Personal Responsibility

Do we need the governments help to listen to common sense.  I talked with a young man a few weeks ago who told me that corporate America should not be allowed to advertise restaurants and food that is unhealthy, but it won't work.  Years ago they forced cigarette manufacturers to put a warning label on every pack that they sold.  Today millions in our nation are still smoking, and suffering, and dying.  We should realize after the repeal of prohibition that laws can't force people into healthy behavior.  There is no law we can pass or rule we can make that will replace the need for personal responsibility.  What we eat, and how often we exercise are choices we are all free to make.  No one is forcing us to spend more than we make and live stress filled lives.  Ultimately I am responsible for me, and so are you.

4 Warning Signs

My mother was only 46 and in apparent good health but she went to bed one night with what she thought was heartburn so she drank something to combat heartburn and went to bed.  That night she had a heart attack and a stroke and never woke up again.  We didn't know the signs of a heart attack.  A little more than 2 1/2 years ago my younger brother started to complain about heartburn for several days before his death.  He handled it with Tums and never realized that it was the beginning of a heart attack.  Doctor's tell me there are four signs of a heart attack starting.  If you are over 40, overweight, or have a family history of heart disease you should know these signs.  Knowing these signs saved my life this past March.

1.  Chest pain:  This is the most common symptom.  It doesn't have to be severe.  It may come and go and even be mild at first so that you do not realize anything serious at all is happening.

2.  Shortness of breath:  While most people find chest pain alarming, they are not aware that shortness of breath, even in the absence of chest pain, can signal an impending heart attack.  This can occur suddenly, right before or even during a heart attack.  This can be an important clue that demands checking out.

3.  Indigestion or heartburn:  One of the challenging things about chest pain is that it often doesn't feel like chest pain.  Sometimes it feels like indigestion, or even heartburn.

4.  Nausea and vomiting:  These are often classified as "atypical" symptoms of hear attack, but they are common.

Obviously, having any one of these symptoms does not necessarily mean you are having a heart attack.
But if you believe you are having a heart attack, call 911 and ask to be taken to the nearest hospital.  If you know these signs it can save your life.  This past March I woke up at 1 AM with pain in my chest. My wife got me an aspirin, and I got my shoes and we went to the hospital.  Knowing these signs saved my life.

More to Life?

There is more to life!  This is just one of the things that I am learning since I decided to reclaim my health.  I am finding that I enjoy riding bikes with my wife and grandson.  I enjoy hiking through parks and I'm looking forward to getting back on my horse.  I am enjoying my family more, especially the grandkids.  I find that I am enjoying the world we live in more.  I just got back from a trip to Cancun and I loved sitting out on the deck overlooking the beach with coffee in the early hours of the day.  I used to take so much for granted before I had all of the health challenges of this past 18 months, but not now.  There is more to life than making money, eating huge meals and gaining weight.  We have never been as obsessed with food as we are today in America.  Mexican, Italian, Chinese, Seafood, and Steak.  So many choices, so little time.  There is so much more to life.

Adam & Eve

Adam and Eve were God's first creation and they had the perfect diet.  Everything they ate grew out of the ground and nothing they ate walked on the ground.  Today most of what we eat walks on the ground, or is processed in a factory so that it can last on a shelf for a year.  Today we are dying earlier not because of a lack of food, but because of the type of foods we eat.  You don't have to be a rocket scientist to make the connection between what we eat and how long we live.  I began to eat a more plant based diet in January and have watched the pounds that I could not lose in 20 years begin to melt away.  One of the crazy benefits is that when you eat like this you can eat all that you want and still lose weight.  If it was healthy for God's first creation in the garden then why not for us too?

Go slow

I went to the doctor last week because of a spike in my blood pressure.  I've recently had some high readings because of my weightlifting program.  I didn't know that maxing out could cause my blood pressure to spike but it can.  While there I asked my doctor about my ideal weight because I've already lost over 35 pounds since January and I am searching for the stopping point.  My weight loss has tapered off but not stopped completely.  She gave me some good advice that day that I am really trying to live by.  She told me to "go slow."  This is good advice and what I want to say to all of us today.  Go slow.  Weight that you loose quickly is easily regained.  Weight we lose slowly is much more likely to be permanent so don't get discouraged if you haven't lost a lot of weight yet.  If you are no longer gaining weight then you are going the right direction.  Just keep focused on becoming healthy and start moving.  You will get there.

The Diet Yo-Yo

Get off the dieting yo-yo.  You can lose a quick 5 pounds and then gain it back plus 5 more.  Have you ever tried to live on 800 calories a day.  If you are a guy you probably gave it up.  Have you ever noticed that the celebrity spokesperson for the latest diet program eventually gains their weight back.  No one on TV has lost and gained as many pounds as Oprah.  It's a sad story, but quick weight loss eventually leads to weight gain.  If you will focus on getting healthy instead of just getting thin, you can lose weight permanently.  You can lose weight with almost any diet program if you follow it strictly but the pounds won't stay gone, and after all isn't that what you really want.

Breakfast

Men who skip breakfast are 27% more likely to suffer a heart attack, or to develop heart disease than those who start their day with something in their stomachs.  This Harvard study found that men who skipped breakfast are more likely to gain weight, develop Type 2 Diabetes and suffer from Hypertension.

I began to skip breakfast in my early twenty when I was newly married, starting a new career, and a new family.  It's hard to get going early when you really love the woman you just married, so I just skipped breakfast to stay in bed for a few more minutes to snuggle.  This leaves you starting your day without enough fuel in your tank so you either grab an early snack or a fast food breakfast on the way to work.  Dunkin Doughnuts and McDonalds have made a highly profitable business out of meeting this need.  The problem is that empty calories don't provide fuel that will last so you are tired earlier every day.  You end up eating more than you need at your next meal and this just becomes a vicious cycle.  As my waist size grew my movement slowed and my health was on a steady decline.

Today I'm up early every morning an I never start my day without breakfast.  Eating this important meal has been a vital part of reclaiming my health over the last 9 months.  Oat meal is the number one method of lowering your cholesterol and this is a great way to promote heart health.  So tomorrow morning grab a bowl and a spoon and eat something healthy for breakfast.  

Two Are Better

Ecclesiastes 4:9 nlt  "Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed."

Over this last 18 months I have survived a devastating diagnosis...Parkinson's disease and the challenges associated with fighting this at the young age of 58, the sale of our farm (161 acres with horses), giving up my long term dream of Pastoral ministry, a heart attack followed by open heart quadruple bypass surgery. In the midst of all of this turmoil I have managed to drop 35 lbs, lower my blood pressure, and my cholesterol.  While I  continue to battle the effects of Parkinson's I am healthier in some ways than I have been in 10-15 years.  One of the major keys to my survival of and overcoming of these many health challenges is my loving wife Cindi.  She has encouraged me to keep working, to keep believing and to never lose hope that I will eventually, by the grace of God, overcome this all.  If you have a good wife who believes in you then there is almost nothing that you can't accomplish.  She has been my greatest fan, my greatest supporter, and my greatest friend through all of this.  Solomon was right when he wrote those words so many years ago...Two are better than one.  I am so grateful for the wonderful woman who has walked by my side for over 36 years now.

You Need a Team

I visited my doctor yesterday and found out that my blood pressure is in the healthy range again.  I tested out at 130/78 and was very relieved.  High blood pressure is a very dangerous condition that the doctors call the silent killer.  It is silent in that there are no symptoms that generally tell you it is high.  Two weeks ago I felt like my body was warning me that I had a problem and so I tested my blood pressure and found out that I was 50 points higher than normal.  I am much more alert to what my body is saying today because the last time I ignored warnings I ended up with a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery.  Apparently if you hold your breath when lifting weights your blood pressure can spike up to stroke levels.  So I have made some adjustments to my workout routine and temporarily increased a medication to get my blood pressure back under control.  I am feeling much better about everything since seeing the doctor yesterday.  Getting healthy really is a team effort and you need a good doctor on your team.  If you don't have one, get one.

Reducing stress?

The third key to healthy living is reducing stress.  We are just beginning to understand the negative consequences stress is having on our health today.  We are taking pills to get started, to keep going and then more pills to go to sleep at night.  Most of us burn the candle at both ends and are rapidly running out of candle.  Most of us are living beyond our means, paying way too much in interest and saving way too little of what we make on a monthly basis.  Instead of getting really good at one thing we are all experiencing the confusion created by multitasking.  We don't need more income or more time.  We just need more margin.  That's what you have left over when you get to the end.  When I was growing up years ago back when dinosaurs roamed the earth we always had leftovers in the refrigerator.  If we were hungry and we were between meals you could pull out the leftovers, heat them up and have something to eat.  That's what we need today.  Leftovers, or margin.  We need this with our money, our time, and our relationships.  More margin and less stress.

Getting started

The hardest part about a daily exercise program is getting started.  Once you have determined that you need a program you need to start immediately.  If you haven't read "Younger next year", by
Chris Crowly I would highly recommend it.  This will give you a foundation in the "why" we need to exercise and once you really understand the why, then the how will become easy.  I am including a link to his web site in this post.     http://www.youngernextyear.com/      Once you have gone several weeks in a row you won't believe what a difference it makes.  You will never experience permanent weight loss if you don't begin to move your body.  Once you get beyond 50 your metabolism really begins to slow down without us really noticing the change.  Exercise will really kick start your metabolism and your body will burn calories even when you are resting.  Having a set routine every day makes it easier for me to continue because I don't have to think up what to do every day, and I even have planned variety every week.  I ride a bicycle with my wife for 6 miles at least once a week so I can combine fun with my exercise.  I know that I am becoming a workout nazi because I even exercised this past week while I was on vacation.  Once you really get into it your exercise will develop momentum that you don't ever want to loose but the hardest part is getting started so start small.  Find a time where you can fit in a 15 minute walk on a daily basis and then just do it for 2-3 weeks.  After that you can gradually increase your workouts.  It doesn't matter if you can't yet run a marathon, just get started today.

A way to eat that works

If you are looking for a way of eating that will help you loose weight and reverse the impact of heart disease try a plant based diet. This past January my wife and I gave up eating meat, dairy products, oils, and processed foods.  Suprisingly I don't miss the meat.  I thought it would kill me to give up meat but it turns out that meat was killing me.  I no longer eat food through a window, and I have lost over 30 pounds.  The weight has stayed off as well and many of my health indicators have improved remarkably.  My blood sugar readings are down on a daily basis, as is my cholesterol. Keeping my weight in check is not a struggle because this is not a diet it's a lifestyle change.  I didn't set out to loose weight it just went down until I reached 175 and it just hovers between 175-178 on a daily basis so I think I must be near my ideal weight.  My goalis to get healthy and to reverse the impact that heart disease has had on my life.  I would actually like to go off of most of the medications I've been on for way to long.  I don't have all the answers for your health, in fact I'm not sure I even know all of the questions.  This one thing I know. I have found a way of eating that is working.

3 keys to a healthy life

The keys to a healthy life...you need them all.  There are a lot of people trying to eat like a fly but they still can't loose the spare tire around their waste.  There are others who exercise every day, but never get control of their appetite.  They think that if you exercise then it's alright to continue a bad diet, and it's not.  Reducing stress is the third key to a healthy life that many of us here in America are missing.  If we really understood how many years we were shaving off our lives we would be shocked.  Healthy eating, increased  daily exercise, and reducing your stress levels. The three keys...we need them all.

Priorities

I must be nuts, because I find myself feeling guilty for taking a vacation this week.  It's funny that I never felt guilty during the past 35 years of unending, nose to the grindstone work for not taking off.  My manager convinced me many times not to take off because my people really needed my leadership in the field.  Looking back I believe it would have been better leadership if I had demonstrated what it meant to live a balanced life. God first, family second, work third.  These are the priorities I believe in.  Living this out in real life is a challenge worth pursuing if you want to live a healthy life.

What price will we pay?

Why don't more of us pay the price for a healthy life?  We don't want to have to get up earlier, or to make time for exercise.  We don't want to give up fast foods, French fries, or our favorite dessert. We don't want to give up the pursuit of a higher lifestyle that is filling our days with stress.  We have focused on the price we don't want to pay, and ignoring the price we are already paying.  Our nationwide food addiction is costing us our future, our health, and our lives.

Stress?

This is a week dedicated to fun and relaxation.  I worked in sales for 35 years and made a lot of money but endured increasing levels of stress.  I should have taken more vacations. Once every 5 years is not enough.  We don't understand the impact stress has on us physically, and emotionally.  Too many of us are successful and miserable.  What good is it to have the one if you are living with the other. Stress sneaks up on us gradually like a snake you didn't see until it bit you. This is the reason they call high blood pressure the silent killer.  You don't know there is a problem until you have a massive heart attack and drop over dead.  This happened a few years ago to Tim Russert from NBC News. He never knew he had a heart problem until he was dead. 

I am learning to slow down and enjoy the life I have instead of just chasing the one I don't have.  If we learn to enjoy what we have we can lower the stress in our lives, and live much better lives.

Blood pressure spike?

Sometimes timing is everything.  Last week I found out that my blood pressure was way up so I'm on the hunt to discover why.  I tested out good the last time I was at the doctor's office with a 127/73 reading, but  now I am up nearly 50 points.  This is not good for anyone but especially not for a guy who had open heart surgery 4 months ago.  It turns out that doctors say that weight lifting can cause  a spike in your blood pressure and I should have done enough investigating to know that already.  Nobody is as responsible for my blood pressure as I am.  I am going to need 2 weeks of consistent daily recordkeeping to get a real feel for what is happening.  I stopped lifting after last Friday and my pressure began to drop already overnight.  The question is how far will it drop and will it stay down without adding a new medication.  The problem with new medications is that they bring new side effects.  Fortunately, we were going on vacation this week to Cancun so I am planning on a simple week of walking, resting, playing and enjoying myself with my lovely wife Cindi and two of my grown children.  I'll know within two weeks if reducing my weightlifting will do the job.  No matter what, I can't afford to walk around with elevated blood pressure, so stay tuned.

Blood pressure?

I just found out last night that my blood pressure is up and it shouldn't be.  I am down to 175 lbs and my blood sugar was down to 97 this week so I was shocked to find out that my blood pressure was high.  I went to the drugstore to double check the reading because it isn't unusual for my home tester to have a high reading, and there is a testing chair there that is more accurate.  I talked to the pharmacist who said that weightlifting can raise your blood pressure and I have been doing some intensive lifting in recent weeks.  I have done this to get healthier but apparently it might be a mistake.  No more max lifts for now.  I will make a change immediately and see if my blood pressure goes back down.  I will share in a future blog what I learn, so stay tuned.  I am going to be vacationing next week so this will be a great time to relax and get my pressure down.

What's going on?

"What's going on?"  This is an important question that we must learn to ask about our health.  The most important piece of exercise equipment in our home is the scale, and I step on it every day.  My blood sugar level this morning was 101 and that's something I check every day as well.  When was the last time you had your blood pressure checked or had any other tests run by your doctor.  If you are 50 or older these are things you need to do at least once or twice a year.  The best way to prevent heart disease is to see it coming and do something about it before it happens.  Heart disease is called the "silent killer" for a reason.  If you aren't staying up with your vital signs then you'll never see it coming.  How long have you been overweight?  I was overweight for over 30 years of my adult life.  The result was a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery in March.  Make an appointment for a checkup and ask your doctor if you are at risk.  Don't be afraid to ask "what's going on."

A wonderful discovery

I have made a wonderful discovery.  Ever since we began to change to a healthier plant based diet I have found that eating is not boring.  Most diets are boring because you only eat the same things over and over again, but we don't do that.  My wife and I are on the lookout every week for new recipes for healthier foods.  I have discovered that nearly any breakfast tastes better with blueberries. and that there are dozens of ways to make a healthy version of nearly anything.  I love chili and Cindi has discovered a three bean chili that really excites my tastebuds.  We have always enjoyed veal marsala, and she has uncovered a recipe for mushroom marsala that we have fallen in love with.  We have begun to enjoy a tofu stir-fry that I could eat anytime, and I have rediscovered vegetable pizza that is great.  We also eat some great and unique salad's.  Last night we ate a pasta salad that was made with whole wheat pasta, grapes, and chick pea's.  It had a sauce that was made with terryaki and yogurt, and I couldn't get enough of it.

Healthy eating does not have to be boring, and it is not super-expensive either.  I am losing weight without going hungry.  Check out the engine 2 diet by Rip Esselstyn.  It is a 28 day diet that can save your life and help you loose pounds.  It has changed the way we eat forever and so far I've lost a little over 30 pounds.  

Life or death?

It's became a matter of life or death.  Four months ago I had a heart attack and quadruple bypass surgery, and as I lay in the hospital for eight days I finally realized that I was fighting in a battle that was between life and death.  This was no longer just a matter of how I looked in the latest shirt I bought.  It wasn't about how much larger my jeans were now.  This was serious, and could be fatal.  I needed to lose weight and pursue the process of reclaiming my health.  The candy, the cakes, the sugar and fats we are taking into our bodies are putting our lives in danger and we can't see it.  McDonald's and Burger King are not rooting for you, they are rooting against you.  Fast food in America is poison as surely as if they were serving strychnine.  If I sound like an alarmist it is only because I am alarmed.  Our situation is desperate because we are committing voluntary suicide at mealtime all across our nation, and here is the worst part.  People who are living in poverty are eating the most unhealthy foods in this nation.  It's very difficult to buy fresh foods of any kind in lower income neighborhoods.  The poor eat more processed foods than anyone.  We must begin to see our diet for what it really is...a matter of life or death.

It's hard, but possible.

Losing weight is hard.  Many people are telling us that it can be quick, easy, rapid, and done in just a few weeks but take it from someone who spent most of my adult life as much as 80 pounds overweight it's not easy or quick.  When I was in my mid-thirties I was all the way up to 265 and now at 58 I am down to 177.  I believe that I have an important message to share with many hopeless and discouraged people in America today.  Losing weight is never quick or easy but it can be done.

Doctors tell us that losing weight once you are in your 50's is particularly difficult because your metabolism slows down so much, but I have done the lion share of my weight loss over these past 6 to 8 months, and I won't consider it permanent until I have maintained the weight loss for at least a full year.  Yo yo weight loss is very bad for your health long term but very common in our culture today.

So whether you are young or not so young please take courage from my story.  You can lose weight if you really want to bad enough.  If you really want it you'll get radical, and when you get radical the pounds will come off.  They will never leave quickly enough, but they will leave and you will get healthy.

Vultures

There are vultures out there.  A vulture (my definition) is anyone who is trying to make a profit on someone else's pain or misfortune.  I am writing this blog because I have gone through a tremendous health crisis over these past 18 months.  A parkinson's diagnosis forced me to reconsider my life's work ,sell our farm, and move to town.  My doctor told me that stress was contributing to the progression of the symptoms of this disease and so if I wanted to get better I had to make some pretty radical changes.  Then 4 months ago I had a heart attack and quadruple bypass heart surgery.  So you won't be surprised to hear that I am trying to learn everything that I can about reclaiming my health, but I have discovered that there are many vultures out there.  Many ads on TV and the web say that they want to help those with health problems, but the truth is that they just want to take advantage of our difficult circumstances and to make a large profit at our expense.  We are spending millions every year buying someone else's new easy and quick weight loss or exercise program.  Our homes are littered with exercise equipment that didn't produce the promised life change.  We buy all this stuff from people we thought wanted to help us but really just take advantage of our pain.  They are vultures and I hope that you will begin to recognize them and avoid them.    

Community

We were all created by God to live in community.  We need a family to love and be loved by.  We needs friends to hang with and challenge us.  We need teams that we can be a part of and communities we can be involved in. We were not intended to live in isolation and it is not healthy to be alone.  Often we have problems that we are struggling to solve simply because we don't have a group of friends that we can talk to about them.  So if we are going to regain our health then we need to get some friends.  This is a great way to lower the stress level in your life and stress is having a tremendous impact on the health of our nation.  We spend millions of dollars every year buying drugs so that we can cope, and paying way too much for someone to listen to us talk about our problems.

Here is a solution. Why don't we get on the phone and begin to repair our families.  Let's learn to forgive, and say I'm sorry.  When you have family and friends you have a good reason to get healthy.  Nothing has motivated me to get healthy this year more than the love of family and friends.  We all need a reason to live that's bigger than we are.

Holliday's?

Most of us lose the battle with food on the holidays, but that's allright.  It's not so bad to fall down as long as you don't stay down.  I ate some food that I didn't need yesterday as I was celebrating the fourth of July.  Cheese brats, corn salad (not too bad) and home made strawberry ice cream as well as a cupcake. This was not a healthy meal by any measure but I was with my family and they aren't all on a the same new healthy life diet I am living.  No one wants to be the stick in the mud at a party, me included.

Here is the key.  I got up this morning and ate a healthy breakfast, and just finished 2 hours at the gym. I'm feeling fairly good again and I will continue to eat healthy as the week goes on.  We have discovered on this journey to regain my health that it's what you do day in, day out that really makes the difference.  If you eat healthy 98% of the time you won't put on pounds for the 2% of poor eating.  This holds true especially if you maintain a consistent exercise routine.  It's what you do on a daily basis that really matters.  Even the most disciplined life needs to splurge occasionally.  The reason this often does us in is when we feel so guilty when we fall that we just stay down thinking we will never win.  You can win this battle.  Remember one thing every time you fall down, and that is to simply get up.  Don't beat yourself up, just get up and get moving again.  You'll never become perfect, but you can get healthy.

Follow the money

Follow the money.  I've heard the detective say that phrase on the detective shows when they are trying to figure out who committed the crime, and our lack of health in this nation is criminal.  So who profits from our despair.  Most of us who have spent any time being overweight have been convinced that we can't really ever lose weight on a permanent basis and so we give up.  Who profits from this despair?

How about all of the people who manufacture all of those sweet breakfast cereals, and the doughnut makers.  How about all of the beer producers, and fast food companies.  Then there's the medical industry, many of which sincerely are seeking to help us get well, but does anyone really think that the pharmaceutical industry that depends on our lack of health for their huge profit margins.  Don't they benefit from our obesity and high blood pressure.  I can still remember the days when they didn't advertise prescription medications on television to convince us to ask for them from our doctors.  When I was a kid they didn't have pain clinics and we didn't have a problem with teenagers stealing Oxycontin to get high.  There was a time when doctors couldn't increase their profit margin by prescribing more medication to their patients.

So who profits from our lack of health in America?  It's certainly not the average consumer.  It's long past time for us to allow these people to profit from our ignorance.  So get informed, and get healthy.  

Celebrating independence?

I have a new view on the fourth of July this year.  I have been celebrating this holiday all my life and I've celebrated our independence here in America, but it is taking on a new perspective to me this year because for the first time since college years ago I am becoming free of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and free from carrying 35 pounds that were slowly destroying my life.  I didn't just prefer some foods, I was in bondage to them.  There were years that I was addicted to gummy bears (sounds crazy, huh) and fast food.  There was a day when I wouldn't get started without an everything bagel and cream cheese.  I spent 25 years travelling on the road 4 nights a week and my appetites went totally out of control.  The only question I asked every night was what kind of food was I in the mood to eat.  My freedom to choose became the source of my obsession.

This year I am down to 177 and becoming more free every day.  My health is improving and I am finding the ability to choose healthy foods every day.  I am celebrating this newfound freedom and doing it with much more energy.

But here's the secret I've come to know.  We can all be free.  We don't have to continue to make bad choices about what we eat, how much we exercise, and if we are going to take any leisure time in our lives.  Don't believe the lie that you are stuck, because you can lose weight and get healthy.  By this time next year you could be celebrating a newfound freedom.

Your cheese?

I am concerned for the people I am surrounded by.  I met a woman this morning who had a family tree filled with heart disease and she is trying to lose weight and get healthy.  She is wanting to avoid what I just went through when I had a heart attack and surgery just 4 months ago.  Since I have lost 30 pounds and 6 inches over these past 5 months I have become an excited advocate for healthy eating (a plant based diet) and consistent exercise as a great way to do both.  So I'm telling her how exciting my change in eating has become with the incredible results I am having and her question is "what about my cheese?"  I feel bad for her because the truth is that if she is going to get healthy she will probably have to end up cutting off her love affair with cheese, but it's a small price to pay for adding 20 or 30 years to your life.  My question for you today is this...what is your cheese?

Real change

Change that matters comes slowly over time.  I'm telling you this because it is true and there are a lot of people on the radio, television, and the internet who are lying to you.  There is no easy way to lose weight and get healthy.  There are ways to lose weight quickly but none of them are permanent.  I've watched Oprah Winfrey on TV for decades and I've seen that woman lose hundreds of pounds over and over again.  In the end all of those pounds seem to have come back and I feel sorry for her because she has lived through it all very publicly but at least she has been well compensated.

There is always a new quick weight loss diet.  Maybe I'll publish a book later this year called "Dan's guaranteed slow weight loss, return to good health plan."  It's very simple really.  Just start moving your body with exercise of some type for 30 minutes 5 days a week.  Then begin to eat a healthy diet by giving up meat for at least 6 months.  No dairy or processed foods, and eliminate all sugar forever.  Then look for ways to simplify your life, and instead of spending all of your waking hours chasing money, invest your time in real relationships with real people and not facebook friends.

So here's a great idea.  You can just send me ten dollars now and I won't have to write the book.  My plan is slower, but this plan works and the changes will last.