Sunday, November 28, 2010

"The Ultimate Solution"

This is the season when people become increasingly victims of their own environments and predispositions -- because as the weather gets increasingly colder, they have to insulate themselves more from those external conditions, while creating/manifesting uniquely their own. So it can be a season of joy, or depression and hopelessness/despair for a few as well.

For this reason, past civilizations and societies celebrated light (warmth), when it was at its most cherished minimum, which in modern times is just as appropriate, but there is a lot we can do about it now -- including minimizing the effects of low light exposure, which is categorically described as Seasonal Affective Disorder. Lighting is now available and even cheap -- to virtually create one's own (sun)light and its well known healthy effects, which is much more than just a primitive discussion of energy consumption -- because Thomas Edison's light bulb, is not the same light possible in the age of extended life and growth.

It is much like the primitive discussion we still have in the world of physical culture in which many people still think the only difference is whether one expends more energy or less -- without considering that the greater, much more profound question, is to what effect (purpose) and efficiency (meaning).

Intelligence is more than simply doing more -- rather than in fact, doing things differently, usually resulting in much less effort and work to accomplish the same thing -- and much, much more. The old saying would be, "Killing two birds with one stone," but in this age, it is quite possible to bring down the entire flock, with one strike, such is the level of proficiency we have achieved. But knowing that, there is much greater responsibility to exercise that knowledge at commensurately higher levels -- than just beating more wives and children.

That, obviously, would not be commensurate with a higher intelligence and consciousness -- though there will be an aberrant few who still think in that manner.

Most people are still not aware to what great extent they can create their own world -- at least in their own space. Some still cling to the notion that "space" is how much turf, organization and people they control -- instead of their own mastery over largely themselves. Thus, their idea of changing the world and/or reality, is changing everybody else, and everything else, rather than simply starting in with what they can change directly -- such as their lighting, and other requirements for optimizing their personal space, which results ultimately in affecting everything they do -- because they produce the optimal conditions for their greatest functionality and performance as intelligent and healthy human beings.

Thus, given the same basic conditions as everyone else, individuals can actualize (optimize) it to very different degrees of proficiency, satisfaction, and achievement, as their own measure of success in living their own lives. And that sense is paramount to all others -- especially the feeling that one is nothing unless validated by some greater other that one has less, or no control over, as is very common in a mass media induced culture.

Often, that means doing what nobody else will validate and approve of -- or they would be doing it themselves.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

How Life Gets Better

The way to get around all the rules and regulations, is to be "The Original..."

They can't regulate what nobody has done before, or they can't imagine anybody doing.

That's why they can regulate the craftsman, but not the artist.

There's no law against creating a new idea or a different way of doing things -- only the same things everybody else is doing. That's why it is so important to label and categorize people and actions, so that somebody has jurisdiction over it, and can tell everybody else what to do and how to do it.

Unless of course, they have no idea what you are doing -- because they haven't thought of it themselves before, and then you are the first, making up the rules as you do it. And then once they figure out what you are doing and pass laws to regulate it, you do something else -- differently.

That's particularly helpful in retirement and combating the aging (senility) process in remaining a viable and growing person throughout life. It works for the young too.

That is the frontier and challenge of life in these times -- when obviously, people are living longer lives that could be much better also. In fact, the fact that they are living longer, merely improves the chances that they can be living better -- and not merely the familiar old patters (of aging) longer. That's not ultimately meaningful -- to simply live longer in declining health and abilities -- as the best one can hope for.

Instead, there is a need for a new paradigm of life, not dominated by the aging paradigm, so that one is merely getting better, or worse, and there is something one can do about it -- rather than just resign themselves to those facts off life.

Particularly troublesome is the present paradigm of aging people requiring more dependence on others to live their lives -- that begins with the indoctrination that they should let the professionals and experts do all their thinking and talking for them, after they have properly identified themselves as Republican or Democrat, liberal or conservative, rich or poor, black or white, besides young or old.

All that is a merely distraction and smokescreen from the essential issue at hand -- which is, am I getting better, or worse, and what can
I do to get better? That basic consideration, becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

That becomes one's motive drive and lifestyle -- as opposed to the often repeated conventional one in which one simply learns the way things have been done by everyone before -- usually without great, or equal success -- yet the mass institutions, think that is the way everyone should/has to do it, even if it doesn't work, because that is what the experts and self-vested professionals say, must be done (for their benefit and self-aggrandizement).

Predictably, that is often not the best, or in the best interests, of the individuals themselves -- especially when the agency providing that information, is promoting ever more of their services, at increasing compensation to themselves, even if the results of the study, is to indicate a need for more studies (and the funding thereof).

That is what we've come to see in the mass media, as "public service announcements," or advocacy information -- which is not so obvious, as self-promotion. It is a technique used to convince us that our support and patronage, is for our benefit and not their own -- which is to whom all that increased funding would go to.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Cheapest, Best Nutritional Supplement

Question: I'm going to try your baking soda to see if it works for me as well. But a friend of mine also suggested that soda crackers might work in principle as well. What do you think?

Obviously, the soda crackers would work too because it contains baking soda, but baking soda as a liquid is probably the ideal, instantaneous manner to obtain the desired effect of neutralizing the over-acidity (which is also a problem in many animals also) -- especially as an after-meal or accompanying beverage -- just as a soda water might be.

Several years ago, I thought
Alka-Seltzer might be good for that purpose also -- but when you look at its list of ingredients, it is aspirin (and/or acetaminophen), citric acid as an antacid, and sodium bicarbonate, which is actually the premier antacid. So why are they adding everything else -- when sodium bicarbonate alone by doing nothing more than neutralizing the acidity instantly, creates the optimal internal environment.

It's not as radical as it sounds. I'm just amazed that despite all its miraculous uses for many different purposes, that nobody has thought that baking soda baking may be the cure-all for 90% of the ailments most people suffer from -- except for a few crank (and discredited) physicians who claim that baking soda is the cure for cancer.


One of the problems I had which led me to first believe I was suffering from "aging" effects, was something I suspect afflicts a lot of other athletes also, which is the tendency of their muscles to contract and not release -- as when they tear their Achilles tendon and hamstrings. That's how it happens -- the muscle will contract, but when they send the command to relax, the muscle continues to bind and therefore tears.


So even when I wanted to continue to sprint -- I was very susceptible to these cramps, and tears, which discouraged me from persisting. When muscles contract and release energy, they break down to produce lactic acid as a by-product, which causes fatigue and soreness if the body cannot eliminate that acidity fast enough.


And I also recall that the first time I went on a long bike ride and didn't know how to pace myself, my legs cramped up as thought they were going to break off at the knees, which I felt a need for water -- and salt tablets (sodium), of which, baking soda is the ideal form to administer it. So it is not surprising to read that it has been promoted as a performance enhancer for marathoners, and for bodybuilders to aid in their recovery from high intensity workouts that produce extreme muscle soreness.


And although I have yet to take on a severe challenge of that thesis, I have felt that my muscles are not susceptible to cramping -- which allows me a greater ease of moving into the fullest ranges of movement.


And lastly, one of the advantages of salt (sodium) tablets. is that it seems to keep the tissues the s well-hydrated, which is the look I initially was first struck by when of steroids first became popular in the late 60s. These guys looked like their muscles were going to burst from their skin.


This is particularly important in the later years of one's life when aging people seem to have a noticeably gaunt, or
dehydrated (atrophied) look, which could indicate that their tissues could benefit from this greater retention of fluids in their tissues, that is not just the bloated look of those retaining excess fluid to dilute the overacid condition of accumulated waste products.

It's not just enough to drink water. The tissues have to want to hold it -- which seems to be the property that baking soda, as well as
glucosamine seem to serve in ensuring the fluidity (lubrication) in movements.

But I haven't tried soda crackers to say that they're not as effective. But I know you can't get anything more concentrated and potent -- and cheaper than just straight baking soda, to use liberally for as many purposes as you can think of.


At Costco, a 13.5 lb. (indestructible) bag costs $5.99 -- which should be a year's supply of the best tonic (medicine) one can buy, for so cheap. It sounds too good to be true.

Question: Yes, I too have a bag of the Costco Arm & Hammer soda. I just had a glass, 12oz w/ one teaspoon of soda. Do you recommend just a glass per day or drinking the glass through out the day? Should you drink more than one glass per day?

The one thing one has to be concerned about is consuming too much sodium -- just like salt, if one has a hypersensitivity to it. So like any good dosage, it should be the minimum effective dose.

I usually mix a half a teaspoon with 20 oz. of water, and add a saccharine tablet for taste. I usually keep two such cups available, and sip it throughout the day, along with herbal teas, and then after meals, I also like to use that solution as a mouth rinse before cleaning my teeth -- of which baking soda is ideal, and even brushing one's teeth, as well as soaking dentures or dental appliances (night guards), instead of those much more powerful products for that purpose. And then of course, it is again ideal for wiping the basin
clean and dry.

So I would start with a teaspoon -- over a course of a day as the minimum effective dose -- to eliminate acid reflux, gastrointestinal upset, and irritable bowel syndrome. However, athletes for a competitive advantage, have been advised to take as high as 1 teaspoon per kilogram (2.2 lbs) bodyweight -- which I think would make most people sick, and gag at the thought. But that would be to achieve a one-time competitive advantage -- and not a daily dose, which has
notably produced nausea, gastrointestinal distress, etc.

However, I'm inclined to believe that even a modest dose as 1 teaspoon could be tolerated by most people, as just the normal amount of sodium they get in their normal diet. One Alka-Seltzer tablet has more than a teaspoon of sodium equivalent. It's when one gets beyond
5 teaspoons or notices the symptoms of excessive sodium consumption like edema, or swelling at the extremities, and elevated blood pressure that one has to be concerned.

But probably the good, outweighs the downside, especially with constant gastrointestinal upset disrupting one's entire life and ability to live a carefree existence. There's always risk with reward -- and with irritable bowel syndrome (diarrhea), the chances are, one is losing sodium at a greater rate than one is accumulating it in excess.

Tuesday, November 09, 2010

To Keep You in the Shape You Want to Be

The human body can express any movement or form it wants to be in -- if it actually articulates that reality and intent.

But just to have a desire to be "in shape," but have no idea what that form should take, and how to manifest it.

Bodybuilders look that way, because that is the way they want to look -- and practice it daily, or on a regular basis, so that their shape is not a random result of consuming and expending a certain amount of calories -- at random movements, and that is why all the treadmilling in the world, will not make one look like a bodybuilder, or a gymnast or ballerina, no matter how fast their hearts beat -- because the actual forms they want their muscles to take, are never articulated in that way. The muscles have no idea what form they should take -- if a deliberate message to them, never gets there, and in fact, is never sent, or even such a thought entertained, because the only emphasis is on making the heart beat faster -- which is not the difference in the shape between human beings. Most hearts, look recognizably alike -- because they have to articulate the full range of its expression -- unfailingly.

But that is not true of all the other voluntary (skeletal) muscles of the body -- that may never figure out even in all its childhood play, how it is that some people can "make a muscle," while it would never occur to others, that such a thing was even possible, and especially those "educated" to think, that the only controllable event, is making the heart beat faster -- and one would never ever desire it, to ever actually beat slower -- which all the world champions, have also to be the best at accomplishing -- because it is the rested state, that is the potential for maximizing one's power.

A muscle already fully contracted, has no potential for further contraction, or power. The muscle has to move into a relaxed state, in order to produce the power in a contraction -- at which time, muscle breaks down to release energy.

Many are told (taught) that very generalized and imprecise activities such as walking, gardening, and even running, is enough to ensure that they will be in "top shape," when in fact, the only way to achieve this condition, is to actually express the fullest contraction possible of these skeletal muscles that give the body its distinctive form, is to actually assume those positions in which the muscles are shortened (contracted), to the fullest extent of their possibilities.

This does not happen in walking, swimming, running, or other generalized activities -- because it requires a very deliberate, but not hard and difficult, familiarizing and articulation of those movements, for a brief but regular basis.

But one can't achieve the same effect and effectiveness, just by making the heart beat faster, while giving no attention to the activation and actualization of the voluntary muscles to assume the position (shape), one desires to be in. It just won't happen, because the heart, which is already in perfect condition because it has to be that way, simply does all the work and is the sole focus of one's getting into shape.

What many have been confused about, but usually haven't thought about, is the belief that it requires resistance to achieve this"work" -- rather than that it is the range of movement itself, that is the work -- in shaping the human body into the condition one wants to be in.

But countless explanations of why something should work, or the sales of heart monitors to every person in the country, is not going to make anybody one bit healthier and clearer on the meaning and purpose of what they hope to achieve.

When one has this clarity, the obvious becomes manifest.

Monday, November 01, 2010

Wheelchairs of the Future

Before it's too late, as many of the elderly should be encouraged to become "pedestrians on wheels," or bicyclists, who maintain their mobility and motor skills in that daily manner, instead of losing it all progressively by driving and then ultimately transitioning to traditional, motorized wheelchairs. Bicycles can be the "wheelchairs of the future," that allow people to retain their mobility throughout their lives -- because bicycling is easier on the body than walking.

Walking is actually harder on the body than bicycling -- and the reason it is possible to go much farther on one's own power in that manner than walking, or even heaven forbid, running -- which is widely recognized as a disastrously high-impact activity. But so is walking to a much greater extent than bicycling -- and especially with a double suspension bicycle. And of course, the daily exercise of those facilities, allows them to maintain their faculties in a way that simply driving a motorized vehicle doesn't.

But because most people feel uncomfortable riding in traffic, and especially riding fast in traffic, they should ride at the speed of a pedestrian on the sidewalks -- while deferring completely to any other pedestrians, baby carriages, wheelchairs, skateboarders, etc., by either riding briefly and safely in the streets, or slowing or stopping completely to let the other past -- because the safety of all, should be their major concern, rather than speed.

That's where I think most bicyclists don't "get it" -- thinking that speed is their primary objective in their race against cars, other bicyclists, pedestrians, and even themselves. The reality of the matter is that 95% of the sidewalks are seldom used and are thus ideal for use by bicyclists but in the rare encounter with another, instead of going to war against one another for primary or exclusive rights of passage, they can defer to one another, which would be the ultimate expression of civility and citizenship, which is also lacking in many elderlies lives -- by isolating themselves in their cars, and in their homes, with their television sets and pets for their primary companionship.

They could be authentically and genuinely interacting with society -- while getting their daily exercise to maintain their mobility and involvement. We know by now that nominal but daily exercise of our faculties enable us to maintain them until we die, while discontinuing such use, causes them to deteriorate to the point in which we no longer think we have them.

That's the great things about the Internet and these forums -- that we can maintain the exercise of these faculties, without having to concoct a major barrier and incentives to do so -- like having to write a novel, thesis or dissertation.

Everything is made easier and therefore more possible and even inevitable, rather than having to walk a mile to the mailbox -- or climbing several flights of stairs to get to one's apartment. People should be making all these adaptations and adjustments to optimize their lives with the possibilities and technologies of living in the present times -- which is the realization that they can be creative in their problem-solving in this way and live long, enjoyable and fully enabled lives -- instead of the old sense of increasing loss of abilities and functionality.

That's the new world we live in -- that rewards people who simply choose to avail themselves of them, by first learning about them, but they have to teach themselves how to do that -- because it is not profitable for anybody else to do it for them. What is profitable, is their increasing dependence on others to do everything for them. But that is not a sustainable and ennobling vision of life.