Wouldn’t It Be Great If Our Bodies Came with a Health Manual?

It is the start of a new year and this year you have promised yourself that you are going to make your health a top priority.

While you may not be guilty of any serious health infractions (such as smoking or drinking), you know that there is still room for improvement. You can tweak this and tweak this until you know that you have your health on the right track. But wouldn’t it be amazing, and so much simpler, if our bodies came with a manual, in much the same way as our cars and our new appliances do?

The human body is amazing in its ability to heal and to deal with the daily abuses that it encounters.  There is so much for it to contend with – chemicals, pollutants, preservatives, and the list go on and on.

When you really think about what you are eating and drinking, breathing in and putting on your skin, it is surprising that the life expectancy of human beings is as long as it is!

Taking Care of Details:

Every day of our lives our body takes care of thousands (no, millions) of big, medium and small details without us giving it any thought at all. The body just does what it was designed to do without our input.  Think about how the cardiovascular system works, the digestive system, the nervous system, and the endocrine system, just to name a few. Our bodies are on autopilot in effect. This is a feature that keeps every part of the body doing the job that it was given to do.

The down side to this autopilot feature, is that sometimes we can get lazy and do not do the things we need to do to stay healthy (you know, the OTHER things that our autopilot does not do for us). After all, our autopilot is already busy enough!

What the Manual Would Say:

Which brings us to talk of a manual. Wouldn’t it be great if we came with one? Then when we had questions about something that was happening with our body, we could look it up in the manual and know exactly what to do.

If there was such a manual it would tell us to get regular physical activity. It would also instruct us to eat nutritious foods and to drink enough water. It would also tell us to get enough sleep, develop a support system and find effective ways to manage stressful circumstances.

If you were to neglect any of these essential elements of life, your body would sound the warning bells and all hands would have to be on deck (to use an old navy term). It would be an emergency situation and the body would have to rally its resources to cope with it. That is what the symptoms of hunger and thirst are doing.

The same can be said for fainting, nausea and other symptoms. Any type of pain in the body is trying to get us to sit up and take notice because something is wrong.

We don’t come with a health manual. Instead we have to do what is necessary to keep ourselves healthy. Let the body take care of its details, and you take care of the rest. It is your body after all. Do not become complacent about your own health and well-being.

You only get one body for your entire life.

Samantha

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Are You Ready for Swim Suit Weather – If Not Don’t Despair

If your winter and spring weight loss plans didn’t work out how you expected to fit into that target swim suit then don’t despair but don’t stop either.

This spring has been hectic for me as well and I didn’t get to achieve all my goals yet. I’ve even missed getting my regular blog posts up each week for the last month and this makes me feel like I broke a promise – like I didn’t keep my word.

You see I made myself a promise I’d do one post at my various blogs per week and up until March I was doing well but then I got overrun with family stuff. Keeping my word is the most important thing to me. And breaking your word to yourself is just as damaging for your well-being as breaking it to somebody else.

I’ve come to realize when we make a promise to ourselves – like blogging every week – or sticking to a diet – or exercising 2/3 times per week – and we break it, then it impacts so much more in our life. We start to feel like we can’t be trusted and it permeates everywhere.

Okay. Enough of this self-trash talk. As my mom would say just get back on the cycle and pedal forward to regain your momentum.  Life happens and gets in the way of our plans. So you made a detour and just need to get heading in the right direction again.

I think I have about four mixed-metaphors in the last sentence – but you get my drift.

If your weight loss plans didn’t go so well then here’s how to get back “on the cycle.”

1. Stop beating yourself up today and make a promise that’s realistic for you to keep. Yes, most of us are guilty of over committing – so don’t.

2. Choose a form of exercise you enjoy. Don’t go running to keep fit and maintain weight if you hate running. If walking or swimming is an activity you enjoy or even skipping, you can make a great workout out of any of these. Maybe you found the exercise took too long or got in the way of your hectic schedule? If you did review the PACE exercise program for 12-20 minutes workouts a few times a week.

3.  Take a long hard look at your diet plan you had? Was it too bland or not satisfying for you? There is no one diet plan for everybody. Even choosing a low carbohydrate diet plan requires going through a few to find one containing foods you know you’ll enjoy. Personally, it’s taken me a few attempts to get to one that works for me.

4. Don’t use the summer to skip out of your goals. I know it’s tempting with kids at home and lots of activities as we make the most of the warm weather but keep your word to yourself. The sooner you get back to keeping your word the sooner you’ll feel good about yourself. Again, be realistic about what you can promise yourself.

Do these four things for yourself and you’ll make progress.  Now progress may not be size 10 before Labor Day and depending on your exercise program you may not lose a lot of weight but instead create muscle but lose a wait size – this is all good and great progress.

Make a promise to yourself and keep your word. It is life changing.

Samantha

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