Category — Fitness

In today’s guest post, Daniel Max reminds us that we can take the emphasis off food by finding something that really engages us . . . .

***************************************************************

Do you remember being a child and getting so wrapped up in creative play that you didn’t want to stop when it was time to eat or left your meal half-finished to get back to your game? Children innately understand that food is secondary to what is most nutritious and primary in life: fun and play.

As adults we seem to have lost our instinct to prioritize play. In our busy world, with its emphasis on work and responsibility, in order to be healthy and balanced we must work on more than just our bodies; we must feed our hearts, minds and spirits.

When our body, mind and spirit are engaged in a creative project or happy relationships, our reliance on food may appear to decrease. Likewise, when unsatisfied with relationships, job or other areas of our life, we often depend on food to cheer, soothe or numb us. When our life is out of balance, no amount of food can feed us where we truly need nourishment. The food that we eat is very important for health and balance, but what really feeds us-a full and fulfilling life-doesn’t come on a plate.

Putting things that excite us on hold for the sake of responsibilities may at times be good logic yet we often make these decisions from a place of fear rather than good sense. “If I’ll lose weight, then I’ll start swimming/ buy new clothes/ start yoga….”   Let’s do the things we want to do NOW. Any statement containing “if I achieve__then I’d be happy” never holds truth and brings nothing but dissatisfaction. While our future goals are a motivation to better ourselves, they do not hold back our happiness. Finding a peaceful pleasure in our current state of being will motivate us to progress from a sense of ease. We stop working away from what we don’t want and work towards moving towards what we do want.

Create a positive attitude and wonderful environment around you and enjoy the process of becoming healthier and happier every step of the way!

Have fun. If going to the gym is a “chore” then try a yoga or dance class instead. Find a way to play while moving your body. If by deciding to eat healthy you are mostly focused on what to restrict, shift your focus to all the new foods and flavors you get to incorporate and explore.

What is fun for you? What makes you light up and excites you? Make time for it this week. Even if you don’t have much time for fun, try approaching a “serious” activity with an attitude of play. This can greatly reduce stress and anxiety and bring more pleasure to your day. Take your focus off food, try adding more fun into your life and watch the magic unfold. 

Daniel Max is a Nutrition and Health Counselor, Life & Wellness Coach, Massage Therapist specializing in Shiatsu, and a Yoga Instructor. Providing an integrative approach to naturally reclaim control of your health, Daniel offers an initial hour-long consultation. Gaining a greater perspective on your health, this session includes a full discussion of your health history and health goals, a chance to get your questions answered and establish your first steps in creating a personalized health program, completely catered toward your lifestyle and needs. Consultations are available either by phone or in person.  To Learn more about Daniel and his services, visit www.MaxSenseOfSelf.com.

© 2010, Semi-Sweet. All rights reserved.

Did you notice?  No post at 9 a.m. today?  I’d drafted a post about my newfound love, chia seeds, but somehow Wordpress had other ideas and deleted all but three lines . . . discovered this at 9 p.m. last night and was just too beat (L. up at 5 a.m., thank you time-change!) to regroup and redraft.  Lesson learned.

So this’ll have to be quick – I’ve got PT soon and a bunch of errands on tap today – I promise I’ll get back with a better thought-out post tomorrow!

I was p*ssed off this morning about the post, and had scheduled myself to ride the bike at the gym today (pool was closed, double grrr) . . . so what did I do?  I took out my anger on the bike (D. & L. will thank me later).  I have to say, it was one of the best rides I’ve had in a while, and that’s saying something since I ride the bike a lot. 

To what do I attribute my success this morning?  Two things – first, I got a great night’s sleep last night, so I was rested and strong.  Second, I decided to switch up my music today and cycle to a Podrunner mix.  You may remember this post on workout music, I mention the Podrunner mixes there.

Today’s mix was called “Upgrade*,” and it is a 140-170 BPM mix.  You can look it up in the archives that are right on the Podrunner home page.  This mix gradually increases in tempo as you get further through the hour.  It helped me go faster and longer today – I’ve figured out, finally, where to set my bike so that I can spin fast, with lower resistance, and still keep my heart rate in the zone . . . in the “old days,” before foot issues, I used to cycle with a lot more resistance, but at a slower RPM.  So actually now, the Podrunner mixes are even better for me than they were before!

I urge you to check ‘em out – you don’t need an iPod, just a MP3 player.  You can subscribe on the site and be up-to-date on the latest mixes (now bi-weekly due to budget issues), or if you do have an iPod, you can just subscribe and you’ll be scheduled to download new mixes as they become available. 

And if you like what you hear, do us all a favor and donate to Podrunner . . . they’re remarkably well-thought-out mixes for a fraction of what you’d pay to download and create your own playlist.

Happy sweatin’!

*P.S. Another one of my favorites is a 140 BPM mix called “Progressive.”

© 2009, Semi-Sweet. All rights reserved.