Posts Tagged ‘Dr. Nima Rahmany’

As an aspiring mind-body wellness expert, one of the challenges I face, especially being in the public eye is the huge responsibility of leading by example, and being authentic.

These last few months have been the most challenging of my entire life.  I’ve been smack dab in the middle of the most gut-wrenching turmoil I’ve ever had to face, and forced to make some tough decisions that will alter the course of not only my life, but another human being that I have loved for a long time.

How ironic that I’ve decided to dedicate my life to learning and teaching about the effects of various stressors on the body and ways we can adapt and dance with it– and I find myself in this moment being immersed in stress, tension, anxiety, conflict, and chaos.

Since it’s not what happens to us, but how we respond to what happens– which will determine the outcome of our lives— this is how I’m responding:  Digging deep and gathering courage and exploring my creativity, passion, and purpose.

One of the benefits of feeling helpless and hopeless at times is that it forces you to take risks and action steps you wouldn’t have had the courage to do– because you have no choice but to step out of your comfort zone.  So I, along with one of my brilliant friends who happens to be an award-winning filmmaker, Tobin, sat down after his adjustment one day and tweaked and polished this concept of creating some educational yet fun videos of me acting a fool and playing various characters and doing voices of their spines in a “couple’s counseling/therapy” session.  I watch these videos and chuckle because during the release of the first 2 videos I myself was going through couple’s counseling sessions of my own.

I’ve learned a lot.  I’ve learned that no matter what happens, people will have their opinions about the choices you make.  I’ve learned that it’s not possible to feel stress or anxiety or depression when you are focussed on creating.  I’ve not only learned, but experienced that no matter what, people will like you and dislike you, so you might as well do what you love to do.  I’ve learned that energy is never created nor destroyed, it just changes forms.  I’ve learned that in the darkest times you have your most amazing moments.  I’ve learned that when you are stressed beyond belief, a Chiropractic adjustment works miracles to help you within a matter of seconds.  I’ve learned that your friends and supportive family will always show their true colors in your most challenging times, just like you show your true colors to them.  And even though their true colors might not look too brightly on you, it’s good that you still get to see them.  It’s humbling because your true colors, to some, don’t seem too bright either—-so get off your frigging high horse.  I’ve learned that everyone (including me), is surrounded by both sides of love– support and challenge, praise and blame, build up, and tear down.  No matter how hard you try, you won’t escape it.  I’ve learned that sometimes… it’s just better for everyone involved to just stop trying so hard and let go.

Ah, the bitter-sweet taste of wisdom.

So this is how I am responding.  I’m following my soul purpose– to be an educator and entertainer, helping people heal and transform, using all the skills and talents that I’ve been blessed with to shine my light even in my own darkness.

Ryan the abusive Snowboarder (photo by http;//www.photobinphotography.com

Over the next 4 months, I will be releasing a new “Spinal Therapist” scene for you to enjoy– for no other purpose except that I have something burning inside to share with the world.  So you better share it or I will hunt you down.  I learned from a bright young financial guru at a seminar to invest in my “soul purpose”.  After carefully thinking about it– I pretty much pulled all my money out of real estate and have decided to pour it into things that only pertain to my dreams and aspirations of helping the world transform from physical and emotional challenge and suffering to natural ways of living and being… and helping create a healthy mind and body free of unnecessary pharmaceutical intervention.

I want to publicly thank Tobin for his creativity and friendship– and his amazing wife Sarah who was the inspiration for the next character you will soon see .  He is the genius behind the scenes who has come up with the whole concept.  And to Yasie for being my support through everything even when I didn’t think I would make it. And most of all– To Maria for not only helping me transform into all these characters with her genius makeup work, but also putting up with me for the last 5 or so years.  I will always love you.

So here you go.  Me. Tears streaming down my face (true story).  In my authenticity.  Leading by example (well trying).  Following my dream. The next chapter begins…. NOW.

Thanks to everyone who watched my first video and shared and dropped me a line or sent me an email.  When Tobin showed me the first edit from our 2 days of filming at the Westgate Wellness Centre in Maple Ridge, I knew we were onto something fun.  Your comments were funny after some of you saw my picture on my facebook page after makeup and were horrified.

Nothing gives me more fulfillment than teaching people an important message of health and healing, while getting a few laughs.  As a pathological exhibitionist, I like to know that my “acting a fool” doesn’t go to waste.  Please feel free to share this 2nd installment of “Dr. Nima Chiropractor/Spinal Therapist”.

Thanks for watching, laughing, sharing, tweeting, liking and cringing.  Prepare to be a little bit uncomfortable (again).

Warning.  This may offend some.  Those that have no sense of humor, no charm, wit, sense of playfulness (or good looks)– please do not watch this video.  Those that have problems watching others promote to the world in a fun way what they love to do should avoid my website, facebook, twitter posts with every fiber of their being.

I’ve been criticized by some in the profession for not being professional or too “self-promoting”.  Good.  I’m glad I’ve pissed a few people off.  I’ve watched dozens of my peers do their best to put up videos promoting their practices– first off– Good for you, I applaud you for your courage.  You can’t do or say anything without your critics.  I know– because I too, am a critic of the way we are approaching our health.  I just want to put out videos that make people smile, laugh, and like you will see in this case… cringe.  Please stay tuned for Part 2.

Please enjoy.  Thanks for watching.  And thank you to Tobin for his creative genius and Maria for her great work.

Have you ever repeated a story so much you believed it as fact– only later to realize that the story was not true?  Remember how shocked you were?

It’s disturbing because you start to become aware that you may have other beliefs that are complete bullshit.  Imagine the surprise when we realized the earth wasn’t flat.  I don’t know the story—but I bet you they thought the guy who proved it was a sphere was labeled a heretic.

When I was in school, we were taught to ask our patients about Family History.  I’m sure you’ve been to the doctor and have been asked about the history of illness of your family.  Reason being—if your parents have an illness—then it’s in your genes and your probability will be high as well.

Because of these beliefs, some people have gone so far as to have surgeries without any illness—just as a precaution—like removing their breasts because breast cancer “runs in the family”.

What if I told you we’re discovering these old-school beliefs about cancer and other chronic illnesses caused by “faulty genes” are today’s version of “flat earth”?

The truth is—we are now discovering this paradigm is not true.  Your genes are not your destiny.  Read time magazine’s article “Why your DNA is not your Destiny”. (Jan 2010).

The “Central Dogma Theory” taught in medical schools.

The “Central Dogma” – that is taught in schools (simply stated) is that your DNA gets transcribed to create proteins, which are the foundation of all the physiological functions of your life– and this process is irreversible.   In other words, your DNA controls your life, and there is little to nothing you can do to change that.

The funny thing is that it’s actually called “The Central Dogma” of Biology.  Funny that in a paradigm that prides itself on being scientific, we have a “Dogma” which can be defined as “a religious doctrine that is proclaimed as true without proof.”

I have some earth shattering news for you.  New research is now challenging the belief of “it runs in the family so I have a higher chance of getting it”.

I’m also going to explain why this old belief is not only outdated—but it can be hazardous to your health to believe it to be true– in 2 parts.

3 paradigm-changing studies that have been published about Genetics and susceptibility to illness.

1)  The first study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was from Denmark, a country where they for some reason keep an extremely detailed register of genetic origin for their citizens.  Researchers looked at 960 families—more than a thousand children who were adopted—meaning they had NO GENETIC CONNECTION between parent and child, and they evaluated causes of death.

What they found was that when one of those adoptive parents died of cancer before the age of 50, the risk of the child of these parents dying of cancer increased by 500 percent.

But how can that be? You might ask.  There’s no genetic connection!

I’m glad you asked—because the answer is that family environment plays a huge role in your health, regardless of your “strong” or “weak” genes.  The authors conclude

…death from cancer, and possibly also from vascular causes, appears to be influenced by the family environment. (N Engl J Med 1988; 318:727–32.)”

My brother (left) and me (right) on November 22nd, 1975. Not genetically identical-- but we're still twins.

2)  The Second study, again from the New England Journal of Medicine, conducted at a prestigious institute in Sweden where they select Nobel Prize candidates looked at (genetically) identical twins.  They studied whether or not these twins got the same illnesses because they shared IDENTICAL GENES.

Can you take a wild guess what the results were?

The authors state

Inherited genetic factors make a minor contribution to susceptibility to most types of neoplasms (cancers)….We conclude that the overwhelming contributor to the causation of cancer in the populations of twins that we studied was the environment”.

Then they put these cancer-ridden mice in different groups with different environments and in a nutshell–found that the groups in healthier environments (mice that got nurturing, socialization, opportunity for normal exercise, mental stimulation) actually SHRUNK THE CANCER TUMORS.

I says PARDON?

“Dr. Nima, you mean to tell me that even if I have cancer, I can shrink cancer by changing my lifestyle?”

You tell me.  This is what the researchers say:

“We show here that an enriched environment leads to a remarkable suppression of cancer proliferation in all three models tested, even when delayed until the tumor was well established”. (Cao et al. Environmental and Genetic Activation of a brain-Adipocyte BDNF/Leptin Axis Causes Cancer Remission and Inhibition.  Cell 2010 July 9, 142(1):52-64.

Even though it’s controversial for me to say— THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT I’M SAYING.  Chronic illness is multi-factoral.  Reductionistic Medicine is concerned with isolating the genes and coming up with an outside-in “cure”.  Unfortunately most clinicians are too busy to keep up with the latest research.  Just because your doctor doesn’t know doesn’t mean it’s not true.

There are many campaigns, runs, walks, fundraisers that we all get behind for this noble purpose of getting healthier.

I’m not saying that those are bad things.

I’m saying we’re spending our energy and money in the wrong place.  I’m saying that the runs, walks, support, being part of a team with a mission, sense of family, community, and placing a high value on yourself IS the cure—not the stuff we are spending our time researching.  I’m saying we can avoid most cancer and disease if we had all those elements in there in the first place.

And maybe I might be so bold as to say that the disease can then be looked at as a gift, a wake-up call, or all of the above to get you to put yourself in the right environment.  And by “environment” I mean proper food intake, sufficient exercise, and sufficient gratitude, self esteem and social interaction in your life.  Oh, and a spine that can move properly.

At least that is what the research is starting to point out.

On my next post, we will discuss what these research findings actually mean in terms of your life and your health.  If you really get what I’m saying and am about to share with you—it’s really a game changer.  We can’t approach our life in the same manner, and not only that—it’s dangerous to think otherwise.

I have an insulin-dependent type-2 diabetic patient who came in for a visit and told me of his problems with blood sugar the night before, and how he had to eat French fries and coke to bring up his sugar after he took too much insulin.

I asked him “ever considered changing your lifestyle?  Ever considered exercise and eating raw, whole foods?”

“No, it doesn’t matter—the doc says it’s genetic.”

Sigh.

And so I continue to write and teach.  For my own sanity.  It might take some work… but the world is starting to catch on.  Are you still worried about your family history of disease now?  Next post we’ll discuss what we TRULY inherit from our parents.

I’ve been frustrated at work lately.

“Doc, it hurts, please fix my________ and make it go away.” (enter Pain, Anxiety, Depression, Cancer, Diabetes, or whatever symptom or disease).

Old Model: Doc assesses with expensive tests, gives diagnosis, and provides some sort of medical therapy (drugs or surgery or “nothing cuz we don’t know what to do for you”).

New Model: I’m not concerned only with your pain/condition. I’m concerned with teaching you first what you need in order to be healthy in the body and mind, and fulfilled in life.
Now I admit, I’ve been beating my head against a wall lately. Imagine trying to practice this “new model” method in an “old model” world.

Imagine people are so used to McDonalds cheeseburgers, it’s no longer satisfying anymore— and it’s making them sick…. So they come to a steakhouse… asking for the same cheeseburger bullshit and expecting a different result. Welcome to my life lately.

I used to call myself a Chiropractor, but the negative connotation associated with it can be a challenge.  I don’t label myself anything anymore. I’m a Wellness/Lifestyle Doctor (becoming an expert). If you’re in any state of less than 100% well-being, REGARDLESS OF YOUR DIAGNOSIS and whatever toxins they are having you take…. You can’t live at 100% if you don’t follow these simple rules:

1) Innate Body—Sufficient Movement, Sufficient Nutrition and Spinal Balance and 100% function. Any imbalances, toxicities or deficiencies with the body must be corrected if the person’s goal is to get healthier.

My biggest challenge? Knowing that patients are coming in to see me for physical complaints, and they happen to be on anti-depressant or anxiety meds not knowing the truth: That in order to start to bring the mind/mental/emotional aspect into balance, you’re wasting your time and energy, effort, money, and compromising your health in a very serious manner— if you haven’t started with #1 described above. They’ve been fed lies about why they need meds.  Without a healthy functioning body, spine and nervous system, sufficiencies in movement and nutrition, and removing the toxicities— your mind will not function in a normal, healthy manner. PERIOD.

2)Innate Mind—Once the body has been sufficiently nurtured (through lifestyle and chiropractic care), most mental/emotional conditions tend to become lessened. You start feeling better emotionally. You handle stress more resiliently. But if there are still “incomplete stories” from the past or present—it makes sense to start working on them now that your body is moving towards balance. Getting help with your social or family network, classes, books, seminars, coaching, or guidance from a therapist or counselor who doesn’t promote your story of victimhood is the way to go. I happen to love this aspect of my job. I’m noticing that I have been looking more and more forward to the classes and workshops I teach at my office more than seeing new patients walk in off the street.

Why is this critical? Because nowhere in school do we learn how to properly deal with adversity. Nowhere in school do we learn how to have a healthy relationship with ourselves and our money, or proper expectations in a relationship. Nowhere in our school do we learn the importance of having a healthy level of self esteem and connection with a community. It’s mentioned, but never really taught. Where did YOU learn these things? Who are YOUR role models?

Wayne Dyer: One of the teachers I would recommend learning from on how to deal with adversity and "emotional subluxation".

WHAT IS AN “EMOTIONAL SUBLUXATION?”

One of my biggest Aha moments was that an emotional subluxation can exist. It is any thought or perception you may have that creates a state of ingratitude. Emotional subluxations are epidemic. I get them every day.  I’m actually going through a big one right now as we speak.  They need adjusting exactly the same way that spinal subluxations do.

An adjustment of an emotional subluxation is as simple as looking at your situation in a completely different way.
Yesterday a patient of mine came in for her regular adjustment. Mind and body she is 180 degrees from where she was 6 months ago… but she came to me with an emotional crisis. After her spinal adjustment (nurturing body)… I started adjusting her emotional subluxations (Mind).  It’s way easier than you think.

Gratitude Deficiency and your emotional well-being.

Over the past year, she has been battling a long term disability claim from some work incidents that created a state of “Post Traumatic Stress” in her life. She was off work, tumbled into worsening anxiety attacks and depression and it was impacting her life enjoyment and her marriage. She was looking for compensation, and naturally, the company she was working for was covering their ass by telling their own version of the story.
After reading their reports this past week, she was almost in a fit of rage inside, which we know creates all sorts of chemical changes that produce states of dis-ease in the mind and body. We had been working diligently with her over the past few months to the point that she was almost pain free, and her anxiety and depression had completely vanished. This last letter she received with those reports were almost enough to bring her back to that state after the main incident.

Emotional subluxations are not cleared by doing something magical or waving some wand or taking some pills.  They are cleared by asking a different set of questions.

The questions I asked her:
How has this incident at work helped you heal emotionally and physically? Were things just perfect with your life, health and marriage, and social network before it all happened? How has this helped your all of those things?

She responded with no—things were definitely not perfect before. Then she started telling me about how this incident made her see who her TRUE friends are, had got her introduced to chiropractic care (she met me at a community screening) which has her neck moving normally and pain free for the first time in ages, and by coming to my classes she has learned more about herself, her mind/body health and the way we respond to stress, how to cope with anxiety and depression, and in her marriage, she saw how her husband was sitting by her side until 2 in the morning to help type out the legal stuff despite being tired from work.

Because she is of Christian Faith, I asked her if she’s aware that God has truly given her everything she has ever wanted, but done it in “mysterious ways”—working the way He is infamous for?

Pause.

She never really thought of it that way.

I believe that gratitude is the ultimate healer, accessible to all of us if we ask the right questions. I was lucky enough to be taught the right questions to clear out an emotional subluxation (disconnection). It only took a matter of minutes for the subluxation to clear. How do you know it’s clear? Tears of gratitude were streaming down her face.

And mine.

And when the body is alignment innately, the lifestyle is in alignment innately, and you’re in a state of gratitude for things just as they are…. Your life starts moving in a flow which can be best described by watching an expert surfer stand effortlessly riding a wave.  That’s the starting point many never reach and they go looking for the perfect doctor to give it to them from the outside-in……When it’s been inside the whole time.

It’s true. My adjustments are changing. My vision is expanding. I’m riding one massive wave here. Where it will go—I really couldn’t give a flying hoot. I’m deeply connected and finding that time stands still when I help people see and feel their truth in their lives.

Thank you for reading and being a part of my journey.

Hey gang…. a couple of years ago, my buddy Tobin from phoTobin Photography came to my office and with the help of another buddy, one of Vancouver’s top hip hop instructors, performers, and choreographers– Richard O’Sullivan, we threw together a cute little commercial on “The Power of An Adjustment” that is on my website’s home page.  Little did I know that little day at the office would get such feedback.  I still get emails and calls from chiropractors around the world commending me for the fun portrayal of what we do.  Since I’m a bit of a ham, and I love to dance, we just took an idea, threw it together, and it seemed to work. I’m pretty surprised to see that it’s now climbed to over 47,000 hits! I now go to chiropractic seminars throughout the world and still get a kick out of people coming up to me and asking me if I’m the guy from the commercial.
Well… after being stumped on how to top this… we’ve come up with a new “adjustment” video we’re launching this week.  I’m pretty excited about it.  For those of you who haven’t seen our last one yet– please enjoy and share!

Another confession:  After I graduated from Chiropractic School, I went through a huge depressive and anxious period.  I discovered something that helped pull me out and bring me to where I am today.  Now, I share it with the world.

In dealing with stress, it’s important to exercise, eat healthy, count your blessings, remove nerve interference from the body with regular adjustments…. But what about the stuff from your past– your “story” of suffering?  What about the constant day to day stuff that you go through that you just can’t seem to get away from– at work and at home?

I never had any intention of being a speaker or teacher, or Life Coach, or consultant– whatever you want to call it.  Over 6 years ago, I attended a seminar that absolutely changed my life.  I was introduced to a method that basically took all the challenges, emotional charges, and ingratitudes I was going through and brought them all into a perfect state of order.  I was worried that I was going to be introduced to a religion or cult– far from it!  The Demartini Method is a tool with a thousand practical applications– from understanding your relationship with money to your relationships, to finding your life’s purpose.  Whatever your religion or belief system is, the Method is a series of questions/exercises that takes any stressful event in your past or present and completely gets you liberated from it emotionally– so that it doesn’t run you, so you can be clear on the direction of your “inner voice” rather than worry about outside voices that seem to criticize, challenge, or hold you back.  It basically erases your story and brings you to a present state of love and gratitude.  The Demartini method can’t be explained in words– it can only be experienced.  People who’ve suffered tremendous trauma, abuse, neglect, worry, fear, guilt, remorse, shame, blame, anger, depression, conflict– all the amazing things that make life interesting can dissolve those feelings in a matter of minutes to hours.  Yes, it’s that simple (yet difficult).

After that amazing experience, I dedicated my life to mastering it in my own life, and I found myself in situations with my patients who were telling me about the challenges at home or work– so I started giving them advice using the tools I had just learned.

All the questions do, is to shift your perceptions about an event– and suddenly the event that’s so miserable turns into something you can be grateful about.  My patients would come back with such amazing stories of emotional freedom from using the technique, that I naturally progressed in creating classes and setting aside “coaching” and consulting times to help more people with it.  It’s become the most fulfilling part of my career as of late.  This last Stressbuster’s video is all about our monthly Stressbuster’s classes that allow people to bring their stresses each month and learn tools on how to dissolve them– and move on to bigger and better things.  Find out when the next Stressbusters Class is by clicking here.  This video is done at the office and taken from a recent Stressbusters class.  They’ve only just begun and are getting more and more popular as time goes on– and we’re now needing a new home as my office is too small, and we’re outgrowing the community college classrooms I’ve been renting out.  You’ll also notice some salsa steps being taught– every Stressbusters class is unique in that we do a small salsa break to keep our brains and bodies active.  It’s a helluva lotta fun!

Many thanks to Nina for being such a genius videographer.  Thanks for the feedback! You can find out more about her at Oh Just Peachy Studios.

Make sure you catch the “outtakes” at the end.  Enjoy– may this video help guide you to balancing out your blood sugar and insulin levels and move you in the direction of a healthy diet.

In the past, you would often see me downing an entire tub of Haagen Dazs ice cream.  The calories, the sugar… I could easily get away with it.  Now that it’s catching up to me, I’m finding I have to resist it for the first time.  One of the most difficult things a person could accomplish is mastery over his/her addictions.  And, except for one minor slip up…for the most part, I’m winning over mine.

How you can gain power over your addictions if you choose to

The old me would have downed these two faster than you can say "Haagen Dazs"

I went to a buddy’s place and he put these two tubs right in front of me, because he is such a gracious host and loving friend.  Immediately, as the urge started rushing through my body and attempted to take over my mind, I woke up and sat back and started to observe my physiological reactions to the visual stimulus.  Tell me if this sounds familiar to you:

My heart rate slightly increased.  My eyes became focussed and alert to the ice cream.  My pupils dilated…The salivary glands started churning and making my mouth water.

“Interesting how my body is reacting,” I thought.  I’ve become like Pavlov’s dog.  Visual stimulus, body reacts.  All unconsciously, without any effort.  The moment I awakened to it, I wasn’t feeling the pain.  I was tuning in and out… Whenever I thought of the body fat composition scan I had earlier this week, it made it that much easier for me not to indulge.  (More on this scan later).

You see, the reason why we reach for our addictions, be they cigarettes, alcohol, sex, gambling, or sugar, even over-exercising—is because we are trying to cover up some form of emptiness… there’s something we are running away from.  Most of the time, we’re unconcious.  There’s a drink in your hand and you don’t remember how it got there, or you just finished a few puffs of your cigarette and you don’t remember even lighting up.  Addictions can only take hold when you’re unconscious.

The moment you snap out of it and get in the moment and become an observer to your cravings—you are in the “now” where you realize that you are more powerful than your body.  Some use meditation.  Others exercise.  Most just transform one addiction to another… All I know is… I was craving and it was starting to hurt.

Chiropractic and addictions?

Nerve system interference = Increased Stress hormone secretion. Adjustment = less stress hormones = overall sense of well-being = one of many tools to help with your addictions!

My gracious host, Dan, who also happens to be a Chiropractor, checked my spine and found some subluxations (nerve interference) in my neck and upper back… from all the traveling and work I do, it puts quite a strain every day… not to mention sitting in front of a computer and writing… Like all Olympic and pro athletes, I’m a regular chiropractic patient because I know I can’t be at optimum performance in my life if my nervous system is out of wack.  As soon as he adjusted me, my body felt so much more relaxed and calm.  I could feel my stress hormones decrease.  That just killed my cravings—in an indirect way.  Less stress hormones in your bloodstream—less the need to crave and produce more fat and sugar (building blocks of stress hormones).  I always knew there was a connection.  I was just able to FEEL it right then and there.  Awesome stuff.

If you are trying to overcome an addiction, the best way is to come up with a good enough reason, and then step back and observe your physiology every time you feel the cravings.  Chances are, you are Pavlov’s dog as well.  It also just seems that whatever challenge you’re going through, or want to be at your peak performance physically and mentally, you want to have a clear nervous system.  These carb withdrawl symptoms are quite challenging, and getting adjusted is making it easier for me.

Throw away your home body fat scale!

If you’ve been following my body fat loss challenge with Paul, you would have known that I started with 172.2 pounds, and 21.9% body fat.  After a couple of weeks I managed to crawl down to 163-165 pounds and 18-20% body fat depending on the time of day.  But how accurate are these numbers?

I’ve been using a bioelectric impedance scale.  The video on day 1 shows my first weigh-in.  The way it works is that it sends a low voltage electrical current from one end into the body and measures the time it takes to reach the other end.  Not very accurate.  So Paul and I were invited to get an accurate measurement done.

Peter from Bodycomp Imaging here in Vancouver measured our height and put us on a machine that is now

Minutes before he broke me the bad news...

considered the gold standard of body composition testing.  You can check the link and see a quick video on the whole process I went through… but here’s a pic of what it looks like.

My Scan: Notice where most of the fat is-- the ever so attractive over-sized mid section.

It’s called a DXA scan.  This stands for “Dual energy x-ray absorptiometry”.  Long story short it sends an x-ray through your body and measures how well it passes through certain tissues.  This way it calculates how much of your body is comprised of muscle, fat, and bone.

In a nutshell, the results were shocking.  FRIKKING 28.5% body fat!  28.5!  This is not a joke!  This is almost 9-10 percentage points higher than that crappy scale I have at home.  If you have one… just throw it out—it’s pretty much useless.

The saddest part is the summary that came with my results:

“For males under the age of 40 a body fat value of greater than 23% is suggestive of increased health risks. You may want to discuss this with you health care provider. We encourage you to take active steps to decrease your body fat and look forward to retesting you in the future to help you monitor your progress as you move towards your goal.”

Discuss with my health care provider?  I AM A HEALTH CARE PROVIDER!  You encourage me to take active steps to decrease my body fat?  Gee, thanks.  What a kick in the pants that was. I had to cry myself to sleep after that one.

Peter, who could tell I was quite upset, said that most people who estimate their body fat are under-estimating.  Seeing that he was in better shape than us, I asked what his body fat percentage is… He said it was 19%.  He then proceeded to lift up his shirt to show off his abs.

Peter is 19% Body Fat. Looks pretty good to me... Maybe that's why he's got that smirk on his face as if to say "hey fattie, don't you wish you were me???"

The ride home was very sobering.  I was downright depressed.  Peter gave me some ground breaking advice:  Exercise in bursts (which I’m already doing), eat a paleolithic hunter gatherer diet (which I’m doing), and…. You guessed it…. cut out all carbs.  Thanks a lot for the advice Mr. Flatstomach.  You can see Paul’s results and scan on his blog.  He was at 38%.  Again– about a 9-10 percentage points higher than what he thought.

I wish I did this scan in the beginning, not 2 and a half weeks into the competition, but it’s given me even more drive than ever to work my ass (literally) off and to see the “after” scan in several weeks with an accurate difference.

I am still at the 8-10 pounds loss point since the beginning, and I’ve posted this DXA scan on my fridge as inspiration.

If you feel like you need to get motivation to exercise and change your food plan to something more healthy, and you’re in the Greater Vancouver Area, contact Peter and have a consult with him.  He’ll set you on the right path.  He’s good at what he does and he’s well versed in giving you the proper advice.  I’m going gangbusters now baby.

Summary (Tips):

1) To help you reach your goal, start with an accurate body composition scan.  This way, you can track and monitor changes to your physiology.  You want to be able to quantify your progress. Be aware of your starting point.

2)  Be aware of how stressed you are and nip it in the bud.  Keep nervous system stress on the down-low by (shameless self plug) getting adjusted… and regularly.  I didn’t even realize this week how badly I needed to get adjusted until after the adjustment.

3)  Be aware from a 3^rd person’s perspective of your cravings.  When you feel them, step out of your body and observe them.  Hold this awareness for as long as you can—because that’s the key to overcoming them.

4) Be grateful for everything you have.  Be grateful for your body.  Be good to it… it’s the only place you have to live.

My brother is an a-hole.  More on this later.

My weight fluctuates now from 163 pounds to 167.  Pretty huge how much different we weigh in the morning or the afternoon/evening.  I didn’t realize this, because its never been an obsession of mine.  But man, does your weight ever fluctuate!  Has this been your experience?  I’ve lost about 7-9 pounds and almost 2% body fat judging from this “who knows if this is accurate?” digital scale.

To me, it’s not about how much you weigh… Superficial as it sounds, it’s all about how you look.  Think about it… who cares if you weigh little, like if I was 160 pounds, but with no muscle and it was all flabby.  It’s all about body composition to me, so I never payed attention to my weight.  I would weigh myself a few times a year.

Lunch made by Maria: Romaine Lettuce wrap with turkey breast, hummus, cucumbers, carrots, red pepper, onion and cilantro. FREAKIN DELISH.

The typical breakfast I could eat at White spot. The waiter was so confused at the substitues-- Tomatoes and fruit cup. This whole meal came out to $18.50. Can you freakin believe it? Oh and I had to take them back to request REAL eggs. Newsflash. Most scrambled eggs are processed, ASK FOR THE REAL STUFF!

But oh, the lovehandles.  Confession time:  I always looked at my increasing belly every day, but this competition makes me look at them carefully now as I have been obsessively looking at my hairy-but- nicely trimmed shirtless body every single chance I get. The lovehandles are fading away.  Funny, aside from that, I’d be pretty happy with the rest of it (maybe bigger legs).  It’s just those damn lovehandles.  Just ask any guy who’s working to improve himself physically.  Chances are, he obsesses about them.

You gals think you have it so rough, and there’s immense pressure on just YOU to look a certain way.  Well, I have news for you.  We obsess about it too.  Just look at every guy who hits the gym regularly.  He’s obsessed.  Why?  Because it’s hard to look lean and fit.  You can’t really fake it.  With only a few exceptions, in order to be healthy, lean, fit… there’s a lot of work involved.  If you invested that much time and money and sacrifice eating addictive foods… you’re damn straight you want to see results.

And when we KNOW we can look better, and we don’t look as good as our potential… we get frustrated, depressed, and it effects our self-esteem as well.  Most guys just hide behind it better than you ladies do.

I’m watching a show on TV right now talk about Obesity.  It’s called “Super Size vs. Super Skinny” where a fat girl and a skinny girl get put in a home for 1 week together and have to eat the diets of the other girl—one obese, one almost anorexic.  This is forcing both of them to look closely at their eating issues.  There was a feature on a woman who was so obese, she was now immobile and getting help to breathe from an oxygen mask.  She was miserable.  I will share her words of wisdom for you procrastinators at the end.  I hope it inspires you the way it inspired me.

Wow.  I never realized how prevalent are the emotional issues surrounding eating.  I’m going to explore this more.  I’m so interested.  I’m going to report you what I find… because either you are an emotional eater, or you stop eating during emotional times.  Take your pick…. And I am willing to bet that although you might know which type you are—you probably 1) have no idea why you became this way, or 2) have no idea what you can do to resolve the specific triggers for your over-eating or starving yourself.  I want to help those people become conscious.

I’m not saying I’m going to become an eating disorder shrink.  I’m saying I want to coach people in the process of overcoming their food issues—either starvation or binge eating.  I’m willing to bet that there are some principle causes.  This challenge, which has forced me to face my food addictions and their connections to my stress, has been one of the most educational personal development seminars I have ever gone through (other than being married).    Please stay tuned for upcoming insights on food and your emotions and share your story if you want to.

The Bakhlava-Stress connection.

On Sunday, I went to a family dinner.  My parents were visiting from Seattle, and quite honestly, despite the love we all have with each other—when we love each other too much the way we do, we tend to have many spirited debates.  As I approached my grandparents home, I felt the cravings start to surge.

I had a chicken salad.  My mom follows my blog and knew not to serve me any rice or “tah-deeg”.  That’s the delicious, golden brown, crusty flatbread at the bottom of the pan of rice.  The way my grandmother makes it, my wife and I usually fight for it, sometimes to the point of physical violence. To not swallow the tah-deeg was the toughest pill to swallow— but I made it.  My why is big enough, remember?

Afterwards, she did the worst possible threat to me overcoming my sugar cravings:  She broke out her world famous Bakhlava.  Oh dear lord.  Look at these pieces of heaven.  Enough said.  Ingredients include (other than sugar):  Phyllo, butter, sugar, almonds, butter, sugar, butter, sugar, and cardamon, and more butter and sugar.  When you combine stress with fat and sugar, you have the secret ingredients of obesity.

Do YOU think you could resist these bad boys?

I made it through.  My brother and I went to a movie later on.  Late show.  After dinner.  My brother’s food cravings were insane at the theater.  (He’s an addict like me… I guess it must be genetic).  He realized that if he was to go on a no-processed food diet, no sugar, no grain… there’s nothing to eat at a Theater except water.  He proceeded to order a Whopper Jr. (he said the fact that he got a junior whopper should make it ok).   During the movie, the smell of the burger was making my mouth water.  I was going crazy, feeling the hunger pains surge… I said no.  My brother offers me a bite.  I said no.  He then proceeds to waft the burger right under my nose.  That’s right. My brother is an a- hole.

But I guess that’s what a loving brother does.  Tests my will.  And I thank him, because I passed.  It IS possible if you want to.  You just have to have a reason why.

For those who love McDonalds, here’s an eye-opening video about the Bionic Burger.  I imagine that Burger King is the same.

And by the way…. The quote from the obese lady?

“You can save yourself, if you really think about it.  Never believe that evil little voice in your head that says ‘you can start eating well tomorrow’.  Never listen to it.  That voice is trying to kill you.”