I just received an email with the following link. Just goes to prove the old saying: “You are what you hang out with.” 

If your friends and family get fat, chances are you will too, researchers report in a startling new study that suggests obesity is “socially contagious” and can spread easily from person to person.
go to http://health.yahoo.com/news/177766 for the rest of the article.

Interesting stuff, huh?

Peace,

Alexander Morentin, C.E.S.
Health & Fitness Consultant
http://www.fitness-for-women.net/

As American corporations such as McDonalds, Starbucks, and Wal-Mart experience exponential growth in China, so does the Chinese waistline. It is interesting to note that there are more Starbucks in China than in the United States.

It is reported that there are 250 million overweight Chinese. Childhood obesity is also on the rise. A recent USA Today article reports: “Today, 8% of 10- to 12-year-olds in China’s cities are considered obese and an additional 15% are overweight, according to Education Ministry data.”

As the world becomes more “Americanized” it is also getting fatter. Countries such as England and Brazil who used to laugh at the “fat Americans” are now experiencing a rapid increase in overweight and obesity.

What Does This Have To With Me?
Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and Starbucks sell nothing but processed foods that will make you fat.

Sure these companies sell a couple of items that are supposed to be healthy, but, in reality, they are all smoke and mirrors. Feeble attempts to make you think that they are concerned with your health.

If your goal is to look better, feel better, and have more energy, you need to eat whole foods and stay away from places like Wal-Mart and McDonalds.

The Standard American Diet (SAD) is not only killing us, it is killing the rest of the world.

I hope that you understand the need to be as informed and educated as you possibly can when it comes to your health and fitness. I will do my best to help you.

Yours in health,

Alexander Morentin, C.E.S.
Holistic Fitness Coach
www.fitness-for-women.net

This quote always brightens my day; I hope it does the same for you. 

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
– Source: A Return To Love, by Marianne Williamson

Remember, you are special. The world is a better place because you are in it. Live into your greatness and  let yourself shine.

Have a wonderful day,

Alexander Morentin, C.E.S.
Holistic Fitness Coach
www.fitness-for-women.net

One of our readers sent in a comment regarding the post on pharmaceuticals in the water. 

She was interested in finding a way to test the tap water in her house.
I have included the reply that I sent her below:

 As far as your questions are concerned:

I found the information for the post on one of the local T.V. news shows. An independent research firm tested the water in the L.A. basin for pharmaceuticals.

This is significant because the water company is not required to test for pharmaceuticals.

As far as your home drinking water is concerned:

There are two websites that may be of interest to you.

www.AquaMD.com

This site does affordable testing of your tap water by asking you a series of questions along with analyzing tests done by your local water company. They have a video which explains the whole process. It is quite interesting.

http://www.allaboutwater.org/

This site has all kinds of info regarding various types of filtration systems for your house, as well as useful information about bottled water.

Both sites are great resources.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Talk to you soon,

Alexander Morentin, C.E.S.
Health & Fitness Consultant
www.fitness-for-women.net

I made the mistake of not bringing enough food with me to work today.

Believe me, this is not the first time that this has happened to me. Usually, I will do one of three things:

1. Eat at a local healthy eating establishment.
2. Go to a health food store or whole foods market.
3. Drink water until I go home.

Today, I did none of the above.

Today, as I was driving down the street, I thought to myself: “Why don’t I go to IHOP and get some multi-grain pancakes and a side of hash browns?”

So, that’s exactly what I did.

I remember thinking to myself as I got out of the car and headed to the front door of this fine eating establishment: “I know there is a reason that I don’t ever eat here, but I can’t think of one right now.”

As, I followed the manager to my table I had this uneasy feeling. I felt as though I was doing something that I really shouldn’t be doing.

I looked at the menu and found nothing that interested me. I felt as if I should get up and leave, but I said:”… no, I am already here. I may as well do what I came here to do.”

So I ordered a multi grain pancake breakfast; no meat, no butter, with eggs over medium.

Well, my food came, I ate it, and am still suffering the consequences as I write this post.

What was I thinking?
The food didn’t even taste good! 

My head started to pound before I was done with the meal. I felt immediately confused and tired as I pulled out of the parking lot. Finally, I became jittery and had to lie down for a half hour before I felt good enough to do anything.

Temporary amnesia is a mother…

Which brings me to the purpose of this post:
It amazes me when people see the way that I normally eat and ask me how I could deprive myself of all of the good food that is out there.

These same people are comfortable eating IHOP, McDonalds, and KFC on a daily basis.

Eating well does not deprive you of anything. Well, let me take that back. Eating well does deprive you of a few things. Eating well deprives you of sickness, disease, weight gain, and depression.

Eating the Standard American Diet (SAD) deprives you; it deprives you of the vital nutrients that allow you to live a healthy vibrant life.

Eating the Standard American Diet is the number 1 cause of the epidemic of obesity, cancer, diabetes, depression, and every other known major illness in America today.

Look, I am speaking from experience. Click on the About Al Morentin button to see for yourself. One of the pictures is me eating the Standard American Diet and the other is me eating and living the way that I have taught so many people how to do. I’ll let you guess which picture is which.

Let me tell you something, the way I live right now is more than worth it. Except for my bout with temporary amnesia, I have never felt better in my entire life.

I am not telling you all of this to impress you.
I am telling you this for two reasons:

1. To let you know that I am human and I make mistakes.
2. To let you know that there is a better way… a better life.

I have made it my mission to help a minimum of 100,000 women and men embark down the path to vibrant health & wellness in one year’s time.

That being said, I will end this post with a quote from the legendary John Lennon:

“You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one”
– Imagine

Peace,

Alexander Morentin, C.E.S.
YWCA Health & Fitness Consultant
www.fitness-for-women.net

I hope everything is going well for you today.

I read this quote this morning and thought you would like it.

You were born with potential.
You were born with goodness and trust.
You were born with ideals and dreams.
You were born with greatness.
You were born with wings.
You are not meant for crawling, so don’t.
You have wings.
Learn to use them and fly.
– Rumi

Bye for now,

Alexander Morentin, C.E.S.
Holistic Fitness Coach
www.fitness-for-women.net

Yes, you read that right.

It seems that all almonds shipped and sold in the United States, Canada, and Mexico will be pasteurized. This new regulation is set to take effect September 1, 2007.

Why is this happening?
After salmonella outbreaks in 2001 and 2004 that were traced to raw almonds, the Almond Board of California rallied for a federal rule requiring all almonds in the state to be pasteurized.

But really… It’s all about money!
California almond growers, who grow about 80% of the world’s almonds, feel that pasteurization will expand their market.

Here is a quote from Richard Waycott,the president and c.e.o. of the almond board, which is nothing more than a marketing arm of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“We consider it unacceptable to continue shipping a product that could contain a microorganism that could make somebody sick.”
Remember this quote while reading the remainder of this post.

Note: Some of the above excerpts were taken from a july 2, 2007 article in the Associated Press

This ruling has major underlying implications.
Let’s first take a look at what happened:
In 2001 and 2004 some people got sick from salmonella, which was traced to raw almonds.
Notice that some people got sick, but no one died.
Also, notice that the outbreaks were isolated to two non-concurrent years. Two separate years; that’s it!

Now, let’s take a look at food borne illness on a yearly basis:
There are between 6.5 million and 81 million cases of foodborne illness every year in the United States alone.
The major sources are Salmonella, E coli 0157:H7, Campylobacter, and Listeria the majority of which are traced to beef, chicken, and fish.

Here is the shocker: More than 9,000 deaths are reported annually, most of which are attributable to meat.

In June of this year, more than 75 million pounds of beef were recalled due to bacterial contamination.

Here is the point of the whole story:
I don’t think that the government is pasteurizing the almonds for our benefit. I think that the government is merely taking its first step towards hardcore regulation of our raw produce. They have already scared most of America into thinking that raw spinach is too dangerous to  eat. What’s next?

What can you do?
I like raw almonds, as do millions of other people both in the U.S. and around the world.
After September 1st, the only way to get raw almonds will be to go directly to farmers on their farms, at farm stands, or farmer’s markets.

I hope you found this of interest to you.

Yours in health,

Alexander Morentin, C.E.S.
Holistic Fitness Coach
My Fit Life

I hope you had a fantastic 4th of July Celebration.

My day was action packed:

Surf City Run (Huntington Beach)
We arrived in Huntington Beach at approximately 7AM for the Surf City 5k Run. What a wonderful way to start out the 4th of July.

I was in attendance with 5 other people. It’s a lot of fun to run a race with friends. The comaraderie is excellent.

This year was the biggest I have ever seen it. There were thousands of people in attendance.

It was such a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by so many like minded people. The energy was amazing. Everybody was so very happy.

Transformers (Newport Beach)
After a quick shower and a bite to eat we headed over to the Newport Big 6 Theaters to watch the matinee showing of Transformers.

It was my first time at the Newport Big 6. They claim that they are the biggest theater west of the Mississippi. It definitely is huge and the sound system is out of this world. Worth the price of admission.

How was the movie? Well, it was fantastic. I really liked it. There is so much action in this movie and the effects were perfect. And I am not a movie guy.

Transformers is definitely a big screen movie. Don’t wait for the dvd.

Fireworks (Long Beach)
To finish the day off I went to Long Beach to watch their fireworks show. My friend has one of the best seats in the house right on his balcony. The city of Long Beach did a great job. It was a perfect way to close out Independence Day.

Needless to say, I slept like a baby when I got home.

This year’s 4th of July was the best I’ve had in a long while. I feel extremely blessed and privileged.

Well, bye for now.

Alexander Morentin, C.E.S.
Holistic Fitness Coach
My Fit Life

Soy and corn are the most genetically modified substances on the planet. In fact, pharmaceutical drugs are grown from corn and soy. Yes, you heard that right, pharmaceutical grade prescription drugs are grown from corn and soy. They are called Pharma Crops and the method used for growing these harmful crops has been called pharming. This is a real concern that you need to be aware of.

“A Growing Concern addresses the challenge of protecting the U.S. food supply from contamination by crops genetically engineered to produce drugs and industrial substances (”pharma” crops). Six experts commissioned by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) to analyze this problem concluded that corn and soybean cannot be used as pharma crops while preventing contamination of the food supply–unless substantial changes are made to the commodity production and management practices applied to pharma crops.
Because changes on this scale have yet to be implemented, UCS has concluded that contamination of the food system by pharma crops may have already occurred and may become more likely in the future. We therefore recommend that the U.S. Department of Agriculture halt the outdoor production of genetically engineered pharmaceutical and industrial crops immediately, until a new system for producing drugs and industrial substances without endangering the food system can be put in place.”
– Union of Concerned Scientists (www.ucsusa.org)

Pharming is a growing problem for us as a nation. I hope you are beginning to understand why I encourage you to choose ethically grown organic foods.

Look, I am not trying to scare you. All I am doing is giving you the ammunition to make the most informed decisions for yourself and your loved ones.

The main point that you need to take from this: If you are going to buy corn, soy, or products which contain these ingredients, buy organic. It really does make a difference.

Feel free to leave me any questions or comments that you may have regarding this or any other post.

Yours in health,

Aleander Morentin, C.E.S.
Holistic Fitness Coach
My Fit Life