Susan Smith Jones Transcript

January 19, 2008

Announcer: You have been listening to “Sound Authors: Where Authors Sound Off.” If you would like more information about “Sound Authors” and Dr. Kent’s guests, visit SoundAuthors.com. Now, back to Dr. Kent and friends.

Dr. Kent Gustavson: Welcome back to “Sound Authors” on this beautiful, sunny Friday. My next guest is an internationally renowned health expert, she has, she won the Healthy American Fitness Leaders, awarded by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports. And, the previous winners of that include: Lance Armstrong, Ronald Reagan, and others, including Richard Simmons. It is my pleasure to speak with Susan Smith Jones about her new book and her new website online. Welcome.

Susan Smith Jones: Kent, how are you doing today?

Kent: Very good. I am a little bit sick, but, otherwise, I feel great.

Susan: Oh no. I will send you some healing energy.

Kent: There you go. Now, you have a whole bunch of experience working with college kids and professors, at a university, right?

Susan: Well, I did teach everyone, at UCLA, how to be healthy and fit for 30 years. Lecture all around the world, have written 17 books, and I am totally committed to educating as many people as possible on how to be vibrantly healthy. I have never taken medication in my life and I look to nature, on the things we will talk about today, on how to heal your body. I can take anyone listening and if they give me 90 days, just one season, or three months, I can make anyone look ten years younger, disease-proof their body, give them energy to spare.

Kent: Wow, that is quite a claim. And, you have worked with many, many clients, I know.

Susan: Thousands of clients over the years.

Kent: Your new website is called PagingSusan.com.

Susan: Well, of course, I have got my name SusanSmithJones.com. But, I have just launched PagingSusan.com. Anyone that goes there will get a free gift, a wonderful special gift, in addition to, they will be able to sign up a live, upcoming, free seminar I am giving on living a holistic lifestyle.

Kent: So, what is the first step? I know, you know, this time of year, people over-satiate themselves with wonderful, wonderful goodies and things like that, and don’t exercise and sit inside and look out at the snow and what happens when January comes around and everyone wants to repent.

Susan: And, remember, you are talking to someone who is in sunny Southern California right now.

Kent: Oh my.

Susan: I think, first of all, people think that you have to make major changes in your life, Kent, but that is not the truth. It is the simple lifestyle choices, from what you eat, how you deal with stress, how often you exercise, how much sleep that you get and water you drink, and even what you think. These have an enormous impact on longevity and quality of life.And, if you think about it, there are really three things over which we all have control. What we eat, how we move, and what we think. And, we have the ability to change all three of those. And, the body reflects the mind and the mind reflects the spirit. So, a good place to start is the physical body.I just got back from a major media tour and everywhere I go, Kent, people are saying that they are feeling physically, mentally, and spiritually off kilter. Or, they have lost joy of living, or they are overwhelmed by life. But, the way I see it is it is really about getting back to the basics.

Kent: Wow, and what are the basics?

Susan: Well, I would say, number one is, and I know this sounds like a simplistic answer, but it is so true, exercise is a great place to start. Everyone should be developing, if they don’t have it, a well-rounded fitness program that includes three things: strength training, aerobics, and stretching. And, you need to make that a top priority in your life and keep your commitment to it.Being fit is, without a doubt, the key to enjoying life. It unlocks mental power and physical stamina, and it even gives you a positive outlook that makes each day more of a pleasure. So, keep these three key points in mind, move, lengthen, and strengthen. You need to make sure you work out on a regular basis.

Kent: What is your advice for a fellow, yeah me, who, we had a…

Susan: Are we speaking personally here?

Kent: Yeah, we had a very strenuous move, we actually moved to a new place this week. And, we over did it, it was a 20 hour day, and now we are both sick. What is a good way to get back into gear? And, for other people, people who have been, let us say they just slid for a year, backsliding. What is the first step?

Susan: Well, first of all, you make a commitment. You have got to keep your word, and if we have more time at the end, I am going to talk about that. But, in addition to working out, for you and everyone listening, there is nothing more restorative for the body than getting a good night’s sleep, night after night after night. Think about this, last year, doctors wrote a record number of prescriptions for sleeping pills, over 43 million.

Kent: Wow.

Susan: And, over the past four decades, Americans have cut their snooze time by one to two hours per night. But, people don’t realize how important sleep is. Getting only six hours, Kent, a night, that is just two hours less than eight hours, here is what it does to your body, it makes you irritable, it makes people stupid. Because their words don’t come easily and they become forgetful. It increases blood pressure, it makes you hungry for unhealthy foods…[Kent laughs]

Susan: It makes you gain weight, makes you depressed, makes you stressed out. And, if that were not enough, people that get only six hours of sleep a night is equivalent to driving on four alcoholic drinks.

Kent: Oh my.

Susan: And weight seems to be a big thing. Everywhere I go, people want to know how to loose weight. And, when I talk to people about that, the first things I say is, “Make sure you get enough sleep.” Because, you could eat good foods, you could work out, but you could sabotage your health and weight program if you don’t get enough sleep. In a nutshell here’s why: research shows that when you skimp on sleep, it interferes with your body’s ability to process carbohydrates and that leads to elevated blood sugar levels and an increased tendency to store calories as fat. It happens because when you sleep-deprived, Kent, your body produces more of a stress hormone, which you probably have a lot of these days when you move, called cortisol that seems to set the chain reaction in motion.So loss of sleep, in other words, can be just as bad for your health and weight as no exercise or a poor diet. You know how when you have lots of stress but you get a good night sleep and things always look a little bit more positive the next morning that it’s just paramount to being vibrantly healthy is getting good sleep night after night after night.

Kent: You talk on your website and with your whole series not just about fitness, not just about health, but about being peaceful and being joyful. Is that related to fitness?

Susan: Oh, without a doubt. It’s hard to feel peaceful and joyful if you’re always stressed out. So you want to really work on dealing with stress that that should be close to the top of the list. You want to get enough sleep, you want to drink enough water because if you don’t you’re going to stress out your body. The healthier your diet, the more peaceful you’re going to be; get your weight and check if that will make you more peaceful.I also recommend that you stay disciplined. You make your word count. Follow through on always what you said you’re going to do because that’s a great self-esteem boaster. Kent, the thing that people wrestle with the most universally in this world is that most people deal with low self-esteem. The better you feel about yourself, the more good positive things you’re going to attract.There’s this unwritten law in the universe that says that you attract them to yourself the equivalency of what you think, feel, believe. If you don’t feel about yourself, you’ll attract more situations, more difficult times, more challenges that duplicate how you feel. Then paramount to that and also germane to that is the first 40 minutes of each day sets the tone for the day.So make sure in the morning that you’re not rushed and stressed out. Give yourself a little extra time, maybe set the table the night before, get your clothes laid out, get a good workout in the morning because those first 40 minutes will determine basically how the rest to your day is.

Kent: Wow! Now, how did you get started on this, [inaudible]?

Susan: Well, you can say I started by accident. Over 25 years ago, I was in a major automobile accident. My car was totaled, my back was severely fractured, and if we had more time I’d give you the story. It’s amazing, but in a nutshell, my team of doctors at UCLA said that I’d never be able to carry anything heavier than a small purse. But I choose not to accept the verdict. Within six months they claimed it was a miracle, I was healed. But I attribute my healing to eating a healthy diet, the power of spirit, faith, determination, and a deep commitment to living my highest potential.I write about this in my brand new two book Hay House series. One book is called “Health Bliss” the other book is called “The Healing Power of Nature Foods” and are both available through the Hay House’s tollfree number.

Kent: What is that?

Susan: That’s 1-800-654-5126. You can also order my two latest books on my website PagingSusan.com and you’ll also get a special gift there as well.

Kent: Wonderful. I also have a quick story to share. I was also in a terrible car accident and my father–that was about five or six years ago now–he has the same kind of courage and I really believe that human beings have an amazing potential. The doctor said he wouldn’t move his arm about three inches down, his elbow was rebuilt and all of that. He’s almost straight out now and they said he would never walk and he’s walking.

Susan: What an inspiration. So you two were together in the car?

Kent: We were indeed. I was pretty much unhurt, but he’s a real inspiration to all of us and it’s amazing to see what real strength–you know, honestly family helps, friends help, like that.

Susan: Oh, my goodness, yes. You know, [inaudible] said 99% of who you are is invisible, untouchable, and unsmellable. Yet, I believe that the remaining 1%, the body is absolutely exquisite. But you’re right, we have amazing energy and power within us. It’s just most of us live such stressed out lives that we don’t take time to go with them and tap in to that fountain of power and strength and healing and divinity that’s within each of us. We can create whatever we want and everyday can be a brand new fresh start. Anyone listening can choose to start fresh today.

Kent: It sure has been a pleasure speaking with Dr. Susan Smith Jones. Visit her online at SusanSmithJones.comor on her brandnew website, PagingSusan.com for a free gift and also check out her new books on HayHouse.com.Thank you so much for being on the show.