Attaining and Maintaining Good Health is a 3-Legged Stool

Attaining and maintaining good health is a 3-legged stool. The 3 legs are Balanced Diet, Regular Exercise and a Success Mindset. 

Before you say, "Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all", hear me out.

Good Health isn't about a diet you go on for six months (and then go off), it isn't depriving yourself of everything you like, it isn't torturing yourself with an exercise program that you hate because someone laid it out for you, and it isn't getting yourself geared up mentally to give up everything you love and follow some strange eating program for six weeks.

I regularly have people ask me how I lost 65 pounds. They are looking for the quick fix, the pill, the drink; something that they can go purchase that will magically make them lose weight. When I say "I ate less and moved more", they express disappointment and tell me that's not what they were hoping for. That seems like 'work' and no one wants to work for something that is so worthwhile (note sarcasm)!

Leg 1 - Balanced Diet means eating what your body needs and enjoying treats in moderation. It means finding healthier ways to prepare your favorite foods. In 2011 the USDA released a revised food pyramid. It is now a plate, divided into sections of food types and portions making up a balanced diet. 

EATING TIPS:

Make half your plate fruits and vegetables. Fill up on these foods first, so when you get full you will have eaten the lowest calorie, highest nutrition foods first.

Make at least half your grains whole grains. Flour is not whole grain. If it is a whole grain food you can see the grain.

Don’t drink your calories! Drink water instead of sugary drinks. Switch to fat-free or low-fat (1%) milk for calcium and protein.

Avoid oversized portions. ENJOY YOUR FOOD BUT EAT LESS!! 

Leg 2 - Regular Exercise means MOVE more. You don't need to belong to a gym. I lost 65 pounds by walking. Walk inside on a treadmill or outside; doesn't matter where, just walk. Swim if you have a pool. If you are not a strong swimmer, walk in the pool. If you have joint or back issues, this is a great option. You will be surprised how much of a workout you can get by walking or running in the pool.

You can play tag with the kids, or get your friends together for a game of touch football. Get on your bike and ride, by yourself or with a friend or your family. If it's too hot or cold to ride to ride outdoors, purchase a "trainer" from a bike shop or sporting goods store which will allow you to ride your bike inside. Or use an exercise bike or elliptical machine. Put in a DVD of an exercise routine or dance exercise and let the kids ‘exercise’ along with you.

The choice of exercise is yours. What matters is that you DO SOMETHING to get you moving more! 

Leg 3 - Success Mindset: This is likely the most difficult, but without a doubt most important, factor in your quest to attain good health. Whatever you want to accomplish, it all starts in your mind.

So what is a success mindset? A mind-set is your predominant state of mind day to day. It is the things you think about; it is what you focus on, and what you expect from your daily experiences. For example, if you think negatively, expect the worst to happen, or feel pessimistic about your options, that is exactly what you will draw into your life. On the other hand, if you think positively, expect the best and focus on a successful outcome, you will draw that into your life.

You are creating YOUR reality all the time, whether you are conscious of it or not. The thoughts that you emit, the emotions that you feel, the attitudes you hold, and the beliefs you have are directly responsible for what you will bring into your life.

Too often we let our emotions and thoughts dictate our actions, rather than our actions dictating our emotions and thoughts.

The success mindset is simply the knowledge that YOU are creating your own reality all the time. It’s becoming aware of yourself so much that you are ALWAYS emitting the kind of thoughts, feelings, and beliefs that WILL attract success into your life.

It is our mind-set that ultimately determines whether we fail or succeed.

MINDSET TIPS:

Decide what you want

Formulate a plan

Think optimistically

Ask for help

Learn all you can

Acknowledge your successes each day

Believe that you have what it takes

Begin each day reviewing your plan for success

Do your very best

Expect the best

Recognize that each day is a fresh start; be willing to get back up and try again.

We can all use new ideas to motivate and inspire us. What do YOU do that helps you eat less, exercise more or keep a success mindset? 

Frequently after I post, I receive personal messages from many of you through email and Facebook. While I really appreciate your comments, I'm the only one who benefits from those thoughts and opinions. I know everyone who reads this would appreciate hearing your opinions, struggles and ideas as well. Please do share your thoughts, ideas and opinions with a comment below!

6 Ways To Work Exercise Into Your Busy Life

In my last post I presented 15 reasons why you should add regular exercise into your life. Are you motivated? Don't know where to start? Too busy you say? We all are, I say!! 

We all manage to accomplish whatever we give highest priority to each day. Is there a TV show you watch every Tuesday at 7 or every Thursday at 8? You manage to organize your schedule so that you can watch it, don't you? So the question is, is exercise something you REALLY want to do? If it is, then you will find time to fit it in your schedule.

If you really want it to be, but aren't quite there yet, I have some tips for you. The idea is to slip exercise in where it doesn't disrupt your schedule. Soon you will feel the benefits of exercise and want to purposefully add more to your life.

 1) Set up a treadmill, elliptical or exercise bike in front of your TV. (If you have a street bike or mountain bike you can purchase a trainer from your local bike shop for the rear wheel so you can ride inside). Allow yourself the guilty pleasure of watching as much TV as you want as long as you are exercising on a machine. Don't allow yourself to sit in a chair and do nothing, even if it's your favorite show. You're doing double duty with this time and you need not feel guilty for taking time to watch TV. The benefit, you will hardly notice that you are exercising because your mind is distracted.

2) If you are home with the kids during the day or like to watch TV as a family in the evening, make it a 'commercial game'. No one is allowed to sit still during commercials; you must be exercising as long as commercials are playing. If doing it with the family, rotate which person chooses the exercise that you do. Exercise must begin immediately when the commercial starts. Most commercial breaks are 2-3 minutes maximum. With an hour show you will get about 20 minutes of exercise. Examples of exercises to do are: marching in place, jumping jacks, leg lifts, crunches, shoulder presses (use a can of food to add a little weight), bicep curls (use can of food), push-ups, squats, lunges.

Your kids will love the game of commercial exercising. When presented as something we WANT to do and we can't do it until it's a commercial. When the commercial ends we 'have to' stop. They will look forward to the next commercial break to be active with you.

3) Choose your Game Ideally exercise is something you enjoy doing. So get the family or friends out to play softball, football, soccer, kickball, go on a bike ride or hike. Ask around your friends to find out what they like to do. Start or join a volleyball group with your girlfriends.

4) Walk the dog - BRISKLY. Study after study has shown walking to be one of the best overall forms of exercise. The key is to walk briskly, not stopping every few seconds for the dog to sniff around. So, once your dog has taken care of business, get moving. 20-30 minutes of brisk walking will benefit you both. If you don't have a dog, well then, you don't have to wait...get going. 

5) Break it up into two-15 min sessions or three-10 minute sessions. It's better to get a couple short exercise sessions in than none at all. Wake up 20 minutes earlier and go for a 15 minute walk. After dinner go for another 15 minute walk. Almost everyone I talk to agrees that they can find 15 minutes to walk. Or wake up 15 minutes early to walk for 10 minutes, walk another 10 minutes during your lunch hour (even if you only have a 30 min lunch) and 10 minutes after dinner. 

6) Get a pedometer. The goal is 10,000 steps every day. When you look at how many steps you are currently taking you may find yourself looking for ways to sneak some extra steps in. Take the long way around the store, park at the other end of the mall, volunteer to get the mail at work, take a kids outside (or to the park or the mall) for a walk, run circles around the inside of your house till the pedometer turns 10,000. It feels good to accomplish a goal. 10,000 steps every day will have you moving towards better health immediately.

And remember, just 20 minutes of exercise can erase the negative effects of stress.

How do you squeeze exercise into your busy life? What tip can you share with others who may be struggling?

Why Do They Keep Saying I Need To Exercise?

Seems like every time we turn around we're being told we need to exercise more. Do you ever think, "Why? What's in it for me?"

Here is a list of 15 reasons to exercise regularly. It is definitely not all inclusive. Is there anything on the list that surprises you-maybe #5, #12 or #15?

1) Exercise reverses detrimental effects of stress.

**Just 20 minutes of exercise can erase the negative effects of stress. Physical activity helps to release stress and helps you handle stress better.  Stress will manifest itself one way or the other. Either you use it as energy to exercise or the stress finds a place to settle internally and will eventually cause dis-ease.

2) Exercise helps burn more calories by keeping your metabolism up.

**When we exercise, our bodies require more energy and our metabolism speeds up to supply that energy. Cardio exercise speeds up your metabolism for several hours after your workout. Exercise also teaches the body how to produce more energy, making it more efficient at burning fat.

3) Exercise helps you fall asleep and get better quality sleep.

**A daily dose of exercise can deepen your sleep and shorten the time it takes to drift off. If you find that exercising late in the day makes you unable to sleep it's because exercise causes an increase in your body's energy. Try exercising earlier in the day.

4) Exercise helps you think better and faster and improves learning ability.

**The same blood that is pumping sluggishly through your body is moving through your brain as well. Cardio activities provide the biggest brain boost. Complicated activities also improve our capacity to learn by enhancing our attention and concentration skills, according to german researchers who found that high school students scored better on high-attention tasks after doing 10 minutes of a complicated fitness routine compared to 10 minutes of regular activity. Those who hadn't exercised at all scored the worst.

5) Exercise slows the aging process and helps you live longer and better.

**According to a study from the University of California at San Fransisco, stressed-out women who exercised vigorously for an average of 45 minutes over a three-day period had cells that showed fewer signs of aging compared to women who were stressed and not active. Studies have shown that regular exercise can actually add years to your life, whether you start exercising at 15 or 50.

6) Exercise makes you feel better/lifts depression.

**Studies show burning off 350 calories three times a week through sustained, sweat-inducing activity can reduce symptoms of depression about as effectively as anti-depressants.Studies show that exercise increases feelings of energy and lessens feelings of fatigue. Being fit includes keeping your muscles, bones, and joints as active and healthy as possible.

7) Exercise can prevent or decrease the effects of heart disease and stroke.

** Daily physical activity can help prevent heart disease and stroke by strengthening your heart muscle, lowering your blood pressure, raising your high-density lipoprotein levels (good cholesterol) and lowering low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol), improving blood flow, and increasing your heart's working capacity.

8) Exercise can prevent or cure noninsulin-dependent diabetes.

**By reducing body fat, physical activity can help to prevent and control this type of diabetes.

9) Exercise can prevent or cure obesity.

**Physical activity helps to reduce body fat by building or preserving muscles mass and improving the body's ability to use calories. Exercise alone is not enough to control weight, however when combined with proper nutrition, it can help control weight and prevent obesity. When you exercise regularly, your body burns more calories even when you're resting. Being active may also lower your percentage of body fat and increase muscle strength and tone.

10) Exercise can prevent or greatly reduce back pain.

**By increasing muscle strength and endurance and improving flexibility and posture and helping improve balance and coordination, regular exercise helps to prevent back pain or hasten it's departure.

11) Exercise can prevent or help osteoporosis.

** Regular weight-bearing exercise promotes bone formation and may prevent many forms of bone loss associated with aging.

12) Exercise reduces the risk for memory loss.

**Research has found an association between increased exercise and lower rate of functional decline in older adults. Aerobic exercise improves reaction time, perception and math skills. Exercise for 60 minutes a week  improves the physical and emotional well-being of patients who already have Alzheimer's disease.

13) Exercise reduces the risk of certain cancers.

**A direct association exists between higher levels of physical activity and lower cancer death rates; there's also a strong relationship between increased physical activity and reduced colon cancer and lower rates of prostate cancer. Physical activity after a cancer diagnosis can aid recovery and improve outcomes.

14) Exercise lowers your risk of catching a cold.

**Women ages 50 to 75 who did 45 minutes of cardio, 5 days a week, had a third as many colds as those who did once-weekly stretching sessions, a University of Washington study found.

15) Exercise improves your vision.

**An active lifestyle can cut your risk of age-related macular degeneration by up to 70%, according to a British Journal of Ophthalmology study of 4,000 adults. This incurable disease makes reading, driving and seeing fine details difficult, and its the most common cause of blindness after age 60.

And here's a bonus...

16) Exercise improves your vocabulary.

**Exercisers who ran just two 3-minute sprints, with a 2-minute break in between, learned new words 20% faster than those who rested. (University of Muenster in Germany study)

I suspect you already knew many of the benefits listed here. Were any of them surprising to you? Which benefits are most motivating to you? Is #5 enough to make you exercise more frequently?