Posts Tagged ‘health’

#NFL Caught by #Congress Bribing, Supressing #CTE Study

Posted: May 30, 2016 in Sports Roll
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By @anarchyroll

Why does it matter that the NFL is offering bribes, pulling money for concussion research, and having their actions investigated by Congress?

The body cannot exist without the mind.

In America there is a growing concern, over the growing number of people who are being diagnosed with brain trauma and mental injury related to sports participation. Specifically there is a growing concern that football is too dangerous to be acceptable to be played.

The concern was initially limited to the participation of youths in pee wee football.

But the concern has morphed into concern that even adults should not be playing.
Why the concern for grown ass men who can make their own decisions? Because traumatic brain injuries seem to be less of RISK of playing football and more of an UNAVOIDABLE CONSEQUENCE with every passing research study.

The NFL knows this. The writing has been on the wall for decades but so many money is up for grabs that it is only natural that they would do what was in the financial interest of their $9 billion business to suppress as much of the science/information on brain injury research as possible.

Protecting financial interest seems to be the number one excuse for doing despicable things in America. The NFL’s actions in regard to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is despicable. So despicable Congress has publically called them out.

Something so bad it made Congress come together and actually do something? Eek.

 

Physical #Fitness is Mental #Exercise

Posted: October 22, 2014 in Stimulus Space Response
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10/21/2014

The paradigm of physical exercise is false. There is no such thing as just exercising the body. The mind, heart, and spirit are always worked out and remolded just like biceps and abdominals.

When the Centers for Disease Control is listing the mental benefits of physical fitness, then there is more to the topic than just a series of rah-rah, feel good statements and slogans.

In America, where there is an obesity epidemic, any excuse to exercise is a good excuse. Pushing the limits of one’s physical fitness is hard, very hard, if it wasn’t then more people would do it. It should come as no surprise that those who battle depression also are less physically active than the average person.

Working out really is hard. Fitness models, bodybuilders, athletes, and supplement salespeople would love it if you believed that you are just an unmotivated sloth. But, show me an insanely fit man or woman and I’ll show you a person who is dependent on supplements like a crack addict. To work out completely naturally, with nothing but water, food, and sleep is a difficult proposition. Add a full time job it’s that much harder. Add in family, friends, hobbies, and the human condition and it is no wonder that the entire developed world isn’t dealing with an obesity epidemic.

The sick joke is that fitness inspiration through imagery of unrealistically, aesthetically in shape men and women can have an inverse effect on the desire to even get started. After all, how much time, effort, energy, money, ambition, and sacrifice is going to be required to become as fit as those Instagram fitness celebrities?

This is where a paradigm shift is required. Paradigm shifts take as much time, energy, and effort as all the crunches and clean eating required to get a ripped 6-8 pack. BUT, a paradigm shift can be as simple as seeing something differently and taking action differently based upon a different vision/way of thinking. The paradigm shift in this case is to see exercise as not just exercise for the body, but as exercise for the heart, mind, and spirit as well. A way of becoming more fit as a whole person. Not just as an aesthetically pleasing narcissist. But to be healthy, literally from the inside out.

Anxiety and depression are the thick thieves of living life. I can attest that from experience. If doing some push ups, squats, crunches, weight lifting, yoga, jumping jacks, and jogging can do it’s part to combat these twin towers of terror in daily living, why not? It’s cheaper than a Prozac prescription. But self-mastery is hard, and that’s what we’re talking about when we’re talking about the need to exercise for the benefit of mental health.

Self mastery is hard, very hard. If it were easy then everybody would do it.

I can’t pretend to have all the answers. I can only speak to what effect physical exercise had on me while I was in the throes of my depression as an adolescent. I used exercise as a distraction. I used it as an excuse to not deal with my larger, more encompassing mental/emotional problems and disorders. I would go to the gym after detention during my high school years. Rather than seeking advice from educated, trained personnel I would pump iron and run laps. As time went on I found yoga and meditation.

Lifting weights, doing cardio, practicing yoga, and meditation were/are all wonderfully helpful distractions from “getting help”. But any singular or combination is infinitely better than watching television, surfing the internet, spacing out, laying in bed awake, remembering past negative events, and/or imagining future confrontational events; all of which I am guilty of doing repeatedly if not habitually.

We are all flawed beings. We all seek to be perfect, if not at least better. We’re all doing our best, even if our best is not good enough. If physical exercise can improve our mind and our spirit, then why not set aside ten minutes, to a half hour a day a few times a week to becoming more whole and making a good faith effort to fill the hole in our soul?

The effort required to expand my comfort zone to putting the effort in there, fuels my effort to expand it elsewhere, and I hope it does for you too…

#Sitting is the New Smoking is Just Fear Mongering with Good Intention

Posted: October 15, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
10/14/2014

Breathing in fire, smoke, and chemical additives is certainly different from sitting down. Sitting is the new smoking is a term that has caught on recently, with the good intention of attempting to curb the obesity epidemic.

It has come to the surface that excessive sitting whether for work or to binge watch television shows is like pouring gasoline on the fire that is the chances of getting cancer in America.

There are many good groups, charities, drives, purposes, and quests to try to stand up to cancer. Equating sitting down to smoking a cigarette is not one of them. More exercise is good. Clean eating is good. Regular medical check ups are good. Preventive medicine is good. Telling people sitting down too much will kill them, is bad. Using fear as a tool for a good cause is nothing more than a pipe dream, it is an oxymoron. Fear is a tool for bad, and evil. A good cause, in the end cannot benefit from using fear as a tool.

Scaring people to exercise? Most people are already scared to exercise. Are we counting on a double negative? The threat of diabetes and aesthetic exile aren’t already enough, we’re going to go the; being fat will give you cancer route?

I am a person who exercises regularly. I am a person who believes in physical fitness, clean eating, mental sharpening, and emotional well-being. I have also been a fast food eating, knowledge hating, couch potato. People who live a life, in which their hopes and dreams, of the life they want to live, are vastly beyond out of reach; seek solace in the relaxation and escapism that a comfortable seat and a high-definition screen to stare at, provides them.

The physical activity is just more work; is a paradigm of work being associated with pain. What are we as a society doing to make people associate physical activity with pleasure? Besides fat shaming and feeding into the narcissism of the physically fit in the name of inspiration.

Epidemic is not a term to be used or confused lightly. An epidemic is not solved by telling people to drink more water and/or take more vitamins. The obesity epidemic in America is as much a psychological one as it is a physical one. Until we as a society, culture, and race are willing to address the tough, deep, and complicated questions about why people are willing to cause massive suffering to their bodies in the name of temporary pleasure for the mind and spirit; then anything and everything done to curb such behaviors and habits are nothing more than lip service. The only thing worse than lip service is fear mongering, which is exactly what the sitting is the new smoking movement is; even if it is a road paved with good intentions.

The Cure for Cancer is Being in the 1%

Posted: July 3, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
7/3/2014

Nothing quite says 1% like CEO of the biggest bank in America. That is the title held by Jamie Dimon (pictured above).

Jamie Dimon is the CEO of JPMorgan Chase and one of the most brilliant economic minds in the world.

JPMorgan Chase was a beneficiary of the TARP bailout following the 2008 economic collapse. Dimon and Chase were also at the center of the London Whale economic scandal in 2012.

Dimon and Chase took billions of dollars from the government when they didn’t need it, then turned around and used it to fund the same type of reckless gambling that was responsible for the economic collapse. If that doesn’t symbolize American greed and the 1% I don’t know what does.

Jamie Dimon may be a symbol, but he is also a human being. A human being who has been diagnosed with throat cancer.

Dimon wrote in a memo that his prognosis is excellent. The cancer was caught early, the treatment plan is all set up, he won’t even have to miss work. Of course, because he has the best healthcare money can buy and then some.

I wonder if the doctors will be injecting cash directly into the tumors.

I do hope this experience will change Mr. Dimon. I hope it will affect him. I hope his paradigm will shift dramatically. Cancer is still cancer, even for a wealthy white man. I’m sure he will do serious thinking, reflecting, and planning during his treatment sessions. Hopefully he will use his massive influence on the world to do something other than use money to make money. Hopefully.

The #Salt of the Earth of the #Obesity Epidemic is Salt

Posted: June 17, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
6/17/2014

Salt is to obesity what motor oil is to a car. Sugar is the gasoline.

Salt is America’s secret ingredient.

Salt is America’s spice.

Processed foods could not exist without salt.

Fast food culture would not exist without salt.

Franchise restaurants would not exist without salt.

Excessive salt intake is a direct contributor to heart attacks, stroke, high blood pressure, and obesity. If you don’t care about any of that, care about the health care costs that go along with battling the obesity epidemic. Those add up almost as much as senior citizens delaying the inevitable by an extra couple of days.

The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) is getting read to unveil voluntary salt reduction guidelines for food makers. As with any government bureau, there is no set time-table for when the guidelines will be released, as well as what specifically the guidelines will be. But it’s a start. When dealing with an epidemic, it is important to at least start, no matter how small the first step may seem when staring up at a mountain.

I am in favor of strict, mandatory guidelines BUT completely understand why starting with voluntary, phased in guidelines are being enacted. America is so addicted to salt that a sudden drop might result in public backlash, which could lead to legislated high sodium diet recommendations.

Regardless of whether a person is a vegan, a paleo, a juicer, or junk food eating machine we can all agree that something must be done about wide-spread obesity in America. The abuse of the freedom to eat what we want is negatively effecting our society and culture at a level that has been labeled epidemic. If this where any other kind of epidemic would drastic action not be expected? Would freedoms not be forfeited?

With obesity, the government isn’t coming for our speech, guns, religious freedoms, or our children. They’re simply coming to take 30% of our daily salt intake.

Herbal #Tea : A Space Refresher

Posted: March 30, 2014 in Stimulus Space Response
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by @anarchyroll
3/30/2014

Tea, the original medicine.

I drink herbal tea at home for stress relief, improved breathing, and to help me get to sleep quicker. I could take prescription drugs for these things, but why use chemicals when something that grew out of the ground works just as good or better.

I also drink a ton of tea when I write at Starbucks, but that’s because it’s free refills with new bags after five purchases with a gift card. For someone looking to be social on a tight budget, two bucks and some change for all the tea you can drink in a social environment frequented by women in their 20s is a deal I’ll take any day. But I digress.

In a way, it still amazes me how much my physiology changes each time I drink my teas. Herbal tea is not just a drink. And it’s not meant to be sipped on. Black and green tea you can sip and drink at any temperature. Just remember when you are drinking herbal tea to drink it:

  • As hot as you can drink it
  • As fast as you can drink it

Don’t burn your lips, mouth, or throat. Be smart about it. But as soon as you can drink it safely, gulp it. Why? This method enables the medicinal aspects of the tea formula to kick in faster. I first heard this from Richard Bandler. The next time I had herbal tea I tried the as hot, as fast style and the difference was striking.

Yoga led me to meditation and meditation led to herbal tea. How? Yoga and meditation are simple. Essentially stretching and sitting still while breathing deeply and concentrating on the breath. Those simple acts can bring about drastic change, they have for me at least. The drastic change both brought about got me thinking what other simple things could help me in drastic ways.

National chain grocery stores have gigantic tea aisles, let alone organic and health food stores. My local supermarket had an organic section. That section had several aisles, one of the aisles was half organic herbal tea varieties. One of the brands was Yogi tea. Since I was doing yoga, the name stood out. What stood out more was the different kinds they have. When I thought about the three reasons I wanted herbal tea to help me with;

  1. Stress/anxiety relief
  2. Breathing help through my nose
  3. Sleep aide

I noticed they not only had formulas for those needs, but had multiple varieties. I was sold and haven’t looked back. My paradigm of drinking tea shifted from a beverage, to akin to taking vitamins. I don’t just notice the difference when I go a prolonged stretch without herbal tea, I literally feel the difference.

I encourage everyone to explore what herbal tea can do for them. It’s no magic pill, but the I do truly believe it can help. And unlike chemically concocted prescription pills, there are no side effects. It will either help or it won’t, but won’t help and also cause anal bleeding, depression, or erectile dysfunction.

Sometimes when I loose sight of the space between stimulus and response, drinking the tea helps me to both remember that it is there and see it clearer than I did before.

Herbal tea contributes to me being my best self. It enables me to breath better, feel better, and sleep better. It takes the lump out of my chest when I’m feeling stressed/anxious, it allows me to get more oxygen to my brain and muscles, and allows me to get more restful sleep. I hope you will try a formula or two or three and I hope that herbal tea will help you as much or more than it has helped me.

 

Namaste

 

Too #Fat To Live

Posted: March 20, 2014 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
3/19/2014

At what point do we stop lying to ourselves about the obesity epidemic? When does the bullshit about big is beautiful come to an end? When are we going to be able to admit to ourselves that the results of not wanting to work out enough doesn’t constitute a ‘realistic’ body image?

People are dying because they’re too fat to live.

Heart disease is the number one killer in America, why? Bad diet and lack of exercise. Deep fried carbs and minimal physical movement is not a natural evolution of man. Food is not an acceptable counter balance to stress, exercise is, check the data.

People are dying because they’re too fat to live.

Epinephrine needles are now too short to fit all the way through the thick layers of fat of the obese. We are literally becoming too fat to live. Changing Barbie’s waistline, switching to Diet Coke, and doing a ‘cleanse’ once or twice a year doesn’t mean shit if you’re airways are constricted and the needle with the drugs that relaxes said airways can’t fit into your fat fucking thunder thigh.

I understand, it is easy to put on weight and hard to lose it. I recently lost 60 pounds, it was hard but it wasn’t an effort or sacrifice of biblical proportions. Speaking of portions, that is a key. Graze, don’t eat big meals. Six to eight small ones throughout the day based on lean protein, veggies, and that’s it.

People are dying because they’re too fat to live.

You can still have fruit, grains, dairy, candy, fast food and soda. Just switch your paradigm to looking at all of those things as dessert. Everything that isn’t lean protein and veggies is dessert, eat in moderation and as rewards for doing your work and accomplishing your goals. Not once a month, once a day. The same applies to liquids. Cut all liquid consumption down to water, tea, and black coffee. Everything else is dessert, literally, have you seen the sugar content of whatever flavored drink you like? Had a good day, end it with a can of soda. Got all of your workouts in this week, have a sundae on Sunday. If you hire  personal trainer they will teach you the actual, physical value of the cheat meal. Know that you don’t have to give up junk food entirely, just regularly.

You’re living a life, not training for the NFL Combine. Take your time, set up a six month to one year plan to phase it all in. Don’t go to a boot camp, start with nothing but body weight training and calisthenics for 10 minutes total a day, three days a week, and move up in two-week increments from there. Don’t let P90x and Jillian Michaels scare you. Take your time, start with the bar low, and slowly, very slowly work your way up. Think in terms of months and years not days and weeks. Trust me, every bit helps. We’re in a golden age of fitness. You can find help and support online for free or for cheap. And if you have disposable income, good lord, the work is 2/3 done for you already, you just don’t know it yet.

Everything in moderation in life except the pursuit of your dreams. Eat to live, don’t live to eat. In America we got that one mixed up and as a result we are literally becoming too fat to live. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle, adjust accordingly.

#WholeFoods’ Wholly Unhealthy Employees

Posted: March 11, 2014 in Meat Me @ Camera 4
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by @anarchyroll
3/10/2013

I recently went to a Whole Foods for the first time. I have never been in the tax bracket that allows me to shop at Whole Foods on a regular basis. Luckily for me, my roommate was picking up the tab. Here is what I noticed when I went in:

  1. It smells like pepper
  2. The selection of healthy foods, beverages, supplements, and spices is amazing
  3. The majority of the products are expensive
  4. The majority of the employees are not just fat, but obese

This is not about to become a fat shaming article. You may naturally be thinking this is an isolated incident. However, one week after going into that Whole Foods I went into a different location a hop, skip, and away from downtown Chicago. There too, I did not see one thin or muscular employee. This shocked me.

I assumed that every employee of Whole Foods would be required to look healthy. Not models, not beefcakes, not hot bodies, healthy. I have now been to three Whole Foods locations in the Chicago area and have seen two employees that are not fat or obese.

Image isn’t everything, but when you charge the kind of prices Whole Foods charges for what they claim is a healthier food supply, shouldn’t their employees be representing a healthy image? I mean, I was also shocked by how many of them didn’t look like they had seen the inside of a shower this calendar year, but none of them stank so that means nothing. I don’t care if they look like dirty hippies because being a dirty hippie doesn’t cause heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, or stressed joints (no pun intended…okay maybe a little).

I thought obesity was mostly caused by the food supply of high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, hydrogenated oils, antibiotics in the beef, steroids in the chicken, farm raised salmon, aspartame, and Hostess products. So either the employees at the Whole Foods are eating that shit because they don’t care about their health, or can’t afford to shop at Whole Foods based on what they make and what the store charges, or both. Neither of which is a good message to send out.

This is not about fat shaming. I don’t actually care that there are so many obese people working at Whole Foods. It just genuinely shocks me that they don’t either.

Year Zero #Yoga

Posted: March 7, 2014 in Stimulus Space Response
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by @anarchyroll
3/7/2014

Very few things have changed my life as much as yoga has.

I started practicing yoga in 2009. I was looking for something new to incorporate into my exercise regimen as well as something to get me out of bed in the morning. I had cable at the time which had an on demand section of channels. One of which was Exercise TV which has since become a Hulu exclusive channel. I started with a ten minute, AM Yoga routine, and have been hooked since.

There are no magic pills in this world. Yoga didn’t cure me of anything. Yoga didn’t overnight change my life. Yoga didn’t make me unrecognizable to my friends. I didn’t become a Buddhist.

What I have come to realize over the past several months is that yoga planted the seeds of paradigm change and shifts in my life. As humans, we can do nothing without breath. Breathing comes before entertainment, shelter, food, or water. Yoga is first and foremost about proper breathing. About getting more oxygen the brain and extremities, before the stretching aspect.

The increased oxygen to my brain slowly but surely started to change the way I thought. Slowly but surely changed the way I perceived myself and the world around me. Slowly but surely allowed me to bend more so that I would not break; physically, mentally, emotionally.

Yoga calms me down and de-stresses me physically and mentally. It literally removes physical tension from my hips and back. Metaphorically it calms me down and slows my constantly racing mind (probably from the increased oxygen going to my brain).

Yoga is the one exercise literally every human with all their limbs can do. There is pre-school yoga and senior citizen yoga. There is highly feminine yoga as well as yoga for bros and regular guys. There is yoga for abs, legs, back, and of course the butt as you’ve noticed from the yoga pants that are inescapable year round these days.

Yoga changed my life by changing the way I looked at everything. I thought yoga was for women and the excessively spiritual. I found that it is literally for everyone. It can be molded and shaped to fit any individuals specific needs and wants from a physical or mental exercise. I use it to calm my mind but also to stretch my muscles in between weight lifting sessions. This helps prevent injury as I am much less likely to tear an overly tight muscle since it gets stretched in a challenging way four to six days a week.

The more I learn about yoga and the more I do it, the more I love it. I am so happy and grateful the practice came into my life and I can’t recommend it highly enough to every man, woman, and/or child that may come across this article at any time in the present moment or future.

Why is yoga my year zero? Because of yoga I started meditating. Because of meditation I started listening to audio books. Because of audio books I began to love learning. Because I began to love learning I realized I could learn to love anything that I previously didn’t like. Once I started trying and liking different things, I started looking at what I had been doing previously and why I didn’t like so many things. Once I started doing that, I started doing the heavy lifting of taking action in the direction of being my best self. I was able to see through the darkness to get to the dawn. I was able to see that sometimes you have to take two steps back to take three steps forward. Everything changed after yoga, everything. And is still changing.

Yoga as the gateway to meditation is another story for another day. I have provided links to multiple yoga websites that will provide you with greater information and detail about the practice of yoga and I encourage you with all of my being to try the practice for yourself, it will be worth your time, energy, focus, and breath. I promise.

Namaste

Mutagenesis, the GMO Back Up Plan

Posted: December 29, 2013 in Anarchy Journal Constitutional
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by @anarchyroll
12/28/2013

It was all explained to me as the convergence of breeding and biotechnology, kinda like all those new condoms Trojan has been marketing for the last few years.

What is mutagenesis?It is a method of growing crops, using simulated and synthetic versions of what the sun does naturally, thus creating herbicide resistant crops. Who uses it? Monsanto (of course), DuPont, BASF, and Syngenta. When did it start? 1959 was a specifically stated year by Bloomberg Businessweek. Post WWII military to private research and development era is a safe assumption to make. Where? Japan and the good old US of A are the predominant places for this chemically assisted fertile soil. Why do you need to know about mutagenesis? It is unregulated and is where companies like Monsanto will go to exclusively if GMO labeling becomes required by law.  If that doesn’t make you think or cringe, I got one more for you. The amount of money made on mutant plants is officially tracked by the United Nations’ NUCLEAR Techniques in Food and Agriculture program.

Repeat that last line out loud a few times to yourself, then to someone else, then act accordingly.