A Strong Mind and Spirited Body – I

This is the first installment of a series of articles called: A Strong Mind and Spirited Body.

There is a very real connection between the mind and the body, one that must be constantly cared for and improved. A weak mind with a strong body is akin to a beautiful-looking car with a terrible engine. You must make your mind as strong as your body if you want to achieve total health, and vice versa. The connection between your mind and your body is a very real one, and you must respect that and continuously strive to strengthen that connection.

Photo by geekgirly
If you have ignored the idea of your mind, in regards to health, you can not be healthy. It is a necessary component to achieving total health.

Mind – Brain Dichotomy
Your body is a dichotomy, or a division into two parts. On the one hand, there is the body and everything physical. This is what is concrete, and what can be understood by using your five senses on a physical, not emotional, level. On the other hand, is your mind. This is not the physical brain, but more of an abstract concept of emotions and feelings. It is your conscious and subconscious experience. More subjective and open to interpretation, the mind can’t be pinned down as easily.
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3 Steps for Killing Stress Now

Stress. At its best it is improving your physical nature and mental ability. At it’s worst it is a crippling bully that refuses to leave your side. Stress can be a humble servant or a fiery master, depending on the approach you take towards it.

Stressed Out
Like any other stimulus, it can take on a number of forms; however, all types of it fall into one of two categories. You normally have positive stress, which everything from lifting weights to solving a Sudoku puzzle, as well negative stress, which could be a family member dying to even being late for your doctor’s appointment. These labels are merely for convenience, as it is ultimately up to you how you interpret them.

Photo by _nickd
Positive Stressors vs. Negatives Stressors
Each and every time you receive a stress, be it mental or physical, you have two choices. You can view it positively or you can view it negatively. To deem everything in a negative light will surely kill your spirits, and most likely your body will be soon to follow. This is why our goal is to kill all stress, before it kills you.

The three-pronged approach
Ideally then you should try to limit all negative stress, handle what’s remaining, and view everything as positive stress.
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Warning: Be Careful What You Wish For, Because Using This Technique Will Ensure You Get It

One of the most challenging aspects of setting goals is believing in them. Sounds simple enough, right?

It’s certainly an easy task to imagine, and even write down, some extremely creative and challenging goals for yourself, yet this is a far cry from being able to visualize yourself actually accomplishing them.

Photo by notsogoodphotography
Why the disconnect? It is simply a manner of changing how you mentally approach goal-setting. Your goal needs to be managed within a foolproof system. There is no way you can allow for any other possibility, other than your desired outcome, to occur. Besides, if you don’t truly believe it can happen, with every fiber of your being, you stand a strong change of your worst fears coming true: being right.

Write Your Own Future?
Here is how my approach to setting goals works..
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Mr. Magorium’s Powerfully Effective Emporium

I swear it wasn’t more than halfway through watching this movie that I thought to myself, “This would make a killer post!” However, I am not saddened to say that the message behind this wonderfully imaginative and extremely colorful film fits nicely with the subject matter of GrowStronger.com. What is that message exactly? The power of belief.

Throughout the movie, Mr. Magorium’s character, played by Dustin Hoffman, had a magical sense about him. Whether it was him or the store that was truly magical is beyond the point. He had the belief that life itself was magical and that was the only explanation needed for the fantastic and gravity-defying spectacles put on daily at his toy shop.
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Characteristics of Socially Isolated Patients With Coronary Artery Disease Who Are at Elevated Risk for Mortality

Patients with small social networks had an elevated risk of mortality, but this greater risk was not attributable to confounding with disease severity, demographics, or psychological distress.

This study raises some interesting points about the social dynamics of humans as a species. Can the state of mind, and therefore the state of the physical body, really be affected by social interaction, and if so, does it go both ways? Is there as much of a benefit to social interaction as there is a consequence?
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Raw Foods Diet: Laboratory Testing
Recently, I bought some tests online. Online blood work?! Yes, online blood work.

How does “online blood work” really work?
Well, you buy the tests online. Then they send you the information, and a sheet to print out. Taking the sheet to any of the locations they list will allow you to take the tests there. Results will be E-Mailed to you, and you can get a hard copy mailed to you as well.

What tests did you order
I ordered a Complete Wellness Profile test, with a Urinalysis, and a Vitamin B12 test.

What are they testing for?
I have taken the liberty of writing a description of each part of each test. Some are very specific to what I want to be looking out for, while attempting a 30 Day Trial of eating 100% uncooked, vegan foods.
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Raw Foods Diet: 30 Days Trial

As some of you may already know, I recently conducted a week-long raw foods experiment. What did I do? I ate 100% raw foods, fruits and vegetables, for a week. I would give a conservative estimate that at the least, 90% of my calories came from fruit.

What surprised me the most, was the fact that I found this diet incredibly easy to do! I had read about the detoxification symptoms and the cravings, but they were nonexistent for me. This got me to thinking… I wonder if I could keep this up for a whole month?
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Longevity
One of the curious things about our century is that, now more than ever, we have the ability to surpass the eighty years of age. Although it may not sound a lot to many of us (after all, there is too much to do), our current life expectancy more than doubles the life expectancy of the 19th century (1). This is excellent news since it means that our species has been able to grow stronger. But this number can be increased. How? It’s quite simple really.
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The first place that you would be when down with a flu or fever would be the clinic. The doctor would have prescribed a couple of pills and of course antibiotics to make you feel all better but how many of us have stopped to ponder about the cause of the illness and whether there is an alternative way of healing out there. The common perception is to complete the course of antibiotics to ensure the immunity level is given a boost to prevent the illness from occurring again.
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How Much Protein is Too Much Protein?

So you want to bulk up, what do you do? The first thing that probably comes to mind is to eat more protein. Whether it’s natural or supplemental through steaks or shakes, it’s true, you will want more protein. But can you “overdose” on your protein intake? Is it possible to eat too much protein?
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