It's Good To Be B.A.D.

It’s Christmas season and I want to know if you have been B.A.D. this year?  No, I’m not referring to you getting gifts from Santa or not, I am talking about 3 critical components of good health…Balanced, Alkalized and Detoxed.  The typical person has heard these words but has little understanding of what they really mean and how important they are in maintaining exceptional health.  To put it into perspective, consider someone who is not B.A.D.  They are an imbalanced, acidic pool that is backed up with toxic waste.  They have little defense against anything that attacks the body and their body is a breeding ground for health destroying villains.    Let’s take a quick look at how to be B.A.D.

Balance:  This does not mean standing on one leg and it often gets bounced around in the nutrition world, but what does it really mean?  Well, first of all, a balance implies there is a continuum and you should fall somewhere between both ends of the spectrum.  However, in our culture, too often people are at one end of the spectrum or the other.  For example, an immune system that is out of balance on the high side can be linked to auto-immune disorders that can be destructive to health.  On the flip side, immune systems that are out of balance on the low side leave you with little defense against serious illnesses that can be life-threatening and debilitating.  The body/immune system can get out of balance from a lack of getting enough of the right nutrients, not enough exercise, too little sleep,  too many chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, man-made food/drink additives, household products, medications), high levels of stress and deep-rooted spiritual issues like anger, jealousy, unforgiveness and past hurts.

Alkalize:  There was a book written by a guy titled, “Alkalize or Die.”  Now, that is a little extreme, but there is some truth in it.  The body can basically be acidic or alkaline.  You want it more on the alkaline side, otherwise you are asking for trouble.  The majority of people tend to be on the acidic side which is due to lifestyle factors like: eating too many processed high fat and high sugar foods, drinking an excess of coffee/tea/softdrinks, not drinking enough water, meds and other chemicals I mentioned earlier, high levels of stress and there are more.  When the body is acidic, it is an invitation for devilish medical conditions like cancer to come in and take over.  It provides an environment in your body where evil intruders are welcome.  On the contrary, an alkalized body is a body that is a clean, green, mean, disease-fighting machine.  Picture your body as a garden of health that flourishes with goodness when you keep it alkalized. 

Detox:  The average person is exposed to over 500 toxins a day in the air we breathe, food we eat, things we drink, products we use, stress we have and internal baggage we hold onto.  You can’t avoid these dirty little demons altogether, but you certainly can minimize your exposure to them as well as attack and eliminate the ones you are exposed to.  If you fail to dispose of these toxins, they WILL store up in your body like Southerners do with groceries when it snows.  They will not just hang out in your body innocently either.  Their mission is to destroy you whether it takes days, weeks, months or years.  The more toxins you allow to take up residence in your body and the longer you allow them to stay there, the worse your chances get of living a healthy life.   If this wasn’t bad enough, the average person also  has 2-10 stored meals sitting in their colon at anytime.  That is 2-10 pounds of toxic sludge making itself at home on your living room couch.  When you realize that over half of your immune system is in your colon, you can understand that your body can get out of whack pretty fast without proper elimination of this wicked toxic waste. 

So, if you want to be B.A.D., then you should strongly consider these ammunition bullets against being G.O.O.D. (Gastro-intestinal despair/Over-loaded with toxins/Ongoing  health and life problems/Diseased body).

·         Drink half your bodyweight in ounces of filtered/purified water daily.

·         Eat properly harvested organic fruits, vegetables and unprocessed whole grains throughout the day.

·         Minimize or eliminate foods and drinks that have man-made chemicals in them.

·         Eat healthy fats like extra virgin first cold-pressed organic olive oil, flax seeds or oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, natural peanut butter, avocados to name many.

·         Fill nutrient gaps and keep your body in healthy order with plant-based supplementation such as a Greens and Multi-nutrient complex supplement. 

·         Do your best to use only natural products made with things from nature.

·         Make sure you are getting 7-9 hours of quality sleep every night…there are several practical things and natural remedies that you can use to help you accomplish this.

·         Exercise regularly…5-7 times per week for 20-40 minutes with proper intensity.

·         Find creative ways to keep stress controlled and do these things daily.

·         Quit holding onto DEAD weight (anger, jealousy, unforgiveness, past hurt, etc.)  and release it to God so you don’t carry it around anymore and allow it rob you of living a healthy, good life.

·         Enjoy life by: discovering your true purpose and acting on it, bettering yourself daily through reading, listening, prayer and practicing the good things you have learned, and building healthy relationships.

It’s time to be B.A.D. and yes, I am giving you full permission to be B.A.D.  Now, get going with your B.A.D. self and talk to you next year!

In Health,

Clayton Halls

Big Pharma, The FDA and Nutritional Supplements

First of all, my apologies for missing the blog last month...believe me, it was not because I had a lack of material  to write about.  I have actually begun work on a book that I hope to finish sometime in the latter part of next year.  Anyhow, this month I want to highlight a MAJOR nutritional issue that is currently a hot topic and will only get hotter.  In short, it boils down to greed and a complete lack of care for human lives from some individuals that have a lot of authority to make powerful decisions.  As you can see by the title of this blog, I am talking specifically about Big Pharma (Personal Health of Americans Risked by Meds and Alliances), The FDA (Food and Death Association), and supplements specifically designed to improve nutrition and health.

One of the current issues at hand in the medical world is that they have no "latest and greatest cutting-edge" poison, I mean medicine, in the pipeline to boost their profits.  So, what do they do?  They turn on the nutritional supplement world in a money-hungry attempt to not only discredit nutritional supplements, but to try to pass legislature that would grossly OVER-regulate them making it extremely difficult for most of the companies to survive and keep the right supplements on the market with the exception of a few of the nutritional companies that are actually owned by.....Big Pharma companies.  If the medical world (Big Pharma) and The government (FDA) join forces on this, it could be disaterous for American health.  As most people should already know, Big Pharma, the FDA and the media are all "in bed with each other" as Big Pharma pays big bucks to the media to deceptively advertise, and they also pay off those in the FDA to approve their poison regardless of studies that showed the drugs to be dangerous.  Do you know how many people died from Vioxx before they pulled it off the market?  How about 50,000.  It is an absolute crime what the FDA lets on the market and what Big Pharma pushes through in a complete ignorance of human life in order to gain big profits. 

Now, getting back to the attack on nutritional supplements.  The medical world has come out with some incredibly subjective, misleading and erroneous studies to try to show that...get this...that nutritional supplements are not only unneccessary, but also harmful.  The medical world has the audacity to claim this all the while their meds kill off well over 100,000 people a year in addition to making hundreds of thousands more live with a reduced quality of life.  Big Pharma also doesn't like the fact that nutritional supplements pull a lot of money away from them and they want that pie as well as the several they are already hoarding.  If the American public only saw much of the behind the scenes cover ups on prescription drugs, artificial sweeteners, canola oil and hundreds of others that the FDA has unethically allowed onto the market and Big Pharma has PUSHED through, their would be no faith in meds or the FDA.  The bottom line is that without nutritional supplements, this country's health would go much further down the tubes than it already has.  Big Pharma and the FDA are helping to make Americans more unhealthy and that of course keeps them in business by profiting on destroying the health of many.  I won't even get into chemo, radiation, unneccessary surgeries, vaccines and a disheartening lack of nutritional therapy in the medical world in this blog.  I will stop here for now and leave you with one of the letters I wrote to the government in regards to the recent legislature that is trying to be PUSHED through in a very deceptive way.  Here you go...

Dear Government Officials,

Senator Durbin’s proposed amendment regarding supplements is not only incredibly outrageous, but also dangerous to the health of Americans.  Over half of Americans rely on supplements to promote better health and I am one of them.  Senator Durbin obviously has a secret motive for trying to pass this bill which is probably getting a huge payout from one of the drug companies.  If anything, he should go after the drugs that are killing hundreds of thousands of people every year.  He wants to make it harder for people to be healthy, especially the lower class Americans and is not concerned with all the people dying from meds.  That is scary to think that there is someone in a high political ranking that does not care about the health of Americans or them dying.  It is mortifying to think of all the poisonous chemicals and toxins that the FDA allows into our foods, but they want to be overly strict when it comes to plant-based nutrients?  The FDA and drug companies are corrupted by the all-mighty dollar and Senator Durbin is right there with them.  Why would he care about supplements unless he is getting some BIG incentive behind the scenes?  There is no logical explanation besides that.  With the horrendous health-care (disease-care) system in our country and all the hazardous toxins they allow into our food and drink supply, we NEED supplements to ensure we stay healthy.  If Senator Durbin actually cared about his fellow Americans and wanted to properly serve his country, he would be fighting against the FDA and Big Pharma that are killing off Amercians like the bubonic plague.  Whatever his motives are, they are not good and he is abusing his power and trying to put Amercians' health in a very compromising situation.  He shouldn't even have the right to propose something so ludicrous.  The most likely worst case scenario with supplements is that someone just wastes their money on a bad one, but with medication, the worst case scenario is that people die.  This proposed legislature needs to be stopped to protect the rights of Americans to be healthy.  If Senator Durbin really wants to do something good for Americans, he needs to first realize the truth...that meds kill people and plant-based supplements help people.  What's next, is he going to try to pass a bill that makes it illegal for us to grow certain fruits and vegetables in our back yards?  This dangerous ideology that he and many others have must be stopped before it goes any farther.  It is putting the quality of peoples' lives at risk that includes not only their health, but their financial situation considering the many thousands that make a living selling supplements which has helped to stimulate the economy much more than the "stimulus package.".  This proposed amendment would create a huge rippling effect that would cause unnecessary harm to Americans.  Just leave the supplements alone and focus on something that will actually help Americans; not hurt them. 

A Very Concerned American,

Clayton Halls

Cave Man Diet?

Although I do feel like many people are "in a cave" when it comes to fueling their bodies, I want to make one thing crystal clear...you can't eat like a cave man because they NEVER EXISTED.  There are a couple diets circulating out there that talk about "eating like your ancient ancestors."  If you see this, run away as fast as you can.  They are trying to tell you to eat like partial-human creatures that lived millions of years ago that never really existed...well, only according to their made up THEORY.  Why would anyone want to eat like a partial-human ancestor that is fabricated to fit some ridiculous theory that has as many flaws in it as years that it is long?  I'm sorry, but my great great great great great, etc. grandpa was not an ape that lived millions and billions of years ago that evolved from slime in the premordial soup that came out of nowhere from a microscopic dot.  ALL of the science and miracles point to Adam and Eve roughly 6,000 plus years ago.  When you weigh all of the evidence (and there is OVERWHELMING and UNSHAKABLE evidence if you actually look for it), you find that this is a fact and the TRUTH.  So, when we take our nutrtion back to the beginning with Adam and Eve, we can safely assume that their nutrition was the healthiest and best possible.  They ate a WIDE variety of plants...fruits, vegetables, herbs, unprocessed whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds in their naturally occuring state without any chemicals or anything artificial.  Furthermore, the soil conditions were perfect.  They ate nutrient-dense food straight from nature.  They also didn't eat meat, which is loaded with so many harmful toxins these days.  Now, I am not promoting being a vegetarian because I am a meat lover, but I have to admit that it is the cleanest way to eat in line with the way God originally designed our bodies.  One exception to this is fish that is caught from its natural habitat that comes from the most unpolluted waters.  In the time of Jesus on earth, we see that fish was a regular staple.  So, fish is the one exception to not eating meat. 

As we can see, when you bring nutrtion back to its beginning, it really is quite simple.  Only eat foods you can find in their naturally occurring state.  Eat mainly God-made plant-based foods with the exception of fish and I will throw in eggs as long as they are cafe-free, grass/vegetable fed, hormone/anti-biotic/steroid free chickens laying those eggs.  If we look back to historic biblical times, we will see that the life expectancy was significantly higher than today.  They didn't have all the "advances" in medical technology and water purification that we have today, but they didn't need them because they only put natural things into their bodies and they MOVED several miles everyday and stayed active.  Of course, the air was a lot cleaner and they had a lot less things to stress about as well.  Anyhow, my point is that yes, the bible tells us so.  The bible tells us exactly how to eat...not some silly scientist talking about our fairy tale ancestors, not some MD that writes a book that has no nutrition education, not any program that promises fantasy weight loss right away, etc.  If you want to be healthy and lean, the bible provides a great foundation.  Don't let your brain get in the way of the truth.  You will just complicate something that was designed to be simple.

Now, I will finish by saying that I realize it is hard for most people to follow something like this and that is why they continue to look for other ways...grasping at lies and gimmicks.  You don't have to follow this plan 100% as we are not perfect.  The idea is to try to follow it 90% of the time and leave yourself 10% room for error.  Even if you have to start at 50/50%, that is fine.  Start where you are and work towards a healthier foundation.  Decide to be a good steward over the only physical body you will ever get. 

Clean Your Pipes

As it is said, "The Road To Health Is Paved With Good Intestines." 

What kind of road are you paving with your health? 

In a world so infatuated with weight loss, DIEts, and man-made processed foods and drinks, regularity often goes flying under the radar.  Furthermore, it is an area that many people are embarrassed to talk about in addition to not understanding the importance of it.  Most of the people I encounter through public speaking and consultations not only not know what it means to be regular, but also are NOT regular.  I have heard many people say that as long as you have 1 bowel movement per day you are regular.  Well, I'd like for you to think about a cat or dog for a second.....they usually go to the bathroom after everytime they eat.  So, why don't we?  The truth is that the Standard American Diet (SAD) consists of very little of the high fiber foods that actually clean out the intestines and a lot of foods that tend to store up in the intestines.  The typical person walking around (well, probably sitting) has 2-10 stored meals in their colon at any given time. That is 2-10lbs of stored up toxic waste.  That is a big load of CRAP!  That CRAP can cause mal-absorbtion, which is an inability to absorb important nutrients into the body.  It can also cause a severly weakened immune system leading to many sicknesses and diseases including cancers.  Furthermore, it can cause a multitude of skin conditions and other health problems and can put a huge roadblock in weight loss because your body doesn't burn fat efficiently when it is a TOXIC dumpsite.  Last, because of all these toxins hanging out in your body, your liver can take beating and your hormones can get out of whack. 

So, for starters, you have to AT LEAST have 18 inches per day coming out to even be considered for being regular.  Even if one goes everyday, it doesn't qualify one for being regular.  This is because even if you consume mostly processed man-made foods, your body is still smart enough to eliminate some of that junk, but certainly not all of it.  Over time, it builds up and the toxic levels in your body can become radioactive.  In other words, if you go too long without keeping yourself detoxed, you will inevitably experience some severe health issues.  There is a reason why colon cancer is sometimes referred to as the "silent killer."  It sneaks up on people and happens very subtly over the course of years, but once it happens, it is in full force in the body.  I mean, what do you think would happen to a car if you continually put garbage juice in it for fuel, never got an oil change and let all of the sludge keep building up?  Your car is either going to break down or die on you and even if it runs for awhile, it is going to have very poor performance. 

If you want to avoid becoming a statistic and walking around with a TOXIC dumpsite in your body and having a very weakened immune system (over half of your immune system is in your colon), you need to take action.  A good start is a plant-based supplement to get you cleaned out from months or years of toxic build up.  Then you need to consider eating 7-10 servings of organic fruits and vegetables everyday as well as 7-10 servings of unprocessed whole grains like sprouted grain products, quinoa, steel cut oats, whole grain rice, etc.  You also need to consume around half your bodyweight in ounces of purified/filtered water daily.  Water helps in the elimination process of hundreds of daily toxins you are exposed to or have stored up in the fat cells.  Next, you need to strongly consider supplementing with an alkalizing and detoxifying superfood/herb complex.  Last, you need to exercise as the movement helps your body "breakup" stuff and eliminate more efficiently over time. 

It's time to get "super regular" so you can be super healthy.  It will help with metabolizing fat, feeling better and being more energized, looking better and performing better day to day.  Don't neglect this crucial area of health (& weight loss).  It is one of the top 3 areas I consider when dealing with anyone that is trying to improve their health and fitness.  Aren't you tired only going once or twice a week (CONSTIPATION), dropping rabbit turds or torpedos, having to spend 30 minutes in the bathroom just to get something out or having to push so hard it feels like you are giving birth?  Quit torturing yourself and get your DANG pipes cleaned...you may even lose 5-10lbs BACKUP in your first month in addition to your other weight loss.   And that's the poop scoop!

Clayton Halls

Eat CARBS and Lose Weight

     Are you tired of yoyo-ing with your weight?  Then, quit cutting carbs out of your meals everytime you try to lose weight!  This issue never seems to go away and people continue time and time again to get suckered into thinking that if they eliminate their carbs, they will get the weight loss they desire.  Many people think this idea is "scientific" and "cutting edge."  However, this idea has been around for decades and is only supported by very shaky science.  The idea actually died for many years because it plain and simple doesn't work LONG-TERM.  Eventually, the idea was brought back to life because enough time had passed that many people forgot it didn't work and then you throw in a clever marketing scheme to back up the old idea and it seems like a new idea. 

     Unfortuneately, when it comes to weight loss, people are easily fooled.  They don't understand how the body actually works and buy into eating plans that give them quick results, but set them up for failure in the long-term.  I like to say, "If the scale is dropping too fast, the weight loss won't last."  Rapid weight loss is always a red flag in my book.  People often approach me and brag about their weight loss.  "I have lost 20 lbs in 3 weeks."  My words back to them aren't, "that is great, keep up the good work."  What I am thinking is, "I can't believe that they are starving themselves and/or cutting carbs to lose weight.  They are going to gain it all back as fast as they took it off."  I will never give someone praise for weight loss until I know how they are losing weight.  There are a lot of ways to lose weight, but only 1 way to keep it off.  Part of that 1 way is EAT CARBS!

     To give you a statement that shows you how important carbs are for weight loss I will tell you this...
I went to a nutrition seminar a couple years back that was lead by several NUTRITION PH D's.  They said,
"The fat gets burned on the flames of the carbs."  So, if you are not putting carbs in, your metabolic fire will eventually burn out and you will then begin to store fat like a bear preparing for hibernation.  The deception is that it usually takes around 3 months or so before the metabolic fire dies.  What this means is that during that 3 months of very limited or no carbs, your body will burn a little fat, but a lot of muscle.  Your muscles have thousands of calories of stored carbs in them called glycogen.  If you don't put carbs in your body, your body WILL pull carbs out of your muscle and use them for energy...that is plain and simple science.  As your muscle gets burned (this is very bad), you will lose weight because muscle makes up more than half your bodyweight in most individuals.  Yes, you will be temporarily happy because the scale is going down and cloths are starting to fit better, but that happiness will turn into great disappointment and frustration when you hit what I call the metabolic WALL.  This is the point when your body says, "I've had enough of this."  Your body then goes into preservation mode and holds onto fat like that hibernating bear and turns the metabolism off. 

     So now, you have flushed muscle down the toilet for 3 months which means that you burn way less calories everyday than before AND you have put your body into fat-storing mode.  The weight you did lose comes back with a vengence and your bodyfat % actually goes higher from the carb restriction in the long run because you now have less muscle and more fat.  It is a vicious cycle that has claimed countless victims. 

     The truth is that all these people had to do to avoid the failure was not eliminate carbs, but change the carbs they were eating and eat the carbs at the right time.  Taking whole grains out of your diet to lose weight is like trying to reduce your monthly cashflow output by using a credit card.  There will be a debt to pay back...a big FAT debt.  It will now take you months to regain the muscle you lost and begin retraining your metabolism.  Save yourself from this disaster and eat AT LEAST 5 servings (preferrably 7) of REAL whole grains everyday.  Feed your muscles so they burn fat for you.  Your fat metabolism LOVES whole grains.  God even tells us to eat whole grains...check out Ezekial 4:9 among other verses that talk about eating grains and fruits.  You want to make sure that the fruit is organic and grown in nutrient-rich soil.  The farmer's market is a great place to find this kind of fruit.  And for the whole grain, make sure it is sprouted whole grains like Ezekial grain products for example.  If you eat rice, it should be whole grain.  You should see whole grain as the first ingredient to ensure that it is a true whole grain or just eat the grain itself like Quinoa or unprocessed Steel Cut Oats. 

     I will leave you with my food pyramid since they have now thrown the food pyramid out the window and come up with a new system called the food plate that is still wrong.  Once you get the focus off of losing weight and onto lifestyle, you will then see long-term success.  Here you go...

8 glasses of purified/filtered water
7 servings of TRUE whole grains
6 servings of lean and clean protein
5 servings of healthy fats
4 servings of nutrient-rich veggies
3 servings of nutrient-rich fruits
2 natural protein shakes
1 small treat of whatever you want

     There you have it!  There can be slight alterations made to this, but the core of it remains the same for everyone.  People try 100 different things to lose weight, but the fact is that if you want real, lasting results, follow this plan, do metabolic exercise and supplement with plant-based products.  There is a reason why I stay less than 10% bodyfat year-round.  CONSISTENCY of doing all of this including eating loads of fat-burning carbs EVERYDAY.  I am not trying to brag...it's just that I have been in the trenches of this for over 10 years and have worked with hundreds of people and I see what works long-term and what doesn't.  What kind of results do you want?

The Road To Health

        Health is one of the most important aspects of our lives, yet so many people neglect their health.  It is no secret that minimizing stress, and getting proper nutrition/supplementation and exercise are three of the key components in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, as well as preventing poor health.  Yes, everyone knows it, but the problem is that so many people fail to make these things a priority in their lives. If you neglect your health, you must realize that it is only a matter of time before something goes wrong.  A poorly maintained engine gets clogged up and eventually breaks down.  Furthermore, you can’t drive the car when it is in the shop.  In the same way, your body can “break down” if you do not take care of it, which means that you now have to put everything on hold to take care of your broken down body.  When your body is in a “broken down” state, you can’t work as efficiently (or at all), you significantly affect those around you, and your focus, which includes a lot of your time and energy, is on your health condition.  All you need to do is take a proactive role in making adequate nutrition/supplementation and exercise a steady part of your life, while minimizing stress.  Don’t you want to have a healthy direction in life?   

        If you have an unhealthy direction in life, you end up wandering around aimlessly without ever getting anywhere.  It is the same for nutrition and exercise.  Without the right guidance and direction, you can spend a lot of unproductive time and energy exercising and dieting with no real, lasting results. Now, if you want to succeed, whether it be in stress management, exercise, nutrition or life, you must make wise choices.  Think of it this way…you don’t just throw your money up in the wind and hope it will blow somewhere productive.  If so, you would end up broke.  So, why would you choose to eat and exercise a certain way without ever establishing a clear direction and purpose for what you are doing? 

        The truth is that many people make decisions about their health based on articles or books they have read, shows they have seen on television, information they have heard from other people or just their own notions of how to do things.  I strongly urge you to be aware of these deceptions.  Whether it be ANY diets, false advertising, unregulated & unsafe supplements that make false claims, biased information instead of the real truth or just your own preconceived mindset of what is good or bad, you need to determine what is fact and what is myth.  If you seek the truth, you will find it.  If you want to travel down the road that leads to better health, you need to use the right fuel and know when and how to step on the gas.  There is a right road, however, very few choose to travel down it, hence the soaring obesity and disease rates in our country.  What road do you want to be on?

DIEts

It is estimated that about 1/3 of Americans are on some type of diet on any given day.  It is also estimated that around 1/3 of Americans are now considered obese.  Furthermore, there are more diets than ever out there on the market.  You have the blood type diet, low fat, no carb, no meat, gluten free, ancestor diet (this one is really laughable), shake diet, etc. and the list goes on and on.  To be more truthful, they should call these plans what they really are...things like the starve yourself plan, the muscle burning diet, the Hollywood metabolism destroyer, nutrient deprivation system and the list could keep going.  The bottom line is that diets WILL rob you of long term success with your weight loss and health.  People too easily fall into the trap of sabatoging long term success by soley focusing on the scale going down the first 12 weeks or so.  When you consider the fact that most of the weight loss on diets is muscle and water, you can then realize that you are flushing your metabolism down the toilet.  Most people can only manage to stay on a diet for 12 weeks...if that long...and then go back to eating like they did before the diet.  Yes, they have lost say 30lbs, but now there metabolism is 30-40% slower which means they are going to be packing on fat fast.  It is the deadly yoyo effect, but each time they yoyo, it gets worse.  Yoyo is a NoNo and will make your metabolism very SlowSlow!

Now, consider this...the average person that I deal with is not eating enough food and can't lose weight or is gaining weight.  IF YOU EVER WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT THE RIGHT WAY AND KEEP IT OFF, YOU HAVE TO EAT MORE TO BURN MORE.  Your metabolism is a furnace and if you feed it  more HEALTHY logs, it will burn hotter and give off more energy...hence, calorie burning.  The diet mentality is only making people more fat and unhealthy and is leading them down a road of failure.  With diets, you don't have to worry about calories making you fat, you should worry about a lack of calories making you fat.  I'll never forget the woman that I trained a couple years ago.  She was absolutely terrified of calories.  She was very frustrated because she had gained 10lbs over the last year.  Get this...she exercised 5 days a week for an hour and only ate 500 calories a day...UNBELIEVABLE!   I about fell off my stability ball when she told me this...I told her that 500 calories is like one of my snacks and she only ate that much in a WHOLE DAY.  She gained 10lbs in the year only eating 500 calories a day!  How?  She shut down her metabolism by starving herself.  If you try to trick your body, you will end up getting the short end of the stick. 

I tell people, don't let yourself get too hungry or too full.  It is ok to get hungry as that is our body's cue to tell us to eat, but if you wait until you are starving, your metabolism will go looking for calories in your muscles.  You also may not get hungry, which simply means that you have trained your metabolism to be slow and you need to retrain it by eating more...even when you don't feel like you are hungry.  On the flipside, you should never eat until too full as this will cause a metabolic dump.  This means that your body is overloaded with calories and will store many of them as fat.  It takes your stomach 15 minutes or so to catch up to your brain.  If you eat too fast, you will not feel FULL until it's too late.  So, eat until you are satisfied (not still hungry and not full).  It's at that point where you feel like you could keep eating, but if you stopped, you would not feel anymore hunger.  You have to learn to listen to your body and be in tune with it.  You have to be disiplined to eat the right foods 90% of the time and leave 10% for "error."  This is not an article about what foods to eat, so I will not dive into that right now. I just wanted to point out the fact that this way of eating that I have talked about only works if you eat the right foods most of the time because not all calories are created equal.  That is for another day though. 

To sum it up, don't starve yourself, embrace carbs and fats (the healthy ones), never stay hungry, don't eat until you can't move, make wise food choices 90% of the time, keep your metabolic furnace burning all day and don't listen to the diet hype.  If you ever want to become a lean mean metabolic machine, you have to ditch the diet mentality or your world will be a fat reality.  Feed the muscles the right blend of premium fuel at regular intervals throughout the day and couple that with HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) as well as an appropriate resistance training program and you will be well on your way.  You will never have to worry about "dieting" again.  Afterall, the first 3 letters of the word DIEt are...

Spring Cleaning

     Spring is a perfect time to not only do some deep cleaning, but also to do some serious revamping.  I'm not talking about decluttering your house, throwing junk out and shifting furniture around...I'm talking about decluttering your body, cleaning your cupboards out and shifting your mindset.  Lets start with decluttering your body.
    
     Most peoples' bodies are like toxic factories.  Unfortuneately, toxins store in the fat, most people have too much fat and are doing too little to get rid of that fat.  Furthermore, the average person is exposed to over 500 toxins per day from the air we breathe, to the food we eat, to the things we drink to the stress we have.  Also consider that the average person has 2-10 stored meals sitting in their colon at any given time.  The worst part is that most people are not extinguishing these toxins from their body.  Instead they are giving them a nice, warm, cozy place to live and multiply.  This obviously has many serious health implications that I will not get into in this blog.  I simply want to inform people to develop a plan of action to eliminate these toxins on a daily basis so you can live a better quality life.  Our bodies were not designed to be a toxic dump site.  The first step in cleaning out the toxins is a five letter word for many of you...WATER.  You need at least 64 oz per day, but should ideally be at half your bodyweight in ounces per day.  What do you count as water?  Well, as the saying goes, "if you wouldn't wash your face in it, don't count it as water."  Also, it should be filtered water free of chlorine, flouride and many other very harmful chemicals that get into the water.  Next, you should be eating most of your foods from God-made sources, not man-made.  Processed foods are little toxic warehouses.  They are a double whammy!  They will make you fat and give you an abundance of toxins to store in that fat.  The bottom line is that you need to eat real, high fiber foods as close to the way they are in nature as possible.  The more organic the better as well so you avoid the harsh chemicals and soil conditions filling our plants with awful toxins.  If you need nutritional help, then seek a professional that is PRACTICING WHAT THEY PREACH.  Next, no matter how good you eat, you WILL be missing many important nutrients so WHOLE FOOD supplementation is a must.  You need daily supplementation that will alkalize, detoxify, fill nutritional gaps and balance the immune system.  Failure to take this seriously will lead to health problems.  A great website to check out for supplementation is http://www.defeatthefat.org/.  The last thing I will mention is exercise.  Sweating out toxins is excellent!  Even better is the fact that exercise will help control stress giving you a better outlook on life and more confidence.  Stress in the body releases toxic substance that will destroy your body over time.  Exercise is crucial for regular detoxing as well as toxin control. 

     The last 2 things I will lump together and be brief about although they are vitally important...cleaning your cupboards out and shifting your mindset.  Lets face it, if you have bad food and drinks in the cupboards, you WILL consume them.  So, get rid of them!  Don't use them up until they are gone...just get rid of them...NOW!  They will not do you any good.  You need to revamp what's in your cupboards and fridge.  If you only have healthy food and drinks around...guess what...you will only consume healthy food and drinks.  If you need to splurge every now and then, go out and get it and then it's gone.  If you bring the cake home, you will keep eating it every day until it's gone.  Believe me, I know how that works because I have seen many food logs to prove it.  This also goes along with a shift in mindset.  If you hold onto the past, your hands won't be wide open to grab your future.  (If you hold onto bad foods/drinks/habits, you will never change your body or your health.)  You have to decide how bad you want it!  You spring clean your house, your office, your car...etc.  Why not spring clean your body?  Spring is the perfect time to get your body detoxified and KEEP it detoxified as well as revamping how you shop at the grocery store and shifting how you think about your body and health.  Do you want your body to be a toxic dump site or a flourishing garden of health?  Go after the body you were designed to have and don't settle for less!

Personal Health Portfolio

Are you making an investment in your health?  Are you setting your body up for retirement? 

So many people make their finances a top priority and are very diligent at saving and investing for their futures.  Why not do that for you body?  You might have millions of dollars, but if your health is poor, you can't enjoy that money.  What is more important, your health or your money?  I heard a great quote one time that really sums up what I'm talking about.  "So many people lose their health to make money and then get to a point in life where they turn around and have to spend money on their bad health."  You have the power to make the choice to invest in your health so you can draw from that interest as you get older.

Most people wait before something happens and then have to do medical intervention.  I would much rather practice prevention by having a well-balanced health portfolio.  There are some key investments that you need to make in order to get the best return on investment from your health.  Consider this list of health investments:

• Daily detoxification including regularity
• Immune system balancing
• Alkalizing
• Adequate water intake
• Unprocessed natural and organic foods and FIT eating
• Whole food supplementation
• Blood sugar control
• Cortisol control
• Sufficient REM sleep
• Thermogenesis
• Maximized metabolism
• Natural growth hormone release
• Hormonal balance
• Essential exercise selection
• Positive practice

As you see, there are a lot of different areas to invest in for the most well-balanced healthy portfolio.  It really boils down to a choice to make your health a top priority.  I often tell people, why put your faith into the health care system (really should be called the disease care system)...instead, take your health into your own hands.  No one cares about your body more than you do, so why trust other people to take care of you?  It's time to make a choice to maximize your health portfolio so you enjoy living off the interest.  Furthermore, you are not doing it to necessarily live longer (which you probably will), you are doing it to LIVE BETTER.  I assure you, that if you put your health on the back burner too long, you will forget about it and it will eventually get burned.  When you reach that point, you begin to significantly affect those close to you and rob yourself of being able to truly enjoy your life.  I have never met a happy unhealthy person.  Sickness and disease ends up dominating peoples' lives and it is sad to see.  Most of them could have prevented their health problems. 

I boldly ask you to not discount any of the health investment options that I mentioned.  Actually, in my book, they are not really options, they are just a way of life.  If you need help putting the right portfolio together, hire a professional.  You get a financial advisor for your finances, so why not get a health advisor for your health and well-being?  No one knows when they will leave this earth, but why go sooner than your intended time?  Furthermore, don't you want to have as high a quality of life as possible until it's your time to go?  I promise you that you will never regret having a strong personal health portfolio.  The earlier you get started, the better the investment is, but it is never too late to start investing. 

What Are You Waiting For?

Are you spending too much time thinking about your health and fitness goals instead of taking action towards them?  No matter how hard and long you think about them, you will never accomplish your goals without action.....CONSISTENT ACTION!   Consider that we are now in February and the gyms are starting to clear out as people begin to fall away from the motivation they had just 1 month earlier.  One month is only scraping the surface of their goals, yet, why do so many people lose focus after such a short period of time? 

My first response is that they don't want it bad enough, or in other words, DESIRE it.  If someone has a strong enough desire to do or accomplish something, they will stop at nothing until they get there.  I could give you story after story for examples of this. 

Here is one...think about someone trying to quit smoking.  They try pills, hypnosis, patches, gum, etc.  They stop smoking and then start again...in the same day! AND, do it day after day.  Most of them are "trying to quit."  It's like someone trying to eat better...you DO or you DON'T!  The apple or the donut.  What about those people that quit cold turkey and never smoke again?  What separates them from the others that I have mentioned?  It is a DECISION  that was birthed out of a DESIRE.  The bottom line is that if someone only wants something and doesn't DESIRE something, there is a part of them that really doesn't want to change their behaviors.

So, with that said, people usually WANT to look better, feel better and be healthier.  They talk about it, read about it, watch t.v. shows about it, join gyms, go on crazy DIEts, buy exercise equipment, take pills and think this is the answer.  The truth is that none of those things are the answer!  So many people are missing the TRUTH.  The TRUTH doesn't cost anything monetarily, it doesn't involve piling more information into your brain, it's not tangible and it doesn't come and go like the wind.  It is something that is locked up deep inside every person and is like a hidden treasure chest.  Inside this treasure chest are not excuses for why you can't... (fill in the blank), external stimuli or wishful thinking.  Inside the treasure chest you will find nuggets of gold like...I WILL accomplish my health and fitness goals and will stop at nothing to get there, I DESIRE to look and feel better and will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to make that happen, I WILL continue to PUSH until I get to the top of the mountain and my body IS a LIVING sacrifice and I WILL treat it like one. 

It is these affirmations and revelations that come from deep within that will literally and figuratively shape who you are and who you will become.  If you want the secret to weight loss and looking and feeling your best...YOU ALREADY HAVE THE ANSWER!  Find that treasure chest and unlock it.  The gold inside it may save your life!

~Clayton Halls