Baby Steps On The Bus

by: Dr. Jeff Prystupa

Bob is a neurotic patient of Dr. Leo Marvin’s, in What About Bob?, one of my favorite movies. When Dr. Marvin goes on vacation, Bob is forced to make a decision between his fears and his overwhelming need to have a session with Dr. Marvin. “Baby steps on the bus,” is Bob’s dialogue with himself as he struggles to muster enough ‘wherewithall’ to get on a bus in New York City and try to find his therapist in the woods of New Hampshire. I highly recommend this movie for many reasons, but there is a tremendous lesson for us all in heeding Bob’s advice to himself: “Baby steps - on the bus.”

If you are still reading this, our third article in this series, then you have made a decision to begin the process of change. Congratulations. Do you know that even among those who graduate from college, less than 10% read one book a year? Half of those, 5% will ever spend one dollar on a self-help, self-education program in their entire lifetime. If you have made a decision to leave the majority behind, if you have made a decision to step up on the ladder even one rung, I applaud you. When you realize how easy this is, when you begin to see the results accrue in your favor from employing a few easy disciplines on a regular basis, I expect that you will expand your expanding horizons in other areas as well. If you need some encouragement along the way, please feel free to contact me. I support you 100% in your desire to achieve your created potential and I will do anything I can to help you.

Let me remind you as we begin that we are involved in a process. We are involved in a process that is no longer attached to negative words, negative thoughts, and self-sabotage. Remember, we are only interested in producing outcomes. As we produce outcomes, we will continually evaluate those outcomes to determine if these outcomes are bringing us closer to or further away from our goals. Success is guaranteed. We have our goals identified. We have an initial strategy in place to give us some direction. Ready? Let’s get started.

We are going to list the health strategies that are the ‘Baby Steps.’ The financial strategies are better described in Classon’s: Richest Man in Babylon, than I could articulate. So please get that short paperback book and employ those easy steps also. I will stick to my area of experience and help you identify and adopt some easy health choices. If you are ill, get evaluated with the QXCI. If you just want to move up the ladder, these steps cost nothing. We begin by substituting this for that. We eliminate the harmful self-destructive habits and replace them with other habits. We go into greater depth in: 8 Steps To Better Health Today. Here is the short list:

1. Take your body weight and divide by two. This is the minimum number of ounces of water that you are to drink a day. This is the goal, so start working up to it. In other articles, we consider that the human body is a big bag of water, and we liken it to an aquarium. We say: “If the aquarium is dirty and the fish are sick, do not treat the fish. Clean the aquarium.” Drinking plenty of water is the method for cleaning the body. Drink no soda pop! None. We drink what the Creator has given us to drink. Water. Fresh-squeezed juices. Herbal Teas. In the morning, a cup of coffee should not cause problems, a cup not pots, of coffee. If your body says: No. Listen.

2. Eat a nutritious breakfast or skip it. I am saying that it is better to have some fruit once you are up and going than to eat a lousy breakfast of white-flour carbohydrates or a swine-laced cholesterol blast. Oatmeal or grains with some added fruit does well. Fresh juice is rich in enzymes. We would all do well if we cut a lemon in half upon arising and squeezed it into a glass of water. Drink this immediately and go about your business for at least 15 minutes before adding anything else to our stomachs. Eggs are okay twice a week. If you are climbing the health ladder and you are really increasing your exercise, then you must adjust your breakfast needs accordingly.

3. Eat a light lunch. Do not consume any alcohol with lunch. Follow lunch with a large glass of water. I have also heard the thought that water dilutes the digestive juices and impairs digestion. I strongly disagree with this as digestion itself is a process of hydrolysis. Water is the great solvent. Do not deny your body the assistance of water in the process of digestion. Everyone needs to become expert in the use of digestive enzymes. Read: Enzymes In Health and Disease.

4. Lunch is a difficult spot for many who are not healthy. Healthy food is available in most places. You must become aware of bad habits here. Fast food places offer a less-than-bad alternative. At Wendy’s for example, they offer several salads. Even McDonald’s is getting on board with salads. If you have to meet people over lunch, switch the meeting place to one which has a salad bar. Stay away from the creamy dressings. A little olive oil and balsamic vinegar for a dressing is very tasty and nutritious. Eat light. Red meat is difficult. Buffalo is okay, but beef is not healthy. If you need protein, and most do not, eat baked cold-water fish. Unless it is organic, chicken is a steroid-puffed bag of second-hand antibiotics. Hamburgers should be a memory. If you must, or if your body is telling you to have some, say once a month, Good-Times is using Coleman beef in their hamburger.

5. Let it be said here, that whether we are talking about lunch or dinner, successful healthy people do not eat dessert. Dessert renders the previous meal all but indigestible. The only time we allow a little dessert is if we have enzymes in our pocket. A little ‘taste,’ followed by two or three enzymes may save the food from being rushed into the intestines too soon. Ice cream is not food, it can not be digested. Let not eating ice cream be a merit badge for you! Just say no. Dessert should not be eaten within 30 minutes of the meal. Begin to separate the meal from dessert by a half hour or better yet, forget dessert. You will be strengthened in many ways by employing this little discipline. Read: Sugar and Sour Digestion. If this seems unreasonable, take some fruit back to work or home with you and eat it an hour or so later. If you try this, you will not believe the difference in energy.

6. Did I mention that we do not drink soda? We do not need the nine tablespoons of sugar and the phosphoric acid, which sucks the calcium from our bones. Soda is destroying the health of millions! You are different, remember? You have become the 1 in 20 who are making good decisions. You will notice that you are alone in a crowd, get used to it! If you are going along with the crowd, history teaches that you are on the wrong road.

7. You must evaluate your thyroid function. There is not room to discuss it here, but there is an epidemic of under-active thyroids. Blood testing does not reveal true thyroid function. We employ underarm temperatures to determine thyroid output and stimulation. Read: Are You A Candidate For Thyroid?

8. Get a Chiropractic evaluation from a qualified Doctor of Chiropractic. Here is how to find one: “Doctor, I have heard it said that: ‘Muscles are the masters and the bones are the slaves.’ Would you care to comment, what do you say?” We Chiropractors often do not give enough attention to the role of muscles in maintaining upright posture in a hostile gravitational field. Find one who does. If there is a ‘blockage’ to normal nervous system activity because of a chiropractic-type problem, it will not be possible to circumvent this lesion. So get checked before starting your new life. Your Chiropractor can be, and should be, a tremendous ally in your health program.