For me the answer became clear over the last year and it is a glaring YES! I didn’t ask for Parkinson’s, but it chose me, so I am determined to use it to make me better. It is motivating me to get and stay fit, and to do that you have to combine exercise with good nutrition. I am determined to eliminate all artificial drugs and chemicals I can from my life…I don’t have much choice over my Parkinson’s medication BUT I can work to slow the progression of the disease and therefore keep my medication to a minimum MORE IMPORTANTLY though, is I know that I can seek out natures own nutrients to fight off heart disease, high cholesterol, high blood pressure I don’t want to take pills which are man made chemicals to fight off these issues. I now know I can do it with natural ingredients and I am determined to take that path. SO I can enjoy every minute I can with my beautiful wife Kim, my daughter Nikki, son Justin, grand kids Savanna and Dylan, and Caden, and all of you wonderful friends, and to lead a life that doesn’t end up a burden on them.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post I have joined my friend Jason Scheff and a group of super motivated people who have banded together to form an accountability group. We are going to pick a health program, regardless of the brand or where it comes from, this isn’t about buying or selling products, it is about holding each other accountable, picking a health and wellness program, committing to it, checking in every day with your partner and holding each other accountable as we get healthy together.

So I ask all of you again…write me, pick a program, is it going to a gym, walking around the block? My commitment is to keep drinking Shakeology everyday and after finishing P90X ten days from now I am taking a few days of recommended recovery time, and on January 31 starting P90X all over again. We can do this! Lets do it together!!!
Macy

Here is a startling set of facts: After almost a year of taking DRUGS for high Cholesterol and Triglycerides My numbers were still not great. I stopped the meds cause I am tired of taking drugs and chemicals, I don’t have a choice for my Parkinson’s meds, but I want to get rid of as many pills and chemicals as I can. A friend got me started on Shakeology, so here is a side by side comparison of my numbers before and after drugs versus Shakeology:

After a year of drugs: Triglycerides 197 After 4 months of Shakeology 144

After a year of drugs: LDL (Bad Cholesterol) 115 After 4 months of Shakeology 110

After a year of Drugs: HDL (Good Cholesterol) 32 After 4 months of Shakeology 39.

I wasn’t on Blood Pressure meds and my numbers were OK around 124 over 75 range and a resting pulse of 90-94 but after 4 months of Shakeology…. 110 over 69 resting pulse, 70-75.

Did I mention weight loss? down from 237 to 205.

Then got in shape, I have ten workout days left to finish the 13 week P90X Extreme fitness program. Guess what…I flunked the fitness test that comes with the program so technically I shouldn’t have even tried P90X but I tried it and now in week 12 of 13 I am in the best shape of my life.

So to the real point. I have joined my friend Jason Scheff and a group of super motivated people who have banded together to form an accountability group. We are going to pick a health program, regardless of the brand or where it comes from, this isn’t about buying or selling products, it is about holding each other accountable, picking a health and wellness program, committing to it, checking in every day with your partner and holding each other accountable as we get healthy together.

Will you join me? write me, pick a program, is it going to a gym, walking around the block? My commitment is to keep drinking Shakeology everyday and after finishing P90X ten days from now I am taking a few days of recommended recovery time, and on January 31 starting P90X all over again. We can do this! Lets do it together!!!
Macy

I watched a video of Carl Daikeler, CEO of Beachbody, speaking to Barbie Decker, one of the top 10 coaches he went out to visit this month… in fact, 2 trips before he came to visit me… and he asked her what is the one thing she could say to a new coach in how to share what she does to people… She thought about it for a few seconds and said, “The Belief… I believe so much in what I do…”

Carl said, “I love that answer because you’re absolutely right… Someone can go through the motions, have the right tools but they might just be pitching something… but when you look people right in the eyes and they KNOW they’re looking at someone who cares… who will TRULY be there to help them… that’s our business…”

Man, I watched that and completely related. As new coaches we all want to know how to get started… the fact we’ve turned it into a business gets people feeling a lot different than when they were simply sharing something that had changed their lives.

I have several coaches who were already selling Beachbody products, before they became coaches… just so excited about the changes they were making in their lives… sharing it, freely… people would ask them what they were doing noticing the changes… and they were selling this stuff like crazy… for some other random coach…

Because when a person sees the results, they ask what we’re doing and we tell them… without a coach, they go to the generic Beachbody website, purchase products, and some random coach gets their business… when YOU have done the work already. Plus, who knows if that coach is going to even work with them?

Those coaches who get the random, free customers are Emerald coaches… that’s just getting 2 coaches to join you in your journey to fight the battle of obesity as a Team Beachbody coach on our AWESOME team! It’s as simple as that… so the goal for you new coaches is to get Emerald, fast… let’s get some paying customers FROM Beachbody into your business while you’re learning… It’s all about getting Emerald.

So to finish that thought on what I’ve seen happen is that some coaches who are GREAT at sharing what they do start freezing up when they turn this into a business… don’t want to act like they’re a *sales person*. This was one of the hardest thresholds to cross for me but let me tell you how beneficial it is…

Before this business I’d go about my life and ONLY do the things that were easy… didn’t really want to put that much effort into things that didn’t come naturally… why would I? I had identified things that came pretty easy to me, Music, and it has taken me through my life pretty nicely…

BUT, what about the opportunities squandered? All that accessibility to the industry but boy, if I sent a song in to the labels, offices, etc. and they said NO? CRUSHED me… you see I was used to winning… and pretty early on in my life… I HATED rejection… can’t say I LIKE it at this point… but I’ve learned ONE HUGE LESSON in this network marketing business…

If I HAVE SOMETHING OF VALUE TO THE WORLD AND I KEEP IT TO MYSELF I MAY BE CREATING A LOSS AND A LEVEL OF FAILURE I’M NOT WILLING TO LIVE WITH, FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

I learned early on in my Team Beachbody business that when I put myself out there… dip my toe in the water by simply sharing what I’m doing in social networks… simply doing what’s asked of us… a “Status Update”, right? Oh, I’m doing Insanity Max Plyo Intervals…

People respond…

So I’m going to give you some bullet points on my beliefs… ok? I’m going to give you the timeline on how this business has helped me grow in my personal life and how it’s starting to grow professionally… yes, with Team Beachbody but also the life I’ve chosen since a kid… remember, this is a guy who wouldn’t pick the phone up to call his friends who are all the record executives now… how stupid is that? When I look around at a lot of people who have much less to offer, but pick the phone up… and they’re doing well…

Alright here goes…

I Believe…
• I know how to turn my life around, physically… on the level of Health and Fitness…
• I’m helping hundreds of other people do it for themselves.
• What I offer is EXTREMELY inexpensive. When I look at the cost of gym memberships, trainers, bad food, the cost of medicine, health insurance… what I have to offer is a steal.
• I earn extra income by helping people turn their lives around, health, fitness and financially.
• I now have the confidence to sit next to people like Akon on an airplane and share what I do with him. Watch him get excited while I tell him my journey. That ONLY came from trial and error of sharing what I do with people, learning how to share without making it about what *I can get* out of the situation. But most importantly, I’m not intimidated any more. I know what I have and I know how great it is, so I share, freely.
• I now have the confidence to speak freely with people like Brian Wilson and Peter Frampton because I know what I have. I have music that helps them and I’m not afraid to hold my head up and extend my hand.
Now some of you may think, “Well, Jason’s involved in all this high profile stuff, he’s used to it, he deserves to be there, he’s put in his time…” Well my friends, the point is until I started working on myself and realizing what I have there was ALWAYS this level of tentativeness and feeling like maybe I wasn’t completely on the level with these people… and it took this silly, crazy little side business to show me…

If I HAVE SOMETHING OF VALUE TO THE WORLD AND I KEEP IT TO MYSELF I MAY BE CREATING A LOSS AND A LEVEL OF FAILURE I’M NOT WILLING TO LIVE WITH, FOR THE REST OF MY LIFE.

And imagine the level of disservice I’m doing… That’s the thing about our business… Team Beachbody… in the music business, or entertainment industry, the joke is always about getting over yourself… “It’s not brain surgery!”

Well, with what we have here as coaches, it IS brain surgery… it’s that important… if I’m holding back what I have who knows who might be going down the tubes…

I’ll give you one example that has deeply touched my life recently… by putting myself out there… by making an exposure one night because I was talking it all up to you people and realizing I’d better start doing it and reporting back to set the example… I ended up sharing with a guy who has become a dear friend of mine who has Parkinson’s disease…

He ends up trying Shakeology, falls in love with it… becomes a coach… starts getting better control of his writing hand… you see he was starting to learn how to write with his left hand and now is back working with his right hand… he also started P90X, has dropped somewhere around 25 lbs now since starting a couple months ago but the REAL amazing thing is there was a guy at work who was watching him and reached out…

The new guy was an insulin resistant diabetic… when you hear this guy’s story it’s so outrageous that you almost can’t believe it… but I was there with a lot of his co-workers a couple weeks ago hearing the confirmation of it….

This guy was on 4 types of insulin and some they couldn’t get to him fast enough… his eyesight was going… his doctor told him 8 weeks ago that the next time he’d be visiting him he’d be going blind… this man started selling his possessions… truly… he was preparing to die. Blood pressure meds, the whole 9 yards.

He made what his diabetes doctor claimed the most miraculous turnaround he’d ever seen… our boy has 6 pages of doctors results in how he has turned himself around… we were at a home party and to hear this man’s story, along with my friend with Parkinson’s… all by me realizing I have to lead by example… I’m a coach… I’ve committed… I’m here to show what works, for me… and if I don’t, I’m a fraud… I’m a scam artist in a pyramid scheme… yup, if I don’t do the work, it’s all just about “What’s in it for me”. When I stood back and took it in… if I had kept my story, my journey, my tools that have helped me turn my life around, and kept them to myself, maybe our friend with diabetes would be blind right now… now please know that I’m not putting myself in this elevated place of being a saviour… but I can’t ignore the fact that when we’re delivering life changing stuff, we do have a HUGE, direct impact on what goes on many levels away from us… it’s a rippling effect. And it works in the opposite direction too… if we stay closed, everything keeps shutting down… Where are the leaders? They’re reading this email is where they are…

When that light went on for me… when I was told, “If you’re truly just reaching out trying to help another person… this business will be the easiest thing you’ve ever done…” and I get that now… because when there is NOTHING in it for me other than to reach out and try to help someone… there’s nothing at stake… no expectation… I’m not going to be disappointed when someone doesn’t BUY anything from me…

And there it is… I’m inspired right now… I just saw the absolute truth in this for me… If I’m upset that someone didn’t buy something from me, the motive is ALL wrong… do I get upset someone says they’re going to do something and don’t? Not anymore… this is not about ME, it’s about you… I have some coaches who apologize that they’re not doing more… as if it’s effecting me and I’m going to be upset… friends, you can do what you want… I have no expectations from anybody… we’re all at different places with this stuff too… some of you are incubating… some people sit there for a year… 2 years… just incubating and then WHAMMO… it happens… we’re living proof of it.

It’s all about just getting to the point where we’re not comfortable continuing on as we had been… it’s time to change… and then it does… and it only does when we realize it’s time to walk out that door and be kind to someone today… get into the PRACTICE of spreading our sunshine… not talking about our products, AT ALL… believe me, when we’re not stalking people and just being kind to them it’s amazing how many times it becomes appropriate to talk about what we’re doing…

So there it is friends… one more time… the bullet points of what I believe…
• I have the goods. I know how to turn my life around and help others do the same.
• I love people and want to help them, in whatever capacity it is.
• I’m part of a group of coaches/friends that have become the love of my life… truly, the people I’d like to spend the rest of my life with, and I will…
• WE are moving up. On an upward trajectory and THAT I want to share with the 2/3 of the country who need this, badly.
That’s my belief system… not that I’m involved in something that might be less than noble… nope, I’m on top of the world, as you are…

For those who were not able to attend his services, it will come as no surprise that there was standing room only at the Church.  Larry Jackson, Jim’s friend and the CEO of Long Beach Transit gave a touching, thoughtful, and fittingly humorous eulogy at times bringing all of us to tears, and other times laughing.

As I sat through the services and listened to Larry share stories of Jim helping the careers of virtually everyone he encountered throughout his time at Long Beach Transit, and as I replayed in my mind the comments that had been left on Jim’s tribute page I thought of a column I had recently read that challenged me to think of about our impact on others as we live our lives. The author suggested that after we are gone from this earth no one will remember us based on the status of our achievements, we wont be remembered for our title, how much money we made, how big of a house we lived in, or what kind of car we drove. No one will remember the size of diamonds we wore, or where we bought our cloths, where we vacationed, if we traveled first class or coach. The measure of our lives, the imprint we leave on this earth, will be whether we made a difference in one child’s life.

You would only need to see the adoration in the eyes of Jim’s grandchildren to know that he certainly had made a difference in their lives, but Jim went so far beyond that, he made  a difference in the life of everyone he touched, he mentored, he inspired, he provided words of encouragement and imparted self confidence, he challenged you to excel, to reach for higher, and he opened the doors of opportunity and led you through.  He did all of this with no thoughts of self gain or benefit, no desire to be thanked or acknowledged, he did it all with amazing grace and humility. One of the things that I was always in awe of with Jim was that he was always more interested in you then himself.  You need only to read the comments left for him to understand the depth of his commitment to others.

So I am challenging myself, and everyone who reads this blog, to commit to making that difference. Start by making sure you make a difference in one child’s life. Then lets go beyond that, lets strive to make a difference in many lives, to add hope or laughter, provide inspiration, open a door, or lend a helping hand, lets genuinely care more about others than ourselves and do it all with no expectation of self gain, or even to be thanked, but because our imprint on this earth should be one that matters, that makes a difference. 

This weeks song I am sharing with you reflects the sense of pain and joy that results from saying good bye to Jim last week.  Pain for our loss, but joy in the thought of Jim in Heaven, without pain, rejoicing with the Good Lord and setting out on his newest journey and making a difference in his new Home. The song by Carlos Santana is called Europa (Earth’s cry, Heaven’s Smile) click on the link at the top of this post and check it out…

A Gift of Remembrance for the Ditch Family

Please add your thoughts about what Jim Ditch has meant to you and the Transit Industry, we will build an album to present to Carolyn as a memoir. Scroll down and click on the comment box and add yours. Thanks for helping us give Carolyn and the Ditch family a unique remembrance of Jim .

HELP My email list was not exhaustive, please help spread the word, tell anyone in your organization (or anyone period) about this tribute page and lets get all the responses possible to support Carolyn and the family.

THANKS

Because I don’t want this site to become a platform for advertising cures, miracles or a particular treatment course, or to take the place of sound medical advice I do have to state this disclaimer: The views contained in the following post are strictly those of the author. I, Macy Neshati, nor the site SucceedingwithParkinsons.com do not endorse, recommend or in any other way promote the thoughts or opinions of the author. Nothing in this blog, this website or this blog are intended to take the place of good medical advice from your own doctor. You should not discontinue any medication you may be taking or take any other action without first consulting your physician. This post is only to provide information and if you are interested in it, please contact the author and do your own research. There I hope that takes care of the legal aspects of publishing someone elses opinions.

Again, my message, don’t see the obstacles, stay focused on the goal, Each day is a GIFT, Make it a GREAT one.

Macy
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To contact the author of the following response to m site contact: Tiger World at consult_3@hotmail.com
Tiger World wrote: I am a 59 years old dentist, who had Parkinson’s disease slowly gnawing inside me for over 30 years. I finished dentistry 1997. My first symptoms I had right after 20 years of age in the form of RLS, Restless Legs Syndrom. Around 25, I had abnormal pain in the legs after football games. Then came writer’s cramp at the lectures at dental school. The years between 30 -40 were one long downhill in physical terms, when my legs finally was unable to jog, and resulted in a year’s sick leave, with no diagnosis could be made.

My father died of Parkinson’s Disease 25 years after their diagnosis. Therefore, PD was the first diagnose that I denied. Yet I had 4-5 ailments at the same age as my father had suffered these earlier in his life. During the year I was sick andweak all the time, until the last of the amalgam was cleaned away from my mouth. Then I experienced a turnaround in healthstate, anda month later I was at it again in my dentist-practice. This made me a moderate opponent of amalgam fillings and I developed my own clean-up method for sensitive patients, to avoid adverse effects of amalgam removal.

After being stiff in lower part of right arm since 1988, I began to shake in the right arm in summer 2007. PD I still denied. An inguinal hernia forced me to the doctor in 2008, when the diagnosis was established by a specialist after medicine helped. MabyI partially still deny the diagnosis in that I refuse to believe that PD is an incurable disease. But I have my three best reasons.1 .. First, I am an optimist.2 .. Second, I witnessed with my own eyes how my father with his 22 years old symptoms was completely recovered 15 minutes after I treated him with the same stabilization method that I used on sensitive dental patients. He was symptom-free the rest of the day, but was sick again the next day after. But I saw that the PD can be tamed.

3 .. Third, I have by a comprehensive treatment of both body and soul, managed to reverse the trend of my own Parkinson’s and become free from more than 40 symptoms from Christmas 2008 to September 2009, and as shown here:

Symptoms disappeared while dopamine agonists was reduced from 2 tablets to 1 tablet per day and no administration of L-dopa occurred. Prescription say I should take 6 tablets per day.
1. Cramp in the ball of foot …gone…… 2.Loose balance while raising up from sitting,, not bloodpressure-related imbalance …also gone…… 3.Stiffness in leg muscles and Achilles tendon …soft now…… 4 stiffness in the pelvic muscles …soft now…… 5.Stiffness in the neck muscles, which caused a lot of insomnia. The head rose up from the pillow like a cobra and floated freely in the air until I perceived the situation and took command over the muscles anddropped my head,,, every five minutes,,til around 04;30 am, I finally fell asleep.
6th Stiffness in the muscles of temples,,, one of the most underestimated problems … 7. Stiffness in the right arm that shakes,,, has its original stiffness since 1988, during the spring, the forearm stiffness was reduced by 60-70% … 8. Stiffness in the facial muscles,,, softer look … 9. Weak muscles in arms,,,, 3 years ago I felt my arms too weak to perform a shave,,, my legs felt like the letter j …
10th Over Variable brushing teeth,,, after 2-3 strokes hyper reflexes took over and drove the toothbrush in a ferocious pace, in too long strokes,,, today I controll the toothbrush 100% and it feels firmer as time goes … 11. Breast spine and neck vertebrae in the wrong position,,, about 8 vertebrae have been adjusted by the chiropractor …
12th Cramp behind the sternum bone in chest …is gone… 13. Sudden drop in blood pressure with weakness throughout the body,, last year with the frequency of 2-3 in the week,,,, has not occurred this year…
14th Atherosclerosis in the head arteries,,, in early March to the severity measured 5 respectively 6, in different sites and across the head,,, in mid-May reduced to a more lenient 3 respectively 4 and standard grade 2 in 5 different locations.The result spurred me to put further action against arteriosclerosis because I read in Fass that my form of Parkinson’s is due to many smaller infarcts in the brain, with new health benefits in June-July as a result.
15th Dementia trends have improved withpurer blood vessels, in particular the memory of where I put things have improved … 16. The depression has lifted for good,,, and is the symptomloss I put most value in. I have had many happy days in our spring and summer when I was almost grateful that I had Parkinson’s and thus made radical changes in my lifestyle. Euphoria usually resolve in 10 minutes. My longest euphoriaperiod lasted 6 days, and with big astonishment I could only conclude that it was the result from a slowly progressive healing process. Or els it would not last for 6 days.

17th Poor assimilation,,, improved nutrition and a more even distribution of nutrients over the day … 18. Poor elimination of wasteproducts,,, has been improved by stimulating the lymphatic system and liver, stinking body odor has disappeared … 19. Constipation,,, 4 bowelmovements per week has risen to 15-20, which reduces the load on the nerves by the phenomenon of self-poisoning, autointoxikation … 20. Incontinence,,, my urgency did not come slowly and increasing last winter. They came like a lightning strike with a force that made it impossible to keep tight. Now I’m tight against the far milder tones.

21st Poor energy metabolism in muscle cells, previously these quickly became fatigued. Replacing the tires on the car was a 2-day project. Now I can manage it in an hour …
22nd Disorder in the autonomic nervous system,,, in a half year, I have been training the balance and cooperation between the catalyst sympathetic and the calming parasympathetic …
23rd Low levels of neurotransmitters monoamines,,, has generally increased, including dopamine and serotonine, is a conclusion of so many symptoms have improved … 24. Dizziness when changing walking direction,,, in 1991, I interrupt a dance course in bug due to dizziness. If I feel something today, it’s more like a memory of how it felt before. The body remembers and hesitates in fear of the moment, but there is no true vertigo.

25th Daily swallowing incidents,,, has declined 95%. In my own treatment-sessions in the spring, I was able over a period of 3 weeks to feel how a spasm came loose from Cardia and walked in 8 seconds up to the larynx, where it got stuck like a cramp, which slowly faded away in 1-2 minutes … 26. Low bite,,,, have been raised permanently 7 mm, by new crowns from a dentist,,, its strong effect on the nervous system I know about, because I myself have treated 500 patients with a different variation of bite-raising …
27th Social isolation,,, second quarter of this year I have increased the visits to my home by 400%, from a low level … 28. Stumbling over the threshold, wiring and vacuum cleaners,,, has returned to the level of healthy individuals … 29. The knees bend automatically,,,, began in 1990, has ceased … 30. Micro Scripture was last winter down at the typewriter size,,,, have become larger and less problematic with time … 31. Fumbling, nervous and stare hands,,,,, such as peeling potatoes and similar tasks goes well, without feeling stress haunts the body … 32 Swelling of the feet at the computer work, could give the 1 cm thick edema in the foot,,, completely gone this year …
33rd Highfrequencytremor,,, underline the text in freehand gave serrated lines with 1 mm between the tops,,, I can not carry out serrated lines any longer, because tremor is gone …
34th Shaking-power has been lowered ,,,, if someone held my moving fingers before, so instead my hand began to shake ,,if he held my hand, my arm began to shake,, held arm, the body began to shake, the latter is not present anymore. Shaking-power is not enough to move the body.

At June 12, I had so few symptoms left, I found it difficult to determine how much effect I got from my treatment . That was why I stopped completely with medication.The day after I was on 4 hours of dance. Tired and just 24 hours without medication, I had no problem falling asleep. But the second day RLS came back as a letter in the mail. 0 seconds of sleep that night with the kicking leg. The next night I fell asleep without problem because of the sleep deprivation and of pure exhaustion. After that I suffered RLS every night .I had ample opportunity to test what was best treatment without drug intervention.
After 3-4 nights, I found a method to have good effect. RLS disappeared and did not return during the remaining 9 days without medication. The legs, however, became increasingly weak and I became convinced that healing will be safer and more efficient by using low dose of dopamine agonists.
Time after midsummer, the continued increase in health status. First week in July, I was so well and cocky, that I thought I could go back to white bread and other Smith-diet for 3-4 days. The answer came one night in the form of RLS. Somewhat desperate, without sleep at 03:45-am, I preferred the extra hard with two RLS treatments with a half-hour interval. Now, it took a screw properly …

36th Impotence disappeared,,,,, in 2008, I had tried various stimuli without response in the groin. There was a cut between the brains and the groin. However, I took this not so hard because of the depression that made me apathetic. Now,,with the depression already gone, there was additional joy to regain the ability … 37. Rigid movements of the eyes and staring eyes,,,,, disappeared,,, softer look of face … 38. Weak breathing,,, got higher basic level … 39. Insomnia,,,, disappeared, and suddenly I was able to guide the brain into sleep mode when I wanted …

That these four key indicators of health status improved markedly and at the same time, suggests that something fundamental has happened in the region of the hypothalamus.

40th Dry skin on the forehead and eyebrows,,,, has become soft and smooth.

This is what has happened in the first 8 months of 2009. It still goes in the desired direction. 8 months of vanishing symptoms cannot happen without a break in the progression of the disease. I even considder a reversal. It is not an easy game to achieve such results. It´s a half-time job. But the benefits in mental recovery is so pleasureable, that bliss have come to me for first time in life. Thanks to the Parkinsons Disease I can now feel happy in any moment. I can create head-pleasure every day.I hope it works for migraine-sufferers too, because it is exactly the opposite experience.Everyone can heal.