The Final Piece of the Puzzle

          For those of you who have been following my blog from the beginning, I have a few questions for you. Are you mentally ready? Are you giving your body the right energy? Are you ready for the final piece of the puzzle to reaching your full potential? For those of you who have not been following me, I would encourage you to check out my archive posts. My next series of posts, although important, are not as important as my first two series of posts. The subject of this series will be maximized by having a proper mindset and giving your body the proper nutrition. Have you guessed what the final piece of the puzzle is?

          Ladies and gentlemen, coming in third place and making the podium is KEEPING FIT! Wait ….don’t go anywhere! Notice how I did not say exercising? The word “exercising” is a turn off in many people’s eyes. Although I personally like the word and use it often; I like to approach this from a different angle. The truth of the matter is that keeping fit and exercising is synonymous. Thank God for spell check because I just hacked that word all up J  In keeping fit you physically allow yourself to do the things on this earth that are important to you. Your odds of reaching your full potential and fulfilling your purpose are much better than if you are not fit. I have heard of too many people that have not been able to reach their dreams or do some things they have always wanted to do because their body just will not allow it. You can only abuse your body for so long before you start feeling the effects from not taking care of it. Let me start by saying IT IS NOT TOO LATE! No matter how young or old you are, make today the first day of the rest of your life and embrace change.

            So what is keeping fit? Keeping fit in its simplest definition is nothing more than increasing your metabolism allowing your body to burn off those calories that have been building up. I told you it was a simple definition (my definition).  At my job I often hear the phrase “keep it simple”. I agree with that phrase. Life is not as complicated as we make it out to be. This is why I gave you a simple definition of keeping fit.  The more you understand and less intimidating it appears, the more achievable it seems. You have now just entered into the “World According to Dan”, keep it simple ….keep in fit.



Really! Time to go already! Good thing this is just the beginning of this series because I have a lot to talk about. More importantly, what do you have to share? Remember, we are all in this together and can learn from one another.

Junk In Junk Out (Part 3)

     Enough simplistic talking; it is time to get more complex. Carb complex that is! In the last post we discussed how our body’s process simple carbohydrates quickly; and also burns them quickly giving you a short sustainment of energy.  Complex carbohydrates are completely opposite. Our body processes the complex carbs more slowly giving us a longer sustainment of energy.

     The chart above that I got of the okloseweight.co.uk website list several foods that are naturally high in complex carbohydrates. These types of foods are the best method for getting your carbs. Unlike the simple carbs, these foods contain other nutrients such as fiber, vitamins, minerals, and protein. Generally speaking, people call the simple carbohydrates bad carbs and the complex carbohydrates good carbs. I am always a bit concerned when I hear of someone going on a carb free diet. Your body needs carbs to help create and maintain energy. Instead of omitting carbs completely, try cutting back making sure that the ones you are consuming are of the complex type or from fruit. Remember some simple carbs are ok in moderation (check my last post).

     A little side note, even though honey is considered a simple carbohydrate; it is a preferred sweetener over sugar. Honey has some nutrients in it where sugar does not. If possible try sweetening your food or drink with honey instead of sugar.

     So to bring the “Junk In Junk Out” series to a close, I found a short Youtube video by HealthiNation that does a great job summarizing what we have been talking about. It even gives a few bits of information that I did not touch. Check it out!

 

     Stay tuned for my next post. Hmmm …since we did a series on the mind, and just finished a series on a nutritional area; can you guess what the next series will be on? Sorry no hints ….just come back next week. However, we are well on our way to reaching our full potential!



 





Junk In Junk Out (Part Two)

            Last post we introduced importance #2 of reaching your full potential; what we put in our body. Let’s continue this topic by looking at some characteristics of unhealthy and healthy consumptions. First let’s take a look at the unhealthy side.

            For you calorie counting people out there (yes I am one too), just because you fell under your daily calorie goal does not necessarily mean it was successful. Let me explain. I use an application on my phone to record what I eat to help keep me accountable of my food and drink intake. I highly encourage some sort of accountability program (whether electronically or the paper method) because it really makes you aware of what and how much you put in your body. It is a good idea even for those of you that do not need to lose weight and want to focus on a healthier lifestyle. It is a great accomplishment staying under the calorie goal for the day; but what if half of what I ate was a donut, fast food, ice cream, and the majority of the fluids I drank were soda pops?  Then as I mentioned in my last post; there is a good chance I may feel sluggish. Although my energy level may spike momentarily; rest assured it will not last long.

 

                     

            But I stayed under my calorie goal for the day! I did do that but most of what I put in my body was simple carbohydrates (simple sugars). In my last post I mentioned that your body breaks down what you put in it and converts it to energy. Simple carbohydrates are easily broken down and quickly absorbed by your body but that energy does not last long. That is why when you eat a high sugary food or drink a large quantity of a sugary drink, you may feel peppy right away and then not long after you want to take a nap. In addition to the high sugar intake; where was the nutrition? Any protein? Any vitamins? Any minerals? These are essential for your body.  Some simple carbs do have additional nutrients in them but others do not. Check out the chart below that I got off the okloseweight.co.uk website:

                                              

                You can see our bodies do need simple carbs but the sources of the simple carbs are important.  Let’s be realistic here! Unless you are from another planet (even then I have my doubts) you will at times crave those sugary foods of little or no value.  At times you will break down and have them (I did today).  The key is not to give in every time you have those cravings; and eat more of the foods that have nutrients in them. Again, recording what you eat will aid in helping you keep track. So what do you think? Any comments? We are all here to learn from one another! Next post … COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES…STAY TUNED!

Junk In Junk Out!

      My last two posts concerning health and reaching your full potential dealt with the mind. Although I only scratched the surface of it, I feel it is time to move on to another area of importance.  Perhaps down the road we will touch more on the mind and positive thinking but let’s move on!  Hmmm …what do you think would be next in order of importance of taking care of yourself?  In my opinion, I believe next in line would be what we put into our bodies.

            To me, it is amazing that depending on what you eat or drink can affect your mood.  It took me a while to reach this point, but now when I eat a lot of junk food my body lets me know it.  Just the other day, I went out to eat and over did it eating at a buffet. Within just a short period, I felt tired and lethargic. Of course, this not only affected my energy level but also my mood.  I felt like I was just going through the motions of what I had to do for that day.  I am sure we all feel this way from time to time. Perhaps if not from unhealthy eating, then maybe when you are run down and sick? I am thankful that my body gives me these signs. It kind of like a check and balance system. Understanding your body and more importantly, LISTENING to your body will go a long way in how to improve your health.

                                               

                        Have you ever experienced the effects of driving a vehicle that has bad gas in the fuel tank?  Although it is the required fuel for your vehicle, it is bad fuel. Because of this bad fuel, your vehicle runs sluggish and may even stall on you.  Our bodies are the same way.  For the most part, whatever we eat or drink, our bodies will try to use it as fuel.  If it is healthy with nutrients, then your body will run stronger and longer. However if it is unhealthy, your body will run slower and with much shorter endurance. 

            So much to say in such short time! Stay tuned in and we will touch more on HEALTHY eating verse unhealthy eating!  Is this good medicine for you? It sure is for me! I know that this was no breakthrough post, but we all can use a reminder from time to time. Feel free to comment and share your experience. We all can LEARN from each other.         

Is Your Mind Trained ???? (Part Two)

 

 

          10 to the 2,400,000,000th power! Do you know what that number is? If you were to write out that number with zero's being 1 inch wide, you are looking at a strip of paper being 37,000 miles long. That number is how likely it would be to find someone exactly like you based on the DNA molecules. That is unique. YOU ARE UNIQUE!!! Since you are that unique, don't you really want to reach your full potential and fulfill your purpose in life? It is very likely no one else will fulfill that purpose. Reaching your full potential requires taking care of yourself and as stated in my last post, it all starts with your mind.   

            If you are anything like me, it does not take much for your mind to start stinking thinking. With all the negative around us, with the stress in the workplace or even at home, with the majority of the news on the television being negative, and often the financial struggles we face, it is no wonder why it feels like an uphill battle! So how can we get positive and better yet, stay positive? My answer to that is, surround yourself with positive!!

            Since negative appears to be naturally around us, it will take effort to surround yourself with positive.  The effort may seem overwhelming at first, but stay the path and eventually it will start becoming easier and easier (check out the saying on this blog about "sowing").  I asked a co-worker of mine today "How do you stay positive?”  His response was only be concerned about the things you can control and stop stressing about the things you can't control.  I think that is a very wise statement. I can't tell you how many times I got upset, worried, or stressed over something I could not change.

            We all have our own ways or techniques on becoming positive, but let me share some of mine. First off, I believe that if you start the day wrong than it will be more challenging to end the day strong. Start the day by doing something that lifts your spirits (reading, music, talking to a loved one, etc.). With me, I am a man of faith and I start the day with devotions and prayer.  Speak positive things in the morning and set the tone for the day.  Surround yourself with positive people, positive phrases/sayings, and put yourself in a positive atmosphere. If you want to be a success then learn from those that are successful. Lastly, before closing your eyes for the night, think of something positive. Don't allow the last thoughts of the day to be negative.

Check out Will Smith's perspective on life:

                                                          
Oh by the way that statistical opening in this post, I learned it from the book I recommended last post "The Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren.

http://purposedriven.com/books/pdlbook/#purpose

 

 Make A Great Day!!!