Make These 3 Simple Changes To Be Healthier Now
We all want to feel better, have a bit more energy, and live a little longer than most.
Even if we can't keep up with the little ones, at least we won't look so hopelessly out of breath when we try.
Fortunately, there are a few easy changes to your daily habits that can help.
I'm not saying it will be easy for everyone, but I am saying that it will be worth it.
Change #1: MOVE.
Research and statistics are proving beyond any further traces of doubt that our sedentary lifestyles are killing us, in record numbers.
Lack of adequate exercise is causing too many Americans to fall into a poisonous cycle of inactivity.
After a day's work, we fall into a semi-conscious state on the sofa and grab the remote for a full evening of mind-numbing nothingness, with nothing to show for it but a few minutes of chat the next day.
For others, this is the time for beer in the easy chair. Lots of beer, and lots of easy chair.
An easy meal and more sitting before falling into bed to start the cycle over again the next day is about the sum of the average American "walking comatose" adult, and no spare energy is the primary result.
Here's my first secret: Your extra energy is waiting just outside your comfort zone.
Take a walk. Research has proven that a twenty minute walk in nature has the same effect on the brain as a single dosage of any popular mood-leveling prescription drug.
When you feel good, you will want more of that. Walk 3 times next week.
Take your mate for a nature hike near water next weekend. Start a garden. Really get your hands in that soil (this also has a calming effect on the brain). Dust off that old bike. Whatever floats your boat.
The key is to MOVE. And to keep moving.
Change #2: Garbage In, Garbage Out.
You Are What You Eat. No statement is more true today, especially since the transition from family farms to corporate food processing plants has turned your local grocery store into a chemical retailer.
We were sold the idea that it is far easier to add water to a box of dry stuff, or ground beef to a pack of chemicals, than to cut and prepare the vegetables and herbs for a fresher meal. And do we ask a lot of questions about the contents of that box? Nope. Why would we? They wouldn't hurt us, would they?
You are told to trust them, and you comply.
Just eat it. Don't ask a lot of questions. It's cheap, so just be happy with that, and don't ask why each generation of kids becomes less tolerant of whole foods than the last.
Peanut allergies. Wheat (gluten) allergies. Allergies to healthy foods that would mean a death sentence in some countries, where a child who is allergic to food is little more than a myth.
Don't ask why the instance of child obesity has multiplied itself by 1200% over the last four generations, or why instances of autism in children have exploded over the last 20 years.
Remember that first secret? Step outside your comfort zone at the grocer, too.
Try a new food each week. Heard of zucchini pasta? Spiral cut the vegetable into a far more nutritious meal that your body will thank you for.
Look for Coconut oil. Smear it on your bagel in the morning, or just drop a spoonful into your sauces for a secret healthy kick. Get back in the habit of browsing the fresh vegetables when you shop, and start trying a new type each week. Surely there are a few you have never tasted, so what are you waiting for?
Healthy eating habits will likely become a family tradition. Set a good example.
This leads us naturally into the third change you will need to make in order to begin your new life of looking and feeling healthier. Last, but surely not least...
Change #3: Wake Up.
You have no doubt noticed that the recurring theme of the first two changes has been changes.
Shake things up. Break the grind and climb out of the rut that is wearing you down and sapping your vital energy. Remember when you could play ball all day long? Riding your bike from breakfast until your mom called you home for dinner?
I'm not promising that you will be twelve years old again, but it is not out of the question to at least feel that twenty years of abuse and neglect have been undone by just a few simple changes of habit.
It's really not your fault: There's so much good stuff to watch on tv; Your boss is draining you daily and you consider yourself lucky just to get a meal on the table before you collapse on the couch; Tonight's game is far too important to miss; You deserve to rest your feet after the day that you put in...
All excuses aside, wouldn't you really want more from your life than to simply work and grow fat until you die (early) with your face in a plate of that GMO Mac & Cheese that pushed you into the grave?
This third change is a bit deeper, but just as important (if not more so) as the first two, because without this change, the others won't stand a chance in the long term.
Your new healthy feeling will have to start with a new healthier mindset.
Don't laugh. Anyone can swap out bacon for turkey strips for a week, but most will slide right back to their old unhealthy habits when they don't see immediate results.
This is because they are waiting and secretly hoping for failure. That would be the perfect excuse to bounce back to the old ways like crawling into their favorite pajamas.
Once you can understand how you got where you are, and are committed for the long haul, you are better equipped to anticipate a relapse and nip it in the bud.
Baby steps are a fine manner of progress, because the most important thing in this system of change is to keep moving forward. Keep pulling for that healthier you that you know is still trapped inside those few extra pounds and being drowned by the habits of convenience.
Motivate yourself to turn off the television a couple of hours earlier than usual and read a book. On the back porch. On the treadmill. How about an audiobook while you power-walk the neighborhood?
After a light dinner (for some people, smaller portions are a good start), spend an hour trimming the bushes as you listen to the birds singing.
Keep the basic keys in mind:
- Cut the junk food. Try new natural recipes.
- Get vertical more often. Move.
- Decide that now is the time.
- Clean your mind, so that as you clean your body it will have a better chance of staying that way.
- Exercise, in any form, is always better than being dormant.
Of course, your new healthier lifestyle will need to evolve as you get stronger and more active, so stay tuned to Pop's blog (Hit the Subscribe link Now!) for more advanced ways to keep growing into your reverse-aging body and reclaiming your youthful energy.
