Tag Archives: mind body and spirit

Eleven Reasons to Exercise Today

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What does optimal wellness mean to you?

To me, optimal wellness is feeling good—mind, body, and spirit. It’s being at the right body weight for me. It’s moving with ease, and being fit, strong, and lean. It’s allowing every cell in my body to thrive, and having a super-charged immune system and metabolism. It’s having every system in my body functioning properly. It’s nurturing my body’s own wellness abilities. It’s treating myself—and others—with love and respect. It’s experiencing habitual feelings of appreciation, eagerness, and joy. It’s a lasting state of well-being, and a confidence in Who I am and what I am capable of.

How important is eating healthy foods and moving your body to achieving optimal wellness? As I wrote in my blog yesterday, it’s pretty darn important to me.

But beyond my personal experience that I feel physically better and have increased physical energy when I regularly move my body, according research cited by Bill Phillips in his book Transformation, the health benefits of consistent exercise are staggering.

For instance, consistent exercise can:

  • Double survival rates of breast cancer patients, and can significantly reduce the chance of developing breast cancer in the first place.
  • Strengthen the body’s immune system.
  • Help relieve the symptoms of depression and anxiety.
  • Boost blood flow to the brain, which increases the energy of brain waves that are responsible for quick thinking, focus, creativity, and problem solving.
  • Prevent and treat osteoporosis.
  • Help manage diabetes.
  • Reduce the risk of addiction and relapse.
  • Slow premature aging of the skin.
  • Promote healthier digestion.
  • Reduce aches and pains.
  • Contribute to optimism and a positive mindset.

Study after study shows that exercise plays an important role in promoting sound physical and mental health and emotional well-being. If the benefits of exercise could be put in a pill, everyone would be taking it.

And what you eat is just as important. When you eat nutrient rich foods, your:

  • Mind becomes more alive, and you’re happier
  • Immune system is stronger
  • Body feels younger and healthier

No matter what your goal is, if you’re trying to create the life of your dreams, exercise and eating healthy foods might need to be a part of it. And if they’re not, why not?

Together we can do it!

Photo by Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Keeping Yourself on Track When You Have Been Less Than Perfect

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My eating has been less than perfect this week. It hasn’t been horrible, but it hasn’t been spot on, either.

What I love reflecting on is that in the fairly recent past, not being perfect would have meant giving up altogether. My thinking would have been along the lines of, “I’ve blown it,” followed by a lot of really harsh self-criticism that would have resulted in regaining the weight I had just lost.

That old negative, catabolic assault on my mind, body, and spirit felt terrible! It truly was verbal abuse inflicted on myself. I’m so glad I don’t do that anymore!

But this morning, I became aware of a slight undercurrent of catabolic thoughts and feelings (guilt) resulting from a few higher calorie food choices.

Since I am aware of it, I’m going to address it right here and right now.

The main thing I want to remind myself is that optimal wellness is about taking care of me for the long-run.

While I have set some goals for an 18-week transformation challenge, my wellness goals will not end there. I do not have to be perfect to meet my short and long-term goals. What matters most is that I am making progress, and I am definitely doing that.

Yesterday is done. Forget about it. Focus on the choices I am making today. Yes, this weekend will be challenging being with my folks, traveling, and it being my husband’s birthday, but I have the skills and determination to make the best possible choices—and still allow myself to have a good time and truly appreciate what I am eating. As Tony Horton says, “I will do my best and forget the rest.”

And I am doing a great job of getting my workouts in, and my slight splurges have not been nutritionally out there. It’s important to give myself credit where credit is due.

I definitely have the ability to make good decisions about what, when, and how much I am eating—and can follow through with those decisions. One thing I know for sure is that consistently making those small decisions to eat healthy foods and move my body pays off so much. There is not much I love more than physically feeling good and being in alignment mind, body, and spirit.

After this little talk, I feel a huge surge of anabolic energy that I can use to help stay on track this weekend. If I am less than perfect, what’s important is to be aware of and minimize the catabolic self-talk.

Paying attention to my thoughts impacts my feelings, which absolutely results in actions that are either taking me towards my goals or away from them.

Has this example of my internal dialogue been helpful for you? What are the things you do to get yourself back on track when you have been less than perfect? How does that help you reach your goals?

Together we can do it!

 

 

Photo by Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net