Do you assume that because someone is thin that they are also fit? Well, hold on to your hat, researchers are saying that many thin people have the same heart disease risk and type 2 diabetes risk as obese people. In fact, they say that some thin people are at higher risk than sumo wrestlers! The reason? Intra-abdominal fat.

According to Dr. Jimmy Bell, a professor of molecular imaging at Imperial College London, “being thin deosn’t aurtomatically mean you’re not fat”. It’s what’s inside that makes a difference to your health. Internal fat surrounding vital organs such as the heart and liver can be as dangerous as the fat that you see. Since 1994, Dr. Bell and his collegues have been mapping the fat stores of people to show where people store fat. They have scanned and recorded more than 800 people.

When most people gain weight, the fat is subcutaneous and we see it. We have known for years that a person who gains fat around the middle of their body is at increased risk for heart disease etc., but this was viewed as an obesity related issue. Now, it’s clear that even thin people are at risk.Of the women scanned in the study, 45% of those with normal body mass indices (BMI) had excessive levels of internal fat. Of the men? 60%!

Dr. Bell’s research indicates that people who control their weight with diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of fat around their internal organs, no matter how slim they appear on the outside. This leads us to the idea that exercise is the key to controlling levels of fat you can see and fat you can’t see.

What’s the difference in the health risks of subcutaneous fat and intra-abdominal fat?The metabolic characteristics of intra-abdominal fat are different from subcutaneous fat (the stuff you see). Intra-abdominal fat releases free fatty acids to drain directly into the liver, whereas subcutaneous fat drains into the systemic circulation. The influx of free fatty acids in the liver results in overproduction of very low density lipoprotein, and retention of low density lipoprotein, the “bad cholesterols” in the bloodstream. This can also lead to a lower level of high density lipoprotein, the “good cholesterol”.

This research offers a possible explanation for, while the population in developing South East Asian countries still have lower rates of obesity, have a high per capita incidence of Type II diabetes and heart disease. Of course, smoking is still prevalent in this region as well…

What to do? Exercise and eat healthily! And remember… Muscles burn fat.Around age 35, unless maintained through exercise, the body begins to lose muscle and gain fat. Since muscles require energy where as fat cells act as energy storage, a person who stays slim by dieting will require fewer calories as they lose muscle. Over the years, the metabolism slows down because the body has less muscle to burn energy. Any extra energy will be stored as fat somewhere even if it’s not visible to the naked eye.If the muscle mass is maintained, the body will simply use fat rather than store it.

It’s a simple concept, really…. Dieting may keep a body slim; but healthy eating and a combination of aerobic and resistance exercise keeps a body slim, strong and disease resistant. Hmmm…just more proof that exercise keeps you younger.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Is there a link between sugar consumption and cancer? Seventy years ago, Otto Warburg won a Nobel Prize for his discovery of glucose as the fuel that grows cancer cells. In other words, sugar feeds cancer. Ok, this makes sense. All of our body’s tissues use glucose for fuel.

First, some boring stuff. A few new studies have followed along these lines and have associated sugar consumption with several types of cancer: A study done on women in Mexico linked high carbohydrate diets with breast cancer. The same link was made by a study done on American women.

A small study at University of Southern California identified a significant increase in risk for small bowel cancer in people who consumed the most sugar in coffee, tea and non-diet sodas. (Not the purpose of the study. It was chance finding).

A Harvard School of Public Health study demonstrated that a diet high in simple carbohydrate foods such as white rice, white bread and white potatoes increased risk of pancreatic cancer in overweight and sedentary women. Besides cigarette smoking, this is the first risk factor identified with pancreatic cancer. Colorectal cancer risk has been linked to higher insulin levels, as well.

This pancreatic cancer study findings make sense. The pancreas produces insulin – the hormone that helps the body utilize blood glucose. Overweight people tend to be “insulin resistant”. This means the pancreas works harder producing more insulin. It’s a vicious cycle.

Here’s some food for thought. Cancer rates have increased over the last 100 years or so. Mostly, this is attributed to increased cigarette smoking (there’s no arguing that this is the single most risk factor for many types of cancers, not only lung), and arguably the presence of more industrial chemicals and pollution.

Let’s look at the consumption of sugar over the same period. In 1815, the average per capita consumption of sugar in Great Britain was 15 pounds per year. By 1974, the consumption had risen to 120 pounds per year. Holy cow – that’s a lot of desserts!

Nowadays, in the US, the average per person yearly amount is 150 pounds per year. This is NOT including corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup which is the stuff that sweetens soft drinks. The average American drinks 34 gallons of soft drinks per year. Ugly statistics.

It’s also worthy to note that the use of refined white flour started in the early 1800’s in Europe. The rice that is so popular in Southeast Asian cuisine (highly processed) because of its color and quick cooking properties started to be widely used after World War 2. Is there an increase in cancers due to these dietary changes? It would logically follow. Both white rice and white flour cause a blood sugar spike similar to white sugar. Diets high in white rice and white flour, known as refined carbohydrates are associated with increased incidence of Type II Diabetes. Not to mention the nutritional value is very poor because of processing. It is known that the fiber that is in brown rice and brown flour has protective effect against certain cancers including pancreatic and…Type II diabetes. Hmmm.

More and more, nutritionally oriented doctors are saying to cancer patients that cutting down on sugar and refined carbohydrates could slow the growth of the cancer (given that “sugar fuels cancer”). But the real science is not concrete enough for the medical community to say unequivocally that carbs increase cancer cell multiplication.

Since sugar gives you no nutrition (vitamins, minerals, etc) makes the body fat and causes cavities, it can’t be good. Doctors, nutritionists and scientists may be divided on the subject, but you can bet that I will be eating “brown” and looking out for hidden sugar in food as much as possible. It looks like “the writing is on the wall”….

Popularity: 14% [?]

What do you think of when someone says the word wellness? What does it mean to you?

Out of curiosity, I looked up “definition of wellness” on the web and a bunch of different results came up! Many of them referred to being physically, medically or mentally well.

My favorite definition of wellness comes from the National Wellness Association of Singapore – “wellness is an active process of becoming aware of and making choices toward a more successful existence”. An active process….

To me, wellness represents the integration of physical, mental/emotional and spiritual fitness. A healthy mind and a healthy body so to speak. Throughout our lives, all these components change constantly because of new experiences and learning along with the body changes…especially as we enter middle age and beyond.

Do you know anyone who in midlife has become depressed or suddenly changed their behavior to what seems like a crazy destruction of all aspects of their life? We often refer to this sort of behavior as midlife crisis. Everyone has changes in priorities, lifestyles etc. in midlife, but why do some seem to really go to extremes?

Psychologists tell us that very few people truly experience classic midlife crisis. Most of the time, the most extreme cases of change either ends up being classic depression or the person has had chaotic interpersonal relationships/job loss etc., all their lives.

Perhaps, these people are just lacking the integrated components of wellness that I am referring to above. In other words, they may get 1 or 2 components right, but just lose sight of the others. Something is missing…

For example, say John Anyman who is 40. He is very fit, goes to the gym, runs and is on his local soccer team. He has been married for 15 years, has an eight year old child and a profession that he enjoys (good job). But he walks around with the nagging feeling that something is missing in his life. He just can’t decide what that is.

One day, John leaves his family, quits his job and moves to Morrocco to “find” himself. Five years later, John is no happier than he was before. Why? The nagging feeling that something is missing is still there. John changed the outward trappings of his life without turning inward. In addition, he now lives with the loss of his family and the guilt of hurting them.

Perhaps if John had looked at all the aspects of wellness, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, seen which area was lacking in his life and made small changes first, he would have kept his family and gotten rid of the nagging feeling. To quote a common cliché: happiness begins within.

Many of us midlifers (me included) go through a sort of metamorphosis for a variety of reasons. In my case, this metamorphosis started because of family breakdown which lead me to reevaluate my life and set my own priorities of what is important. Unfortunately, I did not notice that something was missing for complete wellness before my life situation changed.

What had been missing for me? Emotional fitness. I had never before thought to define priorities in this area and therefore did not ask loved ones for what I needed. My emotions were left to be controlled by daily situations, and the behavior of my husband (who was having his own “midlife crisis”) and child. I was on “autopilot” and feeling that my life was without love. It wasn’t until my physical body started to show signs of my emotional pain, that I was able to see that there was something wrong in my approach to my life. Hence, my metamorphosis began…and continues! An active process…

The message here for fitness enthusiasts is that working out and eating right is only one part of what makes us healthy. If the balance is not there in the other areas of our lives, and we are not taking care of our emotional selves – our bodies will show the signs sooner or later.

Make good choices!

Popularity: 12% [?]

The other day, I got an email from an American guy who lives in Malaysia. He was saying that cooking with mono sodium glutamate (MSG) is a real health problem to Malaysians and that he “doesn’t allow it in his house”.

MSG, so what’s the big deal? It’s the stuff used in large quantities in Chinese/Southeast Asian food, right? Wrong. It’s everywhere in almost all processed foods! You see, it was derived from seaweed in Japan in the 1930s and very quickly became popular in United States as a food additive. As long ago as the 1970s, manufacturers promised to take it out of baby food because of suspected problems – no kidding.

Consumers long ago became savvy to MSG listed as an ingredient on food labels and stopped buying things with MSG. So guess what? Manufacturers just renamed the stuff. Here are some of the ingredient names in food that are “cover names” for MSG:

Broth
Casein or Caseinate
Glutamate
Hydrolyzed Yeast
Autolyzed Yeast
Yeast Extract
Hydrolyzed Protein
Natural Flavors

MSG is one of the most popular food additives in food in the US. Fast food chains and restaurants use a lot of it. McDonald’s use it to flavor French fries, the Grilled Chicken Fillet and the Sausage Patties. Pizza Hut uses it to flavor their Chicken Wings. In the supermarket, you can bet that if it’s a sauce, salad dressing, snack foods, potato, tortilla chips, soups, crackers, cookies it’s probably got MSG in it. It’s everywhere – even baby formula. If it’s a processed or “convenience” food, it’s likely to have MSG.

Why? Because people buy stuff that tastes good.

The science here: Have you heard of glutamic acid or glutamate? It’s a naturally occurring amino acid in foods. MSG is the sodium salt extracted from glutamic acid. Originally, MSG was derived from protein rich foods, like seaweed; but now it’s made from starch, corn sugar, molasses or sugar beets. Well, glutamate naturally occurring in foods is a bound amino acid and the body is equipped to process it as other protein. But, when processed it becomes free and the body processes it differently.

Simply put, high levels of unbound glutamate causes free radical damage throughout the body. So, eating a lot of processed protein foods where the glutamic acid has been “unbound” results in free radical damage – which is host to all sorts of diseases, most notably cancer. MSG falls into this category. And since it tastes so good, people want more and more of it. Other processed protein foods which end up with free glutamic acids include: ultra pasteurized milk, (this is an unlikely one) the wax they put on vegetables and fruit contains hydrolyzed protein and ultra pasteurized soy milk. Another side note: MSG is an excitotoxin. When consumed, it excites brain neurons so much that they are damaged or even die! Aspartame, sold in the U.S. as NutraSweet and Europe as Candarel is also classified as an excitotoxin. Yuk.

What to do? Well, I suppose we as consumers have to vote with our purchases. Armed with the knowledge that food manufacturers and restaurants are using MSG and disguising it; we need to read labels, ask questions and stop buying products that will harm us.

Eat well, stay healthy!

Popularity: 13% [?]

Do you have an idea why fad diets spread like a “bush fire” even though 95% of dieters fail?

Lat month, just in Yahoo, 1.2 million people searched for diets and weight loss. Out of them 200,000 were looking for diet and weight loss pills. Only 450,000 people searched for fitness and exercise. Out of them 50,000 were looking for fitness and exercise program and a teeny-weeny group of 5,000 people searched for a fat loss solution.

Shocking figures in a world of free flow information. Weight loss, diet, and pills are still 3 times bigger than fitness and exercise. It should have been the other way around…but it isn’t!

95%of diets fail due to a combination of hormonal changes, muscle loss and flat out frustration.

Hormonal Changes

Your body’s natural response to shortage of calories is to conserve fat. This “starvation response” is associated to hormonal changes and makes life difficult for most dieters.

Muscle Loss

If a dieter persists long enough with the self-imposed starvation, the body begins to break down muscle tissue for fuel. When protein is broken down, it releases nitrogen. Your body will quickly wash away the nitrogen by releasing water from tissue cells, causing an immediate reduction in water weight and a noticeable drop on the scale. However, water and muscle loss is nothing to celebrate. The water weight will be quickly regained as soon as you have something to drink, and the missing muscle can wreak havoc on your metabolism for a good long time.

Frustration

Studies show that most dieters don’t keep up the starvation routine for long. They’ll eventually return to their old eating habits. When this happens, the weight is inevitably regained. The kicker is that while they lost both muscle and fat during the diet, what they put back was all fat. So, even though they may weigh the same as they did when they started, they now have a lot more fat and a lot less muscle than they did before the diet. This means that their metabolisms are slower and their calorie requirements are lower. That’s one reason dieters are prone to regaining all of the lost weight and more.

The Solution

Combine Healthy Diet with the Resistance Training. Your first priority to solve the diet dilemma is to add resistance exercise. Most people that add exercise to their diet take the wrong way. They perform long duration cardio exercise which may worsen the problem because they continue to lose more muscle and take their metabolism to a free-fall spiral.

What is a healthy diet?

A healthy diet is based around natural whole food especially fresh fruits, vegetables, legumes and lean protein. A healthy diet keeps your metabolism in high gear with 4 to 6 small meals a day. It’s flexible enough to allow some treats from time to time. No food is off-limits, but sweets and junk food are avoided at least 90% of the time.

What is the Right Resistance Training?

The right resistance training is the one that allows you to preserve your muscles while you are dieting and even gain some muscles which boosts your metabolism. Resistance training can be done in your home using body weight exercises or at the gym using resistance machines and free weights – better even to do them both. Effective resistance training is performing several sets each one with 6-15 repetitions till you fail to do even one more. If you can do more than 6-15, increase the resistance.

Is this All? What About Cardio?

You don’t need cardio training to solve the diet syndrome. Healthy diet and resistance training kick-off fat loss without losing muscle. But it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do cardio training. It will accelerate your metabolism and improve your heart’s health. Short duration high intensity cardio like intervals is proven to accelerate metabolism more effectively than long low intensity flat cardio.

Kick Start Your Next Successful “Diet”

Instead of periodical diets, change your lifestyle and adopt 4-6 healthy meals a day with 40 minutes of resistance training 3-4 times a week and 20 minutes of interval training 2-3 times a week. Never diet without resistance training and you will never be part of the shocking statistics.

Popularity: 12% [?]

If you are really serious about healthy nutrition, it’s time to reconsider not just what you are eating, but also how you are cooking the food. More and more studies are showing that grilling, frying and broiling (especially flame-broiling) meat products produces toxins known as Advanced Glycation End-Products, known as AGEs. The highest amounts of these toxins are found in fried chicken and broiled or grilled meats.

So what?

Here’s what… AGEs accumulate in the body over time. Older people naturally have higher levels than younger ones, but when a younger person eats a diet high in these compounds they too have high levels.

A new study at Mount Sinai School of Medicine that supports a previous study by the National Institute on Aging, found that the levels of AGEs in a person’s body were determined by direct dietary intake of them rather than the number of calories, fats or sugars they ingest.

In other words, eating fried, grilled and broiled meats raises the levels of AGEs.

AGEs were previously known to be associated with diabetes and insulin imbalance; but there’s more. High levels of AGE’s cause oxidative damage which increases inflammatory processes and inhibit synthesis of nitric oxide.

Nitric oxide is needed by many systems in the body including the cardiovascular system, immune system, nervous system and the brain.

Inflammation is the underlying cause for a bunch of diseases including heart disease, kidney damage and Alzheimer’s disease. Basically, AGEs increase the body’s inflammatory processes – and hence aging.

Too many AGEs in the body begin to overwhelm the ability of the body to get rid of these toxins and so they accumulate. The researchers found that people aged 65 and older had 35% more accumulated AGEs than those under age 45. The speculation is that the kidneys loose efficiency as we get older and are unable to clear the AGEs as efficiently as a younger person.

You have probably heard a lot about trans fats in the last few years. Well, the researchers in this study are advocating the same sort of approach with AGEs: that people eat less fried, grilled or broiled meat and that food nutrition labels reflect the AGE’s in the products. They advocate cooking methods that keep the water content of the meat higher.

Boiling, stewing and poaching meats avoids production of AGEs.

Since those cooking methods also are lower in fat calories, cooking that way will make us thinner, healthier and younger! Not bad.

Popularity: 11% [?]

I don’t usually like to talk about myself. Ok, that’s a lie. But, I recently had an experience with my own health that I thought might be of interest.

Like most folks, every year or so I go to the doctor for a check up. So a couple of weeks back I fasted for 12 hours and went early in the morning for my blood work. Not fun. The test isn’t bad, but I am grumpy without coffee in the morning.

The doctor gave me a shopping list of tests that I can have and I chose. It’s the most comprehensive set of tests I have ever had and the results of them were quite enlightening.

Here’s some background. I am a 48 year old, pre-menopausal woman, slim build, very physically active and lifetime vegetarian (ovo-lacto). A doctor’s dream patient.

As you might expect, my cholesterol readings have always been great – which is to be expected for a fit pre-menopausal woman (estrogen has beneficial effects on cholesterol). However, a few years ago, my tests showed that my blood sugar readings were “high” normal hovering around 100 mg/dl (5.5 mmol/L).

I was shocked and concerned that I was on the verge of developing pre-diabetes. The second year, the same test results. I got used to the idea that I was likely to develop Type II diabetes in 10 years. After all, for 20+ years I had been doing all the “right” things according to the American Diabetes Association guidelines – yet the numbers were inching higher.

I began to read bunches on pre-diabetes and what to expect. From reading, I knew that scientists are beginning to find more and more connections between not only high blood sugar and heart disease, but also links between blood sugar and pancreatic, colon, breast, prostate, and other cancers. I started to research ways to help myself nutritionally and fitness-wise. After a lot of research from traditional medicine to alternative, fitness and nutrition, I developed a plan and followed it for a year and a half.

To see if the plan is working, in the recent check-up, I asked for the full blood sugar testing including the test that measures blood sugar ranges over a 3 month period. When the tests came back, my blood sugar was 80 and stable over 3 months. My cholesterol profile was even better than previous years. Great!

Then, I compared the recent test with medical records kept over the last 20 years. I saw something amazing…my blood sugar, cholesterol and other readings (liver function etc.) are the same now as the were in 1991 – when I was 32 years old.

After that time, the readings slowly increased. By 1996, my blood sugar reading was 100. Why wasn’t this pointed out at the time? Well, back in 1996 the “normal” ranges for blood sugar were between 70 and 140. So, 100 was well within range.

The designated normal ranges have dropped significantly in the last few years. Now we have intermediate ranges called prediabetes. (110-125) This is used largely as an intervention technique, because if caught at these early stages, half of people will not develop diabetes if they change their habits and lifestyle.

So, back to my story: what was the plan I developed? What did I change over the last year and a half that so significantly lowered blood sugar readings?

Here’s what I did:

1. Reduced dramatically the bread, pasta, rice and other grain-based things, brown or white, to less than once per week.
2. Rarely ate sugar – paying specific attention to hidden sugars in food. No fruit juice or sports drinks
3. Ate many more vegetables and raw vegetables. Used fruit in moderation.
4. Added lots more protein foods: beans, nuts, lean dairy, eggs, soy (a non-vegetarian would include meat/poultry/fish)
5. Had 5 to 6 small meals per day rather than 3 big ones.
6. Added cinnamon daily.
7. Included chromium and magnesium to my daily vitamin intake (multivitamin, antioxidants and essential fatty acids)
8. Added more weight training to my workout.
9. Practiced conscious stress reduction techniques

Since I did not approach the problem of lowering my blood sugar using the scientific method, it’s impossible to say which of the above items individually helped lower the sugar readings Put all together, they did work …dramatically.

So if you or anyone you know have blood sugar increases, it’s worth giving the things above a try. At the very least, you will be following a sound nutrition, fitness and wellness plan which certainly is good for you!

Popularity: 14% [?]

Have you always thought that athletes were less intelligent? Well, hold on to your hat…more and more research supports the idea that the brains of exercisers function better.

This is not new. Researchers have known for years that the brains of exercisers were more active and pliable in later life. Many recent studies take this a step further.

In one such study, Charles Hillman, a professor at the University of Illinois, noticed that over and over the women in his classes that were on the cross-country team consistently scored higher on his exams. Hillman wondered about the possible fitness-brain power connection. So, he designed a study.

He and his team studied 259 third and fourth graders (8 – 11 years old). The students were measured for physical fitness levels (BMI, flexibility, cardio fitness, etc.). The fitness levels were then checked against their math and reading scores on the statewide Standardized Test.

Sure enough, the fittest kids did the best on these tests. The ones with the fittest bodies had the fittest brains, even with factors such as socioeconomic level taken into account.

This is just one of the many studies proving the sound mind in a sound body anecdote. With new equipment and methods scientists are able to look for the processes…the how of exercise’s effect on cognition. There is more evidence and understanding of the complexities of the mind-body connection.

It all starts in the muscles. Every time a muscle contracts it releases a protein called IGF-1 into the blood. This protein travels into the brain itself and initiates the release of several chemicals one of which is brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF fuels almost all the activities leading to higher cognition.

Not only that, but regular exercise causes the body to build up levels of BDNF. The brain’s nerve cells branch out and start communicating with one another in new and different ways! In other words, the brain is learning new things. High BDNF = learning. Low BDNF = the brain closes off new learning. Cool!

As adults, most people keep a relatively constant level of BDNF. As we age, individual neurons start to die off. Scientists used to think this was a permanent loss but in the last decade this belief has changed to thinking that parts of the brain can be “re-grown”. Exercise is a catalyst. The part of the brain that seems to be most affected by exercise induced growth is the hippocampus, a memory and learning region.

In another study, Professor Author Kramer of the University of Illinois, scanned the frontal lobes of exercisers and found that those areas were affected by exercise too. The frontal lobes are the “higher” thought areas that help with multitasking, decision-making and such.

In addition to BDNF production, exercise creates blood flow to the brain. Just like other parts of the body, regularly increased blood flow grows new capillaries. In the brain where you have new nerve cells, new capillaries grow to supply the blood.

Of course, the above “neurogenesis” happens with regular exercise. If you are already active, you know that after a hard workout, your brain focus is better and you are calmer. This is the endorphin effect or runner’s high that people talk about. The effects of exercise on the brain are immediate and, if maintained, long-lasting.

Who says athletes aren’t smart? Not scientists!

Resources:
“Working out is good for body and brain” by Mary Carmichael.

Popularity: 12% [?]

Do you know the saying, “we are all a product of our experiences”?

If you have gone through a major life change or trauma which created the physical symptoms of anxiety or grief, you understand how physically uncomfortable this can be with stomach aches, elevated heart rates and such. Not only do these symptoms happen at the time; but often months or years later, a memory of the event can trigger these symptoms again. These are strong emotions associated with big events.

Most of us like to avoid uncomfortable feelings whenever possible, right? I know I do. With big, life altering events, it’s easy to recognize memories and events that “trigger” bad feelings. The emotions are strong and hence the physical response is strong as well. But what about lesser events?

AND…What does this have to do with fitness? Ok, Ok…I’m getting there!

Let’s say you are a 35 year old man who was an athlete in High School. You developed a nice athletic body that has served you well. But lately, you are feeling like you look a bit “soft” and feel sluggish. So you decide that you should work on your body some.

So, off to the gym. After all, you used to be very fit, so it should be easy to get it back. You enter the gym. It’s big, busy and intimidating. But, the people working out don’t look like professional body builders, just normal people. You begin to feel comfortable.

Since it’s your first time at the gym, you are assigned a Fitness Trainer to help you get started. You don’t really need help, you tell yourself…after all you are in pretty good shape for 35. The trainer helps you to a treadmill and asks you to walk for 5 minutes to warm up. Instead of walking, you jog. It hasn’t been that long since high school, has it?

After that, the trainer takes you through a series of machines and free weights and explains how to use them and what weight levels to start with. The trainer then hands you your card record, wishes you luck and encourages you to ask for help anytime. Off you go…

Now the moment of truth: you are worn out from the treadmill, and barely strong enough to do the weight levels and exercises on your card! After a few minutes, you feel so tired, discouraged and even embarrassed because all the people around you suddenly seem to be SO much stronger and more accomplished than you.

The next day, you are too sore to move! An emotionally negative experience for sure.

There are 2 ways to go here: you can tell yourself that it’s just not for you. This way, you don’t have to go back and face those negative feelings again. OR you can use those emotions to galvanize you to action!

Fitness is what I like to call a “great equalizer”. In other words, if you do it, you get stronger and better. If you don’t do it, you will not get stronger and better.

Like painting a house, each trip to the gym is another coat of paint. It gets easier both physically and emotionally with each workout. Very quickly, it feels good to be there. Then it feels good to see changes and get stronger. Then, you start seeking the next challenge with excitement.

Not to mention that after a while, you start to make friends at the gym and feel a part of something.

I have used a gym workout as an example, but the same holds true for the sports you choose to be involved in. You do it, you get the physical benefits. Getting the physical benefits leads to positive emotions. The positive emotions motivate you to repeat the experience rather than avoid it. Repeating the experience causes you to get fitter which brings more positive emotions…and so on.

So, if you are having trouble starting or staying with a fitness activity, take a visit inside yourself to see if past experiences and emotions are holding you back. You might be surprised what you learn.

Popularity: 11% [?]

Isn’t balancing work and life tough? I mean really! Even if you feel like you have the greatest balanced life possible – sometimes it just gets to be too much. You know what I mean?

Let’s break this down: there are 24 hours in a day. 7 days in a week. That’s 168 hours per week. We sleep 8 hours per day. So that’s 56 hours per week. That gives us 112 useable hours in the week.

Out of those 112 hours: (note much of this is “guessimation” for illustration purposes only)

Eating: 2 hours per day
Driving in car: 1 hour per day
Exercise: 1 hour per day
Personal Hygiene: 30 minutes per day
Children’s attention/homework: 2 hours per day
Cleaning Up Home and Work: 1 hour per day
Connecting to friends: 30 minutes per day
Work: 8 hours per day

16 busy hours per day or 112 hours per week. Hey, it’s balanced…NOT!

That’s because, it’s very rare to have an exacting day like the above. There’s doctor’s appointments, extra time at work, shopping, meal preparation/acquisition, traffic jams, etc. The list can and does go on and on.

Of course, we need time to “ourselves” time for our spouses, special time for each child individually, time for our parents, time for our friends and just time to relax. How?

Diverting from my usual style of offering solutions, I am going to stick my neck out and say….to me, the work life balance has become a myth.

Someone suggested to me a while back, a way of thinking about this: break down activities into: “the things I love to do”, “the things I have to do to get what I want” and “the things I have to do to maintain myself (sleep, etc)”.

What is being suggested here? It’s that maybe the key is not so much to find a better way of managing time – it’s to find a better way of perceiving the way it is already being managed. An attitude change so to speak.

Here’s an example (my day):

“Things I Love to Do”:
Most work tasks
Help child with homework
Spend time with my family
Exercise
Connect with friends
Putting my child to bed
Eat
Sleep

“Things I Have to Do to Get What I Want”:
Drive in the Car
Clean up home and work (This one is a struggle!)
Help child with routine tasks (I want a healthy, happy, well adjusted child)
Some work tasks

“Things I have to Doto Maintain Myself”:
Showering
Food preparation

When I started looking at it from this perspective, it occurred to me how great my daily life is. Most of things I do daily fall into the “Thing I Love” category. The majority of the work I do is great, the majority of the time I spend with my child is great, and I love to eat and sleep! Do I still miss on many things I feel that I should be doing? Of course! But looking at it from this perspective gives me a daily sense of gratitude for the structure of my life as it is now, today. It also helps avoid the “I should have done more for me” feeling.

On the tough days, those days when I have to do more of the “things I have to do to get what I want” it’s easy to do them because not everyday is like that and I know that if it became so, I would make appropriate changes to do more of the “things I love to do” everyday.

Feeling overworked and under appreciated? Sometimes all it takes is a change in perspective.

To quote one of my favorite singers: “It’s not getting what you want, it’s wanting what you got”!

Popularity: 12% [?]