My name is Rich alias Dr O and I will be your host. Introductions are in order with this first paragraph: I am the type of person who sings Pub songs and gets asked if I need a cab leaving an Irish Pub when all I drink is water and lime. I will dance and drum with the "Rastafarian" remaining upwind from the smoke. I bike around on a hybridized Bike I call the giraffe, a long neck upright sitting road bike with over-sized sun shirt and a big brimmed hat. I go to Burningman .. no drugs just act like it. The gym, the mountain trails, clear lakes/ oceans/rivers are some of the daily high points of my day because it feels sooooooo Gooood and the muscular fit bod is just a nice secondary side effect. At 51 I got the energy and enthusiasm of some athletic 20 year old. With all this being said and done I do not consider myself exceptional, I would say just average, just see things differently, make different choices than most. My healthy choices are not of fear of being sick but for the desire of living more fully. Fun is healthy being prudish is not. I like salads, raw and organic but also known to eat a whole pizza and a candy bar on occasion.I am far from perfect and never will be but hopefully improving.
When I look at the state of health of people around me, the national statistics (from World Health Organizations), the prevailing health crisis, its a reflection of the choices, lifestyles, environmental triggers/ factors. The reflection of the American dream turn nightmare. The hamster wheel of greed/ fear exhausting us. Staying in insulated cages of comfort: houses and cars. I see people pursuing feeling good, high states and health with pretty masked toxic solutions. Where the commercialized fantasies are quiet different from the realities.
Lets take a look at the "American dream" and/or quality of life.
Author's note: I consider myself a poor to fair writer, with hopes of getting better, conveying a future message of inspiration in considering other possibilities, future solutions, with wishes on not insulting the reader in the metaphors used,
enhance and redefine quality of life, celebrate healthy people and planet, a positive party with playful purpose, natural stress release, the empowering high
The American dream as it is popularly expressed in the media is a shiny polished apple with a rotten core. A nightmare disguised as a dream. Use critical thinking skills to challenge the multitude of lies that make up commercials.
ReplyDeleteHere are some commercials that are a bit more truthful:
Hey kids eat over-processed sugar cubes, loaded with artificial colors, preservatives, gmos, supplemented with artificial vitamins .. great to help you along in the pursuit of obesity and diabetes
Hey adults even with astronomical gas prices and overcrowded highways buy this glitzy oversized box, be a slave to its multiple installments, ever increasing fuel prices, insurance, continuous repairs, government fees, enjoy the cushioned seats as your seat/ posterior and midriff spreads with inactivity (now that's sexy), and feel good about support increasing oil profits/ dependance, wars, and environmental destruction
Hey everyone feeling a little down: drink some refined sugar phosphoric acid with artificial everything, need a little more energy try Brawndo the thirst mutilator (several kinds of caffeine and sugar .. from the movie: Idiocracy .. genius disguised as comedy.. ) http://www.brawndo.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy
much more later
OK you get the point
author's confession: I drive one of those gas guzzlers as little as possible .. but still I am owned by one. I do have sugar cubes on occasion but not often. I rarely drink ginger ale and do not drink Brawndo or its modern equivalent.
A divinely inspired device: the bicycle: a solution to so many challenges
ReplyDeletewhy ride? these guys say it so much better than I... In particular look up the "Your health" Link .. http://www.bikeleague.org/resources/why/
Its becoming the new social get together .. like a Gym/ Spa so much healthier than bars.. check out the increasing bike cultre in your area.. here are some local to me examples: bike churches (http://bikechurch.santacruzhub.org/), bike parties ( http://sfbikeparty.wordpress.com/ ), critical mass/ manners rides, burningman bike culture/ art ..etc.
Its history: http://www.pedalinghistory.com/PHhistory.html
Oxygen .. breathe .. of primary importance for health and state
ReplyDeleteOxygen: oxyidation is what gives us energy from our food. It drives cellular processes and all body functions. Like a fire that is deprived from air, fuel is burned ineffiently, more waste products are created, less energy. The most important ingredient to a healthy physical life is breathing. This aspect of health is most critical for life after approx. 4 minutes (warm temperature) neurological damage and death occurs. Our nervous system the communication line to all the body systems is approx. 5% body mass requires 20% resting oxygen to function. So at rest it requires up to 4 times the amount of oxygen as any other organ.
All organs and systems (immune, circulatory, digestive, muscular..) benefit from increased oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange.
To maximize your O2 intake breathe fully ...
check your posture.. decompress the organs by having the chest and head high
breathe with full lung.. diaphragm down, side of ribs out, and shoulders up..best air is outside,
move: your legs and perhaps your arms to create increased blood flow: the veins have one way values that create a secondary heart with the contraction of the muscles, the lymphatic fluid is also accelerated several fold with movement.
So posture, breathe and move for maximum oxygenation of the body and mind.
Under emotional stress notice that the posture is caved in, the breathe is shallow and we are sluggish in movement. To change our states do the posture, breathe, move rule plus add a smile and think of a good thing.
A duke study has shown exercise as effective as Zoloft in treating depression,without the side effects .. http://depression.about.com/od/exercise/tp/exercise.htm
Yogi, martial Artists, Meditators know the importance of deep breathing for mental clarity and mental/ physical performance.
Let us all protect this most valuable aspect of our health and moods by protecting our envirnment.. forests, trees, green ways (that recycle and clean the air), reducing or eliminating burning of anything,