IFIP News

This wonderful article initially appeared in the January 2008 issue of the Trilogy health and Wellness newsletter. I hope that you find it as informative as I did.
According to the United States Surgeon General, some forty percent of grown adults do not participate in any leisure time physical activity.  You could be among the lucky minority with a slim figure even though you live a sedentary lifestyle.  However if you are like most of us, physical activity is an important part of achieving a slim and healthy body.   Exercise can help to increase your body’s metabolic rate and increase your fitness level.  If the word “exercise” seems daunting, start out on a relatively small scale and then begin moving.  Dust off the bike and take a ride through your neighborhoods.   You might even work up to thirty or more minutes per day of physical activity.  Did you know that physically active individuals usually live longer those who are inactive?  Certainly, you might have read this before, but did you actually do something about it?

Less Stress

Nowadays, stress is a way of life.  It is an accepted state of being.  It doesn’t matter where it comes from … the kids, your spouse or your job.  Stress is an equal opportunity weight-loss enemy.  Constant or chronic stress can cause your body to release adrenaline and cortisol hormones.  These hormones tell the body it’s time to refuel, a kind of “biological permission” to consume foods laden with carbohydrates and fats.  Make an effort to break the cycle of stress in your life.  Appreciate the fact that you cannot to do everything.  Set realistic goals at home and at work.  Enlist family members to help.  During particularly stressful moments, you can try stretching or yawning.  Sign up for a yoga class in your community.  Make an effort to set aside some time every day to appreciate what you have and to re-set your mental attitude.

Feed the Body

In order to get all the nutrients necessary for a healthy mind and fit body, eat a variety of the following foods daily.  Choose lean meats and poultry.  Fish (and fish oil, of course), beans, peas, seeds and nuts are good.  Eat a moderate amount of fruit … fresh, frozen and canned are better than juices.  Choose a variety of vegetables.  Calcium-rich foods are important, but opt for no-fat or low-fat milk, yogurt and cheeses.  Whole grains are best so when it comes to cereals, breads, pastas and the like, make sure the word “whole” is listed in the ingredients.  A good way to get enouph of the vital omega-3 fatty acids that you need is to take a pharmaceutical grade fish oil  supplement. Did you know that it takes 100 gallons of health food grade fish oil to produce a single gallon of pharmaceutical grade fish oil?  Naturally, limit your intake of fats, sugars and salt.  If you don’t have enough time to prepare three healthy meals a day, you can substitute one or two with a meal-replacement drink. 

Visitors from the United States in general and California in particular are becoming increasingly reluctant to visit Mexico’s Baja California peninsula, especially without a secure hotel room. The Reuters online news network has reported that weddings have been canceled. Lobster houses are nearly empty on the normally well traveled New Year’s weekend.
While the Mexican Government has reportedly been handing out maps of trails for immigrants to enter the U.S. illegally, it is somewhat ironic that many Americans are deliberately avoiding mexico.
Americans have long tolerated shakedowns by law enforcement authorities south of the border who all too routinely supplement their income by pulling over drivers for supposed traffic violations, and visitors have long realized that some sections of Baja California are a hotbed of narcotic-driven violence. Yet a number of assaults in the last few months by masked and armed bandits,
a few of which have been using flashing lights in order to look like the police, seems to symbolize a whole new low which has scared even veteran visitors.

Lori Hoffman, for example, who happens to be a San Diego nurse, stated that she was sexually assaulted on October 23 by 2 masked men right in front of her boyfriend, San Diego Surfing Academy owner Pat Weber, who was forced to kneel at gunpoint for some forty five long minutes while they raped her. They were at a campground with at least thirty tents, about two hundred miles or so south of the California border.

The masked Mexican men shot out windows of their trailer and forced their way inside, ransacked the cupboards and left with about $7,000 worth of merchandise such as computers, video equipment and even a guitar.

Weber, who has taught dozens of students in Mexico over the last ten years, will not be returning. “No more Mexico,” stated Lori Hoffman, who reported the attack to the Mexican authorities. perhaps not surprisingly, there have been no arrests.

The Baja California peninsula is popular with surfers, fishermen and other visitors. Food and hotels are cheap in some areas.

News of these horrible assaults on U.S. tourists has begun to overwhelm this appeal, especially in the northern region of Baja California, which is a haven for lawless narcotic gangs. The relatively isolated southern tip of Baja, meanwhile, with several popular resourts, remains safer, relatively speaking and is still quite popular with many celebrities, anglers and visitors fromother countries as well.

Local media and also various surfing sites which promoted Baja California previously have reported a number of horrific crimes which U.S. and Mexican officials alike consider to be credible. Some Longtime visitors are especially wary of a toll road near the border which runs through Playas de Rosarito, also known as Rosarito Beach.

At the end of November, for example, as they returned from the Baja 1000 off-road race, a San Diegofamily was pulled over on the toll road by a vcehicle with flashing lights. A number of heavily armed men then held the whole family hostage for about 2 hours. They finally released them but stole their vehicle, leaving them stranded and in shock.

Before dawn on Aug. 31, three surfers were carjacked on the same stretch of highway. Gunmen pulled them over in a car with flashing lights, forced them out of their vehicles and ordered one to kneel. They took the trucks and left the surfers.

Aqua Adventures of San Diego scrapped its annual three-day kayak trip to scout for whales in January, ending a run of about 10 years. Customers had already been complaining about longer waits to return to the U.S.; crime gave them another reason to stay away.

Charles Smith, spokesman for the American consulate in Tijuana,  acknowledged many crimes go unreported. The State Dept has long warned visitors on Mexico’s border to watch for people following them, though no new warnings have been issued.

Mexican officials acknowledge crime has threatened a lifeblood of Baja’s economy. In Playas de Rosarito, a city of 130,000, police were forced to surrender their weapons last month for testing to determine links to any crimes. Heavily armed men have patrolled City Hall since a failed assassination attempt on the new police chief left one officer dead. On Thursday the bullet-riddled bodies of a Tijuana police official and another man were found dumped near the beach.

“We cannot minimize what’s happening to public safety,” said Oscar Escobedo Carignan, Baja’s new secretary of tourism. “We’re going to impose order … We’re indignant about what’s happening.”

Tourist visits to Baja totaled about 18 million in 2007, down from 21 million the previous year, Escobedo said. Hotel occupancy dropped about 5 percentage points to 53 percent.

Hugo Torres, owner of the storied Rosarito Beach Hotel and the city’s new mayor, estimates the number of visitors to Rosarito Beach since summer is down some thirty percent.