Today's I want to
talk about the journey to a healthy mind and body as we mature in years.
Yes as we age the body changes and let's face
it things go wrong.
We all pay for the choices
we made earlier in life either as a result of trauma
or through repetitive stress.
In my case I have experienced trauma and
repetitive injury due to both genetics and sports, and I can attest that
managing your health is a journey that requires action and attention.
It is important to
point out that we are all unique individuals and there is no norm when it comes
to individual journey's. That being true
I do believe there are extremes. On the
one side there is the individual that has a high metabolic rate and is highly
active all the way to the individual who engages in as little activity as
possible, oh and yes we all have experience the of the low energy/activity
individual who looks slim and fit. They
are the exception and not the rule.
Let me share with
you some of my journey. I was born with
a form or hyper-activity and as a result was a very active child growing up in
a family that valued home cooking and quite honestly could not afford to eat out. I was a skinny child and developed what I now
understand to be a very limiting belief that I could eat anything and
everything early in life and let's face it outwardly I could. I put on no weight but I did suffer from
stomach cramps that would double me over in pain. The cramps however where irregular and lasted
only for a short period and therefore could be put out of mind until they
happened. My wife will tell you I was
born with a bicycle attached and yes cycling has been a lifelong passion
inspired by my father. Along with many
other sports, I have always been active but in my late twenties despite regular
exercise I started to gain weight and the scary reality is that I did not
realize it as pretty much everyone was either the same or larger than me in my
perception.
If you asked me I
would joke about my belly and make comment about needing to lose a few pounds
and at times I would redouble my effort to increase exercise relying on the
belief I developed as a young man that I did exercise so that I could eat what
I wanted. Well with a career, the
ability to eat out and indulging in what I liked it was clear that exercise was
not getting the job done.
At 42 I had returned
to fitness and was very active at least 3-4 times a week but the weight would
not budge. I had secretly told myself by
40 I would have a six pack and look great.
Well 40 came and went, surprise no six pack. The next step was to get a personal trainer
and we trained, circuits, cardio and strength for an entire year and yes I got
stronger but no I did not "Shape Up".
The ah-ha moment can
during my last serious injury at the darkest moment when I had put more weight
on as a result of depression and comfort eating. It was at that point my wife put her study
into practice on me and we changed our diet.
Yes I said "Changed our Diet" not "We went on a
diet". We adopted what I refer to
as Primal+ as we do not always adhere to the rigger of Primal.
We hear it all the
time "You are what you eat" so why do we focus on exercise, because
it is external and easier to do. Working
hard and building up a sweat whilst it is tough is nowhere near as tough as giving
up that feeling our favorite comfort food gives us. We perceive eating differently as beyond
hard especially if you are in a household that is not supportive, it feels like
constant punishment and depravation.
The hard truth is
that what you eat affects your body in so much more than weight. Mother nature has been providing us with the
nutrition we need to sustain and heal our bodies since time began and for some
reason we believe we know better, I hate to tell you this but we don't. We isolate one thing for one result but the
body is a complex interrelation system that is so remarkable that it can deal
with toxins for years before the results manifest themselves, but they do
eventually. They manifest as we age as
the body can't deal with them anymore and they show up as inflammation, high
cholesterol, diabetes, irritable bowl and a host of other conditions including
obesity which is now considered a disease.
When we are young
and invincible we look into the future and our 40's and 50's seem so far away
and the price of "fun" today seems worth it, but once in our 40's and
50's the price seems less worth it as we struggle to be what we are in our minds. I for one refuse to accept that getting older
should compromise quality of life and limit us to the sidelines of the sport
that we loved or have dreamed of doing.
We can't always overcome wear and tear but we can chose to and believe
in the attainment of our optimal health and continue to do the things we love
long into old age.
Gaining optimal body
performance is a combination of diet and exercise. The diet we eat will determine our shape and
regulate the levels of acidity or alkalinity as well as many other factors. It is the diet that allowed me to lose the
weight I had been trying to lose for years.
Exercise is what is making me strong.
The exercise is stressing the body and old injuries and it becomes the
focus now that my weight is stabilized.
In closing I want to
address a statement I hear often and one I have used myself. "Don't worry about not losing weight you
are building muscle which is why it is not changing". For most of us and from personal experience
this is not a true statement. What it
means is you have plateaued and your body is balancing the input with the
output. At times like this turning up
the exercise will not achieve the goal, it is what is being consumed that needs
to be considered. Let's face it if
exercise was all that was needed why do you see large Iron Men/Women or Large
Marathon runners or (you pick a sport).
If you do anything
focus on becoming informed about what you eat, chose a lifestyle diet not a
diet of the moment and don't fall into the healthy food marketing trap, take
the harder path and know what you are eating and why. Enjoy your exercise in the knowledge that
what you eat is nourishing and balancing your body and what you do is making
you stronger. If you do these things you
will be well on your way to the body you desire.
I wish you every
success in your journey and I hope in some small way what I have shared and
written helps you as much as it has helped me.
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