the key to healthful living and a better you · ing is more difficult to perfect. in order to...

1 1FOR

The Key to Healthful Livingand a Better You

© 2010 Kimathi CardAll rights reserved.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4507-1881-3ISBN-10: 1-4507-1881-7

Edited by Yvonne Nicole ReddickIllustrations by Suzanne Louis-Reddick Workout photos by Mario TorresCover design by Francesco BerrtocciCover assistance by Sigal de MayoBook design by David W. Edelstein

Special thanks to: Dr. Danett C. Bean, Russel Bloom, Joyce Bowens, William Campbell Sr., William Campbell Jr., Candice Card, Reginald (Reggie) Ceaser, Anthony Cole, Theresa Costigan, Brother ‘D’, Irene Dukard, Romell Duresseau, Dr. Douglas Fredman, Nekoro Gones, Darryl & Cathy Greene, Brian Grosz, Corliss Groves, Heidi Hoerig, Jahdai Kilkenny, Marcus Malchijah, Eric Owes, Kristin Penaloza, Linda Scher, Tawanna Smith, Jeff Strong, Julian Thorn, Brett Truitt, and Dr. Michael Watins.

Printed in the United States of America.

Kimathi Care is a holistic system of spiritual and physical cleansing based on bodywork, diet, exercise, and negative energy release, using ancient Eastern techniques applied in Western civilization. The system consists of disease pre-vention and body maintenance through the use of natural methods and products. The title of this book, 1 for 1, at-tests to the necessity of spiritual, mental, and physical bal-ance. It refers to the necessity for a balance of energies, and a balance when it comes to what we choose to put into our bodies.

The purpose of 1 for 1 is to assist you on your journey to a pain free, peaceful life, with precision of movement and thought. In my journey to become a Qigong master, I was taught that pain is easy to inflict, while the art of heal-ing is more difficult to perfect. In order to effectively heal others, one must first learn to heal oneself. It is important to identify one’s strengths and weaknesses, and bring them into balance. One must realize that every emotion is con-nected to an organ, and so every thought affects the body, for better or for worse. Learn to tap into, strengthen, and

cleanse your spirit while on your journey to a better you, because your spirit is your greatest asset.

This segment of Kimathi Care focuses on weight loss. You will learn to utilize the physical and mental techniques that helped me lose 150 pounds, and remain healthy throughout. I wish you the best of luck!

– KC

Contents

1 Journey to Health 13

2 Family History & Health Habits 25 through Life

3 Digestion 31

4 Roadblocks to Health and Nutrition 41

Entertainment Foods 42

Heat 43

Negative Energy 45

5 Cycles of Wellness 49

The Stabilization Process 49

Evaluation 51 Massage: Skin, Tissue, and Muscle 53 Acupuncture: Core Energy 56 Chiropractic Care: Framework 59

Rest 61

Cleanse 62 Diet 64 Supplements 65 Organ Cleanse 66 Heat Cleanse 68

Working Out 71 A Quick and Simple Warm-Up 78

Nourishment & Nutrition 88

49

The Stabilization Process

Imagine your body as a drinking glass. Take a lit cigarette, put it inside the glass, place a playing card on top, and watch what happens. The glass will soon fill up with the toxic smoke. It will stick to the sides and bottom of the glass until you can no longer see through the glass. The way the smoke fills the glass is the way your body is being con-stantly polluted when you are overweight. Your organs are trying to function while there is a constant flow of tox-ins in but no flow out. It is an overwhelming strain on the body.

It is six to eight times harder for someone who is over-weight to workout or to engage in strenuous physical

5Cycles of Wellness

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activity than it is for someone who is in shape. If your lungs, liver, and kidneys are clear, working out is less of a strain on your internal organs, and the main strain in placed on the body’s other muscles. But if your lungs are stagnant, your liver is soiled, and your kidneys don’t function prop-erly because they cannot cleanse at the rate your body is being polluted, exercise becomes extremely difficult.

In order to deal with the problem of body pollution, we must look at the body first as a whole, and then break

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it down. You must understand that excess weight doesn’t just come from one place. It isn’t just fat. It manifests as fat, liquids, gas, and negative energy. Part of what the sta-bilization process achieves is balance so that you can ad-dress weight-loss from many different angles, and achieve it holistically. The process of stabilization consists of being evaluated by professionals, cleansing your body, and rest. Stabilization is vital to your weight loss success. You must stabilize before you can safely and effectively embark on a system of diet and exercise.

Evaluation

Evaluation by professional health care providers is now an important part of my life, but it’s something I neglected for years. Even with all my knowledge as a massage thera-pist, I allowed this to fall by the wayside and strained my body so much that it nearly killed me.

Health care providers specializing in bones, muscles, energy, and internal medicine can evaluate you, offer a di-agnosis, and suggest preventative measures and/or offer relief for any ailments from which you may be suffering. It is important to see as many professionals as you can, so that you can always have a second and third opinion. That said, it is also equally important to learn to listen to and understand your own body. In addition to diagnostic test-ing performed by professionals, I highly recommend tak-ing the Crystal Pattern Observation test. I take one every season to help me self-evaluate.

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Crystal Pattern Observation (CPO)Areas of Testing

The Crystal Pattern Observation test analyzes crystal patterns in your saliva to determine which herbs may be beneficial to you. The test can indicate issues in all of the following areas:

✓ General Constitution ✓ Small Intestines✓ respiratory System ✓ Colon✓ Endocrine System ✓ Bladder✓ Kidneys ✓ Blood Pressure regulation✓ Liver ✓ Lymphatic System✓ reproductive System ✓ Blood Oxygen✓ Digestive System ✓ Pain✓ Nervous System ✓ Gall Bladder✓ Blood Sugar ✓ Infection✓ Arteries ✓ Circulatory✓ Abnormal Cell Potential ✓ Calcium✓ Hormones

You must see a health care professional before embark-ing on any workout or dietary plan. Make sure you are cleared for any activities you intend to engage in. If you workout in the wrong position or push yourself too hard you can end up doing more harm than good. And you need to make sure you don’t have any medical conditions of which you might currently be unaware.

Massage, acupuncture, and chiropractic care are the three essential bases you need to touch when finding pro-fessionals to work on you. Massage promotes the health of the outside of your body—the skin, tissue, and muscles.


Acupuncture promotes healing in the core energies of your body, and it stimulates the organs. Chiropractic care heals your skeletal structure, which is the framework for your whole body.

Massage: Skin, Tissue, and MuscleFrom my personal experience and knowledge of body-

work, I know that massage therapy techniques can be in-credibly helpful on the road to health. I highly recommend seeing a massage therapist regularly as part of your health care regimen and as part of the stabilization process.

When I work on overweight clients, I first find out whether they are still in the stabilization stage or if they have moved on to working out. If a client is still in the sta-bilization period, I try to focus on opening up the breath-ing passages. I focus first on the neck muscles. Better breathing is the goal of massage while in the stabilization period, and the best way to achieve this goal is to work from the sinuses down. You may experience a runny nose as the pressure in your head releases, allowing fluids to

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run out through your nasal passages. Relieving the head of excess pressure will facilitate your breathing and increase circulation, which helps your body more effectively repair internal damage as it receives oxygen more efficiently.

As the nasal passages and airways clear, you are making way not only for the positive to enter your body, but also for the negative energies and toxins to exit. You may feel an urge to cough or you may involuntarily exhale heavily. This is normal, and it is a sign that your body is trying to

Massage tends to your muscles and nerves


expel toxins in your respiratory system. The lungs, like an air conditioner, will continue to operate but will eventu-ally fill up with grime, dirt, or other impurities in the air. If they are not regularly cleansed the filth that accumulates hinders their performance.

Next, I lay a client down to work on their range of motion. When a person is overweight, an extraordinary amount of strain is put on the joints in the legs. But it is important to first get the arms and head mobile, before working on the legs, to make sure the body is balanced. This cannot be done in a day. It is an extended process, like the entire process of weight loss, and so it is important to find a massage therapist who works well with you and whom you trust, and to stick with him or her. This allows your therapist to chart your progress.

Once I have worked on the top portion of a client’s body, I move to the bottom half, paying special attention to the feet. Those who are overweight rarely touch their feet, even though the feet bear the weight of the entire body.

Massage therapy helps you to relax, feel rejuvenated, and it will increase your range of motion, making you more inclined to workout.

A well-trained massage therapist will be able to work shiatsu into a session. Shiatsu focuses on your meridian channels, those channels through which your body’s en-ergies flow. It is founded on the premise that every body part and organ is associated with a thought or an energy. Applying pressure to certain points on the legs or feet can help digestion or help your liver and kidneys flush out

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toxins. When you receive a massage you are being worked on inside as well as out.

When I first went to a massage therapist to help in my weight loss, I was told to lie facedown on the massage ta-ble. The position was uncomfortable for me, with all of my weight bearing down on me, but I didn’t say anything, not wanting to seem rude or unknowledgeable. I should have. A massage therapist that is experienced with overweight cli-ents will know better than to ask you to assume such a posi-tion, at least at first. But if at any point you feel physically uncomfortable or in pain, and this goes for everything in this book, you must speak up. Your health depends upon it.

Acupuncture: Core Energy Acupuncture procedures evaluate and either stimulate

or decrease your organ functions through the use of fine needles and sometimes infusing herbs. By using the meridi-an channels and the internal energy connected to the spine, negative energy can be expelled from your body from vari-ous points. The best thing about acupuncture is that in its practice you can benefit from centuries of tradition, incor-porating food, sleep, seasonal reactions, emotions, family history, and your personal cravings. A good acupuncturist will be as good at evaluating you and your condition as he or she is at executing the proper treatment plan.

And an acupuncturist, like a massage therapist, will be able to apply specific techniques and methods to aid in breathing. After a session, you will feel phlegm shake free from your lungs, allowing you to breathe much easier.


This is an immediate result of something that takes only an hour.

I structure all of my work around acupuncture and shiatsu because of the way they make use of the merid-ian channels and pressure points. In acupuncture a hair-thin, sterile, disposable needle is used to tap into a pres-sure point. A pressure point is like a manhole cover, under which there is a sewer, flowing with energy. If these energy channels get clogged, we become aware of the physical

Acupuncture affects your nerves and muscles

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Before breakfast: ✓ Apple-cider vinegar

✓ Aloe crystals (note: I drink apple-cider vinegar until the

taste is no longer bitter, and then I switch to the aloe

crystals)

Every three days, before lunch, in rotation: ✓ Wheatgrass, and ginger and garlic for those with strong

commitment.

✓ Oil of oregano—it opens the breathing passages and

helps the immune system.

✓ Fresh juices, i.e. beet, carrot, parsley, celery, papaya,

apple juices—fresh juices are a great source of vitamins

and minerals, and are great for your digestive tract, to

increase your energy, and for your weight loss.

After lunch: ✓ Chlorophyll

Organ Cleanse Cleanse your organs in the following order—colon,

small intestine, liver, and kidneys (as needed)—and make sure to rest for at least a week between each organ cleanse. Make sure to see a qualified health care professional to as-sess the best way for you to cleanse your organs. A doctor can personalize a cleansing regimen for you. Remember that what works for some will not work for all.

First, clean your colon with products that were de-signed for you. Next, you will cleanse your large intestine,


which will re-saturate your colon, so it is especially impor-tant to keep bad things out of your diet. I feel much better after a cleanse, but it can be exhausting and painful. It re-minds me of the bad things I do to my body, and as a result there is an influx of healthy food and behavior for longer

The colon (1) sits on top of your intestine. A swol-len or clogged colon will enlarge your midsection. The small intestine (2) is a complex organ whose proper function is vital to your health. The liver (3) is a large organ on the right side of your body—if not clean, it causes pain during physical exertion.

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periods in between cleanses. Cleansing my liver was my biggest challenge because drugs, alcohol, food, toxins and sugar are all filtered through the liver, so as I cleaned it the debris re-polluted my intestines. Finally, cleanse your kidneys.

It is easy to develop health problems, and difficult to fix them, but once you have put in the effort to do so, you won’t want to turn back. Pain and pleasure are the best teachers.

Heat CleanseOne of the final factors in my stabilization process

was visiting the bathhouse at least once a month. It’s not only relaxing, but also physically stimulating. I encour-age you to take advantage of another culture’s histori-cally proven techniques for health improvement, as we have with acupuncture. A day in the bathhouse will help rejuvenate your body by flushing out toxins, improving circulation and breathing, and invigorating your nervous system.

A bathhouse is staffed with qualified personnel to ser-vice, advise and assist you, and to constantly maintain the cleanliness of the facilities. Start, first, with a tour so that you are familiar with the various facilities: sauna, oven, steam room, hot shower, cold shower, cold plunge, pool, jacuzzi, quiet lounge, social lounge, TV lounge, restaurant, bar, etc. You will learn about available bodywork, such as massages or scrubs. The fee is probably something around $40 per day to enter and use all the facilities.


Be aware, when going into heated rooms, that you will need to be grounded and mentally prepared. There is a limit to each person’s threshold for this kind of exposure. You will need to control your breathing and heart rate to conserve energy in order to stay as long as possible. You will become aware of your body’s discomfort and learn to control and accept it, forcing you into a kind of medita-tion. It will help with your ability to control stressful situ-ations in everyday life.

While it may be an intimidating new environment, and an uncomfortable adjustment, you will feel immediately rejuvenated, and you will appear calmer, more confident, and more focused after visiting the bathhouse.

a Start by taking a shower.

Visiting a bathhouse is an important part of the stabilization process

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a Enter the sauna.

a Sit back for a few minutes and let the heat perme-

ate your body and open the pores of your skin. Let the

staff know if it is your first time, and ask for assisted

supervision.

a To cool down and invigorate the nervous system, take a

cold shower.

a You may go back to the heat a few times, taking your

time to relax and enjoy the warmth.

a For those who are more experienced, you might like

to try the russian oven next, which reaches over 140

degrees. Then take a cold shower, or do a cold plunge

if you are more experienced. When you jump into the

cold water, you won’t feel it at first because your body

is so hot. You body will very rapidly start to constrict all

over. This constriction expels toxins from your tissues

on a whole different level. It stimulates your nervous and

circulatory systems.

a Once you have done the cold plunge, go into the steam

room. You will be sweating and shivering at the same

time. Your nervous system has been shocked and needs

to reset itself, so rest. While your nervous system is re-

setting, take advantage of the steam heat, which opens

the lungs.


a repeat the cycle twice more, and then take a rest.

a repeat the cycle once more.

a Take your time to cool and dry yourself before you get

dressed.

a Follow the sauna with a rest, and drink plenty of water

throughout.

Working Out

The next step is working out. Exercise cannot be avoided. It is vital to incorporate physical activity into your daily routine. The first step in a workout is finding the proper mindset. Simply participating in an activity is not the same as working out. Consider the following example: a con-struction worker who does lots of physical activity on a day-to-day basis may still be very overweight. It is not just the nature of an activity that constitutes exercise, but the attitude with which you approach the activity. To work out, you must make the conscious decision to get your heart rate up, keep it up, and exert yourself for the sake of phys-ical improvement and maintenance.

When I first started out, I began by doing things around the house. The purpose, however, was not to get the house clean, but to burn calories. If you decide to use this as a starting point, wear heavier clothing, layers even. Then proceed to clean the house thoroughly. Reach under and

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over places, get into the nooks and crannies and the various corners that are usually overlooked. Start home improve-ment projects, like painting or rearranging the furniture.

Compete with yourself and compare your performance when working out at home. It will help you get through

a given task and will help to re-mind you that you are working out, not simply do-ing chores. Make a game of lifting garbage bags or cleaning an area. See how long you can hold the gar-bage bag in one hand as you walk to the dumpster or incinerator. See if you can clean

the mirrors with your left hand if

you are right handed, and vice versa. As you do this, notice as you actively get better at activities that were once dif-ficult or that you didn’t think about.

Make sure to stay hydrated, but don’t drink water while you are doing an activity. When you start to feel that you are thirsty, stop and take a break to drink. Put down

Cleaning the house is a great way to burn calories


whatever you are holding, stop all activity, and have a glass of water. Otherwise, if you cool yourself down while si-multaneously warming up, you lose the benefit of the ac-tivity. Keep track of how many breaks you are taking.

Make sure to eat something before and after working out. If you cannot resist the urge to eat entertainment food or something lacking in nutritional value, make this the thing you eat before your workout so that you can at least burn those calories. It is obviously preferable, however, to eat a healthy meal before your workout, so that your body has the necessary fuel. After you workout you need to re-place lost nutrients.

You should also try walking as exercise. I used to have problems with my joints and back, making walking diffi-cult. To combat any embarrassment I would bring along a piece of paper so that when I had to stop people would think I was looking for an address. It relieved some of the embarrassment, and it might be a helpful thing to try as you are starting out.

It takes a certain kind of person to take time out of their day to go for a walk, solely for their health. These are the kinds of people you want to surround yourself with and bond with. Being around other healthy people can help you on your journey, especially when you begin to struggle.

Swimming is another good way to burn calories and begin dropping weight. Going to the pool takes some mental preparation. You may feel anxiety about going to the gym because your joints keep you from working out as

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Walking is a simple and effective exercise

Burn calories and strengthen joints and muscles in the pool


vigorously as you would like, or you might feel intimidat-ed. This is why the pool is a great option. In the pool you can workout harder because you won’t be stressing your joints, and you won’t feel joint pain. You will be working with resistance and your own body weight. Walking and working out in your home require that you push against your own body weight. Your body has to work twice as hard under those conditions. Burning energy in the pool, while providing more resistance, will help strengthen your joints and muscles.

It is hard taking off your clothes when you feel un-comfortable about your body, even when you are alone. It’s even harder in a locker room full of people you don’t know. But the first step is the hardest, but also the most important step to take. When you find yourself in that en-vironment, in a gym or health club, you take a step up in terms of surrounding yourself with people who know what health is and what it takes to attain it. And ultimately, you will find that you are not being judged.

The first few times I went, I didn’t want to talk to any-one. Sometimes I cut my workout short. But getting my-self there in the first place is part of the workout. It is part of how you break down your mental barriers and demon-strate your commitment to bettering yourself. In the end, you are satisfied both mentally and physically.

I encourage you to find a local gym that is conveniently located near either your home or your place of work. Fit it into your schedule and daily routine, and commit to going. Make a process out of preparing yourself mentally for your

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first workout. Go out and purchase the gear you need, such as a good gym bag, a lock, shirts, shorts, and sneakers.

Remember that when you work out it takes at least 20 minutes of aerobic warm-up before your body really begins to burn calories. An aerobics class is usually an hour long.

Fit a gym workout into your daily routine, and commit to it


Endure it for the entire time. It is difficult to do efficient workouts on your own. I encourage you to take a class you where you have to follow the instructor’s lead. You may not like every instructor, but if you can’t follow them for an hour it means you’re holding onto some negative energy that you need to let go of and expel. That negative energy can keep you from losing that extra 20 or 30 pounds.

And, as always, remember to compete against yourself and compare your performance. Note how you feel from one workout to the next. Note how much more you can accomplish at your next workout than you did during your last.

a You will experience an increase in your confidence and

decreased aggression. You may find that you are less

apologetic.

a The spirit you put into going to the gym is the same

spirit you should apply to your everyday life—a spirit of

competition, honor, and respect for others.

a Acknowledge and learn from those who are better than

you.

a If you go into a fight expecting to win, you have already

lost. If you go into a fight expecting to fight, you have

already won because you will certainly do your best.

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a When you go to a class you will hit a wall. That’s when

you’re tired and you have to push yourself. Lose yourself

in other thoughts while your body is on autopilot. Think

of your health, wealth, freedom and perfect self expres-

sion and all the things you want from each subject.

A Quick and Simple Warm-UpThis series of exercises is a quick way to warm up the

body and release negative energy at the same time. It can be used by beginners or pros, before a workout or when you are idle. These low-impact exercises use nothing but your own body weight. They will bring up your heart rate and help to lower your cholesterol level.

If you are unable to stand, you can do some of the movements in a seated position. If you are unable to do a particular exercise at all, you can visualize the movement in your head.

Start in a neutral position, breathing in and out, and move your hands in tune with your breathing. Keep your focus in the direction where you want to direct your ener-gy—out through your hands and feet. Unless stated other-wise, try to do at least 10 repetitions of each exercise.


1. Neutral, centered position. Start all exercises from this posi-tion of balance.

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2. Extend your arms in front of you. Open and close your fingers rapidly, until you feel a burn in your shoulders and forearms. Note how long you are able to continue this mo-tion, and gradually try to increase your time. For a more advanced version, rotate your palms up and down as you open and close.


3. From center, inhale and cross your arms in front of your chest. As you exhale, extend your left arm out to the left, following your hand with your eyes, with your hand in the shape of an L, while simultaneously drawing your right hand to the side as if drawing a bow. repeat 3 times on each side.

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