7 Tips for Living Long and Living Strong

This has nothing to do with this post.

This either.

Lately I’ve had a quite a few people asking me why I don’t write about fitness anymore.  Perhaps the impending summer holidays are the catalyst!  Let me preface this with¦..I am certainly no personal trainer or fitness expert!  I am about to graduate from a nutrition course, but all I can really say is, I am now aware of how much ‘crap’ is in our processed food these days, and no wonder disease and illness rates are so high. Now that’s a blanket statement if you ever heard one I know, but it’s the simplest way to put it.  We are actually killing ourselves.  Moving on¦

I, just like anyone, find it hard to make changes, especially as the unprocessed, organic food is so expensive (partly due to lack of demand), and my tastebuds are still learning to like salad.  (hate to admit it, but it’s true.)

A few years ago after the birth of my second child I started to make some changes in my world.  I started to exercise for the first time and actually stopped a lot of my bad habits, which included drinking two 600 ml bottles of coke a day!  It was a good six months before other people started to notice but the on the inside I was feeling a whole lot better within two weeks.  So here are seven of my tips for living long and living strong.

1. You are what you eat!  Yep that cliche saying is actually true. Trust me, I wish it wasn’t too.  Think of your food as energy for your body.  Love pasta??  That’s ok, just have it for lunch!  You will use all those carbs as great energy to get you through the afternoon a mass creamy pasta for dinner however isn’t going to go anywhere.  There is a lot of processed poisons and toxins in our food these days, I know it’s hard to believe, I mean, why would authorities (who are these authorities??!!) let that happen? Well because it’s a multi billion dollar industry! So is medicine by the way¦just think about that.  As much as you can, try to eat things that come from the ground.  Things that your great grand mother would recognize as food.  Oh, she’s never heard of musk stick before? No? I’m so sorry about that.  What about coke? No? Wasn’t around then either, you get my drift?

2.  Find some form of exercise you ENJOY!  It is possible.  If the thought of going to the gym makes you want to vomit in your mouth that’s ok.  (on that note I think I did vomit in my mouth when I first went).  How about an outdoor class?  Boxing?  Sometimes its quite therapeutic to pretend to punch someone in the face.  A quick google search will show you a heap of fitness options in your area.  Outdoors is often a little more enticing for some people.  Dance class?  Bikram yoga?  Join a walking group? Think outside the box.

3. Do something small each day.  Walking the kids to pre-school instead of driving.  Take the stairs, not the elevator.  The little things really do add up. THE KEY IS CONSISTENCY!!!  

4. Never go by the scales, go by measurements or how your clothes fit.  Muscle weighs more than fat.  So your weight on the scale may not be moving but you are losing fat and gaining muscle.

5.  If you’re not sure what to eat see a nutritionist and get them to give you some guidance.  Plan your meals out as much as you can so you can actually go and buy the groceries for them all on in one hit. It’s very grown up isn’t it! I find the most efficient thing to do is an online shop weekly to ensure you get all the ingredients for a heap of meal options for the week.  This stops the Maccas run because you have nothing in your cupboard and no time. On that note, if you have to get Maccas, get one of the salad or wrap options.  (for all my maccas loving sistas out there).

6.  Get a workout buddy! So much harder to cancel that work out when you know someone is there waiting for you.

7.  Some people are motivated by pain and some by pleasure what is your motivator?  The pain of where you’ve been and not wanting to go back there? Or the pleasure of where you’re going and what that will feel like? Once you identify your motivator you can make goals and an action plan that compliments that to give you your best results.

I always encourage people to create a vision board. Grab a big A3 sheet of paper and put up pictures that represent your vision;

*where you want to be

*what you want to be doing.

It could be something you want to do when you reach your goal, or it could be pictures of what your goal looks like.  I also suggest to write words that you associate with the vision you have.

Exercise is about keeping our body strong and healthy, being YOUR best YOU. Prolonging your life, and giving you energy to make the most out of every day.  Start with your next meal. Not tomorrow as the song says tomorrow never comes. Good nutrition and some exercise will see us heading towards a more energized tomorrow.

Em x