Health, the first leg of the stool.

Assuming you live in a relatively free country, it can be said that most people want health, happiness and wealth.  The three concepts make up the 3 legs of the Freedom Essentials stool. The order of the words are important here.  Without health (physical, emotional and spiritual) it is very difficult to be happy or to even to enjoy wealth.

These are admirable goals but not very actionable.  To make them actionable (tasks you can do right now) we need to drill a little deeper.

In this post, we are going to cover health.

Quick disclaimer: If you are suffering from any major medical or psychological condition, extremely over weight or haven’t exercised in a while or then please consult your doctor before following the advice in the post.

Let’s get started.  What if we said that you could feel 10 years younger, improve your sexual stamina, reach your ideal weight, reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and improve your brain performance?  AND What if we said you could do it all without prescription drugs or buying any gimmick products?  We know you are thinking…bull pucky but it is all true and we are going to tell you exactly what to do right now:

Here is the secret — Food can either be medicine or it can make you fat, sick and less intelligent.

22 Steps to take right now:

1. Calculate your calorie budget…the number of high quality calories you need to maintain or reach your ideal weight and Eat small meals / portions every 3-4 hours until you reach your daily calorie budget.
2. Stop all intake of dietary intake of sugar including all products that contain sugar or fructose corn syrup of any kind. This includes all processed food, drinks with added sugar, sweets, treats, glazing, most dressings, etc…read all food labels.   If you bake or need a sugar substitute then use Xylitol which has the added benefit of fighting cavities or Stevia which has zero calories.   Use both in moderation as you dont want your body craving sugars.  Stay away from all other sugar substitues including aspertame (equal, nutrasweet), Neotame, Saccharin (SugarTwin, Sweet’N Low), Sucralose (Splenda) and Acesulfame Potassium (Sunett, Sweet One).  Even pure cane sugar and agave nectar (better options) should be limited as they are also sugars.
3. Change your cooking oil to grape seed oil (good for medium heat) and coconut oil (good for medium and high heat).  These are healthy oils and are good for brain health, sexual health and cardiovascular health.  Also, you can use an organic vegetable broth instead of oil…works and taste great.
4. Use sea salt instead of table salt but still use sparingly.
5. Do not drink alcohol or take recreational drugs…none.  It is bad for your brain and messes up most quests to lose weight…no really….no exceptions not even one drink
6. Limit caffeine intake to an equivalent of 1 – 2 cups of coffee per day consumed early in the day.
7. Get at least 8 hours of sleep each night….we know this can be hard to do if you have kids….but try and no less than 7 hours of sleep.
8. Do not eat processed foods.  What is a processed food?  If it comes in a box it is a processed food.  If it has 5 or less ingredients and none are sugar or fructose corn syrup or any thing hydrolyzed then it would probably be ok.
9. Limit dairy intake to only a serving a day.  Think one glass of milk or 1-2 small pieces of cheese.  A good alternative to cow milk is almond milk, coconut milk or flax seed milk.  Also you can find almond yogurt and coconut yogurt.  Try to get ones without sugar or sugar substitutes (except stevia or xylitol)
10. If you need to lose weight then avoid starchy vegetables like potatoes and rice as well as most breads.  If you don’t need to lose weight, still limit to one serving per day.  Starchy vegetables and most starchy breads (think potatoe and white bread) cause spikes in blood sugar which are not good for anyone.
11. Whole grains that are gluten free are the best choice if you must have grains but again limit to only 1 or 2 servings per day.  Serving sizes vary depending on the type of grains so read the labels.
12. Oatmeal and barley are great for many reasons but we recommend them because they help regulate blood sugar.
13. Eat slow carbs (complex carbohydrates) like legumes with low-fat lean organic protein (chicken, low or no mercury fish, turkey, bison, pork, beef) and lots of colorful vegetables.  How much?   It depends on the calculated number of calories you need to maintain your ideal weight.  In general, the vegetables should be 5/8 of what you eat.  The rest should be the lean protein (2/8) and legumes (1/8).
14. Drink lots of water.  To make it easy, fill up a Britta or a Pure water pitcher and make sure you drink it each day.
15. Here is an example daily intake for man who requires 2000 calories to maintain a 175 lb weight.  Breakfast 6:00 am — 2 whole eggs (good because of the Omega 3) scrambled with 1/4 cup of black beans, 1/2 a medium tomatoe and 1 slice of an avocado (healthy fat) placed on after the eggs and beans are cooked.  Season with thyme and pepper.  1 cup of coffee with cinnamon and a little almond milk.  9:30 Am — 1 large Banana and 10 walnuts (walnuts are great for sperm production). 12:30 Pm — 1 serving of lean organic chicken (size of a deck of cards) with pre-roasted vegetables (red and green peppers and a yellow squash).  3:30 Pm — 1 organic apple and small handful of organic raisins. 6:00 Pm — Stir fry with Vegetable broth — lean beef (4 oz), mushrooms (good because of vitamin D), eggplant and green beans. 8:00 PM (IF needed…but try not to eat too late) a small snack of 10-12 almonds.  Drink your water and some low caffeine green tea.
16. What about chocolate?…most is loaded with sugar so no.   If you need that chocolate fix then we recommend Carob powder or Cacao powder which is extremely healthy.  You can make hot cocoa or tasty snack.
17. What about spaghetti?  No, it is too starchy and turns to sugar in your body fairly quick.  The best alternative is shirataki noodles which are almost no calories.  Rinse them well and boil for a few minutes…drain the water and add you favorite spaghetti sauce (no sugar / corn syrup & no artificial sweetness).  You can find a good organic version that is sweet without added sugars or sweeteners.
18. What about crackers, cookies, animal crackers, cheddar bunnies, gold-fish crackers?   No, absolutely not.
19. Take a good multi-vitamin, Vitamin D supplement and 1-2 grams of high quality flax oil (great for omega 3 which are good for brain and heart and sexual health).
20. In general try to buy high quality organic foods.  Stick to the schedule of eating every three to four hours and you should not be hungry.  If you do need a snack go for a fruit or 10-12 nuts (walnuts or almonds) or a small handful of sun flower seeds.
21. Any nuts you eat should be raw nuts…not roasted or coated.
22. What about exercise.  Yes, absolutely recommended at least 30 minutes a day but the intensity doesn’t need to be crazy.  Just walk at a fast pace 4 times a week for 30 minute (cardio).  For strength training 3 times a week: do 2 sets of push-ups, 2 sets of crunches and 2 sets of squat thrusts (as many as you can with proper form).  You can add more later… the point is just to do something…it will help tremendously.

Take it from us…all diets work until they don’t.  Do you know why diets don’t work? It is simple, it is not possible to stick to diet long-term.  This is why you lose weight and then gain back more than you lost.   The solution is to stop dieting and free yourself from diets forever.   If you eat to live instead of living to eat and look at your food consumption through the freedom essentials 22 step lense…you can eliminate diets forever,  feel 10 years younger, improve your sexual stamina, reach your ideal weight, reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and improve your brain performance!