Easter Phenomena

Happy Holy Week and Easter!!! Late Friday night I was able to watch The Passion of the Christ. Which got me thinking about life lessons from these last couple of days. All of life teems with dying and rising again (Paschal Mystery for those who speak church). But the lesson of Christ's passion, death and resurrection surrounds us in our daily lives. Suppose, you want to get into better shape than you have been. To make that happen something has got to happen. You need to stop doing some things (suffering and dying) and start doing other things (more suffering and dying) to the get the results (resurrection) that you want. The typical person wants to lose 20lbs. Their diet is crap, you know the Standard American Diet (SAD), which it really is. But the SAD food tastes so good... and the sedentary lifestyle feels so comfortable... Well, now the change begins... said typical person gives up the crap food, and goes through sugar, caffeine, High Fructose Corn Syrup etc withdrawl. They then put themselves into an uncomfortable situation by going to Zumba, bootcamp, or kickboxing class. This change in lifestyle is not easy. There is temptation to go back to the old lifestyle... However, trust, and a belief that a difference, a change will happen is what keeps Typical Person on track. And when they persevere to the end, and achieve their goal, they experience a resurrection. They will have a different lifestyle than the one before. There will be better food choices made, more activity in the week, and other parts of life will change as well. Because success overflows in to different areas of life. Another example can be seen in finances. Said Average Family has $10,000 in consumer debt. They decide that it is time to be debt free and start building wealth. So, they create a budget, (suffering and dying) and now refrain from certain spendings. They write that check to the Credit Card company each month paying more than the minimum to knock out that principle. The suffering of watching a big chunk of change go to the Credit Card company speaks for itself. However, with the belief and trust that they will achieve a new financial lifestyle of living within one's means, and saving for the future, they plug on. Then one day... Boom! They write their last check to the Credit Card company and suddenly.... Financial Resurrection!!!!!! A new life! So, while you are celebrating Easter and eternal life, don't forget that God has given us daily reminders of Easter through the year. So look for the mini paschal mysteries in you life and until then... Live Holyistic!

7lbs in ONE week - Yes it's healthy!

Forget the establishment! I'm tired of the man putting my health habits down! The establishment says that losing more than 3 lbs per week is dangerous. Forget you man, I know something you do not know. I know about cleansing my body. No I am not talking about colon blow type stuff where you have to live either on or 3 seconds away from a toilet. I'm talking about a cleanse that will gently rid your body of toxins and hence flush the protective fat out with it. We wash our skin on the outside but when have you washed the inside of yourself? A cleanse might be in order for you. With all the crap in our food, air, and enviornment you need to clean your inners once in awhile. You'll be surprised at the results. So I'm down 7 pounds, and TWO weeks later, I'm holding steady at well... down 7 pounds. I'll let you know how many inches I've lost once I get measured but for now I'm happy with the results. I feel lighter, more energetic, I WANT to workout more... and I want to continue to eat healthier.

I'd be very happy to assist you if you are interested in cleansing, and if you want more info then just drop me a comment here and I'll get back to you asap. Until then,

Live Holyistic

F-ing Scale! Change your Language

It's been awhile and I'm not sure I was missed. But what the heck, Let's go for it.

Any BTW, F-ing means Freaking for all you mind in the gutter people.

So what the heck. I've been busy dialing in my eating and dialing in my exercise. One thing that I've discovered is that I tend to be a slave to the scale. And to be honest, the scale lies. More accurately, the scale never does tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. It tells partial truth.
The problem is that we the people think that the scale is the almighty authority on our fitness levels and on our physical well being.

I've learned in the time away that I need to get off the Mother loving scale.

I've decided that I will be more specific in my body sculpting goals, and I have. I now longer want to lose weight. I want to lose bodyfat.

Now I am measuring bodyfat. There are many ways to do that, so just message me if you need help. But for now your goal is to reduce bodyfat and lower your bodyfat %.
If you focus on that, I guarentee that you will have the physique that you want.

Case in point. About 3 years ago, I was the exact same weight I am today. The only difference was that I was a tub of goo. Jelly roll was my middle name.

Today I weigh the same, however, the amount of lean muscle mass that is on my body compared to back then is vastly different. I'll take the me of today.

So, instead of talking about how much you weigh, talk about your bodyfat %.
If you need help figuring out your BF% give me a message and I'll be more than happy to help.

When you choose to change how you measure your physical success, you will notice that you will feel better about yourself and you will be more accurate in your self assesment.

until then.... Live Holyistically!

Too much $ to buy organic

You don't have to spend a fortune to eat healthy. Some people give up the Holyistic Life because they think that buying healthy organic food will break the bank.

Let me say: Get your priorities straight.

All kidding aside, the reality is we have budgets and some of us are living a little be more paycheck to paycheck than others. And at this point, organic foods would be a luxury.

Fear not, here is a financial yoga that will get your dollars stretching.

When buying fruit a good rule of thumb is that the stuff with thicker skins don't have to be organic. why, because the it takes longer for the pesticides to move through the thickness and into the fruit. So things like: bananas, cantalope, watermelons etc... buy "regular" if you have to.

The thin skinned fruits are a "must" buy organic. The pesticides are permeating that skin real quick.

And of course if you cannot buy organic, then be sure to really wash and rinse your food before eating it.

And if all else fails...plant a small garden for yourself. This will get you back in touch with nature, and you will have ultimate control over what pesticides you put on your plants.

Integration = Holyistic Life

St. Thomas Aquinas outlined a schematic on a hierarchy of creation. Human beings fall in the middle of this hierarchy in that they are neither pure spirits ("angels") nor are they pure material/matter (creatures/animals). Rather, man is BOTH spirit and matter intertwined and rolled into one. In short human beings are comprised to two distinct parts yet when put together becomes indistinguishable.
This duality is what we want to address today. Thsi duality is not to be confused with that of the early philosophers, rather it is to be seen as two primary colors coming together to create another unique color. (More on that later).
Having looked at Sacred Scripture (the Bible) it is comprised of two distinct sections (the Old Testament and the New Testament) yet it is One book. It would be unfair to try to under each Testament on its own rather they must be addressed within the context of one another. The Bible must be read Holyisticly (Wholistically, or Completely). More interesting is the fact that each Testament can correspond with each aspect of human beings. The Old Testament focuses on the physical and the New Testament focuses on the spiritual. So is the Bible a reflectin of man or is man a reflection of the Bible? It doesn't matter. What does matter is that God promotes wholeness, holyness, or "holiness" for all you grammar geeks. I find it fascinating that God would make the Bible so similar to us.
One fascinating aspect is that the Bible talks addresses both physical and spiritual death. In other words, what happens to the body, happens to the soul. If our body can get sick, our soul can be sick, if our body dies, our soul has the ability to "die" (read: live in hell apart from God, for all you hardcore Catholics). So if we are goin to be Holyistic we need to take care of BOTH body and soul. We need to keep our bodies clean, and healthy and vibrant. We need to exercise our bodies to make them stronger. We also need to keep our soul's clean (read: Sacrament of Reconciliation) and we also need to exercise and strengthen or soul (read: praying and doing good works). So I challenge you to ponder this beautiful notion of both body and soul and knowing that we need to keep both clean and healthy to live a holyistic life.

Warrior Dashing

This past weekend my wife ran the Warrior Dash. A 5K funfilled obstacle running course. Of course my wife whipped my backside as she is a cardio machine.
The cool thing about the Dash was that mentally I knew that my pride was on the line and I had to at least stay competitive. And I did for not training all that much.
However, it was very inspiring to see different people out there having fun. And that is a huge part of being holyistic: Fun.
I wonder how much fun Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden BEFORE they sinned and ruined it all. I'd wager that fun was a normal part of their expereince. Fun was probably all they knew. Make sure that you incorporate FUN in your life. Do things for that sake of doing them rather than the fact they serve an end purpose. Take time to do things you enjoy. This time of "re-Creation" will envigorate and energize you in other aspects of your life.