DCC Staffing: The Shady Underground Of In-Home Care

Kailey Trapani and her boyfriend, Jalen, tried to sling promethazine, while working as a caregiver in my home. At first, you don't know how to respond, because you're not sure if that person is being serious or not. And my experiences in social dynamics have shown that that's exactly how bullies get their prey, right there!

It started when Trapani walked through my front door, and long before she even bothered to sit on the couch. As soon as I begin to show her my Hoyer lift and how to operate it, she appears to be faded. And coming from someone who smokes pot, I know the expression: Eyes are slanted, like a Communist rice-patty, the immediate area around the person reeks, and when you look deep enough into the person's eyes, they're bloodshot.

But see, you can't judge a book by its cover, and this is especially true in caregiving. When I woke up at 2:00 AM, to use the restroom, I'm calling for a urinal...and there's simply no response! Suddenly, Trapani appears from my bathroom, and she's holding a vape between her lips. Now...as a client who pays rent, it's not the caregiver's business what I do. But shouldn't a caregiver have to be far more aware, while caring for a disabled client?!

Now everyone within Regional Center is aware of United Cerebral Palsy, and their reputation with the disabled community. Kailey Trapani, while she was here, divulged way too much information about her time with UCP, in Sylmar. According to Trapani's narrative, one of UCP's clients "falsely accused" Kailey of dropping her, at the facility, between 2019-20. Believable story, but let me tell you what my LVN, Jacqueline Nelson, taught me, last year, about caregivers: Whenever they're caught in something, they tend to project blame on to their clients!

Myself, I ended up peeing all over the urinal, rather than inside it, because Kailey, altered, could not hold my urinal straight. One of my energy drinks went missing, from my refrigerator, and Trapani later confessed to stealing those. When I opened up about these events to Lilia DeLeon, another caregiver from  DCC Staffing, she was more than willing to divulge how cunning she was, when removing labels from bottles: She said that I could "easily pull $250," off of one, promethazine bottle. And DeLeon further exclaimed that "that money could at least buy you some groceries!"

Two days later, there's money missing from my Wells Fargo account. Again, assumptions are dangerous, and so I often try not to assume anything! But who was the last person to handle my smart phone? And as I know that I'm active on Door Dash, then isn't it a coincidence that there are unauthorized transactions on my account from Door Dash, and shortly after letting Kailey Trapani go?

Alpha Male Series Finale: Reno 911...How Perception Really Does Change Everything

My mom is a San Fernando Valley native, but she moved to Reno, Nevada in 2013. I still reside in Woodland Hills, California...and my sister and little nephew are only a few minutes away. Since 2013, however, our family has visited mom, in Reno, more times than can truly be counted.

I try to visit at least 2 or 3 times a year. This last week, I spent 8 days at mom's. Obviously, the reason I go to Reno is for her. But she and I both know that this is a trip that I take for myself, as much as I do for my mother.

That's because I look forward to the casinos and fine dining. And while mom is my first reason for going to Reno, what I look immensely forward to is the element of fresh air. Because fresh air has a way of rearranging your mindset, which in turn gives the rest of who you are a complete "reboot."

In the quiet of Reno's high desert, all of my practices in audio entrainment become manifest. The binaural beats, the sacred geometry, the white noise...all of these I get to put to the soil, once I've found a quiet spot in mom's backyard. But then toward the end of my visit, mom said something that caught my ear: "I'm going to be visiting LA soon...I need a vacation from Reno!"

As soon as I heard that, I knew that I had learned what friends and family had tried to teach me for years: Attitude is everything. To add to that, it's the experience that one inserts into a place, and not the place or venue itself.

I'll go back to my teen years. When I looked at my mom, I instinctively thought about music, food and shopping malls. Whenever I looked at my dad, I thought about beer, business and muscle cars. Truth be told, none of those elements were really assigned to my parents. But because this was the type of imagery that my imagination was constructing, my mind constantly fell for it.

But I don't associate those things with my parents anymore, because they're changing and so am I. Again, no longer do I associate Chuck E. Cheese with "Pizza Time Theater." That's because our world has changed across the board. But as that process of change is occurring, it's taking the individual experience along with it.

Bottom line: The experience that you put in to a place is what assigns meaning to it...not the place itself. What my mom sees in Reno, Nevada is an isolated sanctuary, far from Los Angeles but not too far. For myself, I see a time warp. And it's one that's important, because it reminds us of where we used to be...where the San Fernando Valley used to be.

But even that is a game of perception. Think about it: Los Angeles and Reno may have been a bit different 25-30 years ago. Palmdale and Lancaster, California were different places 25-30 years ago. But then even those memories are dependent upon the meanings that we assign to them. In other words, there never has been such a thing as the "1970s Valley," the "80s," "90s..." whichever! All of those refer to genres, time periods...but then the "stuff" that made up those decades are no more than human inventions.

When I visit my mom in Reno, Nevada, the experience that I draw or take from that city depends on me. I can associate Reno with cowboys and Bonanza. Or I can connect the city with multicultural dining, which Reno now has, the Philharmonic, because Reno has its own philharmonic orchestra, and technology, because both Reno and Sparks, Nevada are becoming hotbeds for companies like Google and Tesla Motors.

It's really a combination of two things: First, the way in which the overall experience is shaped by my own perceptions. And second, the way in which the world, at large, is shifting perception regardless of my own perceptions. In other words, I am the author of my own "book." But there is a power struggle between God and myself; I still have a little pull in the whole thing, but God's winning anyway. It's like the hand of God is giving us some power to write the book, but then God ultimately has authorship anyway.

If you've seen the yin-yang symbol, then you know that it represents the light versus dark dichotomy. What you may not know is that there are ultimately two forces at work here: Your individual perception, and then your individual perception as it is inevitably shaped by the bigger machine.

Still...listen to Elliott Hulse long enough and you'll get it: There are greater forces at work, but then this whole life is a game anyway. There are some absolutes in life, but then the only "real" meanings are the ones that we create. As ideas change, so will those "absolutes," and our view of the world will change with them!

Alpha Male Manley Lectures: The Travel And The Traveler

This year, I traveled to the Petersen's Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. But on my way there, the true treasure that was found had nothing to do with automotive. That's because most of my travels involve encounters with the needy and/or homeless. But as is often the case, they are the ones who I learn the most from.

What my friend, "Claude" recently showed me is that U. S. Marines suffer from an aftershock that only few know. Some of Hollywood's failed actors, someone who might have been sexually assaulted as a child...these characters are those who teach you about suffering more than anybody.

Truth be told, you don't really understand human suffering until you've met a marine. You don't truly understand how jacked another human can be until you've met with that human. Just listen to some of the stories these people tell: "We blew-up foreign cities for fun...there was no reason; we just did!" To many United States Marines, killing for recreation is no more than a simple "act of mercy."

But there was something else that I learned from Claude, and body builder Elliott Hulse reinforces this: It's not so much the travel as it is the traveler. Claude needed me just as much as I needed him. But here's the crazy part: I did more for this person, in one day, then either of us could have ever imagined.

I was craving pizza; coincidentally, there was a Pizza Hut on Wilshire near Fairfax, so Claude and I headed-in. He was hungry and so was I; he was broke and I needed to be fed, and so it worked-out.

Go back to Elliott Hulse: It's not so much the travel as it is the traveler. Truth be told, I wasn't on Wilshire Boulevard to feed the homeless. I wasn't representing the Boy Scouts, and I certainly wasn't trying to win merits from anybody. As an automotive journalist, I was there to capture raw materials.

Again, it's not so much the travel as it is the traveler. I took the Red Line to LA to see the car museum, and I ended up having lunch with a Desert Storm vet. I traveled from the San Fernando Valley to West Los Angeles to see a one-off, oval-windowed Royce, a Buick GNX...feeding a Marine on Wilshire was the last thing on my agenda. But...that Marine fed me in return...and wouldn't you know it: the guy never once took my wallet or any of my belongings.

It's not so much the travel as it is the traveler. Case-in-point, I went to go look at motors, I ended up learning about Desert Storm instead. I wanted to know what number GNX was at the Petersen Vault, and instead I was taught that the military manufactures digital "noses," and that those things can smell for miles.

Again, I went to go look at '57 Chevys, '87 Buicks...next thing I know, I'm capturing the La Brea Tar Pits. I even got to have pizza on Wilshire Boulevard, and anyone who's known me, at least since 2013, knows that nutrition has become an important issue in my day.

I don't smoke, and when I went to visit Wilshire in LA, I found myself smoking tobacco. There were good-looking girls on the scene; I flirted. Someone from the streets offered me tacos al carbon, and my ass ate. Smoking cigarettes, eating street tacos and watching Captain Kangaroo...things that I would normally never do in an afternoon, but on that day I did.

It was totally bad and unhealthy, but it felt damn good. The nicotine, the Pizza Hut...I was ready to fall off of the stupid earth. But the crazy part is that I never once missed Petersen's. And in fact, there were Forza simulators on one of the museum's floors. After so many hours of testing car POVs on YouTube, I was finally able to translate what I had learned by racing on Forza. If you've ever watched Forza online, you already know what it's about.

Here's what you learn: No one really gives a fuck what kind of car you're driving. Last year at Petersen's, someone told me that my Permobil should be in the car museum. They weren't impressed by a dinky-ass power chair. But what was impressive, is that the disabled cat on the power chair happened to be a gear head.

No one cares how much automotive knowledge I have. What Andrew Fillipone and I both have in common, is that we've made an academic study out of turbo Buicks, specifically the Grand National. But who cares?! The guy at Supercar Sunday who owns the Grand National doesn't care how much I know about that car. Truth be told, the turbo Regal crowd are far more impressed by my lust, by the erotic vigor in which I speak when describing a Buick Grand National. But as far as the history and stats are concerned, the G-Body party could care less.

It's not so much the travel as it is the traveler. Because it is the traveler who need be creative. Most people at Sagebrush Cantina in Calabasas, California ride Harleys to the spot on a Sunday.

How do I know this?! Because it's the traveler and not the travel. Motorcycles honk at me, in my power chair, on the way to Sagebrush Cantina on a Sunday morning. I'm not asking these people to do this; that's just what they do.

I'm not asking anyone to buy me shots; I'm responsible for my own alcohol, but because we're all in good company, guys-and-girls my age want to throw shots at me anyway.

Women my age want to dance with me at the Cantina. Because I'm a good-looking guy, because I have a body?! Or is it because the land is as Elliott Hulse describes, and so the traveler continues to take precedence over the travel?

Let's assume that Hulse is telling the truth. Let's continue to argue that it's all about the traveler. What does that even mean?! Is there anything impressive about me going to the speedway at Fontana? Not really, but it is impressive that a guy on a power chair would ride Cherry Avenue to that speedway...on a power chair, and from a Metrolink station.

Is there anything impressive about me riding my chair, via public transportation, to a small bar in Downey from the San Fernando Valley?! Usually no, but isn't that crazy that some disabled fucker on a power chair would travel across Los Angeles to hit a bar, all just to find an actress?!

Isn't it crazy, that I went to church on a Sunday with my grandmother and nephew, just so I could meet a member of the Damaco Motors family? Isn't that just bonkers, that a nice Sicilian kid who was lusting after a young actress, went to Downey, California to find her and ended-up smoking pot, in a parking lot, with an old spaghetti-eater from Back East?!

The traveler does take precedence over the travel. But it took me a few practice runs to get this. It's just crazy how as a traveler, you go in search for something, which you still haven't found. But then you end-up finding other shit along the way.

It's about the traveler and not the travel. And so what I would ask my audience is to do as I have, and get creative with your mode of travel. It's in your best interest to do this at any level of income. Because at the end, the amount of money that you spend will be the same. But when you keep spending the same cash on the same 'ol shit, you inevitably get the same daily results. In that moment, you are a traveler who still needs a lot of help!

Alpha Male Manley Lectures: The Plant-Based Diet

The "hero's journey" is one that proves to be interesting, because you end up finding much more than what you bargained for.

Here's how I think it starts for a lot of people, and here's where it started for me: "I want to lose weight, look younger," whichever. The journey starts that way. You want to lose a little weight, feel a little better, look a little younger.

There is, of course, also that sense of responsibility: Blood pressure can't run high, Vitamin deficiency can be dangerous, a chance of heart disease...there are just so many things that can go wrong if/when you don't eat right.

But here's what some of us realize, and some still don't understand about following a plant-based diet. It's not merely about weight loss, thinning your blood, being able to hit the gym without passing-out...whatever!

What actually starts to happen is that you feel an interconnectedness with your surroundings. There is a oneness that you feel, with your environment, and this is because you're eating plant-based foods. The more you listen to Ralph Smart, for example, the more you learn about the correlation between raw foods and the Third Eye.

One must remember, that because those foods are based on the natural world, they contain massive doses of vitamins/enzymes that your body is not used to. It goes into a nutrient shock, because now you're eating "stuff" that actually comes from the earth; it's not synthetic, like processed foods.

A few things you'll notice: when you switch to a plant-based diet, the body's response is more or less the same as it's response to meditation. For example, you now see, more clearly, the "electricity" that flows from natural landscapes, like grass and clouds.

On a plant-based diet, you'll find it easier to synchronize with the sound of water. Ever notice how the sound of water changes, the longer that you listen to it? That very sense of interconnectedness not only becomes apparent, but becomes strengthened with a plant-based diet.

It's simple enough: eat fruits and vegetables. But of course you can get sophisticated with the wheatgrass, spirulina and the like. Because at that level of nutrition, that's where you start to see auras, entities and so on.

If you look hard enough, you can see faces/entities within the fabric of a green drink, or smoothie that you may blend for breakfast. I believe that this is why I began seeing entities, once going organic, and I believe that binaural beats can facilitate this as well.

Stare hard enough into the trees, even into plants and bushes. Listen long enough to the rushing waters. What one finds is that a natural aura is present in each of these, and it's your third eye, your interconnectedness to the natural world, that allows the over-amping of these senses to happen. Your sense of style and romance seem to heighten as well.

In his June, 2015 article on the "fallacies" of organic dieting in relation to cancer, along with other terminal diseases, David Gorski talks about the fad of organic foods, stating that Hippocrates and his contemporaries, in ancient Greece, deciphered between "food" and "medicine."

According to Gorski's article, food was a substance that could be changed/converted by the body, especially in the muscles and nerves. In ancient Greece, this is what would have differentiated it from medicine, for Hippocrates and others. Within that same school of thought, "medicine" was thought to be that which could change certain parts of the body itself, where food was simply metabolized by them.

The misconception of food and disease, according to Gorski, stems from a cryptic saying, "In food excellent medication, in food bad medication, bad and good relatively." This saying is now attributed to the Hellenistic Period of Greece, between 323 and 31 B. C., but it does reflect the Hippocratic notion of the "humors," and how that imbalance was believed to ultimately lead to terminal illnesses.

Also, German-American researcher Max Gerson, born in October of 1881, had begun to develop a plant-based diet for cancer, during the first part of the last century. Starting in 1927, he began developing a diet based on raw fruits and vegetables, both for cancer and tuberculosis. The problem with the Gerson diet was that it required at least 20 pounds per day of fresh produce, and this was needed both for making juices and preparing meals.

Along with a massive consumption of fruits and vegetables, Gerson's diet also required a regimen of vitamin B12, along with supplements like thyroid hormones and potassium compounds. The Gerson regimen also consisted of coffee enemas, usually at a rate of 5 per day. In 1928, one of his patients, who reportedly had bile duct cancer, asked Gerson for his recipe. Six months later, Gerson claimed that the patient's cancer was cured, along with two other cases that followed.

But when Gerson took his experimentation to New York City's Gotham Hospital, during the 1940s, the American Medical Association became suspicious. They denounced Gerson's findings, especially when Gerson himself had refused to send the AMA his raw data, upon the Association's request.

That's where treating a lot of things, with food, seems to get tricky. It's like saying, "Ever since I started juicing, the fluid pressures in my eyes have gone down." "Ever since I started eating broccoli, my sex drive has been overactive." While I do continue to believe that organic foods are also healing ones, it is true that there are other factors in the way. That's why Gerson's research was denounced by the AMA, because there were too many variables not being properly tested.

Yes, broccoli can make your libido strong, but then there may be other variables in the mix, such as one's overall, emotional state for any given time, environmental factors like sight and sound...different variables for different situations.

But here's what I'm getting to: following a natural diet does make you feel better overall, and by feeling better overall, your body functions better overall. In 2006, I was diagnosed with glaucoma. In 2014, I started making juices with my NutriBullett. While it didn't cure anything, my eyes/body started to feel better, which often seemed to translate to lower, intraocular pressures at the eye doctor's office. But again, other questions must be asked: Did I drink any coffee that morning, or anything else that could have raised my overall blood pressure? Was I stressed on the morning/afternoon of my visit?!

So whether or not you follow the Hippocratic thought behind the raw food diet, it's still true that one must find the answer through experimentation. In order to find out whether or not a binaural beat will help you to meditate, you have to listen to it for yourself; in order to know whether or not organic foods are beneficial, then you have to follow that diet for yourself.

But I go back to the discussion of interconnectedness. You hear the winds and rushing waters like you never have before. You see the plants and trees as you never have before. Many wellness speakers say that this is because the pineal gland of the brain is decalcified, or activated by an organic diet. And again, no textbook, not even Hippocrates will be able to convince you; you have to dive into your fruits and vegetables, and allow them to build a "3rd Eye atmosphere" within your blood stream.

As you start to do this, I challenge you to go out into nature and feel this interconnectedness, the one that I keep describing. When you see little faces, entities in the rocks...when you are able to see entities in the trees, hear audible speech in the babbling waters...that's how you can prove Hippocrates to be true, and his notion, "Let food be thy medicine," must really be a solidified science.

The very statement is never actually found in the philosopher's, Hippocratic Corpus. But it's a hero's journey that must be taken first-hand anyway. When you eat natural, your body, your very chemistry starts to feel more natural, and you start to realize that because your body is made of fibers, it needs fiber to survive.

Just because something is "old" doesn't mean that it's proven. But if it's been said and for long enough, then there has to be a reason why it was said in the first place!

Alpha Male Manley Lectures: Why Religion Has Failed

Here's the problem: many Christians, Muslims and others who are saturated in their beliefs refuse to look into the world of science. Given that, the definition of "religion" is basically one's suspension of belief, but one that has been constructed in order to justify one's own sloppiness.

You see it all the time: That cute little, Southern Baptist church in Houston, Texas or Tupelo, Mississippi. Where everyone "praises the Lord," and yet they continue to drink the juice of Corporatization.

If you've ever watched The Big Bang Theory, then you're already familiar with Mrs. Mary Cooper. As Sheldon's mom, she could not have been any more of an archetype. Assuming that you follow the series, you already know the story: "My husband died at age 50, because I fed him Crisco for 30 years. But that's okay, 'cause 'Jesus took the wheel!'"

In many cases, you find that this is what religion does, by giving everyone who joins a platform, and one against which everything done wrong may be justified. "I kicked the shit out of my girlfriend/wife, but that's okay, because 'Jesus' forgives me!" Or even better, "I've got 72 virgins waiting on the other side!"

This thought pattern extends itself to all aspects of life: Don't eat pork, because the Old Testament says so. "Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit," but don't worry about what you eat or drink, because, as Scripture says, "Life is but a mist, or a vapor."

Christians and Muslims seem to have this in common, that they say "Yes" and "No" in the same breath. "Is it okay to divorce my spouse?!" No, because New Testament theology dictates that married couples only divorce for reasons of infidelity...but we're going to do it anyway!

I can quote John 3:16 to my kids and grandchildren, but I'm going to feed them pork chops and chitlins the whole way to Sunday School. Why? Because the whole time that you had your nose stuck on John 3:16 or the book of Revelation, you never bothered to read a Nutritional Facts label. You never bothered to buy real produce from the grocery store.

Sounds a little twisted, but I'm going to tell you guys why I think that this is. Muslims are looking forward to 72 virgins in "paradise;" what incentive do they have to live to be 85?! Christians and many Jews are looking forward to the second coming of Christ and the New Jerusalem; what incentive does the Church have in drinking green drinks, or doing cardio?!

These people don't really know what they believe, none of us do, and so based on what they've been told, they no longer have a will to live on earth. In essence, what these people do is commit suicide, but at a rate that's slow enough to not be visible on the surface.

I don't fuckin' care what "big treadmill in the sky" you're going to jump on after you drop dead; I want to know what your cardio stats are while you're still on the earth and breathing.

But here's what a lot of religious people do: "The Lord has your very hairs counted." Or better, "What does it profit you to gain the world, and yet lose your soul?!" All of these are true, but then if your version of "gaining the world" is eating grapes instead of potato chips, lemon juice instead of coffee, then you're not that bad-off.

If your version of "gaining the world" is doing an hour of cardio, enjoying a plate of salmon for lunch...going for all of those goals is not the same as going for things that really are self-centered: sleeping with as many girls as I can, getting drunk, crashing a car, etc.

So Scripture says, "Why gain the world?!" Good point: I actually don't want "the World," and I'm certainly not trying to gain it by eating broccoli and hitting the gym. But then you go back to the religious zealot, who more often than not is at the other extreme: "My life is as a vapor, so why should I care about cholesterol?!"

The world of religion also does this for other lived experiences. You'll find, for example, that the zealot who says not to look at women lustfully is the one who is scoping-out the most 14 to 15-year-old legs. The one who says, "Don't listen to secular music" is the first fucker to bump Justin Bieber from their Prius subwoofers.

Bottom line, the bulk of theology's thread has failed since the beginning of time, and that's because for at least the last 2-3,000 years, Western religion has suppressed that which is most natural to human existence. "Don't look at a woman lustfully." As in fantasizing about gag-raping someone sure, but then it is natural for us to be attracted to members of the opposite gender.

Religion, as it stands, should be able to establish that "yin-yang," light vs dark balance that we're all after. But since humans are imbalanced, then what more would you expect from their beliefs?!

Alpha Male Manley Lectures: Why The Mind Is More Important Than The Body

My late friend, Luke Smith was an Orange County native. But that's not where we met. Ironically, it was near the beaches of Los Angeles, during the late 1990s...and one of our first bouts was over a pancake-eating contest.

Skip ahead to 2011, I was obsessed with finding healthier alternatives to traditional meals. One of these was pizza, and if you've ever spent enough time online, then you already know that there is an alternative recipe, and for nearly any dish one can think of.

'Lo and behold, there was one culinary website that contained the recipe for a diabetic-friendly pizza. The way that worked, was that the crust was to be made from Philo dough, pepperoni slices from turkey, and then, of course, goat cheese or mascarpone instead of parmesan.

Now, about Luke...he made killer guacamole at his pad. This cat would take his avocado, make a sour cream base...beat that guac up into a batter that was unbelievable, and I mean, Gordon Ramsay could not have made guacamole like Luke Smith.

But then there's a problem: fatty and processed foods were the bulk of Luke's diet. Frozen burritos, tortilla chips with that wonderful guacamole...Luke ate the foods we all wished we could get away with!

Funny thing: after I offered Luke a challenge, he accepted, and that challenge was to throw-together a pizza that could be diabetic-friendly, but still taste awesome. Would you believe it?! Me and a friend bring over the Philo, the turkey sausage...everything. Between the unleavened dough and the turkey pepperoni, this cat had no idea that he was eating something that tasted like "stoner" food, but one that would actually comply with the inner atmosphere of his body, or anyone else's.

For myself, I have never been diabetic, and yet that pizza recipe from the web has become one of my favorites. That same summer, I translated the Philo pizza recipe to my grandmother, who had also struggled with health concerns. Honestly...none of these people would have known that they were eating something good for them, unless they had actually sat down to read the recipe.

What does this tell me?! That the mind of a man/woman is really far more important than their bodies. The mind, the brain is what controls a lot of things that happen in your life. I'd never, in 32 years, practiced Transcendental meditation. And yet, once Aaron Baker introduced me, in 2014, to binaural beats...that whole process made sense.

Believe me when I tell you, and I wish that I could tell Luke, that your mind can astral project, lucid dream...really, just take your whole body into an alternate universe, but you have to set your mind on that very purpose, and then enjoy the process of getting there. But again, looking for those pizza recipes, online, was the true enjoyment of preparing the meal. Learning something new, but for so long, it seemed like me and Luke were just trying to go straight for the "meal."

If there was anything that could've made my friend's life better, possibly even saved it, then it would've been that very knowledge. It's the knowledge that going slow is necessary to be fast, but you have to go more "slow" than "fast." You have to give a hell of a lot more than receive. I don't care what your spiritual beliefs are; this is common sense!

Alpha Male Manley Lectures: Lemon Ginger Shots...Why I Drink Them

Aaron Baker is my friend and mentor. When I first started at CORE Centers in 2013, he used an analogy, when talking about food-and-nutrition. It's one that's stuck ever since, and basically, you have to learn to visualize food as "fuel," then visualize your body as a race car.

Here's how it works: a 383 Chevy, built to 12.5:1 compression, can not run on 87-octane fuel. In reality, that motor needs an octane rating of at least 104, and if not, then someone's going to lose some motor bearings.

Translate that same language over to your body's physical fitness. As I've blogged about before, SciFit is one of the cardio bikes of choice at our little wellness center in Northridge, California. This year, I've produced a peak wattage of 614 @ 148-49 RPM.

Here's the twist: if I would've tried, on that same day, to put out that kind of performance on two slices of pepperoni pizza, my output would've been something more like 220-300 watts @ 120 RPM, and when I say "120 RPM," I'm being a little bit of what my old man's generation would've called, a "bench racer," because even that kind of power is hard to pull-off on an unclean diet.

Oh...I'm not saying that you couldn't scarf an In-N-Out burger, then hit the gym; in my '20s, I thought that I was a real bad-ass for doing exactly this. Why?! Because I would go to the Center of Achievement at Cal State Northridge. At the Brown Center, I would swim power laps. Keep swimming those laps, then hit the Jack In The Box on Reseda/Prairie for tacos, because apparently they were "meatless." And after all this, I could still work out!

BUT, at CORE is where things got competitive, and once I shifted into that mode, the only tacos I were allowed to eat were chicken, and in a Vegan shell. And because no combustion engine can run on bad fuel, the emphasis shifted to organic juice, as much as it did food.

Juice, like lemon-ginger shots, because unlike solid foods, organic juices can be absorbed by the body almost instantly. Racing fuel burns at a faster rate than does regular, and it has to burn clean as well. With lemon-ginger shots, the whole cardio run becomes more like a dyno-pull. But one that leaves behind a sense of energy that is as clean and natural, as it is consistent!