People have over the last few decades become detached from their intuition or inner guidance system as lives have, with modern technology, become easier and survival is no longer dependent on common sense. For instance, people have turned to logic and reasoning instead and are used to making decisions with their heads, allowing logic rather than common sense to predominate their decision making. Explaining everything through the lens of science has made us more distrustful of ourselves. And frankly, more cynical about everyone else. When this happens, people start to make compromises in life, doing what they think they should do rather than what they really want to do and as a result do not reach that level of fulfillment and true happiness.

Health is not the absence of disease. Yet because disease, at least the treatment of disease, is such an enormous booming industry in this country, contributing billions of dollars to the economy every year, the national emphasis on health is not about health at all. Indeed, it is all about the absence of disease. One has only to turn on the TV to realize that I speak the truth. Unfortunately, this is why most attempts at heralding a healthy lifestyle are little more than an accessory to offset the tedious narrative of healthcare and Medicare in America.

Barely a day passes without the media reporting that some food, we've consumed from the beginning of time, now causes cancer. Oh, that’s right. They seldom use the C-word as in causation, instead, they’ll say something more palatable; that is, it has been linked to cancer. But all too often these stories are based on only a single study or are baseless when applied to humans. Still, just a few days ago, a California Superior Court Judge Elihu Berle ruled in favor of caution. Berle stated: “Defendants failed to satisfy their burden of proving … that consumption of coffee confers a benefit to human health. “Not that the coffee makers had to prove coffee was linked to cancer, but instead to prove its health benefits. Excuse me! Has any judge ever forced the sugar or alcohol industries to satisfy their burden of proof by providing scientific evidence proclaiming the health benefits of sugar and alcohol? For every study that links something to cancer, there seems to be an alternate one that not only disproves that hypothesis but extols the health benefits of that very food.

Nearly 99% percent of those making a New Year’s resolution to lose weight or to change their bodies fail by January 25. That’s a fact. Just 25 days into the process they fail by their own metrics. Now some trainers will tell you that you’re a winner if you just start the process. But you and I both know that deep down inside you don’t get to feel like a winner just because you’ve participated. The body keeps score and so does the mind. You can try to trick yourself into believing you're wealthy all you want to, but after years of struggling to live paycheck to paycheck, your mind, as well as your circumstances, will bring you back to reality.

Every Monday morning in America...

There are more suicides, strokes, illnesses, and heart attacks.  What goes unnoticed and unreported is the fact our bodies are trying very hard to tell us something about our lives, our jobs, our relationships, and our attitudes, and how such information affects our bodies and our health. I’m not going to delve into all the reasons for this nor am I going to examine the statistical data. Because none of that is relevant to this discussion. But what I do want you to hear are the silent cries for attention—for meaning. Human beings don’t seem to value things they don’t pay for or at least earn. But devaluing something in your mind doesn’t diminish its cost. There’s still a price to pay. And since we didn’t pay for our bodies, we tend to take them for granted. In fact, most people take better care of their cars then they do their own bodies.

Have You ever heard of the PUSH-PULL Program? In the gym, it suggests working one muscle group while resting the other. In life outside the gym, it should mean the same thing. Look, I don’t know your abilities, your aspirations, your dreams, your insider trade secrets. But what I do know that there is surely something wonderful inside of you. I say this with all confidence, because I happen to believe we are here for a reason, and that reason is much bigger than you and I.

Esther appeared to be doing everything right except the two most important fundamentals of her revision map— and that was hydrating and supplementing. For this reason, I have always emphasized to my clients both hydration and supplementation from day one. Because frankly, we live in a mineral depleted environment. Primarily because of the pervasive carbon footprint of monocrops, most of the foods we eat are mineral deficient. And like most Americans, Esther was dehydrated at the cellular level.I know. I know. You drink lots of coffee and herbal tea. And my answer to that is that would be great if your cells were comprised of 70% tea or coffee instead of water.

The human mind craves meaning. We look at our lives and do our best to create a meaningful narrative around it. We find evidence for our beliefs that frankly other people may find preposterous. Then when compare our lives with those of others. We all eat and breath love and seek peace— All universal thoughts and actions. Yet, we lose our frame of reference—our gravity—through all the white noise and begin to see ourselves standing still while the rest of the world passes us by at 19 miles per second. We forget that thoughts, like all things, are in a constant state of perpetual motion. That just because you are over-weight today doesn’t mean that just the intention to eat differently and to exercise daily will not influence your gravity— your inertial frame of reference.

Years ago, a client came to me with a little-known condition (at least back then) called fibromyalgia. In those days, doctors treated fibromyalgia as a psychosomatic illness that largely afflicted women. Meaning they didn’t believe for a moment that the pain and depleted energy these women were experiencing were any more real than the boogeyman. My client had been bounced around like a tennis ball sent to specialist after specialist, but no one was able to find anything wrong. So, she became confused and hopeless about the answer to her own internal question, “What happened to my health and how can I get it back?” See, medical science has done wonders in learning to extend human life through treatment but has made little progress in increasing the quality of that life.

Progress always begins with a seed of hope. But please note that hope can be a very destructive force, particularly when it is not backed by action. That is, you cannot keep telling yourself this year I'm going to— (feel free to fill in the blank)—Yet nothing ever changes. Never forget that failure is a soft tissue injury. It won't show up on an x-ray, but it will be archived into the muscle memory nonetheless. See, there comes a time when your body stops believing in you and accepts your inactivity as its truth. Yes, it will adapt to your choices even if such adaptation means living with pain, illness, immobility, or disability. So, what happens to your body when you exercise? Perhaps a more important question to ask yourself is what happens to your body if you don't?