Whether it’s a physical structure or a living creature, it’s only as strong as its foundation. You wouldn’t buy a house with a crack in the foundation, would you? You wouldn’t put diesel fuel in a car that required regular gas, would you? You wouldn’t buy a broken down car and expect it to perform as a brand new car, would you?
So why are you doing these same types of things to yourself and expecting health?
People come to me asking for help for weight loss, helping them recover from a disc injury, adrenal fatigue, becoming stronger or anything that goes along for improving their current state of health, vitality, strength and/or stability. They seem disappointed that I go back to teaching the basics and don’t offer the quick fix or a magical pill.
So why is it that, it’s the simplest answer that seems to be the hardest to accept? But yet it’s the most effective!
1. THOUGHTS.
“You’re a living magnet and you inevitably attract into your life, the people, circumstances, ideas, andresources in harmony with your dominant thoughts.” (Brian Tracy, The Luck Factor), whether it be positive or negative. Start talking about what you do want instead of what you don’t want. Begin aligning your thoughts, words and actions with your goals this can begin to alleviate unwanted stress.
2. BREATHING.
More importantly this deals with where the breath is vs. deep breathing. Because of the our modernday work environment the majority of people have a forward head posture, rounded shoulders and rounded upper back. This posture encourages chest breathing which is a very stressful breath, this breath activates the sympathetic nervous system which is more commonly known as ‘fight or flight’ the modern day tiger chasing us is money.
3. HYDRATION.
We are 60-70% water, we are essentially an ocean. You have over thousands of biochemicalreactions happening in the body per second! Each reaction is 100% dependent on water! So when you deprive your body of water you deprive your body of energy and the systems within the body begin to slow down and you become sluggish. Systems such as your elimination, respiration, immune, etc…it’s a domino effect…you are system within a system.
4. SLEEP.
Your body needs rest in order to repair and to rejuvenate. If you’re sleeping between the hours of 10pm-2am your body is in physiological repair, this is when growth hormone is being released. And between the hours of 2am-6am the body is in psychological repair. Melatonin is also supposed to be peaking around this time, and melatonin is a powerful anti-oxidant. Lots of things disrupt sleep one of the biggest is blood sugar handling problems and a mind that is having trouble quieting down for the night.
5. NUTRITION - QUALITY VS QUANTITY
Each year the US sprays 1 billion pounds of pesticides on the soil that the plants absorbs each year, damaging the soils. Damaged soils produce damaged nutrient deficient plants which are then eaten by sick, drugged, mistreated animals which are then consumed by you. This in turn creates sick, drugged human beings. Organic foods are chemical free and nutrient dense and you will actually end up eating less.
Animals that are fed organic foods, get to roam, eat grass, and treated with love instead of anti-biotics/drugs are better for us as well. Healthy soils create healthy plants thus creating healthy animals and humans.
6. WORKING OUT VS WORKING IN
Many of us have been conditioned to think if you are not killing yourself in the gym that you’re not going to get into shape or get healthy. For most this is far from the truth.
Most people are so stressed from stinkin’ thinkin’, chest or mouth breathing, dehydrated, not getting enough rest and eating processed dead food that they don’t even have the energy to work ‘out’, they barely have the energy to live let alone add a workout to their schedule.
If your car is out of gas you wouldn’t continue to try and drive it and hope it won’t ruin the engine, would you? It’s the same thing. If you’re getting fatter and more tired from working at 90% intensity, maybe that’s not the route to go, you might as well go bang your head up against the wall and hope for a different result.
Sometimes the best thing to do is to back off and feel as though you hardly worked out at all, bring the intensity down to 50%. I do this a lot with my female clients and get amazing results. The body needs energy in order to expend it. Some people have to back off a bit to where there is an anabolic (building, repair) response vs. a catabolic (breakdown, destructive) response.