LIT Book Review, Get Your Atlas Squared Away

It is important to get plenty of hydration. Many people have improved their symptoms and hunger just by simply drinking more water. The body is 60-70% water, and we need water to get oxygen to our cells and organs, remove toxins and waste from the body, and keep electrolytes in balance but there are many more functions of water too.

 

Athletes need water too. You need to be well hydrated to get oxygen to your heart, lungs and muscles. This means 2-4 liters of water a day, obviously more in the summer and if you play a lot of sports. Urine should be pale to a light yellow every time your urinate. The author, Lisa Saff once had an 18 male soccer player in her office. He was going off to college to play division 3 soccer at an Ivy League and was concerned. He had mild brain fog and a longer recovery time post soccer matches. Lisa reviewed his case and noticed that the only thing amiss was his fluid balance. She adjusted his fluid and electrolyte balance and he then noticed immediate improvement, so did his coaches.

 

Lisa at a first visit assesses activity level. Some people are elite athletes others born lazy. If you aren't doing anything at all right now she suggests you start off with 10 minutes of walking a day. Then try to add a day a week of yoga or Pilates.

 

HITT training is really popular in the getting LIT treatment. This is a 20 minutes workout that goes like this. You do 20 minutes of cardio (running for example) and then take a light minute of pushups, wall-sits, planks, etc. to mix it up. You are basically doing interval training. HIIT, stands for high intensity interval training. More on that here. (LINK).

 

Vitamin and mineral testing is important too. More toxins are being encountered every day in this developing world and that stresses the body which requires more nutritional support to build up. In a nutrition class I took in College we all reported the foods we ate and the professor analyzed our population and decided what we were doing with our vitamins. It turned out we were all short of vitamin E, this is in the Southwest and that's Tucson, Arizona. Your locality probably has a lot to do with the amount of vitamins and minerals your getting. Read the book to find out some great tests to take to look for deficiencies in your vitamin and mineral intake.

 

The thyroid gland is really important. In people with a poorly functioning thyroid, Lisa sees them as being cold most of the time, puffiness or low-level swelling all over the body, especially around the eyes; hair loss; loss of the outer eyebrow; weight gain; and fatigue. People also with a dysfunctional thyroid complain of brain fog and feeling like they're moving slowly. In the book is a case-study of a female track athlete that had a poor performing thyroid.

 

Thyroid support doesn't usually come without adrenal support. The adrenal glands are walnut-sized glands that are located on top of each kidney (PIC). The signs of a poorly functioning adrenal glad are fatigue; light-headedness; especially when going rom a sitting to a standing position; waking in the morning feeling like you have not slept; crashing around three or four o'clock in the afternoon; and often waking up at three or four o'clock in the morning. Specific treatments are mentioned in the book along with rest, meditation and deep breathing.

 

Blood sugar regulation is really important. Insulin is one of the master hormones in the body. It is released in response to carbohydrates such as sugar and fruit etc (same thing really). When you eat too many carbs it becomes impossible to lose weight. You become insulin resistant. That means there is so much insulin in your body your cells stop responding to it appropriately and then you get diabetes because you have too much sugar in your blood stream that hasn't been shuttled into the cells because they resist the insulin. The insulin transports the sugar into cells and into fat cells. Insulin makes you fat. That's why the keto diet is a good one because it keeps you primed to insulin because there is very little of it around because the keto diet doesn't have many carbs.

 

Lisa helped a female competitive tennis player get better into shape by monitoring her insulin levels. She wanted to covert body fat into muscle but her slightly elevated fasting blood sugar was preventing her from doing that.  After getting a blood glucose monitor and noting her blood glucose was 95 to 100's, actions were taken. After correcting for too much glucose and bringing her sugar down to 75-85 range she was able to put on muscle and gain a competitive edge. Touchy isn't it?

 

Menopause is when a women reaches, typically the age of 52. It means a women's ovaries are done releasing eggs monthly.

 

Men don't experience menopause but they can experience andropause. This word describes the state when the androgens mainly testosterone start to decline. This can start at an earlier age then might want to believe.  It typically occurs around forty. The most obvious sign of this is muscle wasting. The muscle begins to rapidly decrease as testosterone levels begin to decline. Men also experience decreased sex drive, erectile dysfunction, sometimes gynecomastia or increased breast tissue. Decreased mental clarity and overall lethargy are other common symptoms.

 

The gut is important. It needs to be in optimal functioning state. People don't realize it but the gut has a lot of neurotransmitter production, such as serotonin. The bowel is in touch with our bloodstream along every bit of its course. When the gut isn't healthy you can get leaky gut syndrome. This occurs when toxins, chemicals and food particles leak into the blood stream from the gut. It can drain your adrenal gland and overload your liver with a huge toxin load. When this happens your gut can't break down and absorb nutrients, amino acids, and fuel. Adrenal glands are taxed further from the lack of nutritional support.  People with unhealthy guts extract more calories from the same meal then people with healthy GI tracts.  Lisa talks about her 4 pillars of a healthy gut as the four R's. Remove, repair, restore and reinoculate. Get the book to learn more.

 

The liver is considered by Lisa to be one of the power organs for athletic performance. When the liver is overloaded and working really hard to clear toxins, it often cannot keep up. When it cannot keep up, the mitochondria (the energy producing part of our cells) and our muscle cells-as well as the entire cardiovascular system- can be affected. They are very sensitive to toxins. A small amount of toxins can block receptors and prevent optimal function. Lisa talks about phase I detoxification and phase II detoxification. Phase I occurs when you put the trash into the trash bags. Phase II detoxification is when the trash is taken to the curb to be picked up. The book talks about supplements you can take to enhance phase I detox and phase II detox.

 

Something that Lisa does and touts is spinal alignment but not your traditional chiropractic hand manipulation.  Note that the spinal is the origin of all nerves in the body. The nerves supply signals to all of the organs and muscles to help them perform appropriately and at optimal levels. It is very common to have an imbalance in the spine. It could just be from one fall during childhood. If the structure is off, even just by a fraction of a degree, then the nerve roots can become compromised.

 

Vertebral bone C1 is the master joint. It is often called the atlas. It is the main connection between your brain and the rest of your body. All the signals going down your brain, especially from the pituitary, must travel past C1. It has control over things like thyroid function, all of your hormones, cortisol, and other such things as your blood pressure and heart rate. Even your stomach's production of acid can be disrupted when C1 is out of line.  C1 has two holes in it for the vertebral arteries. The arteries carry ~ two-thirds of the blood supply to the brain. That is imperative. When C1 is compromised (like it commonly is), the nerve root is cut off, or the blood supply is pushed. You may not be able to get optimal blood flow to your brain. This can lead to a multitude of symptoms, such as brain fog, memory issues, and many more.

 

It is really easy to get out of alignment. Even a difficult baby birth can put C1 out of alignment. It also takes just one fall to put C1 out of alignment. After the bone is put back into place, it's a lot more difficult for it to slip out again. That's why it is imperative to get it back into alignment.

 

Check out the book, chapter "Spinal alignment" to see a very safe procedure to put it back into alignment and get LIT doing it.

 

Energy work is also touted as beneficial after you get your spinal alignment worked out. The science of energy work is about the ethereal body, which is an energy field around and a part of our physical bodies that is involved in and connected to all of our body and mind functions. Other cultures have accepted this more than western med.  Chinese work on their chi almost daily, Indian cultures talk about their chakras. Energy work is any technique that enables healing or optimizing of that energetic layer in order to get closer to a state of total body health and vibrancy.

 

There are two layers of your body. Your physical body is layer one and then there is the separate layer that is vibrating so fast that you cannot see it. In addition to your physical body, the energy part of your body must also be functioning well for you to be optimally healthy and operational. Sometimes the energy layer can become blocked. That's why we try to clear and heal. Trauma, fear or other emotions can get imprinted into your energetic field. Things like exposure to certain substances and toxins and other emotional issues seem to be able to get stuck in that layer energetically. If we clear these dysfunctional layers, the body will be able to heal itself. That is always the goal.

 

Types of energy work include Reiki, which a lot of people heard about. It is a Japanese technique involving energy work, using the hands of the healer just above the body of the patient to help increase and enhance energy in the body. And then there are a couple of other energy techniques discussed in the book. Get the book to learn more!

 

Foods are not the same any more. Back in the day when they were grown without pesticides and the other techniques we use now a day they were laden with toxins. There are also genetically modified foods now and crops being grown in controlled environments. Genetically modified foods aren't processed by the body too well. The elimination diet is about eliminating foods in our diet that are bad and then reintroducing them one by one and recording what they do to us in a journal. Find out how long you need to eliminate foods for before you reintroduce them in Lisa's book (LINK).

 

It is known that sugar fuels disease and gluten is not appropriate. Eliminating problematic foods must happen. Something that is exciting that is being practiced now is the ketogenic diet and the idea of going into ketosis. Ketones are what help epileptic people avoid seizures but there are other people that can benefit. Really anyone can benefit from the ketogenic diet.  Our ancient ancestors probably spent a lot of time in ketosis by eating animal fats and protein. There was only a short season when fruits and vegetables were available.  Did you know that being in a state of ketosis and trigger the building blocks for new mitochondria (the ATP powerhouses of cells)?

 

To find out what the ketogenic diet consists of and what it mean to be in a state of ketosis read the book. I highly recommend it. It is a great book that can help you achieve optimal health.

 

Something that is possible with the low-carb diet or ketogenic diet is intermittent fasting. Lisa has had luck with people fasting from 12pm to 8pm everyday and found that it improves quite a few parameters. Read more to find out about this interesting topic.

 

Something that a lot of people believe and what Lisa does to improve her patients lives is use affirmations. Affirmations are positive self talk to your self-conscious mind. These are very powerful and have turned some people's lives around. For example, one patient hadn't been able to lose weight beyond the 200 lb mark and so Lisa taught her a new affirmation: "I am my ideal weight." With this she was able to get to her ideal weight and others have had similar successes. You should try it out. Also, check out my other website about the power of gratitude and the Law of Attraction.

 

Another effective technique like affirmations is the power of visualisation. Visualising things needs to be done in detail. Lisa has a chapter to devoted to talking about all the power ways we can use visualisation to benefit ourselves. Techniques are discussed so get the book and ante up.

 

Meditation is another practice that is touted by the LIT program. Meditation is the practice of breathing while quieting your mind. It has been practiced by religious people for centuries. One example of it helping someone was the case of a high school football star. Before the big games he would vomit in the locker room because he was so nervous. By listening to a quiet meditation and calming his mind before the game he was able to stop throwing up. Look into it. All the LIT method calls for is at least 5 minutes a day.

 

The LIT method also calls for the power of gratitude. I wrote a great article on the power of gratitude here  and its many benefits. People have overall all obstacles with the power of gratitude. Do you want to be the next one?

 

Journaling is a good thing to do to purge. It has helped people overcome really negative situations. It is part of the LIT program. Writing before you go to bed all the good things that are happening to you and you want to have happen to you are great ways to start. But I won't spoil it, find out about a great morning routine to set you up for a terrific day. See it here in the book.

 

Epsom salt soaking can help your body relax while removing toxins from your blood stream. It can also help you recover from a hard football game or sore muscles from the gym. Epsom salt soaking can clear your energy field, improve sleep and calm the mind. People that soak in this stuff two to three times a week for 10-15 minutes at a time find themselves more relaxed and focused from the everyday life of email, social media, internet searches, shopping etc. Why not wind down some and relax for a change? Read the book to find out how much Epsom salt you need per bath.

 

Read the book to find out which supplements you need and in what quantities you need them for a LIT body/mind and spirit. Learn about what foods to eat to become LIT and which DIM foods to avoid to not become toxin overloaded. Lemon water is one LIT food that you should enjoy everyday. Just get some water in a glass and squeeze lemon juice into it. It is a good way to give yourself some energy and detox.

 

The book includes much more than just this. Read about Lisa and her LIT method here. Thanks so much for giving yourself a chance to live a healthier LIT lifestyle. Please note this book and reference came from a $4,000 dollar seminar with Tony Robbins, so it's LIT! Take care,

 

Tyler