With the year rapidly coming to a close and the new year just around the corner have you slowed down long enough to invest a few minutes to appreciate the many magic moments in your life right now?
Right now is also a great time to think about whether it is better to focus on fitness or food first for a fantastic future.
During holiday seasons many people find themselves excessively over indulging in unhealthy beverages and foods. While the holidays are definitely a time to give thanks and celebrate the many blessings in our lives many people have lost sight of the true meaning and magic moments that the holiday season has to offer.
Eating until you are as stuffed as the turkey and drinking lots of holiday cheer is a proven recipe to pack on pounds and put excess toxins in you body. Then the New You looks in the mirror in the New Year and realizes what has happened to sabotage the body and mind again. Most people are determined to re-implement those same old New Year resolutions to get in shape and loose weight by exercising and going on a diet. Does this sound familiar?
Many articles, commercials and promotions will suggest you join a gym and go on a “Special Diet” to lose the belly fat and find your six pack abs with their special program. They are super confident they have the solutions to your problems and by beginning now you can find the New You in the New Year.
While it all sounds great and they may have some great information or not, the answer is maybe a bit less obvious than the diet and fitness industry will try to tell you. We hear a constant message promoting dozens of diets and how exercise is essential and fitness is fantastic to insure your health.
The First Step to Fitness
The key first step to great fitness, health and vitality is learning to identify and understand the synchronistic interrelations between your emotional, mental, physical and spiritual state of being. With total awareness and discipline regarding what you decide to put in your body you hold the key to your long term happiness, health and harmony.
Two universal laws determine your level of happiness and health … “You are what you think” and “You are what you eat”.
Discovering the proven principles for long term health will help you make better choices.
Since change is inevitable; the question is “will it lead to distress or progress”?
Even though we all know the profound and timeless wisdom of “you are what you eat” we are often easily distracted by the tantalizing sights, smells and tastes designed to seduce you into giving in to temptation. It is essential to master this area of your life before you focus on exercise since this is the driving force that fuels and maintains your body. Also exercise often triggers a desire to eat more in order to fuel the body.
There are many examples of people that were very fit but not very healthy and eventually their body began to break down and they became susceptible to illness and disease. Many super fit people have died form cancer, heart attack and stroke because they focused too much on fitness and looking good instead of eating healthy and building their wellness from the inside out.
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It is important to condition and train your body with exercise to:
- Build and maintain strong bones, joints and muscles
- Control your blood sugar and help prevent diabetes
- Create a strong cardio-vascular system (arteries, heart and veins)
- Develop endurance and stamina
- Enhance your flexibility and mobility
- Help maintain good alignment and posture
- Improve your agility, balance and stability
- Look fit, healthy and toned
- Prevent and protect against injuries
- Reduce stress, improve mental clarity and increase endorphins
- Support your lungs for sufficient oxygen delivery
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Importance of Your Food & Beverage Choices
However, what you drink and eat on a daily basis is even more important since it affects every cell in your body each and every day all day long.
When you consume unhealthy or toxic substances you will be harming every cell in your body. All the exercise in the world will not bring health to an unhealthy eater.
In fact poor nutrition is why most people become frustrated at some point and quit exercising. Nothing can impact your mental acuity, desire and will power quicker than harmful beverages or foods. Unhealthy choices also reduce your eagerness, energy and enthusiasm for exercise so it is quite obvious you must feed and fuel your body well for peak performance.
Optimal nutrition is the cornerstone for proper functioning of the bones, endocrine glands, muscles, nervous system, organs and skin so choose wisely. What you consume on a regular basis will determine your level of happiness, health and harmony.
Most diets and fitness programs do not emphasize the importance of living cuisine, natural nutrition and whole foods which are the highest priorities for great fitness, health and well being. Frequently these programs attempt to influence you to eat too little of the right foods and too much or the wrong foods which may help you with short term temporary improvements that rob you of your long term health and vitality.
When you focus on consuming great beverages and food that maintain your body, mind and spirit for peak performance and perfect health then you will find the desire, energy and endurance to exercise and maintain great health throughout a lifetime.
When you use common sense it is easy to realize that focusing on great food first is the most important first step for perfect health. Right now is a great time of the year to recommit to yourself that you deserve the best nutrition available. After reading this article and contemplating whether it is better to focus on fitness or food first for a fantastic future it is obvious to focus on great food and beverages first and exercise second.
Mastery Action Plan
Keep a diary of everything you eat or drink for 2 weeks during the holidays. Calculate how much water you drink compared to other beverages such as alcohol (beer, liquor and wine), coffee, fruit juices, ice tea, sodas and energy/ sport drinks which are unhealthy.
Yes most fruit juice is unhealthy since it is a concentrated sugar, usually pasteurized and without all the fruit fiber. You must consume enough water to keep your urine clear to slightly colored which is normally equal to about half your body weight in ounces per day.
Next calculate the amount of live food (raw or low temperature heated) that is rich with enzymes, fiber, minerals, phyto-nutrients, trace elements, vitamins and water.
It is best for these live foods to be 70% or more of your daily food intake. Minimize the amount of highly processed and refined foods consumed to less than 10% of daily intake. Once you have your nutrition plan in place go enjoy a variety of aerobic and anaerobic exercise.
Our blog post will share: New Year Values, Vision and Visualization
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