Fitness Secrets of a Sexy Beast IV

Our bodies are a lifelong construction project. The food we eat is the raw material and the exercise we do is the building process. Most of the construction work is accomplished on the night shift while we sleep. Thus, proper quality and quantity of sleep is crucial to a lifetime of health. Likewise, the food we consume is fuel for the fire of forging a man or woman of steel. To a great extent, you truly are what you eat … and how you exercise … and when you sleep.

While researching my book Sacred Ground & Holy Water, I interviewed ursine biologist Greg Risdahl. He emphasized how much people can learn about nature’s plan for humans by studying our omnivore brother the bear. Greg told me that bears adapt not just winter hibernation but also summer snoozes to their natural environment. Sleeping with nature’s rhythms can help people too. We spend around a third of our lives sleeping but often do little to help improve the quality of this huge slice of life.

Remember “early to bed, early to rise, makes you healthy, wealthy, and wise”? Think about it. Natural lighting fights infection and depression, dawn rising promotes early bird productivity rather than night owl consumption, and sunrise watching fosters a spiritual sense of one’s niche in the world. Yes, only geeks go to bed early, but healthy, wealthy, wise geeks can seem pretty hip.

Risdahl also pointed out that bear and human teeth reveal natural diet. Molars and premolars are for grinding whole grains, fruits, vegetables, legumes, and seeds—not milled flour, fruit juices, veggie bars, soy milks, and oil blends. Waste not, want not. Canines and incisors are for tearing lean meat such as venison or trout, not fat-packed sausage or pre-ground hamburger. Bears who trade forageable fare for human-processed garbage suffer ill health. Ditto for people.

In Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Count Bezukhov credits his transformed vitality to meeting a man so close to nature he is part of it. We’re all part of nature and we’re all omnivores. Meat lovers attempting to live as carnivores risk stroke and heart disease; vegetarians attempting to live as herbivores risk atrophy and diabetes. Respecting nature means embracing its blueprint and accepting our place in it. It doesn’t matter whether you were raised by meat and potato Texas cowboys or rice and bean Indian gurus. Go to the mirror and look at your teeth. Listen more to nature and less to human fads and traditions. Your body (and your hottie) will thank you for following the owner’s manual.

Constructing your body and spirit is a big part of constructing your life. The fitness secrets that I've covered in this series are simple - simple to understand that is. Yet, it's not the knowin' but the doin' that counts. There are a lot of impressive high-tech gadgets available today, but none are cooler or more essential than your body and spirit. Take good care of your most precious assets and be the sexy beast you were meant to be. Ladies who have restored their classic engines and bodies to pristine condition should visit my 24-hour service center for regular tune-ups.