Tag: nutrition

Stacking wins to feel better

Do you agree that if you eat healthier, you feel healthier? Or if you are already a healthy eater, would you agree that when you eat poorly, you feel worse?

The same thing can be said about any good decision – it puts you in a better mood and a better position to continue succeeding…take exercise habits, for example. You may not enjoy exercising, but once you finish working out, don’t you usually feel better? Don’t you feel like you’ve accomplished something? That doesn’t even Include the actual health benefits. You’re also likely to feel less stressed, sleep better, and have an improved mood.

I like to stack as many wins as I can to start my day. It gets me off on the right foot and makes me want to continue building momentum. To do this, the first thing I do is wake up early. When you wake up earlier, nobody is vying for your attention. You have time to yourself. You can choose to get ready for your day, you can read and try to improve your mind, you can practice deep breathing or meditate, you can pray…You can do so many things when you wake up early and, usually, it will decrease the stress in your life. By checking off all of those items that you wanted to get done, you would also decrease the anxiety that you may suffer from.

Healthspan vs lifespan

Work to improve your healthspan, not just your lifespan.

Why would you want to live to be 100 years old if your health was poor for the last 30 years of your life? Is it really considered “living” if you can’t do the things you want to do based on physical or mental limitations?

“Healthspan” can be defined as the period of one’s life that one is healthy. Focus on eating the right foods, exercising your mind and body regularly, stretching, breathing, drinking enough water, and getting enough sleep. And just as important as adding positive actions is removing negative ones too. There are things you can limit or avoid doing that can shorten your healthspan such as drinking too much alcohol, smoking, not wearing a seatbelt (if you get into an accident), over consuming food, etc.

Keep these things in mind everyday. Yes, you should enjoy yourself every now and then. And moderation goes a long way. But the more often you treat your current self, the more likely you are actually hurting your future self. Make conscious decisions on if your actions are worth the potential consequences.

Winning the day

Many people have heard of The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. I love that book and it helped to kickstart my career. But while that book focuses on starting your morning off right (which builds momentum to make your day right), I have a slight modification to it. The outline below helps to ensure that you are performing optimally throughout each day. Read below and let me know your thoughts!

1. Get your mind right

A) Pray / Be Grateful / Meditate

Wake up and be thankful for what you have – family, friends, health, shelter, technology, a career, etc. Whether you want to call this prayer, or if you want to call it a gratitude session doesn’t matter to me. The key is to focus on the positive things in your life. Whatever you focus on, you will begin to see more of it. So if you focus on death and despair, eventually you’ll become a “doom and gloom” person (which is why I absolutely do not waste my time watching the news).

Instead of saying, “I have to do X,” say, “I get to do X.” In theory, you don’t have to do anything, but you have been fortunate enough to be in the position of getting to do that thing. Even if that thing is getting up early to go work out, to get ready for work, to make a tough phone call, or to be up in the middle of the night changing a baby’s diaper. You are fortunate enough to have good health or work on improving yours, to have a job when so many are without one right now, to be in a position to help others even when they don’t want to hear it, or to have a baby of your own when others aren’t able to conceive and can’t afford to adopt. Change your mindset, change your life.

In regards to meditation, you can download apps like Calm or Headspace or you can just sit and focus on your breathing for 10 deep breaths. The whole point is to slow down. You don’t always need to be on the move! Sometimes slowing down and focusing on your breath is just the thing you need to get your mind right.

B) Review your goals.

If you want to go somewhere or do something, you have to keep the end goal in mind before taking action. Many of us have a vague idea of what we want to accomplish, but once the day starts we immediately go into reactive mode. Figure out what is the most important action step you can take TODAY to bring you closer to hitting your goal, then do it. Even if you only get one thing done today, make sure it is the most important thing that brings you closer to your goal.

Not sure where to start? Break it down into manageable chunks…your yearly goal(s) should be broken down into quarters, which should be broken down into months, which should be broken down into weeks, which should be broken down into days, which should be broken down to what you need to do right now.

C) Believe in yourself / Get motivated.

After reviewing your goals, read your affirmations. Review what you are capable of and read one motivational quote. Then count down. 3-2-1 go (do it). Visualize attaining your goals. What would that feel like?

D) Learn.

Read at least 10 minutes or 10 pages of a book each day, read one work-related article each day, and listen to one educational podcast each day.

E) Produce (write, draw, etc.)

Write something either in the form of journaling, a blog post, or contributing towards a book/e-book you’ve been planning on writing. If you have time or it brings you enjoyment, draw, color, or paint.

2. Get your body right.

A) Exercise.

Move your body for at least 30-minutes each day (cycle through strength, power, and conditioning programs while mixing in mobility, flexibility, and agility). For examples of this, you can follow me on Instagram (@Realtor_Caleb) where I post my daily workout.

B) Eat well.

No matter what you call yourself (vegan, vegetarian, omnivore, carnivore, etc) and no matter what “diet” you follow (if you follow one), we all know basically what we should and shouldn’t be eating. The key is to not keep the “bad” foods around the house, your work environment, etc. Avoid temptation. Don’t put yourself in compromising situations and you’ll do much better.

Another trick is to tell yourself that you’re not the kind of person who does/eats “X.” For example, “I don’t eat fast food.”

Lastly, set up rules for yourself. The rules can be anything you want. For example, “I will not eat after 8 p.m. or before 6 a.m.” or “I do not eat anything after I brush my teeth at night.” For the latter example, you can use it to your advantage by brushing your teeth earlier in the night to trigger the rule/stop eating.

C) Sleep well.

If you do many of the things above (eat well, exercise, and make progress towards accomplishing your goals), you’ll probably sleep pretty well at night. A couple of other tips include trying to stay away from screens an hour before bed (try reading instead), having a slightly cooler room, and installing black out curtains/sleeping in as dark a room as possible.

Exercise as medicine

Exercise is a preventative medicine. As is food and sleep…how you treat your body has a wholistic effect on the other aspects of your life.

When you feel good, you perform well. When you feel bad, you perform poorly.

Regularly exercising, eating well, and getting enough sleep are keys to feeling better about yourself. They give you confidence in how you look, they make you feel stronger, you’re less likely to get injured, and you’ll have more energy throughout the day. If you see other people when working out, it fills a relational gap that many people experience as well.

Everybody thinks of the physical benefits to your body when you work out and eat well, such as reducing your risk for developing type two diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and slowing down the aging process. But equally as important is how exercising and eating well can affect your attitude and mindset.

When you move with purpose, it does a couple of things for you. It releases endorphins, which make you feel good, and it gives you a sense of accomplishment, which also makes you feel good. Throw in the fact that those who exercise regularly are more resilient when facing challenges (they are used to doing something hard every day) and developing discipline (going/getting things done even when you don’t want to), which transfer over into your work life and personal life.

Fueling your body with the right nutrition is another key element to feeling good. Whether you’re trying to lose weight, get ready for beach season, or just want more energy/to feel healthier, having a diet that supports your body and your goals is important. Why sabotage yourself by fueling your body with ineffective “foods?”

The third physical element to feeling better is sleep. Sleeping helps to stave off colds, to let your mind think clearly, and to help your body recover from the workouts we mentioned above. You need a certain amount of sleep (quantity), but I feel that how much you get is less important than the quality that you get. I’d rather sleep straight through the night for 6 hours than have 8 hours of interrupted sleep all night. Naps are great, but not feasible for most (and this goes back to the quantity issue – naps should supplement your high quality sleep). Always go for quality over quantity.

Lastly, you need to support all three of these physical ways of improving your health by approaching each with a positive mindset. Your mind is so powerful and your body will often feel what your mind is telling it. So if you wake up and you think that you’re tired or sore, that you “hate” working out or that eating healthy “sucks,” all of it is affecting how you feel. You will be far less likely to continue eating correctly or exercising regularly if you have a negative attitude. And if you really do think that way, tell yourself otherwise. Lie to yourself until you feel good. Keep telling yourself how much you love working out, or that you enjoy the healthy food that is fueling your body, that you’re not tired. Don’t use excuses to fall back on bad habits. Exercise is medicine. So is nutrition. Use these to look, act, feel, and perform better. You won’t regret it.

Lastly, I’d like to leave you with a quote from Plato. He said, “Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” So, today, tomorrow, and most days for the rest of your life, go out and exercise, eat well, and get some sleep. You will be all the better for it.

Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.
“Lack of activity destroys the good condition of every human being, while movement and methodical physical exercise save it and preserve it.” – Plato

How to think about diet and exercise

For diet and exercise, don’t stress out if you don’t get everything you want done in a single day. Think about it in big picture terms. No single day is going to make or break you. It’s the accumulation of making the right decisions (good habits) that will get you to where you want to go.

When tracking what micronutrients you want to consume or what muscle groups you want to target, aim for a weekly average. Yes, you will need to break that down into what it equates to per day, but as long as you fit it in throughout the course of the week and you hit your weekly goals consistently, you should be ok.

Do what is manageable/sustainable for you and forgive yourself when you mess up. Instead of beating yourself up when missing a goal, get back on track as quickly as possible (with the next thing you eat or your next workout). Reduce barriers to what you want to achieve, develop good habits, and repeat.