This is a blog about fitness: the new primary care. It starts with you.
In the modern world, self care is more important than ever. Overweight adult Americans will be at 75% of the country’s population by 2020 (CDC 2013). This is a national nightmare that we have yet to wake up from. At this rate, if we don’t snap out of it soon, we’ll all be struggling with our health in a matter of years. What kind of a life is that? I’m not suggesting you go on an all-out juice diet, or spend hours in a gym. I’m talking about your health: all of it, everything that you believe and do. I’m telling you that being strong physically carries over into everything else in your life. We’re going to talk about how you can find what works for you and re-define the terms “diet” and “exercise”. I’m going to guide you through the fitness forest and share with you ways to eat and move and take care of yourself that will leave you happier and more energetic in the moment. This isn’t about short-lived fads or unsustainable deprivation. You’re going to be empowered to attain and maintain your healthiest body forever.
Why haven’t we all been able to do this already? A major factor is the external world and its lack of support for healthy habits. The American environment today has changed radically in the last several decades along with the technological boom. The car, the TV, and the computer have created a world where we can easily sit over eight hours a day (in the car, at your desk, in the car, on the couch, repeat). Just a generation ago, this was unthinkable, and there were relatively few chronically overweight and ill Americans. Today, most of my clients fall into one of these categories when we talk for the first time:
A) Happy with their bodies, which are strong and capable, with plenty of energy to complete everything they want to accomplish in life and as clean a bill of health as possible
B) Approaching or in middle age and starting to notice weight gain and lack of energy; may have had blood work come back with newly diagnosed pre-diabetes or other concerning news
C) Dealing with significant weight gain or unhappy with their bodies, frequently sick and tired, on one or more prescription medications, and/or barely keeping it together with all of the tasks they need to complete in a given day
D) Suffering from one or more health conditions; having given up on ever attaining a healthy body or living the life they want and are coming to me in a last-ditch effort to get healthy and save their lives.
It’s time to exit the revolving door of weight ups and downs, forget needless “diet” deprivation and ditch the joyless drudgery of “exercise”. You will enjoy food, movement, and life by learning and using a few simple tools that I’m going to teach you. You’re going to use your external environment to engineer better health for yourself and those around you. You’re going to free your mind from the burden of never feeling thin enough, productive enough, or good enough and become your healthiest self (at every age). Keep reading and embrace the ideas and tools that you find here. Come with me and with dozens of clients that have successfully adapted their lifestyles for optimal health and happiness. I’m so excited to assist you along the way! You owe it to yourself to find your A game.
[Photo: Bamboo Forest; Maui, Hawaii]