Freedom of speech

Don't Let Their Deaths Be In Vain
By Charley Reese

Did you know that every day in this country millions of Americans desecrate and insult the fallen war dead?

It's true.

These young men died painful deaths to preserve freedom. Yet, how many times, have you heard people say, "Well, I agree with you on this political topic, but I'm afraid to say anything about that."

When you keep your mouth shut out of fear, you are abandoning your God-given right to free speech. When you abandon your right to free speech, you are saying the sacrifices others made to preserve that right are worthless. You might as well drive to the nearest national cemetery and spit on their graves. Think about it. You are saying you're going to surrender your right to free speech because somebody might frown at you, or call you a bad name or, heaven forbid, stop doing business with you. Yet you expected young men to overcome their fear of death and terrible wounds in order to preserve a right you won't even exercise?

I tell you the truth; I heard from a man who fought in World War II, and he said if he had it to do over, knowing how the country was going to turn out, he wouldn't go. That's a pretty damning indictment of the present-day apathy, corruption and lack of patriotism.

When we wake up in the morning, we should first all smile and thank God. We are alive, which means that there are yet useful things for us to do. We are free, and we only have to use our courage to live like free people. When you let other people intimidate you into surrendering the rights God gave you, you are also insulting God. You are, in effect, saying, "God, your gifts are not worth any discomfort on my part and are certainly not worth the money I might lose if I exercise them."

I don't know how God will receive that. I've never presumed to speak for him or to say that he has spoken to me. But, pardon the unintentional blasphemy, if I were God, you would be in deep trouble.

Whenever we allow other people to capture our brains, we become their slaves. Late 20th century slave owners, commonly called the establishment, are very smart. They figured out that chattel slavery is costly and inefficient. If you enslave the body, you have to pay for its upkeep. Enslave a person's brain, and he will do your work and pay for his own up keep. Talk about cheap labor. Hardly anybody wants you to be a person who can think, live his or her own life, and live free.

The commercial, political and ideological organizations want to control your mind so that you will spend your life in their service, accomplishing their goals, enriching them. They spend billions of dollars trying to cram your brain so full of their messages there won't be any room for your own thoughts.They want you to slave at your job so you can buy their overpriced junk or tickets to their tasteless entertainment. The socialists want to fill your mind with their bilge so you'll abandon the one system that created the wealth the socialists are living off. Some preachers want to fill your mindwith a false religion so they can enjoy six-figure incomes. The Hate America crowd treats you like human cattle. It wants to hate yourself, hate your history and hate the symbols of your culture so you'll obey it.

Americans, get up off your knees and stand tall.

Your life is sacred.

Your freedom is sacred.

Your history and your culture and your country are invaluable.

Live free.

The worst someone can do is kill you, and you're going to die anyway.

It doesn't matter how you die; it matters how you live.

God bless America and God bless you,
Steve

Who's afraid of HFCS?

"Ummm," he said, gulping down the last few drops of his so-called "sports drink." "Man, that hits the spot."

"Was that supposed to be good for you?", I asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Well duh!", he said, thrusting the bottle in my face so that I could read the label.

"Hmmm", was my reply, obviously less than he had hoped.

"This drink tastes sweet because it was flavored with corn, not sugar cane. It is common in many foods, sadly many of which are "health" drinks."

"What does that mean?" he queried, the defiant look from before now faded.

"It means you are ingesting a lot of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) daily. And it isn't limited to just soft drinks and bags of bread or cookies. You'll find the ever present sugary liquid in things like yogurt, herbal teas, and..." pointing to his empty bottle, "so called healthy sports drinks."

"Why is that a big deal?", he asked, drawing a step closer.

"Because, Einstein, HFCS has been linked to a variety of health problems."

"Like what?" The look on his face and the darting of his eyes made me think he was going to attempt to find a place to spew, should the information be too much to handle.

I continued, "Dr. George Bray, a researcher, has found a connection between HFCS and obesity."

"But I'm not obese..." he said, frowning while pinching his side just above his belt.

"I know that. It's true that HFCS is not the only cause of obesity, but it's certainly one of the contributors. Dr. Meira Field, another researcher, fed lab rats a diet high in HFCS."

I paused to let the sound of my voice reverberate through the air.

"The rats encountered several significant health problems, including anemia, fatal heart conditions, and delayed testicular development."

His hand drifted slowly toward his zipper.

"And all of the rats died before they made it to adulthood. And their livers? They looked like Swiss cheese, kind of like what an alcoholics liver resembles. They were full of cirrosis and plugged with fat."

His color was now akin to the white of a freshly painted door in a hospital.

"So...what can I do to make sure I don't eat or drink anymore of this stuff?", he asked shakily.

"Three simple things," I replied, glad to see the responsive turn around in my friend,

1. Drink pure water or homemade tea instead of soda.
2. Avoid pre-packaged products and eat whole, unprocessed foods. Eat foods like God made them, in other words food that grows naturally.
3. If you've just got to have a pre-packaged product, do two things: A) read the label before you buy, and B) remember this conversation.

God bless you,
Steve

10 Fitness Tips to Ensure Your Success in Losing Body Fat

1. Weight train. Training with weights builds muscle and that will elevate your metabolism. Muscle is "active tissue” and has a demonstrable energy demand in that the body’s need to burn calories for energy must be constantly met, even while you’re resting. In other words, muscle burns calories around the clock just to maintain itself. How many calories? Some estimates range from 10 calories to as high as 100 calories per day per pound of muscle. For the sake of argument, let’s say the actual number is somewhere in the middle. Picture how much energy you will "automatically" burn just by adding five pounds of new muscle this year. And when I say energy, think of it as the body’s fat stores.
2. Train heavy. The body responds best to stimuli which places an “overload” on the muscular structure so that the demands of training elicit a muscular growth or restructuring experience. This rebuilding should not necessarily be associated with “bulking” or gaining muscular size, although that is a possibility. It should rather be thought of as “density of muscle”, where muscle “replaces” fat and produces a leaner and more efficient, constant energy consuming physique.
3. Train with intensity. Intensity means “concentration”, “purpose” and “passion.” When you go to the gym, don’t go there to chat or lollygag, just get the job done. There will be time for talk later.
4. Train movements, not muscles. Train the way the body moves to successfully recruit the maximum number of muscles and joints. The more muscles you recruit in training, the more muscle you stimulate to grow in strength, size and density and the more energy you demand from them. For example, squats recruit much more muscle than leg extensions. Underhand grip pull downs recruit more than biceps curls.
5. Train with strict form and technique. The shortest route to any path is a straight line. One of the quickest ways to deviate from the path of weight training and fat burning success is to compromise form and technique. Strict adherence to this rule will result in your maximum potential for success.
6. Utilize HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) for “cardio” to complement weight training for maximum fat loss. Many research studies have proven that performing your cardio in an interval training fashion produces superior results over steady state or slow paced aerobic style workouts. And it produces them more rapidly, as well.
7. Warm up before and cool down after training. This does not mean getting on a bike or treadmill for three minutes before moving on to the bench press. The use of dynamic warming techniques will effectively prepare the muscles for movement and ensure you train injury free. Cooling down afterwards helps to speed recovery.
8. Use a foam roller. Foam rollers are like getting a massage for pennies. They help prior to training to further prepare the muscles for activity and afterward in the cool down process. They are relatively inexpensive (about $20 to $40) and well worth it.
9. Stretch. Stretching cold muscles is not recommended and can be counter-productive to progress. After the dynamic warm-up and foam rolling, stretching a muscle necessitates preparation for lifting and movement. Following the training session, stretching assists in the cool-down phase of the session. Stretching is a vital phase in the recovery, as well as the every day preparedness and functionality of the body.
10. Don’t over do it. Too much of a good thing is usually detrimental. Over doing it in weight training leads to a condition known as “over-training” which is characterized by an overall feeling of “achiness”, sore joints, a loss in appetite, sleeplessness as well as other uncomfortable physical or mental responses. Train hard and smart for about thirty to forty minutes, four to six times per week and recover the rest of the time. Your progress will be steady and your success will be assured.

God bless you,
Steve

Exposing (and Evading) Grocery Store Fat Traps

By Shane Ellison, M.Sc.

My wife recently pigged out on beef jerky. What was supposed to be light, healthy snacking turned into an all-out eating binge. Her ravenous consumption of the stuff made me think it must be an especially good brand. I was in a hurry when I bought it at my local health food store - and that's where I messed up big time. Ignoring the label, I was caught by the number one grocery store fat trap - which was the cause of my wife's abnormal appetite.

A grocery store fat trap is nothing more than a scheme designed by food manufacturers to make you eat more of something that you think is healthy. These foods and food additives are fat fertilizer. They are great for a company's bottom line, but really bad for your "bottom."

Right before she threw her head back to dump the last crumbs of the beef jerky into her mouth, my wife turned the bag over to read the fine-print ingredients. She gasped, "Why the hell did you buy this! It's loaded with high-fructose corn syrup!"

High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is fat fertilizer on steroids. And she knows it. A very fit mom, she keeps her lean and muscular build by avoiding grocery store fat traps.

HFCS transforms people into eating machines. Once consumed, it sets into motion a chemical cascade that begins with spiked insulin and ends with feel-good molecules known as "endorphins." Intoxicated by artificial feel-good, the brain is unable to sense overeating and demands more, more, more - and the excess calories get stored in your body.

I've even heard of kids accidentally taking bites out of their fingers when under the influence of HFCS. Worse yet, many children who overindulge in Frankenfoods that contain HFCS and other sugars eventually become diabetic.

From beef jerky to bread and even spaghetti sauce, HFCS has infiltrated most processed foods and turned them into fat traps. Avoid this ingredient at all cost!

But that's not the only trap lurking in grocery stores.

"Fat-free" labels

These hoodwink millions of unsuspecting victims, and have been a goldmine for the food industry since 1993. The obese seek out this label in hopes of waking up skinny. It never happens - but that doesn't stop them from getting ensnared over and over again. I can hear the rationale: "It just seems so plausible. I'm fat, so I should eat fat-free foods." Wrong.

After the fat is removed, sugar is added. Sugar is great if you're at a birthday party, but that's it. Like HFCS, it is nothing more than fat fertilizer and a heart attack waiting to happen. Look for it listed as sucrose, dextrose, or cane sugar on the labels of your favorite foods. Then buy something else - like an all-natural food high in healthy fat.

Healthy fat - which you can find in grass-fed beef, seeds, nuts, avocados, and eggs - is essential for proper growth, development, and the maintenance of good health. It provides your body with vital energy, without causing you to gain weight. In sharp contrast to carbohydrates, sugar, and trans-fats, healthy fats tell your body to burn fat and make you feel fuller quicker. Add them to your grocery list.

Artificial sweeteners

This trap gets most weekend warriors. "Energy" bars, protein powders, and sugar-free goodies - each and every one of them is loaded with drugs disguised as sweeteners. The widespread belief that these nicely packaged foods and drinks are good for you is a perfect example of how marketing strategies supersede medical science and common sense.

Artificial sweeteners make your body lose its natural ability to count calories. If athletes cannot distinguish between proper eating and overeating caused by artificial flavors, they will never reach their fat-loss or muscle-building goals, period. Exercise becomes a waste of time. Artificial flavors include sucralose (Splenda), aspartame, acesulfame K, saccharin, and neotame.

MSG

Monosodium glutamate (MSG) has several aliases you should be on the lookout for, including hydrolyzed vegetable protein, hydrolyzed protein, hydrolyzed plant protein, plant protein extract, sodium caseinate, calcium caseinate, yeast extract, textured protein, autolyzed yeast, and hydrolyzed oat flour.

This white, crystalline amino acid is made in a lab and then added to meat products and most canned or packaged foods to "enhance flavor." One small problem: It doesn't have any flavor. It just enhances overeating - and the food manufacturer's bottom line.

Once consumed, this fat fertilizer not only spikes insulin, it also lowers the hormones that ward off obesity, premature aging, and diabetes: IGF-1 and human growth hormone. And if that's not enough to scare you off, it can be damaging to brain cells too.

Consider the shocking findings by German scientists who recently warned that their country should abandon the use of MSG at once. Why? They found that pregnant mothers consuming this fat trap were giving birth to children who were insulin-resistant.

Apparently, fetuses can be doomed to overeating for life, thanks to neuronal damage caused by Mom's MSG-eating habit. The damage was most prevalent in a specialized group of nerve cells in the medulla oblongata, thalamus, or hypothalamus - the areas of the brain that control proper eating and metabolism. This might be one explanation for the drastic increases in childhood obesity worldwide.

Some things are worth dying for. Fat traps are not. If you want to live thin and slim, be alert to these common grocery store fat traps. You might have to dedicate some extra time to carefully reading food labels... but you'll never fall victim to them again.

[Ed. Note: Shane "The People's Chemist" Ellison has an MS in organic chemistry and firsthand experience in drug design and synthesis. He is an internationally recognized authority on therapeutic nutrition. His AM-PM Fat Loss Discovery e-book shows how he personally beat obesity and insulin resistance in 90 days. To pick up your copy, click here.]

This article appears courtesy of Early To Rise, the Internet’s most popular health, wealth, and success e-zine. For a complimentary subscription, visit http://www.earlytorise.com/.

There is no fat conspiracy

From Nutrition Expert, Brad Pilon...

"I just read "Mindless Eating" by Brian Wansink. Almost every page had great facts about the way food is marketed and the factors that make us decide to eat. This book is definitely in my list of top must-read nutrition books.

Here's the top lesson from this book...

You know how everybody these days seems to be blaming the food companies for our obesity problem? - as if it's some giant conspiracy?

Well the number one thing I learnt from "Mindless Eating" is that there is no "fat conspiracy".

Food companies DO NOT CARE if you EAT their foods. They only care if you BUY their foods and continue to BUY their foods.

The people at McDonalds don't care if you buy a happy meal, turn around and throw it in the garbage, just as long as you buy the happy meal.

Also, food isn't designed to be "fattening" (whatever that means). Food is designed to be inexpensive for the companies to make and desirable enough for you to repeatedly purchase.So while food companies, restaurants and shopping centers go to great lengths to figure out how to make us BUY food, WE are the ones making the decision to EAT the food."

Thanks Brad.

That's it for today,

God bless,
Steve

With whom do you negotiate for fat loss success?

We all know the secrets to effective fat loss, right? Eat fewer calories than we take in, train hard and smart, drink water, blah, blah. It’s always intrigued me, however, that even with this knowledge some folks achieve massive success while others struggle in the mire of mediocrity.

Why is that?

My personal guess? Limiting beliefs and/or self-sabotage. After all, who’s in charge of your life? Of course…you are. And if you’re truly in the drivers seat but are not currently seeing the level of success that you know you are fully capable, how do you fix it?

Here’s what I propose:

First: determine specifically just how much body fat you would like to lose. This is where the skill of goal setting comes in handy.

Second: determine a deadline date for achieving this level of success.

Third: walk over to the nearest mirror in your home and negotiate the deal with your boss.

That’s right; the person you see in the mirror is the same person who determines your level of health and fitness success. This same person also determines every aspect of your existence.

Face it; you are the C.E.O. of your personal company: You, Inc.

As the C.E.O. of You, Inc., you are responsible for every aspect and personal interest of your business. With respect to health and fitness you are in charge of the “Big 3” that determines the success of your “business”: training, eating right and rest & recovery.

As C.E.O., if you exercise full control and responsibility for these three factors, You, Inc. will be a big success. The stock goes through the roof and all are happy.

However, a failure to take full command for them leads to less than exemplary standards. For example, not taking control over your training means you won’t show up for scheduled sessions. If you’re negligent as the boss over your eating, it doesn’t matter how much you train, you won’t see results or recover adequately. And the failure to fully recover will likely lead to a stress fracture, sickness or some other negative condition.

And you’ve got to go to sleep at night to fully rest and recover; otherwise, as you do show up to train, you won’t want to workout because you’re tired. The reasons why you stayed up don’t really matter, the body is unforgiving. As the C.E.O. and commander in charge of your company it’s up to you; train hard, eat right, rest & recover. The more of that you do at a higher quality than previously before, the more success you achieve.

How to implement this plan:
On the first day of each month, determine specifically how much body fat you want to lose in pounds that month. Attach a dollar amount to it. As an example, $10 for each pound lost.

Now, take out your checkbook and write a check for the amount of money that you expect to lose in body fat that month.

Date it for the last day of the month.

Make it payable to yourself.

Sign it.

For the rest of the month, concentrate on figuring out how you are going to make that payroll ... just like a company C.E.O.

By making the decision to think of yourself as the C.E.O. and not as an employee of your own organization, you have made the important decision to take responsibility as the principal creative power in your own life. By doing this you transition from a victim or a passive recipient of what happens in your life to that of the controlling force. You are an active participant. You assume control.

You also give yourself permission to succeed, to go into the world and make your own life and your own set of circumstances. Make decisions that you, as C.E.O., would want to reflect positively upon You, Inc.

Think of your decisions and actions as services to the highest bidder and then deliver the very best services possible. Instead of waiting for things to happen, or hoping that things will happen, instead make things happen.

Well…what are you waiting for? Get to work!

God bless,
Steve

Sportakrobatik - Die 5 Disziplinen

Sport Acrobatics - The Five Disciplines
Ask yourself this question:
How does someone develop the skills, as well as the confidence, to perform these movements with such flawless precision?
Their dedication to effort and consistency is the key, and it is the same for you in your desires for success in fat loss.
Effort and consistency.

God bless,
Steve