Life is easy. Why do we make it so hard? | Jon Jandai | TEDxDoiSuthep

My Brother & Best Friend Left Yesterday

Today is July 20, 2015 and my brother died yesterday. After a long bout with oral cancer, he succumbed to related complications very early yesterday morning.

There was a time that he was my best friend but towards the end we found ourselves at odds. I still considered him one of my best friends but the fact remained... we were at odds. I didn't see or speak to my brother for about the last 9 months before he died yesterday. It seems ridiculous to think that we could have had a fight so bad that this happened. After all, brothers fight from time to time. It's certain that we had had bigger fights in the past than this but this one put a wedge between us that couldn't be removed in time. I tried to reach out to him through email and text messages but none were ever returned. I live halfway across the country so just showing up on his doorstep was an option I never exercised. Perhaps I should have. I suppose in a situation like this there will be many opportunities to reflect on "should've could've & would've" but they won't change the fact that he is gone now and there will be no more opportunities for us to be brothers again.

My brother was my idol growing up. My dad left when I was too young to even recall, so I looked to him not just as my big brother but as a role model. He taught me many great things. He taught me about "good" music and style and cooking and having some class. He had a sense of humor that was and will always be like no one I have ever met. He was also one of the most generous people I've ever known.  He gave freely of what he had and never asked for anything in return. In fact, many times I would try to pay something back to him because I felt I should and he would have nothing to do with it. It's just how he was and I admired that. I loved him with all my heart. I'm sad today but I am also relieved for him too. It was a long ugly journey at the end and I can't even pretend to know what he went through. And for that I am relieved that he isn't in pain any longer.

I am an alcoholic. If you're not an alcoholic, let me clarify what that means. When I say "I am" it is because I will always be. I haven't wanted or had a drink in 3 1/2 years but that doesn't mean that I'm not alcoholic.  I will always be. I drank very heavily daily until 2006. My life became unbearable from the physical torture I had put my body through, the emotional chaos of the guilt of addiction and the anger and hatred I carried around as resentments towards all the people I felt made me the way I was. I blamed anything I could until one day I knew I wasn't being honest about it and decided it was time to place the blame where it belonged. I drank because I didn't know how not to. I was 36 years old and I had been drinking problematically since I was 15 years old. I had to learn how to become an adult at age 36. I tried and failed and tried again and failed again for many years until I received what I call "the gift".  The desire to drink alcohol left me one day. It just did. I can see how people are religious because this miracle would be so easy to pin on a god that I can understand but this is something that I'm not capable of understanding. It's just something that I need to be in awe of and show complete reverence & gratitude towards. I will never forget how hopeless and sad my life was and I will never take for granted how utterly awesome my life is now. I am supremely blessed. I not only had the burden of addiction lifted off me but along the way met an amazing, strong, beautiful and supportive woman who I am so lucky to be married to. She is my angel and my rock.

My brother and I were best friends and drinking buddies in the last years of my drinking. I had relocated to Encinitas, CA where he lived he, his wife and my niece were gracious enough to offer me a place to live. I am and will always be grateful to them. The truth be told, I was headed in such a direction that without their help, I wouldn't have been able to do it on my own. Such is the pattern of alcoholism. In the 2 years we lived together we drank together. We drank very very heavily together. I remember we no longer called the liquor by it's name, we just called it medicine.... "Hey...you gonna stop by store and pick up some medicine or should I?". After some time it became clear this arrangement wasn't working for any of us so I moved out. I continued the pattern on my own for some time but it became clear that not only was this not working anymore but if it continued I would certainly die soon. With a few keystrokes of a phone one night I called (who else) my mom and said that I needed help. I was in a bad spot and feared for my life. Treatment, meetings, white knuckles, anger, resentment, shame, more shame, hurting everyone that loved me, fights, relapses, getting better only to get even worse, crying, overflowing joy, love, hate, loneliness.....on and on the emotions of the years of working out the details of my addiction went until finally... consciousness...sweet sweet lovely consciousness.

I wanted everyone close to me that still fought with alcoholism to come here with me. I wanted it so so bad for them. The thing with that though is you can't make it happen. In the luckiest circumstance you can possibly make someone take notice of how your life has changed and maybe they'll want to try too....maybe even ask you for help if you're lucky. But in most cases they don't and will most likely just view you as an outsider who should definitely be avoided. That's simply the sad reality.

Some will say that my brother's oral cancer was brought on by alcohol abuse as studies have shown they're related. Some will say there's no way to know what caused it. I will say it doesn't fucking matter. It happened and he's gone now. I tried to help him stop drinking  because I loved him.  I knew he struggled with it like I did. I wanted him to feel the freedom I felt. I know how it feels to have that hopeless shameful pit in your soul. To want so badly to stop doing something you know has nothing but negative consequences on your life and just simply not be able to get it done. How can something so easy as "don't do that" be so damn hard??  How can others just have a few and we can't make ourselves stop until we are incapacitated??  Unless you are an alcoholic/addict you will just never get it. It's an unexplainable phenomenon that we either summon the courage to fight against until we win or.... it wins.  It has nothing to do with someone being stronger or better than another. It has to do with hope. You just simply HOPE that the universe will smile on you and let you off the hook. Don't get me wrong, the hard work that needs to be done has very much to do with it's success but in the end that last little flourish on your soul can only be granted by "the gift". Serenity is sacred.

I will miss my brother greatly and I will be eternally grateful for "the gift".

I love you, brother.

How Atkins Will Kill You and Plants Will Unkill You

I just read a great testimonial  on Plant-Fueled Trucker's FB page and thought I'd share it. It was posted by one of his page followers named Timmo Post.  It's a bit long so I figured I'd write a bit and put the rest in a blog entry.

This guy did  Atkins , Weight Watchers and other internet based info. None of it really worked and some of it almost killed him. Simply switching to plant based food is all he really needed to do all along. It's amazing how difficult we can make something that is so simple. The latest "diet" that I've seen going around is "the blood type" diet. You eat according to your blood type!  Haha! Does anyone really think that humans at the time of the dawn of man were expected to know their blood types and eat accordingly?!? How in the world can anyone think that this DIET has any lasting effect. I capitalize DIET because it is just that >a diet plan<.

 A "diet plan" suggests a beginning and an end. What then do you do when the "diet plan" is over? With something like the Atkins plan you will undoubtedly die if you try to stay on it for life. All animal fat and little to no fiber has a way of killing people. If clogged arteries, massive constipation,  liver and heart failure sound worth losing a few pounds then Atkins is definitely the plan. My only guess as to why people do Atkins is because it allows them to continue their poor eating habits and lose pounds. My other guess would be that great sticking point.. protein. People really are convinced that we are all protein deficient somehow. It's what the television tells everyone and I guess everyone just buys in.

With Weight Watchers you are expected to add points and balance a diet budget for life. Processed foods are a big part of the WW plan. Foods that are calorie dense and nutrient poor will not leave a person feeling true wellness. If it's just about the number on the scale then this plan will give you a lower number but definitely not optimum wellness.

Wouldn't just eating plant foods whenever you're hungry and as much as you want be easier?
I eat whenever I want. I never look at calories or carbs or fat or protein.. I simply eat whole organic plant foods and trust my body to utilize them as needed. If I have a specific craving, it's because after years of eating a plant based diet my body is in tune and is asking for a specific nutrient. I don't crave meat, dairy, junk or processed foods because I never eat them.  They have become as foreign to me as they should be.  I eat organic whole plant foods only. If it comes from a plant, it's food.  If it's made in a plant, it's not.
That's it. No rules. No plan. Just eat.
Simply eating close to earth is all it takes. Nature is set up for US to thrive if we will just use it.

Here is this gentleman's testimony. It's a good one...

My diet and health testimonial.
I am living proof of what a plant based diet can do for your health. There's no arguing fact. I was on a diet of primarily meat and animal products and it literally almost killed me. I was turning yellow and didn't know why. Liver failure due to unused proteins. Also my overall health didn't improve. Instead I lost weight but I also lost muscle mass and developed other health problems. Also there is the invisible causes of death that were present such as heart disease and cancer development that were an issue. The one best single thing I've ever done for my health is to change my diet to whole foods plant based. I don't understand why people seem to want to fight against good health. Such negative strong reactions to a positive and harmless message. Maybe it's caused from their addictions to meat and animal products and processed foods. Or guilt in having to face up to the fact that they are making informed decisions to pursue their poor choices and not being able to hide behind ignorance. If we would only shut up they wouldn't have to feel uncomfortable.
In the beginning I was a dyed in the wool meat eater who thought that vegans were a bunch of liberal wackos. It's not about being a vegan. It's about being healthy. I had some health issues but did not relate them to my diet. I decided I was getting too fat and wanted to lose some weight. My son had been on Atkins before and lost weight so after trying Weight Watchers with my wife and having no success I thought I would try Atkins. I lost some weight on Atkins and thought I was doing okay. Their plan tied into my meat eating habits rather nicely. (I always had the nagging feeling in the back of my mind that eating all that animal fat and bacon was going to clog my arteries because I already had a stent in one of my arteries and was diagnosed with heart disease.) Then one day I noticed myself turning a yellowish color in my skin. I also had a hard time after working out, in my recovery, and my muscle ache was constant. It just seemed like it would not go away. I still did not relate this to my diet. I, like so many others, decided to consult Dr. Internet with my symptoms to try and see what was wrong. With just googling my symptoms I started getting all kinds of information popping up on low carbohydrate high protein diets and how they can cause all the symptoms that I was experiencing. Basically it said I was stressing my liver to the point of failing. Thus the yellow skin tone muscle ache and fatigue. My wife has been training with a plant based trainer named Kris Calmese for quite some time and had mentioned that he was a plant-based eater and preached it religiously. At the time I figured he was just a nut. It wasn't that I was stubborn it was just that I was uneducated. She was also in contact with a plant-based nutritionists through the newspaper named Cyd Notter. She suggested we make an appointment and just go to hear what she had to say. I am not afraid of learning new things so I was okay with it. After talking with her, a lot of what she said made sense. She sent us home letting us borrow the video" forks over knives". Watching that video pissed me off. It opened my eyes to the hog washing that I had been subjected to all through my life just for someone else's profit. I immediately bought copies of that movie and the adjoining literature and cookbooks and sent a package to each of my kids. I felt it was my duty as their father to let them know what I had learned. Unfortunately they like so many others refused to respond because they are too comfortable in their standard American diet. :(  ever since that time my wife and I have been 100% whole foods plant-based in our eating. We can't be happier. Prior to my diet I suffered from high blood pressure, reactive hypoglycemia, acid reflux, plantars fasciitis, heart disease, arthritis, incessant back issues digestive problems high cholesterol, being overweight, and a general feeling of poor health. As per my doctors orders I took eight medications to try to fix it. Nothing worked. Now I am cured of all of the above. I take no medications. I am the same weight and waist size as I was as a senior in high school. My energy levels have increased. My pain is way way lessened. my back issues have almost entirely ceased. My arthritis has stopped. And my general sense of well-being and feeling of health are off the charts. Did I say BAM?............BAM! Funny what an open mind and a little bit of research can do for a guy. I guess that's why I try to spread the info as much as I do. Hopefully it catches on with someone else.

"Let yourself fall ill"

I came across this quote (where else) on the internet. Seems many of us (myself included) are enamored with philosophical quotes, thoughts and ideas about this life we are living together and the internet is full of fodder. When I first read this quote it didn't really strike me as meaning much so I sat there and considered what it meant and how it might apply to the fitness and nutrition goals of myself and others. 

Obesity has recently become classified as a disease. It being widely accepted as such is a completely different problem. It's common for people to make fat jokes and not just about others but a lot of times self deprecating jokes about their own weight. Obesity isn't something that people look at like they would someone who is overcome with a "recognized" disease. We wouldn't look at a person with (random example) multiple sclerosis with disgust or laughter. We wouldn't judge them and say "why don't they just try harder to not look like that".  It's this same unfair approach that's generally taken towards all sickness brought on by addiction. The majority of obesity is brought on by food addiction. There are definitely cases that are thyroid and metabolism problems but for the most part it's brought on by people losing their way and going down a path of making poor food choices. After years of these food choices it's easy to lose sight of what it is to simply eat proper healthy foods that enrich our existence instead of slowly kill us. The food becomes a thing of momentary comfort which perpetuates the problem and the cycle just continues... on and on and on. AKA addiction.

"If you desire healing, let yourself fall ill. Let yourself fall ill".....Food has played an addictive role in my own life. It never quite made it to the forefront of my addiction issues because before I was able to "let myself fall ill" alcohol was always my substance of blatant addictive behavior. It was easy to move forward and not let myself admit that any of these things were problems so long as I maintained what I felt was a convincing facade to the outside world. If I made sure to hit the gym daily in order to pack on muscle, the world would assume that I am a man of means and perfectly balanced.  If I can bench 400 lbs then surely I am fit for all that life can put in front of me. Sounds logical, right? Not at all. I know this now but it wasn't anything that I would have ever become available to learn had I not "let myself fall ill".  It was only when I admitted that I was completely clueless about how and what and why I was doing all of the things in my life that one area began to connect to the other as they repaired themselves. I learned that when I ate garbage the result was that I felt like garbage. And when I felt like garbage my default fix was to use alcohol as an analgesic to give a synthetic temporary feeling of calm and wellness. I needed to re-learn how to feed myself properly, exercise my ENTIRE body (just because you can't see your insides doesn't mean they're not there) and finally recognize ALL of the addictions that had somehow snuck in the backdoor over the years and completely hijacked my right to living a great life. 

In short... I needed to willfully surrender and cross over into an unknown territory. I had no evidence that any of this would work and I stood a good chance of disappointing myself and loved ones around me. Wouldn't it be so much easier to just skip it, go out for a cheeseburger, fries and about 10 beers?  Yes had been the answer for years. It was time to try answering that urge with a "no". I could write an entire book about the days that followed (and I may) but the idea is that when I decided to "let myself fall ill" in front of my immediate world I began to heal.

Eating plants, running, yoga, meditation, resistance training, etcetera are all such simple actions in theory. They just are. But what they have meant to me is a complete reversal of life. I felt like an inert substance before. I was living what I felt was a life of mediocrity at best. I had become spiritually and intellectually unavailable. I had become completely polluted and lost all lust for life.

Flash forward to today... To anyone who might have a look at a day in my life it would seem like nothing extraordinary... boring actually. To me it's far from that and that's what matters. How in the world could I come from a place where nothing seemed to please me to getting excited about eating a new kind of banana an old friend sent me in the mail all the way from California or a new way to bake a can of chickpeas to make a new kind of taco that I never thought could taste so great or to go for a run and look just like any other jogger on any other day but somehow in my mind feel like what I'm doing has profound meaning to me personally or just sit and look at my wife and realize that I'm so goddamn lucky that I met her and she actually married me and we will spend the rest of our lives together and even if that means 50 years or just one more day, it's fantastic. 

"Letting myself fall ill" has been life changing. It all started with letting it happen in front of myself and the world.  I hope that the personal contentment that I wrote about here is currently how you all are feeling in your own lives and if not I hope that you will allow it happen soon. Each one of us has a right to feel it.  As I wrote earlier.. obesity is a disease. Some of you may be at that point while others may not. That just shows an example of one's addiction  being more chronic than another's. It may just be that you only have 10, 20 pounds that you feel you need to shed. The most important takeaway here should simply be considering what you are putting in your body day in day out... no matter where you are aesthetically. Eliminating processed foods or refined sugars or alcohol or all three for starters is a great way to begin to feel just how good your body intends for you to feel. With a sane body comes a sane mind and with a sane mind comes a sane spirit. I truly believe that each one of us has addictions of one sort or another. As I said earlier, some people's addictions are just more chronic than others. Getting honest with yourself about what it is that you know you are doing that's holding you back from being the best version of yourself is a personal journey and one that I highly recommend. Until we do this it's really not possible to truly heal. We may have "a good run" of weight loss or proper diet but it is a half measure and not nearly what we are capable of. Give yourself that opportunity if you haven't and if you have... well then that's just awesome!

The 3 Simple Rules For Perfect Health

Recently I got a shared article from a friend. It was about LeBron James' recent cramp failure he had during the Finals game against the Spurs. I didn't see the game but I read the story. Basically he had to leave the game with a massive leg cramp in the final minutes and couldn't help his team who went on to lose. The story my friend shared was about what electrolyte or mineral deficiencies might have brought that on and it mainly focused on magnesium which they felt was the culprit. It was an interesting read and I thought it was pretty thoughtful of my friend to think of me to share it. So we had some comments afterward and others got in what they were thinking... basic Facebook stuff.

The conversation turned to which sports drink on the market would be best for proper hydration and electrolyte, salt and mineral replacement. Gatorade was mentioned and another guy had a drink which was like Gatorade but with a little more of a natural healthy approach. I went on to comment that I thought Gatorade wasn't good because it is full of high fructose corn syrup, food dyes, chemical and preservatives. I haven't drank or looked at a Gatorade label in years. I said what I said based on what the product was made from to the last of my knowledge. After looking it up it turns out that the chemical I remembered it having (brominated vegetable oil) is no longer in the product. High fructose corn syrup had also been replaced with sugar. Although some were still saying that it isn't really sugar but still just HFCS under other confusing names. No one seemed to have a clear answer.. such is the internet.

Then my friend posted a picture of the label of the new drink that is better next to Gatorade's label. It indeed did say "sugar" and she also said that this one is free from food dyes. I realized now that I looked pretty misinformed and not very knowledgeable on the subject of sports nutrition drinks. I admit I am not.  I haven't used them in years and don't ever plan to. I suppose I spoke out of school on the whole thing. Nutrition is a subject that I like to talk about or in this case write.

Anyway.. from there I looked up a few things about the changes that had been made. It looks like the public outcry was enough for Gatorade (which is owned by Pepsi Cola) to change these things about their product. People were not satisfied with what they were buying, demanded change and received it. Sounds like a win for the people right? If you're asking me, I'm going to say no. I say no because it seems like a huge amount of trouble to go to in order to get this huge company to make changes.

*I will say this once now and be done... this is obviously my opinion on the matter. That's why I have a blog. So I can write whatever I think.*

My question I would be asking myself if I were looking at sports drinks is "What am I trying to accomplish here?" The answer is that I need to hydrate, replace salt, electrolytes, minerals etc.. So what should I eat and drink to accomplish this using single ingredient organic whole natural foods? I don't believe in or use any supplements. I don't subscribe to a reductionist approach to health. I don't believe that any supplement can serve my body more efficiently than a whole food.  I have figured my way through this hydration problem already because I do a lot of high endurance training. For me it is bananas, coconut water and fresh pressed juice with celery. That is the answer FOR ME. Maybe I'll come to find out the coconuts being used for my coconut water are GMO and grown in a landfill and harvested by enslaved puppies... but for now I think it's all good on the coconut front. When I read the label on the back of the package, there's one ingredient.. pure filtered coconut water.  I also have capsules with whole mineral ingredients I can take with me on extremely long runs which I can just swallow with water. Each person could come up with what would work for them and they will all be different yet similar.

In this case it's also a natural reaction for me to try to be courteous and say that I realize most people can't do all of this because it is time consuming and impractical.  The reality is that they can. They just probably won't. That's not to be rude or judgemental.. it's just realistic. It's easier to have things pre made and ready for purchase than to do all this work yourself. I realize that but I also realize that when we purchase those products we get what we get. It is a one size fits all product that more than likely is not going to be custom tailored to meet our specific needs. In the case of my friend she was talking about her son and what he wants being in compliance with what she feels is best for him. Tricky situation. I did say that I thought the one product was a much better choice than the other and in hindsight that wasn't being very true to what I believe. I just didn't see that what I really thought would be very plausible or accepted in that particular comment thread. Maybe best I didn't say anything. Hindsight.  I don't have kids and I won't even go into a "well if I had kids.." thing because that would just be me serving up a big bullshit sandwich. I don't know what I would do unless I were there. I know kids want to fit in and have things like other kids have so when the whole team is having Gatorade for example it would be hard for me as a parent to hand him/her a bag of bananas and coconut water and celery juice. Not sure that would go over well with too many kids. Alas, these are the challenges if someone wants to adapt to a whole food plant based diet. That's what this blog and page is about.

One of the points I am trying to get across here is that we don't have to buy the things that are put out there for public consumption. Recently there was an outcry against Subway for having some chemical in their bread that is also used to make yoga mats. I'm guessing that this chemical wasn't exclusive to yoga mats but that was the sensational spin that the media placed on it.I knew the name of the chemical briefly until my brain almost immediately moved it to it's spam folder. Anyway the public once again said "Hey Subway we're mad about what you are making us eat.. You have to change this!"   Umm.. what?  Last I checked every Subway has a swinging door in front that you can either go in or just keep walking. If you don't like yoga mat sandwiches then don't go where they serve them. Make yourself a sandwich that you know exactly what is in it or find a small independent cafe that focuses on quality whole foods and fresh ingredients. It seems ridiculous to me that everyone goes into a protest about this like they are on lockdown somewhere and have absolutely nothing else to eat other than Subway. This mindset of depending on and expecting others to feed us and feed us proper is a no win situation. Profit is always a corporation's #1 priority... it's never your health. Ever.

Starbucks is another major chain that has been under fire recently by healthy food advocates. Petitions are making their way around urging Starbucks to start using Organic/Non GMO milks in their drinks. Other petitions have gone around urging them to only use fair trade coffee. I saw another that urged them to control their waste to our landfills. Does this sound ridiculous yet? What's the solution? Same answer as how to avoid yoga mat sandwiches.. don't go there. Buy your own fair trade coffee and organic plant milks and make your own. Find a locally owned shop that carries these things and cares about the product they send out their door. I'm pretty sure they can use the money a little more than *$'s.

It's about choosing yourself to be in charge of what you eat and drink. It's about not complaining that the world's businesses just aren't feeding you to your standard and then stomping your feet and protesting til they get it right. You are in charge of you and everything you need to be healthy is here for the taking if you just will take charge of it. You! Choose YOU to feed YOU.

Three simple rules for perfect health. That's the title here... So what are they? They are the three simple rules we were assigned as humans since the dawn of man. They are rules of survival more than anything..
1.Eat
2.Drink
3.Breathe
That's it. That's the rules.
 EAT the foods that grow here on earth for you to enjoy. Our food literally comes up out of the ground and is ready to eat.  (or at least with a little prep time for some)
DRINK fresh clean water that we are lucky to have in the part of the world we live. Or drink juices from the fruits and vegetables that grow. Milks from the plants. Filter some of the water through tea leaves or ground coffee beans. These things are all here for the taking. Use them.
BREATHE deep breaths of clean air. Aerobically exercise your lungs and heart daily. Don't smoke and avoid being in the presence of people who are smoking.

It sounds corny I know. These three things are a little obvious aren't they? You'd think they are obvious but what have we done instead of these "obvious" guidelines? We ( and when I say we I don't mean me or you. I mean..y'know... others. *wink*wink*) have turned food into a catastrophe of indecipherable ingredients and chemicals. We have turned our fluids into the same as the food. Loaded with sugars and high fructose corn syrup or chemical sweeteners developed in a laboratory. While others excessively consume alcohol polluting their livers and entire well being. We don't exercise our lungs and heart. Instead we sit sedentary and some even smoke cigarettes, weed, crack, heroin...you get it. Others have found a new way to inhale chemicals through a vapor device that they carry around with them and suck on like addicts. We pollute our air without a thought. We pollute our bodies without a thought. And in turn we pollute our minds without a thought because when our bodies are sick our mind and spirit is sick right along with it.

Instead of eating some whole plant foods and drinking water  earth provides, we have invented things like Waffle Tacos or Chicken McNuggets to be washed down with new Mountain Dew with electrolytes or a "Diet" Coke and while you're at it... super size it! We have taken the simple foods that earth provides for us and manipulated them into poison and call it normal and then when we are sick, obese, depressed and dying we ask why.  I realize this is a rant. So what?! It is definitely a rantable subject.

I will stop the rant there though. I'm hungry. Should I head over to Subway and get a spicy chicken enchilada yoga mat sandwich and 44 ounce diet cherry vanilla Coke or make myself a green smoothie here at home?  I'm feeling lazy. I think I'll just stay home and have the smoothie...