Getting Out There

I'm with my General Practioner about a week ago and it turns out that I need to lose a little weight.  I remember thinking to myself, hmm, I'm raw, mostly.  I wonder why I still have this paunch around my middle?

She recommended an hour of exercise a day.  Now, I have been a fitness junkie on and off, but, lately, as in the last two years, mostly off.  I'll be good for a week or two and exercise 3 or 4 times a week, then I'll forget about it and not do anything for a week or two.  And the cycle continues.

That's not going to cut it anymore.

An hour a day, I thought.  How can I make that happen?  I said I'd try.  Well, it has happened for 8 days straight now.  All right!   And even though I've walked the local reservoir with Lisa, spent time on the Nordic Track, and even gone body boarding, the number one activity has been - mountain biking.

So, since I truly love to mountain bike, I decided to go ahead and spring for a new trail shredder on Sunday.  And on Monday I was oh so glad I did.  Did about 20 miles all over Wildcat Canyon and Tilden Parks over the course of 3 hours.  Up some massively steep hills.  And down some massively steep hills, too.  Beautiful country, the Berkeley Hills.  Highly recommend it.

Three things I love about riding the trails:
1)  I'm in nature.  To be in nature is very, very healing.  The trees, the clouds, the blue sky, the sunshine, the fresh air.  It's great for the soul.
2)  You cover a lot of ground on a bike.  I love to hike, for all the same reasons.  But I cover so much more territory on a bike.  There are more vistas, more people to meet, more sights to see.  You get around on a trail bike.
3)  It's awesome training.  A lot of fitness experts have touted the benefits of interval training as of late.
Interval training intersperses high cardio activity with lighter cardio activity, back and forth.  In keeping your heart rate varied, up and down, your heart lung rate is constantly changing, with no preset schedule - thereby providing bursts of intense activity with periods of rest.  These are ideal training conditions.

So, incredibly, after 8 days of at least 45 minutes of cardio a day I'm feeling much stronger, and am actually shedding a few pounds.  It's working.

The other thing the doctor mentioned was to stay away from sugars, including that found in high glycemic index fruit.

Now I love fruit, and usually eat a ton of it, being high % raw.

So what I'm doing is eliminating or reducing my intake of some of the fruits with the highest glycemic index.  So, no more snacking on lots of dates, big slices of watermelon, or big bunches of grapes.

That's ok, though.  I still love apples and oranges, and I'll continue to make fruit a big part of my diet.
And I'll still have dates, watermelon and grapes, just not as much.  I'm going to become an expert on all kinds of apples, though.  Maybe I'll become an apple connoisseur!

Anyway, I can always use some encouragement in keeping inspired and motivated to work out every day.  If you have tips and tricks that keep you motivated, I'd love to hear them.  Post your comments below and let's all inspire each other.

I'm sure that I'll be ok with taking a rest day once or twice a week, but for now, I'm trying to stick to finding time every single day for a minimum of 45 minutes, preferably an hour, and 2 - 3 on at least one weekend day.

I have to say it feels really good to get out there.  I come back energized, with a healthy appetite for healthy food, and my mood has definitely brightened.

So get out there, everybody.  Use it or lose it!

Power to the People!!

Power to the People!

I earn my keep these days designing and selling solar systems, mainly for personal residences. These systems are compact, powerful and can fit on a wide variety of roof tops.

Many folks take advantage of government incentives to assist with the funding of their systems. Currently, state and federal funding are available to assist with the costs.

My company, Sun Light & Power, has been at this for over 33 years. Based in Berkeley, it's founder, Gary Gerber, is still at the helm of the company. Gary is well respected in the solar community as a tireless advocate for solar, a creative innovator and a good businessman who treats his customers, employees and business associates with respect and integrity.

The solar industry has seen twists and turns in it's fortunes over the past several years. Many incentive programs have come and gone, the latest being the California Solar Initiative. This program was designed to spur the solar industry in California, and in many ways, it has.

10s of millions of dollars have been poured into state incentive programs for Californians. 10s of thousands of installations have been built. The Bay Area is one of the most active areas in the country when it comes to new solar installations.

But the program may be a victim of it's own success. In a very short, 2 1/2 year period, much of the funding has been used and the level of funding is being quickly depleted. Solar has always been for the very green and the very wealthy. Mainstream acceptance has been slow to arrive. But the two main groups which have been drawn to solar the most still need to keep an eye on costs, because if the numbers don't pencil out, even for the tried and true environmentalists, then there simply won't be compelling enough reasons to go solar.

A feed in tariff, which would encourage maximization of solar roof space and a distributed generation system feeding the electric grid, is probably not that far from reality. The utilities are not excited about it, since it creates stiff competition, so it will be fought. On the other hand, the utilities don't want to be seen as standing in the way of renewable energy. We need to find a way to spur the feed in tariff if we are to succeed in bringing solar to the masses. Either we must buy from PG&E or we build our own systems. If we build our own, it has to be financially viable.

A strong feed in tariff can help the nascent solar industry to flourish. But we'll need strong advocacy from any number of lawmakers and other concerned organizations to make it happen. In the meantime, let's support alternative energy, conservation and energy efficiency measures any way we can. It's one way out of the mess we are in. Energy Independence, a reduction on reliance on foreign oil, and the catastrophic dangers of climate change all point to a need to do this differently.

If we all are going to thrive, then we need to support renewable energy and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. Let's do this together!

Rawkin' Off the Weight

I'm 49, male, 5'7". I've always been active, always ate sensibly, but as I've aged I nonetheless have struggled with middle aged spread, and could never get under 180 lbs. My ideal weight should be around 160 or 165. Last November I was back up to 190 lbs. After reading an interesting book on the raw food diet, I decided to take the plunge. I'm now about 170, having lost almost 20 lbs. This has been revolutionary! Not only that, I feel so much better about what I'm eating and am very strong, able to swim, run, do yoga, lift weights,dance and have a good time. It's all about fitness, not just weight control. Going raw made all the difference. There are many books out there. Read a few.

Anything that becomes a part of your life will have a few repeats. Including the meals themselves. The key meals are the morning smoothie, which is sweet fruits, spring water and various nuts or seeds mixed in. Also another key meal is my kale salad,which I have for dinner many nights a week. Let me add that I try to be a raw organic vegan. I realize that this is probably not something most people can handle, but for me it's had a lot of side benefits, as I've found a community of folks who, like myself, are really into the raw lifestyle and who care a lot about the same kinds of things I do: Tribal community, indigenous wisdom traditions, free dancing, yoga, West African drumming, the diet / spirituality connection, hot springs soaking, being in wild nature, sustainability, renewable energy, deep ecology, emoting, creativity, youthful vigor, hilarity, vitality and breath work.

The way in to connecting deeply with yourself and your emotional vitality is to feed yourself the best that the planet has to offer. An organic vegan, raw food diet is a way to love yourself that is very different that what you may have though loving yourself meant before. The only way to know what I'm talking about is to try it for yourself.

Interestingly, weight loss is only an outward manifestation of deep internal changes that are made mentally and spiritually. Ask anyone who successfully has lost a decent amount of weight and kept it off and they'll tell you the real challenge is the emotional and psychological one. An organic, raw vegan diet naturally works to change not only your body's biochemistry but there's a deep spiritual component as well that can't be overlooked.
This spiritual/psychological component is something that's hard to describe except to say that in eating plants, with an extremely high nutritional content, changes really begin to occur and a synergy begins to take hold. You feel lighter, you need less sleep, so consequently you have more time to do things like exercise, or do stress relieving activities that also help you to feel lighter, better, happier. It's a positive feedback loop. The behavior of going raw gives you the energy that you've been looking for and then you have time to feel more refreshed, more relaxed, more content. More energy equals more positivism. More positivism equals more motivation to do things that truly satisfy. More satisfaction has the spill over effect to your family and friends who notice big changes and want in on the action. They become happier and more energetic, and you all go there together, creating more love and synergy along the way. It's all good, and all because of the raw food diet.

I could say more, but I'll stop now. Be interested to hear what others think and if anyone else is raw out there. Let me add that I'm not 100% raw. There are days when I am, but most days it's 2 out of 3 meals. However, even the meals that are not totally raw usually have raw elements.