Dietary Self-Defense: A warrior's way with food!

Obvious and Not-So-Obvious Benefits of Taking Martial Arts Lessons










I have been leading an intensive fitness boot camp at our school for the past 10 weeks here at Dynamic Edge in Springfield, MO and I've learned a thing or two.  Primarily how great this intensive physical training has been on my boosting my mood and secondarily how this training has refined my attitude about food and nutrition. For a long time food for me was just fuel, sometimes good, sometimes bad.  Lately, food is becoming more than just a fuel it's becoming part of my martial arts practice. Dietary self-defense is the philosophy that our nutrition can be a shield and a weapon to help us fight dis-ease, stress and to help us recover and rebuild our bodies after training.  Eating well is an essential aspect to the path of the modern fitness warrior!


There are some obvious benefits that young and old alike garner from studying the martial arts. The first one is in the exercise involved. Exercise, if it’s tailored for the age and ability of the participant, is good for the body, the mind, and, yes, often good for the spirit too.
A not-so-obvious benefit of studying the martial arts is the often unspoken requirement to “be present” in the practice. “When you’re dealing with kicks, punches, and arm-bars,” says veteran martial arts teacher Tom Callos of Hilo, Hawaii, “you simply have to stay ‘in the moment’ to keep from getting socked in the nose. Awareness of what I call, ‘The here and now,” is something you can instantly take off of the mat and put to work in your everyday life.”
With exercise and mindfulness comes a third component that is not a benefit you’ll find in every martial arts school, but it’s something we are deeply involved with. It’s about food and its connection to fitness and health. The Diet Chronicles is a project where a group of martial arts teachers are starting to document, on video, what they eat and how it’s prepared –in an effort to eat more mindfully.
Some of the video journals are being posted to an on-line community based around the book Savor (www.SavorTheBook.com). Savor is co-written by Harvard nutritionist Dr. Lilian Cheung and Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh.
To see one of the Diet Chronicle videos, click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3gANPh_RvY
“What we consume is as important and relevant to self-defense in today’s world,” says Callos, “as any kind of martial arts technique.”
For more information on using the martial arts to improve the body, mind, and diet, contact Theron Sturgess at Dynamic Edge 417-889-8900 or e-mail us at dynamicedgeinfo@gmail.com