Sunday, September 11, 2011

My Personal Story

by Sam Suska

My personal story is not about weight loss, looking better, becoming insightful or increasing marketability. My personal story is noteworthy and somewhat remarkable because of the wisdom I have gathered from the process which facilitated these distinct changes in my appearance and mindset. My story is only mildly interesting, but it can be incredibly meaningful to other people who desire to change and improve their life, their health, their emotional stability and reach sustained happiness.

Many years ago I personally started changing my lifestyle so I could help my mother and become a boxing champion. My intentions were split between giving meaningful help to someone I love and pleasing my own 'ego' in a new way; after all I just wanted to use a better lifestyle as a means to help my mom with her heart disease AND help me stabilize my weight so I could prove I was the toughest man in the world.

At the time I was practicing a lifestyle of excessive consumption and mindless choices built from a general sense of self-centeredness. All I knew was that my mother and I should eat less and exercise more in order to lose weight; sounds like most Americans. So, we immediately set forth and had some success with reaching these simple goals, but I knew there was more to it than just simple dedication and commitment. I was sure those characteristics were important , but I knew from talking to others and reading bodybuilding magazines there was more to weight-loss than just "calories in-calories out" calculations.

So, I began my first lifestyle change; I ate less carbs and started doing more cardio type of exercise. I passed this on to my mother, who was ready and able to eat less carbs but unable to exercise due to her poor condition. I replaced carbs with meat, lots of meat including Spam, breakfast sausages and the staple of chicken breast. I lost maybe 30 pounds and my mother experienced some notable weight loss as well, but we were not much healthier in any real way; we just weighed less.

My research progressed from reading the "Atkins diet" books to 'cutting-edge' bodybuilder diets. So, I altered my approach and focused on the nutrients found within certain foods; meaning that I ate a lot of protein, some carbs and largely avoided fat. My mother and I continued to lose weight, but more importantly I got more motivated to research health and lifestyle. I returned to college in order to complete my bachelor's degree, this time in what I found to be the most influential factor in health; nutrition.

My informal research progressed beyond the narrow-minded diets and into conventional "healthy" diets and my personal lifestyle reflected this. At the same time my commitment to boxing began to improve as I was finding out it was harder than I thought to prove I was the toughest man in the world. So, in addition to my daily serving of intense exercise I built a diet of so-called "healthy" foods like low-fat chicken salads, whole grain breads, natural granola, low-fat ground beef, lactose-free skim milk and low-fat cheeses, fruits and fruit juices and even protein bars and sugar-free energy drinks. If only I knew what I know now, SORRY mom.

My mother's weight loss stagnated, I was getting sick regularly and got to the point where I really had to manipulate my diet for narrow-minded results like quick weight loss. My informal research lead me to Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Dean Ornish and other integrated physicians who went a step beyond what I was learning in conventional nutrition study. It was becoming clear that the nutrition information in my formal studies was inadequate, and I needed to get out of the conventional nutrition mindset in order to further help my mother, myself and have a career in giving others real help. So, I changed majors from nutrition to exercise science, which was also the study of a 'lifestyle science' and kept me in the field of helping other people.

Formal study of exercise helped me assemble a more balanced and overall helpful exercise program for myself and start my mother on a similar exercise plan. My body began to regulate as I personally stepped back a little from over-training, but more importantly I began eating more whole foods and less processed foods. In addition to reading about health and nutrition I even listened to health professionals on the radio; my approach to life was shifting.

I adjusted the way I personally approached food and exercise, and passed this on to my mother and even began helping other people do the same. I became committed to thoroughly researching the 'lifestyle sciences' and use my knowledge to help other people; after helping myself first. After reading the works of Gary Taubes and Michael Pollan I began to seriously question conventionally-inspired health knowledge and seek more well-rounded information. Thus I discovered natural, 'holistic', alternative and Eastern approaches to health, diet, exercise and the previously overlooked aspect of stress relief.

Personal enlightenment began taking place as I began eating more vegetables and less animals with a daily focus on preventing and relieving stress. I committed to personally employing the valuable information I gained from natural health focused chiropractor Dr. James Winer, integrated physician, acupuncturist and chiropractor Dr. Noah Gallagher and noted psychiatrist Dr. Aldo Pucci. Following personal experience I guided my mother into eating even more vegetables while preventing stress and relieving herself of it.

I no longer ate the chicken salad, the low-fat processed foods, whole grain and whole breads and bread-like products, no more milk and certainly no cheese (it's 20x concentrated Milk!). I really committed to whole foods and vegetables, especially green vegetables. This was a process and it was tough at times, but the rewards are worth it; I no longer desire the processed foods, the breads, the meats, the milk; they are just outside of my value-system and outside of my healthy intentions.

I was personally taking control of not just my bodily health, but my emotions and peace of mind with the newfound focus on stress prevention and relief. I committed to the 'rational thought process' suggested by Dr. Aldo Pucci in order to prevent stress, employed some Eastern health philosophies like Qigong and Yoga to relieve stress and took my nutritional research and philosophical research to the next level; all while completing my formal education in Exercise Science.

During this time I became a self-empowered individual with the ability to meaningfully inspire others; most important to me personally was my mother who remarkably removed herself from upwards of 12 prescription drugs while dropping around 40 pounds. My informal research of the 'lifestyle sciences' brought me to the profound works of Dr. Robert Young and Dr. Wayne Dyer while my formal studies took me into Chinese Medicine graduate work.

It was the process of personal self-empowerment which enabled my non-stop consumption of 'lifestyle science' information (over 275 books and thousands of hours), continually help myself and my mother while forming a structured approach to helping other people. I have formed a unique and potentially profound 'holistic' health perspective designed to significantly help people improve bodily health and emotional management while reaching a state of meaningful happiness.

I have assembled my personal reflections from the aforementioned years of practical experience and countless hours of informal research and formal studies into useful guidebook entitled "Holistic Intelligence: The Key to Bodily Health, Emotional Management, Inner Happiness and Peace of Mind".

The ever increasing, lasting improvements of mind and body I have made are the result of fundamental changes of the philosophy in which I approach life. I have gathered that the most influential factor in health, emotions and happiness is the intentions with which we approach our lifestyle. By approaching life with meaningful intentions designed to promote a positive state of mind, natural functioning of the human body while also helping those around us and the world which supports us we become self-empowered.

Self-empowerment is a process, not an event and my book takes you through this meaningful transition to living with "deeper" meaning and selfless, well-rounded and overall beneficial intentions to you, those around you and the earth you walk on.My book and my writings are built with a 'holistic'-minded philosophy which can be applied to life with my suggested 'holistic lifestyle'; the philosophy addresses intentions and the practical lifestyle is guidance in making coherent, rational choices on a daily basis.

My hope is that everyone who reads my work or has interaction with me is inspired to make fundamental changes in their approach to life, no matter how small they may be. Applying depth and finding personal meaning in life is not always easy and many people are not ready to make these changes at present time, but if I can plant a seed then I can find my personal fulfillment.

Please read the articles here in my blog (feel free to contact me via e-mail for more information) and hopefully you will be inspired to make some changes in your underlying approach to life which will be expressed by improved choices in your lifestyle.


While adding depth and meaning to your life can be started by connecting nature to your body (http://truehealthservices.blogspot.com/2011/05/our-physical-potential.html), realizing a goal like fat-loss with a holistic approach (http://truehealthservices.blogspot.com/2011/06/fat-loss-inhibitors.html) or simply making sense of my underlying theory (http://truehealthservices.blogspot.com/2011/07/my-theory.html). Please check out my work, feel free to let me know what you think and hopefully a seed is planted, or better yet a 'holistic lifestyle' has been initiated. Best wishes and with love, Sam Suska.
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