Self magazine recently named the Women of Orange County the fittest in the nation. According to the magazine Orange County women spend about 1 1/2 hours a week exercising.

The magazine states:
“The O.C.’s yearlong beach season motivates women to exercise an average of 96 minutes a week, compared with 68 minutes in least-fit Huntington, West Virginia. There are 39,000 acres of parks, 150 miles of bike trails and 40 miles of coast.”

We also ranked 3rd in “healthiest Eaters”, 4th in “Least Smoky”, and 6th overall as the “Healthiest” place in the country; down from 4th overall last year.

I am very pleased with this poll because my health and fitness company, My Fit Life, is located in Orange County and I specialize in women.

Note: We are very fortunate in Southern California to have easy access to gyms and healthy eateries.

Congratulations ladies. Bravo!

Alexander Morentin, C.E.S.
Author: Better Living With Whole Foods

I went to Fresh n Easy this past weekend and was very disappointed. I was expecting to see a scaled down version of Whole Foods Market, but it’s not.

All the hype led me to believe that Fresh n Easy was a healhty neighborhood store; kinda like Whole Foods Market meets Trader Joe’s. In reality, Fresh n Easy carries vegetables, fruits, meat, dairy, and a ton of mainstream packaged foods. For instance, Fresh n Easy carries a ton of packaged and processed kids cereals such as Lucky Charms. Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s do not carry these types of denatured foods. In fact, I did not notice an assortment of organic foods in Fresh n Easy, which is what I was hoping for.

As a clinical exercise specialist, I was looking forward to being able to recommend Fresh n Easy to my clients, but I can’t. Now, all I can do is hope that Whole Foods or Mother’s Market decide to open a store near me in the near future.

Fresh n Easy gets a grade of “C” in my book.

Well, that’s all I have for now.

Best regards,

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

One of my friends just emailed me this article from Parade.com:

“Who doesn’t want cleaner lakes and rivers? Some senators, it seems. A bill making its way through the Senate is asking that animal waste be exempt from a law that helps protect our nation’s waterways. According to a Congressional study, 1.4 billion tons of waste is generated by animals on megafarms in more than 40 states. That’s 130 times the amount of waste that the entire American population produces in a year. Not only does this pollution kill fish and aquatic life, it also seeps into our drinking water. Tell your Senators how you feel at www.Parade.com”

Some of these huge commercial megafarms house more than 100,000 head of cattle. These cattle live in deplorable conditions and are fed an unnatural diet, which wreaks havoc on their digestive systems. This not only affects our ecosystem, but also the quality of the meat that is produced for our consumption.

This is one of the main reasons I am a vegetarian. By not eating commercial meat, I am voting with my dollars and telling these large corporations that I will not stand for the mistreatment of farm animals and Mother Earth.

Progress can be made if we collectively take a stand.

Well, that’s enough for today. I'’ll get off of my soap box now.

Have a wonderful day.

Alexander Morentin, C.E.S.

It’s true. Disneyland is closing the “It’s A Small World” attraction to install bigger boats that will accomodate bigger riders. 

When the ride was first opened the boats were built to accomodate a 175 pound man and a 135 pound woman. It seems that, with the increased weight of todays population, the boats are routinely bottoming out.

 Al Lutz reported on MiceAge earlier this month that Disney will next year rebuild the ride system of the It’s A Small World attraction at Disneyland to add larger boats and a deeper flume, to prevent what’s become a common occurrence — the 1960s-era boats “bottoming out” and coming to a stop, due to the excess weight of today’s riders.

“The new flume will follow the exact same path as the original, and it will travel past sets that are in the exact same locations. But the extra depth of the new flume and the added buoyancy of the new boats should allow for several hundred extra pounds of churro-loving park visitors to pile into the new boats before they bottom out and bring the ride to a stop,” Lutz wrote.

According to Robert Niles of www.ThemeParkInsider.com , this is becoming a common occurrence in theme parks across the nation. According to Niles, “parks are adding “plus-sized” seats to roller coasters, “test” seats at the beginning of ride queues, and in some cases, rebuilding ride systems entirely.”

Isn’t this a shame? 30% of the American population is clinically obese and 65% are overweight. This translates into 90 million Americans clinically obese and 195 million overweight.

These numbers are staggering. If you have been thinking about starting a weight management or exercise program it’s time to get off the fence and start… today!

If you don’t know where to begin, I can help clear the confusion and set you down a straight line path towards health and fitness. I have developed proven methods that guarantee your success.

Have a wonderful day,

Alexander Morentin
Health & Fitness Consultant
www.myfitlife.net

The future of raw milk is in jeopardy in California. It seems legislation was quietly put into effect that will make raw milk illegal as of January 1, 2008.

We cannot let this happen. If we do, then what’s next? In September legislation was put into effect that made it mandatory to pasteurize raw almonds; now this.

We need to take action today or we will lose more and more of our rights.
Read below for more info from Mark McAfee, owner of Organic Pastures, on how you can help.

——————————————————————————-
We need your help to save raw milk in California. The entire raw milk
movement is being attacked when raw milk is attacked in California or
any place. You the consumer is being attacked and being denied your right
to chose living whole foods.

It is time to fight for your health and your lives, because that is
exactly what is on the line. Sterilized and preserved food brings on
immune depression, allergies and illness. Antibiotics then make it all that
much worse. 80 percent of the human immune system is made up of
bacteria in our gut. When they die we die!! We need good bacteria badly. The
crisis in MRSA and VRE infections are directly associated with weak
immune systems and antibiotic abuse. Most all chronic diseases and immune
depression are healed by whole bio-diverse and enzyme rich foods….raw
milk. Raw milk is at least 800 times more biologically diverse than
even good yogurt.

Please go to www.organicpastures.com for specific directions on what to
do and who to call. Addresses, contact information and legislative
representative names are available here:

http://www.organicpastures.com/ab1735_landing.html

High on our priority is our Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, the
Secretary of Agriculture A.G Kawamura, and all the state legislators. 

This a raw milk health revolution….do not let it be our generation
that lost this fight. We owe it too ourselves and our children to win
this and place these GOT DEAD MILK protectors on notice that this is a
democracy and due process and representation still matters.  Sneak Attacks
will not be tolerated by the raw milk consumers or producers of
California or our nation.

You are requested to attend a rally and press conference at 1130 at the
Fresno Farmers Market at Shaw and Blackstone avenues on Saturday
October 27th. I will be speaking to the press and they need to hear your
voices loud and clear. We expect a huge turn out and we need everybody
that can come. Raw milk will be on sale for all that come. Movie stars are
invited…Arnold needs to hear from you.

Try your best to attend the rally wear a shirt that supports raw milk
and your right to eat whole living foods!

Stand now and be counted!!!  See you in Fresno at the Farmers Market on
Saturday.

Only living milk brings life!!

Mark McAfee
Founder OPDC
1-877 RAW MILK
http://www.organicpastures.com 

“When you are right you can not be too radical, when you are wrong you
can not be too conservative”. MLK.

Raw Milk and Living Foods are Right!!

—————————————————————————–
Thank you for your support of Raw Milk and the Whole Foods Movement!

Alexander Morentin
My Fit Life
www.myfitlife.net

Those of you that are familiar with me know that I am a huge proponent of eating whole foods. And, I believe that the most important of all of the whole foods available are vegetables and fruits. However, I have found that most people find it extremely difficult to incorporate vegetables and fruits into their every day life.

The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming new book, Better Living With Whole Foods, that may help you:

Vegetables & Fruits
If you currently eat lots of vegetables and fruits, Great! If you don’t presently eat many vegetables and fruits you need to start. Yes, your mother was right; you need to eat your fruits and veggies. As with every other aspect of your health and fitness, add them in slowly. Think of how you ate last week and try to eat a little better this week. 

Look, I know first hand how hard it can be to incorporate vegetables and fruits into your daily routine. In fact, when I first started buying produce (notice that I said buying produce and not eating produce), I would have to throw most of it away because it would spoil before I ate it. A six ounce bag of spinach would spoil in my refrigerator before I was half way done with it.

If you are in a similar situation… keep on buying produce. You will eventually eat more and more of the green stuff as time goes by. I always get the same reaction from people when they hear me say this: “But I don’t want to waste food or money.”

Let me tell you something, if you don’t have produce available for you and your family to eat in your home, you will never develop the habit of eating it. You have to make small sacrifices in the beginning in order to receive big rewards down the line.

Today, a six ounce bag of spinach will be gone in one day. I now eat about 4 pounds of spinach per week, plus a variety of other fruits and vegetables that are in season. And I have never felt better in my entire life!

The point I’m trying to make is this: I would never have gotten to this point in my life if I hadn’t taken the steps to make sure that I always had produce available in my home.

In order to get in the habit of eating produce, you have to first get in the habit of buying produce.

I hope that this helps you on your quest towards a happier, healthier life. Have a wonderful day.

What the heck is flexitarianism?

Well, it is a cross between a vegetarian and a meat eater.

According to Maria Condo of Cooking Light:
“Like vegetarians, “flexitarians” eat a primarily plant-based diet composed of grains, vegetables, and fruits, but they occasionally obtain protein from lean meat, fish, poultry, or dairy. A quarter of Americans fit the description, consuming meatless meals at least four days a week, according to the American Dietetic Association.”

This is exactly the way that most people should eat. Studies show that people who follow this approach to eating generally weigh less and have lower rates of hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, and prostate and colon cancer.

Meats, including beef, chicken, fish, and pork, are a major cause of the above mentioned diseases. Not to mention all of the processed foods that are available.

If you concentrate on eating a majority of food from vegetables, fruits and raw nuts, and keep consumption of meat to a minimum, you are going to be much healhtier. There is no doubt about it.

I am a vegetarian and I love the way that I look and feel eating the way that I do. However, I am a healthy vegetarian. I eat healthy whole foods every day and stay away from the processed and denatured foods that most Amrericans eat. It is unfortunate that many vegetarians do not eat healthy. They substitute meat with packaged foods that contain a large amount of highly processed grains, flours, and sugars.

As mentioned above, I think flexitarianism is a great choice for most Americans that refuse to give up meat altogether. The premise is simple.

1. Eat like a vegetarian most days of the week.
2. Keep meat eating to a minimum.
3. Eat primarily healthy whole foods, including a variety of vegetables and fruits.
4. Stay away from processed and refined foods.

The principles are simple and easy to implement if you are well informed. However, I have found that most people are confused when it comes to exactly what foods to select when they are shopping at the grocery store or ordering a meal in a restaurant.

This is why I have created a new program, Better Living With Whole Foods. It clears the confusion and gives you the ammunition to make the most healthful and delicious choices in any situation. I will talk more about this fantastic new program as it comes closer to its release date.

Have a wonderful day

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

Hi,

I hope everything is going well today.

Yesterday, I had the privilege of visiting Organic Pastures, a raw dairy farm located in Central California.

Interesting Factoids:
Organic Pastures is the number one raw dairy farm in the United States. Because of this, they are under much scrutiny from the federal government. In fact, as I drove into Organic Pastures I was first greeted by two FDA officials that were there to inspect the facilities.

No worries though, Mark McAfee, CEO of Organic Pastures, and his talented staff run a very efficient operation.

Note: For those of you who aren’t aware, raw milk is illegal in most states in the United States. California is one of the few states that allow raw milk to be sold in grocery stores.

  
    Mark McAfee & Me

The Tour:
Organic Pastures is unlike the commercial dairy farms in his surrounding community. The cows are not confined to tight quarters; they live and graze on 400 grass filled acres. And yes, the land is certified organic.

We walked through the creamery, the kefir room, the cold storage rooms, the cheese room, the shipping department, and the sales office. In other words, I was taken on a tour of the entire operations and facilities, they have nothing to hide. It was fascinating to see how much effort and care goes into each bottle of raw milk and colostrum.

Next, Mark drove me around the entire farm, explaining all the details of the day to day operations as well as his mission to enrich the lives of his consumers through education, awareness, and whole foods nutrition.

I am extremely impressed with Organic Pastures and have developed a deeper appreciation for the raw dairy products they provide. I feel very fortunate that I am able to drive to my local Whole Foods or Mother’s Market and purchase this amazing product.

Many thanks go out to Mark McAfee and the staff of Organic Pastures. Keep up the great work!

For more information on raw milk and Organic Pastures Dairy, visit their website at www.organicpastures.com.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Talk soon,

Alexander Morentin, CES
Health & Fitness Consultant
YWCA North Orange County
Owner, My Fit Life
www.fitness-for-women.net

Good morning,

 Today is a very exciting day for me.

I get to visit Organic Pastures, the number one Raw Dairy Farm in the United States. I can’t wait to get there.

I will tell you more about it when I return.

Have a beautiful day.

Alexander Morentin
Health & Fitness Consultant
My Fit Life