I fell off the wagon for a month.
The kids were home from school.
It was the holidays.
My spouse keeps buying junk food.
Its summer and I like to have drinks at the pool.
I keep getting sick.
“I don’t understand why I am not achieving my goals.”
I often hear the above comment when somebody just doesn’t quite seem to be improving with their health. Usually, when we do not see the needle moving with fat loss, one of the above comments follow. A deeper dive with probing questions often reveals even more of the usual suspects: lots of TV, lots of digital cigarette usage (i.e. devices), inadequate sleep, inadequate movement, and inadequate nutrients and vitamins.
Running down the laundry list of the basics:
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Eating for vitamins and nutrients
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Moving often/constantly throughout the day, every day
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Getting adequate sleep (8 hours)
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Interspersing intense activity/lifting heavy weights
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Stimulating your brain and letting it rest
If we can’t even check the above five boxes, perhaps we should be asking ourselves:
“How could I ever achieve my goals.”
Far too often we are surprised or frustrated when we are not improving or achieving our goals. Perhaps a prudent first step is to change our views to incorporate a healthy dose of reality. We cannot magically maximize our situation if we are going against our body’s innate requirements for cellular function, repair, and regeneration. We cannot expect magic, nor can we expect our bodies to be alchemists, turning lead to gold: if we put in garbage, we cannot expect gold. Poor results and sickness follow poor behaviors.
For instance, the meat of grass-fed cows contains significantly more omega 3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid, and other essential vitamins and nutrients when compared to the meat of corn-fed cows. Grass is the natural diet of cows, as their multiple stomachs ferment it and then they digest the bacteria. Like us, cows are not alchemists. They cannot turn an unnatural diet that their bodies are unable to process into gold and they get both sick and fat. The result is less healthy meat and infections requiring antibiotics. Poor results and sickness follow poor behaviors.
We cannot do one thing and expect another, regardless of whether the kids are home, it is the holidays, or there is a Golden Girls marathon on all week. If we do not fuel our body with high octane, run the engine, and then rest and recharge we cannot expect it to magically function at its fullest. We cannot expect it to avoid breaking down.
In my prior books, I wrote at length about nurturing our gardens. In Voltaire’s words:
“Let us cultivate our garden.”
If we do not nurture and cultivate our garden, it will quickly become overrun with weeds, crowding out the healthy, nutritious plants and beautiful flowers. To think that the vegetables and flowers will magically grow in such an environment is easily considered ridiculous, yet we do the same with ourselves every day.
Poor results and sickness follow poor behaviors. We are not alchemists. Our bodies and minds require adequate nutrition, stimulation, rest, repair, and regeneration. If we are not even providing the bare necessities, perhaps it is time to stop being so surprised with the results.
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