First of all I have to say this. I love my job, I’m loving life right now and I’ve had a fabby weekend. I’ve been to several of Phil’s seminars/workshops and this was by far the best yet.
Secondly, I feel incredibly lucky that it is right on my doorstep. Palm Hills Hotel in Bracknell is a mere 7 or 8 miles from my door. I don’t think anyone else lived closer. People from Ireland, Wales, Yorkshire, Sheffield and Bury St Edmunds all travel to these events. It’s really that worth it.
Thirdly, he had a fantastic line up. Phil presented passionately on heart and vascular health. Dr Eric Serrano from the USA was there speaking on hormones primarily, but this man knew a LOT of stuff, he was charismatic, said what he thought and was compelling. Dr Nigel Plummer, a digestive expert, what he doesn’t know about gut health, pro-biotics and fish oils really isn’t worth knowing. His delivery is clear, concise and moderated for the audience in front of him. Dr John Anderson, a mercury free dentist, from Wales who despite appearing quite shy, knew his stuff and the information he gave us on mercury fillings and dentistry left us in awe.
Each speaker deserves a blog post in their own right, however I am going to give you an overview of each of their presentations.
Phil: Heart and vascular health: If your cardiovascular system isn’t working properly then no matter how much you eat cleanly, exercise hard and look after yourself are you going to improve. Our heart’s function defines us. When it works optimally, so do we. If it works moderately so do we. When it’s in a crappy state, guess what? so are we! Several dietary and supplemental suggestions were recommended, but if you’re not taking additional vitamin C supplementation you will be deficient and you will be prone to vascular damage. Eating veg and fruit just isn’t enough. Patrick Holford, a well reknowned nutritionist has stated that with an AVERAGE diet we are taking in 100mg a day, a GOOD diet upto 200 mg a day but for optimum health we need about 2000mg a day. (I should state here that your government states that you need 60mg a day — this will keep you just away from scurvy, if you’re lucky). Phil explained how damaged arteries need vitamin C to stop the build up of plaque that is called in by the body to patch the holes in the arterial ‘grout’. How when we’re stressed through work, emotions or health (exercise too) we deplete vitamin C even more. If you do nothing else take a high quality vitamin C supplement 2-3g a day for maintenance. More would be required for heart health. Let me know if you need advice in this area.
Eric spoke on hormones. How synthetic hormones mess with your body. How the contraceptive pill stays in your body for 27 months after you’ve stopped taking it, how the estrogen dominance is giving men boobs (he called them ‘bitch tits’ — I love this man!), female moods are affected by their hormones being out of whack and how ‘stupid’ bodybuilders taking testosterone were ‘dumb asses’. His delivery was rapid. His knowledge vast. He was physically treating people all weekend and so generous with his time. Truly a great guy. Oh! and he gave Phil as good as he got!
Dr Plummer is a gut health god. I think he is fantastic. He loves his subject, he gave 2 brilliant presentations and that he gave me 10 minutes of his time for a video interview at the end of a very long day is truly generous. I’ll be making his video public soon. He spoke to me on gut health and how common gut and digestive problems can be managed with pro-biotics. I should say, he really knows his stuff. His research is published in the medical journals.
John-the mercury free-dentist was very enlightening. He seemed very shy and unused to presentations but he knew his topic was passionate about it and spoke from a position of experience as he got ill when he first qualified after spending so long putting mercury fillings in to people’s mouths without any protection. OK, so here is the crappy, ridiculous fact he told us.
Dentists are the only people who are legally allowed to poison you. It’s OK to put mercury in your gob, but when they have to dispose of any mercury they remove from people’s mouths they can’t just post it. Oh no. It needs special treatment, exorbitant pricing and ‘procedures’. Funny eh? It’s in your mouth, damn close to your brain and affecting all your tissues, but it’s approved as safe by the the Dentistry Council and the government. But try and dispose of it and it becomes a toxic poison. Go figure! Take home message, even if you have only one mercury filling you should seriously consider its removal for your health (by a mercury free dentist). I have lots of information on this so please drop me a line if you are interested to know more.
Finally, I met a great group of people. Generally in fitness circles there is a lot of ego and postulating. Testosterone strutting and comparing. It didn’t feel like that this time. It was inclusive and friendly, generous and helpful. I couldn’t have asked for more.
My real claim to fame though is that I had Glenn Ross on my massage couch!! All 28 stone of ‘Britain’s Strongest Man’! He was being treated by Eric for some back / hip / leg issue and needed a sturdy base. I always have my couch in the car and offered it (a bit nervously!). It did the job. Even with Eric and Mark applying body weight to Glenn my little couch survived! I almost got him to sign it!
I hope your weekend was as great as mine was! I’m still floating on air! 