Don't read the ingredients!

Here's a common bit of health advice for you NOT to follow:
"Read the ingredients."

If a product has a list of ingredients, there are a couple of things you can be sure of:
1. It's processed. (Even if it's labled "natural" or even "organic.")
2. There are some ingredients in it that you'd rather not eat.

Here are some examples of foods that most people would consider healthy. Note the prevalence of corn and soy. Since these foods are not labled as organic, chances are that the corn and soy in them are genetically modified.

And remember, these are "health foods!"

1. A frozen chicken dish:
Chicken tenderloins (chicken tenderloin, water, olive oil, soy protein product [isolated soy protein, modified food starch, starch, carrageenen, soy lecithin], dextrose, salt, potassium chloride, paprika, caramel coloring, flavorings)
Crushed tomatillos
Sweet corn
Red peppers
Poblano peppers
Chicken base (whey powder, salt, corn oil, chicken meat, natural flavoring)
Cilantro
Corn starch
Garlic
Sugar
Lime juice concentrate with lime oil

2. Boxed vegetarian chili on the natural foods aisle:
Textured soy protein
Dehydrated vegetables (tomatoes, onions, garlic, red bell peppers, celery, jalapeno peppers)
Corn meal
barley flakes
Soy sause powder (wheat, soy beans, salt)
Spices
Brown rice syrup solids
Sea salt
Expeller pressed canola oil
yeast extract
Miso powder (soybeans, rice, salt)
Natural flavor
Vinegar powder
Citric acid

3. "Made-fresh-daily" Sushi:
Cooked rice (white rice, water)
Tuna treated with carbon monoxide (to promote color retention)
Cucumbers
Vinegar (with high fructose corn syrup, grain vinegar, rice vinegar, salt, brown sugar)
Pickled ginger (ginger, water, sugar, acetic acid, citric acid, fructose, malic acid, potassium sorbate, [preservative])
Spicy sauce (soybean oil, water, egg)
Distilled vinegar
Whole eggs
High fructose corn syrup
Salt
Spices
Lemon juice concentrate
Calcium disodium EDTA to protect flavor
Chili
Vinegar
Garlic
Sugar
Salt
Potassium sorbate and sodium bisulfate as preservatives
Xanthan gum
Red chili pepper
Sesame seed oil
Pepper
Green horseradish (horseradish, mustard, corn flour, citric acid, capsicum, yellow #5, blue #1)
Sesame seeds
Seaweed

Instead of buying processed foods, buy these foods that have NO lists on ingredients:


And now, a bonus - here are some photos from my recent trip to Washington, DC:






Until next time,
Dr. Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor, lightworker, energy healer, writer, speaker
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

PS: This week's update on the Oby Phenomenon:



You can now purchase or order Oby's Wisdom! A Caveman's Simple Gude to Health and Well-being at your favorite local bookstore. Here in the Inland Northwest, Oby is on the shelves at these locations:
Spokane: Auntie's Bookstore, downtown
Coeur d'Alene: Hastings and Borders
Sandpoint: Inquire Within, Winter Ridge Natural Foods Market, Zero Point and Vanderford's Books & Office Products

You can also visit the official Oby's Wisdom website to purchase a copy. www.ObysWisdom.com

Read reviews (all of which are 5 star) and buy Oby's Wisdom on Amazon.

Buy Oby's Wisdom at the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association's Amazon Book Store.

Buy Oby's Wisdom at BarnesAndNoble.com

In India and other locations in Asia, Oby's Wisdom is available at Infibeam.com and FriendsOfBooks.com
(Free shipping in India.)

If you would prefer to read the book digitally, you can find Oby's Wisdom in various digital formats at:

Barnes and Noble's Nook

Sony e-reader

Other digital formats at Smashwords.com

Oby's Wisdom is now available in Apple's iPad store.

Coming any day now(I hope) to Amazon's Kindle store.
(If you have a Kindle reader of have the Kindle program on your computer or samrt phone, you can buy the Kindle version of Oby's Wisdom at Smashwords.com

The best diet: Don't go on a diet!

A couple of days ago, one of my Facebook friends posted a note on my profile page asking what diet I could recommend for losing weight and keeping it off. Here's how I responded:
"Don't go on a diet! Just eat as Nature intended - a balance of fresh, whole, natural, organic, local foods. Focus on a healthy lifestyle rather than the number on the scale or comparing yourself to magazine cover models. I devote an entire chapter to this in Oby's Wisdom. Remember this always: You are Beautiful and Perfect!"

With nutrition as with everything else health related, Nature has the answer. Nature has provided all we need. And when Nature designed our food supply, She didn't include junk like preservatives, food dye, artificial flavorings...



Ponder this: have you ever seen an obese wild animal?

Until next time,
Dr. Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor, lightworker, energy healer, writer, speaker
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

PS: The Oby Phenomenon has begun!
My new book, Oby's Wisdom! A Caveman's Simple Gude to Health and Well-being is now available in print!For those readers here in the Inland Northwest, you can pick up a copy at these locations:
Spokane: Auntie's Bookstore, downtown
Coeur d'Alene: Hastings
Sandpoint: Inquire Within, Winter Ridge Natural Foods Market, Zero Point and Vanderford's Books & Office Products
If you live elsewhere, you can visit the official Oby's Wisdom website to purchase a copy. www.ObysWisdom.com

Oby is also available through Amazon and your favorite local bookstore.

The Secret to Healthy Nutrition: Never Go On a Diet Again!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I sure did. It is such a wonderful holiday, celebrating one of the most beautiful and empowering states of consciousness there is: gratitude.

Thanksgiving is a day of feasting and it ushers in the winter holiday season. The holidays are fun and joyous time of celebration and fellowship, but they can also be a time of great challenge. The challenge I am talking about is, of course…

Food!

For many, food is a battle. Almost all of us have been on a diet at some point in time. Some people always seem to be on a diet—and usually not a consistent one. Opinions as to what comprises healthy nutrition change from time to time, and our eating habits usually follow the latest theory or fad. (How many people have stayed on their 1970’s low cal diet through the low fat and low carb eras?)

So here is a simple solution:

Never go on a diet again!

When I say, “don’t go on a diet,” I am referring to the intention, not to the behavior. Anybody can benefit from healthier eating habits. The important thing is the intention—to incorporate better nutrition into your life for the health benefits, and not to fight yourself.

So many diet plans, diet books and weight loss programs exist that it would be pretty much impossible to count them all. Low cal, low fat, low carb, slow carb, raw food, beer and cookies—the list continues to expand.

And they all work…

But none of them work…

That is, they all work if you stick to them, but virtually no one sticks to them over a lifetime. I’m not joking about the beer and cookies diet. When I was a college student, I had a good friend who was famous for his beer and cookies diet. He wanted to maintain a healthy weight, but he knew that beer and cookies, on top of everything else he ate and drank, would probably cause him to gain weight. He decided to do away with the unnecessary foods and just stick with the important stuff: beer and cookies! He stuck with it religiously for a good two months. His cookies of choice were home-baked oatmeal raisin cookies or, in a pinch, the occasional box of vanilla wafers. Whichever cookies he had on his plate, he washed them down with his favorite beer: “whatever’s cheap and cold.”

I would never suggest a strict regimen of beer and cookies as a healthy approach to maintaining your ideal weight. My friend never tried to pass his diet off as serious; it was just a fun college guy thing. But he did follow his diet for two months, and he met his objective. It supports the point I am trying to get across. In terms of weight management, lots of diet plans will work, no matter how kooky or unhealthy. The challenge is sticking to a regimen…for the rest of your life.

So often, a diet is process of doing something you don’t like, to fix something you don’t like. What are the odds of that succeeding?

It will be much more self affirming for you to remember The Basic Truth:

You are beautiful and perfect!

This is a more empowering way of thinking than the dieting mindset. Feel love and gratitude for yourself as a beautiful and perfect being, and live your life from that perspective. Then imagine what your life and health will be like in 5…10…25…50 years from now, compared to what it will be like if you keep loathing yourself. Just love yourself and do everything you do—including eating—from that place of self love.

Until next time,
Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor, energy healer, lightworker
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

PS: Remember to check out my new e-book, Oby's Wisdom! A Caveman's Simple Guide to Health and Well-being. Visit www.ObysWisdom.com to learn more about the book, download a free excerpt, and read about the incredible bonuses available if you buy soon.

You are more than just the main character in your life story. You're also the writer, the producer and the director.

(And, although I have no idea what a key grip is, you're probably the key grip, too.)

Here is a story about two friends. You know both. You probably identify with one more than the other. One may even be your clone.



Once upon a time, two friends sat down to catch up. One had driven over from a fast food restaurant via the nearby donut shop. The other wheeled in on a bicycle, carrying a few bags of organic foods from the local Farmers Market. The cyclist commented on how wonderful it was that they were finally getting some rain, and told of recent experiences that had brought joy and fulfillment...then got an earful as the donut eater complained about politicians, the boss, the traffic, the economy and every other aspect of life including nonstop headaches ("I just ran out of iburofen. Do you have any I can bum? You don't? Hmmm. I'll pick some up on the way home.")



As they parted, one of the friends hopped in the car, stomped on the gas and sped off to make it home for prime time. The other pedaled away to drop the vegetables off at home and still had plenty of time to walk to yoga class.

Now, this is a different sort of story. I'm not going to tell you the ending or even the middle. I'm only telling you what's happening today. The two characters that I introduced each get to write the rest of their own story. The plot, supporting characters, ending (and even the key grip, I guess) are all a matter of choice.

Until next time,
Doctor Mark William Cochran
Chiropractor
Sandpoint and Coeur d'Alene,Idaho