Dear Tom,

How are you doing? As always, I thought I would share what week 2 on Shakeology was like. Week two is during PMS week. PMS has been a LOT easier this week.

Normally, I would have reeeely bad body swelling, cramps, explosive pain in the ovarian cysts, irritability, depression and joint/back pain. Oh, and bad migraines.

So far, all I have experienced during PMS week was a little bit of anxiety.

I have been able to think very clearly. Ok, except for the morning after that night that hubby kept me up talking drunk in his sleep. My back is usually fine with Shakeology, but again, I have so much energy that I forget I’m not superwoman yet and last weekend I strained my joints digging that garden bed. I can’t help but think if it were not for Shakeology that I would have been so sore that I could not have made it to work Monday.

I have had no major arguments with the spouse this PMS week. Since I can think clearly, it is much easier to communicate without freaking out or going off. Also, it is easier to shrug it off when he does dumbass things. haha.

No small towns have burned this week (lol).

Although, I am waiting for the red deluge to hit me, I am not having any heart palpitations nor major mental delusions of any kind.

Oh and the biggest thing? I have absolutely no desire to drink alcohol. I tried a beer on Sunday. There was no euphoric high as usual and it just kind of tasted boring. It made me tired. Most weeks, I have about 14 beers in a week. In the past week I had TWO and they were blah. My new “addiction” for whatever reason is carbonated water. It tastes soooo good. I have been drinking so much water that the water weight is shrinking. My joints are getting better and my back is easier to “pop” back into alignment on my own.

Tomorrow I am taking off work so I can see my ex-bro-in law play guitar tonight with this fun, weirdo band. Maybe I will dance because drinking isn’t really that fun anymore Then I can sleep late and garden during the day. Wish me luck that I remember to take it in stride so I can get my onion bed and tomato bed planted before my seedlings kick it. haha.

Thanks again and Have a Great Weekend!
Jane Doe

Arnauld’s  Akaha did the  21 Day Beachbody Ultimate Reset result and got some impressive results.

In Arnaulds own words..

“(I’m getting bloodwork done tomorrow and again afterwards… so excited to see what results I get):

“I feel absolutely incredible and so grateful for what it’s done for me. I’d be happy to help in any way I can. Documentation beats conversation with these results…

-Total cholesterol went down 191 (borderline) to 137: 54 point drop!
-Bad cholesterol went down 93 to 51: 42 point drop!
-Triglycerides went down from 160 (this is HIGH) to 86: a 74 point drop!
-Total weight lost: 13 pounds. Yeah, the Reset WORKS!!!

To quote the doctor: “No cholesterol medication could ever do that in 3 weeks”.

To quote my PharmD friend (who coincidentally works for a major pharmacy chain, lol) regarding pharmaceutical companies : “(insert any major pharmaceutical company’s name) doesn’t want this kind of data out or they will be out of business. Very impressive…our best drugs can’t even get close to that.”

If you feel the 21 Day Beachbody Ultimate Reset is something you’d like to try please let me know.  It’s only a 21 day program but you get a full 30 days to get a full 100% refund if you’re not totally happy with your 21 day results.  We are proud to fully 100% back this program with a surplus of 9 days so you don’t have to risk any money if it doesnt work for you.  Research and order here: http://myultimatereset.com/metalpalace  you will also find my contact information there.   If you’d like to connect with me on facebook please do: http://facebook.com/tbirkenmeyer

When you give your kids something excellent to aspire to by leading an excellent life by your own example they tend to want to be like mom and dad. When mom and dad settle for mediocrity or poverty the kids tend to want to be like mom and dad.  Then there is the truly lost parents who use their kids as a crutch for their own mediocrity and short comings and the kids tend to want to be like mom and dad.  I.e.”I don’t have time to take care of myself and take care of my dreams and promises I have to spend that time focusing on my kids etc”

I’m not a parent but I talk to them.  I talk to a LOT of people because I want to understand beyond the scope of ONLY the shoes I happen to fill.  My friend Lisa, who is a mom, is very wise.   I wanted to share a parents perspective in case you happen to be struggling with this in raising your own kids.  Just maybe this can help you and your family..

Asema Lisa – “I don’t have a 6 pack, although I would LOVE to. What I do have is a very unmotivated 15 year old. He drives me absolutely nuts because he seems to have no drive to do anything. As soon as something he wants turns into something he has to work for, he quits it. I’ve been racking my brain and have tried everything from rewards, to threats, to pleading for him to work for something. I mention all this because after training 3 days a week with my group and doing the Diva Dash this weekend, my son has taken an interest in something. He wants to do a 5k obstacle course with me, and he’s willing to WORK for it. I think the quality time issue here is null and void, because he is now asking to spend more quality time with me because he has seen my hard work and perseverance pay off. I have taught him more by taking care of myself than by focusing solely on him.”

A very big THANK YOU to Lisa for giving me permission to publish this Beautiful Valuable Wisdom in my Blog.  We hope it helps!

- Tom

Desert Blue Sky

Welcome to Modern Day Slavery…
You’ve Been Conned!

Let me share a secret with you…

There’s a sneaky and largely unnoticed form of slavery that still prevails in this country today. It is so undercover that most people never realize that these chains are holding them down.

In Fact… it’s much more sinister because people actually like it, embrace it and willingly increase it, year after year, until it owns their soul.

Chances are you have been working for a master whose modern day bondage is deceptive, accepted and even encouraged by our own government and the media that captivates your attention every day!

Right now you are being pushed around and bullied by these people who want to make you think you have it all while they set you up for a financial meltdown… and you ask them to do it!

Make no mistake, if you are in DEBT, you are a Modern Day SLAVE!! – By Dani Johnson http://danijohnson.com

Desert Sage

I want to preface this by saying the FDA has an incredibly important role. I would personally like to see the FDA rebuilt from the ground up into the affective agency that it should be to begin with; free of politics and unethical practices.

Three former FDA commissioners including David Kessler says that the FDA has “no mandate for leadership on prevention of food safety problems, no funding to do important research to find ways to prevent food-borne illness and no tools to hold companies accountable for implementing food safety measures and taking quick action when a problem is discovered. Simply put, our food safety system is broken. The reality is that there currently is no mandate, no leadership, no resources, nor scientific research base for prevention of food safety systems.”

Committee chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif. said that the “warning signs are clear: FDA is an agency in crisis”. He said that the committee would focus on FDA budget cuts, the agency’s ability to enforce regulations and the legal authorities the agency has to do its job. Waxman also says that, “incompetent government can only have deadly consequences”. From inside the FDA it’s an agency recognized as a broken, ineffective, ill equipped, under staffed, under funded Government agency and the best they can do is cut more funding??? Is anyone out there reading this seriously still depending on the FDA for their food and drug safety??

Former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb is quoted as saying that, “the FDA is failing to use its authority to strike a balance on this issue.” – referring to the FDA’s “Broken Approval Process”

Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton, called the food safety system ‘broken’ and said the “FDA needs to restore research and other efforts” – This crosses both isles of politics here. That in itself is remarkable!

Check just a few of the VERY long list of FDA approved drugs that induced heart attacks, strokes, and killed people before they were eventually recalled AFTER the dying had already been occurring for a while: Vioxx, Bextra, Zelnorm, Tysabri, Neutrospec, Cylert, Permax, Baycol, Palladone, thalidomide, and the list gos on and on.

“I will never take anything that is not FDA approved”.  I’m sure the people who took the above listed FDA approved drugs relied on the FDA for approval to and it killed them. Do you want to be a statistic? For the love of yourself and your family don’t be so arbitrary when putting anything in your mouth that is FDA approved or non FDA approved. If you put all your reliance into anything, FDA or other, then you loose your power and your control over your own destiny. Be a composite of many sources, form your own educated conclusions, seek for the knowledge, make the discoveries that can drastically change the course of your life, OR give up your power to the FDA. At least if whomever you’ve relinquished your power to kills you then you can say it wasn’t your fault. But, removing yourself from being responsible goes with the territory of having no power over your own life.

As it stands right now and in the past it’s more safe to depend on a reputable company in conjunction with your own findings than to depend solely on FDA approval in my opinion. I have a Boat load, no make that a BARGE load of fact based reasonings for my opinion.

The FDA fails to catch serious and often FATAL side effects in a number of drugs before they are approved. Many critics attribute these failures to the agencys close ties with the medical industry; BIG pharmaceutical. ***By the way no one has ever died of a pharmaceutical deficiency. People die of problems stemming from whole food nutrient deficiencies all the time though.***  The close ties between the FDA and BIG pharmaceuticals are exemplified by the 1992 prescription drug user fees act which requires industry to pay user fees that help fund the agencys review of new drugs for approval. Can you see the potential for biased, pre conceived, or “smudged” findings at the expense of peoples lives? Quite literally! This is not an Agency that I personally want to put my reliance or faith in. Do you??

The FDA is a government agency. Everyone knows that government agencies are the most ineffective and corrupt agencies in America and often times are incentivised by kickbacks, extortion, and other extremely un ethical incentives. America has always been at its best when we rely more on ourselves, a free market place, and less on government simply because government is not good at making decisions on our behalf.

I’m going to talk about Team Beachbody simply because I absolutely love the results in peoples lives, including my own, that these products are creating! Nothing in Team Beachbody is FDA approved. The FDA is overwhelmingly partial to Big pharmaceutical and big medicine when it comes to approval which the 1992 prescription drug user fees act demonstrates. ALL Team Beachbody consumables are 100% all natural whole food ingredients. The FDA doesn’t spend a lot of time in this area. The 1992 prescription drug user fees act requires industry to pay user fees that help fund the agencys review of new drugs for approval. But in the FDAs defense, there probably isn’t much logistical need to spend their very valuable time and money examining whole foods. Whole foods have a tendency to do what their suppose to do, that is, to keep us healthy for the past 6,000 plus years. It’s the man made stuff that has to be looked at carefully and often times they get it wrong.

Even with all the data we have available to us in massive volumes about medicines, drugs, pharmaceuticals, whole foods, organic foods etc the one thing that touches me more than all of that other stuff combined is the continuous feedback I get, especially from my Shakeology users, about the ENORMOUS health benefits these whole foods are having in their lives! Their doctors are amazed at their health progress! Their lives are being changed in every way imaginable! When you’re feeling good and your healthy it affects every aspect of your life it is quite literally life changing. But to rob yourself of something like Shakeology because it lacks approval from an agency that is admittedly broken and ineffective by its own commissioners is at the very least a questionable philosophy in my opinion.  It’s a philosophy that very well could keep a person from making the discoveries that can drastically change his or her life forever.

Tom – hoping for a better FDA in the future

Desert Blue Sky

As children we have no limits, we are given the ability to dream endlessly. There is nothing we cannot do. The world seems large but it is our dreams that shrink it and make it available to us. We have no boundaries when it comes to seeing our future as exciting, wonderful, and full of chances. As we grow up and begin to face the challenges of life we begin to shrink our dreams. We begin to limit not only what we can accomplish, but who we are. We no longer feel as if we are limitless, infallible, unable to be stopped. The world becomes so large a place that we fear. A place which seems to control us. The fear stops us from dreaming any longer. We accept our fate. Average becomes acceptable. We find ourselves in a large, dark forest with no way out. Someone comes into our life, deep in that dark forest and reaches out a hand and gently walks beside us, pointing out the beauty of the forest. You soon begin to understand this journey. Darkness only exist when you are alone, without a vision, burdened by the past, unable to forgive those that have hurt you, and those who have stolen your dreams, and limited you and crushed the child in you. But now, we are faced with a choice. Do we stay in the darkness or do we choose the light? The gentle hand guides you, comforts you, walks with you and you now believe again. Like a child you are free from the past and dreams once again become easy, accomplishable. Those dreams shelved in the attic of your life burdened with cob webs quietly awaiting your arrival are visited by you again. You now know that your life is like a circular staircase, each turn forces a decision. Move forward or retreat, there is no ability to remain where you are. It’s those dreams that give us life, hope, vision, and without those dreams we perish. Dreams give us freedom, freedom to see ourselves as a child again, unburdened by life, the masterpiece of creation. It’s in this place where dreams transport us, that we are free.

CraigHoliday.net

You could conceivably never get sick again or be diagnosed with a disease no matter how many years you live.  Your body is perfect health and it wants to keep illness and disease controlled and contained in it’s little corner so that it cannot take over.  All YOU have to do is give your body the raw materials it needs to do what it innately wants to do, that is, keep you healthy!  If you’ve already been diagnosed with something you could even totally reverse it and it doesn’t matter what you call it!  Your body already has all the tools it needs to prevent, arrest, even reverse chronic disease.  It just needs those raw materials so it can do it’s thing!!

Sickness and disease is always waiting, never far away, no matter how healthy you are.  It waits for a vulnerability in your natural defenses so it can sneak in and exploit that vulnerability.

1st grade question for you:  When you drink a soda instead of eating a banana are you enabling sickness or health inside your body?  Exactly!! I don’t even have to give you the answer because you already know!  And if you’re like me you are not even certified to pop a pimple much less a certified “expert” in nutrition.  This is StOOpid Simple!!

It is IMPOSSIBLE for sickness or disease to live inside of a truly healthy body.  And by healthy I’m not talking about how the medical community defines healthy.  Over half of the people the medical community defines as healthy will go on to develop and literally die of 1 or more chronic diseases because they did nothing to correct the underlying problem and possibly increased their patients totally preventable death by telling them they are “healthy” which just makes most people feel more enabled to keep eating the nutrient deficient toxic foods that will eventually kill them.   I wrote another blog about the radically different definitions of what it means to be Healthy.  Check it out:   Two Very Different Views on What Exactly is a Healthy Body

When most people get sick or gain a disease they do absolutely nothing to correct the underlying problem by permanently changing life style.  Instead there Dr prescribes drugs and they get sick again. Most of those people will say, “it just happens it’s part of life etc..”  That’s not true getting sick and diseased is only part of life if you cheat yourself on giving your body the raw materials it needs to stave off sickness and disease.  Short change yourself with nutrition by continuously eating nutrient deficient toxic food and you cannot help but to occupy a nutrient deficient toxic body, period.

Be smart!  Don’t be like the many. In this instance it’s soooooo easy to be smart because most of this stuff we already know!  My first grade question from a few paragraphs above proves we already know so much of this stuff without being an “expert”!  When you do get sick LEARN from the negative feedback that your body is giving you so you may make a new discovery, learn a new skill, and possibly prevent that sickness from ever occurring inside your body again.  Learning is error driven!  Sickness in your body is opportunity to learn just as an error in judgment or prediction is opportunity to learn and grow and become BETTER than you were yesterday at ANYTHING.  But first you have to consciously recognize you got sick because your body is missing some raw materials you didn’t feed it so that it can do it’s thing! Or quite possibly you exposed yourself to some mega toxic breathing air or something you absorbed into your skin which is further cause to give your body the raw materials it needs so it can fight off this stuff every day!

The very presence of a sickness or a disease validates proof positive that sickness was able to exploit a vulnerability in your bodys natural defenses.  Not even the medical community can argue that.  But MOST of them working in the medical community do absolutely nothing to have their patient correct the underlying problem MOST of them in the medical community will give you medical treatment until you get sick again and then more medical treatment and this vicious cycle continues until YOU CHANGE  OR it eventually kills you.  It’s great for business if you don’t change but makes NO SENSE for increasing your health.

I am not a Dr, a nutritionist, I am not certified licensed or boarded to do anything.  I’m not undermining any treatment or advice you might be getting from a qualified health care professional.  I am however advocating that you stop holding anyone else responsible for solving your problems and healing your body.  Do your research and be your own d a m n advocate.  Include your Dr as part of your over all Team but the final decision on what you do is up to YOU.  It’s time to stop being patients and start being people.

-Tom

- Tom

Subscribe to my youtube Channnel http://youtube.com/metalpalace

I am so flippin’ excited, I have to share. When I started on this Beachbody journey, it was for personal weight loss. Tom Birkenmeyer, do you remember me calling you from a store parking lot IN TEARS, because I had to lose weight NOW!!!??? I saw an outfit that was clearanced from $250.00 down to $32.00 and I couldn’t fit into it. I was devastated! Fast forward to this morning (11 months into my journey)….I just picked up 2 brand new pairs of jeans and a skirt (all on clearance ) in a size that I haven’t worn since 1982!!!!!! That business suit that I wanted that day….WOULD BE TOO FLIPPIN’ BIG ON ME NOW!!!! I am beyond STOKED right now and practically in tears as I type this. Tom, thank you so much for sticking with me. I am so thankful for you and Beachbody!

I was in a size 18 when I started this. I just got my rear end into size 10 pants. I literally haven’t worn a size 10 since before my daughter was born. She was born in July of 1983. Crazy motivated right now!!!!!

- Belinda Nadeau

Visit Belinda on her facebook and Congratulate her!! https://www.facebook.com/belindanadeau

Belindas Team Beachbody Community profile page: http://teambeachbody.com/aspiretoinspire

“I sleep like I am dead! I used to wake up about every 2-3 hours every single night but not now ever. It (Shakeology) has also completely eliminated all estrogen replacements meds for me! HaPpY DaNcE!!!” -By the way – this happy person is drinking Shakeology and working out most days of the week with Slim in 6.

“I just had to share this… my mom has been drinking Shakeology for two weeks… She is also going through early menopause… Since she started drinking it she has had no night sweats, is able to sleep through the night (which she hasn’t done in years without sleeping medication), and her personal trainer, who she has had for months, keeps asking her what she’s doing to lose weight!! I’m so happy for her!!” -Jennifer M

“After a few weeks of drinking Shakeology, I noticed that all of my menopause symptoms went away….no hot flashes, no major mood swings — nothing!! That, ALONE, was good enough reason to continue drinking Shakeology!!! (yikes!) …what also made me continue was the increase in energy, weight loss, reduced cravings & poor blood test results move into normal ranges in just 2 months!! Shakeology just really helps to heal the body!!” -Joyce Wingate Boyden

People have asked just WHY I drink Shakeology? Well, some of the main things I noticed was that my hot flashes are GONE! So are the mood swings that used to come with my cycle. Having those symptoms GONE is more than worth the price!! But it also gives me the steady energy I love every day- without peaks/crashes. I feel better, stronger, healthier. You really can’t BUY that- but you CAN buy Shakeology! –Angela Gee Bray

“I think Shakeology does greatly reduce menopausal symptoms.” –Lora C.

“It’s only been a month but I hardly cramped this month!” – Denise F.

- Tom

Try Shakeology.  If you don’t feel significantly better in 30 days I want you to get all of your money back including free shipping so you have no risk if it doesn’t work out for you.