Articles - Healthy Living

Bullet Points to Live By

Wisdom from the Ages about Fat Loss and a Healthy Mind and Body
by Brian Copeland

Life can be busy, hectic and stressful, but unless we take control of our lives our lives will control us. When our lives control us we find ourselves unhappy, never reaching any of our goals (fitness, financial, family, etc.) Having said that making a bullet pointed list of things you want to stay focused on daily is a great idea. Here are some that you can start using today.

Rest and Recover

• Divide life into 4 equal parts: Work, Play, Rest, Pray (source Dan John)

• When one of these parts takes too much of your life away you will suffer

• Fact; people who pray live longer (source Dr. Harold Koenig)

• Sleep 7 – 9 hours per day; take an extra nap on the weekends

• You can’t store up sleep for the week but an extra nap will do you well

• Chronic fatigue will hurt your health, take it easy and rest!

• Sleep is when your immune system recovers, your body AND mind repair themselves and psychologically you recover

• 1 – 2 hours before bed, turn all of the lights low in the house and keep things quiet; meditate, pray, read, watch comedy on TV not news or action

• The dark lighting helps release melatonin which aids in relaxation and restful sleep

• Get black-out curtains for your bedroom and make it pitch black while you sleep. This signals the brain to release the hormones melatonin and GABA which aid in deep sleep, rest, stress-reduction and recovery.

Eat

• Lots of vegetables (organic when the price makes sense)

• A little fruit, berries are great, lots of antioxidants!

• Plenty of healthy meat, hormone-free, antibiotic-free, free-range (red meat) or cage-free (fowl)

• Look for grass-fed beef, it has higher omega 3 fatty acids and is much healthier for you

• Lots of water

• Multi-vitamin/mineral/phytonutrient. One that dissolves in a glass of water in about 30 minutes or less (do you get just enough nutrition to live or enough to thrive?) I recommend DoubleX from Nutrilite. You can get that on my Products page under the Nutrition heading.

Avoid

• Sugary foods

• Grains; bread, pasta, cereal, bagels, flour, etc.

• Too much soy in your diet; soy contains chemicals which mimic the hormone estrogen which in excess can add body fat, increase risk for many diseases and cause moodiness

• Soda, fruit juice (only drink these if you want to be fat and have diabetes!)

Did You Know?

• Stress and lack of adequate nutrition are the top 2 causes of disease with lack of exercise coming in at a very close 3rd place

• Elevated levels of the hormones estrogen and cortisol cause the following:

  • The higher your levels the harder it is to lose body fat!
  • Your general mood and outlook on life will suck and you will be depressed

• Poor sleep and nutrition and lack of exercise make estrogen and cortisol rise

• Normal levels of testosterone in both men and women will cause the following:

  • Losing body fat will be much easier
  • Your general mood and outlook on life will be great. Life will be a series of successes and you will have a boost of confidence and happiness.
  • Your sex drive will improve and married folks will appreciate an improved sex life.

• Good sleep and nutrition supports normal testosterone levels in the body

• Testosterone is raised whenever you have a success in life, estrogen goes up whenever you have a failure that you take too personally or you let things stress you out too much

Summary

• Divide life into 4 equal parts: Work, Play, Rest, Pray

• 7 – 9 hours of quality sleep per night

• Reduce stress, don’t let stuff get to you

• Eat clean; veggies, fruit, nuts, meat

• Avoid processed foods especially sugary foods and grains/breads/pasta/soy

• Drink plenty of water, it cleans you out and helps you function properly

• Once or twice per week eat some naughty foods if you crave them. After all you can still enjoy life!

Finally, this isn’t a comprehensive list but a good guideline.

Make changes gradually and build good habits that stick. Don't let making healthy stress-free changes to your life stress you out for goodness sake!