Yo... you... yeah You....

The Paleo Lifestyle....

February 10/2012, 4 months shy of 43 years old.

I was first formally introduced to the Paleo Lifestyle by my friend and Senshido International Team member Jeff "Stinge" Liboiron back in July of 2011 as I was amazed at the fact that he looked the way one would draw a comic book super hero, he was (and still is) in incredible shape, cut and lean and had, at the time, been living the Paleo/Caveman lifestyle for 8 months. Inspirational to say the least.

He basically told me he was off sugar (all kinds from processed to all its differing forms  such as glucose, fructose, dextrose, sucrose, etc.), grains and dairy altogether and only ate real food. Real food meaning nothing man made, nothing processed, just like the cave men used to consisting of what could be hunted or gathered such as organic, free range, grass fed meats, organic vegetables and fruits, certain nuts and certain seeds, that's it, that's all.

And it's a lifestyle, not a diet. It is something one does and follows for life, not a certain period time, this isn't a cleanse either.  The very essence of cleansing a couple or few times per year means to be un-cleansed, unhealthy and toxic the rest of the time one isn't cleansing... makes no fuckin sense man, optimal health is something one should strive for and maintain all the time, not twice per year for a week or two. There is no going back to grains, dairy and sugar once you begin to research and fundamentally understand just how unhealthy and damaging these substances are to the human body in general.

I was so impressed, that I began slowly cutting things out but it was a slow process, I'd often "cheat" here and there... the irony of cheating one's self and justifying it, on its own is an other entire blog/subject matter, but that's exactly what I was doing, cheating too often to be able to call my lifestyle Paleo from the Greek word 'Paleolithic' meaning old or ancient times/era, or 'caveman' and reaping any kind of benefit from it just yet. You can't cheat... cheating only hurts you and defeats the entire purpose of living healthy and optimally. Cheating will not render any of the desired results.

Enter Scott Sonnon and Tacfit: 

http://www.rmaxinternational.com/flowcoach/ 

Scott Sonnon and I work in the same industry and both share the common goal of bettering humanity as a whole. Scott to me, is one of the most inspirational individuals I know, rather than blabber on about him, here is a brief bio from his own Facebook page, do not hesitate to check Scott out, he can only improve your life as he has thousands upon thousands worldwide:

"Overcoming childhood physical and learning disabilities, to become the USA National Team Coach and International Martial Arts Champion (in Sambo, Sanshou, Submission Grappling, Sport Jiujitsu, and amateur Mixed Martial Arts), Scott Sonnon earned the most coveted athletic distinction in his discipline - Honorable Master of Sport and became the first Westerner to formally intern behind the "Iron Curtain" at the Russian Combat Skill Consultant Scientific & Practical Training Center in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Blending his studies of biochemistry, biomechanics and psychophysiology, he developed an approach for multi-planar functional fitness - called Circular Strength Training, and an approach to rapidly recover from high intensity effort - called TACFIT. Author of numerous books and over a hundred videos, Scott now travels the world teaching for esteemed academies such as the NYPD Academy, FLETC, CBP Advanced Training Center, US Army 3/160th SOAR, FILEX, NSCA, CPTN, the Arnold Expo, Penn." 

So I've been reading and following Scott's daily status updates and posts and began religiously following all his nutrition and training principles, adding them to my routines and finally taking on the Paleo Lifestyle full on.

In essence, here are a few basic tips (modified some by me, inspired by Scott Sonnon):

1. Avoid all grains, dairy, sugar, legumes, artificial sweeteners, soy, carbonated drinks, all processed and fast foods, all GMO and anything that comes packaged in a cardboard box and/or containers, tin cans, plastic or anything that contains more than 2 to 3 ingredients which you know exactly what they are and consist of. Basically, only eat what you see in the pic above.

2. Eat grass fed, free range organic meats, wild meats and game, organic free range poultry, eggs and wild fish.
3. Eat organic, local, fresh, preferably raw vegetables, herbs and spices.
4. Eat  organic/wild fruits.
5. Eat only certain kinds of nuts and seeds such as pistachios, almonds, macadamia and walnuts or sunflower and sesame seeds. Try and keep it to a quarter cup per serving and no more than 2-3 servings per day spread out.

6. Consume a maximum of 2 teaspoons of raw, organic unpasteurized honey and maple syrup per day, you can substitute sugar for honey and maple syrup in organic teas and organic, fair trade coffees. Though high in sugar content, these sweeteners contain all kinds of essential nutrients, anti-oxidants, amino acids and immune system boosters They are also great for pre-workout energy and post workout recovery in small quantities mixed with a homemade protein shake.
7. Eat 3 to 5 meals per day, eat as much as needed and don't over eat, eat until comfortably full.
8. Skip (fast) a day once every other week (drink home blended veggie detox juices)
9. Drink a minimum of 1.5 to 2 liters of room temperature water a day. Also allowed as beverages are almond milk, organic teas and coffee in moderation. Green tea you can have as much as desired but water is truly the elixir of life.

10. Use only organic coconut oil, organic full fat butter or animal fats (organic home made slow cooked lard) to cook with and only consume , raw organic first cold pressed extra virgin olive oils, do not cook with them. Stay away from vegetable, Canola, refined and or hydrogenated oils and fats.

It's been pretty much around 3 full months now I have been strictly following and adhering to the 'caveman' lifestyle and my waist size dropped from a 32 to a 29 and my body fat has considerably dropped as well while maintaining my weight between 155 to 160 pounds the entire time.  I am also much more agile and faster than I ever was before. My energy levels alone have doubled, it's really indescribable as I now workout 6 days a week, and even on my off day I have to get at least a good hour and half hike up one of the Rockies or I'd be bouncing off the walls some.

Works out great too cause our son's 7 weeks old today and with the little amount of sleep we get, the Paleo/caveman lifestyle has honestly given me the energy to sustain my workouts and lifestyle since the little one's arrival.  

What's great as well is that people around me have been noticing my shape has gotten better and my energy levels sky rocketing, not to mention, when the majority of the town where we live would get the local flu, cold or stomach viruses going around, my wife and I were amongst the very few who never got sick. After explaining the lifestyle to them, a few jumped on the bandwagon and one of our friends told us after only 6 days of being on it, how much better and energized she felt already.  She actually just called me today to thank me for getting her on it as she couldn't believe how fast the results were for her.

Though I've posted this before, here is the Paleo Lifestyle in a nutshell... honestly, I couldn't recommend it more, I have yet to have heard someone I personally know take it up and not have it improve their over all health, strength and life and I know of at least 25 to 30 people personally living the caveman lifestyle, some having dropped anywhere from 5 to 75 pounds in 6 to 8 months.


Enjoy:

If you're interested in improving your health, your energy levels as well as your over all athletic abilities by 10 fold, research the Paleo Diet/Lifestyle on Google, try it out for 1 full month along with a proper training program 3 to 5 times per week and move a bare minimum of 30 minutes per day and you will be astounded at the results. 

Here is a great website to get you started containing everything from the why's of what to eat and not to eat, recipes and all kinds of excellent and eye opening articles on real nutrition and health: http://paleodietlifestyle.com/

Much Peace,

Rich

Breaking Point....

I was born and basically raised in Montreal, lived and worked a good portion of my life in the city particularly.  Much to be said about Montreal as it is indeed a gorgeous city with much culture and things to offer, but it's a city none the less. Though beautiful in its own right, it is man made.  It is concrete, steel, metal and glass. 

I now live here, below - Jasper Alberta.  The pics you will see below I just took while walking my dog on a 90 minute hike starting right behind my home.

This is one of the few trails I take as often as I can when it isn't ridiculously cold outside.

On any given day, I sit in front of my computer replying to countless emails and messages.  Since I have sold the Senshido Tactical Urban Combat school in Montreal back in early 2006, I no longer have nor need a 'staff' per say; and so I am basically a one man show running my company with of course, the help of my international team out there doing their thing.

Dealing with self defense for self development, human evolution and betterment in general; we tend to come across much of the 'darker' aspects of life.  From dealing with victims of violence of every possible kind to abuse, bullying and health issues, we tend to be exposed often and much to the uglier side of life, the more corrupt side.

For me, breaking away daily has become imperative.  Besides a workout which is fantastic for clearing the cobwebs, a walk through nature to clear and gather one's thoughts is unbelievably invigorating.

There's something to be said about being alone in nature with your own thoughts.  Unplugged, disconnected from technology and reconnected with the magnificent energy of life. These daily breaks allow me to regain my focus, strength and motivation otherwise, I'd fuckin kill someone lolol..... twice a day at that :`)

"I could leave so easily

My friends are calling back to me -

I said yeah...

They're leaving it all up to me when

All I needed was clarity

And... 
Someone to tell me WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON?!?!? GODDAMNIT!"

"Slippin' farther and farther away
It's a miracle how long we can stay
In a world our minds created
In a world that's full of shit!!!!"

"Please understand me;

I'm climbing through the wreckage 
Of all my twisted dreams
And this cheap investigation
Just can't stifle all my screams;
And I'm waiting
At the crossroads
Waiting for you...
Waiting for you...
Where are you?!?!?"

 "I can't understand what all the fighting's for?

But it's so nice here down off the shore...

I wish you could see this 

Cause there's nothing to see

It's peaceful here and its fine with me

Not like the world where I used to live"

"There were always ample warnings
There were always subtle signs;
And you would have seen them coming 
But we gave you too much time...
And when you said that no one's listening
Why'd your best friend drop a dime?
Sometimes we get so tired of waiting for a 
Way to spend our time"

"And it's so easy to be social
It's so easy to be cool
Yeah, its easy to get hungry
When you ain't got shit to lose...

"And I wish that I could help you
With what you hope to find
But I'm still out here waiting
Watching reruns of my life"

"When you reach the point of breaking

Know it's gonna take some time;
To heal those broken memories
That another man would need
Just to survive..........................."

COMA - Guns n Roses - Use Your Illusions 1

Contest For 13 to 18 Year Old's

Attention all 13 to 18 year old's out there, wanna win the entire collection of Senshido International instructional DVDs and Books? Participate in the following contest:

Write, in as great detail as possible, what you believe the world today would have been like without war and poverty had 60 years ago; the world's populations, governments and leaders all mutually and collectively agreed to world wide peace & end of poverty/hunger and literally banned wars of any and all kinds making them a part of human history.

Criteria: Your description must include the methods you imagine/foresee that lead up to world peace and end of poverty and the social/governmental system (excluding any past and present system in existence) that you believe would sustain such a world.

The most descriptive, imaginative yet grounded in possibility piece will win our entire collection of DVDs and books and have his or her story posted here, on the Senshido International Blog. Please send your entries to info@Senshido.com with the title "World Peace" by Valentine's Day, February 14th 2012 and the winner will be posted on the Senshido International Blog by February 20th 2012

Thank you, and please share this with anyone you feel may be interested in participating.

Thank You All and Best of Luck!

Attention US citizens,

please sign and share for the little of what is left of your liberties....

Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

CLICK TO SIGN AND PLEASE SHARE: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

If only we could.....

Oh Canada.... Fucked Up.

All Canadians need to watch this:

The Reality Behind It Is......

So This.....

Is not only safer, but much, much healthier than this:

Which causes all of this:

So you're much better off to....

But because of this.... 

You can't and instead get all kinds of This....

Factored in with This...

Leading to all kinds of This...

And This...

Instead of This....

This....

AND THIS!!!! LOLOLOL

 DO SOME SHIT!!!!!!!

For those who wonder what my diet is like:

I don't have a diet.  To diet means to eat a certain way for a certain period of time to look and feel a certain way for a very limited period of time. Diet is for egos and come with a time limit.  Food is a necessary source of fuel to humanity for survival and humanity turned it into an egocentric substance via greed, gluttony and profit. Food is also preventative medicine, in its most natural and rawest forms, it provides nutrients that strengthens both the immune system and mind allowing our bodies to work optimally and at its peak.

Deterioration has very little to do with ageing, piss poor diets and sedentary lifestyles do.  The human body and mind have limitless capabilities and the majority of us are feeding it shit.  It's like urinating in a Lamborghini for fuel yet most do it daily.

The human body was designed to move and be physically active for most of every given day yet we created societies and technologies that puts us in a chair 8+ hours a day only to come home and sit on a fuckin couch for another 2 to 7 hours before going to lie down for another 5 to 12 hours while feeding ourselves processed, hormone & antibiotic filled, microwaved, genetically modified sugar infested foods. WILLINGLY!!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?

To those who think they aren't brainwashed, hate to tell ya, you are and by far, not just that, you're also addicted and made purposefully so from a very young age. I know this cause for 29 years of my life I basically ate fast food and drank soft drinks (both regular and diet) and didn't have a fuckin clue what real food was.  I dismissed it entirely.  I thought and truly believed food was food, and that the whole "organic" thing was just a hippy bullshit thing. I never looked at ingredients, just calories, proteins, carbs and fats not having a fucking clue how to distinguish between good and bad fats, proteins and carbs. Think about it, how many television commercials do you see for organically grown red peppers or farm raised, free range chickens? Now how many television commercials do you see for pharmaceuticals or McDonalds??? TELEVISON ROTS THE BRAIN. Period.

I believed what the television told me.  Fuck was I stupid.  I believed what the FDA approved and promoted. Fuck was I even stupider. Then... as I finally began to awaken from my hypnotized slumber and began actually researching things, discovering the reality behind the televised matrix web of lies,   deceit and consumerism; everything improved.

For starters, I used to catch a cold a minimum of 2 to 3 times per year that would last anywhere between 5 days to 3 weeks depending on the severity.  That stopped.  If I get a cold now it lasts about 2 days and consist of annoying sniffles and perhaps, a light irritating cough.  My energy levels today are greater at the age of 42 than n my 20's and so is my health by ten fold. I can sit here and preach about how much greater I feel since I've been eating real food over man made food, but this clip here illustrates it much better than I ever could:

That's it in a nutshell folks.... of course, there are personal adjustments to be made as each individual is different, but these are the basics.

Rich

Toxic Free Make Your Own Deodorant

Considering the amount of toxins in deodorants today linked to diseases like breast cancer and more, even the "aluminum free - all natural" ones aren't as toxic free as we may like to think.

The skin is the single largest living organ on the human body and absorbs everything directly topically put on it into the bloodstream therefor it would be wiser not to topically put anything on your skin you wouldn't ingest orally.

Making your own deodorant is simple, easy and takes no longer than 20 minutes including prep time.  It will cost you one quarter the price of any commercial deodorant and last you twice as long with absolutely NONE OF THE HEALTH RISKS involved.  Simple mathematics and logic states, this is the much better, easier, more economical and healthier way to go:

What you need:

1/4 cup of baking soda
1/4 cup cornstarch
10 to 20 drops of any essential oil fragrance you enjoy
2 table spoons full of coconut oil (preferably organic and virgin)

Mix it all together into a stiff paste, pack into an old deodorant container and apply a thin layer to underarm.

Presto.... 4 ingredients, all natural, no toxins, works and lasts twice as long and is one quarter of the cost of any chemical based underarm deodorant on the market.

Word. Do some....