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Living Maxwell

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Do I Ever Cheat?

Last week, I was asked by a friend of mine if I ever cheat.

No, she was not asking if I ever cheat on women but rather wanted to know if I ever cheat on my diet.

While I was taken aback by the question and didn’t have an immediate answer, she followed up with “Don’t you ever eat a doughnut?”

“No, I never eat doughnuts,” I quickly responded. That was an easy one to figure out. The thought of putting a Krispy Kreme into my body never ever enters my mind.

The larger question about cheating, however, really got me thinking and this is what I came up with.

1) My friend asked me this question because she (and probably many others) may perceive me as someone who is depriving himself of certain types of food.

Yet, almost never do I deprive myself of food. I eat raw organic ice cream or chocolate (sweetened with maple syrup or palm sugar), both of which taste as good and as sweet as anything I’ve ever eaten.

Pizza was one of my favorite foods but I have eaten it so little of it over the past few years that my taste buds for it have most likely disappeared. Yes, there is organic pizza but I just don’t have the burning desire to eat it.

The one food that I love(d) and have not been eating is popcorn. It is high on the Glycemic Index but I am thinking about making it with coconut oil one of these days. So, popcorn may be the only exception.

And if I eat popcorn and it doesn’t resonate with me for any reason, it is out.

2) I eat what is good for me. I like to put things into my body that are good for me and that are going to keep me healthy.

The only thing I eat or drink that does not taste good is wheatgrass. The taste of wheatgrass is pretty brutal but I also know that it may be the healthiest food on the planet.

3) I eat what is going to make me feel good, emotionally and physically.

Since the summer of 2004, I have eliminated all refined sugar from my diet. It used to get me massively depressed, so I don’t eat it anymore.

This realization about the connection of food to my emotional well-being plays a major role in my decision about what to eat on a daily basis.

Furthermore, this is another reason why I eat organic food. Eating food that has been sprayed with chemicals, is filled with growth hormones or has been genetically-altered in a laboratory is not food that will make me feel good.

My body knows what real food is. GMO or pesticide-laden food is not real food in my book.

IN CLOSING…

While many people may look at my diet and think it looks quite unappetizing, I don’t view it that way at all.

I very much enjoy what I eat, and it makes me feel good. As a result, the notion of cheating would be eating unhealthy foods that I don’t like.

And why would I want to do that?

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Living Maxwell

Personal

The Struggles I Faced in College and How I Handled Them

As I wrote about the other day, it was during college when I went on antidepressants. Each day was getting harder than the next. The sky was growing darker and darker. It was a major struggle just to survive.

I was overwhelmed with a variety of responsibilities — school work, in which I seemed to be drowning; the tennis team, which occupied several hours of my time per day, not including constant traveling to other schools for matches and tournaments; and my fraternity, something in which I was very actively involved.

With my voice becoming more heavy during each phone conversation, my parents suggested that I go visit a local psychiatrist to see if he could help. More specifically, they thought that antidepressants were the answer. After a brief chat with the doctor, he diagnosed me with a mild case of depression and believed that Prozac would indeed improve my situation.

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A message from Tradin Organic

How Tradin Organic is Helping Coconut Farmers in The Philippines

For more than a decade, Tradin Organic has been working with local partners in The Philippines to bring a diversified range of organic products to the market, such as coconut oil, tropical fruits and even cocoa.

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Living Maxwell

Personal

Was Taking Antidepressants in College The Right Decision at the Time?

This is a very complex question that my father and I discuss from time to time. He insists that it was the right decision for me to go on it and doesn’t regret it at all. He also thinks I should never have gone off antidepressants when I did in 2001.  He and my mother were adamantly against this decision.

For me, the question of whether going on antidepressants was the right decision brings up many thoughts and additional questions.

* As I talked about in my last post related to this subject, there were tremendous and disastrous repercussions for going on Prozac. There is no doubt about it.

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Living Maxwell

Personal

A Recent Date: Do You Mind If I Drink?

I had a very interesting lunch date recently with this very beautiful Indian woman. A friend of mine thought that I would enjoy meeting her and set the two of us up.

Why did he think I would like her? (1) He thinks she’s awesome  (2) He knows that I am very attracted to Indian women (the love of my life is Indian) and (3) There is almost nothing that I find more sexy than a woman who meditates. She meditates. (Meditation is a huge part of my life and is something I first started doing in 1991).

Even though I knew almost nothing about her, the conversation flowed pretty effortlessly. Aside from the meditation, we are both very into yoga and eating healthy. This was the first woman I’ve met in a long time who thought it was fantastic that I eat almost 100% organic. That kind of surprised me. Normally, I don’t get that reaction. What I tend to hear is “isn’t that a little extreme” or “don’t you ever want to go to a nice restaurant with your friends?” or “you can’t be so rigid.”

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