Become Addicted to Exercise
Make endorphins your drug of choice. They are a strong analgesic, and provide a sense of happiness. Endorphins are best known to those who exercise a lot, and can trigger what is known as the “runner’s high.” Some people find the rush from endorphins addictive, making exercise easy. These chemicals are natural; they work on your brain in a way that helps relieve stress, promote good moods, while helping you stay happier.

Stay Fit
The “battle of the bulge” becomes tougher as one gets older. Success, jobs, family and other responsibilities can hamper your appearance and physical condition if you allow them to take a higher priority. I find it interesting and motivational that some of the busiest (and successful) people still find the time to exercise regularly, while some of the most complacent are in bad shape.

Do Something - Move More
Dedicate some time to exercise. If you can’t go to go to the gym, don’t like the gym, or just don’t want to go to the gym, do something else. Find some sort of activity that requires the use of your muscles and gets your heart beating faster. It doesn’t have to be intense, but it does have to be regular. Bill Clinton, David Letterman and numerous other busy (and successful) people found the time to exercise regularly after having their heart by-pass surgery. Don’t wait for that motivation; do it now.

Take a Walk
One of the easiest and most effective forms of exercise is walking; and it’s free. There are no gym dues, you can wear pretty much what you want to, and you can do it all alone or with a companion. Get going now! I will too!!!

Don’t Take it for Granted
As a person who NEVER gets sick I tend to take my good health for granted. When sick people say, “Stay away” I say, “Give me a kiss, I’m immune.” While watching TV the other night someone (I don’t remember who) was talking about the pain associated with throwing up. I commented, “I honestly cannot remember the last time I threw up.” Well, I do now! Watch out for the power of words. I spent the next 24 hours going between the bed and the bathroom. I know it was some sort of food poisoning, but I still haven’t figured out what it was. After all, I’m a vegan and don’t eat the stuff that normally poisons people.
What I took from this experience was a newfound appreciation for feeling good and added empathy for those that are ill. I intend to eat less, drink more water and excercise more. It would be a real shame to take a journey throgh hell without learning something.

Ask Yourself, “What if…?”
What if you were blind and could suddenly see?
What if you were deaf and could suddenly hear?
What if you were numb and could suddenly feel?
What if your nose was blocked and could suddenly smell?
What if your taste buds were dead and could suddenly taste?

Unless you are unusually gifted or severely handicapped you have these five senses. Each one is a reason to be joyful.

How would you feel if you lost everything you have and then suddenly got it all back? Rejoyce over the things you have while striving for more. It will make the journey easier to endure.

Something Worth Repeating
Here are some of the benefits of the avocado:
• They contains around 25% of the calories and total fat of dairy butter, by weight
• When compared ounce for ounce they provide more heart-healthy monounsaturated fat, fiber, vitamin E, folic acid, and potassium than other fruits.
• Avocados are the number-one fruit source of beta-sitosterol, a substance that lowers total cholesterol better than a low fat diet, and even improves HDL cholesterol.
• It also provides vitamin C and vitamin B6, and about one-third of your daily requirement of folate, a nutrient that helps neutralize excess levels of heart attack-causing homocysteine.

Serving Suggestion:
You can use it in place of spreads like butter or mayonnaise.
Avocado Fact:
The green, smooth-skinned Florida avocados have less fat and fewer calories than the smaller, rough-skinned California kind.
Ways to increase consumption of avocados:
You can use fresh avocado on sandwiches and toast for a healthy breakfast snack.

Dip It!
Avocados can also be used as a delicious dip, especially if you use yogurt instead of mayonnaise and add some roasted garlic.

Tip from Me:
If you have yet to discover Veganaise; get some. You will never use mayanaise again.

Recruit Some Help
The reasons to quit smoking are many; staying healthy is at the top of the list. Just about every smoker I know says, “I know that I should quit.” I know from experience that it is easier said than done. I quit 40 years ago and can still remember the battle. In Success Made Easy I quoted myself as saying, “It’s easy to quit smoking; I’ve done it hundreds of times.”
This article in CBS News makes the case that smokers who quit with company do better than those that go at it all alone. Check it out, pass it along, just maybe you will save a life.

Cut These Out…

And Do More of This…

Or Risk This…
Which would you prefer? This recent CBS News story quoted the authors of a joint American-British study on how to cut cancer risks. The results were pretty amazing. According to the study, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is the most important thing you can do to live longer and be healthier.  
The research suggested that about a third (34 percent) of all cancer cases in America could be prevented by simply eating better, exercising more and maintaining healthier weights. Simple lifestyle changes could prevent as many as 38 percent of breast cancer cases and 45 percent of bowel cancers in the U.S. Those are BIG numbers! 
The study said quite clearly that if you eat right and exercise and you’ll probably live longer. It said to work out at least 20 to 30 minutes a day, at least four days every week. That sounds doable (and worth it) to me.

How Do You Get Your Day Going?
Your first moves in the morning can set the pace for the entire day. I discovered many years ago that no matter how short rested I am, that if I can just make it to the shower, I will come out of there wide awake and ready to go.

Honolulu Marathon Finish Line - 12-9-1984
When preparing for the Honolulu Marathon many years ago, my training regimen was a 10 mile run before breakfast. To do that required a 5:30 AM alarm. There were many mornings that when the alarm sounded I was tempted to shut it off and go back to sleep. But that wouldn’t prepare me for the 26.2 miles ahead. I found that if I were to just sit on the side of the bed and rub my shoe lubricant into my toes that I didn’t want to get back in bed. I also noticed that after less than 20 minutes of runniing that I was glad to be out there. By the time an hour of running had elapsed I was as “high as a kite” and loving every step. Crossing the finish line was the ultimate thrill.

No, This Is NOT Me!
Today it’s a trip to the coffee pot and then to the computer. This is followed by either a 3 mile power walk around the park or a one hour session in the gym. In any case, when the day gets off to a good start it’s easy to sail through the rest of it.
How Do You Kick Start Your Day?

“A person of my spiritual intensity does not eat corpses.”
-George Bernard Shaw

I became a vegetarian more than 40 years ago when I learned that I could actually live without eating animals. As time went by, and I never got sick, I realized there was more to being a vegetarian than saving animal lives; I could save my own. I have had just one cold in over 40 years, never missed a day of work, including that sick one (it was hell), and those that know me will attest to my boundless energy. No, you cannot credit my genes, my father was in the meat business, and both of my parents died young of cancer. They both had far too many visits to the doctor. My sister has spent more time in the doctor’s office than most people I know.

No “Killing” Here, but…
In spite of my good health, I continued to eat dairy products, justifying it by saying that you don’t have to kill the cows and chickens to get their milk and eggs. Somewhere in the back of my mind however I knew that cows and chickens that are raised for milk and eggs live a torturous hell, but I looked the other way.

Neal Barnard MD
One day recently an “angel” sent me this little talk by Neal Barnard MD, and everything changed as quickly as my diet did the day I stopped eating corpses. Click here to hear it. That was only about six weeks ago, but I am an entirely different person today as a result. I am working out two times a day, and have dropped more than 12 pounds. Cutting out the eggs, butter, cheese and ice cream has given me an energy boost like never before. About the only thing I really miss is the cream in my coffee, but black coffee is starting to taste good already and I am drinking less of it. 

Good Stuff
I actually gave up trying to convert my friends to vegatarianism many years ago, so that’s not what this post is about. I just feel compelled to share Dr. Barnard’s message with anyone willing to listen. If you would like to live longer, lose weight, feel better, have more energy, get the cholestoral out of your arteries, and the cancer causing back-up out of your colon give it a shot. Dr. Barnard says you can make the switch in just three weeks. That’s not very long considering all of the years you can add to your life. The only people that will suffer from this decision will be your doctors, as they will see you much less often, if at all. In case you failed to click above, here’s another chance; Click Here.

“What do you want for Christmas?”
I am the toughest person I know to answer that question. The reality is that if there’s something I want, I probably already have it. Well, just about anything. Masae isn’t that much different. Suprising her is a real challenge. I don’t dare buy her clothes or jewelry as my opinion is not likely to match her taste and if she goes along it’s not a suprise. What a dilemna this is a couple of times a year.
This year she suggested something real unique.Since we have both upgraded from vegetarian to vegan recently, she said, “How about we go to the Whole Foods Store and buy the ingredients needed for a dinner, and then our gift to each other will be the time spent together preparing the meal as a team?”
I’m no cook, and Masae doesn’t really like to cook, but the “time together” part sounded cool as that’s the one thing I don’t seem to give very much of to anyone, making it valuable. So I went to Google and searched for vegan recipes. We agreed on “Totally Awesome Tacos” and then we went to Whole Foods and had fun buying the ingredients pictured above. The recipe is below, and when done I will post a photo of the finished product at the end of this post. If this works out, gift buying in the future will be easy and delicious.
Totally Awesome Tacos

Ingredients (vegan version):

    1/2 cup chopped onion
    1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    2 cloves garlic
    1 15 oz can kidney beans, light red
    3/4 cup water
    1/4 cup nutritional yeast
    1 packet vegan taco seasoning

Directions:

1) Saute onion in olive oil til brown.
2) Add green bell and garlic.  Salt if you like. Saute 3-5 min more.
3) Add in beans, water and 1 packet of taco seasoning.
4) Let simmer until reduced, stirring occasionally.   While stirring, smash up the beans as much as you like (use a potato masher to get them fairly smooth).
5) Stir in nutritional yeast.
6) Place into taco shells and top with your fave toppings: avocado, tomato, lettuce, veg sour cream, etc…
Also, makes an awesome chip dip or layered bean dip.  Enjoy!
Serves: 2-4
Preparation time: 15 minutes

Tearful Task
Chopping onions will indeed bring tears to your eyes.

Done Deal - Let’s Eat
We all like to look back at a job well done. I go to the table with a newfound appreciation for the cook in the house.

Yummy!
I can now attest to the quality of the recipe above. We WILL do this again. No photos of the “dessert” that followed (the dishes). Merry Christmas.

Say It Isn’t So
When I read in this article today that President Elect Barack Obama declared that you won’t catch him lighting up a cigarette in the smoke-free White House, I was hoping that it would go on to say that you wouldn’t catch him smoking a cigarette anywhere. By, NO, it said that he still occasionally smokes a cigarette. During the campaign he said, “I figure, seeing as I’m running for president, I need to cut myself a little slack.” Well, now you are the President and you need to think about being the right role model younger people need to see. Obama is admired as much as any President we have had, and he hasn’t even taken the Presidential Oath yet. I hope that before he does he will take a “Health Oath”.

Mo Betta Image
We would all be better off if Obama were to maintain a healthy image and set healthy standards for Americans to follow. A while back, when the campaign began I read that he was going to quit smoking because “his wife wants him to.” While it’s good to know that she is that smart, that isn’t a good enough reason to quit.

Times Have Changed
A number of years ago the country as whole wasn’t very smart about the effects of tocacco. I remember my father lying in a hospital bed dying of lung cancer and smoking cigaretts provided by the hospital. Such a thing would be thought of as absurd today.

Manly Image?
When John Kennedy lit up a cigar he was seen as a “man’s man.” Today doing so would be seen as foolish. I doubt if he would be a smoker today.

Big Thinker?
And a pipe smoker today, unlike in Gerald Ford’s day, would more likely be thought of as a stinker than a thinker.

“Hey Dude, whazzup?”
And what was this guy smoking anyway?