For health and fitness, sugar is the devil

So you have made the commitment to your health and fitness. Now what? We’ll need to take a look at sugar, as it can be the single most damaging thing for your health and fitness. Is sugar really that bad? The short answer yes, though we do need some level of glucose in our body to function properly. Unfortunately, though, we get far too much sugar in our daily diets. In short, sugar is the devil.

Excess sugar intake can manifest itself in various ways, such as the onset of diabetes, tooth decay, and an increase of inflammation within our bodies. In addition, and according to a study, consuming 17-21% of our calories from added sugar increases the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease:
http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/HealthyEating/Nutrition/Added-Sugars-Add-to-Your-Risk-of-Dying-from-Heart-Disease_UCM_460319_Article.jsp#.V7I3pfkrJdi

Keep in mind, when we talk about “added sugars” we are referring to those sugars that are added to foods and beverages during processing and preparation. It is important to read food labels, as sugar can be disguised as:

• agave syrup
• beet sugar
• cane juice
• cane syrup
• high fructose
• corn syrup
• honey
• lactose
• malt
• dextrose
• galactose
• glucos2
• sucrose
• rice syrup
• fructose
• and others..

Keeping a food log will help you track the amount of sugar consumed. Eating whole foods will provide some level of sugar, but will also provide fiber and nutrients. And while sugar is the devil, monitoring and even lowering your sugar intake will help you to look and feel a lot better.

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

My weight loss journey

Thank you for joining me today as I discuss my weight loss journey. We discuss the process I went through, along with the education, planning and commitment required for anyone to succeed on their own personal weight loss journey.
In my late twenties/early thirties, I was a competitive athlete. Everything was working out for me except my career. I sat for many hours at a desk and I also spent a lot of time sitting in airplanes. As the years progressed, I got out of the habit of exercise and fitness, and I continued to gain weight.

Around age 37 I decided I needed to focus on myself and lose the weight, but it slowly began to come back. Typically, I made a New Year’s Resolution but was not successful in seeing them through. Sound familiar? It wasn’t until I was about 47 years old that my mindset changed. It was when I met my wife Tammy.

So what was different? It comes down to one word – commitment. It is key. The commitment – and the reason behind it – solidified my quest to lose weight and become healthy and fit. Yes, it also took planning, eating better, moving more and making the right choices, but your commitment is critical to a successful weight loss journey.

Thank you for listening to my weight loss journey. Health and fitness is a continual process, but one with great rewards. I hope you join me on this journey too, as I want you to be equally successful on your personal weight loss journey.

If you'd like to work with me on your health and fitness, join me at Forever Fitness Personal Training.

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music

The secret to successful weight loss and fitness

What is the Secret to Successful Weight Loss?   Why is it that we often don’t succeed in our fitness and weight loss journey?   Perhaps we should consider the words we use and emotional connections we experience on the weight loss and fitness journey.

We have all been there before.   We make a resolution and run out of the starting gate with great resolve and strength, only to fail after a few weeks. Do you know that 92% of resolutions fail? The link below takes you to a Forbes article that tries to help you be in that 8% but these are slim odds. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2013/01/01/just-8-of-people-achieve-their-new-years-resolutions-heres-how-they-did-it/#2a0a15c4304c)

Often we blame ourselves for failing the fitness journey, saying we are weak or have no willpower. Yet willpower is finite and the more we rely on it, the more we are destined to fail. Here is a link to a recent article in Wired on willpower

http://www.wired.com/2012/10/mf-willpower/.   And why can’t we stay motivated to work out and exercise?

Consider the word “commitment”.   A commitment comes from an emotional base and it is an internal, deep feeling which is felt deep within our hearts and soul. Getting healthy and fit is 10% physical and 90% emotional. Connecting with the emotion behind your commitment is the secret to successful weight loss.

Commitments often have anchors which set us up for success and accountability.    Anchors are things like ceremonies, rituals or symbols, such as wedding rings, Valentine’s Days, births and family traditions.   Setting personal anchors in which you are emotionally bound and make sense for you is key to weight loss success.

Commitment is what transforms us, and the emotional binding to that commitment is the secret to successful weight loss.

https://40plusfitnesspodcast.com/3-ps-health-fitness/

Motivate Me | Lynette Renda

Music used for the podcast Intro and Outro: http://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music