Guide to the Better you

  Have you ever told yourself that you are going to lose weight and get fit in time for spring, only to be frustrated when warm weather rolls around?   It’s easy to hide behind heavy winter clothes, but when the mercury starts climbing, the clothes get lighter and we can’t hide any more.   “ Why didn’t I start working out weeks ago ?” we ask ourselves.   “ If only I had started sooner !” Regret-proof your spring:   set a deadline The best way to protect yourself from a regret-filled spring is to set a deadline and start NOW.   Deadlines are powerful motivators.   Without a deadline, you really have no set-point toward which to work.   You have nothing pushing you. We need to be pushed.   Deadlines create a sense of urgency.   They help you position yourself to succeed, because that final date is always staring back at you.   It forces you to prioritize and strategize.   Otherwise, you will let things slide…you will ke...

  Mike Fohner, cross country running coach, tells this story about one of his students: Last year, one of my young cross-country runners was fully content walking up the hills and avoiding physical exertion to the maximum extent possible. I tried all sorts of tactics and motivation techniques…to wits end. Even my “walkers club” (post practice sprints for those that walk during practice) had no effect. One meet, this runner unexpectedly knocked 3 minutes off her best time to which I gave a look of amazement to her parents. They smiled and said, “Well…she didn’t walk…so I guess we owe her ten bucks!!” So it appears that money is an effective motivator for all ages! The statistics Brace yourself.   According to Rod K. Dishman, Ph.D., director of the Behavioral Fitness Laboratory at the University of Georgia, nearly 50 percent of people who begin an exercise program drop out within the first 6 months.   The question is, “Why?”   What is it about sticking with a fi...

  When was the last time you thought about your liver?   If you are like most people, this amazing organ does not command much of your attention.   But if you are interested in living as healthily as possible, attending to your liver can have big payoffs. Named after the Old English word for “life,” the liver is a critically important part of your body.   The array of functions it performs is staggering.   These include:           Controlling blood sugar           Regulating fat storage           Producing proteins           Cleansing the blood           Metabolizing fat        Producing energy However, if toxins clog and overwhelm the liver, it will cease to perform its functions correctly.   If the liver cannot cleanse the toxins from the body effectively, those toxins can trigger an immune resp...

  Zig Ziglar once said, “If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” And each of us knows from our own experience that he is right.   The general flow of human life tends to be toward ease and comfort.   One day flows into the next, and many of us never quite get around to turning our good intentions into reality. Those ‘good intentions,’ while no doubt admirable, tend to remain unrealized mainly because they are too vague.   Vague ideas are impossible to focus on and aim for; they are moving targets. Do you have moving targets in your life?   Perhaps you want to eat a more healthy diet or lose the winter weight that has crept upon you.   Maybe you just want to establish a regular workout routine and stick with it this time . The keys to your success are two-fold:   steady the target and create momentum.   How to stop a moving target Imagine a target shooter trying to hit a small bull’s eye on a distant target.   He begins t...

More and more we are hearing about food allergies and food sensitivities.   Because they are such common conditions, it is important to understand the difference between the two and what the health issues are which surround them. The difference between food sensitivities and food allergies Though on the surface food sensitivities and food allergies may seem like the same thing (they can even cause some of the same symptoms), they are, in fact, two different conditions. The least common of the two is a food allergy .   A food allergy will bring about a response from the immune system that can impact several different parts of your body.   Food allergies can be life-threatening.   Food sensitivity or food intolerance symptoms are less serious but are more common, being typically confined to the digestive tract. The gut connection When you have a food allergy, your body essentially treats the food as something that is threatening to your body and therefore mo...

  Ever heard someone give themselves permission to indulge their sweet tooth just because they just had a great workout?  It’s a common excuse. Many people believe that because they exercise, they’re in the black as far as their calorie input/output.  But in reality, this sort of thinking is a sure road to failure. Most people with a lean body and a 6 pack didn’t get that way by rationalizing their way to the desert buffet. Many people have no idea how many calories they take in on an average day, often severely underestimating when asked to take a guess at it.  But they also overestimate the number of calories they burn.  The truth is, 30 minutes of the best boot camp in town will not cancel out that burger and fries! Do the math Let’s look at the hard numbers.  An average, moderately intensive workout will burn 300-400 calories in about an hour.  That’s an hour of hard work with plenty of sweat and hard breathing.  Now say on the way home from t...

  You might be tempted to skip the warm up when you work out.   After all, you only have so much time to exercise—“ Let’s just get on with it already!   I’m in a hurry !” But warming up is a critical component of your fitness routine, and skipping it could have unpleasant and even dangerous results—such as muscle strain, muscle injury and pain. Oh yeah, and a proper warm-up will actually IMPROVE your workout performance! The Warm-up:   Basics A warm up is a short workout period at the beginning of your exercise session.   It is generally low intensity and prepares your body for the upcoming exertion. The purpose of a traditional warm up is to slightly increase your heart rate. This raises your core body temperature and increases the blood flow to your muscles.   Cold muscles and other connective tissues do not stretch very easily.   A warm up session literally warms them up and relaxes them, making them more supple and ready to work. Withou...

  How too Much Cortisol can lead to Decreased Health and Increased Belly Fat Some have called it the “master” of all hormones.   Others curse it for its ability to wreak havoc on our body’s fragile endocrine balance.   In spite of the mixed opinions one thing is certain: cortisol is a powerful hormone necessary for life.   But if its level is not optimal in your body, your health could suffer. What is Cortisol? The hormone cortisol is produced in the adrenal glands and is primarily responsible for regulating blood sugar, helping to metabolize fats, protein and carbohydrates and assisting in managing our stress response. We all have times of stress in our lives, and cortisol helps us to function during these times. When the stress goes up, cortisol kicks in and delivers help.   We get a quick burst of energy, our memory sharpens, our immunity increases, and our sensitivity to pain decreases.   These are all important and natural functions of co...