Paleo Lifestyle

I have been doing some research trying to focus on eating a healthier selection of food and limit my intake of sugar.  For me, this has been a herculean task, as I have been drinking soda since college and admitedly, I am addicted to it.

I also have been trying to limit my passion for fast food!  Another habit that started later in high school.

When I was growing up, I hardly ever ate any fast food, and I think my mom did a pretty good job of giving us a variety of fruits and vegtables.  However, as the years went on, I developed some really bad eating habits.

In doing my research, one of the interesting things I have come across is a paleo lifesty, which looks at how our ancestors historically ate and exercised and recommends a similar lifestyle and diet.

I recently came across this chart, which really does a nice job of explaining the thought process behind the "paleo craze"

There are many excellent books on paleo, I would recommend you start with The Paleo Solution.

Enjoy the chart!

Learn more about the Paleo Diet.

Sensei Chris Feldt
Samurai Karate Studio
Columbia, SC 29229
803-462-9425
samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com

Take The Stop Bullying Pledge

Okay, take 30 seconds to show your commitment to end bullying now.

TAKE THE PLEDGE 

 

If you or anyone you know is a victim of bullying, I am here to help.  Please call me at 803-462-9425.

Don't wait, before it's too late!

We have lost too many children to bullying already!

 

Sensei Chris Feldt

Samurai Karate Studio

Columbia, SC 29229

803-462-9425

samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com

Celebrities and Kids Rally Around Bullying

By ABC News Nightline

 

I can't wait to see this new movie!

I think the world is finally starting to wake up to the idea that we ALL need to take responsibility to end bullying and keep our children safe while they are in school.

Let me know what you think we you see the movie!

 

Sensei Chris Feldt

Samurai Karate Studio

Columbia, SC 29229

803-462-9425

samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com

ABC Nightline Provides Bullying Resources

By ABC News Nightline

Millions of kids are relentlessly demeaned and physically attacked at school every day. Parents of victims and educators say that a change must take place and everyone can help. Below is a list of resources to help stop bullying and cyberbullying.

For Everyone:

The Bully Project, and 'Billy' Movie: The documentary film that sparked a nationwide movement to stop bullying offers stories of those who were bullies and resources for parents, teachers, kids and communities for how to deal with and stop bullies on their website.

"Bully," which follows the lives of five U.S. students who faced bullying on a daily basis at school, including two who commited suicide as a result, will be in theaters on March 30, 2012.

Stop Bullying Now!: A resource website sponsored by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services that addresses the warning signs of bullying, how to talk about bullies, how to report bullies and cyberbullying and offers a 24-hour help hotline for victims at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

For Children and Teens:

Teens Against Bullying: Specifically created to help teens learn about bullying, how to appropriately respond to it and how to prevent it.

Kids Against Bullying: Specifically created to help elementary school children learn about bullying, how to appropriately respond to it and how to prevent it.

Weinstein Company

Alex in Lee Hirsch's film "Bully". This... View Full Size

 

'Bully': Streep Hosts Film ScreeningWatch Video

Trailer: 'Bully' Watch Video

Gastric Bypass Hypnosis: Thinking Thin Watch Video

STOMP Out Bullying!: A national anti-bullying and cyberbullying program for kids and teens.

National Youth Advocacy Coalition: An advocacy organization for young people.

Trevor Project: A national organization that provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning youth. They also offer the Trevor Lifeline, a 24-hour, national crisis and suicide prevention hotline for LGBTQ youth. The number is 1-866-4-U-Trevor.

For Parents and Teachers:

PACER's National Bullying Prevention Center: Offers resources for how to teach kids of all ages about bullying, state laws and what parents can do if their child is being bullied, and peer advocacy groups.

Education.com: Bullying at School and Online: A resource for both teachers and parents on how to help a bullied child.

Teaching Tolerance: Bullying: Offers guidelines and activities for teachers to help teach students K-12 about bullies.

The Human Rights Campaign's Welcoming Schools Guide: A guide to help school administrators, educators, and parents or caring adults make sure that their elementary schools welcome all students and families. Targeted at addressing family diversity, gender stereotyping, and name-calling in K-5th grades.

GLSEN, Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network: Works with school officials to ensure that transgender, gay and lesbian students are not harassed or bullied.

Family Acceptance Project: Launched out of the Marian Wright Edelman Institute at San Francisco State University, this organization works to decrease major health and related risks for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth.

If you or anyone you know is a victim of bullying, I am here to help!  Please contact me right away so that I can help give you the tools to help defeat the bully in a non-physical kind of way.

 

Sensei Chris Feldt

Samurai Karate Studio

Columbia, SC 29229

803-462-9425

samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com

Kindness is the Ultimate Form of Self Defense!

As a member of the UBBT and the 100, one of the things our team coach, mentor and friend, Tom Callos, has taught us, is that the martial art's means more than just kicking and punching.  

Okay, I know what you are thinking!

I practice karate and bujutsu with the intention of taking down my attacker in quick successive movements that will disable, possibly injure.  However, the reality is, we train, so that we NEVER have to use our martial arts.

In this world where bullying has become common place, with young desparate children taking their lives out of fear and pain, I think the time is NOW to do something about it.

 

 

 

Think about it

If we treated each other with kindness and respect, there would be less conflict!

Yes?

Imagine, our politicians in Washington, treating each other with civility, respect and yes, even kindness, our country would probably be in a better place.

Yes?

What if we all agreed to perform 3 acts of kindness a day.....that would be a 1,000 acts of kindness for the year.  Multiply that by your family, your work place, your neighborhood, your community, your town......

You get the picture!

The world would be in a different place.

Yes?

It all starts with YOU!

Start today!  

Lead the way and watch the ripple effect when you do something kind for someone.  Ask them to pay it forward!

How cool would that be?

 

Sensei Chris Feldt

Samurai Karate Studio

Columbia, SC  29229

803-462-9425

samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com

The Way of the Peaceful Parent

As a master teacher, I am always looking for ways to improve myself, my school and those in my sphere of influence!  I follow several influential blogs that communicate healthy ways of living, leading a more spiritual way of life, or just how to be a better person. 

One blog that I follow almost every day is ZEN HABITS!

Here is an excellent article on parenting.

 

Enjoy!

‘… and she loved a boy very, very much– even more than she loved herself.’ ~Shel Silverstein, The Giving Tree

Post written by Leo Babauta.

There is no such thing as stress-free parenting.

A reader requested that I share my thoughts on stress-free parenting, as the father of six kids. And while I have learned a lot about being a dad, and finding joy in parenthood, I also know that stress-free parenting is a myth.

Parents will always have stress: we not only have to deal with tantrums and scraped knees and refusing to eat anything you cook, but we worry about potential accidents, whether we are ruining our kids, whether our children will find happiness as adults and be able to provide for themselves and find love.

That said, I’ve learned that we can find peace.

Peace isn’t a place with no stress, but a place where you take the stress as it comes, in stride, and don’t let it rule you. You let it flow through you, and then smile, and breathe, and give your child a hug.

There is a Way of the Peaceful Parent, but it isn’t one that I’ve learned completely. I’ll share what I’ve learned so far, with the caveat that I don’t always follow the Way, that I still make mistakes daily, that I still have a lot to learn, that I don’t claim to have all the answers as a parent.

The Way

The Way is only learned by walking it. Here are the steps I recommend:

• Greet your child each morning with a smile, a hug, a loving Good Morning! This is how we would all like to be greeted each day.
• Teach your child to make her own breakfast. This starts for most children at around the age of 3 or 4. Teach them progressively to brush their teeth, bathe themselves, clean up their rooms, put away clothes, wash their dishes, make lunch, wash their own clothes, sweep and clean, etc.
• Teaching these skills takes patience. Kids suck at them at first, so you have to show them about a hundred times, but let them try it, correct them, and let them make mistakes. They will gradually learn independence as you will gradually have less work to do caring for them.
• Older children can help younger children — it’s good for them to learn responsibility, it helps the younger children learn from the older ones, and it takes some of the stress off you.
• Read to them often. It’s a wonderful way to bond, to educate, to explore imaginary worlds.
• Build forts with them. Play hide and seek. Shoot each other with Nerf dart guns. Have tea together. Squeeze lemons and make lemonade. Play, often, as play is the essence of childhood. Don’t try to force them to stop playing.
• When your child asks for your attention, grant it.
• Parents need alone time, though. Set certain traditions so that you’ll have time to work on your own, or have mommy and daddy time in the evening, when your child can do things on her own.
• When your child is upset, put yourself in his shoes. Don’t just judge the behavior (yes, crying and screaming isn’t ideal), but the needs behind the behavior. Does he need a hug, or attention, or maybe he’s just tired?
• Model the behavior you want your child to learn. Don’t yell at the child because he was screaming. Don’t get angry at a child for losing his temper. Don’t get mad at a kid who wants to play video games all the time if you’re always on your laptop. Be calm, smile, be kind, go outdoors and be active.
• When a stressful time arises (and it will), learn to deal with it with a smile. Make a joke, turn it into a game, laugh … you’ll teach your child not to take things so seriously, and that life is to be enjoyed. Breathe, walk away if you’ve lost your temper, and come back when you can smile.
• Remember that your child is a gift. She won’t be a child for long, and so your time with her is fleeting. Every moment you can spend with her is a miracle, and you should savor it. Enjoy it to the fullest, and be grateful for that moment.
• Let your child share your interests. Bake cookies together. Sew together. Exercise together. Read together. Work on a website together. Write a blog together.
• Know that when you screw up as a parent, everything will be fine. Forgive yourself. Apologize. Learn from that screw up. In other words, model the behavior you’d like your child to learn whenever he screws up.
• Patiently teach your child the boundaries of behavior. There should be boundaries — what’s acceptable and what’s not. It’s not OK to do things that might harm yourself or others. We should treat each other with kindness and respect. Those aren’t things the child learns immediately, so have patience, but set the boundaries. Within those boundaries, allow lots of freedom.
• Give your child some space. Parents too often overschedule their child’s life, with classes and sports and play dates and music and clubs and the like, but it’s a constant source of stress for both child and parent to keep this schedule going. Let the child go outside and play. Free time is necessary. You don’t always have to be by her side either — she needs alone time just as much as you do.
• Exercise to cope with stress. A run in solitude is a lovely thing. Get a massage now and then.
• It helps tremendously to be a parenting team — one parent can take over when the other gets stressed. When one parent starts to lose his temper, the other should be a calming force.
• Mom and dad need a date night every week or so. Get a babysitter, or better yet, teach the older kids to babysit.
• Sing and dance together.
• Take every opportunity to teach kindness and love. It’s the best lesson.
• Kiss your child goodnight. And give thanks for another amazing day with your beautiful, unique, crazy child.

‘You know the only people who are always sure about the proper way to raise children? Those who’ve never had any.’ ~Bill Cosby

 

The internet can be a wonderful resource....you just have to find the "Gems" that are out there!

 

Sensei Chris Feldt

Samurai Karate Studio

Columbia, SC 29229

803-462-9425

samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com

Find No Enemy

I like all kinds of music, and you might even be surprised to hear that I even like Hip Hop. I must admit, I am selective with which artists I listen to, because often times the lyrics focus too much on sex, violence and drugs.

But, there are some real GEMS out there.

I recently came across this video from Karma Tube, of a song sung by Akala. Akala's lengthy hip-hop poem is somber and clear-eyed in its disappointment with race-relations, global politics, and contemporary culture. And yet it retains both hopefulness and an action-plan. "The only way you can change anything," he slams, "is to look in the mirror and find no enemy."

Find No Enemy

If you want to join a group of like minded individuals, who want to make a difference in their lives and the lives of others, please stop by our karate school and see what we are all about!

Sensei Chris Feldt

Samurai Karate Studio

Columbia, SC  29229

803-462-9425

samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com

Bully - A Movie

I am very excited about the release of a new documentary, called BULLY.  It has been in the works for several years and it is scheduled to be released March 30th.  

The story tragically follows up a community where bullying appears to be rampant and one boy decided to take his own life because he had been bullied so much.

This has been happening throughout our country the past couple of years, as school districts are trying to take action to protect our children. The reality is, the schools can only do so much.  Parents, family members, friends -- ALL of us need to take responsibility and get involved and help those children who are victims.

Together we CAN defeat the bully.

Watch the trailer below:

During the past month, I have worked with one of my local elementary schools, where I taught 4th and 5th graders how to deal with bullies in a non violent way.

It's not that hard.....we just need to take the time to teach our children to develop their own tools for dealing with a bully.

If you or someone you know, is a victim of bullying, please contact me personally and I will help.

Don't wait to call before it's too late!

Sensei Chris Feldt
Samurai Karate Studio
Columbia, SC 29229
83-462-9425
samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com

Where Are The Tar Sands

At Samurai Karate Studio, we practice environmental self defense!

For the record, I'm not some environmental "whacko".  I just believe we ALL have a responsibility to protect and conserve our planet's natural resources.  To me, this is just smart SELF DEFENSE.

I realize the US economy and the world's, for that matter, is addicted to oil.  And we currently need oil to keep our country moving forward.  However, I believe we can develop our oil resources in a smart way, with less impact to the environment.  Of course, we need to be developing alternative fuel sources at the same time, so that eventually, we can become less dependent on oil.

There is currently a lot of controversy about the tar sands of Canada.  I wanted to find out more about them.

If you follow my work, you know I am a huge fan of TED, an online lecture series that covers a wide range of topics.  In the video below, you will meet Garth Lenz, who is an award winning conservation photographer whose work has been seen in shows around the globe. Recently he appeared at a TEDx event in Victoria, BC Canada with his exhibition, The True Cost of Oil.

Through Lenz's photography, this exhibit showcases the beauty of some of Canada's pristine environments—and the dire impact that tar sands oil extraction has on them.

 

 

I really had no idea of the complete devastation to the environment that these mines are responsible for.  Nor did I realize they are encroaching of some of the most pristine rain forests located in the north.

I often remind my students that we practice our self defense techniques over and over - so that hopefully, in the event we were ever attacked, we would be prepared to defend ourselves from harm.

Well, I think we need to consider taking action to DEFEND ourselves (and our planet) from the devestating consequences of extracting oil from these tar sands.

How?

Start by aking action and calling your state Congressman or Senator - to voice your concerns about the tar sands, before it is too late.  Get involved. Stay informed.

That is good self defense!

Yes?

Sensei Chris Feldt
Samurai Karate Studio
Columbia, SC 29229
803-462-9425

Eating Healthy Is Good Self Defense

I recently read an executive summary, from the Environmental Working Group, also known as EWG, which listed the top vegtables and fruits that were found to contain a lot of pesticides in them.  

Modern farming relies on many pesticides in order to improve crop yields and protect the land from many harmful insects or diseases.  Unfortunately, the average consumer doesn't relize that many of the pesticides remain on the products, despite washing.

While the tests typcially reveal trace amounts that are considered harmless, the concern is the long term impact of eating food with these chemical residues and how they can damage our bodies.

EWG listed the top vegtables to avoid, or try to buy organic, and they also listed the products that typical have no or very little pesticide residue on them.  I have copied the graph and posted it below.

 

At Samurai Karate Studio, I include Diabetes awareness and healthy eating as part of our Black Belt training.  For some people this might seem strange, however, I believe we have to defend ourselves from disease, just as much as we do from a bully or an attacker.

The reality is, most of us face a greater danger from disease, than assault.

If you would like more information on the good work this group is doing, you can visit them at EWG.

 

Sensei Chris Feldt

Samurai Karate Studio

Columbia, SC 29229

803-462-9425

samuraikaratestudio@gmail.com