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Posts tagged ‘Mindset’

Jun 12

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Shine your ****ing light…

Far too many people live in fear of being their true, crazy, beautiful, weird, messed-up selves.

We’re so brow-beaten by social media, by advertisers, by opinionated writers and voices, that we foolishly believe we have to be something else, be someone else, to meet the approval of others, to meet the approval of ‘society’.

Fuck that.

Be you, be brilliant, be weird, be whacky, be different.
Dye your hair purple and wear what you like.
Sing in the street, write your novel, wave your flag.

Don’t waste your time living someone else’s life.
Don’t let the noise of others drown out your inner voice.

Because the last thing we need is more cardboard cut-outs, more carbon copies, more of the same.

We need authenticity, we need integrity, we need fucking fresh air.

Too many folks are so busy trying to win everyone else’s approval, they have no time to be themselves.

Be yourself.
Everyone else is already taken.

Shine your fucking light, don’t hide it under a bushel.

To your good health!

Karl

Feb 9

To hell with fad diets and temporary results…

I was frustrated…

For years, because…

Weight loss, nutrition, healthy living…it had all become so confusing. All the experts and their opinions, they all seemed to contradict each other!

It all left me feeling exhausted. It can be hard to know what is the right thing to do with so much conflict and complexity.

Mother Nature’s Diet is here to save you!

  • Are you fed up with fad diets?
  • Had enough of the gimmicks, the promises, the b/s?
  • Are you fed up with being lied to and hard-sold to?
  • Are you tired of the contradictory messages, ideas and advice?
  • Are you bored of being sold ‘the magic secret’ to this or the ‘only supplement you’ll ever need’ for that?

All the health experts seem to preach messages that are in conflict with each other. How can you make sense of it all?!

Mother Nature’s Diet is the antidote to all that conflict and contradiction!

In my popular book, I help you make sense of the confusion. This book is the end result of 28 years spent figuring it all out, and now it’s here for you in common-sense plain English.

Check it out here!

This book is the breath of fresh air we all need to take control of our health, lose weight and feel great.
…not to mention tackling the major public health challenges we face in the Western world today - obesity epidemic, type-2 diabetes out of control, NHS struggling to fight off bankruptcy and privatisation.

The solutions are all in this book! 

Click on the link and download your copy today, you can get started immediately!

So, go on then, treat yourself to the best version of you in 2020!

To your good health!

Karl

Feb 4

1 Comment

Is it time you learned to make a proper decision?

Fourteen years ago today, I made a decision.

On 4th February, 2006, at around midday I guess, I was sitting in a personal development seminar in London, listening to the presenter talking about the power of making a real decision.

At that time, I was 35 years of age, I was very overweight, around 226 pounds (103 kilos, BMI of about 30), smoking, drinking daily, not exercising very much, had terrible bad skin problems, nasal congestion problems, and hated myself for how I looked and felt.

I had ‘tried’ for years to quit smoking, but always failed. Justifications about the waste of money, the idea that I might die of cancer some decades later, just didn’t seem to have enough mental leverage on me.

In 20 years of smoking, for 17 years of that time I had tried to quit. I had quit hundreds of times, sometimes lasting a few hours, sometimes a few days, weeks or months, but I always went back to it. I just liked it too much. I wanted to smoke. In a mind that frequently defaulted to self-loathing, smoking was an escape, a guilty pleasure that relaxed me.

The presenter explained that the word decision shares the same Latin root as the word incision. Decision literally means “to cut off” in the context of “to cut off from any other option or possibility.” He explained that a real decision is a powerful commitment to a set course of action. He lamented that folks have ‘weak decision making muscles’ these days, making decisions about what to have for dinner, but not about how to live more fulfilling lives.

I listened, and it really hit home with me.

In one of those wonderful moments of clarity (call it a light bulb moment, an epiphany, whatever you like) I realised “I want to be a healthy person!”

In that moment, my mind held a clear vision of myself as one of those people you meet who just looks and acts healthy, bouncy, energetic, oozing wellness and energy and enthusiasm for life. Tanned and smiling, bright eyed and bouncy. I wanted to be that person.

I stood up and left the room, walked to the nearest bin, took out my packet of cigarettes, crushed them up and threw them in.

Not a glimmer of emotion.

I just smiled, felt good about my decision, and have never wanted one since. No effort. No struggle. No cravings. No will power. No patches or gum. I just decided I wanted to be a healthy person, and healthy people don’t smoke. Smoking no longer fit with my identity, I had changed, I had made a decision about the man I wanted to be.

14 years today.

That’s the power of making a firm decision.

Maybe you already know my story, and I’ll keep it very brief here, but that day started a decade plus quest for good health. In the months and years following that day…

  • I transformed my health completely
  • Lost 101 pounds of unwanted bodyfat
  • Quit smoking (14 years today)
  • Quit drinking (8 years, 1 month and counting)
  • Cured my health conditions
  • Came off 17 years of prescription medications
  • Learned everything I could about health, nutrition, weight loss, exercise, disease prevention, longevity and more
  • Attended seminars and conferences and training events
  • Read over 847 books and research papers and reports about every aspect of health and nutrition and physical training
  • Started running
  • Completed 14 marathons and two ultramarathons
  • Cycled John O’Groats to Land’s End
  • Trained as a Personal Trainer
  • Created Mother Nature’s Diet as my personal blog
  • Formulated the 12 Core Principles
  • Mother Nature’s Diet (MND) became my business
  • Quit my job and closed my previous company to run MND

It all started that day, 14 years ago today, in that hour, that minute, that empowered me to throw those cigarettes away. In those ten or twenty seconds that I made that decision, as that vision unfolded in my mind, as I changed my identity of who I wanted to be, I started a journey that ultimately shaped my life for the last 14 years.

That’s the long term power of making a firm decision.

Life-changing in so many ways.

My health, my self-confidence, my life, hobbies, career, most of the people I now spend my time with, my circle of friends, countries I have been to, and if I now live 20 years longer, then everything I do in those 20 years, it will all be down to that one decision I made in that one minute, at about midday on the 4th February 2006.

So, the point of this post is this…

Do you have weak decision making muscles?

Have you been making weak wishes, lame daydreams, vague ideas, and calling them decisions?

Is it time to muscle up, to level up your decision making skillset, and make a clear firm decision or two about where you are going in your life, about what you want, who you want to be, and what you are now determined to do to get there?

It only takes one seemingly small decision to change the entire course of your life.

Time to flex those decision making muscles, you have so many exciting tomorrows to look forward to.

More power to ya.

Nov 18

Are you making progress, or making excuses?

For the last six years or so, I have been driving around the country meeting people and delivering talks about healthy living.

Most places I go, most folks I meet, in general, most people want to lose some weight.

First we have to be specific - it’s body fat we want to lose, not just ‘weight’.

I mean, rapid weight loss is easy…you could lose 25 pounds by tomorrow if you just chop one leg off, but that’s probably going to ruin your week overall, so I don’t think it’s a very smart idea.

It’s body fat that most folks want to lose.

Calories in, calories out

You’ve heard this bit before.

There are many diets, many systems, many protocols, but the overwhelming majority of them work on the basic principle that you have to eat a little less food, and generally eat “better food choices” (we’ll come to that in a sec) and you might have to move your tush a bit more.

Eat less, eat better, move more.

Really, that’s it, that’s how diets work.

Eat better food choices, that’s definitely a part of the equation. One size does not fit all, we are all different, and so some of us are going to do well on one certain diet, such as low-carb, while others may not.

Some aspects of eating ‘better’ will apply to most people -

Of course, there is a strong argument to say that these are all just examples of “eat less” - cutting these foods from your diet will almost certainly cut your calorie intake.

And so it is, the amazing secret to losing weight. You have to consume fewer calories than you use.

Really, in the vast and overwhelming majority of cases, folks became overweight in the first place because they went for a prolonged period of time (maybe a few months, maybe a few decades) consuming more calories than they were burning.

Now, to burn off that unwanted fat weight, they have to put that process into reverse for a prolonged period of time - maybe weeks, maybe months, maybe a few years.

No doubt, some folks are reading this and screaming…

It’s a bit more complicated than that!!

Sure, it is, but don’t let that stop you trying.

That’s not me being facetious or flippant, just trying to help you to see the true path forwards.

There are a thousand experts out there offering you a thousand reasons why you are overweight, and a thousand excuses why it’s not all your fault, and a thousand reasons why diets won’t work and won’t help.

In one way or another, for one person or another, they are all right.

But as I already said, one size does not fit all, and while each and every reason, or excuse, may fit for someone, it does not mean that every reason fits for everyone. It does not mean that every reason fits for you.

  • Sure, that man was beaten daily by his father as a child and he eats as an act of rebellion.
  • Sadly, that lady was abused when she was young, and she eats as an escape.
  • True, that other man was raised in poverty and his parents instilled unhealthy food habits in him which now lead to habitual over-eating.
  • Indeed, that lady has a thyroid problem, or a glandular condition, or a hormone imbalance, and it makes weight loss very difficult.
  • Certainly, that guy has a genetic predisposition to obesity, and certain food types (such as carbs) exacerbate his weight gain.
  • Sure, that girl has a metabolic imbalance caused by years of eating certain foods when she was growing up.
  • And yes, that man takes prescription steroids for his skin condition, and they promote weight gain.
  • And on and on.

Yes, these are all true for someone, but none of them are true for everyone.

So, in the short time and small space I have available in this blog post, let’s not debate every possible reason in exhaustive detail, but let’s understand and agree that those conditions broadly only affect a very small percentage of the population. Not even 1% have a glandular condition, the true number is tiny.

For the overwhelming majority of folks, losing weight means you gotta eat fewer calories, you gotta eat better, by opting for fresh whole foods, not processed hyper-palatable foods, and you gotta move a little more, by keeping busy, and playing some sport or enjoying some exercise.

For the few who are struggling against those problems, let’s offer them our understanding, our kind support, and a helping hand.

For everyone else, for the 90%, stop looking for justifications, stop looking for excuses.

Just get on with it.

Go on then, get cracking.

 

Nov 6

There are three types of people, which one are you?

When it comes to weight loss, health and fitness, in my experience - and talking in very broad, general terms - there are three types of people:

  1. Know what to do, getting on and doing it.
  2. Don’t know what to do, confused, a bit lost, frustrated and fed up.
  3. Know what to do, but not bloody doing it!

Category 1

So those folks in category 1, and there could well be some of them reading this now, are the folks who have taken a bit of time to sift through the bull***t that pervades diet and health markets, they’ve figured out the basics of eating a whole-foods based diet, they understand the benefits of movement and exercise, they are consistent with their actions and they are getting results.

Category 1 - it feels good, it’s a good place to be! It took me two decades, but I got there in the end and have been enjoying it ever since!

Category 2

Now category 2 is a frustrating place to be. I was there for those two decades from late-teens to mid-30s. I wanted to lose weight, I wanted to be fit, I wanted to feel better and make my body look better but I was lost in the land of diet confusion. Sometimes it’s easy, once we have some knowledge of diet and nutrition and exercise, to think “everyone knows what to do, if they are not doing it they are just lazy” but that just isn’t true.

A lot of people genuinely don’t Read more

Jan 30

STFU, take your HTFU pills, JFDI and GSD…

Imagine a line…

In your mind’s eye (or grab a piece of paper and draw a line for real, if you like) imagine a line, horizontal, left to right, across a sheet of paper.

Draw a big fat dot at each end.

Over the dot on the left end, write “Here, now, where I am, the start point, my reality” or words to that effect.

Over the dot on the right end, write “My goal, my target, where I want to be, where I am trying to get to” or words to that effect, words that mean something to you, to signify the body you say you want, the energetic feeling you say you want, the weight you wish the scales said, the feeling, look, strength, muscle, fitness - whatever it is you said you want…a month ago, as New Year’s Eve was upon us. What was your goal for 2019?

Now you have a line, and the left end represents where you are, let’s call it the start point, and the right end represents where you want to be, the goals you set yourself a month ago, the way you want to look and feel and perform.

Now draw a big circle around the line between the two. (Actually, it’s probably not a circle, more of an ellipse or egg-shape, right?)

In the circle, or ellipse, along the line from the left hand end to the right hand end, write these words:

Lots of work. Hard work. Consistent effort. No excuses. Get it done. Make sacrifices. Sweat, Hurt. Achieve. Feel pride.

The middle bit [ain’t so popular]

It’s been my experience in life so far, that folks all know what the dot on the left hand end looks and feels like, I mean, that’s the here and now, the reality, of course they know.

And folks all know what the dot on the right hand end looks like - it probably looks like the images they see in magazines, or photos of themselves from 20 years ago, or their favourite athlete or sports star.

But it’s the bit in the middle most folks ain’t so keen on.

Folks know where they are starting from, and they generally know where they want to get to, they just don’t like all the hard work and sacrifice in the middle.

No one wants to do the hard work these days. 

If you are one of the few, who ain’t afraid to graft, then the last few lines won’t offend you, they’ll make you puff your chest out with pride and say “He’s right, it takes effort, that’s me, I do that, and I am getting results.”

If you are one of the many who doesn’t like the bit in the middle, the hard work and sacrifices, then the last few lines might have offended you, and if they did, then you can choose to be offended, and bugger all will change, or you can choose to take this blog post as a friendly-but-honest kick up the butt, and you can resolve to double-down on your efforts and get some stuff done.

A lot of folks have already given up on the promises they made themselves less than a month ago.

Seriously, it’s Jan 30th, not even a full months since those New Year’s resolutions, and many folks have already given up. Jeez, I made myself a promise on Feb 4th, 2006, to “change my life and become a healthy person” and I am still holding dead strong to that promise every single day, almost 13 years later. If you can make a month, that’s a pretty poor effort.

A lot of folks need to STFU and stop complaining about everything that’s ‘too hard’ or ‘I don’t like it’ or ‘it feels uncomfortable’ or ‘but it’s raining’ or whatever, and take their HTFU pills (you know, Harden The **** Up pills…) and JFDI.
We ‘Get Stuff Done’ (#GSD - maybe you prefer Get Sh*t Done….) when we quit complaining and letting our excuses stop us, and we knuckle down to the hard work that HAS TO FILL THE GAP to get from the dot at the left hand end of the line, to the dot at the right hand end of the line.

I’ve been #GSD for 13 years now, and I’m still firing on all 4 cylinders, more motivated and more driven than ever.

In that time I could have used every excuse going - young kids, building my business, ups and downs, almost hit bankruptcy, rescued that from the brink, fought and paid huge debts, marital ups and downs, family bereavements, emotional lows, injuries, accidents, financial stress, emotional stress, career success and failure - if you can name it, I’ve had to get through it.

Still here. Still fighting. Still winning.
More details on all that, and how to get the results you want, in this book for you.

We all know the dot at the left end of the line.
If you want to get to the dot on the right end, you have to be prepared to do the hard work and make the sacrifices, that sit along the line in the middle.

Short cuts are bull***t, just distractions. Imagine that line was a map, to drive from, say, London to Liverpool.
It’s about 220 miles to drive from London to Liverpool.
There’s no genuine shortcut. If someone is trying to sell you a “do it in just 50 miles” solution, you have to know that’s b/s.
It just can’t be done.
The only way you are ever going to drive from London to Liverpool, is on the roads, from A to B.

You can tackle it, by the most direct route, and just knuckle down to it and get the job done, and you’ll cover about 220 miles.
Or you can be distracted, by every b/s promise, false start, trick and gimmick, and keep going off sideways, seeking short cuts, quick hacks, and inevitably, you’ll end up spending your life wasting time on the side turnings, driving hundreds of miles but getting no closer to the end destination.

There are no short cuts.
You just gotta tackle the hard work, be consistent, stay motivated, stay on track, and go chase your goals and dreams.

Yes or yes?

So, if you need some help along the way, Mother Nature’s Diet is here for you, with tips and guidance to help you avoid the biggest mistakes that most people commonly make.

Time to STFU, take your HTFU pills, knuckle down and JFDI and GSD.

To your grand success, to you excellent good health!

Karl

Dec 19

Change your breakfast, change your life

Breakfast. I don’t know why but many people embracing healthy eating and lifestyle change seem to struggle with changing their breakfast.

Maybe because it’s the first meal of the day…perhaps that “I am going to change, I am going to lose weight and feel better, it all starts tomorrow.” always starts with breakfast.

Day 1. Meal 1. Oh s**t. Ground zero. Healthy eating starts now.

People always ask me what to have for breakfast. People have eaten - just as I did - nothing but cereals and toast for years. I did that every day for about 35 years. 

The short answer: switch to scrambled eggs

It’s quick, it’s easy, and I find most people like eggs. With some practice, personally I have got the art of knocking up a few eggs down to just three or four minutes. I encountered one lady who claims to have it down to 90 seconds. That beats me, I have no idea how she does it that quick!

I grab my unpasteurised, grass fed butter, stick a chunk in a pan, pop the heat on, and it starts melting. I grab a bag of spinach from the fridge, throw two or three good hand-fulls in the pan, pop it back and grab the eggs. Crack three or four in. Start stirring. Slice up a fresh tomato on the side of my plate, stir again, turn off heat, serve.

Scrambled eggs, with spinach and tomato. Quick and easy. Four minutes. Done. Could chop and throw in a couple of mushrooms. Optional.
Four more minutes to eat.
Two minutes to wash the pan and put the plate and cutlery in the dishwasher.
Breakfast. Nutritious, healthy, tasty, done in ten minutes.

Questions

Some folks say to me “I don’t have ten minutes for breakfast!”

Really? You might want to re-evaluate how you are living your life. I mean, get your butt out of bed ten minutes earlier. Do you want to be healthier or not? Set your priorities here, now, and stop making excuses.

Some say “I tried that and it just wasn’t filling enough, I need a bit more bulk.” (Stop. Look down, at your own belly - is that the kind of bulk we’re talking about here? ‘Cos it looks to me like you already have plenty there…yes? Maybe it’s time to reappraise that appetite of yours, and recognise that eating too much has been your issue for some years, and to turn that around we need a period of some years where you have to eat too little. Ouch, that hurts. Sorry.) 

But if you do need a more substantial breakfast, you can always grill a bunch of sausages when you have time (Sunday afternoon perhaps) and then keep them in the fridge. Each day, just chop up a couple and throw them in with your spinach and eggs. Voila, breakfast more substantial for only a few seconds extra effort.

Binding

The next objection (obstacle, reason, excuse) I get is “But I can’t eat many eggs, they bind me up.”

OK, I understand, though from my experience, I would say that if you have the rest of the Mother Nature’s Diet healthy lifestyle in place, such as 10-a-day or more fruit and veg, they you’ll have plenty of fibre in your diet, combined with good hydration and regular varied exercise, this should all ensure you have good gut function and once you get in the habit of eating eggs regularly, everything is usually OK.

If eggs bind you up, is it really the eggs? Eating enough fruit? And veggies? Plenty of water? Plenty of movement and exercise? Check all your bases.

Dead boring

This is the one that makes me laugh.

People say “Eggs, sure, I can try that, but what like, the next day? I mean, surely I’m not going to have scrambled eggs every day? Every day, OMG how boring, like the same thing every day, that’s so dull. What else can I have for breakfast?”

Why is this even an issue?! 

Seriously, years trying to help people improve their diet and lose weight, and I never met anyone eating boxed cereals for breakfast who says “Oh God, bloody flakes of wheat or corn, shaped and covered in sugar and chocolate flavour…again, oh how boring!”

No one.

Ever.

I never met anyone who said “I am so bored of this butter dripping off this toast yet again today, ummm with chocolate spread on it, yeah, so boring.”

No one.

Ever.

When people eat sweet tasting cereals and toast (yeah, those processed comfort foods that got you overweight in the first place) for breakfast they seem perfectly happy to eat the same thing for breakfast every single day for 30 or 40 years and they never complain that it’s boring.

Suggest scrambled eggs, and two days in folks be like “And…?”

Get a grip.

It’s real food.

Once you stop poisoning your palate with the ceaseless sweetness of processed foods, after a few weeks you might actually start being able to taste real, fresh foods once again. Suddenly, your life can move beyond everything needing to be sweet at breakfast, and hot and spicy in the evening. Really, life on Earth isn’t all sugar and chili powder, that’s not real fresh food that’s at fault, it’s YOU, you ‘broke’ your palate and you just THINK broccoli is boring, because all you know how to taste is sugar and chili.

Your problem.

Get over it.

Monday to Friday, when time is tight, have eggs.

At the weekend, if you have more time, you can do more. Experiment with fresh fruits, and some nuts. Learn to make nut porridge. Buy a blender or NutriBullet and make a smoothie. Try fresh fish, sardines, or smoked salmon. Or a good old full English breakfast - bacon, eggs, sausage, mushrooms, tomato. Just buy organic, buy quality, no rubbish.

Change your breakfast, change your life.

Get that first meal, on that first day, nailed, and the rest will follow.

Enjoy.

Oct 18

2 Comments

What’s your reason why? And is it strong enough…

Why do you want to be healthy?
Why should you eat well, exercise, get an early night, drink more water, drink less booze, eat your veggies, cut down on the hedonistic lifestyle, manage your stress, join a yoga class, go running and lift a few weights?
Why would you do all that?
What’s your motivation?
What’s your reason why?

Maybe you want ‘the body beautiful’ - whatever that means to you.
Maybe you want to get your hands on someone else’s body beautiful!
Maybe you want to be bursting with energy.
Perhaps you are striving to resist the signs of ageing.
Maybe you have a family history of ill health and you are making every effort not to follow that line.
Perhaps you want to improve your performance in your chosen sport.
Maybe you want to avoid ill health, the decline of serious illness that comes later in life.

There are plenty of reasons to engage in a healthy lifestyle - do you know what yours is?

Thinking time…

That last question…

Do you know what yours is?

Did you have to think about it, or did the answer Read more

May 3

4 Comments

The more you just ‘do’, the more you will continue to do 

I observe people quite a lot in my life.

My work is very varied, and involves public speaking, training people, working in groups, coaching people, leading people in outdoor activities, meeting friends and colleagues, mentoring people, working on collaborative projects and so on. Throughout this varied work, over the last two decades, I have observed that it’s only really quite a small percentage of people who ‘just do’ things, compared to a majority who live somewhere on the periphery of action - usually either right ‘on the cusp’ observing, wanting to take part, vicariously living on the edge, but never quite stepping up, or others tend to be further back, watching the action from something of a distance, or even way back, along with the ‘wall flowers’ of our world.

It takes all sorts, as they say.

Allow me to explain what I am talking about.

I find that few people ‘just do it’ as the expression goes. By it, I mean all kinds of things. Most people move into adulthood and fairly quickly settle into a set of circumstances that are familiar and comfortable. When the suggestion comes up to do something different, to push into unfamiliar territory, they default to a bunch of ‘reasons’ (ummm, excuses I call it) to hold back.

It might be trying a new sport, going on a trip, or changing a familiar routine, but people resist new, they resist change, and this can go on for months, for years, for decades. If you are one of those people, maybe you realise, it can go on for an entire life time.

All the excuses

I’ll write using the terms “I” and “you” but these are not about me, and you, they are just generalisations, about many people.

Last weekend I led a couple of friends to climb their first ever mountain, so that seems like a good place to start.

You’ve never climbed a mountain but you have always thought you might like Read more

Apr 30

2 Comments

You don’t really want to change…you’re happy as you are…

You like your life just the way it is. You’re comfortable where you are, you don’t want to change.

Your body, your weight, your health…how you look and how you feel, you are happy where you are, right?

The brilliant, original and funny Larry Winget says this, and I think he is bang on right. Perhaps you are sitting reading this. As you sit there, I’ll bet you are sitting mostly still, not really moving much at all. I guess you are fairly comfortable. I mean, if you were uncomfortable, you would move, right?

If you were sat there and you were uncomfortable, say your left buttock had ‘gone to sleep’ or you had pins and needles in one foot, or the chair side was digging into your leg and making you sore, or if there was a lump or spike sticking out of the chair seat that was painful to sit on, well then you would move, right?

You see, as Larry says, when we are uncomfortable, we move, we shift, we change, until we can become comfortable again. But when we are comfortable, we stop moving and stay put, we relax.

Now apply that to everything in your life.

  • What you see when you are naked standing in front of a full length mirror
  • How you feel, your energy levels, your level of vitality
  • How you look, your body shape, your weight, your muscles, your belly and bum
  • What you have in your bank account
  • How you feel about the job you get up and go to every day
  • How you feel about your relationships…with your spouse or partner, your boss, your kids
  • Your sex life
  • Your performance in your choice of sport or hobby
  • Your performance in bed
  • Everything

You are comfortable with where you are at.
If you were truly uncomfortable, you would move, shift, change.

Every week people tell me how unhappy they are about their weight, or how they look, or how they feel, or their energy levels, or their muscle mass, strength, speed, love, life… but then they trip out all the endless excuses why they can’t eat this, won’t train that, too busy to work this, don’t like to eat that, don’t have time for this, feel awkward doing that…the list is always long, it just goes on and on.

The truth is, they are comfortable, and until they get uncomfortable, they just won’t change.

I’m not saying they are happy. Just, comfortable.

Ouch.

Sadly, all too often, I meet people in their 40s, 50s and 60s, for whom finally ‘getting uncomfortable enough’, is a heart attack, or a cancer diagnosis, or the loss of a loved one.

Don’t be one of them.

Set your goals, keep your standards high, and get uncomfortable enough to make forward progress.

To your good health!

Karl

Oct 1

Every master was once a disaster

Every master was once a disaster…it’s worth remembering, that Rome wasn’t built in a day, and few people are great at anything the first time they try it.

I was listening to one of these personal development guru types the other day, a great speaker and author called T.Harv Eker who teaches people how to get rich, and he used the phrase ‘every master was once a disaster’.

The phrase came back to my mind the very next day when I was training with a PT client who was really struggling with the challenge I had set for him. This guy is around 40 and he’s let himself get out of shape; you know, bit of a belly, let the fitness go, not done any strength training in years. He is in perfectly good health, has no heart problems and not morbidly obese, so I was pushing him pretty hard to get through this workout challenge, and he was swearing and cursing and flagging big time.

I could see he was reaching exhaustion, but on each exercise I was pushing him to go one or two extra reps, just to get the best out of him, the best he could do that day. He was swearing at me, sure, but he was mostly swearing at himself.

When we finished the workout, he was hard on himself, berating himself for doing poorly, for being unfit and out-of-shape. He was ashamed, maybe that word is too strong, but he was disappointed by how few push-ups he could do, how few burpees he could do, how few dips he could do. I told him, ‘every master was once a disaster’ and he shouldn’t be so hard on himself now, but instead understand that he has work to do to move from ‘disaster’ to ‘master’ and he should be proud that right now he is taking the necessary steps, doing the work, pushing himself forward, and starting to make improvements.

I do a lot of push-ups, I guess 200 to 500 per day most days. In fact on a good day, I think little of doing 1000 in a day. But it wasn’t always like that. When I first decided it was time to get fit and healthy, I couldn’t finish a single set of 20. I was only 20 years of age. Let’s be absolutely clear, failing to complete even one set of 20, flaking out at less than 15, as a young man aged just 20, that is very poor. I was at ‘disaster’ at that time, but I didn’t beat myself up too much for that. I just said ‘OK, it’s 14 today. OK, let’s shoot for 15 or more tomorrow’ and started making progress from there. Now I do 1000 in a day, no big deal.

The lesson to learn is this: often no one is as hard on us as we are on ourselves. Don’t beat yourself up too much, instead take pride from the fact that at least you are here, you’re reading this blog, you’re trying to live by the 12 Core Principles of Mother Nature’s Diet, you’re working out, even if it’s starting with just one push-up, well done you, that’s one more than yesterday. Just start, and keep moving forward. As I wrote last week, the road to ‘master’ is seldom straight, upward and easy; instead it’s fraught with setbacks and trials and tribulations along the way, but you have started, you have made a move from ‘disaster’ and you are on your way. Master awaits, you just have to keep making forward progress.

Exercise, diet, lifestyle. Keep making progress. Don’t be too hard on yourself, the journey is long, stay the course. Rather than emotionally beating yourself up for errors in days gone by, mistakes you have made that cannot be undone, keep going consistently now, keep making forward progress, and never look back. Consistency is where so many fail. Stay the course.

Whatever your goals, keep chasing them, keep working; and as you move towards mastery, one day at a time, just remind yourself that every master was once a disaster. Keep going, you’ve got this.

 

 

Jan 1

2 Comments

It’s never a matter of education…

It’s never a matter of education.
It’s always a matter of motivation.

I have been on my own health journey for the last 27 years, and I have spoken to many hundreds of people around the subject of weight loss and healthy living, pretty much every day for the last 11 years, and I have directly worked with people and tried to help people with weight loss just about every day for the last 5 or 6 years, and in all that time and contact, I have never met one single person who didn’t understand that eating vegetables is good for you.

I have never met anyone who thought smoking was good for you.
I didn’t meet one single person who thought beer and pizza was healthy, slimming food.
I have not met a single soul who thought ‘eat more veg, drink more water and get some exercise’ was bad advice.

You see, we all know what to do, we just don’t do what we know.

It doesn’t seem to matter how many times I revisit this topic, it remains an undeniable truth. These days, everyone knows what they should be doing. We know we shouldn’t smoke, we know we should drink less, we know six pints per night is not healthy. We know two bottles of wine on a Saturday evening is too much and we are going to regret it the next morning. We know that we shouldn’t order take-away food four nights per week. We know we should eat more salad, more oily fish, and watch less TV.

But still we do all of these things. I work with people every day who know the things they should be doing to lose weight, have more energy, and feel better, yet they still engage in those things they know they shouldn’t.

And so it is.
Success in our health endeavours is almost never a matter of education, and almost always a matter of motivation. Read more

Dec 2

Time to look at your habits…are they supporting you, or not?

I have a friend who used to eat biscuits all the time. He loved biscuits, especially those chocolate-coated ones, and chocolate-chip cookies. But he was overweight, he was out of shape and he knew that he was eating too much sweet food, and he was heading for obesity and likely type-2 diabetes. He also knew that eating three or four biscuits every morning, and then three or four biscuits every afternoon, and sometimes another three or four biscuits in the evening, was making all the rest of his food taste bland, so he wasn’t eating his veggies. He knew he was in danger of letting his ‘biscuit habit’ or ‘biscuit addiction’ take over his diet entirely, to the detriment of his health.

So he changed. he started eating a banana as his mid-morning snack, and an apple as his mid-afternoon snack. If he feels the need for an evening snack, he’ll eat some raisins or sultanas.

At first, this wasn’t easy. Day one was torture Read more

Nov 10

1 Comment

Are you dancing and singing your way through your life?

It’s midday’ish on a random damp November Tuesday.

I’m leaping around my office at my stand-up desk, I’ve got music blasting, I’m dancing, playing air guitar, and air drums, I’m singing (very badly, throat still whacked from delivering a high-energy 2-day workshop all weekend!) and I have oodles of energy.

I’m 45 years old, I run 2 companies and have 3 young kids. My life is busy and demanding.

This is how I am when I’m at work.
I’m driven, I’m motivated, I know what I want out of life.

If you don’t feel this way, do you ever wonder why?
If you don’t feel like leaping and singing and dancing every day, why not, what are you doing with your life that’s draining your energy, sapping your life force?

Do you ever think about that?

If it bothers you, I suggest you attend a MotherNaturesDiet seminar and let’s work on this together.

Just an idea…
Details and tickets - http://www.eventbrite.com/e/central-london-full-day-seminar-with-mothernaturesdiet-enjoy-the-best-of-your-health-best-of-your-tickets-18292556529

Jul 2

1 Comment

I don’t want to ‘hack’ life, I want to live life.

I don’t want to ‘hack’ life. I want to live life. IMG_5429 

I don’t want fast food, I want the nourishment of slow food.

I don’t want to take the short cut to the prize, I want to enjoy the long journey.

I don’t want to make ‘a quick buck’, I’m working daily on making a slow million.

I don’t want ‘cheap thrills’, I want to invest my time and energy in building a lifetime of meaningful experiences, lasting love, fun and excitement.

I don’t want to ‘drive the fast car’, I want to enjoy the ‘slow road’.

I don’t want to ‘know it all’, ‘see it all’ or ‘have it all’, not ever, I want to enjoy a life of learning, unfolding the mysteries, discovering beauty and wonder every day, everywhere I go, til the end of my days. 

I don’t want ‘what comes easy’, I want to relish in the pride and self-respect that comes with what I have worked hard for.
I don’t want to take the ‘fast track’ to anywhere, I want to take my time, savour the growth, relish the learning, live in the moment. 

I don’t want to rush through the week, I want to enjoy what I get from the week, in growth, love and learning. 

I don’t want to spend all week trying to find some time to rest, I want to have the energy and zest for life that means I rarely feel the desire to rest nor the need to rest.

I see everyone out there looking for ‘life hacks’, and I have grown to dislike that expression - it sums up this 21st Century belief that life is there to be cheated, beaten, or somehow dominated. It isn’t. In my opinion, life is here to be enjoyed, the planet should be respected, Nature should be loved. We are here to take nothing but joy, memories and learning from the world around, and to give kindness, growth and energy to this gift we have called life.

I don’t want to ‘hack life’ for a minute, I want to slow it down and savour every second, not speed it up to get through as fast as I can.

Someone might say that hacking is about making the most of your time, shortcutting the bits you don’t like, maximising your time for the good stuff.

I get that…but I also think that life would just be better if there weren’t bits in it that we didn’t like in the first place. Instead of spending my time looking for hacks, I spend my time trying to make life so good that I don’t want to hack anything. All I want to do is slow the clock and relish every last second for all that it brings.

But that’s just me, I guess.

1luvx

 

Feb 7

How are you feeding your mind?

If you are a regular follower of MND, you will already know that I’m always trying to get you guys to think about and talk about something other than FOOD!

Food is ONLY 1 piece of the puzzle. Good health and a long life is about MUCH MUCH MORE! Hopefully, those of you who have been to my 1-day Seminar understand this bigger picture.

So beyond ‘feeding your body’…how do you ‘feed your mind’?

In my little home office, I have approximately 500 books. I’ve not counted them all out precisely, but perhaps about 100 are business books, about 100 are personal development books, at least 200 are on nutrition and disease and exercise, and the last 100 are novels, classics, autobiographies, philosophy, travel biographies and history books.

Most are part-read, most have multiple corners turned in, sticky notes and bookmarks poking out.

When I finish books, I either keep them for reference, or gift them to friends or charity shops. Life is too short to read most books twice, so I only keep them for re-reading if they are exceptionally good. I have at least 600 more archived away in my loft. My Amazon wish list has another 700 on it. I would LOVE to buy them all right NOW!

You know, I left school at 15, I had a few ‘O’ levels, going to University was never an option in my family, as my mum would say “we’re not those kind of people”. I went on to work in factories and workshops for the next 12 years. At 27, I ran away and lived Read more

Feb 5

2 Comments

The true POWER in making a proper DECISION

9 years ago this day, mid-morning, I smoked my last cigarette.

This was when everything changed for me.

9 years ago this very hour, I made a DECISION, to be healthy.

Where we are now, all of us here, today, is the end result SO FAR of me making that one decision. MND, this whole blog, the public seminars I deliver, the videos, the MND Members Community, it’s all come from that one firm DECISION.

The root of the word decision comes from the same root as incision - to cut.

Decision, to CUT OFF any other POSSIBILITY.

I decided, 9 years ago, to change my internal belief about who I am. I decided that I am a healthy person. I didn’t say “I want to be” I said “I am healthy” - I walked out of the room, pulled my cigarettes from my pocket, screwed them up and threw them in the bin.

I cut off any other possibility. I didn’t leave the option open “But what if I change my mind, what if I fail, then I’ll have to buy another pack?” or “But this is 6 quid’s worth of fags here, it’s a waste, I’ll finish this pack then stop.” NO. I decided I am a healthy person, and I quit, on the spot, and have never wanted one since.

Previously, I had tried quitting 100 times, but always failed, lasting between and hour and a year, but always went back.

But that day I DECIDED. And it was done. I changed my identity. I became a healthy person, and through that paradigm, I now see the world, MY world. Healthy people don’t smoke, so I don’t smoke.

From that day, everything changed.
I was not the person I am now. I was fat, lacked confidence, I was shy, uncomfortable around women, I was quieter, afraid of public speaking, never revealed any of my own flesh, I was unfit, unhealthy, covered in rash, I was tired, not bouncy.

That one decision changed everything about my life.
It changed who I am.

What is your identity?

Who are you?

How do you want the world to see you?

What DECISION have you been putting off?

MAKE that decision, commit to yourself, BE the person you want to be in your heart. NOW.

Do it now. Do it today. Don’t procrastinate any longer. Become the best version of yourself that you can be.

We’re here to help, we’ve got your back, MND is looking after you.

Decide. Do it NOW.

Dec 31

3 Comments

We NEED to educate people

Recently, a friend of mine blogged and his thoughts whipped up quite an interesting exchange of opinions.

In short, he basically noted that in the days after Christmas, ‘everyone’ was moaning of coughs, colds, bad guts, headaches, tiredness, gas and feeling bloated, and he commented that he tries to tell people that they are stuffing themselves with junk, and that leaves them feeling ill, but he said ‘people get so easily offended’. Then he said ‘we need to educate people’ and this use of the word ‘need’ whipped up some very interesting feelings and thoughts.

Serving ego

Others felt the use of the word ‘need’ was an ego-driven emotion, “we need to educate people”, suggesting that he was holding some kind of higher moral ground. I have seen this discussion crop up a few times before…and I find this a very interesting topic. There certainly is an element of the health and fitness industry who take this moral stance, they tend to be young, male and stacked with bulging muscles (but not always fitting that precise stereotype!) and they often treat others with a somewhat condescending attitude. They do assume some kind of “I have a right to educate you, whether you asked it or not” as if having muscles and a 6-pack makes you a ‘better person’ than someone overweight or out of shape.

However, I actually do think that ‘we’ (those enjoying abundant good health) do ‘need’ to educate those with health challenges, we just have to do it without the ego, the attitude and without giving anyone the feeling that we are trying to take some kind of moral stance, judging them for the mistakes they may or may not have made.

I believe that many people unwittingly fail to understand that their food and lifestyle choices are hurting them. Read more

Dec 4

You only know it, if you are living it.

I attended a seminar about wealth creation, and the speaker T. Harv Eker said that - “You only know it if you are living it.”

He meant it in the context of ‘Don’t take wealth creation advice from someone who isn’t rich!’ but I also think it applies to all other areas of life too, including health.

  • I’ve met weight loss coaches who are fat
  • I’ve met people who are broke, telling you how to make money
  • I’ve met fat unhealthy doctors who smoke
  • I’ve met people who help others quit addictions…who still drink
  • I’ve met personal trainers who aren’t very fit
  • I’ve met people teaching ‘how to make millions online’ who haven’t made millions online
  • I’ve met people teaching property investing who don’t own a large portfolio of investment properties
  • I’ve met people teaching relationship skills who are not in a blissful loving relationship
  • I’ve met people who teach marriage success who have been divorced 2 or 3 times
  • I’ve met nutritional therapists who teach weight loss and good health, who are fat and in poor health
  • I’ve met healers who need healing
  • I’ve met therapists who need therapy

I am sick and tired of this bullshit. Is it just me? Read more

Jul 23

Taking a holistic approach to supreme good health

Today, I feel the need to have a little rant. Well, maybe not a rant, more of an impassioned plea, or a ‘call to sanity’ perhaps.

I have a line of thought that’s been rolling around my mind for a few days…not about any one person in particular, but sparked by several separate conversations with several people over the last 2 or 3 weeks, but this stuff applies to ALL of us.

This is so important, I hope I can put it into words intelligently, with care and respect.

Health : Balance : Being an all-rounder

MotherNaturesDiet is all about ‘supreme good health and abundant natural energy’.

  • It’s not a crash weight loss plan
  • It’s not a fad diet (I hate even using the word ‘diet’ because it’s so often wrongly used to mean ‘temporary weight loss plan’ and that is NOT what the word diet really means!)
  • It’s not a ‘6-pack abs’ plan
  • It’s not a ‘build bigger muscles’ or ‘get huge’ ‘get hench’ ‘get jacked and ripped’ plan
  • It’s not just for endurance athletes to help them run a faster marathon or complete their first Ironman
  • It’s not a cookery course
  • It’s not an exercise class
  • But it can HELP with all those things

 

MotherNaturesDiet is a LIFESTYLE to help you achieve supreme good health and have abundant natural energy. The goals of MND are to help you live longer, feel great, have more energy TO DO MORE with your life, to SHOW UP with more vibrancy and energy in your work, your relationships, your family, your chosen sport, your whole life!

Yes, MND will help you maintain a lean healthy body, you can use MND to lose weight, to get ripped, to build muscle, to run faster or further and much more, but only because MND is all about being HEALTHY on the inside, it’s about getting your body working optimally, removing the blocks that are stopping you from making forward progress in any area of your life, so you can do more, be more and have more of whatever you want. So if you WANT to build big muscles, get a 6-pack, run a faster marathon, complete an Ironman, put more drive and energy into your career, put more passion and energy into your intimate relationship, have more energy for parenting, for your chosen sport or whatever else YOU want, then MND will help you to be healthy inside and out, to act as the BASE platform for you to build, be or do whatever it is you want. MND can’t do it all for you, but it will help you to have loads of energy, feel great, not get sick and perform at YOUR best to do whatever you want to do.

This is what ‘supreme good health and abundant natural energy’ is all about. Read more

Jul 18

4 Comments

MND is 3 years old - the story so far.

Today is my birthday!

I am 44 years young today, and inside I am literally bursting and screaming with stuff I want to say and do and share with you.

Apologies if the below is all over the place, I just have a lot to say today and I’m kinda ‘blurting this out’ in a big mess of words and pictures, so it might not be terribly coherent, but who gives a damn, it doesn’t have to be coherent, it has to mean something, and it has to help you to be the best you that you can be, and nothing else really matters.

Summary of this post:

  • Elsewhere on this site, is ‘My Story’ in words. Below is a shorter version of ‘My Story’ but more in pictures
  • Changing your life and your body is a journey - it takes time, but it’s worth working for
  • What is MND and what’s it really all about?

I started MND 3 years ago, the first year was “formulating the 12 Core Principles” while I was living about 95% as per MND, it was still in the refining stage, and then I set the 12 CP in stone and have been blogging about it since this day 2 years ago, my 42nd Birthday in July 2012.

3 years of living the MND way - then and now

I’ve been living the MND way for 3 years now…the first year it was all still evolving, the last 2 years I have been living completely by the 12 Core Principles.

If you haven’t yet read My Story, and if you have half an hour spare and want to read about my long journey ‘from fat to fit’ then please follow this link and check it out.

During my decades as a fat guy, I was pretty camera-shy, and I spent years hunting down and destroying pictures of fat old me, so I don’t have many. If I had ever known there would come a day that I was no longer ashamed of how I looked, I might have gone to some effort to keep more of them! Read more

Jun 22

WHY MotherNaturesDiet?

The other day, I was attending a training event, and it was a massive day of learning for me, it was an excellent event. It was the first of 12 such days, I have one each month for a year, which is very exciting.
The day helped me think a LOT about what MotherNaturesDiet (MND) actually IS, from the angle of “Why do I do it?”

I thought about the main reasons why I started MND, why I keep writing and what I am trying to really achieve.

Obviously, if you have read My Story  then you will already know that I spent the last 25 years trying to figure out how to be healthy, and only the last 8 or so of those finally getting it right. In that time, I have transformed my own life and learned more than I ever imagined about being healthy.

But that is my own experience, that forms the basis of the knowledge I try to share with you, but that in itself is not what drives me, that’s not actually WHY I do it…I have been thinking this week about “Why do I keep pushing MND?” Read more

May 12

Are you focussed on the results you want, or just reading a bunch of books?

Are you PROCESS focussed, or RESULTS focussed?

Staying motivated is something people tell me they find difficult.

I was thinking about this, and talking to a friend about this recently.

Let me connect together a few strands of thought here.

  • I often get people say to me ‘Karl, so we are supposed to just eat real, whole food, OK I get that now, you’ve told us that like a thousand times! What else do I need to know? What’s new pal?’
  • People ask me for meal plans, recipes, details about which foods to eat. And I keep saying ‘eggs for breakfast, meat and veg for lunch and dinner, fruit and nuts for snacks.’ and they keep saying ‘What else?’
  • I get the sense everyone is waiting for something else, something BIG and EXCITING! Guess what, there is no more! Ahahahaha really, this is it, this is ALL there is:

Read more

May 11

3 Comments

I’m not fat, so I can eat what I like! My food choices don’t affect my health!! (And other bullsh*t beliefs!)

Forgive me going off on a bit of a rant today, but I was just having this conversation with a friend and I thought I would share this with you, as it’s a relevant ‘case study’ and applies to loads of people.

What is this post about?

  • There are a LOT of people around who are not over weight, so they take an ‘I can eat whatever rubbish I like’ attitude to their diet
  • This is deep-held belief that people have, that if they are not grossly over weight, then there is no further connection between diet and health
  • Last time I checked the scientific literature, slim people still get sick. Slim people still suffer coughs, colds, flu. Slim people still suffer chronic fatigue, tiredness, skin conditions and bowel conditions. Slim people still get heart disease. Slim people still get cancer. Slim people still die! Last time I spoke to one of my Doctor friends, I don’t recall “Not being over weight” as a cure-all solution to living forever and never getting ill.

Conclusions in this post:

  • There are many factors involved in whether or not you are over weight
  • Body fat serves numerous function in your body, some of them are involved in keeping you healthy
  • Eating a diet high in junk food affects your health in many ways above and beyond whether or not you carry excess body fat

Read on to learn more.

I’m not fat, so I can eat what I like! My food choices don’t affect my health!!

I hear this one a LOT. I could write an entire book (seriously, 100,000 words, 200 pages, no problem!) just tackling this myth and all the threads and sub-topics that come off this. In the interests of time and sanity, I will try to keep this post brief, as you and I don’t have time for a whole book today! Read more

May 10

Are you really hungry…or are you just bored?

Next time you buy convenience food - like dropping in to the shop at a petrol station to buy a packet of crisps (that’s potato chips, to our American friends) or a chocolate bar - because you say you’re ‘starving hungry’ and you really must eat something…think again, are you REALLY hungry?

Your body is designed to function through times when food is abundant, and times when there is nothing. A healthy body that is fuelled by real, natural, whole food, can skip a meal from time to time without a problem. Personally, when I get busy, I often skip meals.

Don’t ‘think’ you need to eat just because the clock says it’s lunchtime, don’t think that you need to eat every 4 hours or you will run out of energy.

This popular post about encouraging your body to metabolise body fat for energy, instead of feeding your body cheap carbohydrates every few hours, explains how your body can use fat as fuel.

Don’t be a ‘cheap sugar machine’. Fuel your body with real whole foods for more even energy levels. Re-think what hungry really feels like.

There are some truly unfortunate people in our world who really know what hunger is, and the rest of us need to keep things in perspective. It’s fine to enjoy food when we gather with our friends and families to socialise and celebrate, but don’t get wrapped up in celebrating food itself every day. Food should not be your hobby nor your highlight 7 days each week. Keep things in healthy perspective.

May 6

3 Comments

Why it’s important to be a balanced, big picture thinker

I know I often write long posts, and you might not have time to read them. So I will put bullet points at the start, telling you in brief what the post is about, and in brief, the main conclusions or points that I come to.

This way, if you are short of time, you can read the bullet points, which only takes 30 seconds, and it should tell you the essence of the post - if it sounds interesting, you will find the 5 minutes you need to read the whole thing, but otherwise, the bullet points tell you enough to get the main idea.

I will try to remember to summarize all future posts this way. I hope this is helpful!

What is this post about?

  • Some people are obsessed with clean eating, while the rest of their life is in a mess!
  • Some people are obsessed with weight training or a certain sport, but pay little attention to good diet
  • Some people eat well and exercise, but the allow other areas of life to stress them out, having a negative impact on their lives
  • Some people do so much endurance sport they never allow time for recovery - and an excess of almost anything can become unhealthy eventually
  • I meet a lot of folks who put in killer workouts and intense training sessions, but then they are ill with colds and flu every few weeks

Main conclusions:

  • You have to be a big picture thinker
  • Take a holistic approach to optimal good health
  • Balance is essential - train with weights, train aerobically, have heavy days, and easy days, eat well, de-stress and look to ensure there is happiness in your life…all these areas are equally important

Read on to learn more.

You have to look at the bigger picture

I see lots of people fixated on just food or just exercise, but I fear they are failing to look at the bigger picture. Supreme good health and abundant energy does not come from putting ALL your attention on just one thing, you have to think holistically.

I often meet people who obsess over ‘pure clean eating’, they are fanatical about eating raw, organic, vegan, local, seasonal and only grown in countries that ban GMO crops. They know a million reasons why you mustn’t cook with a certain oil, because heating it produces some ghastly carcinogenic chemicals, they will tell you that it’s like cooking your dinner in toxic waste! They will tell you everything there is to know about sprouting beans, fermenting vegetables, home made sour dough bread and the nutrient profile of certain seeds. Read more

Mar 20

3 Comments

Sticking to your Healthy Eating goals and avoiding temptation

Earlier today, a dear friend called me and asked me about motivation, and about how I ‘stick to it’.

My friend wanted to know how I manage to stay on the right track, I keep making the right choices and I don’t give in to temptation. My friend asked me if I would write about this, for all of you to read.

Well, yes I will. For today, I’ll just touch on this topic briefly, then another time I will write much more. This topic of controlling your own urges and the mental struggle of  

The truth is, we all KNOW what to do, but we don’t DO what we know.

  • We ALL know that it is healthier to eat a plateful of steamed green vegetables than it is to eat pizza or Chinese take away
  • We ALL KNOW it is healthier to have a glass of water, than a cola or a beer
  • We ALL know that it is healthier to eat salad, than burger and chips
  • We all KNOW that it is healthier to go for a walk rather than sitting on the sofa all evening staring at the TV

But we still sometimes make the wrong choices. WHY? Read more

Mar 14

The 12 Core Principles of MotherNaturesDiet are very carefully balanced to help you focus on the MOST important issues in improving overall health.

The 12 Core Principles of MotherNaturesDiet are clustered in 3 groups:

Group 1: Things to quit 12 Core Principles - 3

Group 2: Things to consume

Group 3: Exercise and lifestyle factors

Each group contains 4 Rules. All these rules are brief and purposefully simplified - MND is all about keeping it simple, to help ordinary busy people cut through the ‘diet industry’ and ‘health industry’ marketing bullshit and get to what really works.

You’ll see that there are TWICE AS MANY Rules about ‘what not to eat’ as there are about ‘what TO eat’. This is structured this way on purpose, because I believe it is TWICE as important to get all the crap OUT of your life than to spend all your time worrying about the nuances and minutiae of what you should be eating. Diet perfectionism be damned, just eat real whole foods, eliminate chemicals from your body and avoid ALL processed foods, and you’ll have ‘the diet thing’ 90% licked. Read more

Mar 13

You think my food is boring? Try taking a look at your LIFE!

Someone recently said to me “Oh man I know it’s healthy and all that, but a lot of your food looks really boring, you eat the same thing all the time, eggs and greens, nuts and fruit, meat and veggies, it’s so boring. Don’t you want Chinese take away and pizza and chips and curry and loads of different things every week? Come on mate, you only live once, have some fun! Don’t you get bored?”

Erm, no, I don’t, thanks. Fortunately, I actually have enough going on in my life that I don’t need to look to my evening meal to find something thrilling and exciting in my day. Read more

Feb 6

4 Comments

8 Years Without Cigarettes! Yippee!!

I quit smoking, after “trying” for more than a decade, eight years ago this week! The last cigarette I smoked was mid-morning on Feb 3rd, 2006. Now, they are gone forever! Hoorah!!

I appreciate that many people find quitting really tough. I know. For a long time, that was me, too. Then, once I MADE a FIRM DECISION, it was easy, and I have never looked back.

Prior to that, I had ‘tried’ many times, justifying that I ‘should’ quit because it was a waste of money or it was bad for my health, but those justifications just never empowered me enough, and I quit literally hundreds of times over 10 or 12 years and it would last between an hour and several months, then I would go back.

But, 8 years ago this week, I made a decision to change my identity, in my own psyche. I DECIDED that I was committed to good health so I changed who I saw myself as, to “health freak” which automatically meant ‘non-smoker’ was a core part of the new me. With that mental reference, I just quit. I took the pack out of pocket, crushed it and dropped it into a bin, and have never wanted one since.

That day, my life changed forever.

All my changes for the better, all my positive changes from the unhealthy old me that wanted to change but didn’t know how, to the new me for whom health and longevity has become my life’s consuming passion, all those changes started right then, as I decided to quit smoking. It all started that day, that hour, because in my BRAIN and in my HEART, I changed my identity, I said to myself with belief and conviction, that I am a healthy person, who wants to be healthy, look healthy, have more energy, shape a nice strong lean body, be fitter, live longer and not get sick. I changed my own identity, and since then, everything has slowly fallen ‘almost effortlessly’ into place.

The last 8 years have been incredible, and I can hardly describe the depth of changes in my life that have come from that humble start.

Onward to the next 8!! Yippeeee!!!

Stay healthy folks, stay happy!

Jan 5

Who is MotherNaturesDiet for?

  • What is MotherNaturesDiet really all about?
  • Who is this for?
  • What is the goal?

I am often asked what MND is all about, who is it for, who should follow MND and why?

I have spent a long time thinking about it all.

I have dear friends who have pointed out that on the one hand, I ‘preach’ moderation and clean living: I tell people to practice clean eating, to de-stress, I promote calm living in commune with Mother Nature, I tell people to de-stress, relax, walk in the woods, enjoy the mountains, get some fresh air and sunshine and chill out, I recommend that we all pay off our debts, treat our bodies with respect and love more.

Then on the other hand, I myself train like a maniac 5 days per week, I regularly try to motivate you with posts about my tough training sessions. I cycle miles and miles, I run marathons and ultra-marathons, I run over mountains, I rock climb, I have a climbing wall up the side of my house, I have done 1000 push ups in an hour and I throw 250 pound tractor tyres around several times per week.

People say to me “there seems to be a conflict” and I think about this myself, and I have finally figured out what it’s all about. Read more

Dec 29

2013 Popular Posts #10: We wouldn’t feed pizza to a rhino, so why are we feeding it to our children?

This post is about the so-called ‘food’ that forms an increasing proportion of the calories consumed by many people today.

We humans eat substances that we wouldn’t feed to other animals, but we feed them to ourselves, and we feed them to those we love the most, our children.

https://mothernaturesdiet.me/2013/02/16/we-wouldnt-feed-pizza-to-a-rhino-so-why-are-we-feeding-it-to-our-children/

Dec 29

2013 Popular Posts #12: Avoiding ‘Diet Perfectionism’

2013 Popular Posts #12: Avoiding ‘Diet Perfectionism’ and the trap of crippling inaction

This post is about the pursuit of ‘diet perfectionism’

• There is so much conflicting and confusing ‘diet advice’ around these days, that it can be really hard to know what to do to genuinely make the best healthy choices. One of the main reasons I created MND in the first place, is because I too went through the years of reading, learning, trying different ‘diets’ and failing…it is all so confusing, the so-called experts all seem to disagree with each other. I feel so sorry for people trying to make healthy choices but not making progress, and MND was borne out of my desire to help other people from the lessons I have learned

• Many well-intentioned nutrition and wellness ‘experts’ promote ideals of healthy eating that are virtually impossible for ‘the rest of us’ to live up to

• A lot of people get caught up in trying hard to do “the right thing”, following all the fads, the latest craze, the health warnings and shopping for the latest superfood being promoted by some A-list celebrity

• It can be so hard to navigate the endless advice and warnings, that many people suffer the “paralysis of analysis”, so fearful of taking the wrong action, they end up taking no action at all

• This post will help you not to get too caught up in the world of ‘diet perfectionism’, and help you to see that if you just focus on making the big changes you need for a healthy lifestyle, the detail can drop into place later

https://mothernaturesdiet.me/2013/09/18/avoiding-diet-perfectionism-and-the-trap-of-crippling-inaction/

Nov 7

127 Weight Loss Tips from MotherNaturesDiet - free eBook

For so many people, losing weight is a top life priority.

Millions of people flock to the health and wellness industry every year looking for help, looking for answers, looking for solutions.

Well here is a solution for you, and one that won’t cost you any money, and it doesn’t involve buying supplements, so-called ‘superfoods’ or some new-fangled piece of home workout equipment.

Please download this free book and share it with your friends and family if they are interested in being healthier and losing unwanted excess weight.

127 Weight Loss Tips Book from MotherNaturesDiet

I hope you like this little book and find it useful. As you have probably figured out by now, MotherNaturesDiet is the no-tricks, no-gimmicks, common-sense approach to good health and fitness. That’s all you’ll find in this little book, just lashings of common sense and simple ideas, things you can do to lose weight and feel great.

Please share it with friends and let me know what you think, I always love to hear from you.

Stay happy, stay healthy.

 

Sep 22

TEDx – where x is meant to = independent

TEDx – where x is meant to = independent

Sadly, it looks as though TEDx isn’t so independent any more

This letter came to my attention from a friend:

http://blog.tedx.com/post/37405280671/a-letter-to-the-tedx-community-on-tedx-and-bad-science

Reading through this, it seems that the TED advice to all TEDx organisers is, ‘don’t allow anyone to stand up and speak about health related issues unless they are a practicing M.D. (G.P.) or if they have a Ph.D. and are affiliated to a major university.’

Read more

Sep 18

9 Comments

Avoiding ‘Diet Perfectionism’ and the trap of crippling inaction

This post is about the pursuit of ‘diet perfectionism’

  • There is so much conflicting and confusing ‘diet advice’ around these days, that it can be really hard to know what to do to genuinely make the best healthy choices
  • Many well-intentioned nutrition and wellness ‘experts’ promote ideals of healthy eating that are virtually impossible for ‘the rest of us’ to live up to
  • A lot of people get caught up in trying hard to do “the right thing”, following all the fads, the latest craze, the health warnings and shopping for the latest superfood being promoted by some A-list celebrity
  • It can be so hard to navigate the endless advice and warnings, that many people suffer the “paralysis of analysis”, so fearful of taking the wrong action, they end up taking no action at all
  • This blog will help you not to get too caught up in the world of ‘diet perfectionism’, and help you to see that if you just focus on making the big changes you need for a healthy lifestyle, the detail can drop into place later

Read more

Aug 12

2000 year old advice…

“Thin people are generally the most healthy; we should not therefore indulge our appetites with delicacies or high living, for fear of growing corpulent.”

- Greek historian Plutarch (AD 46-122)

Yes folks, that interesting advice is almost 2000 years old, yet still we live in times of excess consumption, where there are more people dying from over-eating than starvation and malnutrition.

When will people learn?

 

Jul 15

2 Comments

“For the first time in human history, overweight people outnumber the underfed”

It’s an evening of research reading for me. I just read this excellent but rather sad and sobering summary statement:

“2013: For the first time in human history, overweight people outnumber the underfed, and obesity is widespread in wealthy and poor nations alike. The diseases that obesity makes more likely — diabetes, heart ailments, strokes, kidney failure — are rising fast across the world, and the World Health Organisation predicts that they will be the leading causes of death in all countries, even the poorest, within a couple of years. What’s more, the long-term illnesses of the overweight are far more expensive to treat than the infections and accidents for which modern health systems were designed. Obesity threatens individuals with long twilight years of sickness, and health-care systems with bankruptcy.”

This sad situation is exactly what MotherNaturesDiet aims to tackle. The human race is on a fast-track to self destruction, and no I am not being melodramatic, this is serious, this situation has been created in JUST 50 years, from when obesity was a rarity, to the largest global epidemic of our time.

Just 50 years.

Project your mind forward another 50 years, 100 years, 200 years, 500 years and tell me what future you see for humanity?

Read more

Jul 5

Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. But it doesn’t have to be that way…

The evening before last, I was privileged to be at The Odeon Leicester Square to attend the UK movie premiere of the excellent health documentary ‘Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead’

http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

The movie is about an Aussie businessman who was grossly overweight, suffering poor health (he had urticaria, something I have battled and beaten myself over the last 8 years) and he was heading for a heart attack. He made this movie about his journey back to good health.

The movie is inspirational and a shortened version of it Read more

Jun 17

2 Comments

MND is not for everyone, it’s only for those few who are truly serious about their health

Hey folks, I recorded this little video today, all about why MND is not some fad diet thing, but is in fact a long term lifestyle for those committed completely to living in a state of abundant good heath for many decades. This video explains how I hope to eventually make MND into my full time career, how I hope to earn my living serving you through MotherNaturesDiet, and how this whole thing probably won’t appeal to 99% of the population.

Check out the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBRewO7M-lk

Let me know what you think, and please feel free to share with a friend if you think it will help them.

Stay healthy, stay happy!

Karl

 

May 27

1 Comment

Just Start - And Never Give Up!

A friend reminded me of this today… Whatever your goals, you just have to START. Just get started.

When I was obese, with a BMI of 32.6, weighing 249 pounds (113 kilos), the thought of ever being under 12 stone (just 74 kilos) seemed utterly impossible. But I started, one step at a time, I exercised, ate an improved diet, quit the bad habits. It took many years, and I did yo-yo up and down over that time, but I never gave up hope or determination to achieve good health and a better body. In total, I lost 100 pounds of fat off my frame and got down to a BMI of 21.2, well under 12 stone.

When I first started my journey to fitness, a set of 10 regular push-ups was a max effort for me, I could barely do 10, and when I did it would hurt and I would ache the next day. In the last week, I’ve done well over 2000 push-ups and I have not been pushing myself hard, that’s just normal, I do that almost every week. I regularly do 400 or 500 as part of my workout several days per week, and my best effort to date was 1014 good form, wide-grip, push-ups in 59:56 seconds.

Whatever YOUR goal, JUST START, and never give up. If you never give up, you will eventually get that which you desire.

Apr 19

2 Comments

Changing how we think about ‘food as a treat’

Many people struggling to lose excess weight, need to change how they think of food as ‘a leisure activity’.

We parents must be so careful what we teach our kids about food. We must try not to teach them that sugary foods are ‘treats’. Such foods, consumed over decades, can have disastrous health consequences.

 

Learn more in this short video.

http://youtu.be/gDZ9_sfhRao

Mar 30

2 Comments

Motivation: it doesn’t matter WHERE you get it, just that you DO

There is a saying 'Motivation: it doesn't matter WHERE you get it, just that you DO' and I tend to agree.

One thing I know we all suffer from is body dysmorphia - where we see something in the mirror that isn't really there. Often, women see themselves fat and saggy, when in fact that look fabulous, and men all think they look like Sly Stallone when they actually look more like the Michelin man.

Read more

Mar 12

Doing Nothing is a Backward Step

A friend reminded me of this line of thought yesterday, so I thought I would blog about this today.

My friend lamented that he had previously worked hard for 10 months to improve his physical conditioning, but then just 3 months of taking his eye off the ball and all his hard work was lost.

Let me give you an analogy that might resonate with some of you. This is a running story, and I wrote this for a business book I published back in 2009, but it is very relevant to diet and exercise and how we treat our health and our bodies in general.

Read more

Mar 11

3 Comments

Focus on what really matters

If we accept that the broad purpose of 'charity' at a worldwide scale, is to save lives and reduce pain and suffering, then we are at a time when we need to drastically reconsider how we are directing the help we give.

At the end of 2012, there were approximately 905 million undernourished people on the planet. That number is slowly shrinking, by approximately 1 person every 5 seconds. That's 6 million less starving people every year. If we continue at that pace, and if global warming, changing climate patterns and fossil fuel shortages don't cause any new problems greater than they already create today, then in 150 years there will be no more starving people on this planet.

A planet of two halves - too little and too much

But, right here, right now, worldwide 10.7 million people will have died of hunger in the last year.

There are also 1,567 million overweight people on the planet. 522 million of them are obese. Yes, there are more than half a BILLION obese people on Earth.

Read more

Mar 10

3 Comments

Drinking bleach…and other bright ideas…

Immediacy

Today I was thinking, most of the poor health habits that most people engage in, do not have immediacy in the link between cause and effect. There is a crucial disconnect – time.

So some actions that are bad for you, link cause and effect with immediacy. For example, how about stabbing yourself in the arm with a sharp knife. There is an immediate time-connection between the action and the result, the cause and the effect. As you stick the knife in your skin, there is instant pain, then bleeding, then the more you push it in, the more pain, as muscles are cut, and nerves, and down to bone…yeah, you get the message, you’d stop pretty quick right?

Similarly, drinking a bottle of bleach. There is immediacy, an instant connection between the action (cause) and the result (effect). You start drinking, it tastes disgusting, you gag, as you drink, you will start vomiting almost immediately, as your body instantly recognises that it is poison and tries to eject it as fast as possible, to stop it getting any further inside you. Your body knows how bad it is for you, and tries to immediately get it out, violently and rapidly. (Notice any similarity with alcohol?)

So people (most people) don’t purposefully stab themselves with sharp knives or drink a bottle of bleach very often, because they know that there is an instant connection between doing these stupid things and feeling pain and ill-health.

But what if the reaction is somewhat slower?

But there are many less dramatic things that many of us do almost every day, that have a detrimental effect on our health, but the effect lacks immediacy, so we do not see the connection in the same way.

Read more

Mar 2

Just Do It. Eat clean. Workout. No more excuses!

Just the other day, I was having a conversation with someone about motivation. This person was like a walking, talking book of excuses...oh, no sorry they were not excuses, to this person they were 'legitimate reasons' why those healthy meals didn't get cooked, 'good reasons' why the wrong things seemed to be in the kitchen cupboards and the fridge, 'genuine reasons' why those hard sweaty workouts were not happening, 'real reasons' why that belly was still hanging over the trousers.

So often, many of us talk a ton of bullshit to everyone who will listen, and we talk the most bullshit to ourselves. I know, I've been there, done that, for years, as I ate pizza, drank beer and rolled up another cigarette I would trip out all the reasons why I hadn't worked out that day or why I 'needed' that beer and that cigarette to unwind from my stressful day.

Bullshit. There are no reasons, just bullshit excuses. In truth, it's all about priorities.

Read more

Mar 2

Controversial Rant - The Diet Industry is ONE BIG CON!!!

Some days I get REALLY annoyed about the whole 'diet industry', it makes me so angry that there is so much misinformation out there. I was looking at another nutrition training course the other day, costing a couple of thousand dollars, and selling itself as ‘cutting edge’ and ‘representing the new paradigm’ in diet and nutrition. This drives me crazy, really, there is NO cutting edge, NO new paradigm, there are no ‘amazing secrets’ or ‘miracle cures’...this is all just marketing speak to get you to buy diet books, supplements, powders, potions and fad exercise equipment.

I get so frustrated – we shouldn’t be looking for ‘the cutting edge’, or ‘the latest thing’, there is no ‘21st century solution’, in fact I would say the majority of the human population has never been so malnourished as they are now, they – WE – have never eaten so badly as we do now...yet at the same time, more humans eat more calories than ever. People are stuffed and fat, but malnourished at the same time, and hence suffering from such a wide array of health complaints, diseases and physical malfunction.

Read more

Feb 16

3 Comments

We wouldn’t feed pizza to a rhino, so why are we feeding it to our children?

Think about the so-called food available to us today.

Imagine you are visiting the zoo, and you see the zoo keepers feeding the animals. They put the food out for the big rhino, buckets of roughly chopped up vegetables, perhaps some pieces of fruit, and all seems well. During a demonstration talk, the keeper offers the rhino a jam doughnut as he cracks some joke about "even this big guy likes a treat each day" and most of the spectators laugh as the rhino eagerly gobbles down the doughnut. A few people would quietly be thinking 'you shouldn't give things like that to an animal, it's cruel' but they don't say anything, they keep their opinions to themselves for fear of appearing to be an extremist.

But now let's say things are different, let's picture a different scenario. Imagine if our rhino is kept in his muddy, grassy enclosure and fed bucket loads of pizza, burgers, chips, pies, pastries, cakes, ice cream, chocolate bars and biscuits. Every day the public visit this zoo and watch the keepers fill our rhino's drinking trough with cola or beer or milkshake, and the ground of his enclosure is littered with chewing gum, pizza crusts, cheese sandwiches and cookies. What would the vast majority of zoo visitors say then?

Read more

Nov 17

Restraint in the supermarket

I know I wrote about this before, recently, but it is well worth repeating.

The hardest time to stick to your health principles is when you are out shopping.

Few single things will have a greater impact on your health, well being and body shape that exercising will power in the supermarket and the convenience store.

Think of it this way: If you buy it, then it’s in your house, and you have to exercise will power every day, 7 days per week, often several times per day, because you know it’s there, in the fridge/cupboard/larder.

However, if you can exercise self control in the shop, surrounded by every temptation piled floor to ceiling high, then the other days of the week will be easier, because it will not be in your home - out of sight, out of mind.

Just show restraint that one time, and you won’t be tested again and again every day in your home.

Exercise your greatest will power when shopping.

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