4 Simple Things to a Healthy Lifestyle…Common Sense but NOT Common Practice! 

(What follows are the basics from a workshop I have presented to schools, churches, Internal Medicine patients, and individuals who want to change their life!)

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For many years I struggled with my weight. In high school I had a bout of Anorexia and by college developed more Bulimic type behaviors and thought patterns. For more than a decade, my weight and emotions yo-yo’d. I tried all kinds of diet programs…some better than others, but all had one thing in common: a program I could not sustain for a lifetime.

Today, I am 42 and more fit and healthy than I have ever been in my life. And, as many of you know, I am playing Professional Football! Geez, who’d a thought that…at 42 playing a tough, physically demanding sport after having two kids and being married for 18 years. I’ll tell you who…I did! I believed in what I could do after getting in the best shape of my life through these 4 simple principles. These are common sense but NOT common practice.

PRINCIPLE #1: DIET AND HYDRATION

You have to live the rest of your life NOT on a diet. What do I mean by that? You have to live the rest of your life NOT going on some program or pill until you reach your goal and then getting off it.

Instead, you have to develop a LIFESTYLE diet that enables you to live each day without obsessing about food or being lazy and choosing fast food. You need lifestyle choices that give you a healthy relationship to food, steady weight loss if needed, and a body that functions well.

This choice is commonly called ‘CLEAN EATING’. Clean eating involves basic healthy eating habits that are incorporated into your daily routine and provide the best foundation for what you want: a healthy body and a healthy relationship with food.

Some of the basic principles of Clean Eating include:

1.    5 or 6 small meals everyday

Did you know your diet is 80% of the key to having the body you want? No amount of exercise will reshape your body without the proper diet. And, genetics, like it or not, is usually not the cause of an out-of-shape and ill-nourished body.

These are the basics of the Clean Eating which renew your body, enable it to function at it’s best, and revs up your metabolism to burn fat faster. You will not go hungry. Yes, it does require some planning and thought. But, it costs you nothing more than a grocery bill. And, there are no pre-packaged meals to buy or supplements that create expensive urine.

There are many great professionals advocating ‘clean eating’. There is even a magazine called Clean Eating. It comes out quarterly and the latest edition just arrived in my mailbox this week. I love this magazine!! Each issue comes with 30 days of easy meals plus the grocery lists for those meals. What could be more fabulous than that? The latest issue offers up ‘safe’ cheesecake’, some ‘can’t go wrong meals for kids’, plus 7 stir-fry recipes under 400 calories.

And, for all the Moms out there worried about how the kids will take this, trust me, it works fine and they will thank you! And, I can almost guarantee you’ll see a change in their demeanor and behavior. My son’s favorite meal: salmon or tilapia, or our own homemade healthy pizzas!

Tosca Reno, the author of The Eat Clean Diet series says her daughter’s prefer their own food over McDonald’s, “We have eaten clean for six years now. It’s extremely rare that my daughter’s go to McDonald’s anymore, but if they do happen to go there the food always gives them a stomach ache afterwards. Their tummies have not been exposed to additives and grease, and so much garbage upsets their systems. They prefer to eat clean and always take their food with them in a cooler so they won’t go hungry or be tempted to eat junk on the run.”

I can even attest to the tummy ache. Whenever I eat something that is not part of the clean eating, I tend to have an upset stomach…or, well, we won’t go there!

Reno’s books are a great resource for this lifestyle choice. She also has a website: www.eatcleandiet.com . Bob Greene is another author who has great advice for clean eating.

Maintaining hydration is a part of eating clean. You don’t want to wait until your thirsty to drink water. If you are thirsty, then it’s too late. Some folks have trouble discerning when they are thirsty. Some easy signs of thirst include headaches and feeling sluggish or tired. Other signs of dehydration include: irritability, blurred vision, flushed skin, lack of mental clarity, constipation, back pain, excess weight, cellulite, high cholesterol, and water retention. So see, just drink water and you may find relief for many of the symptoms you struggle with on a daily basis! I can’t encourage water enough!!

Eating clean and hydrating properly with water sounds simple but is it easy? Yes! I have been eating this way for about 5 years now and I have never felt better in my life. It does require some planning but it is doable. And, I hate to cook! Ask my Mom! I hate it! But, I find these recipes easy, not time consuming, and very tasty!!

And, you’ll see me carrying my cooler around to swim and football practice, work, and while I travel. I bring healthy choices with me for myself and my kids. When I get to my destination, I make a run to the grocery for the foods we eat. Believe it or not, but my kids are 9 and 7 and have never had a soda. They don’t miss it!

As far as ‘cheating’ goes, we do make allowances for it. Of course there are times when we have our chocolate cake or pepperoni pizza. But, for the most part, we eat clean because it provides a lifestyle we can maintain and be healthy.

Coming Up: PRINCIPLE #2: EXERCISE

In the meantime, email me or post any questions regarding Principle #1: Diet and Hydration.

Stay inspired,

Kip #45

OBESITY EPIDEMIC: ANOTHER DISTURBING HEADLINE

“A Diet of Pizza, Burgers Brought Death Too Close”….Yes, this is another headline about a adolescent boy, the devastating impact of obesity, and a parent who was too late in doing something about it.

This time a 15-year-old Mexican-American teenager in the end-stage of cirrhosis received a life-saving liver transplant. According to the article Monday in the Dallas Morning News, the boy had been fat since the age of 6 due to a high-starch, high fat diet consisting of typical Mexican-American foods, pizza and burgers. By age 8, the article states, he had a distended stomach, and by his early teens, breathing problems kept him tethered to an oxygen tank at home.

The AP article quotes the mother saying, “My son begged me, ‘Don’t let me die, Mommy.’” While the Mother did get her son the life-saving transplant, it seems to me she could have provided help long before cirrhosis set in and a transplant was needed.

The article goes on to say that within a couple of months from his operation in July 2007, the 15-year-old was weaned off the oxygen and able to go on walks. Back at home in Texas a year after this transplant, he is still obese, AP reports, and his weight is up to 219. That is heavier than the 180 he weighed during his end-stage of cirrhosis.

Apparently, (yes, I realize I am casting a judgment here without knowing all the specifics) nothing has changed at home. If this young man is nearly 40 pounds heavier than when he started, I am not sure he has traded the soda, enchiladas, and fast food for fresh vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains. And, how active is he? Have the parents put a fitness program in place for their household? Are they each involved in some kind of physical activity? Did they seek any kind of nutritional guidance, fitness knowledge, and/or utilize their local sports programs and recreation center. Parents, it’s time! Activate or this child will die!!

The American Liver Foundation and other experts, according to the DMN, estimates 2 to 5 percent of American children over age 5, nearly all of them obese or overweight, have the condition called nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Liver failure or liver cancer can follow. But, if cirrhosis has not yet developed, fatty liver disease can be reversed through weight loss. And, while genetics, diet and exercise all play a role, as I have mention before in my blog, 80% of a healthy body is diet, 10% is physical activity, and 10% is genetics.

This kid is a teenager and needed a liver transplant. He may still die because parents and kids would rather have it easy and convenient than be healthy. He may still die because like so many, parents and kids may be lazy and refuse to get physically active five days a week for 30 to 60 minutes.

I was just telling my husband this week how glad I am that we have something going each night of the week…baseball, cheerleading, swimming, football…While it is a crazy schedule, I am glad we are not sitting at home watching TV like we used to. We are out there active, moving, and enjoying the ability of our bodies. We are out there using the programs this great city of Frisco offers including the Frisco Aquatics, Frisco Football League, and the Frisco Baseball and Softball Association.

And, what about dinners you ask? Well, sometimes we eat dinner at 5:00pm. I cook at 4:30 almost when we get home from school. The kids do their homework while I make the meal. Sometimes, I pack up a cooler and a bag full of good nutritious ‘clean foods’ including lean proteins like cottage cheese, turkey, wraps, veggies, fruit, protein bars, baked crackers. Yes, a couple of nights a week that’s our meal in between school and practices. Yes, it takes work. Yes, it requires a plan. But don’t you think LIFE is worth it!

Please parents, do not let your children die from diet and inactivity. If you are struggling with this issue yourself, then I encourage you to seek assistance. There is plenty of great information out there to guide you. One of my favorite resources is Clean Eating Magazine. The quarterly publication includes 4 weeks of menus and a shopping list for each week. They spell it out for you and it is easy and the cooking is not time consuming.

Please use the links below for information and be looking in future blogs for updates on these issues and the 4 keys to a having and maintaining a healthy body!

Stay inspired,

Frisco Youth Programs: I know this is NOT exhaustive for Frisco. And, every city in the metroplex as similar programs.

Please comment and leave other links!