Disease Proof : Disease Proof : Health & Nutrition News & Commentary : Dr. Joel Fuhrman

Stepping into the New Year brings with it recollections of the past and hopes and desires for the year ahead. Contemplation about ways we can improve ourselves is a welcome sidekick of this time of year if we can put our goals into action in our day-to-day practices. For me, reminiscing about the past and what self-improvement goals I would like to make, made me realize how much I treasure my family and friends. I am blessed to have a wonderful, loving group of people in my life who care about my well-being and happiness and whose well-being and happiness I care about in return. I also thought about people in my life who have gone through serious health issues, and how these experiences have affected not just them, but their friends and family members. A physical ailment might be a one person ordeal, but the subsequent emotional reactions are not. It pains us to see a loved one suffering and we can enjoy our lives more fully when the people we care about are healthy and happy.

As such, I know that taking care of one’s own health is not a selfish act. When we feel well we are able to participate in activities we enjoy with the people in our lives. 

For example, an overweight, sickly father on the standard American diet might be restricted in his ability to play football or soccer with his sons, to their disappointment. I’ve had an overweight friend with type 2 diabetes say she does not want to go mountain hiking with me because she does not have the stamina. This is a shame given how enjoyable these activities can be, especially when we can bond over them and remember how much fun we’ve had. Most people can coast by eating standard American fare for a while, but eventually doing so will result in sluggishness, extra pounds, and health problems that will interfere with their happiness and the happiness of those close to them.   

If we are to make this year the best one yet, let’s all pledge to make eating nutritiously a priority and spend time participating in enjoyable physical activities and games. Plus, by making the right eating choices and feeling great, we are setting a good example for others who might be struggling to do so. Happiness is contagious and feeling our best will maximize our happiness. The emotional benefits of taking care of one’s health have the ability to spread like an invisible white light touching the people we interact with. When you are passionate about your lifestyle, other people can sense that passion. 

I can speak from experience that my father’s (as well as my own) passion for nutrition is easily detectable by others and they become motivated to make changes in their diets simply by observing how ebullient and lively my father is when he speaks about the subject. I believe that if you set healthy New Years goals for yourself and follow through with them, the feelings of accomplishment that result can enliven a passion in you that can inspire others to make healthy eating choices as well. Quality time spent with family and friends can then be appreciated undeterred by health maladies for the upcoming year and for many years to come. Taking the place of health problems will be the ability to laugh, bond, and have fun with those you care about. 

The above image is a recent picture of my father and me with Marilu Henner. 

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I hope all of you Disease Proof readers have a happy and healthy New Year.  Hopefully with the opportunities good health will bring, this could be the best year of your life. 

Congratulations to everyone out there following our Six Week Holiday Challenge.  I am very excited from the wonderful stories and successes sent our way.

Please continue to send us your health success stories and comments on Facebook.com/drfuhrman.  We want to hear from you.  We want to hear about how this holiday season was different for you, how our challenge changed your health, your viewpoint, or your family or holiday traditions.  We will be publishing many of the comments here in a future post for others to read.  Let us know if you do not want your real name used if we post your stories.    

And, keep working toward the contest, because the winning success story will get an all-expense paid trip for two to our 5^th Annual Getaway in Park City June 26 – July 2, 2011.  This will be the most fun Getaway ever!

Remember working towards and earning excellent health brings the opportunity to achieve more success and happiness in your life. Wishing you freedom from addictions and other disease-causing influences, and relishing in the healthiest years of your life.

image credit: flickr by berriehol

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Three weeks in and I'm thrilled, along with my teams at DiseaseProof.com and DrFuhrman.com, that almost 1500 people, most of whom were on the fence for years, have joined us in taking the Six Week Holiday Challenge. We're flabbergasted by the success of this outreach and the many hundreds of supportive e-mails and posts that we've received from those, who for their first time in their lives, are getting their health back over the holidays instead of watching it deteriorate further.  This challenge has even helped motivate thousands more, who were already eating healthfully, to do even better.  We’ve all come together in solidarity to eat healthfully throughout the holiday season. 

For those of you who are now half-way through the challenge, I’m so proud of you that you are sticking to the promise; staying away from fast food and junk food, and adding high nutrient foods and exercise instead. Can you imagine only three weeks left and then you can go back to eating junk again?! (just kidding!)  And that’s the exciting part also; with all the delicious, healthy recipes, many have found the holiday challenge much easier and more enjoyable than they could’ve ever imagined.  They now know that they can stay on the road to wellness long after the holidays are over.  I’m looking forward to hearing more of your succes stories after the New Year.

                                                     

Congratulations to all of you! 

 

Being a shining example of excellent health is an exciting personal victory and one that also enables you to help others in need.  Keep up the great work.

 

Your health is your greatest wealth. 

 image credit: flickr by catsper

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Next Saturday, November 20^th, will be the official kick-off for “The six week holiday challenge.”  This week I’ve asked author and motivational speaker, Sarah Taylor, to share a few words with us.  Sarah was the delightful emcee and motivational speaker who warmed the hearts of all at this year’s Health Getaway in San Diego. You will be encouraged by what she has to share.  Welcome to Disease Proof, Sarah.  

Thanks Emily! I love the idea of focusing on the holidays as an opportunity to actually get healthier, rather than an excuse for a six week binge. I don’t think most people get “down-in-the-dumps” in the winter from the weather - I think much of it is a result of eating toxic food in huge quantities, and feeling low self-esteem because of all the bad choices; not to mention an expanding waistline! So, let’s all take Emily’s challenge and use this time to actually get healthier. 

I also love Dr. Fuhrman’s six-week plan in Eat to Live because there’s a huge amount of power in the 30-60 day window. Studies show that it takes 30-60 days to develop or break a habit; and interestingly, it also takes about the same amount of time to get rid of toxic food cravings. So, the six week holiday challenge is perfect to make permanent changes in one’s habits, which will ultimately revolutionize one’s health. 

Imagine this: instead of waking up on January 1st feeling fat, sick, and depressed; we all wake up feeling proud, energetic, happy, and alive! 

Here are a few ideas to choose from to help establish healthier habits by January 1^st:

•  Commit (or re-commit) to following Dr. Fuhrman’s six week plan
•  Commit to only eating when truly hungry
•  Commit to eliminating salt
•  Commit to drinking a green smoothie every day
•  Commit to eating at least a pound of greens every day before filling up on other foods
•  Commit to eliminating all processed sugar
•  Commit to trying a new nutritarian-friendly recipe every week (even if it’s just a dip or a dressing)

Make 2010 the year that you go through the holidays with energy, vitality, and aliveness! Imagine starting 2011 looking and feeling better than you did before the holidays; and knowing that you have new, well-established, healthy habits that will serve you for a lifetime! 

fireworks image credit Flickr: Normaron Fishion

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This year is coming to a close in less than forty-eight hours.  For those of you who have been waiting for the infamous Times Square ball to drop to commit to getting your health back, the most exciting adventure of your life is about to begin! 

If you commit 100% to nutritarian eating as taught by Dr. Fuhrman in his books, newsletters, lectures, teleconferences, and articles, you will eventually live in freedom from toxic food addiction and get your health and life back.  Guaranteed. 

You must become a serious student and give it your all as if your very life depended on getting an ‘A’ in Overcoming Food Addiction; because without a doubt, it does!  (Note: 100% commitment does not mean that you will never stumble along the way.  However, it does mean that when slip-ups happen, you'll get up quickly, dust the dirt off, and keep running towards the goal of optimal health.) 

Excess weight will drop off, and medical stats will improve significantly as a by-product of replacing artificial and toxic substances with excellent nutrition.   

In 2010, don’t settle for anything less.

Go for it!  You can do it!

I wrote the following on July 9, 2008; the day before committing to nutritarian eating:

I feel sluggish most of the time with a cloud of malaise overshadowing my energy, even after a good night’s rest.  The bones and joints in my feet hurt.  My knees ache.  My feet, hands, and face are puffy. I’m bloated and my belly is extended.  I could pass for looking eight or nine months pregnant.  My lower back gets stiff and hurts after I sit for any length of time. I never have a break from this burden of obesity unless I lie down.  I carry it around day in and day out.  It is with me wherever I go.  The slow spiral into this dark abyss has arrived ever so slowly.  I am now bound and gagged in its prison cell.  Stuck.  It’s time to climb out and feel the sunshine on my face, and breathe fresh air again.  It’s time to live again. 

The following was written one year later; July 9, 2009:

Soon after a professional photo shoot (below) to document the one year anniversary of beginning my transformation, I celebrated by going on a bike ride.  Not using the best of caution, I zoomed down a hill on a gravel road.  My front tire lost control in the loose stones, and you can imagine what happened next. I ended up in another photo shoot, in a hospital radiation lab, lying flat on my back under an x-ray machine.  Although I was in excruciating pain and feeling miserable, I leapt with joy on the inside when I overheard the technician instruct his assistant to reposition my body because I was thin!  (Thankfully, I had no broken bones or serious injuries.)

"Thin." That’s spelled, "T-h-i-n." 

That four letter word was music to this woman's ears; the perfect ending to an adventuresome year of transformation!    

                     "What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?"    -Vincent  van Gogh

One year of nutritarian eating:

Let's hear from you.  Are you committing to nutritarian eating in 2010?  Dr. Fuhrman recommends making your intentions known to at least four people.  Here's a great place to start!

image credit:  digi-hound.com  

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Are you stuck in the dieting rut that says, “I have to give up this or that; I can’t have this; I can’t have that?” or  “My New Year’s resolution will be to restrict calories to lose fifty pounds by summer.” 

If you are, you are one of millions held captive in the American dieting prison system.   

Nutritarin eating is about . . . . eating.

I can eat this. I can eat that.

It’s not about deprivation, because when the body gets the nutrients it so desperately needs, over time, the taste and desire for junk and unhealthy food choices naturally diminish.  Food preferences change and the body seeks out excellent nutrition instead.    

As we choose to eat foods that have high amounts of nutrients:  unlimited amounts of fresh vegetables and fruits, unlimited amounts of beans/ legumes, limited amounts of unsalted nuts, seeds and grains, a bit of fish and poultry (if desired); we no longer are controlled by unnatural cravings for junk. 

Just like the body doesn’t naturally crave nicotine unless it repeatedly smokes cigarettes; likewise, it doesn’t naturally desire artificial, processed food unless it is repeatedly fed the junk.  When you are healthy, you don’t want junk.

If you are overweight or obese, you got there by starving yourself from high nutrient, natural foods.  Most likely your body has been fed unhealthy, chemically sweetened and flavored processed foods.  Your body size is the by-product of being chronically deprived of excellent nutrition. 

You need a paradigm shift.  A permanently transformed body is the result of a changed mind.  Focus your thoughts on putting nutrient dense foods into your body.  Fill your nutritional needs. 

I challenge you this New Year to forget about the all-consuming drive to lose weight by deprivation (which, by the way, takes a lot of psychological effort to get psyched up for and is never permanent), and focus instead on putting lots of nutrient dense foods into your body.  Fill your nutritional needs and your body will naturally decrease its drive to overeat calories.  

Do you make the salad the main dish?; including lots of raw vegetables such as shredded cabbage, carrots, sweet peppers, tomatoes, and beets?  Are you using Dr. Fuhrman’s healthy salad dressing recipes?  Don’t forget the central core of nutritarianism is eating large raw salads; including greens such as lettuce, kale or spinach in a fruit smoothie once a day, if desired.  Without the salads, it's likely that you're not interpreting Dr. Fuhrman’s guidelines accurately.  

“By teaching you how to achieve superior health, your ideal weight will follow naturally.”  -Dr. Fuhrman

Let's dialogue.  Do you focus on deprivation, or do you focus on eating a sufficient amount of high nutrient vegetation to achieve optimal health?

Image credits:  corporatemonk.com; healnh.org; purpletrail.com

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