Before we dive into this crucial topic, please keep in mind that you should NEVER exercise on a full stomach.  The same blood volume recruited to power your muscles would be required for the digestive process.  The adult body contains approximatively 5 liters of blood so there's only so much of it available to operate organ systems.  Your digestive system would be taking the blood away from the muscles while the muscles would be taking the blood away from digestion and neither would receive the adequate quantity for optimal performance.  One would push down, the other would pull up, resulting in a sluggish physical performance and possibly nausea, with a potential trip to the nearest vomitorium (or trash can).  A minimum of 2 hours must pass between a meal and a workout session.  The best workouts are done on an empty stomach or 60 minutes after a light breakfast, such as some orange juice and oats, or some yogurt.  If you’re hitting the brunch buffet and enjoy pancakes, sausages, potatoes and eggs, the last thing you should do to your body after such a feast is drag it to the gym and attempt a serious workout session.  After a large meal, the only activity recommended is a leisurely stroll.  It is actually recommended to take a walk around the block after any large meal, to give the body adequate time to begin digestion and move the contents from the stomach and intestines in the right direction (down).  The admonition not to swim after a large meal is actually meant to keep you alive. Having gotten this important fact out of the way, let’s look at those eating habits.  (If you’re having the kind of brunch mentioned above on a regular basis, you may need to do a little Serenity Prayer before you read on).

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Lack of knowledge is the catalyst for most, if not all ailments.  Food is fuel.  Using the car analogy, you wouldn’t put diesel in an exotic.  Hunter-gatherers are meant to eat that which they hunt and gather, fairly quickly after they obtain it.  Fresh, simple foods that you can find in nature and on a farm are the best type of fuel available.  Organic products are always preferable to genetically modified, pesticide basted industrial food.  Learn to like healthy alternatives.  The nitrates and preservatives found in cold cuts and industrial sausages have been proven to cause colon cancer while fried foods and refined sugar cause heart disease and diabetes.  In fact, almost all chronic adult diseases are a result of poor nutrition.  Getting old and sick is mostly a byproduct of poor eating and bad living habits.  

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The first step in cleaning out your diet is to eliminate junk food.  Junk food is designed to create an addictive sensation due to its high content of saturated fats and sugars, providing a short term type of energy that has no nutritional value.  Until recent “modern” times, humans didn’t have access to the fat and sugar readily available today.  Because Fat and Sugar are rare in nature, we were designed to have a preference for the immediate energy they provide.  In those rare moment when fat and sweets were found in nature, humans would consume them for their immediate energy value because they were scarce.  Today we find them on every shelve, in every vending machine and at the tip of our fingers in households across the nation.  We crave and gravitate toward them because it is instinctive from an evolutionary perspective.  However, we were never meant to consume such high quantities of these products, if any at all.  Furthermore, the preservatives found in junk food are proven to be carcinogenic and cause serious lingering, debilitating illnesses.  Processed foods basically have the life sucked out of them, and are enriched later on with “vitamins” and other nutrients which will never replace the potency of fresh foods, nor will they be assimilated by the organism in the same manner as the fresh, “live”, sun kissed fruits, vegetables and roots.  Live food has a nuclei, a “life”.  It has enzymes, minerals and balanced nutrients designed to fuel our bodies.  We were designed and evolved in harmony with fresh, clean aliments which prevent disease and decay.  

Our bodies and the food chain are part of the same divine ecosystem.  Fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, eggs, milk, natural juices, oats, grains, roots, herbs, meats… offer us all the nutrients, vitamins and minerals necessary for a healthy body and a healthy mind.  They can be combined in countless ways which appeal to individual taste.  The first step is to abandon fake, cheap, low quality ingredients blended together in a food processing plant.

 

What’s remarkable is how addicted people are to processed, preserved foods proven to cause long term damage and disease.  “But I like it” seems to be the battle cry of choice, repeated as if under hypnosis.  

Some time ago, a very intelligent man, accomplished business owner and respected patriarch of a large family, hired me to help him get fit.  He was plagued by various conditions such as diabetes, neuropathy, and heart disease.  He explained that he had developed adult diabetes after a decade of indulging daily in two donuts for breakfast.  He religiously took his insulin yet never missed an opportunity to take his grandchildren out for ice cream.  He watched them get fat and joined in, indulging in generous portions of the clan's preferred desert while exacerbating his own chronic illnesses.  It’s difficult to understand why obese adults encourage their children and grandchildren to consume fattening and unhealthy products.  “I keep it in the house for the kids” makes no sense if one is trying to teach them to eat healthy and pave the way for a long and disease free life.  Most fat cells are created during childhood and adolescence and it is during these formative years that the family must lead by example and focus on healthy habits which will benefit the youngsters for the rest of their lives.  Confronted with logic, the gentleman was successful in shedding an impressive 60 lbs by following our exercise program and dietary suggestion which included cutting down on the Derry Queen family expeditions. 

 

Eating clean, fresh, natural foods creates a sensation of wellbeing and provides long lasting, clean energy to the body and mind.  Every cell in our bodies is programmed to respond positively to good nutrition.  The therapeutic and medicinal attributes of healthy food cannot be overlooked, no matter how much modern medicine , with all its lies and drugs, is trying to downplay the power of natural remedies. Along with a regular and intelligent exercise routine, good nutrition will guarantee a healthy, long and youthful life. 

 

Dieting should not be an occasional activity viewed as a technique to shed pounds.  A “Diet” is not a weight loss program.  That terminology has been used incorrectly.  A diet is a lifestyle.  If you’re thinking of losing weight, you need to change your diet and adopt a different lifestyle you can commit to.  A “crash diet” of several weeks will help you shed pounds but if you’re not ready to eat like that for the rest of your life, you’ll gain the weight back.  The surest way to a successful weight loss and maintenance program is to:

1- find the type of healthy foods you can live with long term

2- determine adequate portion control (take 1/2 of your restaurant order home!)

3- keep a dining schedule and if possible, eat before 6 PM.

 

It is equally important to mention the healthy practice of “Intermittent Fasting”.  When the body has used up all the readily available energy sources from the blood (glucose AKA "blood sugar") and drained  the supply of glycogen from the muscles and liver, it begins to feed off of itself.  This process is known as catabolism, which is defined as “ the breakdown of complex molecules in living organisms to form simpler ones, together with the release of energy; destructive metabolism.”  

Tissue and fat begin to be consumed to generate the energy (ATP) required for survival.  During this process, the “weakest” and most unhealthy cells are the first to be sacrificed through this natural  “survival of the fittest” mechanism.  Intermittent fasting has been used to detoxify and even cure diseases because when the body is in a fasted state, it undergoes a process of "cellular housekeeping" called autophagy, which is linked to disease prevention and longevity.  Autophagy is the cells' self cleaning mechanism which recycles cell parts, provides materials for cell parts, removes nonfunctional cell parts and breaks down pathogens. Fasting enhances this natural process which tends to slow down with age and sedentarism.  What qualifies as intermittent fasting is a period of 14 to 24 hours beteween the last meal of the day and the first meal the next day.  Some practice this technique several times a week while others do it a few times a month.  Intermittent Fasting is not a starvation diet.  On the contrary, if you decide to practice Intermittent Fasting, we strongly suggest you ingest all the necessary macronutrients between your first meal (when you break fast) and your last meal of the day.

Fasting stimulates stem cells to repair  the self canibalized tissues as well as the microscopic damage created during exercise.  A combined lifestyle of exercise and regular fasting also stimulates hormone production. Fasting for longer periods of time have been scientifically proven to provide great benefits. A 24 hour fast forces the body into repair mode. It begins recycling old or damaged cells and reducing inflammation.  Several studies of healthy adults who fasted for 48 hours found increased human growth hormone (HGH) secretion by up to 400%.  72-hour fasting led to the rejuvenation of the immune system, triggering stem cell production, creating brand new immune cells to replace old ones. Please note that any fast requires that you remain hydrated with non calorific drinks, preferably water with added Celtic salt for electrolytes. 

 

Another helpful tip is to avoid late evening meals.  Eat early.  Going to bed with a full stomach is extremely unhealthy because of several factors.  A bloated belly can upset insulin levels, spike blood sugar and lead to weight gain.  Since you’re flat on your back and gravity can’t do its work, there is risk of acid reflux.  A full stomach can press on the heart.  You’ll probably get some insomnia and have gas.  One of the reasons a large, hard belly is so dangerous to the elderly, is because it presses against the heart and lungs. A 15 minute walk after a large meal is highly recommended.  We’re not talking about a jog or a power walk.  Just a nice, leisurely stroll, long enough to allow the digestive process to begin, and the food to start moving in the right direction (down…).  Ideally, the best time to have the evening meal is around 6 PM.  

 

Don’t overlook the importance of hydration.  First and foremost, never drink the carbonated sugar water known as “soda”.  That’s “diabetes in a can” and a disaster waiting to happen.  Clean, fresh water (preferably filtered and free of the usual toxins found in city water supplies, such as fluoride) should be consumed in sufficient quantities, 6 to 8 tall glasses.  More than 90% of your blood is water.  A change of 1% in the amount of water in the bloodstream can impact your body, affecting the balance between nutrients and fluids.  Water dissolves materials (glucose, proteins, nutrients, and ions) in the blood plasma. The solid components of the blood need liquid to carry them around.  Plasma is 92% water, and makes it possible for red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets to move around the body.  Excess fluid is eliminated during urination, thus maintaining healthy blood volume.  By drinking water, you oxygenate the blood, clean it and flush out toxins. 

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