We admit to the fact that we have become kind of "health nuts" in a good way... We think!
We, (Johanna and Harold) both grew up with a view of healthful living. No smoking, no drinking alcohol, no cofee, no meat... "no" this, and "no" that! We kind of knew the "no" better than the "yes." And in many ways we are grateful for those values!
Looking back though, we see how we were living with an inverted pyramid kind of concept. We didn't eat meat. We were vegetarians;but we feasted on ice-cream, "Oreos", junk food, "rubber meat" (processed vegetarian meat--loaded with preservatives), bad fats and bad carbs!!! That wasn't too good either!
Yeahh... we tried to be on a low-fat diet, except when the food that tasted good was high-fat! Lol! If there was pizza, pasta and ice cream we were okay as long as there was no meat, no alcohol and no cofee. Got the picture?
At the time, we were not ready for anything else.
Our world tumbled upside down when Roldy acquired "Crohn's" disease and we began to realize that our entire family would be affected by the changes he was facing.
I read intensely during that time; consulted with the specialists; and the change began. We just did not realize how deep the transformation would have to be and how long it would take!
I came accross a book written by Dr.Rubin Jordan: "Patient, Heal Thyself." He had suffered from the same disease and he healed by following a dietary program. I felt his passion for health and a healthy lifestyle as I read his book. I was so impressed! I passed it on to Johanna and then on to Roldy. Roldy took it seriously and we soon found our entire diet changing as a result of Dr.Jordan's principles. By that time I had decided to go serious time into body building. I was followed by Halcy, then Johanna, then Roldy. We became "gym rats."
We started to go to the gym in Upland, but it was no big deal. I admit to the fact that I was growing anxious about my excessive weight and "tummy." The gym was an attempt to do something about weight and shape out of control.
Then came the figure competitions for Halcy and Johanna. That brought more changes into our diet; more awareness.
Through it all, Roldy has been our guide in many ways, because he discovered in his own body, how powerfully healing and energizing good nutrition and physical exercise are!
So, slowly but surely, for the last six years we have been discovering the basic ingredients that create renewed energy; not just nutritionally but, hormonally and in all other areas of our life!
This section is dedicated to share with you what we know... what we have discovered... what has worked for us... what we are learning as we journey... We will build this page in time... We don't consider ourselves experts... We are always reading and discovering... We are simply "seekers"... that's it! Some of the things I follow today, Johanna had been telling me for years, but it took someone else to open my brain...you know how that goes! Some of the things we do today... we would have said "never" 10 years ago... so we are changing and will continue to change... Change and growth are good for the soul and the brain!
WE HAVE ESTABLISHED SOME PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE US IN THE PURSUIT OF OPTIMUN HEALTH
FIRST, WE SEEK ENERGY NOW!
We have found out that some simple changes increase our energy!
SECOND, WE SEEK BALANCE IN ALL THINGS.
Here are the components we have decided to keep our eyes on:
We eat to nurture our body (not just to satify hunger, or based on taste, or following a certain tradition/familiarity)
We believe in supplementation (Vitamins, Minerals, Amino-acidos, Hormones)--Balance is key in dealing with this whole concept.
We try to sleep well and rest whenever the body "asks" for it... We finally learned it from our "four babies." Kids don't "go to sleep"... they just "collapse" whenever they are tired. Other cultures practice the "siesta." We have created our own. As much as possible, when the body asks for rest we rest. Sometimes 15 minute "naps" is all it takes to re-energize the body.
We believe in physical exercise at least once a day for an hour or so. A combination of resistance workouts such as weight lifting and cardio exercises.
We aim at having as much FUN as possible. We deal with the bad moods and we deal with negative forces and negative people. We try to have fun with people, family and friends.
We try to spend time outdoors. Clean air is good. The beach, the mountains, parks;. green and water!
We stretch for elasticity, such as various exercises and yoga. Hot yoga is the "fad" now and there seems to be good reasons for it. We haven't tried it yet.
Our spirituality is important. Our relationship with God matters to our bodies. SPIRITUALITY is calming to the body. We were meant to be connected to God! It is the best "anti-anxiety/seratonin regulator" there is. (Not meant to be a put down on needed medication or hormonal supplementation to deal with moods and anxiety). Prayer, the reading of Devotional material and meditation are good. We have learned a lot from some of our "new age" friends.
A positive, guilt free attitude is like health to the bones.
Our purpose in life is important. Why are we on this earth? (Read Rick Warren's book... 'Purpose Driven Life') What are we passionate about? What would make us run and scream with excitement and energy like a child? Being a good person is definitely better than being a bad person. It's good for society, at least! We all agree with that. But then? Live a whole life to make money, raise a family, travel around, eat, sleep, work, get the mail every day, pay the bills, be good and have some fun here and there. Is that it? There must be a higher purpose than just being good!
We attend church regularly. Check the "life" indicator of a church if you are planning to join one, though!!! Many churches are detrimental to health and spirituality. They care more about rules, doctrines, what's right and wrong than you becoming a "fun" person in the world. Jesus said, according to the Biblical record of His sayings, that good people should be like "salt" in the world. To us that means, "we are on this earth" to make things better. HELP PEOPLE! Service to people is good for the mind, and what is good for the mind is good for the body! Listening to others facing difficult moments makes you healthier! "Mentoring" people is good. No need to make a big deal of it. It can be "silent" mentoring, like calling once a week and staying in touch; being available. Just making the world a better place is good for the spirit and the body!
Lastly, we try our best to deal with STRESS!!!!!!!!! And we look at stress as our worst "enemy." Sometimes we don't know what to do with it. It's a real struggle! We try to learn how to deal with negative situations and negative people believing what what matters is HOW we decide to handle a moment; we call that character!
THIRD, (And the toughest so far) WE MUST EAT FOR LIFE!
Food for life vs. food to satisfy hunger!
We have found out that there is so much psychological "drama" attached to food. Unbelievable!!! We heard this long time ago but it never hit us as hard until six years ago. Food is so many things!!!. It took time for us to learn that the primary purpose of food is TO NURTURE THE BODY. We had to deal with taste: first big bump. Then habits: second big bump. Then traditions: third big bump. The logistics of buying fooodand learning to read labels: fourth big bump. The learning curve can not be adequately described with words when one decides to take the leap from just "eating" (taste-habit-tradition-culture-religion) to eating for life. It's like dealing with an addiction... And it is! You know? Food is involved in so many bio-chemical reactions in the body and "mood altering" states, that the addictive nature of food superceeds many of the common known addictions!
So the first thing we look at is "nutrition" for the body...
Regularity... Six small meals a day...
Variety... It takes some planning...
The timing of the meals...We don't even understand the wole thing yet... we are learning... We just dicovered for example that fruit should be eaten alone... may be most people knew that already except us... but little things like that keep popping up as we read and seek for ways to improve our eating habits...
We try to eat the original food as much as possible... We try to stay away from as much processed "junk" as possible... It takes time and discipline to learn to read labels and understand that processed food is loaded with chemicals and molecularly modified elements that are detrimental to the body... Why not eat the original? Eat protein, fat and carbohydrates in its original, raw, natural, organic state as much as possible!
Again, we look for balance in food consumption...
Proteinis the foundation of the body... Muscle building-manintennace... And processed protein is un-natural! It took us a while to catch on to this one... Processed protein is what it is! We look for natural protein as much as possible!
Fats are essential to the well being of the body... Rather than a "low fat diet" we learned to consume the "good fat" that actually helps us to loose weight and get rid of the "bad, stored fat" in the body... We learn that "low fat" is "low" in what is good for the body... We were all confused!!! (Almonds, nuts, regular milk, regular butter, Flaxseed oil, Coconut oil,etc,etc) We learned to distinguish between the good fat and the bad fat...
Carbohydrates... Our worst nightmare! OK... Bread, Pizza, Pasta...yummy desserts... refined sugar and more sugar???... Hmmmmm.... no way!!!. Harold loves pastry, bread and pasta! He still does... We all love bread... hot bread with butter!!!! We used to choose restaurants by the bread they serve... In time, we found out that higher protein and exercise would actually lower our cravings for "processed carbs." Again we had to learn the difference between good, healthy carbs and processed carbs... Good, healthy carbohydrates are essential for the function of the brain and good overall energy... Carbs is what let us do al the fun things we do!!! So we eats lots or "carbs" from healthy sources... raw, unrefined, non-processed...
The celebration of "food eating"
We pray before we eat. We know it sounds almost "preposterous" to do such a thing in such a busy culture where eating has been reduced to a "necesity" or a "social event" (Restaurant eating and special occasions). All the way from the "fast food" places to the incredible waste of food. We feel like a prayer of gratefulness, not only helps us mentally, helps the process of digestion by slowing us down, but also remind us that our world around is a "world of needs".
We acknowledge that we haven't done too well in this area, except for the "prayer before we eat". Our schedules are crazy. Sometimes, totally insane. It seems like almost everyone packs his/her food and leaves for the day. We end up eating together as a family once or twice a week. Gone are the days when at least breakfast and dinner happened at home!
We have read about practices we could implement to make "food eating" more celebratory. We know people that are doing better than we are with similar pressures and crazy schedules. It's not a matter of time, but a choice and a mental attitude.
THIS IS WHAT WE BELIEVE about food: "FOOD AND HOW WE MANAGE FOOD REVEALS A LOT ABOUT OUR:
PURPOSE IN LIFE
PRIORITIES
OUR WORLD VIEW
FOURTH, WE SEEK CHIROPRACTIC MEDICAL CARE
Chiropractic medicine is about life as we came to find out!
All chiropractors, also known as doctors of chiropractic or chiropractic physicians, diagnose and treat patients whose health problems are associated with the body’s muscular, nervous, and skeletal systems, especially the spine.
Our Chiropractor, Dr. Rick Belling, has trained our entire family to "think" spine.
Life, health and energy depend on the condition of the nervous system. Sickness, illness, and disease are very often the result of a nervous system that is not functioning at its optimun capability.
The nervous system carries "electricity" to the different organs of the body.
All the organs in the body need "electricity" to perform their function
And the entire nervous system of the body is born along the spine! Fascinating stuff. Yahhh... We learned that in biology at school but it didn't hit us the same until we heard Dr. Belling talking about it!
The spine is vital; the condition of the spine is essential to the "production of energy"
The spine needs treatment and periodic adjustments. Dr. Belling taught us that interference in the flow of nervous energy from the spine due to spinal or vertebral dysfunction and skeletal imbalance due to joint or articular dysfunction alters many important body functions, causes pain and lowers the body resistance to disease.
Dr. Belling, as all other Chiropractors, provides natural, drugless, nonsurgical health treatments and believes that the body has inherent recuperative abilities. He has a poster on the wall in his office that says, "The power that created the body is the same that heals it." So, besides spinal adjustments, Dr. Belling recommends changes in lifestyle—eating, exercise, and sleeping habits, for example. Anything that adversely affects the functioning of the nervous system, from its physical source of origin (the spine) to the chemical influence exercised by food, drugs, medication, stimulants, mental state and exercise should be checked carefully and consistently.
VISIT A CHIROPRACTOR IN YOUR AREA! If you are in the Newport Beach area, then, visit Dr. Rick Belling.
FIFTH, WE READ CONSISTENLY ABOUT HEALTH MATTERS
One of the best sources of information regarding health, nutrition and pertinent research in the world comes from the HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH, Department of Nutrition. Here is the link to their website:
Very balanced, easy to read, and mostly based on sound research. We have not found anything like it! Because our health views were kind of bias, we found this resource not only balanced, but overwhelmingly sound and convicning because of the large studies and research they use to back up their information. Research backing up principles is important when dealing with your health. We have friends that have decided to become vegetarians because of "animal rights" concerns or religious concerns. We don't judge that! But to base an entire diet on those kind of concerns is no way to nurture your body intelligently. Harold has been receiving the monthly newsletter from the Harvard School of Public Health for years but now it's much easier to access it through the internet. So we check their website regularly and find awesome information.
Check their latest reviews on fat, protein and carbohydrates. Outstanding stuff! Great way to find guidance in the midst of over 200 various diets and fads people follow at different times and places.
*This section will continue to evolve and "breath" as we journey... It has become a fascinating journey though we are not consumed by it... But there is definitedly more energy... and less problems... We look forward to sharing with you some of the reading that guided us initially.
