this message out to the masses, and to provide the return owed to that one committed investor who actually believed we could make a difference.
Body Mechanics - saving the world one child at a time !
www.bodymechanics.tv
Now to today's topic. I'm talking about your health and the health of your family - do YOU really care ?
I think that most people would answer that they do although their actions don't support their words. Otherwise the numbers of preventable illnesses would not continue to climb, or empty fitness centres on most days of the week would be full to overflowing, the parks would be teaming with life and they aren't, the average pant size wouldn't be increasing for both men and women and the true tragedy of childhood obesity would be a fictional story - which it isn't.
Most people who aren't in the health industry coping with this problem have started to switch off when they hear the "obesity" word and I have even seen reports stating them as alarmist. Television media reports often provide a different point to these claims from a well intentioned medical expert who counters the "need for a call to action" and they label this as "balance".
I find that a cop out for the TV program and if I hear one of the hosts of these morning shows state again "well it's all about balance" they will lose my viewership for good. They are not experts but only opinion makers. They seem to forget that they can influence in ways both good, and bad, and it is these comments that seem to soothe their own conscience. Also it has become a "me too" mentality, meaning well most of us are overweight so I must not be doing too bad.
All too often when it comes to health we hide behind the easy excuse of "well I'm very busy" and I will translate that for you - it means that "it takes too much time to see a result". You see we live in an ever increasing age of "instant gratification". There is text messenging, IM'ing (meaning online chats) and if only there was instant fat loss with no work, we would all be healthier. Well there isn't.
I don't believe that any parent wilfully inflicts harm to their children's health by over-feeding them and allowing them to be under-active however it is these two symptoms combined that adds to the high levels of excess that contributes to the weight gain and health problems.
You see there once was a time when the odd can of soft drink (soda) or sweet treat was actually alright to have due to our constant movement. Those days are long gone and have been replaced with multiple daily feedings, fast food snacks, which provide excessive amounts of sugar and salt and to cap it all off there has been the extinction of "Play-time" when most of the additional calories consumed outside of the three basic meals were used to provide the body with energy during activity.
So what do we do to combat this problem ?
I have spent the weekend trying to understand and strategize how best to assess and then help the families out there that have a desire to improve the health of their children and the family unit. Bottom line it's not easy and we are failing at it. Both in action and solutions.
To compete with the billions of dollars spent by both food and drink companies it will take an army of motivated individuals. You see the simple prescription is easy.
Eat Less and Move More!
That mantra hasn't changed since I started saying it to clients 15 years ago and in fact I think it has less impact now.
So we need a new method.
I made a conscious choice some five years ago to work on getting to the future generations by finding a way to relate to them. With their interest in technology, websites, animated adventures, super-heroes, comics and cartoons I felt that this would be the place to not only find them but appeal to them in a way that they like.
That was my inspiration for the Body Mechanics. They are actually a group of good guys (and are in fact human elements) fighting bad guys (diseases) and if they lose the body dies. Interestingly enough we had first designed the DVD Game to not have "death" mentioned but the children were adament that it had to have a consequence like real life - even more impressive as our peer group were aged 8-10 year old children both boys and girls.
Two years down the track and what we thought would be well received, has been, as it has garned 11 awards from US Parents and Childrens Advocacy Groups but it has failed to achieve the sales that we would have expected after the overwhelmingly great positive feedback and increasing need.
I think that we lie in between two major battlefields.
One is the entertainment industry. Although our Body Mechanics product is both an animated movie and interactive DVD game our budget while large by educational comparisons is miniscule in comparison to what a full studio animated budget is, which averages around $100M. I know cause I am in the process of making my next movie which is all entertainment.
The other area we cover is the educational industry. Now this is a very interesting area for providing the elements of education where children need additional help to grasp aspects or it is an area that provides advanced learning. Both of these are very lucrative and companies that specialize in reading, writing, arithmetic and science are doing really well.
Now there are other aspects which include "outside initiatives" that are focussed on getting children active at schools due to the lack of P.E. classes and an outsourcing of these also creates an income stream for fitness trainers. It is relatively low cost in comparison to media options.
However when it comes to programs based around nutrition they seem to be based around cooking for older students or gardening for younger ones as there were no easy ways to help children cover what is happening inside the body.
From all my years of learning when I was challenged to deliver understanding for clients on the human body and it's functions for getting healthy I remembered something and our team on the Body Mechanic project returned to the old adage of KISS. Keep it simple.
We used the good guys vs bad guys roles and even children as young as 5 were able to see from watching our movie, that if they take certain actions, then the bad guys goal or aim to damage the body, is that much harder to achieve.
For our good guys we provided them with nutritional solutions as weapons (for example if you eat green leafy vegetables you load up the body on Anti Oxidants) which are then used to combat the damage being done by the Free Radicals, Cholesterol and Diabetes II and this motivated the children to then adopt physical habits and practices to reduce the damage being carried out Cortisol (the stress hormone).
You see they don't want to get ill and no parent wants it either. It wasn't planned to be rocket science but maybe it is. Maybe it works for understanding because we don't assume that children will be challenged to follow a storyline of good vs evil and then we allow them to be their own health super-heroes.
I am now even more committed to getting this message out to the masses, and to provide the return owed to that one committed investor who actually believed we could make a difference.
Body Mechanics - saving the world one child at a time !
www.bodymechanics.tv
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Sunday 1st June 2008 - The PROBLEM we ALL face - Waste VS Waist Overload
Following some recent blog posts and the responses and questions emailed to me that I've been getting I decided to try to explain WHAT as I see as a very real problem that most of us face and very few people realize or want to talk about. It's time to talk about POOP.
In a nutshell - YOU may have decided to change your current health status to improve your life to achieve a result, BUT you can have the cleanest eating habits and exercise regularly, however, if you have not taken the time to "spring clean" your Gastro-Intestinal Tract (G.I.) then the availability of nutrients to be absorbed into your body may not matter. Yet that "matter" will continue to be part of your "inner pollution problems" and this will stop you achieving a healthy Human ECO System.
Now I know that everyone shies away from talking about POOP. It's surely not dinner conversation yet it should be understood how this plays a role in your body functioning.
With all the research, study and self efficacy trials I have been undertaking with the Human ECO System I think that this may be one of the missing pieces to long term success and ultimately achieving the body shape (flatter stomach) you desire.
Part of my research began when I was evaluating the content for my section on the topic of "Waist VS Waste" to get leaner and provide a flatter stomach. Yes I turned my back on more sit-ups and looked deeper (literally).
When you start to fully look how the Human ECO System functions there is no more important element than your G.I. Tract to assist your health goals yet it never gets mentioned or considered. We talk about macronutrients (carbs / fats) and micronutrients (vitamins / minerals) and nearly every other organ gets considered (heart / lungs / brain / liver / kidney / pancreas) yet the closest we come to talking about it is the exit point with our "colon cleansing" fascination.
You see all other organs that you have probably heard of derive aspects off or from the G.I. Tract and if it is not fully operating or in other words it's clogged with "gunk" then the chances of the other organs working efficiently is significantly reduced.
Now I want to try to create a visual perspective for US all to better understand how this works. Think of your G.I. Tract as the "home plumbing" of your body. Through those pipes travel many years worth of "nutrients and waste" because what the body doesn't require becomes waste. Along the way we try to absorb what is needed from nutrients (and water) and then allow the residual to pass out.
My better understanding or "aha" moment came for me when I was talking with a client (a plumber by trade) who I really wanted to adjust his eating habits and appreciate how nutrient absorption is important when he mentioned that it sounded like plumbing issues he had dealt with of "back-up causing gunk".
This terminology became our mutual understanding as he told me that pipes that have been in houses for some years get a "coat or lining" of waste not passed through them and that can cause both blockages and breakdown. I realized this also happens in your body.
A light seemed to go off over my head and that is how the Waste VS Waist thought process began to form for me. Now firmly digesting this information (no pun intended) I realized that I needed to try various methods to remove years of "gunk" but I had no faith in just bowel cleansing that so many people seem focussed on, but rather a MORE effective form of G.I. Tract Cleansing.
Digestion is the breaking down of foods into a form that can be absorbed and used or excreted. This allows these smaller components to be absorbed into the bloodstream and taken to organs for use. It begins by chewing food which travels to the stomach continuing to break down through the stomach digestion and mixing with enzymes. Very little absorption occurs in the stomach but it does in the remaining phases of the gastrointestinal tract, and the process finishes with waste excretion.
NOTE - the stomach allows for drugs like aspirin and ethanol to be absorbed from the stomach into the blood. This accounts for the quick relief of a headache after swallowing aspirin and the rapid appearance of ethanol in the blood after drinking alcohol.
So simply we go from Mouth to Stomach to Small Intestine to Large Intestine (Colon) for waste elimination. Now along the way we hopefully absorb nutrients and necessary water and eliminate ONLY the things we don't need.
Nowadays so many people are focussed on "liver cleansing" programs as a process designed to reduce unhealthy habits you've adopted by doing a short term "elimination program of alcohol and bad foods". But what about if you changed and adopted a full time healthy eating regime. This would have the Liver working more efficiently all the time and reduce "inner pollution" to your Human ECO System.
I agree with today's lifestyle the Liver needs help. You see the Liver removes many of the materials that should have been absorbed by the intestine such as Carbohydrates (Glucose) that are converted into glycogen (stored energy) when Insulin "transports" them there, and additional amino acids (breakdown of protein) are de-aminated so that the residual amino group can be converted into urea so it can be passed out in your urine.
The liver also secretes Bile which between meals accumulates in the gall bladder. When food, especially when it contains fat, enters the duodenum (part of the small intestine), a hormone release stimulates the gall bladder to contract and discharge the Bile which is made up of acidic compounds that are responsible for dealing with fats you've eaten. These chemical reactions ensure the large globules of fat, which are liquid at body temperature, are converted to tiny droplets so they are able to be more easily digested and absorbed. Good fats do good roles and bad fats just get deposited to accumulate.
And you also release bile pigments. These are the products of the breakdown of hemoglobin removed by the liver from old red blood cells and the brownish color of the bile pigments imparts the characteristic brown color of the feaces. Sorry but we need to get a handle on ALL of this.
Also the liver gets to do other roles like dealing with non-nutritive molecules, such as swallowed medical drugs, that are removed by the liver and, often, detoxified. So as you can see the liver's job is quite huge and it serves as a "bouncer or gatekeeper" between the intestines and the general blood circulation. It also screens the blood coming to it from the Kidney's (or the hepatic portal system) so that its composition when it leaves will be close to normal for the body.
Now imagine if those jobs are limited by a poorly operating transport system. Imagine peak hour at a subway station, and you are at the back of the line trying to get to your train but the crowd is not moving, and you realize not only have you missed your train but, the crowd has swept you along past the station, (which in the body means into the large intestine).
The large intestine then receives this liquid residue after digestion and hopefully absorption are complete. The residue consists mostly of water as well as materials such as the cellulose that weren't digested. Cellulose is not digestible by humans and is often referred to as 'dietary fibre' or 'roughage', acting as a bulking agent for feaces. This is also part of the "bowel cleansing" and to give you a visual, imagine a street sweeper cleaning the gutters. We do not want any build up on our "plumbing pipes" causing pollution.
The chief function of the large intestine is to again reabsorb the water in it. The large amounts of water secreted into the stomach and small intestine by the various digestive glands must be reclaimed to avoid dehydration.
Also if the blance of bad to good bacteria become out of balance and the large intestine becomes irritated, like you have an upset stomach, it may release its contents before water reabsorption is complete causing diarrhea (and possibly dehydration).
On the other hand, if the colon retains it's contents too long, which is very common with stress placing additional burden on the workload of "smooth muscles" of the bowel, the feacal matter becomes dried out and compressed into hard masses causing constipation. This can also impact YOUR goal of a flat stomach.
While the contents of the intestines are mostly sterile, the colon contains an enormous population of microorganisms. Most of the species live there perfectly harmlessly and you have all seen the advertisements nowadays for the growing promotion of healthy bacteria through products now, that never used to be required but through our unhealthy lifestyle have almost become necessary to help the "good guys cope with the bad guys" in there.
Think of it this way.
You eat three to five times a day on average everyday and sometimes even more. YET a lot of people don't have any bowel movements on a regular basis. If this isn't happening then you are "holding onto both weight and waste and POLLUTING your Human ECO System". This pollution is part of your health problems and I encourage to start adjusting your nutritional compass and considering a "GI Tract Cleansing program".
I have developed one and it is posted here in one of my Blogs as the 7 Day Human ECO Cleanse and you can get it for FREE and try it. It's your body and it's your life !
In a nutshell - YOU may have decided to change your current health status to improve your life to achieve a result, BUT you can have the cleanest eating habits and exercise regularly, however, if you have not taken the time to "spring clean" your Gastro-Intestinal Tract (G.I.) then the availability of nutrients to be absorbed into your body may not matter. Yet that "matter" will continue to be part of your "inner pollution problems" and this will stop you achieving a healthy Human ECO System.
Now I know that everyone shies away from talking about POOP. It's surely not dinner conversation yet it should be understood how this plays a role in your body functioning.
With all the research, study and self efficacy trials I have been undertaking with the Human ECO System I think that this may be one of the missing pieces to long term success and ultimately achieving the body shape (flatter stomach) you desire.
Part of my research began when I was evaluating the content for my section on the topic of "Waist VS Waste" to get leaner and provide a flatter stomach. Yes I turned my back on more sit-ups and looked deeper (literally).
When you start to fully look how the Human ECO System functions there is no more important element than your G.I. Tract to assist your health goals yet it never gets mentioned or considered. We talk about macronutrients (carbs / fats) and micronutrients (vitamins / minerals) and nearly every other organ gets considered (heart / lungs / brain / liver / kidney / pancreas) yet the closest we come to talking about it is the exit point with our "colon cleansing" fascination.
You see all other organs that you have probably heard of derive aspects off or from the G.I. Tract and if it is not fully operating or in other words it's clogged with "gunk" then the chances of the other organs working efficiently is significantly reduced.
Now I want to try to create a visual perspective for US all to better understand how this works. Think of your G.I. Tract as the "home plumbing" of your body. Through those pipes travel many years worth of "nutrients and waste" because what the body doesn't require becomes waste. Along the way we try to absorb what is needed from nutrients (and water) and then allow the residual to pass out.
My better understanding or "aha" moment came for me when I was talking with a client (a plumber by trade) who I really wanted to adjust his eating habits and appreciate how nutrient absorption is important when he mentioned that it sounded like plumbing issues he had dealt with of "back-up causing gunk".
This terminology became our mutual understanding as he told me that pipes that have been in houses for some years get a "coat or lining" of waste not passed through them and that can cause both blockages and breakdown. I realized this also happens in your body.
A light seemed to go off over my head and that is how the Waste VS Waist thought process began to form for me. Now firmly digesting this information (no pun intended) I realized that I needed to try various methods to remove years of "gunk" but I had no faith in just bowel cleansing that so many people seem focussed on, but rather a MORE effective form of G.I. Tract Cleansing.
Digestion is the breaking down of foods into a form that can be absorbed and used or excreted. This allows these smaller components to be absorbed into the bloodstream and taken to organs for use. It begins by chewing food which travels to the stomach continuing to break down through the stomach digestion and mixing with enzymes. Very little absorption occurs in the stomach but it does in the remaining phases of the gastrointestinal tract, and the process finishes with waste excretion.
NOTE - the stomach allows for drugs like aspirin and ethanol to be absorbed from the stomach into the blood. This accounts for the quick relief of a headache after swallowing aspirin and the rapid appearance of ethanol in the blood after drinking alcohol.
So simply we go from Mouth to Stomach to Small Intestine to Large Intestine (Colon) for waste elimination. Now along the way we hopefully absorb nutrients and necessary water and eliminate ONLY the things we don't need.
Nowadays so many people are focussed on "liver cleansing" programs as a process designed to reduce unhealthy habits you've adopted by doing a short term "elimination program of alcohol and bad foods". But what about if you changed and adopted a full time healthy eating regime. This would have the Liver working more efficiently all the time and reduce "inner pollution" to your Human ECO System.
I agree with today's lifestyle the Liver needs help. You see the Liver removes many of the materials that should have been absorbed by the intestine such as Carbohydrates (Glucose) that are converted into glycogen (stored energy) when Insulin "transports" them there, and additional amino acids (breakdown of protein) are de-aminated so that the residual amino group can be converted into urea so it can be passed out in your urine.
The liver also secretes Bile which between meals accumulates in the gall bladder. When food, especially when it contains fat, enters the duodenum (part of the small intestine), a hormone release stimulates the gall bladder to contract and discharge the Bile which is made up of acidic compounds that are responsible for dealing with fats you've eaten. These chemical reactions ensure the large globules of fat, which are liquid at body temperature, are converted to tiny droplets so they are able to be more easily digested and absorbed. Good fats do good roles and bad fats just get deposited to accumulate.
And you also release bile pigments. These are the products of the breakdown of hemoglobin removed by the liver from old red blood cells and the brownish color of the bile pigments imparts the characteristic brown color of the feaces. Sorry but we need to get a handle on ALL of this.
Also the liver gets to do other roles like dealing with non-nutritive molecules, such as swallowed medical drugs, that are removed by the liver and, often, detoxified. So as you can see the liver's job is quite huge and it serves as a "bouncer or gatekeeper" between the intestines and the general blood circulation. It also screens the blood coming to it from the Kidney's (or the hepatic portal system) so that its composition when it leaves will be close to normal for the body.
Now imagine if those jobs are limited by a poorly operating transport system. Imagine peak hour at a subway station, and you are at the back of the line trying to get to your train but the crowd is not moving, and you realize not only have you missed your train but, the crowd has swept you along past the station, (which in the body means into the large intestine).
The large intestine then receives this liquid residue after digestion and hopefully absorption are complete. The residue consists mostly of water as well as materials such as the cellulose that weren't digested. Cellulose is not digestible by humans and is often referred to as 'dietary fibre' or 'roughage', acting as a bulking agent for feaces. This is also part of the "bowel cleansing" and to give you a visual, imagine a street sweeper cleaning the gutters. We do not want any build up on our "plumbing pipes" causing pollution.
The chief function of the large intestine is to again reabsorb the water in it. The large amounts of water secreted into the stomach and small intestine by the various digestive glands must be reclaimed to avoid dehydration.
Also if the blance of bad to good bacteria become out of balance and the large intestine becomes irritated, like you have an upset stomach, it may release its contents before water reabsorption is complete causing diarrhea (and possibly dehydration).
On the other hand, if the colon retains it's contents too long, which is very common with stress placing additional burden on the workload of "smooth muscles" of the bowel, the feacal matter becomes dried out and compressed into hard masses causing constipation. This can also impact YOUR goal of a flat stomach.
While the contents of the intestines are mostly sterile, the colon contains an enormous population of microorganisms. Most of the species live there perfectly harmlessly and you have all seen the advertisements nowadays for the growing promotion of healthy bacteria through products now, that never used to be required but through our unhealthy lifestyle have almost become necessary to help the "good guys cope with the bad guys" in there.
Think of it this way.
You eat three to five times a day on average everyday and sometimes even more. YET a lot of people don't have any bowel movements on a regular basis. If this isn't happening then you are "holding onto both weight and waste and POLLUTING your Human ECO System". This pollution is part of your health problems and I encourage to start adjusting your nutritional compass and considering a "GI Tract Cleansing program".
I have developed one and it is posted here in one of my Blogs as the 7 Day Human ECO Cleanse and you can get it for FREE and try it. It's your body and it's your life !
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