The holidays are long over. Around this time of year many of us wonder what happened to our New Year’s resolutions to eat better and stick to an exercise program. Lucky for us it’s summertime, and it’s easier than ever to step outside, soak in some rays, and easily get right back on track doing our favorite activities. What’s yours? Hike, run, swim, camp, horseback ride? Take advantage of the long, warm days to get inspired in establishing a healthy fitness routine. Summer is an ideal time to naturally become more active.
Exercise. It’s a word many of us dread hearing or – even worse – doing. But it is one of the main keys in losing or maintaining weight. In fact exercise is so important to health that it would be the number one “drug” prescribed by many doctors if it were a pill. Exercise makes you sleep better, look better, makes sex better, and increases your chances of living longer. Still not convinced? Soldier on…
In January, fitness clubs are packed and gym memberships go up. The enthusiasm usually lasts for a couple of months until people realize that exercising and eating right take on-going work, discipline, and routine. Those aren’t exactly inspiring words let alone motivating factors when it comes to getting and staying healthy. When it comes to our personal lives, most of us operate on inspiration, not the promise of perspiration.
The key to sticking to an exercise plan then is to find something – anything – which you actually enjoy and look forward to doing. Yet some of us have an aversion just to the word exercise, let alone doing the deed. A better word is move. Just move as much as you can everyday, doing things you like to do. Think outside the box. For example if you love shopping, go walk around the mall as much as you can every day and only occasionally stop in a shop you can’t resist. This is called mall walking and is a popular way to exercise, especially in the early mornings before the stores open. Find a park, and go play with a frisbee. Or open your front door, and start walking. Your life is calling…
If you love dogs, take your dog out every day, twice a day. If you love to dance, turn on some music and dance around your living room, or enroll in a ballroom class, or salsa, or hip-hop. It doesn’t matter if you look or feel like a dancing fool. Everyone is a dancing fool, and you’re saving your life and having fun too no matter how goofy you feel.
There is always a way to find a way to move: gardening, swimming, martial arts, boxing, walking, housecleaning, bowling, roller-skating, etc. Find it, do it, and before you know it, you might become addicted to the way exercise makes you feel and look. And, by the way, you get to eat a ton more of food, or at least, more food, because your metabolism is elevated and you have more muscle mass. More food…motivated yet?
Diet is the other word most of us dread. It’s no wonder. No one wants be hungry. It’s in our biology to satisfy our hunger – now! – when we feel it. And if we wait too long to eat, it’s often sweets we go for. Raising and maintaining blood sugar shouldn’t be a roller coaster ride though. Along with exercise, which is non-negotiable to weight loss, how we eat makes all the difference in whether or not we lose weight. In order to have healthy, even blood sugar levels, you need to cut back or eliminate processed carbohydrates (like white flour, sugar, etc), and you should be emphasizing whole grains, whole fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats. So where’s the inspiration, the thing that actually makes us eat this way?
Eating right affects our moods, especially long-term. Eating right also affects how quickly we lose weight. This information might inspire some of us. Here’s one new piece of information that might inspire a whole bunch of us. There’s a new ally in the mainstream marketplace (and, no, I don’t mean “Alli”). It’s called stevia. Stevia is a naturally sweet herb that’s been around forever and is 50 to 400 times sweeter than sugar depending on how it is processed. It’s all natural and has no damaging side effects like artificial sweeteners and, most importantly, no calories. You can bake with it, put it in your morning coffee or tea, or make smoothies with it. You can use it in main courses and in ice cream. You can use it anyway you would use sugar but it won’t have a negative impact on your weight and it might even help you lose weight.
Stevia was never able to be marketed as a sweetener in the past due to sugar and FDA politics, but it is now available in mainstream grocery stores as well as natural foods stores. You can also now find it in coffee shops as well as in restaurants and cafes. It’s been used very successfully in Japan. The Japanese had a very strict policy about phasing out chemicals in their food supply. They introduced stevia in 1970 and by the late 80’s it was extremely popular as a tabletop sweetener.
As many of us know, the Japanese have one of the healthiest diets in the world – consisting of rice, steamed vegetables, seaweed, and fish – and the additional use of stevia is very likely part of the overall picture of good health in that country. There are many stevia products available in liquid and powdered form: Truvia, Stevia In The Raw (from the makers of Sugar In The Raw) NuStevia, and SweetLeaf are a few of them.
It can be hard to lose weight. But knowledge is power, and creativity and inspiration are power too. There is always a way to get inspired to get healthy. Find what works for you. Talk to a friend and make a pact to do it all together. Take a goofy dance class or a cooking class. Get a dog and walk your dog. Try an early morning yoga class either in person, or on TV. Try some new foods like stevia. Before you know it, you just might be hooked and lo and behold you will have lost weight without even really thinking about it.
be well,
Exercise can seem like a joke for the first few weeks after having a baby. But when it's the right time, exercise will become one of your best allies for weight loss.
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