Every year I typically write just before or following the celebration of my birthday. Isn’t forty-something the new thirty-something? So I hear. But I decided for this year, I would share what I believe to be the most important healthy living tips. Enjoy!
1. Never diet again. Dieting creates an obsessive, negative relationship with food and the body. Dieting doesn’t allow you to treat your body and food with the respect and credit it deserves. Either hire a registered dietitian to help you with getting on the right track or simply trust yourself to educate, research and learn as much as you can about the impact of sound nutrition on the body. Knowledge is power and the more power you feel you have over what you put in your mouth, the greater your ability to stay focused on a healthier you.
2. Journal – Tracking exercise and nutrition is a great way to keep things in check. It’s so important to understand the “ins and outs” of exercise and nutrition. I think it’s a wonderful way to learn more about your body, how it works and what makes sense for YOU and your lifestyle and journaling is a wonderful way to stay on top of the choices you make.
3. Positive In- Negative Out – I believe that one of the most challenging aspects of weight issues include dealing with loss of self esteem. Low self-esteem comes from years and years of negative reinforcement either through internal negative messages or chronic weight loss failures. Starting today, find 3 positive quotes that you will read every morning before starting your day. I love quotes that set your mind off on the right foot. In fact, read a quote at night before going to bed. Listen, the majority of clients that I have worked with over the years struggle with self-esteem, regardless of how successful they are in other areas of their life. It’s the 800-pound gorilla in the room and it just doesn’t seem to go away and much of that is created by negative self-talk. “You’re fat, you can’t lose weight, you don’t fit in, you’re not thin enough,” and on and on the negative messages go. The best way to get on track with healthy living is to start feeding yourself positive thoughts so you can eliminate the negative self-talk. For example, We have the power to shrink our dreams to fit reality or the power to stretch our reality to fit our dreams (anonymous). The more you start feeling more hopeful, positive, optimistic and mentally stronger, the greater the likelihood that you will take steps to take better care of yourself by moving daily and consuming good-for-you foods. Here is a great site for some great doses of motivation!
4. Focus on the things that bring you joy! More often than not, a dieting lifestyle is all consuming. It’s the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning (I ate too much last night or I didn’t exercise….again) to the last thing you think about when going to sleep (I ate lousy today, I didn’t exercise, again). Every moment is consumed with, “Should I eat that? I know I shouldn’t but it’s not that big of a piece. No, I shouldn’t, I can’t, I’m trying to eat better. Oh well, what’s one piece?” Internal conversations like that go on all day long. Consider “K.O.-ing” those thoughts by spending your time doing something that brings you joy. Happy people are typically healthy people or healthier people. If there is something you’ve really wanted to do but have continued to put it off for reasons having to do with weight (after I lose X number of pounds, THEN I will……….) Life is too short and the older you get the faster it goes, strange phenomenon. 🙂 But the truth is, doing something that brings you joy will ultimately play a role in how you choose to live your life aloowing you to place emphasis on the things that really matter.
5. Hang around people that support your efforts. There isn’t a week that goes by that I don’t hear from someone how “so-and-so” is thwarting their best efforts to get healthy. Whether it’s the husband that insists on buying your favorite ice cream (or vice versa 🙂 ) or the friend that encourages you to split dessert because it’s not THAT big of a deal or the mother that guilt’s you in to eating the 3 million calorie desert she made, JUST FOR YOU! Saboteurs abound and well, you need to avoid those saboteurs and find people that support your efforts. I know many people that once they start getting heatlhy, their friends who opt out of making healthy choices start getting angry, perhaps jealous. This is not a positive impact nor is it working in your favor helping you to move towards better health, which is the most important thing in the world. People don’t sabotage because they’re mean, it’s because it’s an unresolved issue within themselves, actually it has nothing to do with you. When you choose once and for all to take the steps to live a healthy lifestyle, do your best to be around those with similar ideals and it will go a long way in helping you stay the course.
6. Be Your Own Best Friend – I don’t know if you ever saw the movie, SpaceBalls. One of my favorite bits was with John Candy. In the movie he played a character by the name of “Barf” that was half man/half dog and he would say, “I’m my own best friend!” I was the youngest of 3 girls and my parents divorced when I was young. We moved around a lot so I was often left to entertaining myself. Sometimes that can be a good thing, while for others it might turn out to be dangerous. I would spend hours writing music, playing my guitar and being creative. I never minded being alone because I realized that at the end of the day, when all the cards were down, it’s was just me. And well, if I couldn’t get along with myself, the road ahead was not going to be easy. This is key when making choices to be healthy. I often tell my clients when they feel like they’re not doing well or struggling, I ask them…”What would you tell a friend?” And more often than not, it’s something encouraging and positive. We don’t always cut ourselves slack or treat ourselves with the same respect that were so willing to hand out to others. We tend to be more critical of ourselves (less critical of others) which often results in low self-esteem (see #3). In order to be good to yourself and make great choices, you have to like who you are and well, you have to like hanging around you. There is no better friend than you yet there can be no greater enemy than you. So as Be your own best friend and you will find that making healthy choices becomes a more natural option.
When it Comes to Exercise – Find something you love or just understand you have to do SOMETHING, so figure out what you can tolerate. 🙂 In over 25 years of working with the greatest clients ever, only about 25% really love exercise (others learned to love it) but for most, exercise does not come naturally nor is it something that people long for. But here’s the deal, exercise WAS a natural part of life a couple of generations ago. When people mowed their own lawns and cleaned their own homes and walked more than drove and on and on it goes. Our natural activity level has dropped dramatically over the years and our food consumption has increased (since 1978, women’s average caloric intake has increased by more than 300 calories) and you top that off with less exercise and well, you get the gist. So, we HAVE TO exercise there is no option. Therefore, you need to find something to do that you can tolerate. Do you know that simply walking 37 minutes every single day would have a profound effect on your health and weight? 37 minutes a day! That’s half an Ellen show, the news, Wheel of Fortune! You CAN find the time, I know you can and you have to do something, everyday. So you don’t need to start off with 37 minutes today, but how about 10 minutes and perhaps in a couple of weeks add on another 5 minutes. If walking doesn’t do it for you, why not sign up for a class? Dancing with the Stars in HUGE, why not try a dancing class? A martial arts class? Something that keeps your body, strong, fit, agile.
After 47 years I realize that youth isn’t forever. I find that if I’m sore from a workout, I don’t bounce back as quickly as I once did. I find that reading the washing directions on my new Yoga gear requires glasses (I swear the print keeps getting smaller!), I tell myself that the wrinkles around my eyes are just proof in the pudding that I can now say, “When I was you age…….” I realize that indeed wisdom is the best gift for every birthday. But above and beyond anything else, I know that the fact that I do my best to move every day, whether it’s a quick bout of sit ups while watching the news or heading outside for one last run while the weather holds, I am grateful for the ability to exercise. I know that exercise, eating right (most of the time) are truly the “secrets” of a healthy body and mind. Look, there is not a perfect anything, body, mind, life whatever, no perfection. However, that shouldn’t preclude anyone from doing all he or she can to embrace this life with strength, clarity, positivity and passion. Staying active and feeding your mind and body with good things are the secrets to living an amazing life. So, I guess I’ll keep doing what I’m doing cause so far, it’s served me pretty well! For any of you other fellow Libra’s out there, Happy Birthday!
