Integrative Nutrition (Feed Your Hunger for Health & Happiness) by Joshua Rosenthal

Hello All,

I really want to write more often as I read nearly every day but it is still a new habit to make notes. So sorry for not sharing titbits daily. Maybe this is in its own way, a good thing. It does take time to assimilate and include in  our experience the wisdom from these books. So you could read the same blog daily and maybe every time you read, you may discover you understand things a wee bit differently.

I really enjoyed this book. More so since I believe in Joshua's wisdom here. It's not just enough to eat healthy food, we need an integrated look at all aspects of our life. Are we having healthy thoughts, healthy mental and emotional health or are we just focusing on the physical  health. So much research has shown that many of our physical health issues are a result of our emotions. So should we not be smarter and pay attention to our emotional  health as well? I believe that if we take care of our emotional and mental health, we will enjoy good healthy physical health automatically. 

Now from the book, here are some notes. My viewpoints are enclosed in braces (MY COMMENTS).

Did you know that:

* In 2004, 66% of Americans were overweight or obese.

* We spend an exorbitant amount of money on medications and operations while virtually nothing is spend on prevention, education and holistic health.

* Overweight people now outnumber undernourished people in the world.

* The average American now consumes more than 100 lbs of sugar and sweeteners per year. In contrast, Americans consume an average of 8 lbs of broccoli.

(Startling facts right? Well we need to ask ourselves, what are we doing to take care of our emotions and feelings especially the negative energy draining emotions and feelings we store. Do we have any plan to handle these? Or are we waiting for health issues to start and the doctor recommendations to take action.  And would our medical system prescribe ways to naturally heal our mental and emotional self? Or would the system provide more and more medications for each health issue you face? Unfortunately in my practice as certified hypnotherapist, I see many clients who are on so many different medications and pills. I shudder to think of all the side effects from these pills and their impact on your long term health. There are so many alternative, all natural, no medications ways of learning to manage our overall health. Find the one that works for you and put in some self effort. The best asset you can store for your old age is GOOD HEALTH, GOOD, HAPPY MEMORIES, GOOD FRIENDS. What do you think? Would love to hear your experience and comments)

The Integrative Nutrition Plan: 12 Steps

1. Drink more water (Yeah, you take a bath everyday to clean your external body, what about cleaning your internal body? Drink water on an empty stomach, as per Yoga, every morning to take a natural internal, cleansing bath).

2. Practice cooking (Take charge of the ingredients that go into your food)

3. Increase whole grains

4. Increase sweet vegetables (remember the rainbow, eat vegetables of every color sometime during the week to get all different nutrients and vitamins naturally).

5. Increase leafy green vegetables (organic vegetables have a much greater percentage of nutrients. I read that an organic tomato has 55% more beta carotene than regular non organic tomato, WOW!)

6. Experiment with protein

7. Eat less meat, dairy, sugar and chemicalized, artificial junk foods; consume less coffee, alcohol and tabacco.

8. Develop easy and reliable habits to nurture your body (enhance your emotional health. Yeah you are reading this blog so you are on your way :)

9. Have healthy relationships that support you

10. Find physical activity that supports you (start with baby steps and gradually increase. Park your car further away so you can walk more, climb stairs instead of elevators/escalators, keep things away so you need to walk to get them. I am sure you can be imaginative :) Find a buddy to exercise with, it really helps a lot. Do exercise that is fun so if you enjoy playing a sport, do that, you enjoy dancing, do that. Whatever works for you :)

11. Find work you love or a way to love the work you have (Hypnotherapy can really help)

12. Develop a spiritual practice (this really rhymes with me. You have  to nurture your spiritual self to lead a balanced, happy, healthy life)

(Don't wait for tomorrow to start. Tomorrow will only bring more of what you have today. To change your tomorrow you have to start today. You reap what you sow :) Start with simpler things, the low hanging fruits. Things that you can incorporate easily. It's called Kaizen approach. Research Kaizen and you can learn more. Basically it means take baby steps. Each positive change will fuel your positive energy levels and give you the momemtum you need to incorporate more positive changes. It's not really that difficult to make one small positive change and then keep building on it. And if change is very difficult, then find a good hypnotherapist and have him/her help you).

THE BASICS ARE SIMPLE

In spite of the enormous amount of confusing and contradictory information that regularly floods the world of nutrition, the basics are simple. Most people would be much better off consuming less meat, milk, sugar, chemicalized, artificial junk food, alcohol, caffeine and tobacco and increasing consumption of water, whole grains and vegetables, especiallly dark leafy greens.

There is also a chapter on "Foods to Avoid or Minimize".

One of the Big Ideas as we optimize our diet is to "crowd out" the less healthy stuff by focusing on the positive. Rather than try to get rid of some pesky item, focus on ADDING something we "know" is great for us. As we do that, we tend to naturally (and surprisingly quickly) "crowd out the bad stuff". 

(So instead of trying to give up things you love, just ADD new healthy choices to your regular menu. You will automatically eat less of the the unhealthy things on your plate. Yeah, baby steps works!)

Joshua presents his "90-10 Diet" in the beginning of the book after  he's gone thorugh the pros and cons of all the leading diets out there. The rule is simple: 90% of the time eat what is good and healthy for you, and 10% of the time eat whatever you feel like eating.

(COOOL :)

TIME TO CLEAN OUT YOUR FRIENDSHIP CLOSET?

I invite you to look at your friendships the same way people look at their wardrobes. You've probably kept many clothes hanging in your closet that you haven't worn for years. Maybe you are hoping they'll come back into style, or maybe they don't quite fit, but you keep them in the back for sentimental reasons.

It's the same with friends. If you think of everyone you know, chances are you will find at least a few people from your past who don't really belong in your present. In fact, if you're honest with yourself, you'll admit you find their company draining, but you keep them in your wardrobe of friends even if they have little to offer in return. Perhaps they are smokers, drinkers or drug users and you've moved on from that scene. They could be past lovers who keep hanging around, or people whose lives are always in crisis, requiring large amounts of time or energy from you, never to return the favor. Remember, you're their friend, not their therapist.

(Try both, cleaning out your clothes wardrobe and friends wardrobe and maybe go shopping for new friends!)

DO YOU LOVE YOUR WORK?

In today's society, most of us spend 8 to 10 hours a day at work and very little time with our loved ones. While we are choosy about who we relate with intimately, we spend years doing work we can't stand and that may be completely opposed to our personal values. Think about it for a moment. We have 24 hours each day. We sleep for 8 hours, work for 8 to 10 hours and have 6 to 8 hours left for other activities. More than 1/2 our waking hours is spend working - even more if we include commuting. Work is a huge part of our daily routine,  yet how many of us really enjoy it? How many of us complain constantly about what we do, but feel powerless to change it? This feeling of helplessness is not a nourishing lifestyle.

Joshua  has some great ideas/exercises in the book to help you with this.

(I highly recommend taking the Relationship Personality class that I do. You will learn a lot about how you behave in any relationships, your subconscious behavior that you may not even be aware of. Also you will learn other relationship personalities and how you can work best with these personalities. For many of us, having great working relationships can offset some of the other issues in a job. Go to my website http://www.kjhypnotherapycenter.com/ to check out the classes or send me an email to let me know you are interested so I can keep you informed about future classes. The next one is on Apr 24th, 2010. It is a workshop lasting an hour and half).

FITTING IN VS. FITTING OUT

Escaping the matrix is a key step to creating true health and happiness. Start by noticing the places in your life where you feel inauthentic. Are there certain people who you have difficulty expressing your true self around? In what circumstances do you try to fit into other people's expectations? Without self-judgement, begin to notice when and where this occurs, and start building the confidence to express your true self at all times, to embrace what makes you different from the norm. By loving yourself completely, you will reach a new height of health that no food could ever give you. And by expressing your authentic self, your life force will soar, your heart will open, and the world will never look the same.

One of the quotes I like in the book is as follows:

"I am a great believer in encouraging people to slow down. Courage is also required to stand up and say, "Okay, everyone. You can pass me on the fast track to success. I've tasted it, understood it, and I am no longer interested in keeping up because I know now that the prices is too high. I want to stay true to myself, and I want to enjoy myself. These are my priorities." - Joshua Rosenthal.

I do want to thank Brain Johnson of PhilosopherNotes for making me aware of this book and so many other great books. Thank you Brain. Every cent I paid by subscribing to Philosopher Notes is worth it in GOLD.

That's all for now. Keep having fun.

Warm regards,

Karuna.