21 Days. Discovering and Stretching the Bounds of Human Potential. Copyright Phil Kaplan, 2017, All Rights Reserved Page 1

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Eleanor Little
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21 Days Discovering and Stretching the Bounds of Human

2 Day 2 Yesterday you learned to avoid energy disruptors. For many people this is, at least psychologically, one of the greatest challenges at the onset. If you re constantly fixated on what you can t eat, it s almost as if you begin tuning into the wrong station, thinking thoughts that create feelings of avoidance and tension. Here s the reason it s doubly difficult. If you typically eat the energy disrupting foods in significant amounts, your body has almost forgotten how to produce natural energy. You re driving blood sugar spikes and drops that cause an up followed by a crash. We might call this an addiction, but don t fear. It s easily resolved. When you spike blood sugar with simple carbohydrates, you drive an insulin spike. The additional insulin removes glucose from the bloodstream and stores it in muscles and in the liver (or strives to in the case of insulin resistance). This leads to a short-term condition of residual low blood sugar and neurotransmitters in the brain drive you to restore blood glucose by eating simple carbs. Thus... you battle cravings. Eat sugar, crave sugar, and so it goes. (If you have progressed to a condition of weight loss resistance or reduced insulin efficiency, other mechanisms work to create the sugar cravings, but these too can be controlled) You have been at this Supportive Eating thing for only one day... and if you re getting even a slight sense that you re getting the hang of it, you re putting meals into your digestive tract near four times per day, each meal with some protein sparing slow-release natural carbohydrate or healthy fat. By providing energy substrates (fuel) with frequency, and avoiding the types of foods I refer to as Disruptors, you ve already started to facilitate a positive change. Blood sugar will not go through radical spikes and drops and insulin production will stabilize. The addiction is really a chemical process whereby the spikes and drops drive erratic appetite. After three days of avoiding Disruptors and eating supportively, cravings will minimize or even cease completely. You will need to summon up some discipline and strength early on, but very soon your appetite will in and of itself become supportive. For now, as you reprogram your metabolism, you don t want to go long periods of time without food (aside from overnight, try to avoid going more than a 5-hour span without a supportive meal). It s vitally important to supply fuel without Disruption to begin to move toward healthy energy metabolism. And so... this is an ideal time to read and understand Principle #3 of the 42 Principles... Copyright Phil Kaplan, 2017, All Rights Reserved Page 2

3 Principle #3 Energy Disruptors consumed ultimately consume your energy thus we must learn to avoid / eliminate bleached, refined, processed, and manufactured foods and sugars. These carbohydrate foods affect pancreatic hormones to disrupt consistent energy production. Spikes in insulin and residual spikes and drops in blood sugar become habitual affecting appetite, neurotransmission, metabolic energy, and cellular energy production. In addition to the other undesired long term effects of frequent, erratic, or excessive consumption of glucoseabundant substrates with a rapid release propensity, energy disruption, unless corrected, allows reduced performance and reduced capacity to give way to cellular entropy. The belief that a short-term sugar spike resultant from a candy bar or high-sugar beverage is energy furthers the disruption and results in a net energy loss over time. By eliminating the input of sugars and processed foods, you are beginning to detoxify, allowing the gut and the cells to function as intended. Later in the program we ll incorporate some more targeted strategies for detox, but for now realize the cleansing of your body is vitally important to return to optimal health and fitness. REVIEW: AVOID Simple Sugars Foods that Contain Ingredients with ose Honey Processed grains Fruit Juices A CLOSER LOOK AT THE LYMPHATIC SYSTEM Yesterday you started doing the Lumbar Taps, or what we like to call The Windmill Exercise. You should by now have a sense of the role of the Lymphatic system and understand that a simple palpation (tapping) of the lumbar lymphatic trunks activates an important detoxifying system. Today, I m going to ask you to appreciate that a very simple exercise, twisting from side to side and punching yourself in the back for a minute, helps to rid your system(s) of sludge and debris. That s why I want you to amp it up a bit. Review Principle #4, and then I ll share the very simple addition I have in mind. Copyright Phil Kaplan, 2017, All Rights Reserved Page 3

4 Principle #4 The Lymphatic System, when its inactive, allows sludge to slow the entire machine down and its reactivation is one of the most vital cleansing mechanisms we have access to. This is an oversimplification of what might be considered an extension of the circulatory system, but as its own set of organs and vessels the lymphatic system doesn t have a pump. When physical activity is diminished, so too is lymphatic activity. This cleansing system is vital to the immune system. In addition to lymphocytes and white blood cells, the lymphatic vessels transport cellular debris, waste, proteins, and bacteria. By combining biomovement, diaphragmatic breathing, and palpation of the lymphatic trunks, we can mobilize lymph and restore a vitally important removal of accumulated waste and debris that interferes with optimal health. This detoxifying reactivation in less active individuals typically results in an increase in energy, alertness, mood, and sense of well-being. OK, here s the addition. Add two (2) 1-minute Windmill exercises throughout the day. Sure, it looks silly, but who cares. You can sneak off into a bathroom for a minute, or just take a minute right in the middle of a park, an elevator, or your office floor and twist back and forth. With that exception, the routine stays exactly the same. There is one more addition, but it isn t exercise. Well, not physical exercise. It s actually an exercise in Gratitude. INTRODUCTION TO INVOKING GRATITUDE Yesterday you started a morning prayer, focusing on thankfulness and appreciation as well as recognition of your power to find betterment. Today, you ll invest 10 minutes, before bed, identifying at least one specific thing you re thankful for and writing about it in your journal. This doesn t have to be a novel, or a work of literature. The idea is to continue to develop the habit of directing your mind toward a recognition of the good things. You cannot experience gratitude and anger at the same time, nor can you experience gratitude and dismay. As you now understand the importance of changing thought rituals, you re gaining an immense power over mindset by starting each day in prayer and thankfulness and ending each day in a pure state of gratitude. This evening Gratitude Journaling should become a regular exercise, ultimately a new habit. 10 minutes before bed, directing your mind to identify whatever it is that you re thankful for is enough to reduce perpetual stress and facilitate what you ll soon come to know as parasympathetic recovery. It s a beautiful thing. Really it is. Copyright Phil Kaplan, 2017, All Rights Reserved Page 4

IN SUMMARY DAY #2 EXERCISE Stay with the 9-Minute Routine Add in two (2) 1-minute bouts

Supportive Eating plan striving to completely avoid energy disruptors.

optimally 8 And be sure to review your W.I.S.H. You re in the process of making it real.

5 IN SUMMARY DAY #2 EXERCISE Stay with the 9-Minute Routine Add in two (2) 1-minute bouts of Windmill taps throughout the day NUTRITION Work to personally improve upon your own Supportive Eating plan striving to completely avoid energy disruptors. LIFESTYLE NOTES Laugh, Smile, Spend 10 minutes in Gratitude, Sleep at least 6 hours, optimally 8 And be sure to review your W.I.S.H. You re in the process of making it real. A.S.A.R. is a Vital Need for Physical Betterment. Copyright Phil Kaplan, 2017, All Rights Reserved Page 5

The 9 Minute Morning Routine 3 Super Deep Slow Breaths (Abdomen, Chest, Release) Mountain Pose 20

Pose (15 seconds) Upward Dog (15 seconds) 6 slow pushups (1 minute of muscles under tension) Downward

Jump, slow down, explosive up (30 seconds) 3 minutes of aerobic movement with 20 seconds of high

6 The 9 Minute Morning Routine 3 Super Deep Slow Breaths (Abdomen, Chest, Release) Mountain Pose 20 seconds, release, 20 seconds, release, 20 seconds, release (always maintaining neutral spine) Child s Pose (15 seconds) Upward Dog (15 seconds) 6 slow pushups (1 minute of muscles under tension) Downward Dog (15 seconds) Pull (1 minute of muscles under tension) Windmills with lumbar taps Squat or Squat Jump, slow down, explosive up (30 seconds) 3 minutes of aerobic movement with 20 seconds of high intensity Cool Down, 3 breaths END Child s Pose Upward Dog Downward Dog Copyright Phil Kaplan, 2017, All Rights Reserved Page 6

21 Days. Discovering and Stretching the Bounds of Human Potential. Copyright Phil Kaplan, 2017, All Rights Reserved Page 1

21 Days. Discovering and Stretching the Bounds of Human Potential. Copyright Phil Kaplan, 2017, All Rights Reserved Page 1 21 Days Discovering and Stretching the Bounds of Human Potential Copyright Phil Kaplan, 2017, All Rights Reserved Page 1 Day 4 As we move through the program the progressions may be subtle, but over time