Lifestyle-related Chronic Diseases

"Of the one trillion dollars America spends annually on health care, the CDC estimates that 70% of that is spent on lifestyle-related chronic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease.  A surprising number of people accept all this as a normal part of life, believing that some of us are just fortunate to have "good genes" and the rest must cross their fingers against bad luck...The story is sad, but the good news is that your destiny for the most part is in your hands."  -  Mark Sisson

While working on my degree, I read this over and over, and it's true!  Most of the health issues we see today, are related to our lifestyles.  If we can change our lifestyles, these diseases won't be so prevalent.  According to the above statistic, Americans are digging their graves one spoonful at a time.  Are you?

Day 6 - Quote

WORKOUT

Elliptical Trainer: 30 minutes @ level 10

100 Push-up workout: Week 1 Day 3 ( push-ups)

"Perfection is impossible.  However, striving for perfection is not.  Do the best you can under the conditions that exist.  That is what counts."  
--John Wooden

I am a perfectionist, and my perfectionism has always messed me up in my past weight loss efforts.  "I messed up today/week/month, so I may as well splurge until the end of the day and start over tomorrow/next week/month."  


The journey is successful when we show understanding and forgiveness to ourselves along the way. 

Day 4 - A POSITIVE ATTITUDE IS A MUST IN LIFE

WORKOUT

Elliptical Trainer: 30 minutes @ level 10

100 Push-up workout: Week 1 Day 2 (50 push-ups)


With a positive attitude, you can accomplish ANYTHING in life.  With a positive attitude, all things are made possible and nothing can get in your way because when something does cross your path, your attitude will help you to simply walk around it.  


How do you create a positive attitude?  You make the decision to be positive.  It's that simple, trust me.  If you go into the worst of situations with the attitude that you are going to 1. get through it 2. find whatever shred of positivity that lies within that situation and 3. keep trying until you find that positive, you will come out of the situation with some experience and the proof that you can get through anything.  The more often you do this, the easier it gets until being positive is second nature.


When it comes to creating a healthy lifestyle, you have to be positive.  We live at a time where a healthy lifestyle isn't going to find us unless we work at it and hunt it down.  Health doesn't accidently find us, neither does illness.  If we go into our journey with an attitude that is positive, we will be more forgiving of ourselves and we will continue to press forward even when it gets difficult. Life is always easier with a positive attitude.

Day 3 - KEEPING THE FOCUS, REACHING THE GOAL

WORKOUT

Elliptical Trainer: 30 minutes @ level 10

YES!  I am feeling like I am getting back into focus!!  What a great feeling!!  It's virtually impossible to create lasting change in your life if you lack the focus.  I think it's one of the biggest reasons we stop working towards our goals in the first place.  


So what does it take to keep the focus?  
A plan that will work for you. 


What kind of plan works for you?  
One that not only fits into your particular lifestyle, but that is also exciting for you to do.


If you create the "perfect" plan for yourself, and it becomes boring, you need to make a new plan because you aren't going to stick with it if you don't.  Make a plan that is also adjustable, because life changes, seasons change.  


It took me decades to finally get it.  For years I would make goals, barely getting started and then something would come up and I would stop.  Time after time this happened until I got to a point where I didn't make goals anymore.  I would shy away from any and all goals and felt that goal setting just wasn't for me.  "Goals are great, and they work for others, just not for me."  Ever think that?  


Now, I know that the plan you start with, isn't necessarily the plan you stick with until the end.   You have to adjust it depending on your life circumstances.  If you do this, nothing will stop you from achieving your goal, no matter what it is.


My current plan:


Push-ups 3X/Week - using 100 push-up app on iPhone.  (This makes it so much fun to do-but you can also use the site if you don't have one)


Daily workout on an Elliptical Trainer - I used to think that TV was a great thing to occupy my brain while exercising, and it used to be.  But now, it's all about a great book!  


The book I am currently re-reading is Bran Hambric: The Farfield Curse by Kaleb Nation.  (I sometimes find that when I read a book super fast the first time, I miss a lot of the minor details.  Going back and re-reading, especially if it's been awhile since the first read, makes the book even better the second time around because you find all those details you missed---making the workout go even faster.  Harry Potter is next unless I find a really good book to gobble...)  With reading, I up the resistance and go a little slower but stay on a little longer and I end up with a great cardio workout with a muscle toning op.


I also plan on adding the Kettle Bell again once I adjust to what I am doing.  Summer is coming and I want to get that "after" picture before looking for a suit.  

Day 2 - A NEW CHALLENGE

WORKOUT
Elliptical Trainer: 30 minutes @ level 10
100 Push-up workout: Week 1 Day 1 (45 push-ups)

In efforts to get that "after" photo, I need to set up some goals to get me there.  Last year I was loosing weight (40 pounds total) and I took my photo in July.  I haven't taken any more photos because nothing has really changed since then, I have been maintaining for the most part.  I did gain a couple of pounds at Christmas that are still lingering (dang stress).  But they won't be lingering for long.

I started the day today doing my push-ups.  I decided to go back and start with Week 1 Day 1 doing MANLY push-ups.  What a difference form makes when doing push ups!  Don't get me wrong, girly push-ups are great and your arms and back do get a workout!!  If it's the only way to do a push-up, then do it girly style!!  But if you can, go all out and do regular push-ups, it makes a big difference.

I never really thought there was a big difference between the two styles in regards to the benefit your arms are getting.  With this thought, I figured if I could do more with girl style push ups, my arms would benefit greater.  For the most part, they do.  But if you want to really get your tummy and for the most part, involve your entire body, use the standard push-up method.  I am converted!  The only way I can compare the two is that girly push-ups are like riding a bike with training wheels, standard push-ups are like riding without.  Both get you on the bike so you can ride it around and enjoy the ride, but only one is using your entire body to keep the bike from falling.

So yesterday marked a new challenge although it's not a new idea for me.  Last year I did the 365 days of working out and accomplishing such a goal taught me so much about goal setting.  It's really the only goal I was able to finish entirely on my own merit that I can remember.  This year I decided I would still work out every day, but I would skip Sunday's since they are my Sabbath Day and it just seems weird to me to workout after going to church.

I started off this year doing exactly as I planned, but as soon as a virus snuck up on me, I decided to amend the challenge to include taking days off for illness, which is a good reason.  Although I have regularly been working out, I have had a few days where I COMPLETELY FORGOT TO WORKOUT!!  This is NOT a good sign because that is the beginning of the end! How often have I set a workout goal, got sick for a week and then forgot the goal.  Then one day gets forgotten, then another, and then before you know it, you aren't working out regularly any more!

So today is the second day of working 365 days in a row. Although I still want to keep Sunday's special, I'll probably just do something different and lighter than what I do the rest of the week.  I also plan on getting a little more creative in the kitchen, to keep things exciting!

**Update-I started this new 365 day goal on March 1, but began the push-ups on day 2 thus throwing myself off and having this post originally stated as being day 1.)

Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson

My husband has a lot of allergies and he's been researching different things to find a way to alleviate them.  He came across the Paleolithic way of eating.  It's nothing new, and several authors have written about it.  Ben has read Primal Blueprint and has been making diet changes to follow this sort eating lifestyle.  (I'll encourage him to blog about it so you can hear about his experience personally)

I love learning about nutrition!  Our Standard American Diet (SAD) is certainly sad and I am always interested in learning new ways to better our lifestyle.  I am feeding a small army here in my home and if we can raise them to be adults that will take care of their bodies and not become some sort of dietary statistic, I will feel like we contributed something good in this world.

I understand the premise of a paleolithic diet.  Eat foods that are unadulterated and unprocessed.  Eat them in their original form to maximize the nutrition they contain.  I get it.  But I am very interested to read the science behind this sort of lifestyle, how it can improve someone who has physical issues.  So this is something I am looking forward to read and I am sure I will share some exciting findings along the way.

Push Up Update

So I was chuggin' along doing my push-up routine when week 4 hit.  (Week 4 is grueling!)  Between joint pain from doing 120 or so push-ups over 5 sets and a funky virus setting in, I was having a hard time.  Maybe the joint pain was from the virus??

Anyway, after a little beef about doing them "girly style" I have decided to do the challenge from the beginning with MANLY push-ups!   I did the repeat "Initial test" and ended up doing half as many as I did when I did the test girly style.  Honestly, I was surprised-I thought I would have done less!!  What a difference it makes when you take your knees off the floor.  I liked how I could REALLY feel it in my stomach.  I could feel it in my stomach before, but not quite this much.

So I am adjusting my older adventure and creating a new one in the process. We'll see what happens after a 3 week break and during week 4 of the program this time around.

The One Hundred Push Up site has a really great break down on training  and the iPhone app for it is AMAZING!  If you have an iPhone/iPod and you want to take this challenge, invest the $1.99 to get the app.  It's worth it!

New Salad Recipe

 

We tried a WONDERFUL new recipe the other night. It's called Ultimate Chicken and we all loved it!! Packed full of flavor and is very filling for a salad.

During the winter I have a hard time finding the desire to make a salad. I do enjoy eating salad during the winter, I am just not craving it enough to motivate myself to make one. During the summer, I feel completely opposite with cravings of fresh veggies and light salads. 


With winter's cold days I like to eat starchy veggies, warm soups, casseroles  and such. But when spring starts to peek into the afternoon window, I find myself craving yummy, dense salads. This salad satisfied the craving with it's savory cooked celery, shallots and apple slices on top of a fresh bed of crunchy, baby spinach all drizzled with creamy dressing.

Week 4 Day 1

Wow! This push-up challenge is getting....challenging! Last night I barely did it. My arms hurt. My joints ached. It's a great feeling to finish what you started.

I took a few extra days of rest knowing that it was going to get harder. I thought it would help, but I am not sure it did. I will find out tomorrow, with a 1 day rest which is better for my body right now.

I don't want to injure or over work any part of my body where I wouldn't be able to carry on with the challenge. This morning, my shoulder joints were a little crampy. I hope I am not too old for such a challenge. (I know I'm not, plenty of decade older individuals can do pretty much whatever they want with their bodies when it comes to exercise) but I am certainly starting to feel older.

Your body always has a way of reminding you that you aren't 17. Luckily, if we listen to our bodies, and take things slow, we can strengthen them and stretch them how we need to. Aging doesn't mean a thing if you are willing to take care of yourself though diet and exercise on a regular basis. You really are only as old as you allow yourself to be.

Life is ALL about choices!

It certainly is, isn't it?  Should I workout today or wait until tomorrow?  Should I eat this apple or dive into that cookie?  Should I make good choices or bad choices?  Am I going to start today and do what I need to do to feel good or should I wait until tomorrow or Monday?  Life is about choices, always has been, always will be.

I have always been a black and white person, all or nothing.  Mediocracy and the grey area have never been in my nature.  Although in some areas this might be good, I am finding that it doesn't apply to everything.

In efforts to loose the last bit of weight and to create a lifestyle the invites health, I have learned that it can't be taken with an all or nothing attitude.  While an "all" attitude gets your workouts in and has you eating healthy and doing healthy behaviors, a person can burn out and can find themselves in the "nothing" attitude.  This attitude will undo all the good you did when you were doing the "all."  It creates a yo-yo of your life.  I spent well over a decade with this type of outlook.  I gained a lot more then I ever lost with this outlook as well.  All or nothing hasn't worked at all for me in my weight loss journey.

What I have found that has caused success isn't mediocracy either.  I never thought that I was living in the "gray area" either, I have realized that I HAVE been.  I have been doing well with the exercise and for the most part I have been eating well, but I need to do better.  Being in the grey area of things leaves you wanting to do better.  So in pondering recently, the thought of choices has become apparent.  You can be having a challenging day and you just want to do nothing at the end of it.  But here lies a choice.  Do you continue doing nothing being engulfed by the challenge of the day, or do you make a choice to do something else, something that gets you closer to your life's goals?  For instance, at the end of a day where the kids have been challenging, the house is a mess and I just want to do nothing, I have a choice.  Do I just sit on the couch and watch TV or get lost in a book and "relax" or do I do something that has me going to bed one step closer to my desired lifestyle?  I have the choice to workout and know I did something to get me closer to the goal of the lifestyle I want to create.  Nevermind that I didn't eat as well as I would have liked, or that I didn't fold the laundry or get some computer work done, I made the choice and worked out.  In that moment of decision, I decided to make a choice that brought me closer, not farther from my goals.

In life so often we are a victim of circumstance.  We just go through life and blame the things around us for not being or doing the things we want.  "I am too busy to focus on myself."  "If only I had more time." "If I had more money, time, health, space, happiness..." You fill in the blank.  This is easy to do and to get caught up in.  In life, I have learned, that you need to make the decision and then to make the choices that follow that decision.  It's our human nature to also sabotage ourselves.  We get used to a certain thing a certain schedule and we sabotage ourselves out of fear of what we could have. If you want something for yourself, you need to fight for it.  If you don't, you'll probably never achieve it.  In my life, if I want to have the lifestyle in which I dream of, it's not going to be handed to me and it's certainly not going to be easy or I would be living it right now.  I am going to have to fight for it.  I will have to make choices that bring me closer and avoid the ones that bring be farther.  We aren't stagnant in our lives.  We are either moving towards our goal or away from it, and it's always by choice.  If we are in a place we don't want to be, it's because we have chosen to be there through the choices we have made.

With this in mind, I find myself making better chioces.  By knowing that in every choice I am either getting closer or farther from my goal I must remember the decision I have made.  The decision to make choices that will bring me closer to my lifestyle goal.  Since I have made this decision to get closer to my goal, the choices will eventually get easier simply by the practice of doing so.  If I find a choice that is challenging, I will have to fight to achieve my goal.  The achievement of goals in life is not given, or stumbled across by accident, they are fought for.