Beautiful Wilderness Meets Alarming Realization

Vacation to Colorado

So my entire family just got back home from a vacation in Colorado. We spent the majority of our time in Estes Park.

• We went white water rafting. Something I have never done before, but very exciting. Nothing compared to floating the rivers here in Missouri!
• We took an “off road” Rocky Mountain National Park tour by Jeep. I witnessed some of the most spectacular views imaginable!
• We went on a Hot Air Balloon ride. The views from 1200 feet above the ground with mountains, snow peaks, and clouds on all sides was amazing!
• We went to a rodeo in Cheyanne, Wyoming. Although it was a somewhat “small” rodeo, it was a great experience to be among the legendary home of so many country songs and historical events.

The Alarming Statistics!!

During our time at Estes Park, I had the experience of seeing hundreds of people from different cultures and locations around the United States. As we walked the streets of Estes Park, and spent time shopping and looking through the selections of different stores, I sat on a bench by myself for a period of time.

I believe I sat there for 20-30 minutes waiting for the rest of my family to finish and head back to our vehicle. During this time I would say hundreds of people passed by me on both sides of the street. As I caught a glimpse of each and every person (children and adults) that passed by me, I made a startling conclusion. I estimated that 9 out of 10 people were visually overweight, many were what I would consider to be obese!

I noticed that children, often very closely resembled their parents, relative to physique and body structure. So… a direct validation to me that lifestyle is something that is learned and passed down to your children.

Those individuals that were overweight and obese, commonly were carrying along….

Those individuals that seemed to be somewhat fit, and not overweight, were…

• Carrying a water bottle
• Or nothing

Now, I am not saying that a person is “healthy” just because they do not appear to be overweight. I do have to say though, that body fat has been studied very extensively and is one of the main contributors to a long line of health defects!

It is very sad to me that our culture has become complacent with feasting on all of this “feel good” food and drink. It seems that the majority of us…

–Live to Eat–

instead of

–Eat to Live–

I used to be a person that had a “Live to Eat” mentality. Breads, pastas, cereals, fast foods, and many more terrible choices. I believed that I could just go workout/exercise and burn those calories off and use all of those carbs for energy to build muscle.

You know…. the popular ideal, that you need to feed yourself good carbs (complex carbs) to give your body energy so that you can go workout/lift/cardio for an hour or two a day and get “healthy”. I did this routine, for several (15) years. Sure, I put on quite a bit of muscle. I could bench press more than I can now. I could dead lift more than I can now. I could squat more than I can now. In reality though, how much is being able to bench, deadlift, and squat a lot of weight going to benefit you in life?

I had more body fat then, compared to now, though. I weighed 250 pounds then, and 180 pounds now (I am 5′-11″ by the way). My knees often gave my trouble then, not now. I had headaches often then, very rarely now (only when I get into/eat/drink something I should not). I had a good amount of joint pain in multiple areas of my body, not now. When I got sick, it took me several days, often times, weeks to overcome it without taking medication. Now, I very rarely get sick for more than a couple of days. I am now fast, flexible, less than 10% body fat, a person that has abs without even really trying, muscular and I workout less than I ever have in the past (about 10 minutes per day, Monday through Friday), vascular and toned, and emotionally stable.

I have gained all of that, with very little physical effort. The major difference is how I eat and drink now. I have learned that it is important to be who we are supposed to be. Who is that? I believe that we were meant to be lean, muscular, robust, and versatile. Sure, some body types are naturally more muscular than others, but if you eat the way you were meant to eat, your body will find equilibrium with how it is supposed to be.

It is not sustainable, or natural for you to workout/lift/cardio for long amounts of time. Especially when you have a family, job, and other hobbies.

So What Should You Do?

I have seen many people that go from one diet to the next. I believe there are many diets out there that can help you lose weight. But remember, weight loss is not a direct indication of good health, and I am not promoting a specific “diet”. I am suggesting a lifestyle.

“We become what we do daily”

Ralph Waldo

I am here to bring awareness, and to help as many people as I can. I have learned that I can’t make anyone change their lifestyle. The only thing that I can do is to try and inspire others to see the values in making a change, compared to the consequences of sticking with a Standard American Diet and lifestyle.

I will be creating eating plans, as well as workout plans in the future. Bear with me, I am just now getting started with everything. It takes a lot of time to put together my lifestyle into a readable pdf.

Why do I think you should take value in what I have to offer?

Because the majority of people fail when trying to make diet/lifestyle changes. They are too busy, healthy foods are too expensive, there is not enough time to prepare meals, the list goes on.

Listen if I can do it, I know you can. I have a job (I teach middle school and high school math), I have a family (wife, 3 children), my children have lots of activities (basketball, baseball, football, etc.), I have hobbies (hunting, farming, family), as well as other things that make it difficult to deviate from the “normal” lifestyle.

I’m telling you, when you can look into the mirror and be proud of what you are looking at knowing that you did it all on your own (without pills, without depriving yourself of calories, without spending all of your time in the gym), and also that you are as healthy on the inside as you are on the outside, the feeling is indescribable!

When you have finally trained your taste buds to listen to you, instead of you following your taste buds, it’s a powerful feeling!

When everyone else goes to Dairy Queen and fills up on nasty carb heavy, hydrogenated oil filled foods, and you have the discipline to hang out and socialize with everyone without taking part…. You are in power, not your taste buds!! You wait until you get home and eat something that is vitalizing to your health.

It truly is an amazing feeling to be in so much control! I have spent several years learning how to create this for myself. It is a combination of retraining your taste buds, your hormones, and your genes.

If I have caught your interest at all, you should take part in receiving my newsletter. You will get helpful tips and motivational tactics on a regular basis. You can subscribe HERE.

In the meantime, watch for new posts and website updates.

Coming Soon!!

1. Foods to select to minimize preservatives and other chemicals
2. Recipes and how to season your foods without commercial products
3. Specific exercises and workout routines
4. Wild and Primal products and apparel!