HABIT CHANGE IN ONE STEP ~ ISSUE 219 ~ MARCH 7, 2017

Habit change is alive and well. It happens every day, whether we are aware or not. The techniques we used to change habits years ago (I’m talking ten or a hundred or a thousand) are the same ones we use today. How this is possible is that the basic core of our psychology has not changed. We, humans, are who we are, and we react the way we react until we mold ourselves int humanitarians. New techniques are packaged differently, but they end up drawing from a small pool of possibilities that remain the same.

THE HABIT

The habit is a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition. We do it almost automatically. We have done it so many times that it no longer requires step by step thought.

As we know, there are several kinds of habits: 1) personal, 2) social (I am adding this one as of 2017, rather than combining it with the first) and 3) universal. They intertwine, but one affects our own body, another affects our self-perception and others. The other affects the outcome of the world.

1) Walking and exercise are personal habits. Once we have mastered them, we just do them! We no longer falter or wobble. We have trained our mind to focus on the activity and our environment; we have trained our muscles to perform the tasks.

2) On the other hand, there are flirtations with others we have developed to produce companionship or personas we embody to seem as if we are wealthy in the presence of the wealthy. For both of these, there is a fine line between habit and individual behavior. Sometimes, though, we act one way so often that it becomes “the” way we act. And, in this case, it is a habit.

3) Then we have prejudice or our habit of automatically going to war to fix conflict. These are universal habits. Once we know them, they are ours to own. We have trained our minds to embrace these habits. Every occurrence strengthens the habit. No matter how we came upon it, whether we were raised that way, hurt by someone of a particular group and turned our discomfort to the whole group, or told not to be a wuss so we lashed out; we have developed it.

HABIT CHANGE – THE GOOD NEWS

The good news is that habit change exists in ONE STEP. Have methods changed? Not really. Why? Because we still develop a habit the same way as one thousand years ago. The habit might be chronologically telling, but habits become ours through reacting to a trigger whose behavior gets us a reward, and repeating the reaction when triggered.

The simplest technique, and the one I always advocate, is based on the shortest road to success. The One Step Method (just beginning with the first step) is here for habit change. It’s always been there. Many have used it for many years without announcing they are using some technique to change a habit. Most have just responded to their trigger (a trigger such as an urge for something sweet, an urge to call someone an ethnic name, an urge to our protective of our country) by doing a new behavior over and over again. The result was that the urge for the sweet turned into an action to go eat a salad instead of going to eat ice cream, the urge to name call turned into self-reflection, the urge to protect the country turned into creating a framework to cause harmony rather than war.

CONCLUSION AND ACTION STEPS

Habit change in one step requires courage. We have to create a plan of action, immediately. Here are three behaviors as examples of what we might want to change with an action for each.

1) PERSONAL HABIT. If we want to combat eating ice cream when we crave sweets, our step would be to prepare salad with a few raisins, grapes, strawberries in it (this is an example) so that it is ready for eating upon our next urge. The same holds true if we desire a drink or a drug. We need to prepare a behavior beforehand, such as running around the block and saying hello to one neighbor. This running action will change perspective. It will give us a moment to see things other than our own existence, since we will be out in the world.  Eating the salad may also be a solution to change the urge to drink or drug.

2) SOCIAL HABIT. If we get the urge to fit in and act something other than we are, our step would be to prepare a one-line greeting that does not reflect someone we are not and reflects who we are. Instead of saying how much fun we just had at OUR country club (if this is untrue), we might say, and this takes guts,

“I spent a lot of time in self-reflection.”

And working on habit change is, in fact, self-reflection. This rehearsed statement would also be a way to remind ourselves we are working on ourselves. And once we repeat the new behavior enough, our trigger of being false to impress will change into something new, possibly one that urges us to relay who we really are.

3) UNIVERSAL HABIT. If we want to combat our urge to slur someone of a particular ethnicity, we can create a sentence we will immediately text to a friend,

“I want to make an ethnic slur. Can we talk about this?”

This act will satisfy the urge to take action upon seeing the particular ethnic person. It will not hurt anyone, and it will allow us to discuss this anti-social urge with a friend. Eventually, this self-exploration will cause our urge to change
___

Planning is the key action step. We have to be ready for our own selves because we have loads of habits, and all behaviors are triggered by the need for some reward. Let us prepare to elevate ourselves. Habits do not have to rule us. If we take a moment to temper ourselves, we realize we are in charge of habits and habit change.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes in habit change. She says,

“When we have a method, we make great strides. When we randomly proceed to succeed, we are missing the very step that is required to create or re-create a habit: repetition. Using the one-step method is the simplest way to go. It allows for one pointed focus. No matter what.

“Think about it. Take one step. One step might not be simple, but it is less scary than two steps. And it is a success story in itself.

“Let’s consider that we can habit change. We choose when.

“By being aware of this, we can be kind of protective of ourselves and our fellow beings at all costs – and we are all always worth it.”

SOCIAL PROOF AND POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE ~ ISSUE 218 ~ NOVEMBER 29, 2016

By Diane Gold

SOCIAL PROOF, DEFINITION

Social proof is the sociological/psychological phenomenon of where people “reference the behavior of others to guide their own behavior.” [Jennifer Cardello- Nielson-Norman Group] Another way of saying it is being influenced by other people’s choices (O.P.C.) to the point of making the same one.

When we see celebrities, charismatic people and heroes promoting something, doing something; we take that behavior into serious account when making our (sometimes hasty) choice to do that same thing. We like to conform, because in conforming, we align ourselves with others and are not alone. We strengthen our social identity.

Here’s a quote from the not-always-knowing Wikipedia from whom many get a kind of social proof,

“Formal analysis shows that it [social proof] can cause people to converge too quickly upon a single choice , so that decisions of even large groups of individuals may be grounded in very little information.”

But converge we do. Here are a list of things that we do that are perfect examples of social proof in action:

1) See a person run into the ocean to save a whale that needed to be turned around to avoid sudden death,

2) Choosing our political candidates because our friends, parents, celebrities are voting for them,

3) Choosing to go to Harvard because that credential puts us in a special place,

4) Seeing someone who is famous, beautiful or handsome in a particular company’s clothing and running out and spending the rent on that same clothing to be part of the in crowd,

5) Being in a sorority or fraternity house and seeing a fellow sister or brother rape someone and being influenced to take part in the rape, when, other than to be accepted, we would never think we were the kind of people who would rape,

6) Being in the street where someone is being beaten, seeing someone run in to help the victim, seeing another person run in to help the first helper and choosing to run in and help,

7) Going to a charity gala whose cause you care nothing about, where people are asked to raise hands to show what denomination you will donate, and raising your hand to donate when you see so many people raising their hands,

8) Seeing a highly successful person endorse an idea, and jumping in, too, as you let yourself be influenced.

POSITIVE MENTAL ATTITUDE

So, we know that influencers can be the catalyst for our decisions. Not a bad social tool since all of us need direction and guidance about the things about which we know not. Why not make certain that our decisions cause solutions, rather than generate unrest? Now is the perfect time to be the influencer, to be the stimulus of social proof.

I have to point to an article by New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof where he talks about things people can do now, after the election. I do not agree with his headline where he speaks to one group; his steps work well for all people to unite, including his target group. But headlines get people to read, so headline we must.

ACTION STEPS

I am paraphrasing Nicholas’ 12-Steps to show how social proof, in this case, heeding Nicholas’ words, can bring progress and positive mental attitude:

1) I WILL accept what exists now,
2) I WILL do small things in my own life, such as volunteer locally to reduce prejudice toward any peaceful religious or belief-driven group,
3) I WILL avoid demonizing people,
4) I WILL do my part to support society,
5) I WILL support groups that fight hate and I will ask for America to keep bigotry away,
6) I WILL support refugees (aren’t almost all of us refugee descendants?),
7) I WILL say or do something when someone makes a racial, ethnic, religious, human slur in my presence,
8) I WILL resist dwelling in an echo chamber and will move to listen to different views,
9) I WILL not turn my back on the needy and will volunteer or donate or both,
10) I WILL understand that progress can unfold at state and local levels,
11) I WILL take on sexism and misogyny,
12) I WILL not lose hope.

[http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/17/opinion/a-12-step-program-for-responding-to-president-elect-trump.html]

CONCLUSION

We can all be positive and continue to support our beliefs in many ways. The key would be to be supportive rather than grievance committee-ish. Let us use social proof to get us motivated to be socially involved in something good. Nothing stops because an election is over. Our society is fluid. We go on and can be great influencers. We can be the first to run to save the whale, act based on our pre-thought out belief system and not on flash and bang, we can call people out on their hateful words or actions.

Social proof determines how we act at many times in our lives. Let us pull out the leader in all of us and see, ponder and do with kindness as we build our positive world.

If  you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at warriorsofweight.com/issues.

If you need habit help, check out WarriorsOfWeight Consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

We value your feedback very much.

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes that social proof can be used for the good, not just to make ourselves feel part of the social flow. She says,

“When we watch our role models, we tend consciously to emulate them. But, we are massively influenced all day long by what people do and say. We may, unconsciously emulate them, friends and strangers alike.

“Let us be aware of our actions, the little ones. When someone curses, we may curse. I know when someone speaks with a New York accent, my New York accent becomes more prominent – to fit in (and it makes me feel like home). I realize this is not everyone, but many of us are influenced by what someone else does. The action we choose based on this influence is the social proof we use to validate ourselves.

“We can watch this phenomenon as it happens and ask ourselves if we are acting for the good – whatever we believe is the good, using social proof to build positive mental attitude through awareness of what we do when we see.

“Let’s consider ourselves as leaders, in everything we do. Because we may be leading someone who sees what we do and copies it. We are the builders of positive mental attitude, in this regard; and it elevates us.

“By keeping aware, we can care for and love our fellow beings at all costs – and we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
MAKE 1 SOLUTION IN PLACE OF 1 COMPLAINT.

PREJUDICE IS A HABIT – THE KEY TO REPLACING IT ~ ISSUE 217 ~ NOVEMBER 1, 2016

By Diane Gold

Prejudice is a habit, if we agree that a habit is a routine caused by repetition or an acquired pattern of behavior. As with all habits, they can become dormant when replaced by a new one. Some take a moment, others takes what seems like a lifetime. Our habits, for better or worse, are always with us; but we can shuffle them to the background.

PREKNOWLEDGE

So how is prejudice a habit when it is supposed to develop from preknowledge or opinion, not based on experience? I contend that the preknowledge came from some repetitive behavior (which developed a habit), the most common is that

OUR PARENTS TAUGHT US that a group of people of certain race, religion, nationality are inferior, bad, are to be shunned, are damaging to our worth or reputation.

To this, I say,

“We are all exactly the same (to quote Luis Guzman on Chicago Med when coaching a transgender woman’s lover on how to react to the news that her lover was trans) – except for a few tiny differences. Long live whites and ambers, tans, greens, reds, browns, blacks or whatever word people use to describe their skin color or the delineation of their choice. Can we please get it together and work to replace prejudice, already? It requires humility and hard work, but we can do it! If we don’t evolve, we might as well live underground with the worms (with all due respect to the worms).”

When I think of my own childhood, I was brought up in a home that was free of prejudice, for the most part. I say for the most part because I have discovered some. I can understand about 10 or 15 Yiddish words (Yiddish is a language derived from German that some Jewish people in Eastern Europe speak or spoke) and one of them is a word for “black person” that, back in the day, was a Yiddish speaker’s probable racial slur of an African-American. This is alarming to me and something I just recalled at age 67. I am not sure whether I heard it from my grands, my uncle (not the one who was like a second father to me) or, and this would be disappointing to me, in the home of my loving parents. If it were in my home, which I am leaning to doubt, it might have been said once, and I recognized its meaning having heard it outside from another family member. This is bad enough. What was the motivation to use this word? How could I have missed this prejudice in my own family? Why would they think it was OK?

This kind of racial slur reminds me of the expression, “the chosen people” to refer to Jews or Hebrews, not sure which. I very definitely did not learn this in my home, although I have a cousin, also to my dismay, who said this.

TRANSFERRING OUR BAD EXPERIENCE TO OTHERS WITH THE SAME ETHNIC, RACIAL OR RELIGIOUS GROUP

Sometimes people who are bullied or attacked, find an ethnic or racial component to fault. Though a childish concept, it is easy to see how we can transfer this one bad experience to an entire group.

BROUGHT UP BIGOTS

WE MAY HAVE BEEN BROUGHT UP BY PEOPLE, who were brought up by people who were raised to think that the best way to success was to raise themselves above others because of similar or different appearance. This home-bred prejudice leaves out the truth that we are all the same. If we are not taught equality and our home training includes hearing prejudicial language, we may develop prejudice from an early age. And, the older the habit, the more work needs to be done to replace it.

THE KEY

The key to replacing prejudice has nothing to do with admitting we have it and everything to do with doing work to replace it. Just as I don’t believe we have to have a positive mental attitude to get it done, I believe we can do the work, even if we do not admit our  prejudice. Look at this example: if we are scrawny or overweight, we don’t have to admit either of those. If we change our diet, do exercise, rest well, have interactions with others; we will change without ever having had to allocute to our particular body type.

THE WORK – THE ACTION STEPS

This set of action steps gives one fabulous technique based upon The Parents Circle, Family Forum, one of my hero groups. This group takes two sets of people on “opposite sides” of an issue and brings them together to talk. It’s Palestinians and Israelis whose family member has been killed by each others’.

The Prejudice Club takes elements from this. Its purpose is to answer questions that show us how we are almost the same as human beings.

Here is the Prejudice Replacement Technique, carried out in community meetings of The Prejudice Replacement Club.

1) Get together with a group of up to 10 people who are willing to be respectful, non-violent and follow the rules of the Club.

2) Come in to the session knowing you will answer a set of questions honestly, to be heard by your 5 minute partner at whom you will not look.

3) Pick a number out of a hat upon entering, and go to the appointed side of a center line.

4) Take the seat that corresponds to that number.

5) Do not look around or turn around to see your partner.

6) Everyone will use numbers as names. You will not call your partner by her/his name. You will not remain the same number for more than one session.

7) Be as honest as possible, not answering based upon determining your partner’s ethnicity by voice or colloquialisms. Just tell your truth.

8) If you find you are getting nervous, uncomfortable, angry, sad; tell the coordinator, who will help you.

9) Notice the differences; notice what is the same. Uncannily, scientifically, we are almost all exactly the same.

CONCLUSION

Prejudice is a habit, and as with any other habit, can be laid to dormancy like so many of our habits. It can happen if we choose to talk and express how we feel. It doesn’t always work right away; it usually makes changes. So, let’s become members of the Prejudice Replacement Club and get peace done.

FEEDBACK

We value your feedback very much.

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can also follow us on Twitter: @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes in freedom – for all people, not just the strongest, the most beautiful and most popular. She says,

“I am the same as you. My skin is not the chosen skin. Neither is yours. I am not more deserving than you. And vice versa.

“It is my duty to be a kind human. That doesn’t mean I have to buy you a house. It also does not mean I have the right to discriminate based on my habits. And, if I do, I want to change myself, evolve myself. How about you?

“I always have this idea to ask TV script writers to come up with peace scenarios: how we can live together with all sects and religions that aim for human good, which are all the major religions of which I am familiar. A belief system cannot create terror. Only a human heart can do that.

“Let’s talk to each other, yes. Let’s talk until we see ourselves as reflections of our sisters and brothers. Did you ever come together during a strong earthquake, tornado, hurricane? Did you care who saved you from the brink of death?

“Look for The Prejudice Replacement Club nearest you. By passing on the idea, we care for and love our fellow beings at all costs – and we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
BE PART OF THE PREJUDICE REPLACEMENT CLUB.

GETTING RID OF NAUSEA – MOVE IT! MOVE IT! ~ ISSUE 216 ~ OCTOBER 18, 2016

by Diane Gold

Getting rid of nausea is a wonderful thing. When nausea consumes us, we forget about all the time we have spent in our lives without it. But, it’s always heavenly if we can figure out a way like to get rid of it, even temporarily.

THE REVELATION

Quite by accident, I learned a sensational technique that may be helpful for everyone. Of course, it involved changing the biology through movement, which is the magic solution to so much.

I have been experiencing daily nausea and am not sure why. As of this writing, I have had some days without it, for which I am dancing and jumping for joy (WOO-HOO!). The point is it may come back, and many people have it daily even if I do not, at the moment. I wouldn’t have realized it is a new habit, but it becomes one if it shows up on a regular basis. Rather than get used to it, since it does not support my life, I look for a way to replace this habit with a new one.

So, I came upon this movement activity that replaced my habit as I was getting rid of nausea. I do tai chi and play the piano and even dance while nauseated. This is old news. But here is what’s new.

I was doing a physical therapy exercise by a doctor of physical therapy (thank you, Medicare) that I have been given to alleviate my left frozen shoulder. (I have already had right frozen shoulder which took a year to clear with no therapy due to no insurance or proper knowledge of technique.) Guess what happened?

The fairly severe pain I was causing myself as part of my so far successful regime to help my shoulder get back its mobility created chemical change in my body. This biological reaction caused the nausea to alleviate for a good long set of hours. I was amazed.

I immediately thought of the technique some teens use to alleviate the emotional pain of life: cutting. According to Michael Hollander, MD and author of Helping Teens Who Cut…, “This is an emotion-regulation strategy.” The methods I discuss below could be a positive replacement for this behavior.

Dancing, tai chi, stretching and playing music are hugely effective and positive activities; they can cause psychic trauma to relieve emotional pain. Who knew that these constructive exercises which can be painful when we are working hard could remove physical pain in this same way? I have led a wonderful life and have not experienced serious pain before. But, now, nausea has been my latest pain or my weight. And I am its warrior. (Get it? Warrior of Weight?) And causing a different kind of body pain made it go away, more than once.

THE BIOLOGY, WITH QUOTE FROM LEO WIDRICH

The presence of new physical pain can be called a distraction from the previous pain of nausea, but the alleviation of the nausea was caused by chemical changes in my body.

When we exercise, the body responds. So does the mind. I quote Leo Widrich, below, whose full article from 2/4/14 on exercise and happiness is available at fastcompany.com.

“Here is what actually happens:

If you start exercising, your brain recognizes this as a moment of stress. As your heart pressure increases, the brain thinks you are either fighting the enemy or fleeing from it. To protect yourself and your brain from stress, you release a protein called BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor). This BDNF has a protective and also reparative element to your memory neurons and acts as a reset switch. That’s why we often feel so at ease and things are clear after exercising and eventually happy.

At the same time, endorphins, another chemical to fight stress, [are] released in your brain. Your endorphins’ main purpose [is written by] researcher McGovern [as],

‘These endorphins tend to minimize the discomfort of exercise, block the feeling of pain and are even associated with a feeling of euphoria.'”

(Leo Widrich is the creator of Buffer.)

HOW TO USE POSITIVE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY FOR NAUSEA

We can see how the above biology lesson follows what we experience when we move our bodies. When the body thinks it’s in stress, it produces feel good chemicals to help us cope. I never considered of getting rid of nausea other (constructive) physical pain.

I propose

ACTION STEP ONE: STRETCHING

as a great technique for getting rid of nausea, as long as we can move some part of our body. This activity is the exercise that gave me my revelation as I was stretching my shoulder to free its barriers.  In doing any kind of stretching, we could cause the body to alleviate pain by feeling stretching good.

ACTION STEP TWO: DANCING OR TAI CHI

Whether we dance or do tai chi for 15 seconds in our bed or chair or we do a full street event, either of these activity will do wonders for nausea. Even if we fake it to make it (I looked for the origin of this phrase online. I do know that my friends and I used the expression frequently in 1968, so the book written with a similar name in 1982 was not its beginning.), our bodies will product chemicals to make us cope with the activity and help our problem.

ACTION STEP THREE: PLAYING MUSIC

Playing music has the benefits of calming the mind (or exciting it, depending upon the music and the outcome desired). We release dopamine in both the dorsal and ventral striatum, which perceive reward. Some days after I had experienced the exercise trick for nausea, I played music while feeling nauseated. It did not have as instant a reaction, but it limited my discomfort after a longer period of time. As a music therapist, I was not surprised. I had never used music for my own physical pain, which was nausea, but it was effective.

CONCLUSION

When we go beyond our capacity, just a little, by stretching, doing tai chi, dancing, activating ourselves through music – either by creating it or being stimulated by it – we can heal ourselves. These action steps are a set of natural ways of getting rid of nausea and pushing through what comes our way.

If you are so inclined, if you know anyone who might benefit, please pass this on.

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at http://warriorsofweight.com/issues. or even better, write your own article and put it up on a free wordpress site (https://wordpress.com),
it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

We value your feedback very much.

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes in looking on the bright side. She says,

“If you can move for 5 seconds, you will make a change. Pick something you like; for me, it’s dance, tai chi, stretching, playing music. Just do it a little, from a bed, from a chair, on the open track.

“You know what they say, ‘Move it, or lose it.’ True, true. Good for the mind, good for the body. Do it!

“This is one of the simple ways to care for ourselves. It is a way of loving ourselves. By passing it on, we care for and love our fellow beings at all costs – and we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
MOVE IT!

Getting Rid Of Nausea

THE ONE STEP TECHNIQUE FOR IMPERFECT HEALTH ~ ISSUE 215 ~ AUGUST 30, 2016

By Diane Gold

AFTER 60

Diane Gold leading World Tai Chi Day 2016

In the past 7 years, I have gone from perfect health to imperfect health. For one day, 7 years ago, my heart was hurting, and my blood pressure went up.  That was for less hthan a day. I do believe I had an event, even though the tests that were run for 8 months after that with every Western specialty I approached did not find anything.  Aside from that, I did not have imperfect health and was in good shape.

AFTER AUGUST, 2015

6 years later, came nausea, dizziness (still here) and speeding (gone for now). This occurred several months after my taking the magic Hepatitis C curing medicine. Is this a set of side effects from the wonder drugs? Possibly. But no one is studying me to see.

The liver doc was thrilled to add me to his list of almost 500 undetectable Hep C virus patients who took the wonder drug (for which there is a short track record of people like me who are called “cured”). He referred me to various colleagues who had no answers, only smiles.

Then, as you may know, I was short of breath in January, 2016, and wrote my hello once more post. Scary, but a glimpse of the cycle of life and death. I can breathe well again now but don’t know why I couldn’t. Secular hallelujah!

CURRENTLY

Currently, I am in imperfect health, nauseated for longer periods than last year, usually daily, and feel like I’m going to crash from low blood sugar (although my glucose levels are fine) when I don’t eat often. Otherwise, I am great.

Could I have used up or did the Hep C drugs eat up all my stored up nutritional reserves? Possibly.

ACTION STEPS

There are a series of things we can do to go with the flow of our lives and maximize our perfect or imperfect health. Here are some.

1)  GRATITUDE UPON WAKING

I am grateful upon awakening. Even if there’s some discomfort, there is much for which to be joyful. I move the body, have beautiful organic food to eat (preparing wheatgrass juice pre-smoothie, play my new keyboard- thank you, kids), bond with the cats and notice the new things my body has to offer. A little frozen shoulder here, a little nausea there, good breathing here, strength of purpose there. Imperfect health, but mostly good things, looking at the whole picture.

2)  MY ONE STEP TECHNIQUE TO FEELING GOOD

Most of the day, I am not in stress. For me, that would mean nauseated, although there are hours at a time. The challenge is to move through the nausea. I use the same technique I always offer: TAKE ONE STEP and then repeat that same step over and over, as if there were no nausea.

Consider that being nauseated is like craving drugs. The fix (no pun intended) is to focus on the new task of running up and down the block, meeting with a friend, drinking a smoothie, rather than on,

“Oh, I still want to get high,”

or

“Oh, no. I am nauseated.”

The one step that I take could be eating or working or moving or playing music or doing some tai chi movement. These can settle the feeling and make me feel good. What chemical movement happens to change the feeling, I don’t know. I do know the habit of taking one step and repeating it is THE WAY. It forms a new habit of pushing through that may completely create a dormancy of the imperfect health. If now, at least, it will allow maximum bang for life’s buck.

3)  LEARNING THE HUMAN MACHINE

Our bodies and minds act in different ways throughout our lives. It is our job to roll with them and become new, daily. I am working on being new all the time. For now, that means remembering to eat by a certain time, or the body will start to crash, adding fuel before the fuel abruptly starts to run out.

CONCLUSION

I had 60 “perfect health” years. Now I’m having some imperfect health. Not so bad on the scale of things. Super, in fact; and I look forward to perfect health, even if it’s not all the time. I am forever grateful for all the gifts I have, and I am thrilled at imperfect health fixing using the one step technique that I always profess, that it is here for me now and it works well.

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment, or post it on a social media site. Share yourself.

If you need habit help, check out warriorsofweight.com/consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

We value your feedback very much.

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes in taking the easiest and cleanest path. This means the one step technique. She says,

“I have professed the one step technique and have used it many times. Because of its simplicity, it works. It does not look to the future. It looks at now and developing a new habit by repeating one step again and again.

“Now, when it comes to walking proudly through my own imperfect health journey, I am using it. When I am nauseated, I go sit down to work. And I improve. When I am nauseated, I eat. And I shorten or eliminate the nausea. Also, to avoid the feeling of crashing, I eat early and frequently. Each of these actions is one step. By taking the steps over and over again, I am creating them as new habits. These habits can eliminate or override not feeling that perfect health I had experienced for so long.

“The one step technique for imperfect health is thrilling because as our health changes, we have this free method that only requires one step. An does not require a financial investment.

“This is one of the simple ways to care for ourselves. It is a way of loving ourselves. By passing it on, we care for and love our fellow beings at all costs – and we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
EMPLOYEE THE ONE STEP TECHNIQUE FOR IMPERFECT HEALTH.

CONFLICT RESOLUTION EDUCATION ~ ISSUE 214 ~ AUGUST 2, 2016

By Diane Gold

DEFINING CONFLICT AND RESOLUTION

Conflict resolution education deals with how to handle a serious difference. We might call it an argument or a fight when people are using defensive language about their position. Depending upon how people were trained/schooled to proceed, this can lead to violence, which proper education can minimize.

Conflict is defined as fighting, contending, battling. Most of the time, clashing engagements such as these begin when we are young, from the very first toy we take out of the mouth of our play date or very first friend, continuing until the day we call our last.

Resolution is defined as coming to some harmonious position between two or more opposing views.

QUESTION

So how is it we only think it’s important to study conflict and its resolution in our third year of study in pre-law, political science, mediation training or debate? Did anyone ever think that if we began to educate our young about conflict resolution from early childhood and onward, we might have experience studying the studies, role playing the scenarios and discussing the value of the outcomes by the time we influence communities, plant seeds for our own children and make decisions that need temperance?

CONFLICT CLASS, BEGINNING EARLIER THAN KINDERGARTEN

If I were programming early public school – such as in New York – where there’s Kindergarten at 4 or when kids go to day care at 3, I would create a conflict resolution program. Of course, it’s a little dry to call it that for 3-year-olds, so What To Do When We Disagree might be a better title or WTDWWD or wu-tu-du-wu-wu-du. If I called it How To Conflict, that might be good, too. Then, everyone would have to learn the vocabulary word “conflict.”

We would discuss first that we are free minded people and may come to different conclusions about what to do in a certain situation. We would have to be calm, ourselves, in order to make a good decision. And, for that, we would introduce tai chi, a system of movement that teaches us to do slow, physical movement from every fiber of our body in order to bring the mind into a state of balance.

ACTION STEP ONE for conflict resolution is: bringing the self to a state of calmness. This ability serves to prevent sickness, enhance self-esteem, reduce the amount of times we feel stress.

CHOICES

The next thing would be to realize that we all have choices to make. If we are lucky and live in a land that is free, such as the United States, we decide what we will do. We can find it’s more important to get our way than it is to be kind. Or we can decide that we don’t have to get our way because we would have to hurt another person to do it. But talking about it from early on would give us FFF, food for thought. We would be stimulated to think and bring that thinking to school where others could respond. And the teachers, of course, would mediate, the way each student would do upon growing older.

Since we don’t have 5 years in which to study being calm or time to take a blasphemous weekend certification course in tai chi, chi kung, meditation when there is an immediate conflict, we would drill in making decisions quickly, to get good at making good decisions under pressure. It would be similar to target practice with moving targets, except with the mind.

PRIVATE PROPERTY AND HUMAN RIGHTS

The example I like to use with groups is LAND PIRACY. This is a most common conflict, so we discuss what we would do when someone came to take our land.

There are not many options. We have what is morally right, legally right, egotistically right. Not much else. All these options are open to interpretation. But, if we have been considering them since 3 years of age, we may not have to panic and strike out or panic and run the other way. This gives great value to beginning conflict resolution education early.

WHAT CAN WE DO?

Since our options are few, we have to decide what motivates us. Is it (1) who needs the land more, (2) who possesses the land because laws must be followed, (3) who will kill to get or keep the land, (4) who looks weak and who looks powerful or (5) something else?

Is it moral to have lots of land when others live in garbage cans?

Is land worth taking someone’s life?

Is land worth giving up our own life?

ACTION STEP TWO

Give these questions some thought and send in answers to [email protected]. We will read every one.

CONCLUSION

Conflict resolution education may be taught in school. Students may receive less biased information that is less home influenced at the source and learn to express themselves without family interference if they are not home schooled. Those who are may not be free to read a wide variety of world opinion, since family values may override the topic at hand.

Let’s be good citizens, all, and pass on the outcomes of history during conflict. Children can understand what happened in history. Discussion of this will develop thoughtful adults. Let’s not conceal any information in learning. Let’s put it all out there for new minds to choose for themselves. Why do we give people the skills to read and right but not to interact in debate until they are older? Hardly fair.

Let’s build conflict resolution education into every subject that is taught, because we need the skills that it teaches everywhere.

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at http://warriorsofweight.com/issues. or even better, write our own article and put it up on a free wordpress site (https://wordpress.com), or post it on a social media site. Share yourself.

If you need habit help, check out warriorsofweight.com/consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes in conflict resolution education at an early age since we encounter its need as soon as we are born, or, certainly, upon socialization. She says,

“I don’t believe in hiding information from children. It is we as parents who have the responsibility to fill our children with the skills to decide how they will live and what they will believe.

“I do believe in creating circumstances that can teach children to see harmony instead of strife, to value kindness rather than property, to be productive in ways that make them happy and fulfilled.

“And I do believe it is just as important to role play social situations as it is to learn about other people’s history and crucial to start these lessons early. Think of how much more polished at handling conflict we would be. Think of how much more understanding we would be.

“Wouldn’t it be special to advance human evolution through the wisdom we would have from the longevity of this experience.

“This in itself would help take good care of each other and ourselves. It would demonstrate loving ourselves and our fellow beings at all costs – because we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
CONSIDER HOW WE WOULD ACT IF SOMEONE PIRATED OUR LAND.

GMO LABELING IS HERE ~ ISSUE 213 ~ JULY 5, 2016

By Diane Gold

GMO LABELING SO FAR

VERMONT

GMO labeling (genetically modified organism labeling) is in Vermont. There are exemptions for dairy. But the Vermont law is a tremendous feat, considering Vermont was sued by Big Food and won.

Within six months of July 1, 2016; all food products not covered by exemptions must be labeled.

Last year, Vermont’s Governor Shumlin said,

“Here’s an idea for the industry: Just label your products. All of them, nationwide. Sixty-four countries already do it [[http://www.justlabelit.org/right-to-know-center/labeling-around-the-world/]]. I’m sure the food industry in America could summon the moral imagination to be the 65th.”

I agree.

At the time Vermont was sued to repeal its GMO labeling law which went into effect July 1, 2016, the States of Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts , New Hampshire and Washington filed a friend-of-the-court brief to support Vermont’s GMO Labeling bill. Friends are important when a little state has to face off against Big Food with big money.

A new beginning, a GMO Labeling law is in place in one state. Go Vermont!

OTHER STATES

Several other states (Connecticut and Maine) are in line to label GE (genetically engineered) foods. Their side stipulations will mean they will not trigger the enactment of their laws yet, but they are generating awareness of GMOs in food and more and more people are considering whether they choose to consume them.

CURRENT FEDERAL GMO LABELING DRAFT LEGISLATION SHORTCOMINGS

There is a draft bill (EDW16734) by the Senate Agriculture Committee to label genetically engineered organisms in food. Some suggest its purpose is to create a bill with so many exemptions as to remove the need for Big Food to label at all. (Ah, politics!)

Congratulations to the FDA (Food And Drug Administration) for bringing to light some of this draft bill’s shortcomings. Here are some of their ‘technical comments,’

“The definition of ‘bioengineering’ that would govern labeling under the new proposal ‘would result in a somewhat narrow scope of coverage,’ meaning that it would not apply to many foods from genetically engineered sources. It gave an example of a product made with oil from genetically engineered soy, which is in many products. After processing, such oil does not contain any genetic material and thus would not require a label.”

(Not having to disclose with what ingredients a product is produced from the start – whether or not ingredients are detectable at the end – is deceitful, opaque and as misrepresenting the truth as saying I don’t have to disclose that I put poison in my specially grown green bean fertilizer because, upon harvest, the poison is undetectable. As long as no one eats the beans until they are ready, they won’t die. Oh, wait! We, the consumers, are sheep. Why should it be our right to know?)

There is also a very complicated section of the proposed Senate Agriculture Committee law where food producers have loads of wiggle room to get out of labeling because the bill limits the GMO labeling of foods that

“could not otherwise be obtained through conventional breeding or found in nature.”

The reason the FDA brought this up is that it will be hugely difficult to disprove that the absence of labeling based on this ground is valid and correct, and Big Food attorneys depend upon this. The draft is written nebulously, whether by ignorance or by design, so that it is not clear whether the exemption of cross breeding referred to the effect of the rDNA (genetically engineered DNA) or the location of the resulting genetic material. With this non-specificity, producers can slip through the law 100 ways, and consumers will be falsely thinking they are getting transparency.

PUBLISHER’S OBSERVATION OF SHORTCOMING ON VERMONT LAW, BUT BIG CONGRATS ON THE LAW FOR STARTERS

We do not educate people about food and the processes to get it to market or the substances that are hidden within processing or the conditions in which workers work. Partial labeling of GMOs is a beginning of a fix for this. The Vermont bill requires that one of three wordings be permitted on a label. I object to two of them because the average person will not realize that the first two mean a product is or may be genetically modified. And there is a blanket exemption on dairy!

The first phrase is,

“may be produced with genetic engineering.”

If a product has no genetic engineering, a company will be very specific about tooting its horn and saying so. So the statement where something may be produced with genetic engineering will confuse many everyday people into thinking twice about the fact that a product with that label is genetically modified. I object to conning the consumer in this way and, worse, falsely making the consumer feel s/he has just been educated when s/he has not.

The second phrase is,

“partially produced with genetic engineering.”

The word partially softens the idea that a product has genetic modification in it. The everyday consumer will be thinking that partial is better than total and will miss the point of realizing the product is a GMO product. I object to conning the consumer in this way and, worse, falsely making the consumer feel s/he has just been educated when s/he has not.

The third phrase is,

“produced with genetic engineering.”

This phrase is the only clear cut phrase of the three and is the only one that will not confuse the average consumer. The fact that so many exemptions are permitted is horrifying.

INTERPRETATION

Just the way the NOSB (National Organics Standards Board) requires that any produce whose soil has used non-organic pesticides is required to wait, at least, three years from the time of this last non-organically approved pesticide application to the time it can call its produce “organic,” GMO use resides in the soil or in a product for long periods of time, and GMO labeling is the only label that makes sense.

FYI: here’s a list of the synthetic pesticides allowed on organics – very disheartening:
http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&SID=9874504b6f1025eb0e6b67cadf9d3b40&rgn=div6&view=text&node=7:3.1.1.9.32.7&idno=7

CONCLUSION

Let’s educate ourselves by learning what’s on our food and what is used to produce our food. The new GMO labeling law in Vermont is a start. The exemptions make one leery as to what has been accomplished. But people, nationwide, are talking. That is the biggest accomplishment. The second is that Vermont won a battle against Big Food. Yay!!!!!!!!

Let’s philosophize about our human right to know what is in and on our food in a free society. Who has the right to hide these under the guise of shielding proprietary information. We have the right to know as long as we are free!

Finally, doesn’t it seem as if we are tipping the scales on the side of big business? Why are we not looking at 64 other countries, many of them our allies, and considering their motives and studies. Economically, the fact that many of our food producers sell to those 64 countries, they are already label compliant, so it’s not such a big deal for them to make this change in their home country, America.

ACTIONS STEPS

1) DISCUSS WITH EACH FAMILY MEMBER OUR RIGHT TO KNOW WHAT’S IN AND ON FOOD.
Our greatest gifts in the United States are the gifts of freedom and human rights. Part of those are exercising and teaching about those rights. Let’s get going now.

2) READ THE STUDIES ON GMO SAFETY.
Remember that most GMO safety evidence has been produced by Big Food because they have the money. Neutral, professional study funders are scarce, so that money givers have no agenda to alter the study results in the end. And are the studies studying the effect on the environment?

3) DISCUSS INCREASE IN HERBICIDE USE DUE TO HERBICIDE TOLERANCE LEADING TO ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER WITH ONE PERSON.

Reference this article or others: http://www.forbes.com/sites/bethhoffman/2013/07/02/gmo-crops-mean-more-herbicide-not-less/#6c7b213fa371

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at http://warriorsofweight.com/issues. or even better, write your own article and put it up on a free wordpress site (https://wordpress.com), or post it on a social media site. Share yourself.

If you need habit help, check out warriorsofweight.com/consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes in freedom. This includes the freedom to depend upon being educated about the food we eat and the processes used for every morsel of that food. She says,

“As a consumer in a free country, it is my right to know the ingredients in and on my food so that I can decide whether they are acceptable for me to consume, so that I can decide if they are produced ethically and so that I can exercise my right as a human being to choose.

“By not knowing whether or not a product was touched by genetic modification, I cannot do this. By not knowing the exact source of an ingredient – that is, animal, plant, mineral, synthetic – I cannot do this. By not knowing what types of rules the employer of the laborers employed during produce processes, I cannot do this.

“I approve GMO labeling and consider it a minimal step in the process of fulfilling what is my right in this free world.

“As we work on this process, let’s take overall good care of each other and ourselves – including loving ourselves and our fellow beings at all costs – because we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
CONSIDER AND REQUIRE OUR RIGHTS IN A FREE SOCIETY WHEN IT COMES TO KNOWING WHAT IS IN AND ON OUR FOOD.

DEAR ORGANIC PRODUCE RETAILER ~ ISSUE 212 ~ JUNE 28, 2016

By Diane Gold

Dear Organic Produce Retailer,

I wanted to ask if you could be of service to me and to do me, 5,000,000 vegans and anyone who has a food allergy to beeswax, propolis or lac beetle.

When I come in to your store, which is very often daily; my main buy is organic produce. Sometimes, when I am lazy, I will buy a non-GMO food item in a package with organic ingredients. It is never a great idea to buy things in packages, so I am not promoting this action.

So, back to the produce aisle. I go to the organic fruit or veggies. When I see something I wish to eat, I need to find out what kind of wax coating is on it. The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has a very biased and inferior regulation about how wax coating has to be labeled. It is not adequate or useful for me. Here, in Title 21 of the Code of Food Regulations 101.4, it says,

“(22) Wax and resin ingredients on fresh produce when such produce is held for retail sale, or when held for other than retail sale by packers or repackers shall be declared collectively by the phrase “coated with food-grade animal-based wax, to maintain freshness” or the phrase “coated with food-grade vegetable-, petroleum-, beeswax-, and/or shellac-based wax or resin, to maintain freshness” as appropriate. The terms “food-grade” and “to maintain freshness” are optional. The term lac-resin may be substituted for the term shellac.”

We, the consumer, rarely see these signs. They are required to be on the produce boxes which may not be on display. Or, if they are on display, many times, because of exemption or display configuration or some nebulous reason I don’t know, the information is missing or hidden. So, that is not helpful and, often times, breaks a regulation, and may put the consumer in danger.

WAX FROM TWO SOURCES

That is not the worst for me, though. As you can read above, food grade vegetable wax is grouped together with petroleum wax, beeswax, and lac beetle resin. If I can consume products with food grade vegetable wax, I ¬am OK. I might even opt for petroleum wax even though it’s not good for me, but it’s not put on organic produce. To consume beeswax or lac beetle resin would not be good for me. I could become terribly sick.

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

My real focus is killing less, so, if it is not necessary, I do not choose to use product that uses bees or beetles.

HOW TO TELL WHAT’S ON THE PRODUCE

So, here’s the issue with every organic produce retailer I have ever seen: the retailer doesn’t list the FDA’s basic, useless verbiage quoted above from Title 21. This is because only the finisher (packer) has to put it on the box – sometimes. What this means is that when I go into my organic produce retailer and want to buy food, I have to look at the name of the farm that supplied the particular produce (many times by having to ask rather than by seeing it on display) and contact the farm before making a purchase. I have to ask whether the farm uses beeswax or lac beetle in the wax.

Sometimes, these companies say,

“We don’t know. You have to call the product distributor/finisher/packer;”

sometimes they say,

“We don’t know at all; you will have to call back when so-and-so is here;”

sometimes they say,

“We have someone who knows that, but s/he is not here now;”

and rarely they say,

“Yes, we know that,”

and give me an answer on the spot.

Of course, in order to make the original phone call, I have to look up the phone number of the farm. This means internet searching while shopping or asking the store manager to look it up. Then, the farm has to be open for business at the time I want to call, and the person who knows answers has to be available.

THE COMPLICATION

What is so complicated about this, and doesn’t have to be, is that the organic produce retailer changes the product it buys on an almost daily basis, based on season, price, availability and demand. So, after calling a farm about a particular type of produce that is available at retailer 123, the next day when I visit retailer 123; I will probably have to call a new farm for the same type of produce, since one order of produce lasts only so long. And the retailer buys only as much as it can sell without its going bad. And if I move on to organic produce retailer 456, a different crop from a different farm may be available.

Growers only grow so much, so retailers may buy from one farm one day and another farm the next day. This complication causes me to have to make phone calls every day in order to find out which organic produce has vegetable wax only on it. If the retailer has enough of this product, I might be able to buy the same type of produce supplied by the same farm for a week. With repeat buys of produce from a farm I have called, I am in luck. I don’t have to call again for a good 6 months – to see whether the farm has changed its waxing policy.

But, so often I have to call, at least, one company per visit to a store. And, 9 out of 10 times, I will have to leave the produce and wait for a call back from the farm or the finishing company. When I finally get the call a day or two later (or not at all as is common), it will be too late to buy the particular farm’s produce because the retailer will be sold out.

THE SOLUTION

What if my dear organic produce retailer had a list, a list of all the ingredients in every wax that was on every piece of produce? It would be easy to get for the big retailer. As part of the buying arrangement with the farm and/or a finisher:

1) the retailer could require the farm and finisher to disclose the type of wax IN WRITING WITH DATE that is on each type of produce from that particular farm or finisher, including, and most importantly, the source of the ingredients that make up the wax, before the retailer makes a buy.

How much easier would it be for the retailer to add that stipulation into a purchase agreement than it would be for lots of individual consumers to have to, on a daily basis, or as long as retailers change farms, take the following steps:

0) find the phone number of the farm that grew the produce I want
1) call the new farm of the day (since retailers change farms so often)
2) wait on hold
3) find out that the farm is not the finisher (packer)
4) have to look up the number of the finisher
5) call the finisher
6) wait on hold
7) find that the finisher does not know the source of the item being used because it is manufactured by another company
8) get a company name that actually makes the wax
9) look up the number of the actual manufacturer
10) call the company that makes the wax
11) wait on hold and have to be called back
12) wonder when a call back will come
13) then have to call again when no call back comes
14) explain what I want again
15) wait on hold and have to be called back
16) wonder when a call back will come
17) get a call back
18) find out the person who called doesn’t know the source information because their company buys some of the ingredients from separate suppliers
19) get the names of all the external suppliers
20) look up the numbers of these externals
21) call the external suppliers, one by one

Etc., Etc. Etc.

CLOSING REQUEST

Dear Organic Produce Retailer,

Please hear me and arrange to carry a source list of wax. You are large and powerful, so your farms and finishers will want your business and will do what you ask. I would help you if you asked. What if I am allergic to lac beetle and don’t see the sign that says the word “shellac,” made from lac beetle because it is on the box in the back, out of sight?

Or what if I don’t know that shellac is lac beetle? It could become catastrophic. Or what if the beeswax contains propolis (bee glue, which it usually does) and I stopped breathing from an allergic reaction?

The FDA will only change regulations if I can prove that thousands of people are allergic to something. Much easier for you to help by making a list.

And what about my peace of mind? The FDA does not base its decisions on philosophy, only medical study. So, the psychological wellness of 5,000,000 actual vegans is not the FDA’s criteria. Nor is it the FDA’s way to change regulations for the allergy of one individual person. But why? Isn’t it my FDA? Doesn’t it serve me?

Dear Organic Produce Retailer, since you have at your fingertips the ability to make the quality of all of our lives considerably more excellent, please do it. We will love you more for it. Thanks.

Love,

D

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at http://warriorsofweight.com/issues. or even better, write your own article and put it up on a free wordpress site (https://wordpress.com), or post it on a social media site. Share yourself.

If you need habit help, check out warriorsofweight.com/consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes retailers have a responsibility to provide us with knowledge as well as food. She says,

“Please ask your organic produce retailer to start compiling a list of wax and sources of wax on organic produce. We might be able to motivate our retailer because the “other” organic produce retailer already has a list.

“Most people in produce departments were raised in the era where they are not teachers. Let’s help them become teachers by asking them to get the information for us. Then they can teach future generations to supply this information and give us what we deserve.

“As always, let’s take overall good care of each other and ourselves – including loving ourselves and our fellow beings at all costs – because we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
ASK YOUR ORGANIC PRODUCE RETAILER TO GET A LIST OF THE SOURCE OF WAX OF ONE PIECE OF PRODUCE. THE FOLLOWING WEEK, YOU CAN ASK FOR ANOTHER. ETC., ETC., ETC.

WHAT’S ON YOUR PRODUCE – PART II ~ ISSUE 211 ~ JUNE 7, 2016

By Diane Gold

GENERAL INFO

Whether we are parents, teachers, concerned friends; we have to be knowledgeable about what’s on your produce, that is, our produce. In order to be knowledgeable, we have to have knowledge.

It is clear that we don’t get the full picture from a very young age on which we can build as we understand more. This is absurd, and only we can change this by mentioning it.

So I am mentioning it. I have previously talked about this subject in
What’s On Your Produce – Part I in Issue 147, September 23, 2014. Here’s Part II.

Let’s consider ethics in the food business, not just that raising animals means killing animals; but that being the nurturer of the soil to produce plant food means not using toxins that will inevitably poison the people who eat the food, the land on which it’s grown and the water that we drink or our waterways that sustain life.

THE FACTS

It is imperative that we talk about these important things and that we discuss these facts with our preschoolers. Here, we focus on what’s on your produce.

1) In order to grow food, we must properly prepare the soil so that predatory bugs and microbes will not come to eat our crop.

2) To end up with great plants that do not have questionably toxic pesticides on them, we have to plan several years ahead to get soil in workable condition so that the wrong bugs don’t come, or we can plan ahead and begin our vertical farms which may require NO SOIL which means NO BUGS.

3) Since we have limited funds, we want to save money up front, not thinking that the cost of pesticides later will equal the cost of preparing the soil up front. It seems more expensive up front, so we don’t prepare the soil. Then, when insects and micro-organisms do appear, we go into debt by spending huge amounts of money on pesticides that may be toxic to our health, rather than fixing our soil at that time.

4) New farmers, whether they be single farmers or agricultural giants, do not learn from the mistakes of their foreparents because no one is teaching it. This keeps the pesticide cycle going and going.

MYTH

Myth: organic produce is pesticide free.
Organic produce is not pesticide free. Its pesticides are made without synthetics. That means, unless we grow it ourselves, it has pesticides on it, except in rare cases. Sadly, I just read a blog article that would seem to have been researched, even though there are only a few references to actual studies. In it, it states that organic produce is pesticide free. With people putting info out there incorrectly, we have to work twice as hard to output what’s correct.

5) Giant pesticide companies can double as seed producers. These companies genetically alter seeds to be used with their pesticides. These GMO seed companies teach us that we need pesticide products to control our crop. Apparently, there are some ground breaking, ethical farmers who have proven this to be untrue.

EDUCATION

Why is it that we are not taught the cycle of soil and seeds and successful growth without pesticides? We need to know about this as children so that we can question the use of pesticides and make changes to the way we produce produce.

There is a favorite website of mine called http://whatsonmyfood.org. It is quite shocking to see that some of the seemingly healthiest crops in the world have tragically high amounts of pesticide on them. Even if this pesticide imbalance continues, shouldn’t we know about this from an early age? Is it ethical that there is a term called,

“pesticide tolerance?”

Are we lab rats for which assessment must be made that if pesticides on a food rise beyond our tolerance level, we will die? Or should we protect ourselves should we protect our waterways which means, ultimately, our drinking water?

Wouldn’t a better solution be not to use pesticides but to work together with nature?

ACTION STEPS

1) STUDY how some farmers do not need pesticides.

2) GROW one edible plant in a pot with no fertilizer or GROW one edible plant in the nature of a vertical farm, with no soil.

3) TELL one young person about the fact that pesticides are not clearly discussed early enough in school and have a discussion. Hopefully, the youngster will have had a progressive teacher and be able to teach you some things.

4) MENTION the idea that we don’t learn about pesticides when we are young to your friends.

5) KNOW more about what’s on your produce.

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at http://warriorsofweight.com/issues. or even better, write your own article and put it up on a free wordpress site (https://wordpress.com), or post it on a social media site. Share yourself.

If you need habit help, check out warriorsofweight.com/consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes we deserve to know what’s in and on our food. Thus, Part II of What’s On Your Produce arrives. She says,

“My modus operandi is always to save animals from death by human, my first and foremost reason to be vegan. But that doesn’t include the what’s in it for me scenario. So here it is: eat plants because they are better for the body and mind and eliminate many, if not most, chronic diseases.

“That being said, when we eat our plant food, we must be educated as to what is normal and what is not. It is not enough to think that buying organic plants saves us from pesticides. It does not. Organics use substances that are the same or similar to the chemical products. They are not from person-made substances, but they are similar. And, on produce, in particular, as the Part I, Issue 147 article emphasizes, so much of our produce is coated with a wax-like substance to keep moisture in for travel, including organics (which might be more likely to abuse bees to acquire this substance because they use beeswax coating on most citrus fruits).

“Whatever we think, it is crucial that we teach our children about what’s on your produce, that is, our produce. This is so they can know it’s not normal to choose to eat chemicals, harvested from nature or synthetic, if we can opt to have food that has none, and so they can change it.

“Check out the Vertical Farms article for the perfect way to grow produce with no sprays, chemicals or wax.

“And, in doing so, we get to take overall good care of each other and ourselves – including loving ourselves and our fellow beings at all costs – because we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
GO TO WHATSONMYFOOD.ORG AND LOOK AROUND. CHANGE ONE BUYING HABIT, IF NEEDED, BASED ON WHAT YOU FIND.

THE GREAT STRESS RELIEF TECHNIQUE~ ISSUE 210 ~ MAY 31, 2016 ~ FREE COACHING FOR EVERYONE WHO ASKS

By Diane Gold

The greatest stress relief technique is here. It is almost nothing. It can be done anywhere by anyone at any time. There are a few simple steps to get there, but not much has to be done.

First, remember that line in Boiler Room where Ben Affleck tells his new traders in training,

“Act as if.”

THE TECHNIQUE

For stress relief, let’s act as if we know tai chi and slow our movements so that whatever we do in the next minute has no jerky movement and is done at the speed of a snail.

Let’s loosen the joints in any way we know how because we will be placing our attention on a new activity in 7.5 seconds. We will be able to go back to whatever it was we were doing 7.5 seconds after that.

The technique involves standing up, or sitting or lying down, if standing up is not possible. If the body does not move, do it in the mind, as if.

ACTION STEPS

1) Separate the feet so they are shoulder width apart.

2) Slowly go from sitting to standing as if you only knew how to move like a snail or sloth. If you cannot stand, sit.

3) Lower the chin slightly as if someone were pulling to the rear the hairs at the bottom of your neck, in order to make your head straight.

4) Drop the arms so they hang down.

5) Relax the shoulders.

6) Lean slightly forward so that the shoulders are over the hips over the heels, while tucking the butt.

MOST IMPORTANT

7) Look 10 feet onto the floor/ground in front of you the entire time (or wherever 10 feet ahead is if you are not able to look forward). If there is a wall or other item in the way, look through it.

8) Place the tongue at the roof of the mouth, the top of the teeth.

9) Close the mouth.

10) Take one slow breath in and out through the nose while focusing on your ten-foot mark.

11) Very slowly, start to sit (If you are not able to sit, relax your gaze.)

12) When you are seated (or in whatever adjusted position due to physical boundaries), maintain the slightly lowered chin and recall the relaxation of the movement you have just done.

13) Keep silent for a few seconds.

14) That’s it – 15 seconds, most.

15) If you can, do it again the next day.

16) If possible, continue doing it every day, without increasing the time it takes to do it for, at least, a year.

17) At the end of a year, if you like, you can increase your time a little for another year. And so on.

THE PRINCIPLE

Consistent action of short duration is far more effective than short-term action of long duration. That is, if you do this stress relief ditty for 5 minutes for 7 days and get so burnt out that you never do it again, you have not added consistent focus to your day, which is the point. Better to do the technique for under 15 seconds, once a day, and keep going.

RESULTS OF THE STRESS RELIEF TECHNIQUE

1) In giving the mind a tiny task for less than 15 seconds, we teach the mind that we can command it to do a task.
2) In telling the mind to focus, we are giving it a mission.
3) The mission reduces stress.
4) We learn what consistency is when we repeat the task day after day, which is the way to develop knowledge of what to do and to develop a habit.
5) Positive consistency grows our inner foundation which stabilizes us, makes us strong, secure, safe, happy; even if we weren’t a moment before, even if we might not be in a moment.
6) The long term effect of this mission is that we develop the ability to feel our stability, strength, security, safety, happiness because our foundation which is being fortified is part of our core being; therefore we begin to feel stable, strong, secure, safe, happy, more and more after we are finished doing the technique. It becomes the way we are more consistently.
7) The biggest result is that we learn that we can go to a place of focus and stress relief in mere seconds, even in the middle of what used to be a hopeless stress on the mind or body.

CONCLUSION

Yes, the great stress relief technique is the most simple way for us to gather our focus together. The events of our day may lead us to scatter, stress and naturally prompt our minds to develop pinball action.

It is just as easy to develop the habit of focus, to smile when we see the first pinball drop down the shoot in our mind and replace it with focus. All we have to do is the instructions above.

CRUCIAL NOTE

Keep in mind that there is no need to consider whether this will work, before we do it or after we do it. It is enough to do it. And then, do it again and again. The act of being consistent, in itself, will develop the focus which will replace the stress. This exercise has the benefit of allowing the blood to circulate freely, allowing the lungs to respire well, allowing the spine to decompress, freely calling up our synovial fluid to reduce friction on our joints.

If you wish to share your story, leave it as a comment under an article at http://warriorsofweight.com/issues. or even better, write your own article and put it up on a free wordpress site (https://wordpress.com), or post it on a social media site. Share yourself.

If you need habit help, check out warriorsofweight consulting.

Know that you can reach out to a fellow human, probably to the person right next to you. If that interaction works out poorly, do it again. It’s worth it, since most people are nice and want to connect with you.

FEEDBACK

Please leave a comment below.

Please LIKE us on the website and at

WarriorsOfWeight on Facebook.

You can comment on Twitter @warriorsoweight.

Thanks.

DIANE GOLD, PUBLISHER AND AUTHOR

Diane Gold, Founder of Warriors of Weight, Turning Habits Into Health, has been a mentor in tai chi, kung fu and meditation, has been a music, fitness and stress expert, dedicated mom, studying peaceful conflict resolution, habit replacement and has been certified in plant-based nutrition.

She believes we are the masters of our fate, more or less. She says,

“By repeating an action, we learn a new action. Should we continue to repeat the new action, we develop a habit. When we develop a habit, we make dormant our old habit.

“By doing the above technique we are going from not doing it, our old habit, to doing it, our new habit. With continued repetition, our new habit will serve us well.

“Do it, and have success. Contact warriorsofweight consulting for help.

“And, in doing so, we get to take overall good care of each other and ourselves – including loving ourselves and our fellow beings at all costs – because we are all always worth it.”

EXERCISE OF THE WEEK:
SEE ABOUT DOING THE GREAT STRESS RELIEF TECHNIQUE EVERY DAY. IT WILL TAKE LESS THAN 15 SECONDS.