Marathon runners repeat the legend of the forlorn mid-life man who got up one morning determined to kill himself, choosing to make his own demise look more or less accidental, by running until he collapsed. The guy had gained so much weight, smoked so relentlessly, and boozed it up so intrepidly he surmised he might go half a block or so before he succumbed to a quick and relatively painless heart attack or stroke. Dressed in sweats to hide his big belly and bad intentions, the would-be trauma case lumbered all the way to the end of the block and midway up the next block before he realized, ironically, he could not run fast enough, far enough, or hard enough to hurt himself.

Resigning himself to the grim irony, he resolved to rest and prepare for executing his plan and himself the next day. As the story goes, the hapless old man hell-bent on self-destruction kept trying to run himself to death until his daily suicide attempt became a ritual. Then, still hoping for blissful collapse, he ran marathons and road races of all kinds. Still, he could not give himself a coronary. And, of course, still hoping for quick and painless release from all life’s burdens, the now frighteningly fit old man will repeat his ritual again today. The old runner keeps on running because it hurts so good.

“If only I might have…”

Strictly speaking, “fast” means restriction and regulation, not deprivation. Your body can last a few days without food; it cannot last more than twenty four hours without water. During a period of detox fasting, you will not deprive your body of all the vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and energy it needs. You will restrict your diet to liquids that cleanse your system and build your defenses against disease. You may have all the healthy antioxidant juices you want, and you may have all the water you need. You may not have all the foods your body inevitably will crave. Withdrawal from your bad habits will hurt a great deal-both literally and figuratively. You will crave Big Macs, Snickers bars, Doritos, your favorite beer, one precious can of Classic Coca Cola, just a few bites of melt-in-your-mouth rare prime rib.

Even if you have improved upon the original detox recipe, your detox beverage still will not taste great or hit the spot like the unhealthy foods you crave. If you have sweetened your detox beverage, the sweetness will annoy you. If you have brewed your beverage cayenne-rich, the fire will linger in your mouth and stomach, reminding you of all you have sacrificed. You may have diarrhea, urinate far more than normal, and generally feel as though a fleet of Peterbilts ran over you. You probably will not have immediate feelings of health, fitness, and joy. Yet you will know, just like singing the blues or running a marathon, your detox diet just hurts so good.

“I guess it is good that I have not…”

As you continue detox fasting, the pain and cravings will subside, you will start to feel more alert and energetic, and you will begin to see and feel your weight-loss. You will begin to understand how your body had grown dependent on all those sugary, fatty, chemically-enhanced and dangerously preserved foods you craved. You will discover how much sugar they put in “special sauce” to make it special; you will discover just how many empty calories your twelve ounce Labatt’s pumped into your system; and you will learn just how cholesterol your prime rib packed into your arteries as plaque.

Gradually, you will acquire a taste for and then a preference for fresh fruits and vegetables, pinto and kidney beans, and cool, refreshing filtered water. Although you still may feel deprived of all you used to have, you will understand and appreciate the benefits of all you now have not. And, just like the persistent runner, you will continue your detox fasting ritual, because day after day, it hurts so good.

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MILKMAN Julian Huckle proved he has a lot of bottle by running a marathon and climbing the UK’s highest mountain over two days. Julian (50), from Orton Waterville, tackled the tough feat in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support and raised 1,629.

He said: “This was my seventh marathon. But to do both the marathon and climb together was perhaps pushing it a bit. I like doing slightly crazy things now and again. You have to push yourself and your body to extremes. I was a bit sore and stiff afterwards. But knowing I had raised that amount was good encouragement.”

Julian completed the Loch Ness Marathon on October 3 before climbing Ben Nevis, which stands at 4,409ft and is the highest peak in Scotland and the UK, on October 4. He completed the marathon in a respectable three hours and 28 minutes – breaking the over-50s marathon record for his running club, Werrington Joggers, which he has been a member of for five years. He had originally hoped to swap his trainers for climbing gear straightaway and head up Ben Nevis immediately after the marathon but he had to wait until the next day because it was getting too dark.

He said: “I had wanted to do both in the same day but night drew in by the end of the race, so I had to do the climb the next day.”

Julian’s sister, Giselle Brown, drove up to Scotland to support him but the climb itself was a solo effort.

He said: “I did it on my own. I was up there alone for 20 minutes at the top, then another man finally came and he took some photos for me. All the pain was worth it. Having support from my customers and raising that amount of money really spurred me on as well. The thought of letting people down kept me going. People had been stopping me in the street and saying good luck. I left letters explaining what I was going to do and they have been generous, a great support.”

The grandfather-of-one chose to support Macmillan Cancer Support because it is a cause backed by his employers Dairy Crest, based in Eastern Industry, Peterborough.

Two years ago, he supported their chosen charity, the Make A Wish Foundation – which grants wishes for seriously-ill children – by running the London Marathon and the Great Eastern Run in Peterborough. In both races, he ran dressed as a Rubik’s cube and raised 3,150 over both races. Julian – who has worked for Dairy Crest for 21 years – sees helping others as part of his job.

He started with a round in Bretton, which he kept for 17 years before transferring to Stamford and outlying villages, such as Barnack and Toft. He gets up at 1.30am each day and is out on the road by 3am making deliveries. But there is more than just milk in his float, due to a new online service milk&more launched by Dairy Crest a year ago, he delivers more than 250 different household products from bread and milk to compost.

Julian said: “You help out running errands and I have changed a few lightbulbs in my time, called emergency services for elderly people who have collapsed and the police if yobs are hanging around – you look out for the community in the early hours.”

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How to choose Fish oil Supplements

They  need to be chosen with care. The properly chosen product has a multitude of beneficial effects and no nasty side effects.

There are several things you need to take into consideration:

Where was the fish’s habitat? The best area would be the pristine wayers just south of New Zealand. There would be a very low risk of the fish being contaminated
The oil capsules need to have a high content of DHA and EPA, the two most important Omega 3 fatty acids in this product.
The oil needs to be extracted from the fish by using molecular distillation. This is the only way to get high quality marine oils.
The oil needs to  be processed in a very short time in order to prevent oxidation. The oil in the capsules needs to be pure and not be rancid.  If you’d open a capsule and it would smell “fishy” there is a problem.
No matter where the fish came from  the oil needs to go through a purification process.

Many people associate this product with arthritis pain relief. If they do not have arthritis they feel it is not necessary for them. to take this.

Because the omega 3 fatty acids in fatty fish are extremely anti-inflammatory this oil will have a beneficial effect on many other disorders. Most of them involve inflammations.

Another reason why we need to take fish oil is the fact that most, if not all of us are Omega 3 deficient. The only  Omega 3 fatty acid we get from our diet, might be ALA or alpha-linolenic-acid. We need to supplement because the DHA and EPA are crucial for our body to function.

The other health benefits of using fish oil supplements:

DHA is needed for brain development and maintenance
DHA/EPA ,working together, can keep our cardiovascular system healthy
fish oil boosts the immune system
it can keep our cholesterol level under control
It helps people that have asthma breathing easier
keeps abnormal formation of blood clots from developing

So we all could benefit from taking fish oil.

We should cut down our visits to fast food restaurants and use the money to buy some fish oil supplements instead.

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