Fighting the War Within
It was 7:42 pm
last night when I finally got to sit down and work on this newsletter. I
created the title based on an article that I had read in the morning entitled,
"As America's Waistline Expands, Costs Soar". I am fully
aware that there are a multitude of factors that go into a person becoming
obese and I am not being judgmental in any way, but I was shocked to read some
of the things that were being done to accommodate this country's increasingly
super-sized population. Here is one that I shared on Facebook today, "Cars are
burning nearly a billion gallons of gasoline more a year than if passengers
weighed what they did in 1960" and that is just the tip of the iceberg in terms
of mounting costs.
Then I read
another article that made me realize that the title that I had chosen for the
newsletter would have a double entendre. As I am sure that you already know, I
am doing the Ultimate Reset and
if you are keeping track, today is Day 10. I am exceptionally pleased with my
progress. There have been two major things that even by the ninth day have made
it worth every penny. One was that in just nine days, I had completely or
almost completely stopped drinking coffee and the other was that I had
completely switched to a mostly alkaline diet and that is improving my health
on various levels.
In the first
article, which you can read by
clicking here, it says, "The nation's rising rate of
obesity has been well-chronicled. But businesses, governments and individuals
are only now coming to grips with the costs of those extra pounds, many of
which are even greater than believed only a few years ago: The additional
medical spending due to obesity is double previous estimates and exceeds even
those of smoking, a new study shows."

"The startling
economic costs of obesity, often borne by the non-obese, could become the
epidemic's second-hand smoke. Only when scientists discovered that nonsmokers
were developing lung cancer and other diseases from breathing smoke-filled air
did policymakers get serious about fighting the habit, in particular by
establishing nonsmoking zones. The costs that smoking added to Medicaid also
spurred action. Now, as economists put a price tag on sky-high body mass
indexes (BMIs), policymakers as well as the private sector are mobilizing to
find solutions to the obesity epidemic."
"Because obesity
raises the risk of a host of medical conditions, from heart disease to chronic
pain, the obese are absent from work more often than people of healthy weight.
The most obese men take 5.9 more sick days a year; the most obese women, 9.4
days more. Obesity-related absenteeism costs employers as much as $6.4 billion
a year, health economists led by Eric Finkelstein of Duke University
calculated."
With these rising
costs from health related issues, lost productivity and costs associated with
accommodating larger sized people, we have, then, a war within our own country
that is being waged on our economy.
But what about the
other meaning of the "war within". That war, I just realized, is being waged by
the producers of the foods we eat and the marketers of those foods.
I was googling to
find out if drinking grapefruit juice would have an impact on the efforts of
the Ultimate Reset to alkalinize my body and lo and behold, it
doesn't. It is actually alkaline forming! You can read more about it and why
that happens by
clicking here (the information is from
Livestrong.com).
I then googled to
see about the effects of coffee on the pH in our body and that is when I came
upon the second article entitled, "Acid and Alkaline Forming Foods". Imagine how happy I was
to see the banner of the website:

Seeing that made me
want to read on even more!
Speaking of
reading on, this newsletter is getting quite long so I will conclude with this
excerpt from the article, "An acidic balance will: decrease the body's ability
to absorb minerals and other nutrients, decrease the energy production in the
cells, decrease it's ability to repair damaged cells, decrease it's ability to
detoxify heavy metals, make tumor cells thrive, and make it more susceptible to
fatigue and illness.
The reason acidosis is more common in our society
is mostly due to the typical American diet, which is far too high in acid
producing animal products like meat, eggs and dairy, and far too low in
alkaline producing foods like fresh vegetables. Additionally, we eat acid
producing processed foods like white flour and sugar and drink acid producing
beverages like coffee and soft drinks. We use too many drugs, which are acid
forming; and we use artificial chemical sweeteners like NutraSweet, Spoonful,
Sweet 'N Low, Equal, or Aspartame, which are poison and extremely acid forming.
One of the best things we can do to correct an overly acid body is to clean up
the diet and lifestyle.
To maintain health, the diet should consist of
60% alkaline forming foods & 40% acid forming foods. To restore health,
the diet should consist of 80% alkaline forming foods & 20% acid forming
foods."
When I ordered the
Ultimate Reset
a couple of weeks back, I had no idea that I would be doing something that was
going to help me fight the war within my own body that was being waged by what
I was eating. As a Team Beachbody
Coach, I am privileged to be able to be a fighter on two fronts in the wars
from within that we are facing!
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Thanks for reading the
newsletter and have an awesome day! |
Rich |
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If you want support, motivation
and to be part of our ongoing education in health and wellness, join our
Facebook Groups
- Team
TOPSTONE is an all Team Beachbody member group where we share
information and articles and things of general interest to the group. Every
Team Beachbody member of mine should already be a member and if you are not,
then I need to add you.
- Born To Run
is my running group. You can't be a runner for over 45 years and not have a
running group or be in a running group, so I started one awhile back and I
would love to have more members.
- Ultimate Reset
Challenge To Change is my newest group and I just started it on
Wednesday. It is where I chronicle day by day the 21 day program and my
progress. It will also be a great resource for the future as more and more
people do the Reset. I also answer lots of questions in that group.
- Shakeology
Cafe is a place where we exchange recipes, ideas and how drinking
Shakeology has benefitted us. It is also the place where I was dared to try
avocado in my Tropical Shakeology and found out that it tasted totally
awesome!
- My very favorite group is our
Challenge To
Change 2012 group and that is a secret group. It started out just like
any other group but it has become a group of people that is so supportive and
so inspiring to each other that I am very protective of the chemistry. You are
more than welcome to be in it if you have a need for support and a willingness
to give support. Just email me and I
will add you.
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