It’s more fun in the cold!!!!
Guy Giard Creativity Speaker and coach, pushing the boundaries! Let me show you how.
With love xxx 
Guy Giard
#guygiard #wimhof #wimhofmethod #love #funny #humanitarian #clown #patchadams #speaker #workshop
Hello my friends
I just started a new winter sport: snow running! That is bare chest snow running.
I never ran before and as they closed the gyms last year I decided to get back in shape one way or another, so took up running at age 60. After a few weeks I hurt my knees as I had no clue of what I was doing! Luckily I went to see a running specialist who taught me the good basic principles. Learning of the correct posture and the cadence of around 180 steps per minute I started a healing and running protocol of 30 seconds running followed by 3 minutes walking and so on. Today I’m up to 3 1/2 minutes running with 30 seconds walking. I gradually aim to get to 5 minutes.
I’ve been asked a few time how to gradually get into the cold.
Here’s an overview from my experience so far. The weather has been gradually getting colder and I got worried so I did research and found Wim Hof about a month ago. My inspiration was to watch youtube docs on him, so I know it is safe to do more. There is the physical component and the mental component. I rarely use the word or concept ‘cold’ and just say I have sensations. I constantly monitor my breathing and my body when I run. If it’s pink and I feel then I feel safe. I have gloves, hat, socks, scarf in my pocket, my shirt and windbreaker around my waist, just in case.
The key to tolerance, but I don’t like the word, let’s say habit or enjoyment, is to go gradual. Change only one thing at a time, time, distance. As fall arrived I maintained the same time, and was already running barefoot and shirtless, so as the weather went down I didn’t change anything. I’m still experimenting in not putting on hats and gloves. Because of the salt, slush and ice I had to put on my minimal beach shoes, and waterproof socks. If it’s cold and dry then I will try my new sandals, see how my toes goes. But, as regards to clothes I’d say not gradual but all or nothing, this is my ‘theory’ but if the body is halfway dressed it might not start the fat burning heating process and you may just end up shivering.
Last thing, in the first half hour of running I feel more challenged by the sensations, and then suddenly it just gets easier and sometimes I just sweat from feeling hot. Be respectful and monitor your body, always be relaxed, never tense up, and enjoy the feeling of freedom.
You can see all my updates on my video channel:
It is just amazing what the body can do when you listen and respect it.
I look forward to sharing with you even more new experiences.
I love you all xxx Guy
CONGRATULATION! You’ve made it through Part 1. By keeping a journal of your eating habits you started to become aware of your food environment. If you have also written your feelings about the process, you might have discovered some of the varied emotional states concerning your new endeavor. These are as much important, if not more, than the caloric content of your plates and cupboards. You have just started becoming aware of your eating habits! Excellent!
If you have just arrived directly to this page, here’s the link to Part 1 of this amazing free Get Healthy Program
In Part 2 we will be looking into the Emotional Value as well as the Nutritional Value of the foods you are choosing everyday.
My ‘7 Steps To Loving Your LIFE’ program is all about finding meaning and living out your passion in life. Steps 2, 3 and 4 are respectively about feeding your mind, your spirit and your body. You can find more information on my 7 steps website here (It is a bit out of date as of this writing, but I hope to post new updates soon.)
So relax, have fun and let’s get started with Part 2
Knowledge is the most wonderful gift we can acquire! As the old saying goes: ‘Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.’
What I wish to give you is twofold, I’d like you to teach you how to ‘fish’: to become curious and inquisitive, and get into the habit of looking for information and answers by yourself. And I’d like to introduce to you the simple concepts of the Emotional Value as well as the Nutritional Value of foods.
‘Fishing’,or ‘Googling’ for that matter has changed my life. In the old days of library catalog cards, where you would open this long skinny drawer with thousands upon thousands of cards, I found a goldmine! You had to be lucky to find a nugget and ‘strike it rich’: the library would have to have a book on the subject you were researching AND it had also to be available in the stacks.
Today not only have I access to all the physical books in all the libraries in Canada, I can also listen to the Authors themselves on YouTube and download audio books. We not only have access to a plethora of information, we actually suffer from an overload. How do you separate the wheat from the chaff, the honest research from propaganda? I know it’s dizzying, and this is why I will be devoting an entire chapter on this subject in my ‘7 Steps to Loving Your Life’ workbook.
So be curious and ask as many questions as they come up. Listen and read diverging information and feel your way into this new sea of knowledge.
For years I chose for a Vegetarian Way of eating, eventually followed with the Vegan outlook into life, and then did a complete 180 turn by adopting the Paleo lifestyle. I was at my biggest during my Vegetarian and Vegan period, and have lost most of my weight and regained my health by mostly eating meats and greens. As of this writing I am using my acquired cumulative knowledge and practical experience to introduce you to my new concept of Nutritional Value.
Before going any further I would like to underline two pitfalls to be aware of. Firstly, in our modern societies we usually use the shortcut of ‘being’ as opposed to ‘practicing’. I am a ‘Doctor’, a ‘Teacher’, a ‘Fireman’, etc…. which leads us to state : ‘I am a vegetarian’, ‘a Vegan’, etc.. you get the idea. The problem with this is that when you discuss your eating habits, your sense of identity becomes threatened, and we all know what can happen next.
Secondly, I found that discussions on nutrition are actually a ‘minefield of beliefs’. I have no idea where beliefs fits in with physical processes. It is usually suggested to avoid discussions on religion, sex and politics, but my most heated arguments has not been about these subjects but about nutrition! So be aware! My suggestion, if you really want to get into such discussions, is to ask where did they get the information, did they read it themselves? Therefore you understand that you yourself shouldn’t talk from beliefs but from what actual material you’ve researched.
What is this all about then? Well I’ve noticed whichever nutrition habits I practiced (vegetarian, vegan, paleo) I actually gained and lost weight on specific foods more than on specific diets. What became my guideline was how I felt in my body and my energy levels, as well as my emotional outlook in life. I saw how all of these became intertwined and interconnected. I could lose weight but felt more susceptible and had to endure cravings, which in the end leads to regaining what I had lost and even some more.
In a nutshell you can easily differentiate Emotional from Nutritional valued foods. Emotional Value foods are generally man made manufactured products, and you’ve guessed it, Nutritional Value foods are generally produce found in their natural state.
Have you ever notice that when you have cravings they are generally more for man made products such as chocolate, cookies, ice scream, candies, chocolate bars or even alcohol? You rarely crave broccoli or carrots! There are very specific reasons for this and I will detail these in Part 3: the correlation between craving comfort foods and their Emotional Value.
Don’t panic, I am not against comfort foods! My approach is not about any restriction. Again let me remind you, my program is about regaining your health! You’ll feel so energized and your emotional outlook so positive that the extra kilos will fall of by themselves. You will no longer need to carry that extra weight!
Your journal is now your new best friend, and he’s (she’s) going to help us get back to health. I would like you to start to read through your journal, and highlight the Nutritional Value foods (NV): produce found in their natural state in one color, and the Emotional Value products (EV): man made manufactured products in another.
The objective is for you to become aware of your habits and your nutrition. Most meals are made of different components, so we will talk about quantities and proportions later. My experience is that our choices are the most important factor, half a plate of french fries is not the same as half a plate of cheese cake or half a plate of a nut/raisins/carrot salad. By the way French Fries falls into the EV category, not NV, same for orange, apple and other juices (unless you know of an orange juice river flowing somewhere!) If you have questions, or are unsure please post them below in the comment section, I’ll be more than pleased to answer them.
Another alternative to highlighting your journal is to start on a new page, draw a line in the middle to create an EV and a NV columns, and list your choices directly there. As the weeks progress this is what I will be suggesting you switch to, so that instead of looking into your food choice after the fact, you will be making a ‘for your health and happiness’ choice according to EV or NV.
The last action step for today is to write down how you are feeling about the process. What have you being feeling about noting down your snacks and meals? What are you noticing as you are starting to highlight your choices? What are your questions? These are very important because as I will explain later these are at the roots of your Emotional Value choices.
Congratulation, you are now on your way to greater health and happiness, as well as a renewed sexiness! The sky is the limit!
Remember: How you do feel inside?, your levels of energy you show and the positive outlook you will be gaining, this is what really matters.
What you wish for is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
In Part 3 we will start to learn about Emotional Value as well as the Nutritional Value of the foods in details. I look forward to be with you again! Keep journaling!
YES! You got the right idea! That extra weight you are carrying is just not appealing to you or your partner anymore . That special party dress, or your favorite 3 piece suit just doesn’t fit anymore. Where have those slender years and curvy bodies gone? Trust me, I know the feeling! I’ve been there before…
I used to be overweight, carrying an extra 50 pounds wherever I went. I was out of breath most of the time and had develop sleep apnea. Luckily I succeeded in giving up smoking many years ago, but now I was on my way to diabetes and other serious health issues.
It goes without saying that I felt I was going from a bad situation to worse and it was now time to make a change. So I did!!! and I’m happy to share my transformation tools with you!
That was then in 2010, and today in 2016 I’ve been able to keep most of the extra weight off! An amazing success story! I have to admit that some kilos have crept back, but today I have the great advantage of knowing exactly why this is happening, and how to get to my healthy self again!
This is exactly what I wish to give you in this first and the upcoming posts that will lead you into the beautiful, slender and healthy person you deserve to be. So join me in this journey of you as I’ll give you guidance, information and action steps to transform your life. And to go even further you can get introduced to my ‘7 Steps To Loving Your LIFE’ program on these pages and on the 7 steps website here
So relax, have fun and let’s get started with Part 1
The first step is all about getting to know each other, and in this case getting to know ‘you’. When we start on a journey we have to start from somewhere to get somewhere. It is no different in this wonderful transformation journey.
This journal is your most precious friend, your confident and your personal helper. I remember years ago as I was leaving for a 3 month trip to Europe my sister gave me a journal to write down my adventures and experiences. Thirty years later I enjoy rediscovering the challenges and joy of new sights and friendships I had forgotten. I do understand we now live in the digital age, but I suggest getting a ‘hard copy’ journal for reasons I’ll detail later.
Yes I know the dreaded photo! Now you don’t have to be as explicit as I was, bathing suit and all, but a before and after shots are a great way not only to celebrate your progress, but to serve as a reminder of where you have been and what you have achieved. Keep it secret, or show it to a few friends who can become your accountability buddies. That’s up to you!
Your journal becomes your new best friend, and he’s (she’s) going to help getting a snapshot of your present feelings and eating habits. In my 7 steps program I call this acknowledging where you are today by doing a first inventory of your present life.
What to write? you can start with why you feel you are overweight, and what are your motivations to start to change? Also note down what you are eating and at what time of day. Specifics such as portion size are not necessary at this point, so don’t worry about it. Your feelings and habits are our starting tools. No need to get in too deep, but if you feel like it you can always write on other subjects then I suggested. As with your photo your journal is only meant for you, no need to share it around. Most importantly this is a non-evaluative judgmental journal. We are just here to get know and appreciate each other!
Congratulation, you are now on your way to greater health and happiness, as well as a renewed sexiness! The sky is the limit!
So I hear some of you saying: ‘Wait! where’s the Diet, the exercises, the do’s and the don’ts of any slimming program? Shouldn’t we have to suffer from privation or ache all over or something?’ Well not really! I’m sure you are all referring to the ‘no pain, no gain’mentality; and understandably so. These privation and grunts offers a painful temporary solution to a long term situation, which is why 95% of diets fail. Short term, yes, you can make yourself suffer to affect some changes, but in the long term these methods generally fails.
‘But I didn’t even get to weigh myself!’ Oh, you noticed that too! Fine, you can do that to if you wish, but it is not necessary. Numbers on a scale, as well as body mass index won’t give you the benefits of a healthy and happy life. How you do feel inside, your levels of energy you show and the positive outlook you will be gaining, this is what really matters. What you wish for is a permanent solution to a temporary problem.
In Part 2 we will look into the Emotional Value as well as the Nutritional Value of the foods you are choosing everyday. Your journal will show both of us why you are in your present situation, and where we can start to make some changes.
February 5th, 2012
I’m at a point where my vision of existence is evolving. I am leaving some foundational concepts but have yet to establish my new ones. Leaving behind my vegan, vegetarian practice beliefs was after all the beginning, and I’m still in the process. My ethics haven’t changed, I still believe in world peace, equality, liberty of choice, I’ve always been a romantic idealist, sometime verging on utopist. This hasn’t changed much, but the actual concrete science of it all makes me look otherwise. I became paleo/real food/unprocessed food because of recent nutritional science.
http://lierrekeith.com/vegmyth.htm
http://www.compassionatespirit.com/Keith-Blog/2010-03-21.htm
After the deconstruction of the China Study by Denise Minger, I was ready for Keith’s book : The vegetarian myth. This book is deeply shaking my foundations. Basically Paleo was saying that grain agriculture was a big mistake for our personal health, she goes further by showing how grain agriculture is basically destroying our planets ecosystem, and eventually the survival of our species. There is an urgency in her writing that turns many people off, along with political and feminism issues, but if you separate the emotional load and activist side of the book, I find the basic environmental information serious enough to be concerned. People on vegetarian diets are mostly choosing this for ethical reasons, against animal cruelty, factory farming and such, antibiotics and hormones. These were my reasons, along with preconceived ideas about a healthy nutrition. So her book is not about the ethics of vegetarians, but about the concrete consequences of doing mass agriculture. Being vegetarian is not only detrimental to the human body in the long run, consuming grains means growing grains/soy/corn which are emtpying top soil and rivers, which are not renewable ressources. Agriculture is destroying the environment, so vegetarians unknowingly are destroying the environement believing they are saving the planet on ethical ground. How messed up can this be! This is why her book and message is getting such violent reations in the VG community. Basically like an addict, how can something that makes you feel so good be so bad for you? How can having so good ethics about saving the planet and against cruelty can actually be destroying the planet? That’s the Myth part in her title.
Of course it’s not only the vegetarians who eat breads, corn and soy, the food pyramids are good examples, so VGs are not single handedly destroying the ecosystem. Her book is for people who walked in her shoes, recovering VGs, and VGs who don’t know better, like I used to be. Such a book, like Gary Taube’s book, should be written for everyone whatever their food choice, and with all the hard science. Her book is the first step, hopefully, as Loren Cordain or Atkins were years ago. And there is a solution, with yet another catch word, Locavore, meaning eat local produce. If you want to save the human species (the planet will do fine without us, no need to save it, that’s pure anthropomorphism), we have to stop agriculture, let the grass grow and let the animals graze. Concentrate on perrenial food with some annual crops, but always returning nurishment to the soil we deplete. This can be achieved by eating locally, but not from importing foods from other countries. The book explains the reasons behind this. Just from reading this introduction to the concept of locavore you can see that many of our current cities/societies/nations cannot continu to exist has they are today, which is why her book is so disturbing. It is not just another diet, it’s an awakened view of our present dilemna. As a species we have painted ourselves in an environmental/demographic corner for the last 10,000 years. How do we get out of it? Well we start by reading her book, and hopefully in the coming years more books with concrete science will come and be written down, and the awareness will grow.
As for myself, I know I am in the corner, and I have to figure out what to do, for my sake, for my daughters sake, and her childrens.
Bless you all!
http://www.amazon.com/Vegetarian-Myth-Food-Justice-Sustainability/dp/1604860804
Et oui! Guy Le Gars Paleo Santé ne l’a pas toujours été. Comme j’ai récemment écrit devenir Paléo implique aller à la recherche de ses racines, et de prendre le temps de les apprécier. Donc GLGPS était avant Guy l’Artiste Exposant Multimédia. J’ai étudié les arts visuels au College, à l’Université, et par la suite à la Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten d’amsterdam. Donc officiellement j’ai toujours resté fidèle à ma vocation. Depuis 1977, bientôt 35 ans déja, j’ai pratiquai mon art.
La peinture, sculpture, dessin, céramique, photo, j’ai exploré la plupart des techniques traditionnelles. Ces dernières années je me suis naturellement dirigé vers les nouveaux médiums, comme les installations, la vidéo et les performances. Des mes premières créations je me suis intéressé à la condition humaine, peignant des gens de la rue et d’autres images de critiques sociale.
En 1991-1992 avec la série d’installation ”The Family Show I – IV” ( Régina, Windsor, Peterborough et Montréal ) je questionnais les liens à l’intérieur de la vie familiale : la famille comme un lieu de socialisation et unité formatrice de notre individualité, posant la question de l’apport de l’éducation familiale et des ‘traces’ ainsi laissées sur l’individu.
En 1993 avec ”De l’autre côté d’un pont”, je traitais du déracinement et de l’aliénation de l’individu résultant de la violence chez les personnes ayant vécus des abus sexuel, les réfugiés de répressions politiques et les autochtones dépossédés de leurs droits ancestraux. Ces expériences amenant une quête d’identité et résultant en la création de nouveaux liens sociaux souvent interculturels et intergénérationels.
En 1999 avec Le Lavoir j’ai exploré les liens entre l’individu et sa communauté.
À l’été 2002 j’ai présenté Angélique 1734 : une installation sur la présence d’esclaves africains etautochtones au Québec au XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles. (on peut le voir ici) En 2004 j’ai réalisé 12 vidéos : ”Angélique 1734 – Haïti 2004 : l’histoire des Maîtres”. Pour cette dernière réalisation j’ai interviewé une cinquantaine de chercheurs ainsi que des membres de la communauté haïtienne de Montréal afin qu’ils me racontent leur histoire d’Haïti, l’année 2004 étant le bicentenaire de son indépendance.
Ce premier article va donc focaliser sur cette série, et vous les chanceux vous n’avez qu’à vous asseoir et visionner!!! Pas besoin de lire car j,ai produit des DVD documentaires avec commentaires, en francais et en anglais. Il y en a 5, le premier est un survol des 4 expositions, et apres vous pous visonner chaque installation en détail. Quoique la plupart des oeuvres sont rempli d’humour, certaines images sont troublantes, donc à regarder avec votre discretion.
Dernier mots, une ‘installation’ est un peu comme une mise en scene de théatre, en utilisant les sons et lumieres. Il n’y a pas d’acteurs, le visiteur se promene dans l’oeuvre comme s’il pouvait marcher dans une peinture. Assez dit, bonne visite!
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Aujourd’hui étant Paques, on pourrait dire que c’est un peu ma renaissance personelle!
Yep! Guy The Healthy Paleo Guy wasn’t always so, it’s a long process. As I wrote recently going Paleo meant looking for your roots, and to give them full appreciation. So GTHPG used to be Guy The Exhibiting Multimedia Artist. I studied visual arts at College, then University, and later Post-Graduate at the Rijksademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam. So officially I’ve never diverged from my calling. Since 1977, nearly 35 years ago, I’ve been practicing my craft.
Painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, photography, I’ve touched most of the traditional techniques. These last years I’ve naturally grown into the more contemporary mediums such as installation, video and performance. Since the beginning I’ve being studying the human condition, painting portraits of homeless people and other images rooted in social criticism.
In 1991-1992, in a series of installations entitled “The Family Show I-IV” (produced in Regina, Windsor, Peterborough and Montreal), I questioned the relationships that binds family life. My interest lay in the influence of the family for socialization and the forming our sense of individuality.
In 1993, in “De l’autre côté d’un pont,” I looked at the alienation of individuals who have suffered sexual abuse, political oppression, exile, or deprivation of ancestral lands. These experiences forces you on a quest for identity and leads to the creation of new social bonds that often transcend cultures and generations.
In 1999, in “Le Lavoir,” I explored the links between the individual and his community.
In 2002 “Angélique 1734” was a photo and text installation on the lives of African and Native slaves in Quebec in the 17th and 18th centuries. (View it here). In 2004, I produced 12 videos: “Angélique 1734 – Haïti 2004: l’histoire des Maîtres.” where I interviewed researchers and members of Montreal’s Haitian community to learn how they view their country’s history (the year 2004 being the bicentennial of Haitian independence).
So this first art posting will focus on this series, and luckily for you all you have to do is sit down and watch!!! No more reading since a few years ago I produced documentary DVD’s of the whole experience, in french and english. There’s 5 in all, the first one gives an overview of the exhibitions, and then you can get more details on each individual installations. Although I often use humour in my work, some of the images can be disturbing, viewer discretion, as they say, is advised.
By the way an ‘art installation’ is a bit like theater scenography, where you set up a stage with lights and sounds. There are no actors or timeframe presentations, the visitors walks in the artwork as if you could enter a painting. Enough said, please enjoy.
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Today being Easter, I guess you could say this is kind of my personal renaissance!
Today, I’m going to show you why you’re going to love your fat! Why your body prefers to ‘waste’ your muscles rather to burn all your fat away (which is why we have now diseased people called skinny fat). You see fat, like cholesterol (which is not a fat), has gotten a really bad rap, a kind of Eminem job…(actually his first 2 albums were great). Fat is not only your friend, it’s your life!
Ever heard of the Ketogenic Diet? The ketogenic diet is a special high-fat, low-carbohydrate diet that helps to control seizures in some people with epilepsy. When the body burns fat, it creates substances called ketones, and ketones are the prefered fuel for energy instead of sugar (glucose) from carbohydrates. Fat is energy, fat is life.
The body can, and does, convert fat, proteins and carbohydrates to fuel the body, because without fuel you’re dead within minutes. Can you imagine, within minutes you are a goner, a weenie in a coffin, eating daisies by the roots (I’ll tell you why in a moment). Your body converts excess proteins and carbs into saturated fats. It cannot store excess proteins, and excess carbs is sugar. Sorry, any carb is sugar. It may look like bread or pasta, coke or juice, whatever, it enters the bloodstream as sugar. Proteins get broken down to amino acids, carbs to sugar, that’s it, that’s all, Hasta Manana.
We all know these donuts carbs high and carbs low, but you don’t get fat highs and fat lows. Why is that??? Because the body is meant to run on Fat Power, not carbs. A bit of carbs the body can handle, don’t worry about it, like real whole foods are fine. Actually when you eat carbs your body freaks out and must use it right away, not because it ‘prefers’ it, but because any excess carbs are toxic, yes toxic (note the word excess). Why do you think it gets converted into fat??? Without getting too technical, mitochondrias burn the blood sugars with oxygen, and there’s the problem!
Man, these guys look out of shape, granpa power!!! Anyhow, Oxygen, can’t live with it, can’t live without it (7 minutes). Oxygen made it possible to move from unicellular bacteries to multicellular organisms, you and me. Why do you think plants reject oxygen??? They breathe in the CO2, carbon, mix it with H2O, water to create, you guess it, carb0-hydrates! And then they reject the oxygen because…….oxygen is toxic! How do you extenguish a flame? Take away the oxygen and it is instantly gone! Add oxygen, BAM, it starts again. Believe me yet?
Last part. Here’s a few words you’ve heard before: free radicals and anti-oxydants. Well here’s the low down: To burn blood sugars the mitochondrias needs Oxygen. This is why we breathe!!!! Simply! And this is why we die within minutes of not breathing! It’s that simple. But the burning process uses oxygen which creates free radicals, so some people will take some anti-oxydants (anti-oxygen…get it!!!) If you could create the perfect anti-oxydant pill you’d be dead because you’d stop all oxygen reactions in your body! Dah…
Yes it’s that simple, oxygen keeps you alive, and, oxygen kills you! At the same time! Talk about a Faust-ian deal! Now you see why excess carbs is a problem, it means excess oxygen, excess free radicals, excess damage. It also means glycation, where the body, freaking out, combines the excess sugar with proteins, making them inoperable (you know, wrinkles on your face….) The body just wants to get it out…the plants did.
So your body in all it’s survival wisdom converts as much blood sugar as saturated fats as fast as possible. Fat is saving your life. But your body cannot do this fast enough with processed carbs (processed means basically pre-digested), so you end up diabetic, glycated and litteraly burnt-out. The oxygen has burnt you from inside out, you end up crispy chicken.
From the Family Show installation in Windsor, 1991
So why do we die only after 7 minutes? You see, the Faust-ian deal we made to become multi-cellular organism is to use oxygen as a fuel source. And as simple as that sounds, when we go back on our deal, refuse to use oxygen, multi-cellular life is no longer possible and the bacteries take over. We are basically fighting for our multi-cellular self every instant of our existence. We are like the little boy with his finger plugging the hole of the Dutch Dykes. We are Sisyphus pushing our bolder up the hill, let it go and your done!
When someone’s heart stops pumping blood around their body, the tissues and cells are deprived of oxygen and rapidly begin to die. But different cells die at different rates. So, for example, brain cells die within three to seven minutes, while skin cells can be taken from a dead body for up to 24 hours after death and still grow normally in a laboratory culture.
From this point on, nature is very efficient at breaking down human corpses. However, the exact rate of decomposition depends to some extent on environmental conditions. Decomposition in the air (Oxygen again, get it?) is twice as fast as when the body is under water and four times as fast as underground.
The intestines are packed with billions of micro-organisms that don’t die with the person. These organisms start to break down the dead cells of the intestines, while some, especially bacteria called clostridia and coliforms, start to invade other parts of the body. At the same time the body undergoes its own intrinsic breakdown under the action of enzymes and other chemicals which have been released by the dead cells. The pancreas, for example, is usually packed with digestive enzymes, and so rapidly digests itself
The decomposing tissues release green substances and gas, which make the skin green/blue and blistered, starting on the abdomen. The front of the body swells, the tongue may protrude, and fluid from the lungs oozes out of the mouth and nostrils.
This unpleasant sight is added to by a terrible smell as gases such as hydrogen sulphide (rotten egg smell), methane and traces of mercaptans are released. This stage is reached in temperate countries after about four to six days, much faster in the tropics and slower in cold or dry conditions. A corpse left above ground is then rapidly broken down by insects and animals, including bluebottles and carrion fly maggots, followed by beetles, ants and wasps. In the tropics, a corpse can become a moving mass of maggots within 24 hours. If there are no animals to destroy the body, hair, nails and teeth become detached within a few weeks, and after a month or so the tissues become liquefied and the main body cavities burst open.
Within a year all that is usually left is the skeleton and teeth, with traces of the tissues on them – it takes 40 to 50 years for the bones to become dry and brittle in a coffin. In soil of neutral acidity, bones may last for hundreds of years, while acid peaty soil gradually dissolves the bones.
http://www.vbs.tv/en-ca/watch/motherboard/the-body-farm
So you get the point. Every moment of your life your multi-cellular self is fighting against the natural unicellular bacterial forces of nature. When we stop breathing we don’t ‘die’, we just let the bacteries do their job. Bacteries take over and feast on our body because we are no longer a multi-cellular offensive force. We don’t die, we just revert to our un-oxygen state.
Love your fats, because every instant it is saving your life!!! From yourself if you’re still loading up with process carbs, and from the gazillion of bacteries who are just waiting for a a good lunch, Easter or not!
Love you all, to bits!!!
51 years and 6 months, that’s what it took to finally get rid of my past. I know, I know this sounds pretty cryptic, I mean isn’t this a Paleo blog? Paleo was just a stepping stone to get where I am today.
Eating Paleo meant taking charge of my life. Who am I going to trust about my health? Well, until recently my past would dictate whatever beliefs I had about nutrition. These were acquired from my family, passed down to me, as well as the many unspoken social truths, like about calories and cholesterol. What is real and what is not? In the end it comes down to a simple question of personal responsability.
In my last post I made the point that going Paleo implied considering evolution and our origins as a species. One had to consider the apparition of life itself, of our sun, planet and the whole universe. We are the children of reality itself, an integral part of it’s whole history. Once the cover is lifted you end up with a real Pandora’s box of treasures. This is what this post is about. The last one was about Nitty Gritty Existentialism, this one is plain old meta-physical.
What I am going to say, what I am going to write about is more than an idea or a concept. These are words I actually live by, every day, every moment, because that’s the point, there is actually just … the moment.
Je vis aujourd'hui sur la terre, dessin 1996
That’s it, it’s out! Headline news, the past doesn’t exist! When it’s gone, baby, it’s gone for good! I could tell you there is no future (there is….none) but I’ll wait. Let me rephrase this before you tune me out. Our general conscencus (meaning all agreeing at the same time) at one time was that there was such a thing as the past, and we’ve been repeating the same thing over and over, a bit like the calories- in calories-out mantra, or the cholesterol theory. Repeat it long enough and it becomes a truth. So give me a chance to prove you wrong.
Focus for a moment on a memory, of someone you loved a long time ago, let’s say 20 years ago. You know, one that you look with nostalgie and regret at the same time, selecting only the good times and forgeting the rest. Ok, got it? You do feel it, right? Now think of something that happened 10 years ago, another feeling, another place in time. Now 5 years ago, now 2 years ago. Can you see that they are all the same, they all have the same ethereal quality of not being the present, they are not in the here and now, they have no interaction or presence in the here and now. Where are they then, what are they? Use your own words. I think we can all agree on this.
Now follow me one step further, we went from 20 years to 10, 5, 2 years, now go last year, last week, yesterday, this morning. There is no difference (that’s gotta grab you somewhere!). Whatever you did an hour ago has as much substance and reality as what you did 20 years ago, or 40 years ago for that matter. It doesn’t exist, it’s gone, nada, vanished, extinguished. It is all ethereal and has no hold in the present moment.
It means so many things. One thing it means is that you can change your life in an instant because the past has no hold whatsoever on the present. Each instant you create your life, the past is totally irrelevant. Now the thing is that everyone around you is going to hold you accountable to your past because that’s what they do to themselves, it’s their belief system. You are a pionner when you leave your past behind.
So not only can you change your life in an instant, it also means that your past in no way defines who you are in the present. The past is totally irrelevant. Whatever you lived through, whatever you’ve experienced or survived is totally irrelevant. This is a hard one to swallow and to give up, because we have been taught to define ourselves by what we’ve lived through. No wonder so many people die only a few years after retirement, they have lost their sense of self, they were ‘past defined’ and not living in the present in the here and now.
One last thing, because I don’t want this post to be too long, is that it also means that the past doesn’t define the future! There is no connection whatsoever between the past and the future. The past doesn’t exist, and so neither does the future. You are free to do and be whatever you want. Doesn’t mean you are going to achieve it, no way!!!! Again I repeat it: You are free to do and be whatever you want. Doesn’t mean you are going to achieve it, no way!!!! Achieving it or not as nothing to do with the past, there is no past.
As John Lennon said “Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans” Yep, while you are focusing on an illusionnary past or future, life trickles away. You are missing the point. there is only one life, only one, yours. There is no past. Sorry. And there is no future. Sorry. So how do you live without a past and a future? You live fully, and that’s for another post…. (à suivre)
Montréal, March 26 2011
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