What the Health Have I Done?!

I did something crazy over the last 6 months - I intentionally gained 30 pounds. Now why would anyone in their right mind do that? Honestly, I did it to prove a few points. I’ve been 184 pounds for the last 20 years – that’s an ideal weight for a guy who is 6’4”.

Here I am after a 1.5 mile ocean swim last summer

I’ve always worked out hard and eaten healthy to maintain this weight and muscle; however, I’ve repeatedly heard from people how “lucky” I am to never gain weight, to have a great physique and no history of health problems. Even members of my family have accused me of “getting all of the good genes."

Eating a 15 ingredient salad on a kayak trip

In the last 6 months, I have departed from my normal routine to prove that I am indeed human. I also wanted to prove that when you do what the average person does, you get average results.

A shot of wheatgrass juice on St. Patty's Day 2011

There are some things that I will never compromise – like my strict vegetarian diet. I have been 100% vegetarian for over 17 years now and will maintain that until the last meal I eat. However, over the last 6 months I transitioned from a vegan diet consisting of mostly raw fruits, veggies, sprouts and fresh juice to what I call a pizza and potato chip vegetarian diet. I still ate lots of fruits and veggies, but I added in pizza, pastas, pies, bread, chips and dips and, oh yes, BEER – that’s vegetarian right?

I wanted to get closer to the Standard American Diet or “SAD”, but I still wasn’t willing to compromise my health by drinking soda, eating candy, fast food or meat.

Exercise has been an integral part of my life since I was a child, so I wasn’t willing to give that up completely either. Although 60% of America doesn’t exercise at all, I wanted to replicate what is a more typical American workout plan – sporadic and short. Instead of devoting 10% of my day (or 2 ½ hours) to walking, running, swimming, biking, yoga, pilates, and weight training daily, I decided to just do things when I felt like it – or when I had time.

Yoga on the beach

With this new “average lifestyle” I was able to consistently gain 5 pounds per month for the last 6 months. Awesome – huh? Oh yeah, I almost forgot – jeans and board shorts I’ve worn comfortably for over ten years are busting at the seams since my waist has gone from 31 ½ inches to 34 ½ inches in the same period of time.

Enough is enough. I’m not ready to go shopping for a new wardrobe yet. I’m also not happy about how I feel in my new body. I’ve developed regular back aches, pains in my hip joints and I’ve been sick more in the last 6 months than in the previous 6 years! Coincidence? I think not.

So now that I’ve demonstrated how easy it is for a 37 year old vegetarian who still works out occasionally and has good ‘genes’ to gain 30 pounds in a short period of time - I now plan to demonstrate how to right the ship and undo my sins for the last 6 months.

1.1.12 - My 6-pack turned into a pony keg!

Here I am today – I’m putting this out there for the world to see. Sean Donovan weighs 214 pounds. That’s well over 20 pounds more than I’ve EVER weighed in my life!

 Hello New Year - Bye Bye Belly!

I plan to lose 30 pounds in half the time it took me to gain it. That’s right – starting January 1, I’m going to throw my arsenal of tactics back on my physique and be back at my ideal weight of 184 pounds by March 31.

Keep in touch and follow me to see just how easy and healthy weight loss can be.   

Word of the Year

Recently I was challenged by my friend and fellow motivational speaker Alin Jacobs to implement a new annual ritual called “word of the year.” The concept is to select a single word or even coin a new word that will be your mantra, motivation, inspiration, and the defining characteristic of the upcoming New Year. This challenge has made a remarkable impact on my thinking over the last several weeks since Alin bestowed his wisdom and challenge upon me.

After much deliberation and contemplation, I first decided to re-visit 2011 in hopes that the past year would help me define next year. In retrospect, I decided that my word of the year for 2011 must have been “development.”

This year has allowed me to develop wonderful relationships both personally and professionally that will fuel my success in 2012. I kicked off 2011 by completely redeveloping my website SeanDon.com - which was an arduous and time consuming task, but proved to be well worth the effort. Once the website was launched, I then shifted my focus to developing a new marketing strategy and identity for workplace wellness programs – thus, the Grassroots Reform Organization (GRO) was developed. With GRO, I was able to seek out and develop new partnerships with other “healthy businesses.” Almost magically, I was connected with an organization that funds employee enrichment programs – enabling me to develop new programs for businesses who previously could not afford them. As always, I strive to develop and improve as a speaker, author, life coach and health advocate; therefore, I put a tremendous amount of effort into the development of exciting new content, programs and writings. I was even able to be instrumental in helping my top corporate client, DME Benefitness, redefine their corporate culture and workplace wellness by developing a new website, blog, newsletter and employee enrichment programs. Every day I strive to develop health and happiness for myself and those around me. Thanks to my development in 2011, I am now poised to create new corporate culture and revolutionize workplace wellness for many companies in 2012.

My personal zeitgeist for 2011 was great, but enough about the past. It’s now crystal clear to me that my word of the year for 2012 will be “wellthy.” No, that’s not a typo.

Wellthy (adjective) - synergistically benefitting from the combination of health, wealth, happiness, and wellness.

A wellthy individual realizes that their greatest wealth is in their health and that their success and overall wellness can be measured by the size of the smile on their face.

Personally, I’ve invested thousands of hours of time and immeasurable thought and energy into becoming wellthy. I believe that H.E.A.L.T.H. stands for Helping Everyone Always Leads To Happiness; therefore, I created a business that truly helps others attain health, happiness and success. The focus of my efforts, programs, writings and speeches are all aimed at developing wellthy people and businesses. By helping others and leading by example, I’m certain that I will become abundantly “wellthy” in 2012.

My first wellthy action is to pass on Alin Jacob’s wisdom - and challenge you to define your 2012 with your own personal “word of the year.” Before you make futile New Year’s resolutions that will be forgotten by February or set unrealistic goals that you will never pursue this year, put some serious thought into defining your purpose in life. This introspective thought exercise will magically reveal your word of the year and empower you to make a difference in the world – starting with a Happy New YOU!

Motivational Message

Spend Wisely - Shop Healthy

“So many people spend their health gaining wealth, and then have to spend their wealth to regain their health” ~A.J. Reb Materi 

Why do most of us spend our money to enhance our lives in every way possible – from jewelry, to clothes, electronics, makeup, shoes, cars, bigger houses, worthless material possessions, etc… but when it comes to our health, we neglect the one thing that everything else depends on.

Sure, new golf clubs or an ipad2 would be nice, but…

This holiday season why not support the health of those on your shopping list while also supporting local, small businesses? Give those you love a healthy gift – such as a gift certificate from a local health food store like Living Waters. Make this holiday season stress-free and relaxing with yoga sessions at Hot House Yoga. Organic produce delivery from Front Porch Pickings can be a healthy weekly or monthly reminder of how much you care. For your relatives or friends who are full of sh*t – a colonic from Logical Therapy and Wellness makes a perfectly logical gift! When you’re happy, you’re usually healthy - deliver a monthly smile with ‘flowers for a year’ from The Flower Market. A health food supplement like Chews4Health will create the priceless gift of energy and vitality.

Whether young or old, short or tall, everyone could use a little more "Health and Happiness" in their lives.

Merry Christmas and have a healthy, Happy New You!

Ho, Ho, Holy Sh*t - Christmas is Almost Here!

Are you one of the many that haven’t finished your holiday shopping yet? Has procrastination or lack of time left you stressfully counting the days until Christmas? Do you hate shopping or crowded malls and stores? Are you looking for the perfect universal gift that would benefit everyone on your shopping list? Is it your mission to support local, small businesses this holiday season? If so, you’re in luck – here’s the perfect solution for your gift giving pleasure this year.

Give the gift of "Health and Happiness"!

Local Daytona Beach author Sean Donovan’s book "Health and Happiness: an owner's manual for the mind and body" is the perfect solution for spreading holiday cheer to all who are dear for the rest of the year.

This easy, interesting, and educational book is a life-changing gift that is sure to enhance the life of anyone who reads it – now and for many healthy, happy years to come.

The title really says it all, but Sean says a lot more about life in his common sense, content-rich, change-inducing creation. It is truly a must-read for anyone who is alive and wants to stay that way!

An easy, meaningful gift solution for under $20 is really rare to find.

“Health and Happiness” is available in hardback, paperback, e-book and newly revised personalized paperback version. All versions are fantastic and can be bought easily and quickly online – they even ship direct right to the recipient – so you can keep your sleigh and reindeer in the garage!

Reduce your holiday stress, finish your shopping HERE and kick back, relax and have a healthy, happy holiday season.

“Ho, Ho, Healthy New You”

The Perfect Gift

If you’re like most people, then you probably have several individuals on your Christmas shopping list who are extremely difficult to shop for. Either they have everything they need, or they are extremely picky, or their tastes vary dramatically from yours (I cringe every time my mother buys me clothes). Of course there are always those ungrateful present recipients who will invariably return or re-gift whatever you get them. It’s time for change.

Why not give a gift that is personalized, practical, and potentially life-changing? How about giving something that everyone has in common and always needs more of? Wouldn’t it be nice to find an all-encompassing gift that really demonstrated how much you cared about someone? What if you could support two local businesses with your purchase? And wouldn’t it be a nice bonus for your budget if it could be bought online for only $20 and shipped direct?

Give the gift of "Health and Happiness" this holiday season to everyone you care about. Even those who you aren’t that fond of may become more appreciative and pleasant after receiving this awesome gift!

"Health and Happiness: an owner's manual for the mind and body" is a life-changing book written by Sean Donovan. Although the title is self explanatory, there are many underlying themes revealed that contribute directly to everyone’s well-being. Written for people who don’t normally read and those who have limited time, "Health and Happiness" is a quick, easy read that is packed full of common sense advice and enjoyable analogies and stories.

Whether your friend, family member, neighbor, co-worker or employee needs to shed a few pounds from the holiday season, put a smile on their face, prevent disease, slow down aging, prioritize their life, set goals, manage their time, or improve their overall lifestyle – this book has something for everyone who is alive. Rich in tangible takeaways that are easily implemented, economic, and highly effective, "Health and Happiness" is sure to ignite a burning desire for positive change in anyone who reads it.

The best part is… this unique paperback book is now available in personalize print version. When you click HERE to order, you will be prompted during the purchase process to enter the first name of the person for whom you are purchasing the book (make sure you capitalize the first letter in their name). Next you will see a proof of the book cover. On the proof, you will notice that instead of the title reading “Health and Happiness: an owner’s manual for the mind and body”, it will now read “Health and Happiness: Joe’s (or whoever’s) manual for the mind and body.” It gets better…

When your gift arrives and the recipient opens up the cover, they will first see a personalized signature page addressed directly to them. Then as they begin reading, they will notice that the book addresses them by name throughout the text. This personalized print version is a meaningful and powerful tool designed especially to elicit… well, "Health and Happiness" for everyone.

Simply click HERE and buy one as a stocking stuffer for everyone on your list too!

Have a healthy, happy holiday season however you decide to celebrate it!

"Meet" Vegetarianism

This month I celebrate 17 years as a vegetarian. My mother laughs at me now, because when I was a child, she remembers cooking delicious meals and casseroles only to watch me pick out all of the spinach, broccoli, celery, and anything else green.  I would have a pile of ‘green stuff’ on the side of my plate that I would refuse to eat for the first twenty years of my life. Now, my whole refrigerator is filled with everything green. What made me give up my Standard American Diet (SAD) of predominantly red meat and potatoes? Several things – and am I glad that they did!

It was partly my mother’s influence, but it wasn’t her cooking that prompted my change. My mother and both of her parents developed colon cancer during a short period of time. In fact, my grandmother lived the last decade or so of her life with no colon at all. Talk about a reason to change my ways – I didn’t ever want to have to endure what she went through. A colostomy bag is not for me. My mother and grandfather were luckier as they only lost very small portions of their colons. When my mom beat colon cancer only to have cancer return in the form of lymphoma a couple of years later – and then beat that too, I knew I had some strong “fighting genes” in my gene pool, but I also realized I have some genetic predispositions to contend with as well. Thankfully, I discovered that although our genes load the metaphorical gun, it’s our lifestyle that pulls the trigger.

I was also influenced by a good friend of mine who was raised by vegan parents. He had never consumed meat or dairy his entire life. He was also a phenomenal athlete who was a star on his collegiate cross-country track team. He made running marathons look easy and he never seemed to lack energy, stamina or strength. I was so intrigued by his physical ability and absence of past medical problems that I quickly accepted his challenge to “go raw” for 21 days and only eat fruits and veggies. I was already in pretty good shape and had yet to suffer any health problems, but nonetheless my transformation was remarkable.  The increased energy alone was enough to make me never crave animal products again.

It’s undeniable that humans were designed to be vegetarians. The physiological proof starts with the alkaline saliva in our mouths. Also in regards to our mouths, the shape of our teeth (flat molars for grinding) and the movement of our jaw (up and down and side to side also for grinding) indicate that of a vegetarian. Compare our mouths to that of a carnivorous dog and you will find acidic saliva, sharp incisors and pointed molars designed for ripping and tearing flesh as well as a jaw that only moves up and down (no need to grind the meat side to side). The next clue is the dexterity of our magnificent hands - complete with opposable thumbs for grasping and picking fruits and veggies – as opposed to a carnivore like a bear that has massive claws for holding live prey and tearing its flesh from the bones. Human digestive tracts are very long and curvaceous so they can extract all of the nutrients from the living fruits and veggies -while true carnivores (such as lions) have very short and relatively straight digestive tracts to expel the rotting flesh and it’s toxic digestion by-products from their bowels as quickly and easily as possible.

If that physiological evidence isn’t enough to convince you that vegetarianism should be the way of humanity, then try this test. Put a pile of berries and a rabbit in a playpen with a four year old child and observe what happens. Then try the same experiment with a four year old lion cub in a cage. My guess is that the child will eat the berries and pet the rabbit. And in the lion cub’s cage there will be a bloody mess and a pile of untouched berries. Instincts don’t lie. And by the way, anyone who thinks that humans are at the top of the food chain is dead wrong. I invite them to spend the night in the wilderness full of lions, bears, mosquitoes and snakes – or take a swim in shark infested waters. In reality, decomposers such as bacteria and fungi are the ones on top of the food chain.

If most people in modern society had to raise, kill, clean, prep and cook their own meat, there would be a whole lot more vegetarians. Thank God for our modern food production industry – right? Wrong! If slaughterhouses and meat packing plants had windows or an open-door policy, my guess is that everyone would be a vegetarian!

Animal cruelty is a travesty and is prevalent in almost every aspect of the carnivorous side of the food industry, but I’ve found that most people simply don’t care – they don’t want to think about it – they just want their meat neatly packaged or prepared and cooked for them. They don’t even want to know what went into the process. If they only knew or thought about what went into the “meat process” and how it goes straight into their bodies, then they would realize that “we are what we eat” – right?

Maybe the chronic diseases suffered by many people in today’s modern society are simply nature’s revenge for the cruelty that mankind’s carnivorous population is exacting on the rest of the animal kingdom. For scientific proof that animal consumption is linked to chronic disease, I would be happy to direct you to Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s book "The China Study".

Recently I was having dinner with a colleague who seemed quite perplexed when they discovered I was a vegetarian. Their immediate reaction was “Oh, you don’t eat meat? What do you eat?” My simple response was “Plants and living foods”. Simple and to the point – when you eat a plant based diet of fruits and veggies, you are eating living foods and thus ingesting life into your body. When you eat meat, it is dead and so you are ingesting death into your body. Plus, the higher up the food chain we eat, the farther we move away from the natural source energy of the sun, the mineral nutrients of the soil and water, and the purity and oxygen from the air.

Look, I’m here to tell you that if I can make the “cold-turkey” conversion from the typical male American meat-and-potatoes diet to vegetarianism, anyone can do it. Having made the transition and having lived on ‘both sides of the food chain’ – I can honestly say without a doubt or reservation that vegetarianism is an exponentially far superior lifestyle to that of an American carnivore. Forget all the macho B.S. - you don’t need meat or dairy to get protein – I work out harder and longer than most of my meat eating friends and never lack energy, stamina or strength. In addition, I’ve never had a tooth cavity or a broken bone – and that means a lot considering my active lifestyle!

Think about it – better yet, try a vegetarian, raw food diet and experience the awesome benefits for yourself. You’ll be happy you did.

For more on my vegetarian lifestyle read my book: "Health and Happiness: an owner's manual for the mind and body"

Written by Sean Donovan - Founder of Grassroots Reform Organization (GRO), author, speaker, life coach, health advocate