I’ve been a proponent for telecommuting for years, and I’m glad to see more proof — such as this article, which presents research from Sweden, where they’ve found that long commutes (around 45 minutes) make you 40% more likely to divorce, and also re-inforce gender-based stereotypes, where the man will usually have the better job and do the long commutes, while the woman is forced to take a lower-paying job closer to home.
According to the study, 11 percent of Swedes have a journey to work that consists of a 45-minute commute or longer. Many commuters have small children and are in a relationship. Most are men.
The risk of divorce goes up by 40 percent for commuters and the risk is the highest in the first few years of commuting.
And more Swedes are travelling farther distances to work.
“The trend is definitely pointing upward. Both the journey to work and the working hours are getting longer, “ Sandow told The Local.
The study was based on statistical data from two million Swedish households between 1995 and 2000.
This article in The Economist echoes the research, and offers additional arguments:
Ms Lowrey ends up running through the whole litany of traditional commuter complaints—that it makes us fat, stresses us out, makes us feel lonely, and literally causes pain in the neck—and finds research to prove that the moaners are, more often than not, right. “People who say, ‘My commute is killing me!’ are not exaggerators,” she concludes: “They are realists.”
I put together a short video demonstration of our water ionizer, as a quick introduction to the idea of ionized water and its main benefits. A few months ago, I laughed at the idea of ionized water. I thought it was a foolish concept. After all, the acid-base chemistry of our body would cancel any ionized water. I thought it wouldn’t have any effect, and who knows, it might even be harmful. But my mother had bought a machine, and she went on and on about its benefits. She said we should get one as well, and once Ligia and I tried it and saw its effects on our body, we’d be sold.
Well, I am sold on ionized water now. We drink alkaline water daily, and wash our faces with acid water. Our bodies went through a process of detoxification, and from time to time, we still feel the effects of eliminating toxins (headaches and slight nausea). Most of the time though, we feel great, much better than we did before. Our complexion has improved as well. My face is much smoother. Ligia says the same about hers, and I agree, although she’s always had great skin.
If you’re a skeptic, I understand, having been one myself. The only thing that will convince you is to try drinking alkaline water for yourself and see the difference on your own body. You don’t have to buy a machine. See if there’s a health store in your area that has a water ionizer and is willing to sell it to you, and drink it for a few weeks. Keep a daily journal of what’s going on with you, and make up your mind afterward.
A lot of people prefer to get bottled water, thinking it’s pure. There’s been plenty of research on this, so you don’t have to take my word for it — purity is a foreign concept to bottled water, which contains more impurities than tap water. Given the way it’s kept in plastic bottles, whose chemicals leech into the water over time, and the harsh conditions in which it’s kept (cold or hot, depending on the weather), it’s also possible that it’s harmful to the body, its chemical make-up having been altered. Water isn’t just water. Simple as its chemical formula is, it just isn’t as simple as H2O. Water is basic to all of the chemical reactions in our bodies, so it’s a reactive substance. Water also needs to have minerals in it, in order to be properly absorbed by our body, and to benefit it. Do you think that a reactive substance like water does well when kept in toxic plastic containers over long periods of time, and subjected to cold or hot conditions — temperatures which facilitate various chemical reactions?
Ionized water isn’t a recent discovery. It’s been around since the 50s, and it’s regularly consumed in countries like Korea and Japan. If it’s been around that long, surely that in itself lends it a bit of credibility. A hoax usually doesn’t stick around for 60 years or more.
You can, of course, remain a skeptic. You’ll be in good company, since the folks at Wikipedia have done so. You can also be skeptical of the skeptics, like this man. Or you can choose to believe the testimonials of those who’ve tried the water, folks like me or like the ones in this video (with whom I am not affiliated in any way, shape or form):
The thing is, even if you choose not to believe anything about ionized water, surely you can use logic to reason the following out: alkaline cancels out acid, right? Then it stands to reason that at the very least, alkaline water should help in those situations where the stomach is overly acidic (ulcers, acid reflux, upset stomach, etc.) So if you’ve got one of those conditions, the logical thing to do is to drink alkaline water instead of taking antacid tablets, and see how you feel. You may just discover that it will make a bunch of other pre-existing conditions go away, and that’s not a bad deal, is it?
Here are a few photos of the particular model we have, the Chanson VS-70. I’m not saying it’s superior to other models and that you should get it above others. It’s a good model from a good brand, which we liked because it’s an under-the-counter unit, and it has seven electrolysis plates, coated with platinum. Other models are counter-top units and have fewer plates. Price-wise, the Chanson brand is also less expensive than other brands on the market, so they’re a good deal.
We just published episode 6 of Ligia’s Kitchen, which will show you how to make nature’s miracle cure, wheatgrass juice. This stuff is really, really healthy, but there’s one catch: it tastes terrible. Even after you drink it for years, it’s still hard to get it down. But if you can, it does amazing things for your body.
I learned these things the hard way. Maybe you won’t have to.
Don’t shave!
It may come naturally to you after a morning workout. You take a shower, then you’ll want to shave, since your hair’s been softened by the hot water. Don’t do it! There’s still plenty of blood right under your skin, thanks to the workout, and your hand muscles, having just lifted heavy weights, will inadvertently exert too much pressure on the skin. These two things will translate into cuts, cuts and more cuts… unless your face is tougher than treated leather.
Don’t eat right away.
Allow your body to relax a bit, for at least 30-60 minutes. You may be tempted to drink a shake, or dig into a steak, wanting to get some proteins and carbs into your body, but it’s not a good idea. You’ve just lifted heavy things or done some strenuous cardio, and your body is still racing. It needs time to relax and get back to normal before you can eat and digest food properly.
Don’t go outside in cold weather.
Sure, you may think you’re tough, because you’ve just bested yourself at the deadlift, leg press or bench press, but if you’ve broken out in sweat, and then you go outside in your workout clothes, or right after a shower, thinking you’ll be just fine for a few minutes, you may discover pneumonia couldn’t care less about your fitness level. Dry yourself thoroughly, get dressed properly, and then head outside.
Ligia and I attended a talk given by Dr. Brian Clement of the Hippocrates Health Institute — the foremost center of natural and complementary health care in the world. The event took place at the Caldwell Theatre in Boca Raton, FL, on March 22, 2010, and the talk was on aging, and what we can do to stop it. It may sound like the stuff of fairy tales, but the advice given is common sense, and it works. Dr. Clement himself is almost 70 years old, though he doesn’t look it.
In a nutshell, we must change our nutrition to include a large proportion of raw vegan foods, particularly sprouts and vegetable juices. I invite you to watch the entire video, which is about 45 minutes long. It’s quite interesting, and the Q&A section at the end also provides actionable and important advice.
Sorry about the somewhat unsteady video. I recorded this handheld. And the focus is a bit off for the first 1:30 minutes, but it does get better after that, so hang in there!
I’d also like to thank the folks at YouTube for allowing me to post the entire video without cutting it up into smaller parts. This summer, they raised the limit to 15 minutes for each video, then did away with it completely a few weeks ago, which meant I could upload the entire 45-minute video, in 720p HD, at over 3GB in size, without any problems. Thank you YouTube!
Raoul Pop 