Confessions of a Health Nut

What’s your body image gripe? Being in the fitness industry I meet so many people, mostly women who always have the same topic on their minds…how to look better, learner, how to get flatter abs, tighter triceps, thinner inner thighs, etc.

It is way too easy to get caught up in today’s society with body image issues and wanting to look new and improved. A better approach is to be healthy and take care of yourself first from the inside out. Eventually, everything else will fall into place.

A lifestyle you can live with is essential to the success of your health. Living a 90%/10 rule or 80%/20 rule making healthy decisions most of the time and giving yourself room to “play” 10 to 20% of the time. My health nut lifestyle started at age 33, slowly starting eating healthier and adding in exercise, none of this was short term, 15 years later still living my healthy lifestyle and maintaining my 20 pound weight loss.

Below is a list of “rules” I play by that have helped me sustain my healthy lifestyle, I confess to the following:

• Never counting calories
• Reading food labels
• Using the full version of half and half for my one and only coffee of the day
• Never ever using artificial sugar, these fake sugars bloat the belly and you’ll never get flat abs!
• Never ever using low-fat or fat-free products
• Limiting intake of processed fake foods
• Never wasting non-nutritional calories and fat on the wide array of coffee/lattés
• Drinking freshly squeezed lemon and warm water before eating in the AM (cleanses liver and other things)
• Eating a healthy breakfast one hour upon waking (keeps metabolism revved up)
• Generously pouring cinnamon into oatmeal, cinnamon reduces blood sugar levels and has a host of healthy benefits
• Eating carbs, yes, good ones as your body needs carbs (i.e., fresh fruits, veggies, beans, quinoa, nuts, brown rice)
• Eating limited dairy products, no milk, no yogurt
• Snacking every 3 to 4 hours
• Eating a hard boiled egg daily (great source of protein)
• Eating several vegetarian meals a week
• Allowing myself a free pass one day a week to enjoy anything I want, the sky’s the limit (helps control bingeing and enjoying the foods you love)
• Cooking healthy meals in bulk on Sundays to prepare for the week
• Drinking white wine instead of red wine
• Drinking water, seltzer and green tea
• Performing some type of physical activity daily 30 to 40 minutes
• Practicing yoga daily
• Practicing Yoga Shoulderstand Pose (to reduce cellulite) and Fish Pose to help bathe and stimulate the thyroid and parathyroid glands with a fresh supply of oxygenated blood
• Being an interval training junkie – no machines required!
• Loving strength training, push up's, yin yoga, pilates reformer and biking
• Participate in a fitness challenge once or twice a year to see what you can accomplish matter how old you are!
  
  What are your health nut confessions?

Lynn MacDonald, ACE Certified Personal Trainer/Registered Yoga Teacherwww.getcorepower.com