Unhealthy ‘Health Foods’
by Dr. John Berardi
Products that claim to be ‘Cholesterol Free’ and ‘Low in Saturated Fat’ often have the most trans-fatty acids. Unfortunately these are the products that most of the public thinks are ‘healthy.’ Remember, trans fats have absolutely no place in the diet! They’re the only type of fat highly associated with very negative health outcomes.
This tip is provided by Dr. John Berardi of Precision Nutrition.
Along the same lines of the last post, I want to take a minute and talk about the importance of staying positive. Yes, life will continue to happen. Sometimes other priorities will come up in life that may keep you from exercising as much as you would like to. For example, in the last few weeks my family moved into a new place. So between all of the moving, painting, and unpacking that we’ve been doing it hasn’t left much time for exercise, or even the best nutrition.
The way I look at it, I have to options at this point:
1- Get down on myself and feel like a loser for not making myself workout despite the circumstances
2- Realize that I had other priorities (my family, which is always a top priority), be happy about that, and get back on track as soon as possible.
I’m choosing option number 2. The question to ask yourself is which one would your normally choose if you didn’t have to think about it? Sadly, I think a lot of us subconsciously would go with option number 1. So if you find yourself getting frustrated that life is taking it’s toll and getting in the way of your lifetime fitness goals, you may need to think about these two options again.
There are times in your life where you are going to have to go into more of a “just maintain” phase. For example, if you are a woman and you are going to be having a baby soon, your main priority probably shouldn’t be losing a ton of weight and toning up. You would make some life situation changes. And husbands, when the baby is born you may have to make a few changes to support your wife in caring for the newborn.
Life will happen. Just do your best to keep moving towards a goal. A great statement I heard was that you should place your goals or the ultimate outcome you want in stone, but the plan to get there will have to be in sand. This just means that you’re still working on getting to the goal, you just might have to wash away your plan from time to time on how you’re going to do it.
Let’s face it: life will happen. We all try to come up with what we think is the perfect plan or program that we will be able to stick to no matter what. The problem is that things will always come up because life is going to continue to happen regardless of what we plan for it.
So, I think its a good idea to have a “fitness recovery plan.” This would be a plan of what to do when things get off track; a plan that would help you to get back on the original plan that you had. Here are some general points for a good fitness recovery plan:
Give Yourself a Break
One of the most important parts of this fitness recovery plan is not feeling guilty for having slacked off. If all you do is mope around thinking about how bad you are for getting off track, you’re not going to get anywhere. Just realize that life happened, then start to take control again and move on. This is the quickest way to fitness recovery.
Modify Your Original Plan
It is also a good idea to develop a new version of your original plan as well. It could be that the plan you were on before needs some revisions before your mind will allow you to get back on the plan again.
Ease Back In
Also, you may have to ease your way into it. Consider it as a way of starting over. This also depends on how long you’ve been off, but don’t plan on just hitting everything full force again the first week. This is the same advice that you would probably give to someone just starting to exercise for the first time.
Don’t Look Back!
We will all have setbacks from time to time. But remember that there is always another chance to get back on track and reach your lifetime fitness goals. Don’t let the mistakes of the past hold you back from what you can still accomplish!
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