An Exclusive Interview with Ed Begley, Jr. – Part 2

Today I continue with the exclusive interview I recently did with the actor and environmental activist Ed Begley, Jr.

If you missed the first part of the interview, here is Part 1 of the exclusive interview with Ed Begley, Jr.

Ed Begley, Jr. has been an environmentalist longer than he has been an actor, so his ideas are well-thought out, and his actions follow from there.

Here then is the second part of the interview:

Michael Wayne: Do you think if our country and economy moved in the direction of becoming a more green economy, that it would cause an economic renaissance? And if so, why do you think this would be? And what is holding us back from moving in that direction?

Ed Begley, Jr.: I’m not an economist, but the U.S. does need to continue to be a leader in the technologies of the future.  I think there are good jobs making solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars, hybrid cars.  I hope these industries grown in the U.S. and I hope they do contribute to an economic recovery.  Our government can continue to encourage growth in these areas as well.

M.W.: What do you think of lawns?

E.B.: As a residential décor, I’m not a huge fan.  I think we can do better things with our water and still have beautiful landscaping that can include native, drought tolerant plants and fresh, organic fruits / vegetables to eat.

M.W.: What made you decide to become a vegetarian?

E.B.: It made me feel healthier, and allowed me to contribute to a lower personal carbon footprint as well.

M.W.: The United Nations issued a report a few years back stating that meat consumption did more to affect climate change than all cars, trucks and planes combined. This lead Paul McCartney to start the Meat Free Monday campaign, urging people to not eat meat one day a week. Do you think not eating meat one day a week is enough to help halt global warming?

E.B.: No, but it’s a step in the right direction.  I always encourage people to expand their green diet.  It’s a good choice for the environment and for your health.

M.W.: What’s your opinion on organic and sustainable foods?

E.B.: I think it’s an important part of our future, and something that people can get involved with right away.

M.W.: What type of vehicle do you drive?

E.B.: My transportation hierarchy goes like this:  1) walking, 2) biking, 3) public transportation, 4) electric car, 5) hybrid car.  When I have to drive, I currently use a Toyota Rav4 EV.  I hope to replace it with an American electric soon.  When I have to drive long distances, I borrow my wife’s Prius.

M.W.: You ride a hybrid electric bike. How does that work?

E.B.: It’s a regular bike that also has an electric motor and battery to assist you.  I don’t use it too often any more, as I’ve made a conscious effort to get back on my bike every day. I’m in good bike shape again and using my road and mountain bikes almost exclusively now.

M.W.: You have a new book coming out in August. What is the name of it, and what do you hope to accomplish with the book?

E.B.: Actually it came out last August – it’s called Ed Begley, Jr’s. Guide to Sustainable Living. It was the follow up to my first book Living Like Ed.  Living Like Ed was sort of a summary of my 40 year journey.  The new book is a more advance treatise for people that really want to get into this stuff.  The purpose of the new book was to give people a roadmap on how to approach sustainability and in what order.  The first section of the book is about home energy audits – that is the place where everyone should start.  I wanted to make sure people were thinking about efficiency and saving money first, and not getting hung up with the sexy shiny objects like solar panels and wind turbines.

M.W.: With all the people who use gyms to work out, can equipment in gyms be retrofitted to generate electricity?

E.B.: There are a few gyms outfitted with bikes that generate 12V power.  Why not?

M.W.: Are you satisfied with the Obama administration’s environmental and energy policies so far?

E.B.: They’ve done some good things – but they can do more.

M.W.: When Dick Cheney was VP, he held secret talks with oil companies to help set energy policy. If you were at that meeting, what would you have told them?

E.B.: I would have told them the same thing I tell people now.  Oil comes at greater and greater cost with each passing year.  Let’s decide it’s getting too expensive and too dangerous and look elsewhere for energy.  We need oil, but we need a transition plan away from it.

M.W.: Dick Cheney also said, when he was VP, that conservation was not a viable part of an energy policy. Do you agree or disagree with that?

E.B.: Strongly disagree.  Energy efficiency should be the cornerstone of our policy.

M.W.: Any last words?

E.B.: Just thank you for the time.

An Exclusive Interview with Ed Begley, Jr. – Part 1

Ed Begley, Jr. is both a well-known actor and well-known environmental activist, and in this exclusive interview with us, he talks candidly about his environmental activism.

He first became prominent when he starred in the 1980’s TV show, St. Elsewhere. And he’s been busy working ever since, acting in TV shows such as Arrested Development, Scrubs, and The West Wing, and in such movies as This is Spinal Tap, A Mighty Wind, and Recount.

His most recent movie acting roles are in Woody Allen’s Whatever Works, and the Judd Apatow film, Pineapple Express.

Currently, he is seen in two TV shows: the network show Gary Unmarried, and the cable reality show, Living with Ed.

Living with Ed, seen on Planet Green, allows Ed to talk about his favorite subject, green and sustainable living. He knows his stuff about the environment, as he has been involved in environmentalism a long time.

After all, how many people do you know use a bicycle to power their toast?

Truly, Ed Begley, Jr. lives a Low Density Lifestyle. To learn more about him and his work, go to his website at www.edbegley.com.

So today, I give you the first part of the exclusive interview I did with Ed. I’ll continue with the interview tomorrow.

Michael Wayne: How do you use a bicycle to power your toaster?
Ed Begley, Jr.: The original system I had was made by a friend of mine. It was a simple stationary bike with a generator on the back that fed 12V power down into my solar battery array where it could then be used as stored power. A few years ago another company built me one out of a bike trainer – so I could hook any normal bike to it and make power that way. It doesn’t power the toaster directly – it simply puts power into my batteries that power the entire house. What I figured out was that 15 minutes of hard riding essentially generated enough power to toast two slices of bread.

M.W.: What got you interested in living in a more sustainable way?
E.B.: It was several things. It was the first Earth Day in April 1970, and I wanted to get involved. I had grown up in smoggy Los Angeles and had really had it with the horrible, choking smog. My father Ed Begley Sr., a wonderful actor, had just passed away and I wanted to do something to honor him. Even though we didn’t call him one, he was an environmentalist. He was the son of Irish immigrants and a ‘conservative that liked to conserve’. He had lived through the great depression and had saved string and tin foil and turned out the lights and did those things you did back then to save money. He had always told me “Eddie, don’t tell people what you are going to do, show them by doing it.” And so, to honor him, and to get involved with Earth Day and to try and do something about the horrible smog problem in L.A., I started taking public transportation, riding my bike, walking, recycling, composting, using biodegradable soaps and detergents, eating a vegetarian diet and so on. I even bought an electric car.

M.W.: What are some of the things people can do to live a more sustainable lifestyle?
E.B.: They can Live Simply so that Others Can Simply Live. Less is more. I encourage everyone to slow down and simplify. Start with what you can afford and work your way up the ladder. That’s the way I did it starting back in 1970. You do what you can, save money, and do more. Start with the cheap and easy stuff – energy efficient lighting, weather stripping, recycling, composting, home gardening, bike riding, public transportation etc. A kilowatt SAVED is far cheaper than a kilowatt PRODUCED. I encourage everyone to start with a home energy audit – and work towards a more energy efficient home through insulation, windows, lighting etc.

M.W.: What do you use to power your home, and approximately what does it cost you a year?
E.B.: My electricity comes almost entirely from solar. I use between $300 and $600 a year in grid electric – mostly off peak power to charge my electric car which I use about 10,000 miles a year. I also use between $20 and $40 a month in natural gas. The natural gas is for heating the home using hot water – some of the work is done via solar thermal, the rest with a high efficiency AO Smith Vertex 100 gas water heater hooked into a FirstCo AquaTherm water-based forced air furnace. Both the solar thermal and solar PV are fully paid back and I’m into profit on all of them. Solar thermal was first put in in 1985, and PV in 1990. I also get to claim a carbon negative footprint, as I invested in a 75kw wind turbine in the California desert back in 1985 and its still putting out about 10 homes worth of power.

M.W.: What do you say to people who state that climate change isn’t real?
E.B.: I say let’s agree to disagree on that – and instead focus on what we can agree on. Do we agree that $3+ a gallon gas is a problem? Do we agree that we have a dependency problem on Mid-East oil, and that we are sending billions of dollars to countries that don’t like us very much and impact our national security? Do we agree that we want to clean up the air and water in our cities? Do we agree that we want to save money? If we can agree on those things, then a sustainable lifestyle can make a difference.

M.W.: What lessons should we emphatically learn from the Gulf Coast Oil Spill?
E.B.: That although there is still quite a bit of oil available to find, it is getting harder, more dangerous and more expensive to get. At some point we have to decide if getting to that oil is more expensive and dangerous than the alternative which is to spend the money on other forms of more renewable energy. I think that time is now.

M.W.: I understand that California has four times the amount of cars since the 1970’s, yet half the ozone. How was that accomplished? Didn’t the skeptics say it would bankrupt the state?
E.B.: It was accomplished through good policy and good technological efforts. Unleaded fuels, catalytic converters, combined cycle gas turbines, spray paint booths, natural gas busses, expanded public transportation – all things that contributed to California’s clean air efforts. There were many businessmen and economists that felt smog and pollution were signs of progress and that our economy would struggle. But throughout these changes in the 70s, 80s and 90s the economy thrived. We can do this.

M.W.: What can people do to be more energy conscious if they don’t have a lot of money?
E.B.: As we talked about above, they can pick the low hanging fruit – lighting, thermostat programming, weather stripping, biking, public transit, energy star devices, unplugging phantom power etc. etc. These are things people can do today on any budget and immediately start saving energy and saving money.

Part 2 will appear tomorrow…

Sustainable/Green Living: Living Light on Mother Earth

A new series begins as of today, on green and sustainable living. Earth Day was a few weeks ago, but because I was on hiatus last week, I couldn’t write it about it last week. So the series begins today.

In reality, though, everyday should be Earth Day.

A Low Density Lifestyle is not just about being on the path of health and wellness, and of healthy living in general. Of course, this is so important.

A Low Density Lifestyle also will make you feel lighter of body and mind, and allow you to feel less dense in relationship to our planet.

With all the concern about global warming, pollution and toxins in our environment – what with the recent oil spill in the Gulf Coast – and also sustainable foods and agriculture, it’s so important to apply a Low Density Lifestyle to the environment, and tread lightly wherever you go.

The point is that living a Low Density Lifestyle applies not only to your personal well-being, but to the well-being of the greater whole. You can say that it extends to the health and wellness of the entire planet, so that the planet can experience healthy living.

Before I close today’s article, I want to bring your attention to the below video, which is footage of the Gulf Coast oil spill, and an in-situ burn.

This is an ecological and environmental disaster, and shows the shortsightedness of the policy of “Drill, Baby, Drill,” which was the Republican mantra back in 2008. It was was their solution to what the U.S. energy policy should be – just drill offshore.

Well, at least one right-thinking Republican, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, has pulled the plug on Drill, Baby, Drill. He has announced that there will be no offshore drilling in California.

What the U.S. and the world needs is an innovative energy policy, a Low Density Lifestyle energy policy, one that stresses renewable resources, conservation, and a lessening of consumption.

As opposed to Drill, Baby, Drill – which is just more of the same: a tired, antiquated way of thinking, and an expression of a High Density Lifestyle paradigm, a way of life that has created the problems that we are now facing.

And which is the paradigm we need to move away from.

Relationships, Love and Sex, Part 2

In yesterday’s article, Relationships, Love and Sex, Part 1, I began to dissect this crazy little thing called love.

I said how these are complicated topics, full of pitfalls and entanglements, mishaps and risks, and also much bliss and happiness.

I also said how it’s the arena in which we can become most vulnerable, in which our deepest intimacies can become known; it can also be the arena in which our buttons are pushed to the max.

So let’s delve deeper into it. I’ll also explain why I believe that people who live a Low Density Lifestyle have a better chance of entering into lasting relationships and having better sex.

We are all social animals, and everyone desires to have a social network of friends, family, loved ones and significant other that you desire to spend time together with.

Strong relationships are a vital component of a healthy and happy life, while negative relationships can impact health and happiness in a detrimental manner.

When you are living a Low Density Lifestyle, you are naturally attracted to other people who are also living a Low Density Lifestyle, and it is these people who will make up your most intimate social network. If you feel centered, balanced and in the flow, you won’t readily enjoy the company of people who live a completely opposite lifestyle, as it will just be too jarring to your soul.

Interestingly though, people who live a High Density Lifestyle will be naturally attracted to those who live a Low Density Lifestyle, because the calmness and peacefulness of someone living a Low Density Lifestyle is something that can help to balance and center someone living a High Density Lifestyle.

It can actually be a profoundly transformative experience if someone living a High Density Lifestyle allows themselves to open up to the energies and calming influence of someone living a Low Density Lifestyle. So this is truly one case of opposites attracting!

But the tricky thing is that for those living a Low Density Lifestyle, the desire is to have happy and harmonious relationships, and they will go out of their way to find them and to reject relationships that create unhappiness and disharmony.

So it’s not impossible for people on opposite ends of the spectrum to come together—after all, the chemical bond of love transcends all boundaries and overcomes all limitations—it’s just that if you want to have a sustaining and lasting relationship, there needs to be a bonding of two souls, one in which each person can gaze into the other’s eyes and see the reflection of the deep and infinite waters of the Zero-Point Field, which is the origins of universal love and consciousness.

Communication is a big part of a relationship, and failure to communicate is a major reason for breakups. To be able to communicate, each party in a relationship needs to feel loved and safe. Each person in the relationship also has to let go of expectations and not judge or criticize the other, but instead help them to feel comfortable being able to communicate.

Communicating your deepest and most intimate thoughts and feelings is not easy, but if you feel safe and loved, and feel that what you say won’t be held against you, then it is easier to speak from your heart. This happens easiest when both people in the relationship are living a Low Density Lifestyle.

If one or both people in the relationship are living a High Density Lifestyle, then it’s a lot harder, because there’s no feeling of safety in expressing intimate thoughts. These are the relationships that are doomed to fail.

Another important part of a strong and lasting relationship is the sex life. Because those living a Low Density Lifestyle are healthier and more balanced, less stressed and more in the flow, they have the capability of having a strong sex drive and having better sex.

They understand that sexual desire is a natural biological urge, as opposed to a feeling that one should be ashamed of or should repress. They know that sex, and orgasm, make both parties feel good and is a vital part of making love. In addition, sex allows for intimacy and expressions of love, and these are things cherished by those living a Low Density Lifestyle.

For many people living a High Density Lifestyle, the only time when they’re able to relax and feel comfortable having sex is when they imbibe in alcohol or recreational drugs, because these allow them to relax their inhibitions and feel less stressed.

Although sex can be very enjoyable when performed in an altered state, an important part of the sexual experience is the feeling of intimacy that one person has with another, because in that state of intimacy, a strong bond is formed between both people and the flow of love, happiness and joy circulates and is expressed between them.

When a person is having sex in an altered state, the flow is impeded. But unfortunately, for many people living a High Density Lifestyle, having sex while in an altered state is the only way they can get full enjoyment of the act of making love.

Another great aspect of sex is that it increases your chances to be healthier and happier. People who have a regular sex life have been found to have a decreased risk of heart disease and stroke, a decrease in pain in the body, and an increase in life span.

These are enormous motives for having a healthy sex life, but the reality is that in order to have a healthy and happy sex life, it is best that both people involved live a Low Density Lifestyle.

Go to Where Your Spirit is Invited to Open Up

Tomorrow starts a new series, on Relationships, Love and Sex – with Valentine’s Day coming up, this is the perfect topic.

But before we begin the new series, today, as a brief interlude between the new series and the one that just ended on Longevity, we have an article guest written by poet and essayist Susan Jefts, entitled Go to Where Your Spirit is Invited to Open Up.

Susan, whose work has appeared on the Low Density Lifestyle website before, most recently with her article that featured her poems, The Poetic Nature of Life, is a poet who lives in Saratoga Springs, NY. She runs writing groups in therapeutic and community settings using poetry as a tool for exploring life issues and healing.

Susan teaches writing and advises students for Empire State College and has had her poetry published in several journals and books regionally and throughout the country, including Big City Lit, Parnassus Literary Journal, The Hudson River Anthology and Metroland, among others.

Her website is www.saratogapoetryroom.com.

There’s nothing more central to living a Low Density Lifestyle than having a sense of inner peace. This article is about finding that sense of peace in the silence and stillness of winter.

Here now is Susan’s article, Go to Where Your Spirit is Invited to Open Up:

Sometimes it’s in the most unlikely months and times of year that our spirits are invited to open up the widest. For instance, I think winter can in many ways be a time of discovery. Of being taken unexpectedly, much like a good poem, to new places both inner and outer.

Like many people, I have mixed feelings about winter. But I believe that certain experiences of this season can carry us, if we let them, into both the magical landscapes around us and the deeper regions of our hearts.

It is true that there is indescribable beauty to be found on a snow-covered lake while small clouds dance with sunlight on the summits high above you. Everything literally glistens, and the silence is impossible to describe. I can only think of it as the kind that one finds while moving into deep meditation. Only you get to keep your eyes open.

I am thinking of a particular place in the high peaks area of the Adirondacks, one that has been with me since I skied there with friends on a sunny thirty-degree day in early January. Although, really it has been with me since I first hiked there one summer almost twenty years ago. But this was the first time I had been there in winter.

After the 3 1/2 mile ski on an old road through the woods, we arrived at the long narrow lake, its icy cliffs and steep mountains hugging the shoreline. I had never been out on the lake and knew this was a big part of why I’d come. To ski down that long frozen waterway, to experience the intense beauty of this setting from deep inside it rather than from the shore, where you can only look longingly down its length.

I’ve always been drawn to exploring lakes, but certain ones hold a unique allure, and this was one of them. It had to do, I think, with the particular arrangement of water, cliffs and mountains. And the presence of several high peaks looming above, invoking a strong feeling of awe and wonderment. But it has to do with something else, too, that I’ve been trying for years to name.

I set off skiing down the lake below its hovering cliffs with no audible sound but my own breath-ing and the swish of my skis. My friends had chosen to stay behind on the shore to eat their lunch, and while I had been delighting in our camaraderie and sharing that day, I didn’t mind set-ting off for a while on my own. Every few feet was a new experience for the senses: a cliff of ice reflecting the blue gray hues of the clouds, a small rush of cold air in the shadows, a feeling of inner expansiveness as I rounded a bend allowing me to see further down the lake.

This place had for a long time beckoned me with a force and beauty I couldn’t quite comprehend. I had read stories about others’ adventures down this lake and onto the next, the two separated by only a few hundred yards. And from there to who knows where. More lakes, mountains and passageways.

There are energies, I feel, that are unique to places like this. Some are from the glacially formed lake, some from the jagged mountains, some from the transient clouds changing the weather from one minute to the next. The longer I stayed, the more I felt the confluence of these energies within me.

There is an honesty in places like this that becomes almost palpable. It’s in the landscape and it starts to be in you too. You are alone and you are quiet. You feel an immensity that is undeniable. It presses down upon you, or lifts you up; perhaps you’re not sure which. I’ve often felt that mountains have spirits, and much more influence in our lives than we are aware.

I recently read a reviewer’s description of an actor in an off-Broadway play who said his performance was so complete that it had a tendency to highlight the deficiencies of the actors around him. Although I wouldn’t choose to think of people or nature in terms of deficiencies, perhaps a bit of an analogy can be made. In a place of such natural resplendence, one affect can be that our lives are reflected back to us. We can see where we feel replete and impassioned, and where we don’t. Sometimes I think I come to such places in part to learn this: to feel what is going on in my life, or not going on.

At times I’ve come away from such places with only what I arrived with and maybe a renewed appreciation for nature, and sometimes that’s been enough. But lately, like this time, I’ve come away with something more. A feeling of inner expansiveness and far reaching beauty, and a greater sense of what I’m capable of in ability and in compassion. Of harnessing possibility and passion and putting it to meaningful use.

I have felt this at times from other experiences, like meditation and yoga, but something about this was different; it was as sensuous as it was spiritual, like a great sky and lake had opened up inside of me.

And a few weeks later, they are still with me.

Winter truly can be an opening into new regions of ourselves. It might happen through an outdoor adventure as it did for me, or a more subtle experience. There are opportunities in the depths of the cold and darkness, or the brilliance of a glittering day. My experience would not have been the same in July. The energy of winter is unique and deeply spiritual.

What I learned from that day is this: Go to where your spirit feels invited to open up, wherever that might be.

Lessons for a Long Life From the Island of Ikaria, Greece

On the tiny island of Ikaria, off the coast of Greece, there is much to learn about living a long and healthy life, because a large percentage of the population of this island do so.

During the course of this series on Longevity, I have introduced you to various people who have lived a long and vital life, from the late Joe Rollino, to Jack Lalanne, yoga teacher Bette Calman, Dr. Shigeaki Hinohara, and Mimi Kirk (whose three-part exclusive interview with me ended yesterday), among others.

But with the above video, you can be introduced to an entire population of people, as opposed to individuals.

The above video is based on the work of Dan Buettner and the Blue Zones team, researchers who have identified certain regions of the world where people live longer.

They found that in Ikaria, and especially in the northeastern end of the island, that over one-third of everyone in the northeastern end reaches age 90. They suffer 20% less cancer and half the rate of heart disease. And there’s virtually no dementia.

In other words, they’re living the good years many people are missing. Years we could possibly have by just adjusting a few simple habits, including:

1. Wild Greens – Greens are abundant in fields and roadsides, Ikarians frequently eat wild green salads and pies. Some contain more antioxidants than green tea or wine.
2. Herbal Teas – The common herbal teas consumed here contain compounds that lower blood pressure and decrease the risk of heart disease and dementia.
3. Low sense of time urgency – Feeling less obligation to one’s schedule and day is shown to lower heart-harming stress hormones.
4. Daily naps – Taking a 30-minute nap at least five times a week can decrease the risk of heart attack by 35 percent.
5. Mountain living – Here, every trip out of the house occasions a mini workout. People get their daily exercise without thinking about it. Studies show the mountain people have lower cardio vascular disease.
6. Strong sense of community – Family and village support create strong social connections, which are proven to promote longevity.
7. Goat’s milk – 80 percent of all people over 90 have consumed goat’s milk many times per week throughout their life. It is rich in blood-pressure lowering tryptophan and antibacterial compounds.
8. Ikarian diet – The Ikarian variation of Mediterranean Diet is high in vegetables, beans, and low in meat and sugar. Uniquely, though, it’s lower in grains and fish, but high in potatoes.

In the U.S., cancer costs almost $250 billion per year, heart disease another approximately $500 billion and dementia yet another $175 billion. If people of the U.S. could live Ikaria’s lifestyle, rates could be cut in half and half a trillion dollars could be saved.

People of Ikaria are clearly living a Low Density Lifestyle, and living long and vital lives because of it. There’s a lot of life lessons for living a long life that we can learn from the people of Ikaria, Greece, if only we can heed the call.

One of the biggest lessons to be learned is that living a High Density Lifestyle will surely affect the quality of your life both in terms of health and your lifespan.

An Interview with Mimi Kirk, Part 3

Today is the last installment of the three-part exclusive interview I recently did with Mimi Kirk, the 71-year-old winner of PETA’s sexiest female vegetarian over 50 award.

Mimi has a lot of valid things to say about health and wellness, and she’s an incredible role model for anyone of any age. Just watching her in this and the previous two interviews can teach you a lot about being and becoming healthy.

Mimi’s interview fits in well with this series on Longevity, because, although Mimi is far younger than all of the other masters of longevity I have profiled in this series, what she discusses is clearly the secrets to living a long and vital life.

In case you missed the previous interviews I did with Mimi Kirk, you can click on the links below to see them:
An Interview with Mimi Kirk, Part 1
An Interview with Mimi Kirk, Part 2

As you watch the above video, you’ll hear Mimi talk about:

***why it’s not genes and family history that dictate whether you’ll be sick as you age

***why medications can be toxic to your health and why they’re not the answer to getting healthy

***why developing good health is simple

***why she loves eating a raw foods diet

***what her favorite creative pastimes are

***her upcoming book, “How to Be Healthy and Hot At Any Age.”

***why her sex drive is strong

***that she feels incredibly healthy and full of life

***what she does to keep her skin youthful and vital (hint: she’s never used botox or plastic surgery)

***how people can connect with her and find out what she’s up to. (here’s how to get to her Facebook page: Mimi Kirk’s Facebook page.)

So, I hope you enjoyed the interview I did with Mimi Kirk, and got a lot out of it. I surely did.

I’ll be back tomorrow with another article in this series on Longevity, so see you then.

An Interview with Mimi Kirk, Part 2

Today I continue with the second part of a three-part exclusive interview I recently did with Mimi Kirk, who is no ordinary 71 year old. In 2009, when she was 70, Mimi was voted by PETA as the sexiest vegetarian female over 50.

If you didn’t see the first part of the interview with Mimi Kirk, don’t forget to review it by clicking on this link:
An Interview with Mimi Kirk, Part 1

The interview was conducted over skype with only one technical snafu – about halfway through today’s interview Mimi’s screen froze, so you’ll see me wait about 10 seconds until Mimi’s screen unfroze. After that the interview continued without a hitch.

As you watch the above video, you’ll hear Mimi talk about:

***why to become healthy you need to become empowered and take responsibility for your health

***how she manages to wear out her boyfriend, who’s 19 years younger than she is

***why the way you think, your attitude about life, your happiness, and your ability to laugh are also crucial to health, along with diet

***what holds people back from changing their diet and making healthy lifestyle choices

***how she manages to live a stress-free life

***what the common threads are amongst people who live long lives

***how to start living a healthier lifestyle

***why eating meat and dairy is unhealthy

***that she takes no medications, and also takes no supplements

***why she shops primarily at farmer’s markets

Mimi Kirk has a lot to say, and all of it is valid. I think you’ll agree with me, as you watch this video, that Mimi is an incredible inspiration to all of us.

Tomorrow I’ll be back with the last installment of this three-part interview, so don’t forget to tune in tomorrow…

An Interview With Mimi Kirk, Part 1

A few months ago, I wrote an article on the Low Density Lifestyle site about Mimi Kirk, and today I present the first part of an exclusive three-part interview I did with her.

Mimi was voted in 2009 by PETA as the sexiest vegetarian female over 50, which is an honor of and by itself. What makes it even more amazing is that Mimi was 70 years old at the time! (She’s now 71.)

You may want to read the article again before watching the above video on Mimi Kirk, the sexiest vegetarian over 50.

Mimi and I conducted the interview over skype, and I recorded the video. I will give you the three-part interview one installment at a time, in order to give it to you in bite size chunks.

As you watch the above video, you’ll hear Mimi talk about:

***how she won the award

***why she became a vegetarian

***why she’s now a raw food vegan and how eating that way has made a dramatic improvement in her health

***a typical food day for her

***what she does if she goes out to dinner or travels

***her 52-year-old boyfriend’s eating habits and how she got him to change his ways

***her personal nutritional philosophy

Mimi is truly an inspiration, not only because she won the award, but because she is so healthy and vibrant. She’s a true model of longevity, and a model of someone living a Low Density Lifestyle.

Don’t forget to tune in next time for installment number two…

Live Long and Prosper

Today begins the first series of the year – on Longevity.

Why longevity? By living a Low Density Lifestyle and experiencing exceptional health, it increases the odds of living long many times over.

Experiencing longevity is also about living a vital life well into your later years. It’s one thing to live a long life, it’s another thing to live a long life well.

It can be done, and many have done it and are doing it in this day and age. We’ll meet some of them over the course of this series.

As Mr. Spock always said, “Live Long and Prosper.” Right below is a video of Mr. Spock stating his famous Vulcan salute.

Studies of cultures that are known for longevity have found certain common attributes, and many of these traits are the lifestyle characteristics of a Low Density Lifestyle.

These characteristics are such things as:
***Eating a simple, whole foods, plant-based diet
***Eating less, not more
***Being active, and moving in ways that accentuate flow
***Making quiet time and also making time to relax, unwind,
destress and decompress
***Being happy and having a joyful approach to life
***Exercising your mind and having a purpose in life
***Maintaining a connection to the spiritual dimension of life

At the top of the page is a video from CBS News. When you watch it (there’s a short 15 second commercial for Ford at the very beginning, so please be patient), you’ll understand why longevity isn’t something you experience only if you’re lucky enough to have the right genes. There’s a common denominator that is found with people who live long lives, as the two experts on the CBS program state. These common denominators are the ones listed above.

And they are the common denominators of living a Low Density Lifestyle.

So I say to you, as all Vulcans say to one another, Live Long and Prosper! And remember, you don’t have to be a Vulcan to give the Vulcan salute.

Live a long life, and live it well…

I’ll be back tomorrow with the story of a man who just passed away the other day at the age of 104, and lived an incredibly vital life, well into his later years.

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