JANUARY CHALLENGE!

Start your new year with good health and fitness!  Over the next 12 months I will offer 12 challenges designed to help you make small improvements in your mind, body, and spirit for lifelong health.

The purpose of each challenge is to simply increase your awareness of your healthy, or unhealthy, food choices and exercise habits. Every decision and every movement you make is driven by both conscious and subconscious triggers. How often do think about the “why” behind your decisions of when and what to eat or how you exercise.

Many of us are multi-taskers, juggling our time between work, school, parenthood, and life in general. But what really happens when we juggle all these obligations? We tend to neglect our health, mindlessly eat, skip the workout, or just go through the motions at the gym. It is impossible to care for yourself if you don’t take time to listen to your body.

And that’s your January challenge! LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!

·         Acknowledge your hunger! Know when you are truly hungry and when you are full. Grazing all day when you are not hungry or starving yourself to lose weight will never lead to a healthy relationship with food.

·         Take the power away from food! There are very few truly BAD foods and no PERFECT food. Food can be pleasurable, but it also needs to power the phenomenal engine that is your body. Eat a variety of foods to meet all of your nutritional needs.

·         Respect your body! You were born with a specific genetic code giving you a unique body type. There are always ways to make improvements and changes to it, but respect the one you were blessed with and make it the best it can be.

·         Honor your health! Make choices that honor your overall health. There are many fit people who are not healthy! Make conscious choices in what you eat and do exercises that will help make you feel better. The goal is to feel good and to have the mental and physical ability to do the activities you choose to do. You do not need to be perfect. You will not suddenly be nutrient deficient or gain weight from one snack, one meal, or one day of less than healthy eating. Missing a workout or two will not cause your body to become weak.  It is consistency over time that matters.

Life is a marathon, not a sprint! Good luck with January’s challenge!