QUOTE(myremi @ Apr 4 2013, 08:51 AM)
Well, I guess sometimes you gotta weigh the pros and cons. I believe the pros of this outweigh the cons much much more. Of course ideally organic whole foods would be the clear cut solution. But we can't really pay that much or eat that much either. That's when new tech comes in that's able to compress everything together at a reasonable price. And you can apply the usual screening criteria too, e.g. products that utilize very little processing, cold pressed methods, all-natural, USDA organic, USP cert, etc.
Myremi : True on pros and cons. I used to take a protein shake post workout but eventually stopped because of taste and it was starting to make my body tense (a sign that as my body rid itself of process food, once it goes back in, I have problems). As for organic food, I don't like the $$$ prices so I try to go for locally grown food with limited/no pesticide. I roughly know where to buy clean veggies as I spend a lot of time chatting up supermarket workers to find out the source of the veggies or meat (free-range chicken). As for new tech and all the labellings, I follow Marion Nestle's website. She blogs daily except weekends and is always updated on what's happening in US as well as the rest of the world.
I was referring to something like this:
http://www.safespaceprotection.com/product...afespace_i.aspxNot sure if it is effective though, gotta research more into the topic.
Myremi : The EMF protection will run out over time. That's what my coach mention and I know she does a lot more research than I do. She's my goto encyclopaedia for all things physical, mental, emotional. Best information about EMF was the Earthing book I mentioned earlier. Well, it's in the Earthing website. The book describes pretty well how Earthing works and the various research done on it.
Try small tranches instead of one long session. Long sessions typically elicit quite a fair bit of agitation in beginners. Small tranches like, when you just finished your shower, just stay still and meditate for 2 minutes. When you've just parked your car, when you've closed your office door, etc. Collectively throughout the day, say if you done it 10 times, you would have probably got "into the zone" for about a total of 10 minutes out of the 20 minutes work done, as compared to lots of internal chatter and trying to settle down during a straight 20 minute meditation session. By the way this is just one of the many tricks to help beginners, and different approaches work for different people
Myremi : Thanks!
Well that would be weekend retreats out of city centre to some waterfall or hotspring.
Myremi : That would work. Doesn't have to be full-body immersion either although that would help alot. If you're into meditation, would you also be into chakras? I only know a bit based on the Western version. When I go earthing, there are parts of me that will tingle for long time, not unpleasant but enough to know something is happening.
Oh the no fruits 2 hours post workout rule. Refined sugar too I guess. That did not come from Mercola, that was from another guy, but Mercola adapted it. Something to do with keeping the HGH levels high post-workout. Yeap I practice this too. Used to consume sugar post-workout (with a protein supp) as it's touted to help protein absorption post-workout. But decided that I'd prefer the HGH benefits, not for the growth or anabolism, but rather the general health effects. However if I'm not mistaken it's applicable to high intensity shorter duration workouts only.
Myremi : Hmm...will have to have another look at that Mercola post. He writes a lot with a lot of salesman jargon so shifting through all the data is a pain. At the moment, I'm doing a lot of HIIT workouts but in gym class format. A combination of bootcamp and metcon training, similar to the Insanity type of workouts. Usually 10 in a class with 5 of us with HRM, including the lead instructor.
There's probably some kind of organic, gluten free pasta in the market
Myremi : Or I just use meehoon or tanghoon. Good enough! Hahah!
I think we probably digress out of the yogurt topic for a bit now.

I guess it's somewhat related to yoghurt education. Basically NATURAL yoghurt is a good and healthy, but doesn't have the touted therapeutic benefits as marketers would like to portray.
About processed food, I do agree that certain processed food are bad, but not all. For example green powders, I would be hard pressed to even say that one that has its ingredients all organically sourced, freeze dried, no unnatural additives, no fillers, practices full disclosure, and conducts independent testing on its own products, and not sticky about publishing its Certificate of Analysis whenever requested, would be any more detrimental than eating a good cut of pasture raised grass fed beef. The other alternative to that would be to source a few types of organic vegetables from the nearby store and juice them all up everyday. And you gotta buy them quite regularly, and in large amounts to meet your micro-nutrient requirements. It's about finding the right balance between employing both sides of the coin for wellness, i.e. science and nature.
By the way since you're in Sabah, that brings up the topic of Avocados. I'm a big fan of Avocados due to its good amounts of fats and carbs. However its quite tough to find a local farm in West Malaysia. It's quite difficult to find cheap ones here. Any tips?
As for earthing, thanks for the intro. Will look into it. Yes there're various types and approaches to meditation. I would recommend the Buddhist approach, Vipassana meditation for your regular practice. If you're a so called staunch Christian and feel that it will deteriorate your faith then perhaps you can compromise and try the Centering Prayer by Thomas Keating or Thomas Merton. I have tried chakra meditation too, and its strongly derives from Hindu culture. In very basic terms the body have lots and lots of energy centres, but there are 7 main chakras that have been identified to be the strongest centres. It is said that imbalance in each one of this chakra leads to various disorders, ranging from hyperactivity, to lethargy, to emotional disorders, sicknesses, etc. Therefore chakra meditation, guided by a qualified trainer, will help you to neutralise either a blocked, or over-active chakra. I have a short one-page intro write up on this meditation and can send it to you if you want.
And I went for a similar session the other day, called Reiki healing, where a trained practitioner helps you energise and or neutralise your energy centres on whichever part of your body/aura that he feels is needed. I was seated there, trying to meditate while the practitioner did what she had to do on me. At one point during meditation I felt some intense pressure on my forehead, somewhat like a slight headache in the forehead. This area is usually known as the third eye chakra. I must have been doing my meditation wrongly this time as I was perhaps too focused on this area due to the stress levels before I commenced, and I should have focused on the heart chakra area which I usually do.
After the session I caught up with the practitioner and asked if there were anything she felt while healing me.
She said there was nothing much, the energy in the rest of my body was fine, except that she felt that there was a lot of activity in my third eye area, which isn't so desirable, and I should ground myself more. Coincidence?

Anyway, grounding can be just as simple as placing your bare hands and feet on the ground, or touching more trees and plants. I also heard of people who have learnt how the art of harnessing energy, whenever they visit certain holy temples they look for the oldest tree around and touch it and meditate under it. Perhaps earthing is applicable here too but I have yet to read up on it.
This post has been edited by DT1: Apr 4 2013, 04:52 PM