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Physically we are what we eat and what we do. Spiritually we are what we think and what we believe.
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Torah Study - The Light of the World

 

            I’ve often felt that the book of Isaiah, in the Bible, is like an incredibly fine wine that you can sip and it’s delicious or you can consume it in quantity and it produces the most marvelous intoxication.  It should even be read in a broad way, like a novel that happens to be true.

           

Isaiah is often referred to as the Messianic Prophet because he is quoted in the New Testament more than any other prophet.  By some estimates, there are over 330 prophecies from the Tanach (Old Testament) that Yeshua (Jesus) fulfilled in the New Testament.  More than 130 of them (1/3) are found in the book of Isaiah.

           

In Chapter 42 we see two of the most convincing of these.

                                   
                         Behold my servant, whom I uphold;

                         mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth;

                         I have put my spirit upon him:

                         he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

                                                                      Isaiah 42:1

 

                         I the LORD have called thee in righteousness,

                         and will hold thine hand, and keep thee,

                         and give thee for a covenant of the people,

                         for a light of the Gentiles;

                                                                      Isaiah 42:6

 

            In Matthew 12, the writer of the events recorded quotes this section of Isaiah and recognizes that scriptural prophecies were being fulfilled before the people’s very eyes.  He records the miracles Yeshua performed and recognized that they could only be done by God, so the Spirit of God was upon Yeshua.  And he records how great multitudes of both Jews and Gentiles (goyim) followed Yeshua.

           

I’ve discussed these verses with a number of my Orthodox Jewish friends who are quite resistant to any thought that Yeshua might actually be who He claimed to be.  Their argument is that Rabbis in the past have disagreed just who the prophet Isaiah was referring to here, whether it was the nation of Israel as a whole or the coming Mashiach.  But that it definitely was not Yeshua. 

           

I point out to them that when this is read in Hebrew, it is written in third person singular, indicating most likely a single person rather than a group.  That it speaks about God’s ruach (spirit) being upon this person.  In the Tanach, this is always indicative of someone like a prophet, not the nation as a whole.  It says that this person will bring God’s mishpat (over-all system of justice) to the goyim (Gentiles).  It does not say, “to the goyim and Israel”! 

           

Then it goes on to say remarkably that this person will actually be given as a brit (covenant) to the am (people) and a light to the goyim.  A person given as a covenant?  This is the same word for covenant that refers to the original covenant God made with the nation of Israel.  But most striking to me is that last part about being a “light to the goyim”! 

           

I always tell them, “That’s why you don’t see that light.  You’re not part of the goyim.  If all of Israel saw that same light, this scripture would not be correct. 

           

And they have nothing to say to that.  

           

Who would have thought back over 2600 years ago, when the prophet Isaiah wrote this that the day would come when the dominant religion of the planet would recognize the person spoken about here as the “light of the world”?  Today there are around 2.5 billion Christians in the world, more than any other religion.  Did Yeshua (Jesus) fulfill this prophecy?

           

The other day, after attending one of the Torah Classes here at our location in Florida, I tried a little experiment.  In the same complex where we hold our classes is a video gambling hall that most of the Torah Class people never go to.  It was their 2nd anniversary and to celebrate they were giving away free barbecue-chicken lunches.  I’ve never been one to turn down a free meal.  After all, Yeshua ate with publicans and sinners and said that they who are whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick.

           

So I went over to the den of iniquity and went inside.  It was dark and cool and only sparsely filled with people for a Sunday afternoon.  The stereo played a soft country ballad and I could smell the aroma of the freshly cooked chicken near the back.  So I walked between the brightly glowing video games to the table where the food was.  A friendly lady dished out a generous portion of chicken, beans and corn-on-the cob and invited me to go sit down at one of the video game consoles to eat.  So I did so.

           

I saw one section where an old woman was alone and playing one of the machines.  I sat down a few machines away from her and began to eat my meal.  As I ate, I glanced over at her.  If ever there was picture of loneliness and sadness this was it.  Her face was wrinkled, her hair disheveled, her clothes tattered.  She stared blankly at the flashing lights of the machine while her twisted fingers tapped feverously at the control button.  On a bright Sunday afternoon, when most people were at home with their families, there she was all alone, trying to strike it rich. 

           

After I was finished eating, I got up to leave.  As I passed by her I stopped.  She didn’t even notice, she was so absorbed in the machine.

           

“Do you ever make any money at this?” I asked.

           

She looked up at me.  “I hit one for five dollars not too long ago.” 

           

“Not bad,” I replied. 

           

She sat there still looking at me as if she welcomed the chance to speak to someone, so I continued.

           

“That sure was some good chicken,” I said.  And she agreed.

           

Then I said, “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”  And she nodded me to do so.

           

“Who is the light of the world?” I asked. 

           

For a moment she just stared at me.  I could see her noticing that I was wearing a chain around my neck with the Star of David.  Then the expression on her face changed and a smile began to form as if struggling with long unused muscles.  She almost seemed to glow with contentment as if she had just hit a great jackpot.  She looked right into my eyes and said quietly, “Jesus.”

           

“I was hoping that you would say that,” I replied.  And I walked away.

 

                        The people who walked in darkness

                        have seen a great light:

                        they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death,

                        upon them hath the light shined.

                                                                        Isaiah 9:2

Posted by Isaiah Hempe at 11/12/2009 11:25 AM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment

Torah Study - Two Types of People

        Somebody once said that there are basically two types of people in the world.  There are those who believe that there are two types of people, and those who don’t.  I’m one of those who believe that there are two types of people in the world. 

      
      This is a great truth in life.  It’s true because it completely coincides with what the Bible teaches constantly.  God has created a universe of duality.  There are opposites of almost everything He created.  We have heaven and we have earth.  We have light and we have darkness.  We have good and we have evil.  We have day and we have night.  We have young and we have old.  We have male and we have female.  Nearly everywhere you look, you can see this duality in existence. 

     In the Torah we read about two types of people.  We have Israel or the Jewish people  and we have the nations (goyim) which is everybody else.  In the Book of Romans Paul likens these two as the “Jew and the Greek”.  When we read the book of Proverbs we read about two types of people.  There is the wise person and the foolish person.  Those are some of the most interesting proverbs to read.  Of course most of us like to think that we are wise and that other people might be foolish.  But those other people are probably thinking the same thing about themselves.  Everybody likes to think that they are wise and not foolish.    

     We all have the same amount of time during the day and how we arrange our schedule and allocate our time is indicative of what type of person we are.  You see this on the weekends in how people allocate their time.  Some people love to head to the golf course or their boat.  Some people love roaming around the shopping malls or go to the beach.  Some people are always there at their church or synagogue.  But most people couldn’t be dragged into a church or synagogue on the weekend.  They are a different type of people. 

     The people who come to the Torah Class on weekends are a different type of person than those who don’t.  I’ve invited many people I know to come and visit the Torah Class at least one time to see what it’s like.  Some people come but most people don’t.  They have an assortment of excuses to explain why.  They don’t have the time, it’s too far to drive, they don’t like driving at night or they can’t get up that early on Sunday.  If they are religious people, they often express an interest when they hear that it’s about the Bible.  But when they hear that it’s about the Old Testament their eyes kind of glaze over and their mind seems to drift away somewhat.  The Old Testament appears to have little place in their life.  They are a different type of person. 

      Our current internet statistics tell us that this website receives over 500,000 hits a month from all over the world and that we have around 200,000 different viewers who repeatedly view this website.  There are many websites on the internet to look at.  But we get emails from people all over the world telling us how much they enjoy and appreciate the teachings they find on this website.  They are a different type of person. 

      Jesus (Yeshua) often spoke about two types of people.  In Matthew 7 He spoke about two types of people who heard his sayings.  The one type who heard His sayings and did them was likened to a wise man who built his house upon a rock.  When the winds and floods came, the house didn’t fall.  But the other type who heard His sayings and did them not was likened to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.  When the winds and floods came the house was blown away. 

      Jesus spoke about two gates to enter into.  One gate was wide and most people entered there, but it leads to destruction.  The other gate was narrow and few people entered there and it leads unto life.  Obviously He was again talking about two different types of people who chose different paths in life. 

      In Matthew 13 Jesus spoke about two types of people as good seed and tares (weeds).  The good seed were brought into the kingdom but the tares were cast into fire.   In Matthew 25 the two types of people were likened to sheep and to goats.  The sheep inherited the kingdom but the goats were sent into everlasting punishment.   Obviously Jesus believed that there are two types of people in the world, also. 

      So whenever I tell someone that there are basically two types of people in the world, I feel pretty confident that I’m correct.  I may not know who is who in every case.  But there will be a higher authority to make that determination. 

  

Posted by Isaiah Hempe at 9/4/2009 7:01 AM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment

Exercise Study - The Counsel of the Ungodly.



        Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly,
                                                                    Psalm 1:1

    It's a sad fact, but a true one, that the most unhealthy and sickest people you meet tend to be those who rely on medical doctors for their health advice.  They are the people who take all sorts of drugs for their various aliments but yet always seem to be in some sort of physical quandary.  But don't ever call this fact to their attention.  Because if you do, they will usually get quite angry with you.  They have complete trust in their doctors.  They will defend their doctor to their dying breath.  

    It's also a fact that most medical doctors believe in the theory of evolution.  That is what they are taught in medical school.  But then that is what the population as a whole is taught in our school system.  But in the area of the sciences, if one questions or actually disagrees with the theory of evolution, they are made to feel they are someone who not only is not a true scientist, but possibly a downright idiot.  To them it is not theory.  To them evolution is proved science.  

    The problem is that a person cannot believe in the theory of evolution and also believe that the Holy Bible is true.  Because one contradicts the other.  

    So if a person does not believe that the Bible is true, they certainly cannot really believe in the God who is spoken about in the Bible.  They may claim to believe in God and even Jesus.  But then, they are not really even being logical in their thinking.  It's confusing when they try to explain what they really believe in.  But these are the people who call themselves medical experts and charge people considerable money for their medical counsel.  You get what you pay for.

    I learned a very important lesson early in life about relying on doctors for counsel on my health.  As a child I was very sickly.  Both my parents were chain smokers and the little house we lived in was constantly filled with tobacco smoke.  As a result, my immune system was impaired and I was plagued with allergies.  I was allergic to grass, weeds and pollen outside and dust and molds inside.  No matter where I went, I was allergic to something.  

    My mother was a registered nurse, so she believed in doctors.  We lived in a small town in Michigan and she drove me over an hour to a very prestigious hospital at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  Both my parents loved me and only wanted the best for me.  But it never really occurred to either of them that the cigarette smoking might not be the best for me.

    The doctors at the hospital did a number of allergy tests on me and decided on the best course of action.  I would receive weekly allergy injections to build up my immune system.  That would solve the problem.  So for nearly two years my mother drove me once a week, over an hour each way, to the hospital to get my shots.  I got quite familiar with the shots.  But my allergies never went away.  

    I was a physical mess.  I was skinny and weak.  I looked like some kid in a concentration camp.  I was embarrassed to ever take off even my shirt in front of anyone.  I used to dream that if I had only one wish in life it would be to have good health.  That was all I really wanted.  At night, when I said my prayers, I would always ask God to give me that one wish.  And finally, in a round-about-way, He did.

    Like most kids, I liked reading comic books.  In the back of the books were little ads for various things.  One ad always attracted my attention.  It was the ad for the Charles Atlas Dynamic Tension Course.  Because the ad featured a little skinny guy getting sand kicked in his face who took the course and built up a healthy, muscular body.  And I knew I was that little skinny guy.  And I wondered if that ad was really true.  So one day, on a lark, I sent away for the course.  

    I can still remember the joy of anticipation I had the day the course came in the mail.  I ran up to my room and tore open the envelope with excitement.  By today's standards, it wasn't much really.  There were no photos, only several typewritten pages mimeographed and stapled together.  But they explained a series of exercises I could do in my own bedroom, with no equipment, and some basic dietary rules for gaining muscular weight.  I read the pages over and over and began to follow them implicitly.  

    My parents began to notice a change in me.  I was putting on muscular weight and eating more.  And I was also beginning to feel just generally healthier.  Then I had my parents buy me a bicycle and I began to ride all around our neighborhood for some cardio exercise.  That made me feel even better still.  

    So one day, I told my mother I didn't want to drive into the hospital for my allergy shot.  I told her I was feeling much better and I didn't think I needed them anymore.  At first she didn't want me to stop them.  But eventually she agreed.  My allergy problems were hardly apparent at all anymore.  And I realized that it was not the shots that did it.  It was the exercise and improved nutrition.   

    And I realized then, that if the doctors had really known about what was best for my health, that they should have given me the Charles Atlas Course.  They should have told me about eating differently and riding a bicycle.  But then they couldn't have charged my parents all that money for their expensive injections and their doctor visits.  From their point of view, the injections made better business sense.  

    I learned that lesson early in life.  Unfortunately, many people have yet to learn it themselves.  

    But this is not meant as a condemnation of all medical doctors or the medical profession as a whole.  However, I do believe that the profession itself, with its focus on pharmaceutical therapy as a remedy for so many ills, is simply looking in the wrong direction and on the wrong path.    

      

Posted by Isaiah Hempe at 8/15/2009 3:32 PM | Add Comment

Diet Study - If the trend continues, we're all going to be fat!


    A recently released government-funded study has projected that if the trends of the past three decades continues in the U.S., it's possible that every American adult could be overweight 40 years from now.

    "Genetically and physiologically, it should be impossible" for all U.S. adults to become overweight, said Dr. Lan Liang of the federal government's Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, one of the researchers on the study.  However, she told reporters covering the story, "that is the direction we're going."

    Already 66 percent of the adult population is overweight or obese.  Certain subgroups fare even worse.  For instance, among African-American women, the number approaches 78 percent and white women, in general, are close behind that.   

    The study suggests that by 2030 86 percent of all American adults will be overweight and at least 51 percent will be obese.  By 2048, all adults could be at least mildly overweight.  

    The healthcare costs to our country due to the incredible poor health of Americans will be staggering.  The costs due simply to the problems associated with excess pounds is expected to reach $957 billion in 2030.  Much of this will be paid by either the government or insurance plans, which translates to - paid by all of us.  

    To say that this is a "big" problem is an understatement.  It's a catastrophe in the making.  

    But even if most of the country blows up like balloons, there is still hope for some of us.  One of the goals of this website is to educate people to the truths of our existance, both spiritual and physical.  As I state on our title, physically we are what we eat and what we do.  I'm going to show you a program that can help anyone lose all their excess bodyfat and keep it off forever!

    In my earlier postings on Diet Study I presented a systematic program to define the food we eat into its basic components of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats.  This is the chemical way of constructing a healthy diet.  This way works, but it is not the only way to approach the problem.  Now I'm going to show you a different, and I believe even better way, to address the issue.  

    About a month ago I joined a new gym.  It was a smaller gym located within four miles of my home, making it easy and inexpensive to get to.  The bodybuilding equipment was excellent and it even had a separate room for aerobics with a dance barre and speed and kicking bags, which I like to utilize during my warm-ups. 

    But what I also really liked about the place was the guy I spoke to at the front desk.  He was a competitive bodybuilder and he was preparing to do a show.  He was Chinese, originally from Hong Kong, and now living in the U.S. for several years.  He had won many shows in his weight class all over the Orient and had won several in this country, as well.  I'd seen photos of him around in contests and he looked really good when he competed.  But to be honest, as he was telling me that he was preparing for a show, I thought to myself that he had a way to go, because he was very smooth, almost to the extent of being fat.  He had plenty of muscle, but it was covered with a thick layer of fat!  So I thought to myself, well, let's see what he does.  Boy, was I surprised!

    Only a month later, there was a dramatic change.  I'd seen a gradual change during that time just in his arms and delts when he wore tanktops during his workouts.  But the other day he wore a string tanktop and lifted it up to show me his abs and I was blown away!  He was ripped to shreds!  He could have stepped up on stage just like that and walked away with the trophy.  All of this in only a month!  And the show was still three weeks out.  I was truly amazed.  So I talked to him and questioned him about his diet and how he did it all.  What he told me really made an impression on me.  

    He explained to me that during the off season he ate pretty much whatever he wanted and whenever he wanted.  He ate pizza and hamburgers whenever and we're talking entire pizzas and triple-meat whoppers.  He didn't go crazy and binge out on cupcakes and twinkies.  He would eat cookies and chocolate as treats, but he still kept a level head in keeping his overall fat content reasonable at most meals.  This was during the off season when he was always training with weights and doing some aerobics, as well.  

    But when it came time to prepare for a show, his entire diet changed dramatically.  During this time he would actually eat almost every hour!  But he limited his entire diet to only a few specific foods.  By keeping his food choices to these few variables he could carefully and precisely control his diet.  These are the foods he ate now - chicken tenders (breasts), egg whites, whey protein, broccoli, sweet potatoes, apples, and oranges.  That's it. 

    Every hour he would eat something from this list.  Usually it was a combination of a protein source with a carbohydrate.  For example, a chicken tender or two with half an apple, some egg whites with a few pieces of sweet potato and some broccoli or maybe just a scoop of whey protein mixed in a cup of cold water.  Sometimes he just might have a half of an orange or a small apple.  But basically he never ate to be full and always stayed a little hungry.  So his body was constantly being supplied with adequate nutrients to maintain itself while staying in a fat burning mode.  

    During this time he trained with weights 5 days a week and did cardio for about 30 minutes a day 3-4 days a week.  He kept a fairly standard workout program.  But within a month on this diet, he looked incredible.  After a month or so, he began to space out his meals to every two hours.  This was how he would really dial in his condition for the show.  

    He told me he could never stay on this type of diet for a long time because after awhile he actually got sick of these same foods!  In fact, during the off season he rarely ate most of these foods instead replacing them with other sources.  Off season he ate mostly fish or beef and sometimes eggs for protein.  Whey protein is usually pretty standard for most bodybuilders, however.  For carbs he preferred rice (naturally) or fruits with plenty of vegetables.  Like I said before, during the off season he would eat almost anything he wanted.  But he understood an effective way to get into fantastic shape at anytime.  

    If you're looking to lose some excess bodyfat, why don't you give this diet a try.  Stick to it for at least a week and see what type of results you get.  Stay on it a month and you could be amazed how much better you look.  

    Remember, you must be training with weights, not just cardio, to get the best results.  Weight training builds muscle mass and keeps it toned which speeds up your body metabolism to help burn calories even at rest.  The reason for this is that in well-toned muscles, a significant percentage of muscle fibers are actually contracting all the time.  This is why they feel firmer to the touch than flabby, unconditioned muscles.  This constant contraction requires energy.  Hence, more calories are required to maintain toned muscle than flabby muscles.  

    Coming up in future articles I'll be designing some exercise routines that can really get you into possibly the best shape of your life.  
  

Posted by Isaiah Hempe at 8/7/2008 6:36 AM | Add Comment

Diet Study - Designer Diet - Part 2.


  Nutrition is one of the most important subjects affecting our lives, yet it's a subject little understood by most people.  Our physical bodies are composed entirely of chemicals, so to properly understand nutrition requires some knowledge of chemistry.  Science has determined exactly what chemicals make up the human body and in what proportion.  For example, the most abundant elemental chemicals in the human body, in descending order, are: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and calcium.  These chemicals and others combine to form nutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates and fats.  A healthy body is one that is chemically balanced.  All disease results from a chemical imbalance!

  A chemical imbalance can result from an infectious substance, such as a bacteria or virus, entering into our bodies.  But most chemical imbalances occur as a result of the food we eat.  We change the chemical balance of our bodies every time we put food into our mouths.  The very notion that we would control this chemical change to our bodies simply by the standard of taste is foolish.  The most prevalent diseases affecting Americans, such as heart disease, cancer, arthritis, and diabetes Type II, almost always have a dietary origin.   

  Not only do most people know little about nutrition, they could care less!  That's why obesity is rampant in our country today and getting worse.  Almost 70% of adults in the USA are overweight.  Nearly 50% are actually obese.  Obesity is defined as body-weight in excess of 20% to 49% over ideal.  In other words, for a woman whose ideal body-weight is 125 lbs., obesity would begin at anything over 150 lbs.  For a man whose ideal body-weight is 160 lbs., obesity would begin at anything over 192 lbs.

  Excess body-fat is one of the key markers of a person prone to disease.  Because excess body-fat is by definition a chemical imbalance!  

  Keeping our bodies lean and free from excess body-fat is not difficult.  It's actually quite easy.  Because we have total control over what goes into our mouths each time we eat.  Unless we are incarcerated in prison, in a hospital, or eating in a military chow line, we can choose what foods we eat or avoid.  The secret is knowing what to eat and what to avoid.  It's like the choice between right and wrong or good and evil.

  In my last article I laid down the basic framework for a diet plan designed to reduce excess body-fat and keep it off.  Now we are going to see how to put that plan into effect each day.  

  The Perfect Meal

  The perfect meal can be defined as a meal that satisfies our nutritional requirements and also tastes good.  You notice that tasting good came second.  As I stated in my previous article, the primary rule of nutrition is - function first, taste second.  If any food does not pass the function requirement first, it's not even considered food, no matter how good it might taste.  

  That doesn't mean that we can never again eat pizza or stuff ourselves at an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet.  Personally those are two culinary delights that I still love to enjoy.  But the thing is, I know how to control and compensate afterward for those nutritional over-indulgences.  I'll get to that later.

  For now, let's see how we should structure each meal that we eat.  To begin with, most of what you may already regard as nutritional basics, such as; three balanced meals a day, the four basic food groups, count only calories or carbs or fat, is either  inaccurate or downright wrong. 
 
  Three balanced meals a day is simply not the best way to eat.  It's actually better to eat 4-6 smaller meals than 3 large meals.  Eating several smaller meals is better because it puts less strain on our digestive system, keeps our blood sugar more stable, and speeds up our metabolism to actually allow us to eat more food without gaining excess body-fat!  And what does balanced mean?  Balanced by the "four basic food groups"?  Understanding the differences between the food groups and what each has to offer us is important.  But it is much better to learn to think in terms of protein, carbohydrates and fats.  Our body could care less about food groups.  Chemically we are composed of protein, carbohydrates and fats.

  In Part 1. of this series on diet I discussed how to determine your daily requirements of protein, carbs, and fats.  Once we know that, a simple method to design our individual meals is simply to divide those daily amounts by the number of meals we eat.  

  For example, if our total protein requirement each day is 135 grams, then 135 / 4 = 33.75 or approximately 35 grams of protein each meal.  The same would apply for carbs and fats.  This example would apply to the average woman.

  As I stated in my previous article, most men who weight train have higher protein requirements closer to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight.  For a man whose desired weight is 170 lbs., (170 x 1.5 = 255 grams of protein per day).  He would best divide his daily diet into 5-6 meals.          

  A typical meal on a carb-loading day for a person whose weight goal is 135 lbs. would be something like: 
    
           35 grams of protein       32 grams of carbs       7 grams of fat

  For that same person on a carb-depleting day each of their 4 meals would be:

           35 grams of protein       8 grams of carbs         7 grams of fat

  You notice the grams of protein and carbs don't match on the carb-loading day.  That's because 135 / 4 = 33.75.  As a general rule we always round up with protein and round down with carbs and fats.  A little more protein each meal won't hurt you.  But a little more carbs or fats over time will have a cumulative negative effect. 

  These amounts will most likely be for women.  Men generally will have higher weight goals so they'll more likely strive for 4 - 6 meals a day to keep their individual meal totals somewhere in this range.

  For a man whose weight goal is 170 lbs., his 6-meals-a-day plan might look like this:

   Carb-loading -    42 grams of protein   40 grams of carbs   9 grams of fat

   Carb-depleting - 42 grams of protein   10 grams of carbs   9 grams of fat    

  These are approximate numbers and it may be difficult to be entirely precise with each meal.  That's why keeping a diet journal each day is crucial when you begin this program.  Refer to my previous article concerning keeping a diet journal.  After you become experienced with this diet system, you may not even need the journal any longer.  Also, as a general rule, on carb-loading days, its better to consume your carbs in your early meals and leave your last meal of the day low-carb.  More on that later.

   In Part 3. I'll offer some sample meals and other suggestions.   

Posted by Isaiah Hempe at 11/23/2007 5:58 AM | Add Comment

Diet Study - The Designer Diet - Part 1.

 
  Have you ever said to yourself, "I need to go on a diet!"? 

  And then what happens?  You try some diet plan that you read about in a book or magazine for awhile.  But it seems difficult to follow and strange because you are not really eating what you want to eat.  You are eating the foods on "the diet".  After awhile, you just quit and go back to eating as before.

  What you didn't realize was the fact that you were already on a "diet" to begin with.  We are all on diets all the time.  Diets are simply what we eat each day.  The question is whether the diet we follow each day is productive or counter-productive.  For most people, it's counter-productive.  Because they make a fundamental mistake in choosing the foods that they eat.  The mistake is - when they are hungry, they eat foods that taste good!

  On the surface, that doesn't sound like a mistake at all.  But it is a big mistake!  Because they left out the most important qualifier that should always come first in any diet plan we follow.  The fundamental principal for any healthy diet is - eat for function first and taste second!

  Nothing should ever go into our mouth unless it serves a nutritional purpose.  Of course we want to eat foods that taste good also.  But there are plenty of foods that we can find that taste good but also serve a nutritional purpose.  Eating foods that simply taste good when we are hungry is the way animals eat!  But they have something programmed into their beings that we don't.  They have instinct!  That is God's plan for them.  He programs their minds to function in a way that will provide for them.  

  What we have instead of instinct is free will.  And free will can get you into a lot of trouble if you don't manage it correctly.  That's why you rarely see any obese animals in the wild.  But you sure see a lot of obese humans where ever you go.  Humans can eat way too much food and the wrong types of food that may taste good, but are nutritional disasters.  We have to be much more careful in how we eat because we don't have any instinct that controls our behavior.  

  I'm going to show you a very simple and easy way to design a diet specifically for you.  It will comprise the foods that you like to eat because you will be choosing them.  The purpose of the diet is to lose all excess body fat while retaining as much muscle mass as possible.  This will be the most effective diet that you have ever tried!  The reason I can say this is because it is like a diet plan that many competitive body-builders use in preparing for a contest.  And competitive body-builders don't mess around with all the useless diets that are promoted in the bookstores.  They know what works and what doesn't work.  It's the difference between the one who takes home the first place trophy and the one who doesn't even place.  Competitive body-builders are the masters of diet!  Because the ones who win are not always the ones who had the best exercise program.  They are usually the ones who had the best diet program! 

  You begin by deciding what weight goal you desire.  For example, let's say you now weigh 200 lbs. and you want to get down to 135 lbs.  That sounds like quite a task.  But it really isn't difficult at all.  In fact it's quite simple and fool-proof if you know how to do it and follow your program.  The key is that you eat a diet for a person who already weighs 135 lbs.!! That way your body will have to adjust your weight to adapt to your diet.   

  Now keep in mind that this diet should always be used in conjunction with an effective body-building program designed specifically for your diet.  In a future article I'll show you how to design a great work-out routine designed to re-shape your body into a work of art.

  But for now, here's how we design our own personal diet program.

  If we want to drop our weight down to 135 lbs., we begin by understanding how we will structure what we eat with regard to the individual components of protein, carbohydrates, and fats.  We start with protein.

  The first important thing to understand about protein is that the body does not store protein.  It uses protein for new cellular growth, such as skin, hair, organs and muscle tissue.  So if you want new cellular growth, you must consume adequate protein everyday and preferably every meal.  If you don't provide enough protein in your daily diet, your body will actually tear down existing muscle tissue to provide itself with the necessary protein it needs for new cellular growth.  This we don't want!  So it's absolutely essential that we provide adequate protein in our diet everyday.

  This leads us to the second important fact about protein.  It stimulates growth!  In other words, the more protein we eat, the more new cellular growth we can achieve.  Of course, there are genetic limitations to our growth rate.  But this principle is important to understand in determining our protein requirements.  Because if we want to gain muscle and reduce fat, we achieve this by increasing our protein intake.  When we stimulate muscle growth through proper weight training, the body can utilize higher levels of protein for muscle repair and growth.  The energy needs for this growth can either come from the carbohydrates we consume or from our existing fat stores.  In other words, we can burn off excess body fat by consuming more protein!  This is why on the diet I'm going to show you, we consume higher levels of protein than other diets usually recommend.    

  A person who weighs 135 lbs. and is exercising with weights on a regular basis requires at least 1 - 1.5 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.  It's been my experience working with both men and women that women are better off staying around the 1 gram level while men are better off striving for 1.5 grams of protein for each pound of desired bodyweight.  Unless a women is a competitive body-builder and wants a hard, muscular body like a man, her protein requirements are not as great.  Most women want healthy toned muscles while men want lean mass. 

  In this example, let's assume our subject is a woman who wants to reduce her weight from 200 lbs. down to 135 lbs.  So her daily protein requirement should be at least 135 grams of protein.  Since there are 4 calories in each gram of protein, that comes out to 540 calories each day from protein. 

  A well-established ratio of protein to carbs and fat that has been shown to gradually reduce body-fat while at the same time providing adequate protein for new muscle growth is 40 - 40 - 20.  In other words, 40% of our daily calories come from protein, 40% from carbohydrates and 20% from fat.  But I'm going to show you how we can modify that even more to get even better results.

  We take that 540 calories and divide it by 9, which comes out to 60.  Each gram of fat we eat has 9 calories.  We want to have twice as many calories coming from protein as from fat (40 vs. 20).  So we divide 60 by 2 and that leaves us with 30.  That's how many grams of fat we want to eat each day.  Thirty grams of fat will provide us with 270 calories.  So now we have 135 grams of protein and 30 grams of fat each day.  This also comes out to 540 + 270 calories = 810 calories each day so far.  These two components remain constant each day. 

  Finally we come to the critical component of carbohydrates.  This is the adjustable component! Because we are going to adjust our daily diets around a process known as carb-loading and carb-depleting. 
 
  The way this works is that we alternate between high carb days and low carb days.  This is a vast improvement over the well-known Adkins low carb diet.  No body-builder ever follows a truly low carbohydrate diet for any length of time.  Because after awhile on that diet, your body metabolism drops dramatically to a point that your immune system no longer functions correctly, your muscles are so depleted of glycogen that they can't even get pumped up, you begin experiencing mood disorders like irritability, and a whole host of other problems.  

  Instead what we are going to do is alternate days where we eat very low carbohydrates with other days in which we eat a level of carbohydrates which will allow our muscles to re-load with glycogen and speed up our metabolism so it doesn't begin slowing down.  

  The proper level of carbohydrates for a person desiring just to maintain their weight is approximately equal with their level of protein.  In other words, if you are eating 135 grams of protein you should be eating around 135 grams of carbohydrates or less each day.  This level is ideal for weight maintenance.  But for weight reduction we need something different.   We will have other days where we drop our carbohydrate levels to only about 25% of our regular level.  So instead of 135 grams of carbs a day, we will be taking in 33.75 or roughly 35 grams a day. 

  In terms of calories, we will be consuming around 1350 (540 + 540 + 270 = 1350) on our high carb days.  Then on our low carb days we will be taking in about 950 (540 + 140 + 270 = 950) each day. 

  To begin the program, you first go 3 days straight on low carbs.  This will prime the body to begin adapting to its new eating program.  Then you begin alternating 1 day high carbs and 2 days low carbs.  It's that simple.  Once you reach your desired weight goal, you can maintain your desired weight by alternating 1 day low with 1 day high or follow a program of high carb days on work-out days with low carbs on rest days.  

  In my next posting I'll discuss how we create our individual meals for the program.  

    

Posted by Isaiah Hempe at 11/15/2007 4:57 AM | Add Comment

Diet Study - Keeping A Health Journal

   Our Diet Study portion for today concerns the topic of keeping a daily journal.  It's amazing how  many people keep records of things like maintenance on their car and are very careful to always put the correct type of fuel in their car . . but when it comes time to maintaining their own body they could really care less.  They eat whatever suits them without any concern for any positive or negative nutritional value.  The only criteria is whether it tastes good.  And as far as keeping any record of what they've eaten . . forget it, that's just too much bother!  Obviously they care more for the health of their cars than their own body.  And it shows.  The body doesn't lie.  It's a walking record of the care or lack of care of its owner.  

   Today in America obesity is rampant among adults and now among children, as well.  Obesity is defined as being between 20-49% above your ideal body weight.  For example, if your ideal body weight should be around 125 lbs. you would be obese above 150 lbs.  More than half of all adult Americans today fall into that category.  Just walk into any Wal-Mart and it often looks like an obesity convention.  

   The bad news is that its getting worse.  But the good news is that it doesn't have to be that way.  Its really not difficult to lose excess body fat.  The problem is that most people either don't care or really don't know how.  It can really be confusing, too.  Just look at all the diet books that so often seem to contradict each other.  It a person really wants help, what are they supposed to do?

   I have a diet and exercise book that should be coming out soon that will give people a practical program of both diet and exercise to re-design their bodies.  Diet alone or exercise alone is not the answer.  We really need to combine the two for any meaningful weight loss results.  That's why most diet books just don't work.  Unless they also provide you with an exercise program that is geared to that specific diet . . in most cases you're not going to get much results.  

   Physically we are what we eat and what we do.  What we eat is our diet.  How we exercise is part of what we do.  The two must be combined into one cohesive unit.  And the good news is that its almost never too late to make improvements.

   Here is the tip for today . . keep a daily journal of your diet and your exercise program.

   Here's how I do it.  I go to Office Depot and buy a one-subject notebook, 100 pages, that costs less than $2.00.  I bring it home, open it up, and set it next to my desk.  On one page at the top I write - DIET - and on the other page I write - EXERCISE.  I write the date in the corner of each page and I keep a daily journal of exerything I eat and the time I ate it on one side along with my exercise program for that day on the other side.  At the end of the day, I turn the page and repeat the process for the next day.

   When I first began, I recorded the nutritional composition of everything I ate.  I made columns for Protein, Carbs, Fat, Calories, then another column for total calories that I kept a running total for.  At the end of the day I knew exactly just how many grams of protein, carbs, and fat I had eaten for each meal and the day along with my calorie totals for each meal and the day.  This is absolutely essential when getting started because unless we know what we are really eating, we can't get a handle on making necessary adjustments.  After a couple of months, when I'd reached my goals, I no longer kept the data for the grams and calories.  But I still write down everything I eat and the time.

   Obviously this makes eating out at restaurants a little difficult.  So for two months, I ate all my meals at home.  But the other thing is that I was training for a body-building competition on a certain date.  So I was focused on getting into my best possible physical condition by a set time and having that to work toward.  Having some sort of goal like that is also very helpful in keeping focused on your program.  

   If you want to do something about your body and your health, I suggest you start keeping a daily journal of what you eat and your exercise program.  It's really not difficult once you get used to it.  I still do it every day.  In future studies I'll have more on how to structure your diet for losing body fat and/or gaining muscle along with a good exercise program to follow. 

   

Posted by Isaiah Hempe at 11/16/2006 6:12 AM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment

Torah Study - Choosing the Right Path

   Enter ye in at the straight gate:
for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction,
and many there be which go in thereat:
   But strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto life,
and few there be that find it.
   Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Ye shall know them by their fruits.
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
   Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit;
but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
   A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
   Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
   Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.    
                                               Matthew 7:13-20   (KJV)

   In our Torah Study for today, we turn to the Brit Hadashah and the words of our Mashiach, Yeshua (Jesus).  
   
  In these verses we see two themes connected together.  The first theme deals with the understanding that there are basically two paths in our lives.  One path leads to destruction while the other path leads to life, and by implication, eternal life (l'chai olam).  The thing is, that most choose the wrong path.  It is the broad way and wide is its gate.  The path to l'chai olam is the road less traveled by, to paraphase the famous poem by Robert Frost.  
   
  Then Jesus warns us in the next verses of one of the dangers along the road of life that can lead us to choosing the wrong path; the danger of the false prophet.  
 
  In this modern day of mass communication, on TV and the internet, we see individuals rising up to speak to the world their opinions on a variety of matters.  These voices can appear larger than life through the technology of the mass media and its not difficult to find ourselves drawn to those individuals who seem to be saying "the right things" and who seem to have "the right answers".  There is a natural inclination in all of us at times to seek someone to lead us in some degree or another.  This is part of the normal student-teacher process of learning and there is nothing basically wrong with this.  
   
  But Jesus gives us the answer about how we can discern between the true prophet and the false prophet.  We look at their fruits, whether they are good or evil.  
   
  In a Biblical sense, a prophet is someone inspired by God who speaks the Word of God.  But in a secular sense, applying this understanding to our lives, a self-proclaimed prophet can be anyone who professes to have a higher level of knowledge that they wish to impart to others.  This is a step above the normal teacher status.  A teacher is someone who passes on information to others.  But a prophet is the source of that information.  We see these self-proclaimed prophets all the time.  And many times we ourselves are one of those prophets, aren't we?  Don't we all fall into that category sometimes?  
   
  But Jesus is warning us to discern for ourselves who we should really be listening to.  The fruits of a true prophet will be good fruits.  They will align themselves with the principals laid down in God's Word.  The fruits of the false prophet will not.  
   
  Look at the situation today in Israel with the followers of Islam and their prophet Mohammed.  The Palestinians are constantly seeking the destruction of Israel and filled with hatred.  They teach their children from the Koran that Jews are like "monkeys and pigs".   Are these fruits good or evil?  
   
  Compare that with the Israelis who only want to live in peace in that tiny sliver of land that God gave to Israel as part of the covenant He made with the Jewish people forever.   

   We need to be careful and always remember that there are two paths in life.  The Torah, the teachings and instructions of God,  is our guideline for choosing the right path.  In the commandments we see how to choose the path God wants us to follow in every situation.  The basic principal is that we go about our day and when we come to a situation which involves a principal in the Torah or one of the commandments . . we choose the way of Torah, we follow the way set down in the commandments.
   
   Jesus said, 
         If ye love me, keep my commandments.   John 14:15
   
   And He says again,
         If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love;
         even as I have kept my Father's commandments, 
         and abide in His love.                               John 15:10

   All throughout the Tanach, God implored Israel to keep His commandments that He gave to them as part of the covenant He made with them.  When today we read the Tanach, we see the consequences for Israel's disobedience over and over.  But we also see the rewards for obedience, as well.  The question is how do we apply all this in our own lives today?  Are we going to make the same mistakes or learn from the past?  Those who are born into Israel and those who have been grafted in are together hearing God speak to each of us in His Word.   The message is to choose the right path in life, and it will usually be the one less traveled by.    

Posted by Isaiah Hempe at 11/11/2006 6:20 AM | Add Comment

Torah Study

How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that brings good tidings,
that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good,
that publishes salvation;
that says unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice;
with the voice together shall they sing:
for they shall see eye to eye,
when the LORD shall bring again Zion.

                                       Isaiah 52:7-8

Posted by Isaiah Hempe at 11/7/2006 1:47 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment
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