•Chapter 1•
ARE YOU FIT AND FREE?
IT’S TIME TO TAKE STOCK
What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.1
—Naturalist Henry David Thoreau
IMAGINE YOURSELF IN a thin, vibrant, energetic, youthful, radiating, clear-skinned, super-healthy, blissful, toned, and muscular body. Imagine living in a super-charged, healthy body, enjoying stress-free days as you go throughout the week. Now go one step further. What would it be like if you could enjoy more than a fabulous body and a carefree, stress-free life? What if you could also wake up each morning with sheer joy and peace (inside and out) because you are not only healthy but also living out your dreams and destiny instead of just “getting by”? Does that sound and look like what you desire? Not just another diet but an entire change to your way of living life to its fullest? Yes, this is not only possible, but it is also available. I believe you have picked up this book because it is your destiny!
Does it sometimes feel that mysterious elements have conspired to obstruct your progress through life? These can be mental, physical, emotional, or spiritual blockages that keep you in a state of stagnation. While you wish it could be otherwise, simply going through the motions of survival leaves you feeling as if invisible barriers exist that prevent you from having the strength to break free. Yet it is possible to go from merely existing to thriving in every area of your life—starting with your health.
The results of the traditional Western lifestyle are often a constant, treadmill-like cycle that keeps you feeling sluggish and frustrated that your body is not getting any younger or thinner. No matter what you have tried in the past, this affects your motivation to get a jump start with your health and more. When you fail to realize a breakthrough in a vital area of your life, it also negatively affects your belief that you can pursue your other lifelong dreams. Weighed down, your mind starts to settle into “autopilot” mode. Instead of striving to improve, you settle for the ordinary instead of reaching out for a higher standard of living in every area.
Have you ever thought that if you could just lose those extra pounds and be super healthy, you could also pursue your greatest desires in life? If you feel weighed down, you aren’t alone. No matter where in the world you live, obesity represents a leading health problem, starting with the United States. Statistics released in 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that nearly 36 percent of adults ages twenty or older are obese, with a whopping 69 percent overweight. More than 18 percent of adolescents aged twelve to nineteen are obese, and a similar percentage of children ages six to eleven.2
What’s worse, childhood obesity in America has more than doubled in children and tripled among adolescents over the past three decades. The CDC says among the immediate health effects of youth obesity are that youth are more likely to develop risk factors for cardiovascular disease, are more likely to have increased risk of diabetes in the future, and are at greater risk for bone and joint problems, sleep apnea, and social and psychological problems. Over the long term, they are more likely to be obese adults, which can lead to a host of health problems—heart diseases, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and cancer.3
Nor is this problem restricted to the United States. In 2013 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that worldwide obesity had nearly doubled since 1980. In 2008 more than 1.4 billion adults aged twenty or older were overweight; of those more than 200 million men and nearly 300 million women were obese. This calculates to more than a third (35 percent) of adults being overweight and 11 percent having obesity. Nearly two-thirds of the world’s population live in countries where being overweight kills more people than being underweight.4 We are literally eating ourselves to death!
The CDC points out that healthy eating is associated with reduced risk for numerous diseases, including such leading causes of death as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. I will address a healthy eating regimen and many other topics, but the most important thing to recognize as we start this journey is that losing weight and achieving optimal health is quite possible. In fact, you will find it easier than ever when you are equipped with the advanced knowledge that I will discuss in the coming pages. While most books focus on one subject—health, weight loss, antiaging, what foods to eat, or mental or emotional motivation—Jump Start! is different. It will touch all areas of your life and all at the same time. For example, you may go on a diet and lose weight, only to gain it all back because you fail to deal with other areas of life, such as emotional issues or mental blocks. This is because one area affects the other. When you push the “reset” button on all these areas at once, everything starts to change.
This book will deal with all those areas so that you not only get healthy and look better, you will keep it that way as you start to look younger and more vibrant, and feel more fulfilled. It is the synergy of all these human elements working together—along with a little help from above. I don’t want you just thinner or healthier. I want to see you carefree and happy once again, like you were before life’s burdens and responsibilities started to weigh you down.
Years ago, although fairly healthy and prone to take long walks and go to the gym regularly to work out, I still needed to lose some weight. I often felt sluggish and tired, as well as feeling that in some way I was not living life to the fullest. As I meditated on my situation and researched the subject of health and well-being, I realized that one area affects the others. Sluggishness in one area affects other areas and impedes your overall progress. I needed a total jump start. When I incorporated the secrets I learned into my life, everything started to change and brought benefits beyond what I could have imagined. People often said I looked ten to fifteen years younger. As a weight lifter, I already had a muscular build. However, after I shed about twenty pounds of excess hidden fat, I looked much different! Plus, when I “reset” my mind to where I would not allow negative thoughts to affect my will, I started accomplishing lifelong dreams. I would get stopped in airplanes, the grocery store, and malls as people—wondering if I was famous—asked for my autograph. This was before most people knew anything about me.
While I just wanted to be physically healthier, at the same time I found that my spiritual, psychological, and emotional health improved. Since the dramatic change in my life, people have approached me to ask if I am an actor, even naming different movies in which they thought I had starred. Others told me they sensed a natural high and energy just being around me and wanted to know my secret! CEOs of companies who bumped into me at a mall or in airports offered me jobs. Although they had no idea who I was, they assumed I could help their company. Creative ideas came effortlessly and started to generate huge success, causing major quantum leaps in my career.
When you allow your life to change physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually with no more blockages, you start to attract people and things that help accomplish your destiny. You will make connections you once thought impossible. Good things will gravitate your way! Take, for example, an old elementary school classmate named Dana, who now works full-time for my company. We had been in the same class as ten-year-olds. Many years later, after moving several times, I returned to my hometown, and Dana was still there. Her lack of geographical movement reflected the sluggishness of her life. Like millions of people, she was literally weighed down. She had tried numerous diets, only to fail and gain it all back. In addition, she suffered at times from a hard-to-explain anxiety, mood swings, and a general sluggishness. Happy and full of life one day, she found herself dreading the future the next.
Although generally happy, Dana recognized certain blockages had affected her life. After coming to work for me and starting on my program, everything started to shift. Dramatic physical changes improved her emotional outlook, which affected her family life . . . I could go on and on. First, she started losing the weight she always dreamed of losing, which thrilled her husband. Naturally, when this took place, she felt a new joy and excitement about life. This affected her work performance and eagerness to share her success with others. She is one happy camper and excited about each new day!
Once you delve into this book and experience the sheer ecstasy of life again, you will never want to go back! When you reflect on how you used to feel, look, and live, you will feel as if you came back from death to life. When you eat the right foods that nourish and replenish your body, you will cleanse your body and drop excess weight. All this affects you in dramatic ways. You will look ten to twenty years younger. When your outlook on life changes, impossibilities become possible. When things change on the physical plane, this new reality leads you to tap into another dimension. You can be taking a simple walk when suddenly waves of sheer joy, peace, energy, and happiness flood your entire being. Suddenly you feel more aware of the world around you. You start to experience sheer bliss just to be alive. Why? Because you are thankful for the beauty all around you—the beauty that, because of all the blockages surrounding your life, you could not appreciate before.
I found it interesting that people who spend more time outdoors— even when completing the same exercises they would do indoors— experience greater weight loss, happier moods, and much lower levels of stress. I believe that the closer you get to something in its original state (such as creation), the more vibrantly you live on a higher level. Who doesn’t like a barefoot day on the beach? Think about what areas of your life physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually could use a jump start. As you are thinking, take a look at this next section, so that you can accurately assess what areas in your life need that super natural jump start.
However, you need to start where you are right now. You need to know where you are so that you know where you want to be. The simple checklists in this chapter will help you identify where you are and where you want to be in the next thirty days, as well as throughout the rest of your life. Be brutally honest in your evaluations, since this will provide the motivation to jump-start your quest for total health.
Answer each question in the checklists below by circling Y for yes or N for no. At the end of all sections, add up the total number of yeses and noes in the space provided. These questions will help you assess where you are in regard to foods and how you associate them with your thought patterns, emotional states, and exercise habits, as well as meditation or spiritual practices. When you answer the questions, base responses on your daily norms, not necessarily how you did today in regard to food or exercise. For example, if you just went to an all-you-can-eat buffet brimming with fatty foods, but you only do that a couple times a year, that would not be your norm. However, neither should you discount the volume of processed foods and unhealthy items like pizza, white bread, white pasta, and other starchy foods that may be part of your diet. One of the leading contributors to weight struggles is eating the wrong kinds of food.
Even though this book deals with the whole person, with each part intricately linked to the others, obesity is by far the number-one accelerator of sickness and aging. In addition to shortening your life span, it affects all the other areas of your life. Whether you need to lose as little as five pounds or as much as one hundred fifty pounds, once you start dropping this weight, this facilitates healing in every other organ of your body. It also affects the clarity of your mind, your emotional well-being, and your self-confidence. In turn, this affects your destiny and mind-set for accomplishing your life’s purposes and dreams. Once you clearly assess your weaknesses and strengths, you will have a better idea of the elements of your situation that need the most emphasis.
| Weight | |
| 1. I find it hard to lose weight, especially in my abdomen. | Y/N |
| 2. I am addicted to desserts and sweets. | Y/N |
| 3. I am at least fifteen pounds heavier than I was in my early twenties. | Y/N |
| 4. I have trouble waking up in the morning. | Y/N |
| 5. I often eat while watching television. | Y/N |
| 6. No matter how much I exercise, I don’t seem to lose the weight. | Y/N |
| 7. I exercise less than one day a week. | Y/N |
| 8. One or both of my parents are overweight. | Y/N |
| 9. I often get less than eight hours sleep a night. | Y/N |
| 10. I often go to bed past 11:00 p.m. | Y/N |
| Foods | |
| 1. I eat raw food every day. | Y/N |
| 2. I crave fast foods and starchy foods like pizza. | Y/N |
| 3. I eat more meats and carbs than veggies and fruit. | Y/N |
| 4. I often eat late at night before going to bed. | Y/N |
| 5. I mostly eat my vegetables cooked instead of raw. | Y/N |
| 6. I drink less than 2 liters of water per day. | Y/N |
| 7. I drink coffee every morning to get me going. | Y/N |
| 8. I eat white bread, white pasta, and other white, starchy foods weekly. | Y/N |
| 9. I am often an emotional eater. | Y/N |
| 10. I tend to overeat when I am stressed. | Y/N |
| Thoughts/mind | |
| 1. I tend to gravitate to negative thoughts. | Y/N |
| 2. I tend to worry more than I used to. | Y/N |
| 3. I do not have the motivation that I used to. | Y/N |
| 4. I often get distracted when working on a project. | Y/N |
| 5. I tend to have a low self-esteem. | Y/N |
| 6. I tend to get angry or offended easily. | Y/N |
| 7. I have a hard time forgiving quickly. | Y/N |
| 8. I believe I am fulfilling my purpose in life. | Y/N |
| 9. I am daily making goals and working toward them. | Y/N |
| 10. I tend to think of the past more than the future. | Y/N |
| Exercise | |
| 1. I exercise at least four times a week. | Y/N |
| 2. I walk every day for at least forty-five minutes. | Y/N |
| 3. I have a hard time getting motivated to exercise. | Y/N |
| 4. I do not lift weights or use weight machines at a gym. | Y/N |
| 5. I mostly exercise indoors. | Y/N |
| 6. I feel great after I exercise. | Y/N |
| 7. I donít feel that exercise is helping me when I do it. | Y/N |
| 8. I do not find exercise enjoyable. | Y/N |
| 9. I enjoy cardio more than weights. | Y/N |
| 10. I enjoy doing sports more than exercising alone. | Y/N |
| Spirituality | |
| 1. I often have a quiet time meditating or praying. | Y/N |
| 2. I feel more spiritual when I am outdoors in nature. | Y/N |
| 3. Helping other people makes me feel spiritual. | Y/N |
| 4. I believe that there is a Creator but don’t really pray. | Y/N |
| 5. I have a hard time being spiritual when my house is cluttered. | Y/N |
| 6. I would love to slow down and be more spiritual. | Y/N |
| 7. I am not part of a religious group but like to connect to God. | Y/N |
| 8. Helping others is my idea of being spiritual. | Y/N |
| 9. I don’t feel that when I pray my prayers are being heard. | Y/N |
| 10. I am an atheist but would love to believe if I could. | Y/N |
| Immune system | |
| 1. I often get sick at the same time every year. | Y/N |
| 2. I easily get sick when the seasons change. | Y/N |
| 3. I get less than eight hours of sleep a night. | Y/N |
| 4. I am often around electronic devices. | Y/N |
| 5. It takes me a long time to get better once sick. | Y/N |
| 6. I usually take drugs from the drugstore when I get sick. | Y/N |
| 7. I am tired most of the time. | Y/N |
| 8. I do not take supplements and vitamins. | Y/N |
| 9. I often smoke or drink alcohol. | Y/N |
| 10. I tend to get sick within a day or two of being angry. | Y/N |
Total the number of yeses in each group and list them below:
Weight: ____
Foods: ____
Thoughts/Mind: ____
Exercise: ____
Spirituality: ____
Immune System: ____
If you have more yes answers in one particular group, then this is your area of most urgent weakness and where you need to focus.
Anytime you are weak in one area, it affects the others. Say, for example, that your emotional state is not good. This can affect your immune system and your weight. Or if you are overweight, this can affect your immune system and thoughts. You want to have total health in every area, starting with your weakest. If you answered yes two times in a particular group, this is a minor deficiency. If you marked between four and seven yeses, this is in the medium range. If you answered eight to ten in any one category, this signifies an urgent weakness. You need to jump-start improvements immediately. I will help you step by step.
Before concluding this chapter, though, I want to address two questions that often arise when I administer these checklists for various groups.
How you think, what you feel, and the quantities of food you consume are interconnected. Each affects the other. Certain eating habits are proven to cause weight gain and problems with your immune system. Some people associate certain foods with unpleasant experiences and create a mental block toward them. For example, some people have a disdain for green vegetables. Others have had a bad experience in the past with a diet or exercise regimen that did not work. When you learn to associate positive changes with healthy foods, the right thoughts, and the right exercise, things can quickly change for the better. Often it is a matter of breaking a negative pattern.
What If I Scored High in All Categories?
This just means that you need an overhaul. You are in the perfect place for this, or else you would not be reading this book. Even if you only need a little help, a little represents a lot. Often it is the last 10 percent of positive change that affects the other 90 percent of our existence. I believe it is no accident you are reading this book, which—if you follow it—will change your life. If you can visualize how you want to be in the next thirty days, you are already on your way. Keep seeing yourself the way you want to be.
When you begin this jump start into total health, something will happen to your mind. It will be uncluttered, and you will find emotional healing. This frees your spirit, allowing happiness and health to flow. I believe that there is more to us than meets the eye. People who allow their mind, body, emotions, and spirit to be healthy and recharged will experience the benefits of total health. My approach is to tackle all these areas instead of just one so you can see much greater, long-lasting breakthroughs. The results will be reflected not only in your physical health but also throughout your life.
Let’s move on to the next section and discover how high-energy foods are key components in achieving super natural health.