Do you have goals that you want to achieve in life?
I love goals because they give every day a
purpose. They give you a reason to get up in the morning but also a reason to
get excited for another day. I find it really important that in order to reduce
risk for disease, boost performance and to live a healthy and active quality life, we have to have
goals in the area of life, nutrition and fitness.
Goals are super simple to create in your mind but the doing is the hard part.
A common issue in our society is the tendency to skip steps when it comes to changing your lifestyle. You only get one life...why do we feel the need to rush it all the time?
For example:
There are very precise steps in making a Meringue topping.
Separate the eggs and place the whites in a large bowl. Let the egg whites stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before you start to make the meringue. (Egg whites that have been allowed to stand at room temperature beat to a greater volume than ones taken directly from the refrigerator.)
Add cream of tartar and vanilla before you begin beating the egg whites (cream of tartar helps stabilize the meringue).
Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. At this point, they will curl over when the beaters are lifted.
Add the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, while beating on high speed. The sugar must be added gradually as the egg whites are beaten to stiff peaks (tips stand straight). Adding the sugar too quickly will knock air out of the egg whites and make them difficult to mix thoroughly.
Continue beating on high speed until the sugar dissolves and stiff, glossy peaks form. When you lift the beaters, the tips will stand straight up. The mixture should also feel smooth when you rub it between your fingers; you shouldn't be able to feel any sugar granules
Quickly spread the meringue over the hot pie filling. Spread the meringue to the edge of the pastry to seal it and prevent it from shrinking when it bakes. The hot filling helps to cook the meringue from underneath and prevents weeping.
Curly peaks give a lovely texture to a meringue pie top. Use a spoon to swirl and twist the meringue.Bake the pie as directed until the meringue is a golden brown. Let the pie cool for an hour on a wire rack, and then refrigerate for 5 to 6 hours before serving.
As you can see, there is no rushing or skipping steps when you make a meringue topping. If you rush the process or skip steps, you have wasted a lot of time and money.
But in life, many people often try to skip steps when changing lifestyle habits. Jumping on quick fix diet trends or elimination diets, signing up for races without doing the prep work necessary or wanting to move up the corporate ladder without putting in the time or learning the critical skills to succeed.
So when you are bored, comparing yourself to others to feel vulnerable or frustrated with your body, I am sure it's easy to search for something better. Perhaps a quick fix to instantly make you feel better. But as we all know, quick fixes do not solve long term issues.
An athlete who signs up for a marathon 16 weeks down the road has plenty of time to build a strong foundation with his/her body and then gradual increase intensity to get faster before he/she goes longer. However, the athlete who is not motivated or struggles to find the time (or excitement) to train for the race may feel pressure with 4 weeks to go and then try to squeeze in too much, in too short of time. This ultimately creates haphazard training but also a body that is not prepared to sustain training stress or the racing distance. Sure, there may be the athlete who can pull this type of training off but we all know that short term changes and consistency bring long term, lasting results.
As a health professional,it is my goal to make
sure that my followers, athletes and fitness enthusiasts increase the odds of living a long active and healthy life. With
the top leading causes of death being heart disease, cancer and respiratory
disease, I want to help you live a healthier lifestyle.
Everyone has their
own definition of health . Healthy living, healthy body weight, healthy eating.
You may rank your health good at one time in your life and it may improve or
get worse at another time in life. So
when it comes to living a healthy life, there are a few things that you can do
to reduce the risk for disease and improve quality of life.
Eat a balanced,
varied, wholesome diet, exercise regularly, get good sleep, focus on stress
management, don’t smoke, get routine check-ups, and maintain a healthy weight.
Because “healthy
living” can be a bit overwhelming with all the information out there from TV,
magazines, doctors, research and “experts”, I am going to share my top three
ways that you can immediately improve your health. These are not temporary suggestions. The more often you can focus on these tips, the greater change you will improve your health and quality of life.
1) The first one is MOVE
YOUR BODY DAILY. Yes, getting to the gym or breaking a sweat is great and
training for and finishing a race can be a great accomplishment. But one thing
that we often forget that our body was designed to move and every time we move
our body we have the chance to improve our health.
I find many athletes who are training for races begin to get a bit "lazy" when it comes to daily activities that can help to burn calories (ex. if you are choosing training as a fun way to help you lose weight in a healthy way) or keep the body in good health (as we know, too much sitting can be a health problem). Rather than taking the stairs, parking far away or taking the dog for a long walk every evening, athletes often place too much focus on structured training and forget about the beauty of unstructured movement (and often times, athletes do not fuel properly to properly adapt to training stress in order to be consistent with training).
Did you know that if you
walk 3.5 miles per hour for 1 hour a day you can burn 225-265 calories? That
may sound like a lot all at once but how about if you only worked out 3 days a
week for 30 minutes to an hour (which is very doable for most people even with a super busy schedule) or stuck to your normal training plan for racing and then on
the other days you walked for up to hour throughout the day? In one week you
will not only burn over 1000 calories just from walking but you will also find
it a lot easier to stay consistent with exercise when you don’t take an all or
nothing approach to working out.
(certainly - this doesn't apply to athletes who are unable to keep on weight and should be applied on a case by case basis such as athletes peaking for a big race. I am not encouraging inactivity but my message is to move your body more for health purposes instead of seeing exercise as black or white - all or nothing. So next time you need a break from training or feel like you just don't have energy to workout, just move your body for a walk or do some yoga).
2) The 2nd tip is to EAT A MORE BALANCED DIET. Now this is where a lot of confusion occurs because what is a healthy diet? Without over thinking the topic, consider that real food is packed with vitamins and minerals and not wrapped with a fancy label telling you how healthy the food is.We want food that the body knows how to digest and absorb and contains the necessary nutrients that support optimal health and metabolism. By prioritizing a real food diet as often as possible, emphasize a plant strong diet filled with fruits, veggies, whole grains, heart healthy fats and quality protein. And don’t forget to stay hydrated with water thoughout the day. Keep in mind that food should energize you, satisfy you and nourish you so anytime you eat, keep in mind that you want to feel better after you eat then before.
3) My last tip is one of
my favorites and probably the most beneficial tips in creating a more healthy
lifestyle and that is SLEEP. Did you know that restless or inadequate sleep can
increase risk for Depression, weight gain, cravings, health problems (Heart disease, heart
failure, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes) , poor concentration, faster aging,
forgetfulness and can impair judgment. Try to aim for around 7-8 hours of sleep
most days per week. For many people, late night snacking, computer or TV are
the main reasons why people stay up late.
Hopefully these tips were not overwhelming. The key to making changes is to aim for progress and to create a positive environment for success.
Hopefully these tips were not overwhelming. The key to making changes is to aim for progress and to create a positive environment for success.
Create a plan as
to when you will workout, what you will eat for meals and when you will go to
bed for two weeks.
Two week is not that long to form habits but it is a manageable amount of time to be consistent.
This way you can make realistic changes and reflect on
what’s working or not working as you work hard to reach your goals and
hopefully live a more balanced, healthy and active lifestyle.
A few more pics from the event:
My talks always include samples of a Trimarni creation. YUM!
Goal sheets! What's the point of an action plan if you don't have goals?
Yummy! My Trimarni chiachoco heart healthy mix
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Changing some lifestyles.....