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What Disease?

I will proclaim that there is no such thing as disease from this day forward. That is not to say that there aren’t disorders of function(disfunction) within the human experience. Indeed there is, and we have all experienced disorders to one degree or another.

In other words, I am going to do my best to remove the term disease from my linguistic arsenal because I believe it to be problematic. Problematic in that it allows for a continued building up of ideas and language that takes us further away from the truth of what disease truly is. An advanced state of aging. A problem resulting from our body lacking the vital energies needed to repair or replace the components that we are wearing out. To say it another way, we are using up our body’s resources faster than we can renew them.

And so in some sense, the word disease becomes an expensive paywall that prevents us from understanding what is really going on. And this disease is simply the first paywall or locked door that keeps us from really understanding what is really going on. Once you are convinced that you have a disease and you have gone through that door, it is further separated out into many other doorways and dim passages by which the initial problem becomes even more confused, obscured, blurred, and specialized into other, even scarier sounding disorders and diseases that become even more difficult to understand. This then ultimately leads us down the road to needing a doctor to guide us as blind people through the perilous straights of murky medical terminology. By the time the common man gets to this point they don’t know what to do. And in many cases, their doctor’s primary care doctors know little more. From this point, specialists who hold the keys of knowledge hidden behind the doors of specialties and specific diagnoses aren’t really able to help us better understand what is going on simply because they lack the time or skills needed to easily teach us in plain language what is really going on within our body. And thus we simply trust them in their decision-making processes that landed us in their care in the first place. And once most people get to this point there is little they can do other than say okay, submitting ourselves to a course of treatment that isn’t necessarily going to get us back to a state of homeostasis. To a place of normalcy where our body can once again be in its default state of organic and biological flow where everything is working with ease.

And this then leads us back to life…

There is only life and life exists regardless of our consciousness of it. We get to participate in it for a period of time. A span. A spectrum of existence that begins with what we humans call birth, and that existence has a temporal ending that we call death. Metaphorically speaking, we are simply an act if you will. A scene in a movie or play that makes up the whole of our individual lives. Our act or scene is a story that has many stages in between its temporal beginning and end. One story; yet two natures. One that is physical and the other that is spiritual. One is the story of our physical body and the other is that which we call our consciousness. Yet, both are a part of the same individual story that makes up each individual human life. And it is all an animated existence powered by electrical energy.

Our physical body is an organic, carbon-based life form that has been drawn up, gathered together, animated, and electrified as a utilitarian, beneficial, and necessary part of life here on Earth. We are here for a reason. In some sense acting as a counterbalance to another factor that exists within the realm of life on Earth.

So where does disease fit into all of this talk of man’s nature? What if I told you that disease is simply a metaphor for aging that has been used as a marketing tool in some sense? Well, that’s exactly what it is. The marketing of an idea that at the very least implies that there is something going on in our body that is out of our control that needs some form of external input, whether by ourselves or the hands of another.

So let’s remove the word disease from our common use of language and call it what it is then. Simply aging.

Beginning somewhere between conception and birth, aging has been defined as a steady decline or reduction of physiological function that leads to increased susceptibility to diseases that will ultimately end in biological death.

Beginning –> Aging –> Disease –> Death/End

When compared to other mammals, humans have what appears on the surface to be a longer lifespan. Approximately 120 years according to what humans have defined as a solar year consisting of 365 1/4 days.

Sidenote: I would like to argue that all mammals within their individual context from their own perspective experience the same amount of perceptible time known as a lifespan regardless of how humans define time. The idea that a day to a human would be something like a week to a dog, as an example. This might explain why a dog is so happy to see its human that has been gone on a two-week vacation. To us humans, it has only been two weeks, but to that dog, perhaps, it has been something akin to us having been gone for almost 2 months time.

Standard evolutionary models of aging are explained as the full potential of our body’s ability to repair or replace cells that would allow for continued existence. The idea is that over time, what we call natural selection, through a process called senescence, or the deterioration of age, begins to exert less effort in the removal of our spent cells. Our body loses its will to take out the trash, if you will.

This brings me back to the state that we have classically called disease. And this is the basis by which I would like to suggest that we stop using this negative, pejorative term for what is simply the process of aging.

What’s Keeping Us From Living Our Fullest Life?

Look at the fangs on this fuzzy fella. He is a gibbon and gibbons are frugivores.

I used to think that the reason we humans have these teeth in our mouth that we call canines is that we were meant to eat meat. Well, this fuzzy fella has some crazy-looking fangs, yet he only eats fruit all day.

 

I’m not saying that we cannot eat meat, because surely we can and do. But just because we call 4 teeth in our mouth canine teeth and they vaguely look like what a canine has a mouthful of doesn’t mean that meats were to be eaten by us in the amounts we do.

I still plan on continuing my non-animal fare as long as wisdom leads me down that path. It makes the most sense to me from my studies over the last 4.5 years on how the human body works BEST.

Can we eat meat? Sure. Should we eat meat? Not to the extent that most of us do if there is plenty of fresh plant-based/whole-foods are readily available. But hey, if you happened to find yourself lost in the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Canada, and Alaska and the only things the Inuit have to offer is seal, then eat up my friend. It’s better than the other option.

If malnourishment were the other option for me I already have a plan in place for how I would go about consuming it. I’d rather be prepared than be caught off guard in that eventuality.

Can we humans fully function on a completely whole-food/plant-based diet alone? I am and I know a lot of other people that are doing it too, and we are all doing just fine. Am I 100% convinced that any one of us vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, or carnivore has it all figured out? No. There may yet be a better answer still.

These days we are living in a world of plenty where we have so many good options that we actually have the luxury to actually choose to do as we like. Something a lot of humans couldn’t have done just 150 short years ago. Many were just trying to maintain health or even simply survive. And sadly many suffered from all manner of malnourishment diseases that have been virtually vanquished in this world of plenty we live in today.

I personally can’t wait for the first person that has figured out how to live more than 120 years with a body that looks, feels, and functions like a healthy 24. It will start with a single person with sight beyond their own short life. A person that understands that there are things that are within our midst, within our grasp, within our power to control. Principles by which we can become the fullness of the life that was intended to be used by the intelligence that saw fit to gather our elements together into a cohesive bundle of energy. A life force bound up in this unique form for a purpose.

Racquetballs, Lipids(fats), and Cellular Health

Everything that we put in our mouths influences our cellular health and function. And it is the nutrients, or foods, that we eat that, after being assimilated, become the building blocks of our cellular and metabolic structures.

Back in the year 1997, I remember a very distinct conversation I had with a friend of the family by the name of Jim Brice. I had just started working out at 24 Hour Fitness and he was the only person I knew that was somewhat of a health guru. Back then we called them health nuts.

I contacted him because I was wanting more information about protein and how I could build bigger muscles without having to spend too much money on a bunch of unnecessary supplements. He moved the conversation pretty quickly from protein powders to cellular structure and why building healthy cells was the first step to building bigger muscles. What he said next has stuck with me for the last 25 years. And he painted a brilliant word picture to illustrate.

He told me that our cells need to be like brand new racquetballs and as soon as he said that, I knew exactly what he meant.

If you are not familiar, let me explain. A brand new racquetball is shipped directly from the manufacturer, packaged in a vacuum-sealed container, to ensure the highest quality product for its intended use. A brand new racquetball is soft, supple, pliable, yet rigid in structure. When the package is opened, it whooshes as the outside air rushes inside. And that is when a racquetball is at its highest useful quality. If you’ve ever held one in your hand, you’ll know what I’m talking about. It’s all downhill from there though as the ball begins to oxidize as pliability gives way to structural rigidity.

When attempting to understand how sufficient fats are necessary to maintain cellular health and therefore, whole creature health, one needs to first understand what our cells are made up of.

      1. Fats
      2. Proteins
      3. Carbohydrates
      4. Vitamins
      5. Minerals

This does not only apply to humans, but it also applies to the foods that we eat. We, quite literally, are what we eat. Or so we’ve been told. But it may actually be more accurate to say that we are what our microbiome eats, which of course is the foods that we eat. That is to say that we are or should be considering first and foremost that there is an intermediate step between our stomach and the nutrients that find their way into our bloodstream. And that intermediate step consists of many trillion micro-organisms and organelles that inhabit our intestinal tract just below our stomach.

So, in a sense, when we feed ourselves, we are technically acting as a banquet server for those intermediary life forms that participate in the digestion process that allows us to assimilate the nutrients from our food.

This brings me to that dreaded F word that is lacking in many whole-food/plant-based diets. Fats. Some would suggest that we don’t need to consume what they refer to as overt fats, like avocado, nuts, seeds, and oils. However, our internal cellular structures require these to function properly. They are necessary and deficiencies will eventually show up. Not right away, but over time. It may even take a good year before we start noticing changes on the surface. That thing we see in the mirror.

The following is an extensive list. I personally abstain from a number of things on this list. Those things will be marked with an asterisk(*).

      • avocadoes
      • canola oil*
      • cashews*
      • olive oil
      • peanut butter*
      • peanuts*
      • sesame oil*
      • sesame seeds
      • chia seeds
      • corn oil*
      • fish (especially fatty fish, for Omega-3 fatty acid)***
      • pumpkin seeds
      • sunflower oil*
      • sunflower seeds
      • safflower
      • soybean oil*
      • walnuts

The reason why fats are important is that they help maintain a semi-permeable state of our cellular structures, allowing pliability and nutrient transport across the cellular barrier. In contrast, saturated fats do not function in like manner. They result in the cellular membranes becoming rigid. This is not optimal in that it results in the limited functionality of our cells.

All this to say that we need to be consuming a sufficient amount of fats in our daily diet. But not just any fats. We need to be consuming a sufficient amount of the right kind of fats. And I’m sure you noticed that the list above was primarily plant-based. The exception is fatty fish which this author DOES NOT recommend for optimal health for those on a whole-food/plant-based diet. However, there is some research that would suggest a very small amount once per week may provide some additional benefits to those 65 years of age and above.

–Michael J. Loomis

Following The Equatorial Sun

A question from a friend. “I would like to improve my sleep. Are there any herbs you are taking?”

I’m still trying to figure that out. It is a work in progress. A journey of trial, error, and course correction. I am suspecting that quality of sleep is more about behavior and practices that ultimately affect our internal chemistry than what we are supplementally putting in our mouth to alter that chemistry. We really shouldn’t have to add something supplemental to our body to improve the quality of our sleep, but first, figure out what is going on in our immediate internal and external environment that is disturbing our sleep and then, make that correction. As I continue to grow in my knowledge about human physiology and disease pathology I am finding that our body’s own chemistry is what best determines how well we sleep; good or bad. Good chemistry leads to good sleep while bad chemistry results in bad sleep.

To me, it is abundantly clear that the way we are eating is ultimately determining or at least heavily influencing what kinds of bacterial populate our gut and ultimately determine our internal chemistry that affects our sleep. Whether it be related to our gut bacteria producing chemistry that overly stimulates us or by interfering with the signals that would normally tell us when to recline is irrelevant. Bad sleep is bad sleep and nobody needs that if they want to thrive.

And so it is because of these colonies of gut bacteria, yeast, fungi, virus, and archaea that we should be respecting that they also have a time and place to, in some sense, rule the roost we call ourselves. You see, we are not a simple single entity or intelligence but a whole host of intelligent activity that is called a holobiont.

“A holobiont is an assemblage of a host and the many other species living in or around it, which together form a discrete ecological unit, though there is controversy over this discreteness. The components of a holobiont are individual species or bionts, while the combined genome of all bionts is the hologenome.” –Wikipedia

All of these micro-organisms that live in, on, and about our being have rhythms that they follow regardless of when we decide as to the human part of the holobiont. They don’t change their waking and sleeping times simply because we want to work the night shift or be a commercial airline pilot that is constantly jogging across timezones in order to earn an income. They follow the equatorial sun and we should learn to follow their lead. If not, we may find that we will suffer because of their inability to function properly because of our shortsighted behaviors.

Regarding the times and amount of hours per day that we are putting our food into our bodies, we should be following the equatorial sun. 12 hours on and 12 hours off. We should only be letting food kiss our lips if it can first be kissed by the equatorial sun. That means only eating between the hours of 6 am and 6 pm. No matter what latitude one lives at. That in some sense, our body is beholden to a circadian rhythm, not only for sleep but also for eating.

I find that when I do this I sleep better. Give it a try for a couple of weeks and let me know what you think. I’m pretty sure it takes a couple of weeks because we ultimately have to allow time for our microbiome to shift in our gut to start properly synthesizing the right body chemistry as a result of this better practice.

Here’s to better sleep in both quality and quantity.

Do You Know Squat?

I’ve been practicing it daily now for 3.5 years. I drop down and hold for a 30 count first thing in the morning upon greeting the morning sun.

This after peddling my legs while laying on my back 50 times. 50 leg extensions while holding my legs with my hands behind my knees and then 100 leg curls while on my belly. It’s my way to start the day and get the engines running full steam ahead.

I also do 15 squats at a time, sometimes multiple times per day, while holding on to the kitchen sink. I may do that many times a day, but at least once so that I can do a tremendous amount of squats a year. How can that not do something positive for the body?

At this point in my morning routine, I do a full-body lymphatic where I massage all of my limbs and torso towards the jugular veins in my neck. The purpose of this is to keep all of the intracellular and lymphatic fluids moving in a positive direction, back into general vascular circulation for better overall health. I’ve seen the benefits in my own life. Here is what I’ve noticed.

Overall improved skin/tissue quality which in turn improves color and appearance.

It reduces fluid retention and swelling by moving excess water and metabolic waste from the tissues back into the lymphatic channels where our immune system can do its best work.

I’ve also noticed a better texture across my skin overall along with a reduction in scar tissues. My suspicion is that this makes our body more efficient at healing its injuries and illness related to direct trauma and surgeries.

And of course, possibly the greatest benefit of all, it is incredibly relaxing.

I have a very lofty goal of making it to 120 years of age with a body that looks and feels no more than a healthy, robust 34. But wouldn’t that be fascinating if I got to see my birthday in the year 2116? I would love nothing more than to celebrate my birthday at 144 with a body that looked and felt no more than 24.

I’m simply growing a fully refurbished body. And it is gonna last. This time I’m doing it the right way.

Death was once my master. Now it has become my greatest teacher. A wicked man that I once was, obeying the dictates bearing the fruits of ignorance in my daily life. I had no idea the path I was traveling and where it was going to lead me. But I have repented and now I will not relent. I have found joy in knowing that I am no longer a victim of circumstance or just bad luck because of genetics. That life is not a roll of some celestial dice. That it is not something that is in every way out of my control. But something more comforting, knowing that there is a will in this thing called life that wants us to not only be healthy and wise but also bear much good fruit unto life itself.

We are here for a reason. Life does not waste its force where there is no return on investment. We are here for a purpose and it is my pleasure to serve that greater good even if I don’t yet fully understand the goal. And that is why I am here to serve.

And it all begins with some squats at the beginning of each and every day with the first kiss of the merciful morning sun that brings me life and the motivation to rise to the occasion.

I Learned a Valuable Lesson Today

I learned a valuable lesson today.

If someone is having trouble digesting certain kinds of foods and are seeking advice from you, be sure to find out if they have all of their original body parts intact.

EXAMPLE : If someone has had their gallbladder removed there is a very good chance that they won’t be able to digest fats properly without supplemental enzymes.

If you are someone that is having digestion problems please be sure to consider your prior health problems and surgeries related to those prior surgical interventions in your investigations. Also, please lead with that information if you are seeking advice from someone else.

Personal note to those that have had a gallbladder removed…

If you are someone that has had your gallbladder removed, be aware that your body still needs enough of the right fats even though fat digestion may not be possible without supplemental enzymes. You can’t just stop eating the fats the body needs to function properly and expect the same outcome. That’s not how the body works.

Fat’s, Carbs, Confusion, and Misconceptions

A gram of carbohydrates contains 4 calories. A gram of fat contains 9 calories.
Carbohydrates and fats are not the same things, but they are not as different as some might believe or even teach.

Fats are organic compounds that, LIKE CARBOHYDRATES, are composed of the elements carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O), arranged to form molecules.

Fats, like carbohydrates, are composed of the same elements. Their elements are simply arranged differently for a reason. Both are used for energy within the body, but for different purposes and processes in fueling and sustaining the whole human creature.

While simple carbohydrates(Carbon-Oxygen-Hydrogen) are the body’s primary source of fuel that requires the least amount of metabolic energy to assimilate, fats(Carbon-Oxygen-Hydrogen) have to be broken down into fatty acids for assimilation.

Where they differ is that fats are broken down into fatty acids to make cell linings and hormones. Carbohydrates both simple and starchy are not.

Carbohydrates are water-soluble and are the most readily available source of dietary energy for all living creatures great and small. Fats on the other hand are not soluble in water but require other organic enzymes to break them down. Fats are also the way our body stores energy for later use when carbohydrates may not be readily available.

Our body needs a lot of energy to do all of its work and it is important that we get enough of ALL of the kinds of energy that our body needs, from both carbohydrates and fats. Not just one or the other.

Carbohydrates are the simplest fuel source for our body that we can equate to gasoline for our cars. Where fats are like the crude oil that our refineries use in the refining process that ultimately provides us with gasoline for our cars. And just like in our crude oil refineries our body draws other necessary and useful elements from the fats we consume that are necessary and beneficial for overall human health and wellness. Just think of all the other wonderfully useful petroleum products we have that we take for granted from a barrel of crude aside from the gasoline that we put in our cars. Things like paint, makeup, clothing, shampoo, conditioner, and even the lenses for our glasses, just to name a few.

Carbohydrates are like gasoline and fats are like the crude oil by which gasoline can be extracted along with other useful components. This is why fats contain 9 calories per gram versus carbohydrates containing only 4 calories per gram.

And this is why it is important to get ENOUGH of the RIGHT KIND of energy sources from both carbohydrates and fats. Again, not just one or the other. If we are not consuming enough of the right kinds of fats our body cannot maintain proper cellular structure and overall cellular health, wellbeing, and ultimately the desired longevity of years free from disease.

And when it comes to functionality they also each contribute to different processes. Like different players on the same baseball team. Fats also help in assimilating vitamins like A, D, E, K, while the glucose converted by the metabolism of carbohydrates fuels this process.

Fats also assist in regulating things like hormone production and protecting organs as a whole and at the cellular level. Fats also help in maintaining a steady body temperature. Whereas, the undigestable fiber in carbohydrates helps maintain blood sugar levels, cholesterol levels and is a major contributor to removing waste from our body, which fats cannot do.

So, as you can see fats and carbohydrates are both very important components in the body’s overall activities that require energy and they both serve different purposes within the bigger picture of life.

Around 20-35 percent of our dietary intake should be from fats and 60-75 percent of our dietary intake should be from carbohydrates. This amount will fluctuate based on our body’s needs at any given point in time.

There are a lot of well-meaning teachers on our modern social networks and elsewhere that suggest diets that are too low in what we call fats. As I said, they mean well, and they can be 100% correct about everything else they suggest about the foods we eat, but ultimately miss the bigger picture, leaving their students in an eventual malnourished state.

Please be sure to do your own research. Don’t just listen to talking heads and do what they simply say to do. Not even me. Invest your own time, your greatest asset of all into your own knowledge of this or any other subject. If you do, I can assure you that you will value your convictions and decisions to a much higher level than the ones that were given to you at no cost. We humans just don’t tend to value that which we do not invest in. Invest in your education, it will always pay you rich dividends.

What Has Changed?

Since some of you asked, I thought I would answer like this.

What has your experience been since moving away from a raw vegan “fruitarian” lifestyle/diet?

Two BIG changes that I feel are a move in the right direction are…

  1. Better bowel movements
  2. No more trips mid-night trips to the bathroom

I really had no expectations that these two things would take place. But frankly, both are tremendously beneficial results in my book. My bowels appear to be much happier and I’m getting a better quality of sleep. There are a couple of reasons for this that I will explain below. My gut just feels more at peace. It’s kind of hard to explain.

What foods I have changed.

  1. Sweet Potatoes
  2. Vegetable Soup
  3. Daily Green Boost

What else I have changed.

I start my day with my largest caloric intake so that by the end of the day my body is better able to find rest before I go to sleep at night. I start heavier at breakfast(break fast) and then I go lighter as the day goes on. I am currently on a rotation where I have a large salad one day, a big bowl of vegetable soup the next day, and a big bowl of sweet potatoes on the third day. This makes the most amount of sense to me. It’s also easier.

On the days I eat my salads and soups, I supplement Daily Green Boost with bananas mashed up along with shelled hemp seeds and chia seeds. It’s like a deep dark green banana-flavored tapioca pudding. I know some will decry foul with my combining fruits with fats, but I would disagree on a physiological level. Our body in its infinite wisdom combines both lingual lipase and alpha-amylase in our salivary glands together precisely for the digestion of both starches and fats. And nature wouldn’t create a perfect fruit like an avocado which contains both fats and carbohydrates if they weren’t supposed to be consumed at the same time. But alas there will be some that suggest we shouldn’t be eating avocados. I disagree with them on this point as well. Just don’t eat too much avocado in one sitting. Go easy on this wonderful fruit.

On the days I eat sweet potatoes, I will have a large and hydrating banana and berry smoothie for lunch with coconut water and coconut milk combined with Daily Green Boost.

I still eat fruit throughout the day, but just not as much. I also have changed my eating window to something called Time-Restricted Feeding. Some of you may call it Intermittent Fasting, but I believe the former is a better way of understanding what it is that is happening physiologically. Because until someone stops putting calories into their body, they are not fasting. And I believe that even the use of the word fasting implies some greater benefit or inflated sense of reality that in the long run will hinder its adherents down a path that is of limited success and possibly other systemic failures including gallstone formation, which I will address later.

Therefore, I suggest that we would best be served to use the most accurate terminology, not only in this endeavor but in all things we do, because it is our own internal dialogue that ultimately matters the most.

Intermittent Fasting as most are calling it has gained much popularity as a mode of beneficial lifestyle change, but I believe that there is still much confusion out there about how to properly execute it as a program.

Once again, I want to stress the importance of calling it what it really is. Time-Restricted feeding.

One teacher, Dr. David Sinclair of Harvard University, whom I highly respect for his hard work in helping people not only overcome disease but also live longer lives practices an extreme version of this by limiting their eating to one meal per day. Most, however, limit their eating window to somewhere between 6 and 8 hours. And it is reported that this method produces favorable results. I on the other hand tend to agree with Dr. Valter Longo of the University of Southern California(USC), that the optimal feeding window is something more along the lines of 12 hours per day, and that it be held to consistently for the greatest outcome.

Though I don’t remember the exact reasoning from his fabulous book, The Longevity Diet, I do remember that he had one especially good reason for 12 hours per day being the optimal feeding window. Preventing gallstone formation.

How does gallstone formation happen?

Our bodies are very conservative and seem to be rather fond of the fruits of their labor. Bile(gall) is one of them. Bile is a yellowish-brown to a dark-green solution that is continually produced in the liver that serves to digest fats in the small intestine. And it’s as if our body refuses to waste this product, bile, that is created by storing and concentrating it in our gallbladder until the next time we partake in a meal. While being stored in the gallbladder, the bile is further concentrated by the removal of water. Hence, the formation of gallstones if it is stored for too long before being used again.

The solution is simple and should be quite obvious. Eating even a small amount of food that contains fat sends a message to the gallbladder to release bile so that it can do the work it was created for. If you are not eating for 18 hours a day or eating a diet that consists of little or no fat, you are just asking for gallstones and a strong possibility of surgical intervention to have your gallbladder removed according to Dr. Longo. A course of action that further hinders our body’s ability to attain its fullest potential of 120 healthy years.

As well, though researchers haven’t figured out exactly why studies do indicate that there is a correlation between those that forego breakfast having a much greater incidence of disease and overall mortality.

So to wrap this up, there are clear problems related to shortened feeding windows of 6 to 8 hours that can lead to gallstone formation and a possible need for surgical intervention. And on the other end of the spectrum for those eating 15 hours a day or more, other metabolic problems begin to arise along with sleeping disorders related to the practice.

My advice is similar to Dr. Valter Longo’s. Simply follow the rhythm of the equatorial sun as balance is always found in the middle. If it cannot be kissed by the sun before entering your mouth, don’t let it kiss your lips. Just remember 12 and 12.

As I promised above my thoughts on why my urinary and bowel movements have improved as I have implemented these changes.

As I mentioned in my prior two short essays, “Why Am I No Longer a Raw Vegan?” & “Fruit, Soups and Salads“, there is a proper balance of electrolytes that ultimately keep our body in a state of euhydration(sufficient hydration).

If you have ENOUGH of ALL of the electrolytes that the body requires, it will remain in a greater state of ease and homeostasis. Our bowels will move like they are supposed to and when they are supposed to because our hydration levels will be optimized. Our urinary frequency will be reduced because our kidneys will not be having to work overtime to constantly be reducing the amounts of some electrolytes to balance out ALL of them. No more insignificant visits to the bathroom and especially the ones in the middle of the night. Why? Because our body will be in a state of homeostasis where it can find rest and work on its healing and restorative processes.

Finally, Time-Restricted Feeding isn’t a quick fix as much as it is a long-term lifestyle that is part of why the Blue Zones even exist and why those in these demographics are living longer more robust lives. Not only are they eating more of the right things, but their eating patterns are inherently more aligned with what nature intended for a body with a potential to live an active 120 years.

And if you need to lose weight, don’t change the foods you eat or restrict the window by which you feed; simply eat less over the same 12-hour span.

Master of My Ways

There came a point in time when my skin no longer felt as though it was my own. As if my skin was telling me that it no longer wanted to be a part of my person.

Commitment to the outcome I desire.

My success is only limited by the energy I dedicate to the outcome I desire.

This is a starting point. I will be back to finish this shortly. Call it a brain bookmark…LoL

The Result(fruit) – https://chewdigest.com/do-you-know-squat/

500 Words a Day

I would like to eventually be a researcher and author by trade. Sitting on my very own boat docked just across the bay from the Queen Mary in Shoreline Marina. 28 short miles away from our beautiful little island gem of Catalina, just off the California coastline. No more than a short trip across the water for a weekend stay. And this just doesn’t seem feasible as a wage slave. I no longer want my lifestyle to depend on my bartering with my time beating the same drum week after week.

I’m no longer interested in simply trading my time for money. Don’t get me wrong I will always need access to currency to live in the world we live in, but I’ve learned that no matter how much you make per hour, simply trading your time for money, a wage, is not the right mindset to have. I want to create assets that will continue to bring forth fruit long after my hands have completed the work.

It has become apparent to me that doing whatever it takes to increase the amount of money I can make per hour is just the wrong way to go about generating income. Futile to say the least. I heard Jim Carrey once say,

“I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it’s not the answer.”

I think he’s right. Not that I’ve yet achieved riches and fame, but I have made minimal amounts of money per hour and I have earned rather significant amounts of money per hour and neither end of the spectrum made me feel any better about the work I had been doing. You either like what you do or you don’t. More money does mean that you can potentially buy more things, save more money or give more to your favorite charity, but it also means you are going to be paying more in taxes negating the whole point of making more for most people.

If you want to achieve wealth that is truly significant, what needs to be done is achieve what John Goodman in the 2014 movie, The Gambler suggests. What he called, “A Level of F.U.”

You get up two and a half million dollars, any a$$hole in the world knows what to do: you get a house with a 25 year roof, an indestructible Japanese economy sh!tbox, you put the rest into the system at three to five percent to pay your taxes and that’s your base, get me? That’s your fortress of f’ing solitude. That puts you, for the rest of your life, at a level of f**k you. Somebody wants you to do something, f**k you. Boss pisses you off, f**k you! Own your house. Have a couple bucks in the bank. Don’t drink. That’s all I have to say to anybody on any social level. https://youtu.be/qGC9FY65HBo

And this just makes sense. Of course, the problem for most still depends on their ability to get to that point and how that happens. Well, I can tell you, the answer is not to simply get to fifty, sixty, seventy, or one-hundred dollars an hour, because even then it will take a long time to get there. And whatever you are doing to get those increased amounts of wages are not stable as long as they are wages traded for hours of your time.

And for me, that answer likely is found within the world of content creation, whether it be audio(podcast), videos(YouTube), or publishing books as an author. It is in these areas that I have already achieved the level of master. More than 10,000 hours experience. And I would be silly to try and retool my life at this point because it would mean that I would have to start all over again at something new.

And so I am going to continue focusing my energies on writing. And that the title of this post comes from. 500 words a day is my goal, and if I end up writing more, it will just be icing on the cake. The answer has been staring me in the face for a long time. I’ve said it over and over and over again to many a person that I can pound out 500 words in a response to someone on Facebook, but getting to 30,000 words or more I am at a loss. Well silly me kept telling myself how I could do it.

500 words a day…

And guess what…In just 60 days, I will have written 30,000 words. Why did it take me this long to figure it out? Because I was focusing on the wrong part of the goal and not that which is achievable. That which I already know how to do well. 500 words a day.

Do I think I will be a New York Times best-selling author? I believe I will if I just keep at it. This is how success works. I know the answer. And knowing the answer is half the battle. The other half is putting into practice the first half.

So here I am, and here is my answer, and I will achieve success eventually. And I will eventually be able to achieve the level of success that means I can do whatever I want to do with my time. That and I will be giving a gift of myself to my children and their children and so forth so that they can get to know me better long after I am gone. And hopefully, I will continue to get wiser along the way so that my words can inspire them from far beyond the gift of life and fullness of time I have been granted. At 500 words a day.

-Michael J. Loomis