CHAPTER 1
Let's start your journey ...
"Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
1. Although it's great to have role models on your path to health, remember that they may have started from a different place. If you can find someone who has been where you are, see if you can find a Biography or Autobiography about them. Start reading the book. Start today & just work on improving a little bit at a time.
2. Drink more water (add one 8 oz. glass weekly to your daily intake until you are up to 8 - 12 glasses per day) – more when you exercise!
3. Eat one more piece of fruit today.
4. Eat one more vegetable today.
5. Move for 5 minutes more today than yesterday.
6. Cut down on sugary products.
7. Read labels on your food.
"Always bear in mind that your resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing."
Abraham Lincoln
8. Cut down on salt today.
9. Men: if your lower back is achey or keeps going out, consider moving your wallet out of your back pocket while sitting. Maybe you can use the inside pocket of your jacket.
10. Ask yourself why you want to change. Is it for you or someone else?
11. Drink one less sugary drink today.
12. Keep a food diary (including how you FEEL when you put something in your mouth.)
13. If you exercise for a long period of time (over 1 hour,) make sure that you have ample fuel. Fuel = water, electrolyte beverage & food (if hot weather, stick to beverages; if colder, add more solid fuel (energy bars or PB&J sandwiches.))
14. Feeling hungry? Drink a full 8oz. glass of water and wait 15 minutes to see if you still are.
"Great things are done by a series of small things brought together."
Vincent Van Gogh
15. Eat a big salad first with your meal.
16. While dining out, ask the server to put half of your meal in a to go box before it is served.
17. Are you at Happy Hour & can't find anything healthy? Look at the ingredients on the menu & ask if they can make a salad from them with protein on it.
18. Try a piece of fruit and a small handful of nuts for a snack between meals.
19. Drink one LESS glass of soda pop today.
20. Decrease the amounts of grains in your diet today.
21. A good nights sleep is key ... have a set routine you do before going to bed each night & it will signal your brain to comply.
"We change when the pain to change is less than the pain to remain as we are."
Ed Foreman, U.S. Congressman (Ret.) Texas & New Mexico, Author, Speaker, Entrepreneur
22. Put on your favorite song and dance.
23. Walk around the block (if it's not safe to be outside, walk 5 – 10 minutes inside your home.)
24. When walking, swing your arms.
25. Take the dog for a walk (or a neighbor's dog.)
26. Position yourself 2 inches forward on your chair & use your abdominal muscles to keep your back straight instead of the chair back. (Start with 10-15 minutes a day and work your way up to more time each day.)
27. Wake up 15 minutes earlier (and exercise.)
28. Do not compare yourself with someone else ... only track your progress. Each person has a different body with different levels of hormones & toxins in it. Just try to be a little bit better today than you were yesterday.
"Life is not merely being alive, but being well."
Marcus Valerius Martialis
29. Pull your belly button toward your spine (using only the tummy muscles.)
30. Don't add salt at the table.
31. Going out with friends and plan on drinking? Drink one glass of water between each alcoholic beverage.
32. Coming back after an injury has healed? Start out easy & work your way up slowly. You will get your fitness levels back. Hint: watch the calories you take in. Don't eat as much if you are not burning the calories.
33. Write down 5 things you are grateful for before bed.
34. Go outside and actually smell the roses (or another flower.)
35. If you smoke, smoke one less today.
"The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts."BLD
Marcus Aurelius
36. Put the remote on a table across the room from your chair so you have to get up and go get it to change the channel or volume.
37. Make healthier choices when ordering out (i.e. salad with chicken.)
38. Breathe in ... deep ... fill up the lungs, starting with the belly, expand the ribs, then the shoulders come up ... then exhale. Repeat at least 3-10 times.
39. If you have a realistic goal of someone's body you'd like to look like, get their picture, cut & paste your head on it & put it on your dream board.
40. Park at the farthest spot in the parking lot.
41. If you'd like to try a healthy dessert, consider cinnamon on a baked apple or sweet potato.
42. Choose Organic over traditional (hint: in season is cheaper.)
"In health there is freedom. Health is the first of all liberties."
Henri Frederic Amiel
43. Company or club potluck? Bring something healthy & take bigger portions of healthy stuff. Take small tablespoon size tastes of not-so-healthy foods.
44. Bring workout clothes to work (so you are ready at the end of the day.)
45. Have a protein snack after your workout to rebuild the body.
46. How do Supermodels stay in their skinny jeans? When the jeans get snug, they eat a little bit less.
47. It's okay to leave something on your plate (or Fedex the leftovers to China.)
48. There are a few reasons to drink sparkling water at the holiday parties: no DUI, not making a fool of yourself, watching others acting stupid & no liquid calories.
49. Keep chemicals like Magnesium Stearate, Stearic Acid and Talc OUT of your supplements and products.
"Your aim should be to do what you can with what you have."
Theodore Roosevelt
50. Need a fitness goal? Sign up for a race and train for it.
51. Read labels on the hair and body products that you use. (Chemicals to avoid: see appendix D.)
52. Make your goals easy to attain so that you set yourself up for success!
53. Challenge yourself and see how many days you can go without your favorite guilty pleasure food. If it's not one month, try one week; if it's not one week, try one day; if not one day, try one hour ... then try to increase it each try.
54. If you falter one day, just pick up where you left off. It's just one day.
55. Try the 80/20 Rule – eat healthy 80% of the time and allow yourself not so good foods 20% of the time.
56. Take a Multi-Vitamin (especially if you are on a diet.)
"Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willingness is not enough, we must do."
Johann von Goethe
57. When moving heavier objects at home, protect your back by...
