I’m going to switch gears for a moment and talk about something I learned from the 4-day Anthony Robbins seminar “Unleash the Power Within” last month. There’s a lot more to life than trading and it’s been really easy to get wrapped up with what’s going on in the financial markets lately. I thought it’d be important to write something positive that I’ve learned in hopes that someone else can benefit from my experience.

For the past 10 years I’ve been battling different degrees of heartburn on and off. I’ve gone to the doctor several times because I thought I might have an ulcer or acid reflux, but nothing was ever diagnosed. They gave me prescriptions and I would get some medicine that would help out for awhile, but the problem would always return. In fact, for the past couple years it’s been so bad that it often woke me up in the middle of the night. I would say on average I had heartburn 4-5 times out of the week and it was a good night if I slept through the night without it flaring up. I guess you could say that I sort of learned to live with it, as I never really complained about it and my wife didn’t even know how bad it was.

Fast forward to the last day of the seminar which was primarily concerned with health. Robbin’s theory on health is that if you’re not running at optimal levels within your own body at a cellular level, then it really doesn’t matter how much money you;re making or how successful you are, you won’t really be enjoying your life. He offers a 10 day challenge (preferrably 30 days) to follow a few principles that he claims will transform your body and learn how to create vital life and energy. My wife and I decided that we were going to make the commitment to apply these principles for 10 days at the minimum. I’ll admit, the lifestyle changes that were required were difficult to envision at first, hence the 10 day commitment, but after a few days I decided to give it the preferred 30 days to really see if I can see a difference in the quality of my life and energy levels.

I am almost amazed to be able to write the next sentence as it is the result of applying Robbins principles for the last 5 weeks. I have not had a single bout of heartburn, not even the beginnings of a flare up since the seminar ended. Here are the changes I’ve made in my everyday routine, diet, and lifestyle that I feel make the difference. If you suffer from heartburn and take medicine, you are only masking the problem and not working to resolve the issue. I urge you to try the following steps for at least 30 days. If I could help just one person overcome this health problem that has plagued me for 1/3 of my life, I will feel that my writing this post was worth it. I will even go as far to offer my assistance by phone if you have any questions or you aren’t seeing the results that you want. All I ask is that you try the following steps for at least 10 days before emailing me at Jeff (@) zentrader.ca with any questions you might have.

  1. The first thing I would recommend is a cleanse/detox. Maria and i did the 12 day Wild Rose Detox. She had already purchased kits for both of us prior to the seminar, but after Tony told us that John Wayne’s autopsy revealed 28 pounds of dried fecal matter in his intestine, I was sold. Now I’m going to warn you, the detox is very hard to do but it’s vital in cleaning yourself out so you can start from a clean slate. You are restricted in what you are allowed to eat and this alone is very challenging but vitally important.
  2. Drink a lot of water. I was already accustomed to drinking a lot of water daily, so this was easy. If you aren’t sure how much is enough, here is a simple formula: drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces daily.
  3. Give up sugar. I never said this was going to be easy, but sugar is acid forming and there are so many harmful effects that highly acidic ph levels can do to your body. No more sodas, candy, all that stuff I love to eat.
  4. No caffeine. This is another acid former.
  5. Alkalize. Now you might be like me and have no idea what that means. It has to do with offsetting the acid levels in your body and can be done a number of ways. Putting lemon in my water and eating a lot of green vegetables is what I did.
  6. This next one is to convert to a somewhat vegetarian diet and this was very tough for me to do. I say somewhat because I do eat meat, I just try to keep it to 20% of my total diet now. You can eat as much fish as you want, but 80% of your diet should come from live foods (fruits and veggies, everything that is healthy that most people avoid, etc). On a side note, when you get the detox kit it shows you what you can eat/not eat while on the program and a lot of what you should be eating/not eating is covered in the manual. This step was very hard for me to do, as I never really could see myself as a vegetarian. I’ve been eating meat my entire life, but I must say that it’s been worth it to me to be healthier. I do eat free range chicken, but I keep it to less than 20% of my diet.
  7. Take the essential oil blend Udo’s Choice 1-2 times a day. This gets your omega 3 and 6 that so many people lack from their diets.
  8. Cut down your carbohydrate intake – I drastically reduced and almost eliminated the following from my diet: white bread, rice, potatoes, pasta.
  9. Cut out dairy completely. I already drank soy milk, so this wasn’t a big change, especially with the availablity of soy products in the grocery store.

I know these changes may seem radical, but I wanted to “play full out” as Tony says for 30 days, to see if I noticed any changes in my energy levels. I can say that I feel better all around, and losing my heartburn was just an added life-enhancing bonus. That benefit alone is enough to keep me on this path of wellness. Some of the other benefits are that I’ve noticed an improvement in my breathing (I also suffer from asthma) and I’ve trimmed down a bit as well. My 30 days are over, but I still continue to practice the above steps because of the increase in energy I feel and the other aforementioned benefits. I do cheat sometimes. I have a soda once in awhile, or I’ll have some dessert if it’s something I really like. I just try to limit the things that are bad for my body and have cut back my coffee intake to a few cups a week. For a program like this to work, you have to cut some corners once in awhile so it’s sustainable. If you know someone who might benefit from this post, please forward it along. I wish someone had introduced me to these principles years ago.