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!

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.