Growing Ageless

Hello Richard!  Welcome to the Soul-filled Cafe.

I love your article about the parodox of “heathy food.”  What is healthy for one, may not be even close to workable for another  (ie veganism or a high protein diet).  And what works for a bit, may not work after months of it.  Back in 2003 I studied at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and after a year of learning and certification, was given the same conclusion – there is no cookie cutter diet. We are each unique.

Which brings me to your video, (which I love!)  Having spoken with you and seeing you in this video, there does seem to be a “beingness” to growing ageless.   Can you say more about that?   My sense is that, as with living a ‘soul-satifsying’ life,  there is some mixture of: living with joy, peace and ease, and finding ways to get rid of stress.

Thanks for being with us!  Please share about your book too and the writing of that.

PS I am the same age as you!

Good morning everyone. I’m here sitting down with a cup of organic yame sencha deep steamed green tea.

Good Morning, Richard, from one of your Minnesota “neighbors”.  I LOVE your video and applaud how great you look.  I’ll be tuning in throughout the day to hear your comments for staying healthy and youthful.  Any suggestions for what foods/beverages/supplements are good to maintain healthy skin?  By the way,  I was reading someone’s blog this morning about stress and intestinal bacteria and they said, Negative Attitude + Stress = Wrinkles.  They were referring to intestinal bacteria going beserk creating aging skin. Any comments? Thank you for being here for us today, Richard!    Kristin

Hi Heather, thanks so much for having me. I’m just settling in.

Looking at your question the first thing that comes to mind is following your heart’s desire. I have a trinket on my bureau a friend gave to me years ago. It is of the Sufi symbol for heart’s desire, a winged heart. I think if you can follow your heart, joy, peace and ease come naturally.

In the beginning, eighteen years ago, I focused so much on diet, nutrition and exercise, while failing to see the primary underlying problem. With its many wiley ways, the mind creates so much stress and thus so many pathways to illness.

Hey Rick,
I like that – the winged heart.

 
Anything else you suggest for when the mind is creating stress? 

Also – suggestion to use the tiny little “reply” button in the bottom right corner of individual comments.  That way others will see the conversation string (and also receive an email that you replied).

peace, h.

Hi Kristin, thanks for visiting. I appreciate the question and I’ll try to keep the answer manageable.

When it comes to diet, or for that matter exercise, supplementing, stress management or living in general, everyone is different. As individuals, we also change over time. I don’t eat the same as I did when I was three or a teenager, and my diet will likely change in years to come. There are, however, certainly some universal truths, like eat foods that are organic, fresh, unprocessed, not genetically modified, seasonal, preferably local, a wide variety of colors and sizes. 

What’s most important about diet is to relax, don’t worry about what you eat, and treat your stomach gently. In the West we say, “I worried myself sick,” which means that you overate or couldn’t eat at all. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) it says that worry and excess thinking harms digestion. They are saying the same thing, it’s just said differently. 

Treating your stomach gently is part of the same question. TCM advises that we should cook most of our food, avoid cold drinks with our meals, eat heavy foods in moderation, go easy on condensed foods (like juices, smoothies and tomato sauce), and chew your food until it becomes liquid and drink your drinks like you are chewing.

It is always more important how we eat than what we eat. If the food doesn’t treat your stomach well, the individual, then it won’t be of benefit.

All that said, I’m sitting here with a cup of organic green tea. Be sure your tea is organic because they still use DDT in other countries. I’ve recently become a big fan of chlorella, it has amazing curative qualities, as do most algaes, but most importantly it treats my stomach well, as opposed to spirulina, which I can’t eat.

What you put on your skin is also key. I’ve taken to using pure shea butter. In the past I’ve used olive or sesame oil. If I can’t eat it I try to avoid it.

If you use cosmetics, considering visiting my website for recommended brands. There are very few health and body care products sold at the health food stores that I would use!

Here’s the link: http://www.growingageless.com/cosmetics-and-body-care.html

OK, I hope that wasn’t too much.

Another note on what to eat. What’s most important is how you are digesting the food, not if it is super nutrient packed or is a wonder food that doubles the life expectancy of mice

The easiest way to personalize your diet is by watching the coating on your tongue. Ideally, the tongue should have a thin white coating. If your food isn’t digesting well, you’ll get that thick, greasy, fury tongue we probably all have experienced at one time or another. Just start watching your tongue, morning, noon and night, and it will tell you if what you ate is digesting well. Again, you’re looking for a thin white coating extending from the back and usually thinning out toward the tip.

Hi Kristin, thanks for visiting. I appreciate the question and I’ll try to keep the answer manageable.

When it comes to diet, or for that matter exercise, supplementing, stress management or living in general, everyone is different. As individuals, we also change over time. I don’t eat the same as I did when I was three or a teenager, and my diet will likely change in years to come. There are, however, certainly some universal truths, like eat foods that are organic, fresh, unprocessed, not genetically modified, seasonal, preferably local, a wide variety of colors and sizes. 

What’s most important about diet is to relax, don’t worry about what you eat, and treat your stomach gently. In the West we say, “I worried myself sick,” which means that you overate or couldn’t eat at all. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) it says that worry and excess thinking harms digestion. They are saying the same thing, it’s just said differently. 

Treating your stomach gently is part of the same question. TCM advises that we should cook most of our food, avoid cold drinks with our meals, eat heavy foods in moderation, go easy on condensed foods (like juices, smoothies and tomato sauce), and chew your food until it becomes liquid and drink your drinks like you are chewing.

It is always more important how we eat than what we eat. If the food doesn’t treat your stomach well, the individual, then it won’t be of benefit.

All that said, I’m sitting here with a cup of organic green tea. Be sure your tea is organic because they still use DDT in other countries. I’ve recently become a big fan of chlorella, it has amazing curative qualities, as do most algaes, but most importantly it treats my stomach well, as opposed to spirulina, which I can’t eat.

What you put on your skin is also key. I’ve taken to using pure shea butter. In the past I’ve used olive or sesame oil. If I can’t eat it I try to avoid it.

If you use cosmetics, considering visiting my website for recommended brands. There are very few health and body care products sold at the health food stores that I would use!

Here’s the link: http://www.growingageless.com/cosmetics-and-body-care.html

OK, I hope that wasn’t too much.

Thank you so much, Richard, for your helpful answer and for the reminder to drink organic tea.  I agree that “how” we eat is as important as “what” we eat and that keeping our stress manageable is key to good digestion.  I’ll look into trying shea butter on my skin (I heard coconut oil is good as well) and will be checking your website for your cosmetics recommendations.

Thanks again.  Enjoy your blog day!

Hi Heather,
I’m not sure if you’ll get this. I cut and pasted to the reply thinking that I could delete the other response. Can you do that for me? I’d like to cut and paste on more time if possible.

You’ll find that the shea butter is super heavy, you’ll only need a tiny amount. People usually love it or hate it.

All oils are difficult to make properly. It’s also best to find ones stored in brown or green glass, although it’s less of an issue for non liquid oils. However, any edible stored in clear glass is not healthy. Light can destroy all the anti-oxidants within a matter of days.

Great tip!   And reminds me of the old fashioned doctor asking you to go: “ahhhh” and checking the health of the tongue.   (Do Doctor’s still do that?)

I recently did a cleanse and by the second day I had that thick tongue coating you described.  The author of the cleanse had mentioned that this would happen and advised against scraping it off but using it as a measure for continuing to do the cleanse until the coating was completely gone.  I liked that — my own internal measure for health.

I just jumped on the blog today, and I’m already fully engaged in reading what’s here! So fun, Richard!

And I really love what you say about the fact that each of us is unique and individual, which means that our bodies will want different things at different times of the day/month/year/lifetime for our best health.

Such an obvious, crystal clear message – but one that we really don’t hear anywhere. Instead, we are given a list of the latest and greatest foods to eat, which ones to avoid, the good and bad, and are told that “this is the way to eat.”

I love the idea of truly getting to know my own body, and listening to what it wants at any given time.

Thank you for giving us that permission!

About watching our tongue, does it give immediate feedback? Like if we eat something at lunch that really doesn’t agree with our digestion, how soon will our tongue give us the message?

And another question, what’s the easiest way to start sorting out what our body really wants, and what it doesn’t? If at that same lunch I eat 4 things, how do I know which one does/doesn’t agree with my body? Is there an easy way to start to learn what my body wants?

Thanks so much!
Sue

I just had a check up. No, the doctor didn’t look at my tongue, or for that matter under the band aid where I had just been bitten by a dog, on my face.

Using the tongue coating is such an easy and quick way to personalize your diet. A food diary can add more information but people have a hard time sticking to it.

Minnesota is in the house! 

@facebook-100001743226880:disqus , @suerasmussen:disqus @RichardEBush:disqus  

hello richard.  Have fun at your event today.  Thank You for inspiring us with your wisdom

Thanks David. I’m having lots of fun already.

Hi Sue, thanks for coming. 

Chinese medicine says you should wait a couple of hours to read the tongue coating, although I often see an immediate response. Color transfer can sometimes obscure the reading, like a purple tongue after eating candy doesn’t mean you have a pathogenic excess of purple

If you ate four things and your tongue says something isn’t right, sometimes you need to just simplify. However, if you are also burping and can taste one of the four foods, then I’d say that that food was the culprit.

A couple more things to be aware of are cravings after a meal, like for something spicy or coffee or sweet. These are signs that something isn’t quite right. Gas, burping and bloating also tend to show right away. 

Sorry, I missed the follow up question.

I like to use simple physical exercises to reduce stress. In many ways we are wired like a simple machine, flip a switch and you’ll get a response. 
Here is my favorite exercise. There are three parts. 

Soften your eyes, smile and listen to your breath.

If you allow your eyelids to be very heavy you’ll feel relaxed or sleepy in about five or ten seconds. It is a switch.

Because you can’t walk around with half open eyes try this. Like you are at the eye doctor, put your index fingers together in front of your face. Fixate on them like you’re trying to solve a problem. Notice how your body tenses. Now slowly separate them, bringing them around to the sides of your head and expand your peripheral vision. Now, you’ll be able to see the whole room, field or court at once. You will be present and aware. As this happens, as your eyes relax, so will your body.

Next, smile. Lots of research says we can’t help but feel better when we smile. It is a simple switch. Picture H.H. Dalai Lama, his eyes are soft and compassionate and he is smiling.

Lastly, listen to and feel your breath going in and out of your belly. Breathing taps directly into the central nervous system. Again, you can’t help but relax.

Soften your eyes, smile and listen to your breath, all day and every day. It will make you feel happy, and the happier you become, the more you will be smiling, relaxed and breathing deeply.

Thanks – this is great! And I like simple meals, so it sounds like it will help if I pay attention to basically anything OTHER than a peaceful, calm feeling after a meal: cravings, gas, bloating, burping, tongue…

And here’s a specific example, based on what I’m experiencing right now.

About 20 minutes ago, I ate a scrambled egg, some black beans, and some turkey bacon (first time I’ve ever had turkey bacon). Normally when I eat eggs and black beans (sometimes with some avocado), I have a quiet, calm feeling afterward and good energy for hours.

Right now, I can still taste the salt from the bacon (way too salty), and I’m feeling antsy, like I want something sweet. Not calm and quiet.

I’m guessing my body isn’t liking the turkey bacon?

I also just checked my tongue, which is very slightly white. Since I’m not used to checking what it normally looks like, I’m not sure if it’s more coated than usual.

I love the immediacy of this approach…to notice fairly quickly how my body is responding to what I’m eating.

Any thoughts?

Yes, the Minnesotans are here. And it’s a beautiful day in the Twin Cities today – the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and breeze is soft…we appreciate fall days like these!

It certainly does work quickly. 

One thought is to enjoy using this technique and not to obsess, not that you are. I just wanted to add that note. I falls into the don’t worry category. 

Craving sweet is common when one overdoes salt. Salt is contracting while sweet is expansive. Heavy foods tend to create the desire for something stimulating, like coffee or spice. Overly spicy meals make us excessively thirsty, as does MSG.

Green tea is a good antidote in many cases. I often steep the first cup for around thirty seconds to remove most of the caffeine. I then discard that cup and steep again.

We also tend to eat under stress or in over stimulated environments. Chinese medicine discourages watching TV while eating, as well as excessive talking, but good company is a plus.

The first stomach point in acupuncture sits right below the eye. Watching TV, especially disturbing images, disturbs digestion.

In between questions I’ve been continuing my quest to simplify and de-clutter. Sue Rasmussen knows all about that.

The subtitle of my book is The Simple Art of Health and Longevity. While I didn’t write about removing clutter, it is certainly part of simplifying. The less the clutter, physical, electronic and emotional, the greater my peace of mind.

Another key to stress relief is making sure you are getting the nutrients you need. 

Science has identified about forty-four nutrients necessary for survival and almost half of them are minerals, and most all of us are mineral deficient.

If you are drinking filtered water, rather than spring water, the water will dissolve minerals already in your body and flush them out. This will create a mineral or electrolyte imbalance and you might experience muscle cramps. White spots on the fingernails usually indicate zinc deficiency. Other signs and symptoms of mineral deficiency include shortness of breath, constipation, migraines, insomnia, obesity and most inconveniently, death.

Unfortunately, liquid trace minerals (concentrated mineral water) are classified as a nutritional supplement. Thus, I can’t recommend adding trace minerals to your water. By necessity, we must filter our water, then we are penalized for putting minerals back in. The good news is that if you choose to supplement with liquid trace minerals, a bottle will last about three months and cost under thirty dollars. It’s what I do, and it makes my filtered water taste like spring water.

One of my favorite topics!

I agree with you 1000%…the less clutter in all areas, the greater my peace of mind. And the easier my life gets, too!

What’s the most recent thing you decluttered?

For me, my recent clutter-clearing involved my time…I just updated my morning routine. With the new season and the fact that it gets light so much later in the morning, my summer morning routine just wasn’t working anymore. I’m not very inspired to walk the dogs at 5:00 a.m. when it’s pitch black outside!

So I did a morning routine overhaul…and switched my favorite morning activities around a bit. Now it all still happens (spiritual time, ballet/yoga fitness, walk the dogs, etc.) but in a different order.

Great reminder not to obsess or worry!

And thank you for the info about what we crave when our bodies are trying to get back into balance. Such good info. I didn’t know that about green tea, either. So simple!

Sue is brilliant.   And de-cluttering is medicine for the soul.  Thanks for sharing your day with us Rick. 

I’ve been working on decluttering all areas. In a month I’m taking a one-way flight to LA so I’m trying to clear up everything.

Today I’ve been going through trinkets and various things in storage. I’ll be getting rid of all my tapes, CDs and vinyl albums. Just the music along with the CD player and turntable make about five large items.

I’ve also been working on organizing and simplifying all the accounts surrounding my business. Electronic clutter can be the worst.

If I could only get me roommate to clear clutter, I could find more peaceful places than just my room and sitting outside

What are some good things to do while driving in traffic?  Thats when I get most stressed.

I love hearing what you’re decluttering!

And isn’t it amazing how each activity (like listening to music) comes along with a huge amount of stuff? And the virtual clutter (email, Facebook and other social media, and everything else electronic) can often seem more overwhelming now than physical clutter. Seems we as humans continue to find ways to make our lives more complex, while trying to simplify them with great technology.

Your traveling will be so much easier with less stuff, as I KNOW you know.

As for your roommate, I’ve found that it’s pretty hard to make someone else do something. Unless they choose to for themselves.

Hi Andrea, thanks for the question. 

Allow me to first preface my answer. If you have ever learned how to walk, talk or control your bladder, you are already a Qigong master. When we were born, we had no real connection or control over our fingers and toes. Over time we focused our thoughts/energy/blood/electrical impulses/Qi, and soon gained control. It’s no different than focusing on your muscles or core to make them stronger. Focusing energy on a part of your body brings blood and cellular activity to the area to make it stronger.

While driving, one thing you can do is focus on your vital organs, rather than your muscles or your bladder. Why would you do this to reduce stress, you ask? Our vital organs all have an associated emotion. This may sound strange but let’s look at an East meets West model. In the West we know that a child experiencing intense fear might wet himself. In the East, they say that fear is the negative emotion associated with the kidneys. Most of us have seen a person so full of sorrow that she is sobbing, barely able to breathe. In the East, they say that sorrow is the negative emotion associated with the lungs. In the West we say, “I worried myself sick,” i.e. I couldn’t eat. In the East, they say that worry is the negative emotion of the stomach.

If we smile while we drive and focus the energy of the smile inside our bodies, then we can balance negative emotions and reduce stress of the moment. In my book I teach two detailed practices called Traffic Light Qigong and Inner Organ Qigong. They both work to balance emotions and strengthen the vital organs. In lieu of knowing the whole practice, simply smile and connect to your vital organs. Remember, a lack of six-pack abs will never kill. It’s the vital organs that keep you alive.

For three of the past five years I’ve lived out of a backpack and haven’t missed a single thing in storage. I love being able to put my finger on exactly what I’m looking for, without looking.

As for the roommate, ironically she says she likes clutter.

Fascinating!

This also brings to mind the ‘smiling meditation’ that Julia Roberts did in Eat, Pray, Love…

I don’t recall. It’s encouraging to hear. I’ll have to look it up. 

Recently, I’ve been working on establishing rhythms. In Thailand I used to work all day long on the book. Every bit of the day became so consumed with thinking that as night fell, it became hard to sleep. In Minnesota I have gotten into the bad habit of watching movies too late into the evening. Because I work out of my home, it is easy to sleep and work whenever I please. It eventually became a problem and now I’m moving back toward a disciplined approach. By day I work and then I embrace the evening, knowing that the night needs to be courted, that sleep does not like to be neglected. When the natural rhythms of the body are taken for granted by a fickle mind, the body suffers like an emotionally abused lover.

That said, I will be around until 5:00 and then I’ll be signing off. It has been wonderful.

Well the time has come. I have really enjoyed today’s discussions. 
Heather, thanks so much for having me. To all who came to visit, I am honored to have had your ear. 

If you want to follow me online you can find me here at Facebook: http://goo.gl/v7sN3
Otherwise, you can visit me at http://www.growingageless.com
If you are interested in the book, you can find it here at Amazon: http://goo.gl/boQre

Thanks again, I had a great time.
Rick

Thank YOU for hosting such a wonderful conversation around Health.  I  love the depth of wisdom and the doses of “lightness” and FUN you bring to this topic.  You are the epitome of “walking your talk.” 

I highly recommend Richard’s book:  Growing Ageless (go to Rick’s website for all the info about this resource).

Rick — I hope I get to cross paths with you IRL (in real life)…maybe on your book tour. 

Thanks again for hosting the CAFE this week.  Lots to “digest” and take with us.

big hug,
Heather

Great reminder.  I have similar issues — I can get lost in a time tunnel when I am working at my computer!  I find that using a timer helps to remind me to step away and get back into a rhythm with my body.