The Skinny On Cleanses!

I was in Juiceland yesterday and once again I noticed they are pushing the "cleanse" as a way to stay healthy and "reset" your body.

But isn't it REALLY resetting anything?  And are you REALLY detoxing your body?

One of the biggest struggles with getting healthy is sometimes just getting started.  So it makes sense that many people would look for shortcuts right from the start to adopt a healthy new lifestyle.  Besides the fact that THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS, following a pseudo-science based method of “kickstarting” or “resetting” your body is not only dubious in nature but often sets you back instead of springing you forward. 

Enter the “cleanse” or “juice cleanse” in it’s most common form.

Take a look at some of the rationales people create for starting a cleanse and the reality that exists despite all the marketing claims we want to believe are real:

1. Cleanses Will Reset My Body:

Your body doesn’t have a reset button.  In fact your body is one thing only…a survival machine.  It creates patterns of operation and movement to ensure that your Priority 1: Staying Alive continues to happen.  If you starve yourself and drink only lemonade your body adapts by changing your metabolism, your hunger response and your energy level.  Initially you’ll experience a period of shock where you feel terrible followed by an improvement when your body gets used to being starved.  It’s why you feel “detoxed” after a 3-4 days but only after feeling tired and hungry in the first 1-2 days.  This isn’t a “reset”, it’s an adaptation process.

   

2. Cleanses Flush Out Toxins:

What toxins?  Where do toxins exist in the body?  Everywhere!  Not just your stomach!  You actually have specific body parts whose only job is to process toxins.  They are your liver, your kidneys and your colon (when it gets enough fiber).  The liver can detoxify most chemicals we ingest and secretes that waste into your intestines to be released.  The kidneys filter blood (how toxins move in the body) at a rate of 120 quarts a day and converts that waste to urine.  You actually release toxins every time you sit on a toilet.  The ONE thing you could do to ensure that those toxins leave efficiently is getting the proper amount of water and fiber in your diet.  Now there are toxins that can’t be processed by these organs but I can guarantee you no amount of lemon water or fruit juice is going to do any better than something designed specifically for the task.

3. Cleanses make your digestion more efficient:

If you eat less you poop less.  It’s that simple.  Don’t read into it any more. 

4. Cleanses improve my energy level and makes me feel better:

You didn’t eat…then you did.  Of course you feel better!

5. Cleanses reduce inflammation:

Inflammation is a very real thing that can occur with certain types of food, especially if you have a genetic disposition for allergies or sensitivity.  In the case of gluten sensitivity, sometimes people just don’t know until they stumble upon the evidence.  I don’t intend to knock gluten-free diets because for some people it is a very real concern and they work.  DON’T however mistake this type of inflammation with the physical manifestation of starving yourself on a “cleanse”.  You may very well have a flatter stomach because there is no longer food in your digestive tract.  Is it realistic to assume that you’ll still have that flat stomach after you start eating again?  Of course not….nothing “anti-inflammatory” exists from a juice cleanse other than withholding the very thing that caused the inflammation in the first place.

Cleanses in-fact don’t reset anything.  They don’t even provide a benefit other than a momentary reduction in waistline which is actually just an effect of starvation.  It’s simple, if there is nothing in your stomach to digest it takes up less space.  Here’s a picture of me when I get up in the morning (before I have anything to digest) and later in the day.  Notice how different my stomach looks?  Think about what 3 or 4 days would make it look like!  But are you going to stop eating food forever?  Of course not!

Stick to a natural, whole foods, plant-based diet and you can avoid the yo-yo effect of inflammation and lack of energy that leads people to be tempted by “cleanses” in the first place.  And give biology a little more credit…trust in your liver, kidneys and colon to cleanse your body with just a little help from a proper diet.

Stay Fit,

Joe

Are You in Control of Your Life?

Hi Motiv8ers Coach Ty Here,

Today I have a pretty serious topic for all of you that you might have never seen as a problem.  You might not have ever really thought about it.

Right now, before I go any further, I want you to think about your daily habits and routines. 

Think about what you eat and how you eat it.  Think about how you interact with people.  Think about how you study or what you do when you get home from work.  Think about everything you do on a daily bases.

Now ask yourself did you really decide yourself to do those daily task and routines?

I really asked myself this question two weeks ago when my Mom was driving me to the Capt. Karls Trail night 60k race.  On the drive there she asked me what I had eaten that day to help fuel myself for the run.  I told her some sprouted buckwheat in the morning, 11 bananas for lunch, and then half of a watermelon.  She said "wow I would be sick if I ate all of that."

But then she went to say, " But that still doesn't seem like enough to fuel you for this long 37 mile run."

So I asked her, "what would you eat for a run like this." She said, "well I don't know." So then I asked, "well what foods give you the most energy?" She said, "I have no idea."  "Then what foods, when you eat them, make you feel the best?" I asked.  She stated, "Ty I don't know."

I finished this topic with, "Mom you have been living with your body for a long time you should know what foods make you feel great and what foods make you feel terrible."

This conversion got me thinking. 

Does anyone really pay attention to why they do the things they do!

Or, are they just following what their friends are doing, or what society is telling them to do, or what social media and the news said was a good diet, or just following in the foot steps of their family!

How much of what you do each day did you actually study? did you actually do research on to help you decide that that was the best action to do to help you get to where you want to go? Did you make a goal and decide yourself that these are the actions you need to take in order to achieve that goal?

Motiv8ers to understand this a little better watch this video from Bob Proctor!  He explains how your environment plays such a huge role in causing you to become who you become!

Crew if you didn't watch the video please do!

Motiv8ers there is a reason why we made the month of August Habit Month! 

Its because your daily habits and routines help make you become the person you want to become.  And, if your daily habits and routines are not supporting the person you want to become then you really need to re-evaluate why you are doing them.

So I have a challenge for all of you.  Today and tomorrow I want you to be mindful of everything you do!  Really ask yourself why you are doing the things you are doing in the moment.  Is this action helping me get closer to the person I want to be or is it hurting me? Take note of everything that is hurting you and through our habit challenge this month start finding healthier actions to replace those negative actions!  To find the tools in order to help you make those changes check out the blog posts below.

Motiv8ers take action on this blog.  It is a serious topic that you might not have ever thought was a problem.

Crew remember the Motiv8 Coaches and I are here to help so if you have questions don't hesitate to reach out to your Coach.  It is time to make all of you even more awesome!  =)

Stay EPIC and Don't Forget to Be AWESOME!

Coach Ty Out!

How To "Be More Positive"

Have you ever heard someone tell you to "just be more positive"?

How did it make you feel?  Like pushing them off a 50 story building right?

Here's the missing link of that supposed advice that those well meaning people never tell you.  It's not about just "being more positive" but rather fostering an environment that recognizes negativity but does not give it power.  This is not an easy thing to do and you HAVE to continually work at it.

Sorry, as with most things in life, what is worth doing isn't easy and change is usually required.


It turns out that everyone has bad days and sometimes we just find ourselves in bad moods and have ZERO explanation why.  For some people, like myself, with Depression this can happen without an obvious cause, without warning and/or without an end in sight which is frustrating and scary at times.  It may not be as often but it happens to people without Depression too.


***Rather than trying to CONTROL your mood or feelings, it is much healthier to accept them and learn how to move forward.***


There are things we can do to PREVENT our thinking from manufacturing our emotions.

Emotions are basically stories that we attach to feelings.  They may be true or they may be completely in our head.  More often than not, emotions are what create the bad moods we experience and much of the pain/hurt/misunderstanding that festers long after the actual damage was done.


So how can we restructure our thinking to foster an environment of positivity, productivity and collaboration rather than negativity, blame finding and division?


Try these:

1. Assume the best of people rather than the worst of people.

Believe it or not what most people want in life is to be at peace and as Peter Gibbons famously said, "...my only real motivation is not to be hassled...".  It's true!  In general people have good intentions attached to the things they do.  A misstep in judgement, poor choice of words or even just having not considered the perspective of others can make their actions SEEM malevolent.  Most of the time, right or wrong, people are so absent and focused on their own personal reality that they have no idea how their actions affect others.  Give people the benefit of the doubt to know that their actions are not intended to do anything "to you".

2. Focus on abundance rather than lack.

How many times have you caught yourself thinking that you NEED to gain something, learn something or achieve something in order to feel successful or happy?  Focusing on what you don't have puts your mindset in a constant state of lack.  You lack X,Y or Z and that's the reason why you can't have whatever it is you seek.  Instead try focusing on what you are good at, what you do have and what you have achieved to keep your thinking in a place of abundance.  I once worked for a company that put this into their business practice during the interview, hiring and promotion practices and they topped the Inc 500 list for growth and success.  That's proof of concept right there!

3. Unplug from mass media.

We often don't realize the role the media plays in shaping our perceptions of the world.  Creating my OWN view of the world is something I've personally been working on by largely limiting my exposure to television, political discourse and social media.  Who wants to be a talking head?  Most people are completely blind to the fact that media is purpose-built to do one thing, obtain ratings and sell ads.  The go-to strategy for this is covering negative, controversial subject matter that gets people to argue and illustrating unrealistic expectations of what life "should" look like. This creates a revolving cycle of constant lack, attempts to buy happiness thru our consumer culture and then comparing yourself again to the idea of "the good life" usually again thru media.  Think about the media coverage you see of politics with personal attacks constantly lobbied at one another.  How about the fear mongering that our world is in a constant state of conflict when this is actually one of the most peaceful times in history?  You can even look at popular television shows and see constant messages of relationship woes, office politics, violence and ridicule for people who may not fit a cultural "normal".  How about the complete lack of realism?  How does someone in NYC have a 2000 square foot apartment, a brand new car and a killer wardrobe with a regular job?  Look at how we consume media and think about how that exposure affects your interactions with others and your own feelings of self worth.

4. Open your perspective by outwardly seeking opinions contrary to your own.

This one is SO hard to do but if done with an open mind can completely change your entire worldview and how you see others' actions.  One example is glaring in how intolerant we have become of political beliefs, going so far as to call someone an idiot for having a certain position on an issue.  Our country was not built by this behavior of violently rejecting the opinion of others.  It was founded on collaboration of ideas with an effort to build up our success and not tear down our spirits.  But we find the opposite, even in our every day lives, with social media posts carefully crafted to make others jealous, brag about ourselves, lob personal attacks or arguments at each other and showcase our latest personal possessions rather than to include others, support them and share ideas for bettering each other.  We don't ask anymore without expecting a specific reply.  We don't share anymore without wanting outright approval and "likes" for what we do.  We don't accept people for having a difference of opinion.  It's scary.  We are all guilty.  We can all be right or wrong at any given time.

5. Participate in interactions with others that are judicious and limit those that are abusive.

If every interaction you have with someone is making you feel like you are a bad person, make constant mistakes or like you just can't succeed then it is time to re-evaluate whether those interactions are beneficial to have at all.  A puppy learns quickly to avoid another dog if their requests for interaction are constantly met with snarls, barks, growls and snaps.  Give yourself enough respect to know that granting forgiveness for others' behavior does not have to mean accepting hurt in doing so.  Redirect your effort to interactions that promote productivity and growth instead.


Give these tips a try and I promise you will start feeling a difference in your thinking.  One that, when given the right amount of effort, will transform the emotions you allow yourself to develop.  You just may find yourself in a good mood more than a bad mood and that's where we experience the joy, success and memories that we want in our lives for years to come.