The new documentary "The Big Fat Fix" deals with the subject of the Mediterranean diet and what good it can do for your overall health, and some of the most common myths about dietary fat and cholesterol.
I'm eager to see this one, especially after having watched an interesting lecture not that long ago by an Swedish doctor and author that talked about the same subjects and the attempts of major players in the food industry to mislead consumers with harmful dietary advice.
Health and wellness expert Valerie Orsoni has been interested in the Amish culture for many years. By adapting four "simple" habits from the Amish, she thinks they can do us lots of good both mentally and physically, not to mention for our society.
In our culture we barely write letters any longer…takes too long to write, then too long to receive. We send instant emails and expect instant answers.
We always rush from one meeting to the next, from one activity to the next.
The Amish take it more slowly. They admire nature. They take the time to seize the day and smell the roses. They write chain letters, where each time the letter gets to the recipient, she adds a piece of news from her settlement. Waiting for a response is part of the deal and helps people not be constantly on their toes.
The Amish "visit." As a matter of fact they even have alternate "off-church Sundays." The sole purpose is to allow for visits to friends and family members.
A couple of weeks ago, I read an article about one of the previous winners of Sweden's "The Biggest Loser" and his on-going struggle with gaining weight despite living an active life with exercise and healthy eating. After he discussed the issue with experts, the conclusion was that his problems were due to a damaged metabolic rate caused by the TV show and its practices.
That article and New York Post's rather shocking piece " 'Biggest Loser' drugged us so we'd lose weight" has drastically changed my opinion about the show to the worse, a show that seems to include elements of drug use, isolation, starvation and humiliation.
"Bob Harper was my trainer," says Joelle Gwynn, of 2008's "Couples" season. "He goes away and his assistant comes in. He's got this brown paper bag that's bundled up. He says, 'Take this drug, it'll really help you.' It was yellow and black. I was like, 'What the f- -k is this?' "
Gwynn says she took the pill, once.
"I felt jittery and hyper," she says. "I went and told the sports medicine guy. The next day, Dr. H [Dr. Rob Huizenga] gave us some lame explanation of why they got added to our regimen and that it was up to us to take them…People chastise Bill Cosby for allegedly offering meds to women, but it's acceptable to do to fat people to make them lose weight. I feel like we got raped, too."
[…]
"When I was going through the applicant process, they told me, 'You’re not fat enough,' " Mendonca [Suzanne Mendonca, Season 2] says. She was 5-foot-6 and says she weighed 229 pounds, morbidly obese by NIH standards.
"They said, 'You need to gain 40 pounds. Keep eating.' " Mendonca entered the show at 255 pounds.
In an experiment conducted by the Happiness Research Institute in Denmark, results show that people got happier, more social, productive, present and less stressed by stop using Facebook for one week.
Researchers in Denmark who split 1,095 daily Facebook users into two groups, half given access to the site as normal and the remainder forced to quit cold turkey, found that after a week those on a break from the social network felt 55% less stressed.
"We look at a lot of data on happiness and one of the things that often comes up is that comparing ourselves to our peers can increase dissatisfaction," said Meik Wiking, CEO of the Happiness Research Institute in Copenhagen.
"Facebook is a constant bombardment of everyone else's great news, but many of us look out of the window and see grey skies and rain (especially in Denmark!)," he said. "This makes the Facebook world, where everyone's showing their best side, seem even more distortedly bright by contrast, so we wanted to see what happened when users took a break."
You find the complete "The Facebook Experiment" report here (PDF).
Charlie Knoles (@charlieknoles) is a Vedic Meditation teacher who runs The Veda Center in New York and Los Angeles together with his father Thom Knoles.
Vedic Meditation is a mantra-based meditation which Knoles' father learned in the '60s working close with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the founder of the Transcendental Meditation movement.
Like Transcendental Meditation, you preferably practice the Vedic Meditation technique twice a day for twenty minutes, morning and evening.
MindBodyGreen has joined forces with Charlie Knoles and created the video-based course "The Essential Guide To Meditation" where you'll learn Vedic Meditation and mindfulness meditation as well. Added tips and techniques can help you grow and maintain a correct meditation practice, which will leave you with a good understanding of what happens with your mind and body during practice.
One of the most exciting things with this course is, that you'll learn and master the practice of Vedic Meditation. The only difference is that Knoles will give you a general mantra to work with, instead of a personalized one that you receive during a live class.
The course consists of 6 modules that include 44 sessions with a total running time of six hours. You also have access to a discussion board where you can ask questions and interact with Charlie Knoles and other participants.
To help you decide if this course is for you, MindBodyGreen lets you preview the full course for 10 minutes. By so doing, you provide them with your email adress that let alone will suffice, which will subscribe you to their email list, but with a no hassle option to unsubscribe anytime. I've experienced this myself, and after I had successfully unsubscribed, they haven't sent me any further messages.
Compared to the usual cost of learning Vedic Meditation and other similar mantra techniques such as Primordial Sound Meditation and Transcendental Meditation, usually ranging from between $395 up to $1000, MindBodyGreen's price of $99.99 is good value of money.
If you're still looking for mantra-based meditation techniques, or you just want to learn from more than one resource like myself, my mantra meditation post might be of assistance.
Male model David Gandy has a healthy attitude towards food and exercise. Whenever I read or watch an interview with him, he seems balanced whether it's about food, exercise or life in general.
The Gentlemans Journal met up with Gandy to ask him some questions about how he stays in shape.
On Diets:
"The right amount of water, the right foods – not crappy, fatty processed foods. It's everything in moderation, you can eat too much fish or too much meat. I actually had mercury poisoning from tuna because it topped off the levels in my body and made me quite ill."
"People say to me, 'my God, you must not eat something', and then, 'good God, you're eating cake'. I probably eat more than most people think I might, but I'm actually a foodie and I eat a lot. I just stay away from processed foods – white pastas, white carbohydrates, high sugar content, saturated fat – but I can still eat so much because of that. People [unnecessarily] go to the extremities of something."
Featured image: Gandy for Marks & Spencer's Spring/Summer 2015 campaign photographed by Blair Getz Mezibov. Via agency Quadriga.
Outside Magazine's correspondent Gordy Megroz decided to get more sleep so he better could endure the physically demanding ascent to climb the 13,770-foot peak Grand Teton in Jackson, Wyoming.
After some minor changes of habits, the payoff was tremendous, something that can act like a good reminder for the rest of us to not neglect our sleep.
Going into my experiment, I worried that not working at night would put me way behind schedule. But after just three days, I was feeling so refreshed each morning that I was far more efficient behind the desk. By six I'd completed most of my work for the day and still had plenty of energy for my workouts, without having to caffeinate.
Ten days later, my friend Andy and I climbed to the top of the Grand, summiting just before sunset. On the way back down, after a good nine hours of effort, Andy let out a big yawn. "Man, I'm getting tired," he said. "Weird," I responded. "I'm not."
Featured image: New York City, 1972 by photographer Michael Putnam taken from Putnam's book "Sleep" 2007. Via The New Yorker.
In a collaboration with sound therapists from British Academy of Sound Therapy, Manchester trio Marconi Union created an instrumental eight minute track called "Weightless" (2011). The track is so relaxing that Dr David Lewis-Hodgson from Mindlab International, who conducted the research, said that it created the greatest relaxation response of all the music tested in this research study, making it "the world's most relaxing song" according to Lyz Cooper, founder of the British Academy of Sound Therapy.
Boffins say the eight minute track, called Weightless, is so effective at inducing sleep it should not be listened to while driving.
[…]
Scientists played the song to 40 women and found it to be more effective at helping them relax than songs by Enya, Mozart and Coldplay.
The study - commissioned by bubble bath and shower gel firm Radox Spa - found the song was even more relaxing than a massage, walk or cup of tea.
[…]
Studies found Weightless was 11 per cent more relaxing than any other song and even made many of the women "drowsy" in the lab.
It induced a 65 per cent reduction in overall anxiety and brought them to a level 35 per cent lower than their usual resting rates.
The song features guitar, piano and electronic samples of natural soundscapes.
It is pierced throughout by buddhist-like chants that induce a trance-like state.
And according to the study, these are the top ten most relaxing tracks:
For your convenience, I have compiled these tracks in a Spotify playlist named "The Top Ten Most Relaxing Tracks According to Science".
H/t Hey Sigmund.
In a study done by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, the results show that one night of sleep deprivation equals the harmful effects of being on a six-month-long high-fat diet.
"Our study suggests that one night of total sleep deprivation may be as detrimental to insulin sensitivity as six months on a high-fat diet," said Dr. Josiane Broussard, who directed the study. "This research demonstrates the importance of adequate sleep in maintaining blood sugar levels and reducing risk for metabolic diseases like obesity and diabetes."
Sure, you can't out train a bad diet, and you can't get fit without adequate and proper exercise, but even if you're on point with both of those, if you don't get enough sleep, your overall health is suffering.
Featured image: A vintage postcard that reads "Sonno Profondo" (Deep Sleep) from 1953, depicting a father and his son on the beach. Via Pinterest.
During his freshman year in college, the executive director of the David Lynch Foundation and meditation teacher Bob Roth (@meditationbob) worked part time at a Swenson's ice cream store. One of Roth's co-workers seemed to radiate an unusually strong peace and calmness, an observation that led him to learn and teach Transcendental Meditation.
I was not a hippie, I did not take drugs and I was not interested in the plethora of new sects and new age philosophies that were sweeping through town. But I was disoriented and stressed. Really stressed. I had a part time job at a Swenson’s ice cream store—the only job I could find that fit my class schedule. And amidst all the clean-cuts and longhairs and jocks and crazies that either worked or frequented that store there was one guy I worked with, Peter Stevens, who was like a calm reflecting pool.
Peter was centered, energetic, super-smart, kind to all, easy going, never agitated, with an ineffable calm about him. I found out, rather serendipitously that he "meditated." It sounded discordant to me. In my activist-centric world of "If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem," meditation was not in my vocabulary. But I was intrigued and curious, and then grew open when he told me there was nothing to believe in. And equally attractive to my busy, busy mind: he assured me it was simple, easy, and I could actually do it.
Cautiously but bravely (I had never gone to learn something like meditation before), I attended an introductory talk on the technique. A nice, well-dressed man spoke for about 45 minutes. He said a few things that struck me. He said Transcendental Meditation gave the experience of a deeply settled, peaceful state of awareness that already existed at all times deep within the thinking mind of everyone.
Featured image: 1056 E San Lorenzo Rd III from photographer Tom Blachford's photo series "Midnight Modern".
In this episode of "If Our Bodies Could Talk", James Hamblin, senior editor at The Atlantic, visits NYC's first meditation gym named MNDFL. The gym, founded by Ellie Burrows and Lodro Rinzler, offers drop-in meditation classes ranging from Vedic to mindfulness meditation.
If you're like me, not a New Yorker and unable to visit MNDFL, you can still learn effortless mantra meditation by reading my meditation guide.
In India, more than four million workers manufacture bidi cigarettes, also known as a poor man's smoke. These cigarettes are wrapped in tendu leaf and are sometimes flavoured with chocolate, vanilla and cinnamon to name a few.
Bloomberg Business visited some of the homes and small workshops where bidi-making took place for their photo essay "Bidis: The Hand-Rolled Cigarettes That Keep More Than Four Million Indians Employed".
Image credit: Photograph by Udit Kulshrestha / Bloomberg.
Performance artist Marina Abramović talks with Sir Norman Rosenthal about love and how to turn a glass of water (at the 2:04 mark) into a potent healing life force.
Via Asli Ceylan.
Brian Eno's light and sound installations "77 Million Paintings for Montefiore" and "Quiet Room for Montefiore" are being used by Montefiore Hospital in Hove, East Sussex, England, in an attempt to create a healing environment that can assist in the recovery of patients and staff.
Often cited as the inventor of "ambient music", Eno, 64, has created "77 Million Paintings for Montefiore", an installation of light and "generative music" in the reception area. Eno's "generative music" employs an electronic system so that the sounds are constantly changing and never repeat.
Eno has also created "Quiet Room for Montefiore", a space available downstairs to patients, visitors and staff as a place to "escape" – "somewhere to think, take stock or simply relax."
Here Eno decided that generative music would not be suitable so he has recorded a special soundtrack and created a light installation specifically for the space.
Eno, who previously created a soundtrack to enhance the airport experience for jittery fliers, was asked to provide installations by Robin Turner, a local surgeon, after this wife had spent two hours immersed in the quiet serenity of one of the producer’s installations.
Here is a recording from Brian Eno's DVD "77 Million Paintings" with music created by Eno's and musician Peter Chilvers' generative music iPad app "Scape":
Via Pitchfork.
The large mosaic by artist Belo is made up by 66,000 cups of colored rainwater. The work aims to raise awareness about the importance of having access to pure water around the world.
Huffington Post has provided us with a nice infographic and article about all the health benefits that follows a yoga practice.
The Eastern practice of yoga has become a modern-day symbol of peace, serenity and well-being in the West. More than 20 million Americans practice yoga, according to the 2012 Yoga in America study, with practitioners spending more than $10 billion a year on yoga-related products and classes.
The mind-body practice is frequently touted for its ability to reduce stress and boost well-being, but it also offers wide-ranging physical health benefits that rival other forms of exercise. While the scientific research on yoga's health benefits is still young, here's what we know so far about its potential effects on the body.
Via @bhanu_bhatnagar.
Image credit: Infographic by Jan Diehm for The Huffington Post.
By drinking coffee before taking a powernap, you'll sort of getting a double energizing effect, since the caffeine starts to kick in after your powernap comes to an end after 15-20 minutes. This is one for my personal toolbox, which already includes breathwork, mantra meditation, Reiki, yoga, and hypnosis with the use of a "Inner Mental Room", all good alternatives for getting rid of tiredness.
The phenomenon was first studied by British scientists at Loughborough University, looking into ways to combat driver sleepiness. After measuring the participants’ brainwaves whilst in a driving simulator, they found that the caffeine/nap combo worked better than either caffeine or napping on it’s own, cold air, or a break with no nap. The caffeine nap was most effective at improving driving performance, virtually eliminating the mid-afternoon drowsiness peak that the other groups exhibited.
Featured image: A cup of espresso. Photography by stylist Ginny Branch. Via One Chapter A Day.
Hear Dr. Gloria Gilbere talk to Lyle Hurd, editor and publisher at Total Health Magazine, about the harmful effects of drinking soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi. Several years ago, I watched a documentary about the danger of artificial sweeteners like aspartame, so I consider information like this crucial. Thankfully more and more products contain the sweetener Stevia, or they simply have no added sugar att all but fruit sugar. Currently, I enjoy jam and ketchup at home, that contains only fruit sugar. And when my wife bakes, she often uses Stevia, dried coconut, figs, dates, cranberries, honey and so on.
And here is a nice infographic by and from The Renegade Pharmacist's post (with a larger image) about the effects of drinking Coke. The information is built upon the work of Wade Meredith.
And hear Dr. Josh Axe talk about the health risks of using artificial sweeteners, what you should be looking out for, and which safe alternatives you can use instead:
For more, watch the very honest Coca-Cola ad, and read about the experiment "10 Cokes a Day".
In the Vanity Fair, an article about Sonia Jones, the wife of hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones, finding the healing power of Ashtanga yoga, her work of bringing yoga to the masses, how Ashtanga yoga came to the West, and how the Ashtanga community in large has starting to evolve.
Through Paul’s friendship with self-help master Tony Robbins, the Joneses met Pete Egoscue, who is basically the guru of back pain. Pete’s wife, Troi, practiced yoga in Encinitas, California, with one of Pattabhi Jois’s best-known students, Tim Miller. Troi told Sonia that to get well she too had to practice the kind of yoga Jois taught, which is widely known as Ashtanga. In today’s yoga-mad America, Ashtanga can be a rubric for a lot of things, but Troi insisted that Sonia had to practice in the very specific manner Jois taught, and with a teacher he had approved. After the Egoscues interviewed teachers on her behalf, Sonia began working with an ashtangi named Maria Rubinate. “It was a huge turning point in my life,” recalls Sonia.
In the article, the documentary "Ashtanga, NY – A Yoga Documentary" (2003) by Caroline Laskow and Mary Wigmore, is mentioned. Here is the first part of the documentary:
And here's the second part:
It's also on Netflix.
Featured image: K. Pattabhi Jois, founder of Ashtanga yoga, via Michelle May.
H/t James Altucher.
The life and teachings of Indian yogi Paramahansa Yogananda, author of the spiritual classic "Autobiography of a Yogi" (1946), is depicted in the documentary "Awake: The Life of Yogananda" (2014). It will be released on DVD in September this year, but screenings are currently available throghout the United States.