Posts Tagged ‘holiday season’

Settling for Good Enough

December 14th, 2009

The other week, my girlfriend wrote a great post on the topic of being satisfied with being “healthy enough”. You can read it here. It’s a really great piece.

I’d like to follow up where she left off and continue the discussion mainly because my diet of late has not been the greatest. I guess my excuse is that it’s the holiday season and we’re surrounded by chocolates and other temptations.

Normally, my “moderation” mentality would kick and say “Ok, you’ve had a few chocolates, now it’s time for some greens.”

But it hasn’t recently.

I think part of the problem is that I’m settling for being healthy enough.

I don’t have any health issues. I still workout 6 days a week. And other than a slight drop in my energy levels, I feel “ok”.

But the reality is that that’s a real travesty!

And it’s not just me. There are millions of people who are going through the same thing. I’ve seen with my own eyes with thousands of personal clients that I’ve worked with.

But what really tears me up is that I KNOW how to eat well – yet I’m walking the talk right now. That’s an internal battle I deal with every day and it’s not a lot of fun.

I guess part of the problem is that I have very high standards for myself and if I’m not being congruent with those standards then I might as well as throw in towel – at least temporarily.

My subconscious knows that even if I don’t eat that great for a month or so, my body is resilient enough to withstand the “storm”.

That kind of belief can lead to serious problems. Settling for good enough, or healthy enough, if JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH!

I shouldn’t accept it and neither should you.

It’s really a dangerous place to be. Neither too healthy nor too unhealthy. Just smack in the middle. Riding the wave of mediocrity.

But that’s not what I’m all about. That’s not what Eating for Energy is all about. That’s not anyone is about.

It’s only by allowing ourselves to settle into poor habits that we begin to feel defeated and think “oh, what’s the point? I’m just going to fall back into my old habits anyway.”

We don’t chances because we fear failure. We don’t want to start eating healthy because if we were to slip back that would be terrible.

But I’m here to tell you (and myself) that eating well is not taking a risk. Sure there’s the temporary pain of removing your favourite addictive foods like coffee, chocolate, and many others, but the rewards are just too good to ignore.

So don’t settle for mediocrity. Don’t settle for “healthy” enough. If you don’t feel fantastic, then that’s not good enough!

How NOT to Eat – Lessons from Santa Claus

December 9th, 2009

santaThe other day, I had an awesome interview with the one and only Santa Claus. The reason for the interview was that I was wanted to know Santa’s fitness secrets that enabled him to rush around the globe in less than 24 hours while lugging around millions of gifts.

But even though Santa had some insightful fitness tips, today I want to use him as an example of how NOT to eat. After all, he may be fit but he’s certainly not a healthy weight. He even told me that his diet needed much improvement.

So let’s look at some of the reasons why Santa is still overweight despite being physically active.

1. Santa eats late at night

If there’s cardinal sin for losing weight, eating late at night may well take the cake (no pun intended). And Santa’s sneaky about too. When everyone’s asleep that’s when discretely makes his way into our home to get his milk and cookies.

I mean talk about a sneaky binger. And you add up the millions of homes he’s visiting each year (during just 24 hours) that’s a lot of cookies! No wonder he trains so hard during the remaining 364 days of the year.

If you want to lose weight, give yourself several hours to digest your last meal before going to bed. Ideally, this meal should be light and not heavily centered around sweets and carbohydrates, as these will get stored as fat if they are not burned before turning in for the night.

2. Santa may enjoy alcohol a little too much

Kids and Santa lovers – rest assured, I’m saying that Santa is an alcoholic, not at all.

But he comes from the north and we all know how Scandinavians and people from the north enjoy their drinks. Pardon the stereotype as pretty much all cultures enjoy drinking, but I’m half Danish so I can vouch from first hand experience from many a christmas gathering where the beer and schnapps flow like water.

Another indication that Santa may drink too much is that he has a red cheeks and a rosy nose. This could be caused by the cold weather but I suspect that years of drinking alcohol has also taken its toll as well.

On the skin, alcohol causes dilation of surface capillaries (tiny blood vessels), resulting in facial flushing and a pinkish-red hue to the cheeks.  With chronic use of alcohol, the face and nose will sustain flushing and appear red.

Plus, since each ounce of alcohol carries with it 7 calories, frequent alcohol consumption does not help in the battle of the bulge. A single glass of red wine has about 150 calories while a pint of beer has about 300 calories. These numbers can quickly add up, especially over the holiday season when drinking is part of the festivities.

3. Santa needs to eat more fruits and veggies

This is only an assumption but I take it that since he lives in a winter wonderland, Santa doesn’t get a regular supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. How could they possibly grow in permafrost anyway?

Because he most likely doesn’t eat many of the foods that provide so many antioxidants and other incredible nutrients, he must be filling himself up with something else.

Now we all know that it’s recommended to get in between 5-10 servings of fruits and veggies per day for optimal health, yet so few of us do. And even though Santa is a great icon of our culture, we shouldn’t look to him as an example of healthy eating.

But that’s not why we love him anyway, right.

=> CLICK HERE to eat exactly the opposite of Santa!