Volunteering On Vacation

Whenever I go on vacation, I have simple objectives, most of them related to how much rest and relaxation I can cram into my days away from it all. Oh, sure, I also love discovering new places and different things to do, wining and dining, spending quality time with my lovely wife, and catching up on my reading.

But I am also at the stage in my life where I crave doing more, even while lolling in the sun, listening to the crash of endless waves and gazing off into the nothingness without a care in the world. Yes, even while on a tropical paradise like Maui, I try to manage my triad of balance—I exercise, eat right, read and write every day, and look inside myself for personal growth opportunities that enhance my spirituality.

This year, while perusing one of those guides you pick up at the airport that brag about dozens of great things to do while in Hawaii, I stumbled upon one of the most rewarding experiences my wife and I have shared and enjoyed in ages.


VOLUNTEERING ON VACATION



I phoned the Pacific Whale Foundation and learned that not only could they offer us such amazing adventures like a day of working at an organic farm in the upcountry town of Kula, or helping remove invasive species at sacred, protected grounds in the West Maui Mountains, but that they wouldn’t cost a cent, not one Maui dollar. Not only that, by volunteering to get our hands dirty and our bodies sweaty, we could also meet wonderful people, experience new and interesting activities, and feel that incredible feeling that only giving of your time for a worthy cause can give you.

I have to say that I have been fortunate enough to have visited Maui many times, and while every visit is special and enjoyable, this visit, and our volunteering efforts, was the highlight of decades of highlights. We gave back, added solutions to problems by participating in organic farming, socialized with like-minded, friendly people, took and gave back to the earth, and even finagled a free farm-fresh lunch out of the deal.

Here is a brief snapshot of my day at O’o farm:


VOLUNTEERING ON VACATION



And here is the written version:

· awoke at 6:00 am
· drove to upcountry town of Pukalani
· met with other volunteers (Brenda)
· met Richard and Sunanda at O’o Farm
· assigned to pull weeds for a few hours with Sunanda
· watched others pull weeds while I filmed
· watched others pull weeds while I made Sunanda laugh
· filled wheelbarrow with weeds
· emptied wheelbarrow filled with weeds
· stopped for lunch
· made Sunanda laugh
· enjoyed an amazing homemade vegetarian meal made by Sunanda
· happily discovered a port-o-potty
· went back to work at the farm
· watched Wendy and Brenda and Sunanda plant vegetables
· filmed them planting vegetables
· firmly told to put the camera away and help plant vegetables
· happily discovered the port-o-potty again
· stopped and gazed at the amazing vista of the Pacific ocean from several thousand feet above sea level
· announced to all, for the hundredth time, how content, pleased, thrilled, fulfilled, and excited I was to be sharing such a wonderful experience with them
· planted some vegetables
· shot some video
· made Sunanda laugh again
· and called it a day

Volunteering any time is an important way to give back to those who are less fortunate than us, as well as helping others who are working to change the world for the better. Volunteering while on vacation makes something that is great to begin with even more so. And adds a spiritual balance to the rest of your life.

I would like to thank everyone at the Pacific Whale Foundation and O’o Farm, Brenda, and especially Richard, Sunanda, and Dasa, who went out of their way to make my wife and I feel as if we’d known them forever, and whom we now consider forever friends.


Until next time…


peace,


Mike

Break a Sweat Every Day

To sweat or not to sweat? Sweating, at times, gets a bad rap, and when you think about it, actually ponder the merits of having your skin break out in a cold (or hot) sweat, it’s a wonder we don’t all go running for the hills. But there’s the rub—if you did head for the hills at a good gait then chances are in no time you’d be drenched in sweat. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, sweating is as important for your health as proper diet, exercise, positive attitude, and the rest of all the good stuff I advocate at this site and livelife365.com.

There are many reasons why we sweat—hot weather, exertion, sickness, nerves, anxiety—all sharing one commonality: we need to! Why? Because sweating regulates the body’s internal temperature. When any of those above situations occur, you heat up inside. If you don’t have a place for this increased heat to go, you’re in trouble. But for most of us, the brain recognizes this warm up, sends a signal to the sweat glands, and, voila, in no time your hair becomes a matted mess (not mine: I Miss My Hair), your armpits a river of sorrow, your back and belly, face and neck, hands and even feet are suddenly coated in liquid. Again: This is a good thing!

Sweating:
· cools down the body
· removes excessive heat
· regulates your internal temperature
· removes small amounts of waste (like chlorine)

But even more importantly, if you’re sweating it usually means that you are moving around, exercising, working in the garden, playing with your kids, taking a walk or run, or just fooling around with your significant other. Many studies have shown that some of the healthiest cultures in the world find a way to sweat every day—you should too! Me? I like to:

Break a Sweat Every Day



Is it possible to sweat too much? Or too little? Yes, and yes. Hyperhidrosis is excessive sweating, that, while maybe embarrassing or uncomfortable, is usually not a cause for alarm. But anhidrosis, which is a rare disease where one has little or no sweat, can lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke because the lack of sweat limits the body’s ability to cool itself down.

Pop quiz:

Q: Does sweat have an odor?

A: Believe it or not, sweat is odorless. It is the bacteria on one’s skin that mixes with the sweat that causes body odor.

So, working out, running around, exercising and frolicking in the sun, getting a good sweat going, is always a good thing, right? For the most part, yes, but you must stay hydrated or you could become very ill.

Symptoms of Dehydration:
· dry mouth
· tiredness
· thirsty
· weakness
· headache
· dizziness
· rapid heartbeat
· confusion

Symptoms of Dehydration



If you have any of those symptoms, you immediately should:
· seek shade
· drink water
· chill out, and drink more water

If left untreated, dehydration can cause a multitude of far worse maladies. Your best bet is to drink plenty of water while breaking that sweat and use common sense. Or, watch this video:

How to...Prevent Dehydration



Breaking a sweat every day is one of the healthiest things you can do, just remember to replenish those liquids you are sweating out to keep dehydration at bay. And, as always, have fun while living life every day in every way.


Until next time…


peace,

Mike

Good vs. Bad

Life is all about choices. Take the recently completed presidential election. Millions of Americans were offered a ballot filled with multiple choices. From those choices, we analyze, ponder, discuss, weigh the pros and cons, then make our selections. While a national election is a major event that challenges our decision-making prowess, the personal choices we all make every day of our lives are equally, if not more, important.

One of the reoccurring messages I advocate on this blog and my video site, livelife365.com, is taking personal accountability for your actions. Part of being personally accountable is making choices. Often, this is not as easy as it seems (think back to all those propositions or initiatives, along with the multiple candidates on that ballot, calling to you on election day.) As with many of the options confronting us this past Tuesday, many of them are good, while just as many are bad. Same can be said about our own life choices.

Livelife365 is all about choices, hopefully helping to assist you in making the right choices for improving your life by offering entertaining blog posts and videos that show fun ways that can change your life for the better.

While recovering from my recent shoulder surgery, I have not been able to exercise as much as I normally do. I have also cut myself some slack (or maybe it’s just the Vicodin talking) and have indulged in some unhealthy snacking. Choices. Some good and some bad. The end results of those personal choices is that I’ve gained a few unwanted pounds that I do not like, but know that I will eventually drop. How do I know this? Because I will utilize the same healthy eating and fitness practices that helped me lose two pounds a week and keep that weight off for years.

I will make GOOD CHOICES.

Here is a video I created that demonstrates, in a fun and entertaining way, some good and bad choices confronting us in our daily lives.

GOOD MIKE VS. BAD MIKE



Some anticipated questions, along with my answers, about the above video:

Q: Were you really smoking?
A: No, those were fake cigarettes that my wife bought for Halloween.
Q: Were you really drinking?
A: No, just pretending. I’ve not tasted alcohol since 1992.
Q: Were you really eating those Doritos?
A: Yes…and they were good!
Q: What’s with you and that wig?
A: I Miss My Hair
Q: How’s the shoulder?
A: Sill painful, but getting better every day.


Life is all about choices, some good and some bad. We all have the power to make the right choices that can help us live a healthier, happier, longer, and more rewarding life.

Until next time…

peace,

Mike

Make Your Calories Count

At some time in each of our lives, most of us want, or need, to lose some weight. Whether it’s dropping those last ten pounds that have been driving you nuts, or, like tens of millions overweight Americans, you need to drop a whole bunch. 20 pounds? 40? Over 50? Guess what? Do I have some great news for you!

If you can count, you can lose weight. Now, I know you’ve all probably heard a lot of this before—count calories, watch portion sizes, eat less, exercise more—but not all weight reduction programs are created equal. Still overweight? Still need some help? Read on…

3500

That’s the magic number of calories that makes up one pound of weight loss.

Huh?

Okay, I understand, no one said there was going to be math, right?

Let’s say you eat 2000 calories each day (which, depending on your body size, gender, or age, is a nice, average number to go by). Now multiply that by 7 days, and the result is that you will consume 14,000 calories per week. Here’s where that magic number—3500—comes into play.

If your goal is to lose one pound a week, you will need to burn 3500 calories more than you ingest, per week. Using the above example: if you consume 14,000 calories, you would need to burn 17,500 to lose one pound in a week. Now, take those 17,500 calories and divide by 7 (days). That’s 2500. That’s how many calories you would need to burn, on average, per day, to lose one pound.

Wow, sounds like a lot of math, and hard work.

Actually, it’s a lot easier than you could imagine.

Using this formula, and eating a high-fiber, low-fat diet, I lost over 40 pounds in only six months. And I have been able to keep all of the weight off for over two years. And here’s the best news—burning calories is not that difficult. We burn them while asleep! You are burning some right now just reading this post. I burned a bunch writing it!

One of the best ways to burn more calories, though, is to become more active. You don’t have to go crazy and start training for an Iron Man competition, you just need to get up and get going. Start a walking program, work in the yard landscaping or gardening, use the stairs instead of the elevator, clean the house (yup, burns lots of calories). Even going grocery shopping will burn a bunch. Here is a great tool that will help you keep track of all the calories you burn. The good news—burning 2500-3000 calories (or more!) per day is not that difficult to do. The challenge for most of us is consuming fewer calories. That’s why I titled this post: Make Your Calories Count.

If you are to limit caloric consumption (eat less), then you need to make sure everything you put in your mouth has value and nutritional purpose. This means—no empty calories. An empty calorie is something (a bag of chips, slice of cake, most fast foods) that fills your stomach, but gives little in return—no nutrition, few vitamins or minerals. They may even be high in saturated fats, sodium, and sugar. No value—so, don’t eat them.

Here’s the important thing to understand—if you seriously want to lose weight and decide to limit your caloric intake, you need to ensure that every calorie you consume has a purpose. Why? Because you only have so many in each day/week, to waste any could lead to your weight loss downfall. An example: one trip through that drive-thru window at your favorite (not anymore, I hope) burger joint could blow your calorie count for the entire day. A double cheeseburger, large fry, and soda or shake, depending on which grease house you are visiting, have anywhere from 1000-2000 calories. And watch their salads; most are high in sodium and calories. My advice: Don’t go there!

I talk in greater detail about all of this information at my video website, livelife365.com.

If you are serious about dropping those last ten pounds or ready to take that first step toward losing fifty, or more, count your calories (magic number: 3500), and make your calories count.

Here are a few more tips that have helped me:

• Eat small mini-meals throughout the day, every 2-3 hours. Toss out the traditional thinking that you need to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

• Chew gum in between meals. You’d be amazed at how effective this it.

• Eat lots of fiber and less animal protein. Fiber curbs your appetite, digests slowly, helps with regularity, and is good for you.

• Stop eating before you feel full. It can take ten minutes or more before the brain realizes that the stomach is full. We all too often continue to eat way longer than we need to.

• Keep a journal. Jot down everything you eat each day—and I mean everything! This includes “tastes” while cooking and “nibbles” from your kid’s or spouses’ plates. And don’t forget liquids; they count too. This is an excellent way to monitor what is working or not in your diet. I still have my journals!

• Walk. Walking is the easiest, least expensive exercise there is. Here is an informative walking video to get you started.

Remember—3500 calories equals one pound. Burn more than 3500 calories than you ingest and you will lose a pound of weight. Do this every week and, before you know it, you will be well on your way to a healthier, happier, better life. I hope these tips help. And, as always, you can find more healthy information, as well as personal development, how-to, and entertainment videos at my video site, livelife365.com.

peace,

Mike