As many of you know, I have a three simple goals for my physical body: Health, athleticism, and aesthetics. I talked about these briefly in the nutrition principles article. Today I want to expand on the health issue a bit and lay out some basic ideas for people to contemplate.
First of all, I want to define health as more than just a lack of disease. Health is much more than that. Health means you have a lack of disease plus you have physical vitality and energy. Health is feeling good physically. Health is thinking clearly. Health is having an inner sense of vibrance and vitality. The way that I look at it, health is having youthful energy. Many of us have forgotten what it’s like to have the youthful energy we once enjoyed. Remember what it felt like as a kid? You wanted to be active? You wanted to play? You couldn’t wait for recess? You couldn’t wait to rid your bike? That’s the youthful energy I’m talking about. Many of us had that slowly fade away, and it’s time to command it, and take it back. Lethargy, laziness, and inactivity is not okay. It doesn’t have to be this way, and with a few simple lifestyle improvements and easy decisions, that youthful energy can be yours once more.
The following are simple habits and distinctions for healthy living. Most of them are very simple and would seem like common sense. Yet, very few people are actually incorporating these things into their daily lives. These are profound truths on how you can regain that youthful energy, have a healthy, fit, and lean body. And ultimately increase the quality of your life.
“Once you start moving better, you start to eat better. Once you start eating better, you start to think better. Now that you’re thinking better, you start the process of becoming conscious. Now we are ready to talk about what is truly going on.”
Eating for Health
—If it did not exist 100…1000….10000 years ago, you probably shouldn’t be making a habit of eating it. Human beings aren’t that smart. We will not be able to outsmart nature and make better foods than it for quite awhile.
—If it has a package and wrapper, it’s probably not ideal. Yes foods were meant to rot. If they don’t, consider them generally unfit to eat.
—If the person giving you advise doesn’t look the way you would like to look, take their health advice with a grain of salt. Don’t fall into the authority trap. No one is your authority. Study this stuff for yourself.
—If the food came from nature, it’s probably good. Keep it simple.
—If the food is man-made, it’s probably not good. Again, keep it simple.
—If you have the mentality of “I need to go on a diet,” stop it. Diets don’t work, only lifestyle changes do. Think to yourself instead “I need to raise my standards for life, and create new lifestyle habits.”
—It’s a simple rule…but only buy healthy real foods you should be eating at the grocery store. That way if you are ever feeling “weak” you won’t have anything self destructive around the house within easy arm’s reach. Set yourself up to win. This is the difference between people who succeed and those who fail.
Exercising for Health
—Stop focusing on “how many calories did I burn” with exercise. Focus on “what hormonal response am I giving my body for the next 24-48 hours?”
—Intensity and consistency is the key to getting your body to change. When you remain consistent, you won’t believe what will happen.
—Exercising is “your time.” We all need this. Love it. Enjoy it.
—Think of creative ways to stay active outdoors. Hiking, biking, parks, whatever. You don’t have to go to the gym to get activity. It holds no monopoly on exercise and activity.
—Regain your hobbies that kept you physically active as a kid. Revisit them and make them a priority in your life again. Physical activity creates health. When you make doing things you love a priority, you can’t help but stay active.
“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
Living for Health
—If you can tell me about what happened last night on “Survivor”, then you have no excuses of why you have no time to go exercise. Stop kidding yourself. Stop lying to yourself. Stop rationalizing. Get real.
—Revisit the ways of the past. Mow your lawn with a push mower. Walk more often.
—While science is looking for a “cure”, the rest of us should be living with “prevention” (and not expecting for a magic pill to bail us out, it’s our responsibility to stay in good health…not your doctors).
Avoid the ‘all or nothing’ mindset. Not exercising for a day does not give you the right to just throw your healthy eating lifestyle out the window too.
“Action is our relationship to everything”- Bruce Lee
Awareness for Health
—Getting fit/lean isn’t rocket science. The biggest reason why people don’t get results is because they give up. Stop thinking you need something complicated, the biggest thing you need is just simple consistency.
—The greatest mental flaw for modern society is not realizing people are overweight and sick because of their deviation from eating and living in a more natural way (as our bodies were designed for).
—Challenge yourself to live life fuller…get out of comfort routines….turn off the TV for a month….see what happens.
—Although it’s okay to have short term visions, commit yourself to CNEI; constant never ending improvement. Make optimal health a lifelong hobby. A quest for glory. Have fun with it and get around people who share the vision.
—Perfection is an illusion. The goal isn’t perfection, it is excellence. Strive to live excellent today. Don’t let your mind take over and start contemplating tomorrow, 1 week from now, 1 year from now. Your happiness is now.
—Start looking at corporate food manufactures for what they are, a business that wants profit. They do not have your best interest in mind. Don’t fall for the tricks. Don’t fall for the ads.
“The great arises out of small things that are honored and cared for. Everybody’s life really consists of small things. Greatness is a mental abstraction and a favorite fantasy of the ego. The paradox is that the foundation for greatness is the honoring of small things of the present moment instead of pursuing the idea of greatness.” -Eckhart Tolle
(revised from the original)
