Setting Your Mind Towards a Healthy Lifestyle

07/04/2022 Leave a comment

Good health begins in our mind.

Cognitive Behavior Therapy asserts that our actions and behaviors are a product of our thoughts and feelings. Therefore, if we want to change our actions and behavior, we must change our thoughts and feelings. 

Does that make sense?  

Indeed, it does, especially in the health and fitness field — for the road to health, fitness, and well-being begins in the mind.

It starts as a feeling.

We often feel dissatisfied by our body shape – especially when we reach a certain age when what used to be lean and mean becomes rounded and saggy. 

We often feel dissatisfied with our energy level or the decreasing amount of work we can do before we feel tired. We begin to ask ourselves what happened and why.

Sometimes, we don’t notice the subtle yet dangerous changes in our body and our physiological responses to stimuli until we end up in the emergency room or the doctor’s office. Then, when the blood chemistry or scan reveals what is wrong, we get scared and anxious.

People try to ignore these feelings of discontent, frustration, fear, and anxiety about the state of their health. Some deny that they have these feelings.  

But, these feelings are essential.  

They can bog us down with self-pity and paralyze us in hopelessness, or they can be the stimuli for positive action. These can be feelings we don’t want to feel ever again. So, we do all that is in our power to get back into shape and live a healthier lifestyle to prolong the days of our enjoyment of life and all it offers.

If you are concerned about your health and lifespan, are thinking about chronic illnesses, and are at risk for such, you are not alone.

Maybe you have been diagnosed with a lifestyle-related medical condition or know someone who has, causing you to re-examine your health status.

At some point, all of us begin to consider such issues seriously, and good for you! It can motivate you to take action. Once you’re on the edge of action, go further and set your mind and behaviors to a healthy lifestyle.

Step 1: Let your fingers do the walking! 

Get on your smartphone or tablet PC and start browsing the internet for information. Be careful, though; many sites out there can scare you with disinformation and leave your pockets bleeding.  

Go to trusted sites and get relevant and accurate information about healthy diet and fitness. Read all you can to find out what that looks like, and then take action. 

Step 2: Make a choice! 

Armed with your education from step one, you can now examine all unhealthy aspects of your life and make a list of goals with specific action steps to reach them. 

Step 3: Get moving! 

Join a gym, follow a healthy eating plan, hire a personal trainer, or attend an aerobics class at a nearby community center. Ask your doctor for advice. 

Make small changes that will result in significant changes in time.  

Want to lose 100 pounds? Begin with losing 100 ounces. Begin by shaving off 100 calories from your diet by skipping your usual glass of soda, candy bar, or bag of chips.  

If you drink 3 cups of coffee daily, try cutting it to two. If you take sugar and cream with your coffee, cut the cream and sugar in half or strive for black.  

Skip the cake, choose an apple or an orange for dessert three times a week, and build up from there.

The power of visualization.

If and when you are trying to lose weight, it helps if you visualize your goals. By visualizing yourself reaching a goal, you’re actually training your brain to interpret that imagery as reality—and creates new neural pathways to support that reality.

  • Create an image of what healthy looks and feels like in your mind. Find short phrases, written words, or find a picture.
  • Visualize yourself succeeding at your goal. You might picture yourself crossing the finish line of your first 5k, or stepping on the scale 20 lbs lighter.
  • Create a vision board of images of your goal body, and put it somewhere so you can see it daily.
  • What is your favorite thing to do in the world?  Is it carrying your kids? Is it playing basketball or football with them? Is it driving your car? Is it going camping or traveling? Imagine how you are going to do those things (if you can still do those things) if you’ve lost the use of half of your body because you’ve had a stroke.  Sobering visions, aren’t they? And they work. They stop your cravings! They distract your mind from unhealthy desires and sway you towards a healthy mindset.

The battle is in the mind.

The mind is a powerful thing. It can make you do certain things that you would otherwise not do. A man diagnosed to be in the initial stages of coronary artery disease – his arteries were narrowing because of arterial plaque, which motivated him to go on a diet and exercise.  

He took pictures of his kids and put them in front of him every time he ate. Each mouthful of vegetable and fruit meant that much more time that he would be around to watch them grow.   

Whenever he felt like skipping his morning walk, he would imagine his kids living without his support and love. Immediately, he’d get up and walk like his life depended upon it – and it did. Happily, he was able to reverse the coronary artery disease through small lifestyle changes – his kids are now in college.

Use your mind to be informed. Use your mind to choose what is good for your health. Use your mind’s eye to motivate you toward your health and fitness goals. It all begins in the mind.

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Midlife Metabolism Boost

05/29/2020 Leave a comment

In simple terms, metabolism is the chemical action of transforming nutrients in food into energy.

Metabolism is a complex set of chemical reactions between enzymes in your cells and the food you eat. Your metabolism is responsible for using energy or storing that energy as fat cells for use later.

Unfortunately, many of us tend to store more energy than we use, particularly after age 40, and you may notice that you can’t eat everything you used to eat without gaining weight.

These changes usually occur because of a slowing of the metabolic processes that convert food into energy, and a natural slowing of your metabolism combined with less physical activity than when you were younger.

There are ways you can stimulate your metabolism after age 40 to lose weight and maintain your weight. Be selective about what you eat. You could probably eat cheeseburgers, French fries, and ice cream when you were younger without worrying about gaining 10 pounds.

After age 40, you have to be pickier about what you eat. There are foods you can eat that will help stimulate your metabolism without sacrificing the enjoyment of food. Cut back on the junk food and add more fruits and vegetables to your diet. You can get the carbohydrates and protein your body needs for energy and strong muscles and bones by eating a variety of fruits, vegetables, and lean meats.

Replace highly processed foods, such as white flour and frozen dinners, with fresh, whole foods. Whole foods, or unprocessed foods, make your digestive system work harder to digest and stimulate your metabolism. Your digestion will also improve with the addition of natural fiber and help you feel full so that you eat less.

Balance your diet by taking out foods that make you feel sluggish with foods that energize your body. Replace processed flour, sugars, and other carbohydrates with natural foods that will boost your metabolism. Add green tea and water to replace sugary sodas. Switch potato chips and fatty dips with fresh vegetables and low-fat fresh dips, such as guacamole or low-fat sour cream-based dips. Cut out candy and replace it with sweet, fresh berries and fruits.

Exercise will also help to boost your metabolism. Any form of exercise is good for your body. Start slowly if you have been inactive for a long time and get a complete check-up from your doctor. When you receive the all-clear, start by walking or riding a bike for a few minutes each day. Increase the amount of time you spend exercising by 5 to 10 minutes each week until you can exercise at least 30 minutes each day.

Try some weight lifting or other strength training exercises to increase your muscle mass. Muscle requires more energy than other tissues. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be to provide nutrients to muscle tissue.

Simple changes that include substituting bad foods for healthy foods and exercising will boost your metabolism and keep it working at a peak level throughout your life.

 

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Top 3 Tips for Building a Home Gym You Will Actually Use

08/20/2015 Leave a comment

Photo credit: Andman8 [CC BY-SA 3.0]

People tend to have a love/hate relationship with their local gym or workout center. They are usually paying a monthly fee to be a member, and know they should go. However, after working all day, picking the kids up from school, and fixing dinner, who has time to go to the gym? It would be much easier and cheaper to find ways to workout at home. What if you were to take it one step further, and create a home gym? What are some ways you can do this in order to get the most benefit?

Find the room – The first thing you have to determine when building a home gym, is where you are going to put it. In order to maintain some organization and avoid distractions while working out, it’s important for the gym to be separate from everything else. Choose a guest bedroom that isn’t getting used, a closed off area in the basement, or possibly part of the garage. Make a list of the equipment you want to have and make sure there is enough room for everything to fit.   Once this is done you are ready to start creating your home gym.

Equipment – You can create a gym that revolves completely around your likes and dislikes. If you hate the treadmill or stationary bike, don’t bother making one of these a part of your home gym. Strength training would require a weight machine or free weights as part of your workout routine. Yoga mats, steppers, elliptical machines, fitness balls, and stretch bands are part of the endless supply of workout equipment to help with your daily mantra. The important thing is creating a gym around your likes and dislikes in order to keep you motivated and active.

Create a Routine – The only thing better than having a home gym is using it. Even though you have easy access to workout now, it’s still going to tough to keep up with it if we don’t have a daily routine. Carve out an hour or two during the evening, or possibly before you go to work in the morning to use the home gym. Grab another family member and workout together. This is one way you can avoid the excuses and maintain the motivation to keep at it.

A home gym is one of the best ways for your family to create and stick to a daily workout routine. It’s also the cheaper route when you think about how much a gym membership is on a yearly basis. You can motivate and encourage each other to reach your fitness goals and have a great time while doing so. Not only are you getting in shape, but spending important quality time with your whole family.

 

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