Episode 50 – Value your body

Celebrating 50 episodes.

What a better way than to talk about a topic that is near and dear to my heart

Our body

My message today is simple:

• Take care of your body – it’s the only one you have
• You can have many jobs in life
• You can make new friends and find another partner
• You can always make money even if you lost it all
• But you cannot make a new body
• So
• Every decision that involves your body counts
  • The food you feed your body
  • How you use your body through your daily movements
  • How you develop your body – through exercises
  • And how you optimize your body to perform at its best through old age

• I don’t have to tell you that cancer has a huge impact on our society
  • Data shows that About 40% of men and women will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetimes
  • in many cases we cannot trace back what actually caused the cancer, but we have facts and data available to us of activities such as smoking, or chemicals that can contribute to cancer
• Obesity continues to be major problem in America, despite the surge in gyms, diet books, supplement sales, and the sheer amount of health-related information and data accessible for anyone
  • Since the early 1960s, obesity among adults more than doubled
  • Nationally, nearly 38 percent of adults are obese [ 2013-2014 data]
• People don’t exercise despite their health problems, doctors recommendations, and the prevalence of information available that clearly links exercise to better weight and overall health
  • 80 percent of American adults do not meet the government’s national physical activity recommendations for aerobic and muscle strengthening.
  • Around $117 billion in healthcare costs are associated with inadequate physical activity.
  • Activity level by state varies, with Colorado leading and Mississippi trailing as the state that had the highest reported percentage of inactivity among adults at 36.8 percent.
• The correlation is more than obvious from just these few pieces of information – low levels of exercises, bad food choices – leading to obesity and illness
• Clearly there has to be more work done to educate the entire country on how to maintain proper health
• But today I encourage you to do your part:
• Take care of your body
• Value the one body you have because you cannot replace it
• Make conscious choices when it comes to your body.
• Remember that the effects of your decisions may not become obvious until much later, when its too late to fix
• Lets talk through the 4 key aspects of your body that I mentioned in the beginning:

1. Food
   • Your body functions on energy so ensure you feed your body with nutrients
   • People forget about this basic element of nutrition – why are we hungry?
   • Because the body needs fuel
   • When your car needs gasoline, do you put water in it?
   • No – because it wont run
   • So become conscious of the food choices you make and ask yourself – are they properly fueling my body
   • The body doesn’t just need STUFF that fills the stomach
   • That’s what we often forget
   • We let our brain’s desires dictate our consumption habits
   • And as you know – our brain is influenced by the outside world
   • Your body needs more than STUFF
   • It needs vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients so all cells can function properly
   • Packaged and highly processed foods is STUFF or junk
   • It fills your stomach but it doesn’t offer any value – our body cannot use it to funnel it to the cells for proper usage
   • In my opinion – there should be regulations on the food companies are allowed to sell
   • Everything processed should meet minimum nutritional parameters which would have to be established
   • But I am side-tracking
   • Use your brain and think about the food you eat
   • And consider your body and what you want it to give you back in return
   • For me that is health on the inside and the outside, vitality and energy all day and every day, and a slowed aging process and
   • Your food therefore should be minimally processed, although that becomes harder and harder to do
   • What does that mean?
   • Eat real food. As close as possible to its origin. Fruits, veggies, meat, fish, nuts, seeds, anything you can identify the source it came from.
   • If you are not clear – there are millions of articles online to help you
   • Read Michael Porters books – he is very clear
   • Your nutrition should be your number one priority when it comes to your body
   • This is the first thing you need to focus on, before you hit the gym, or start focusing on weight loss.
   • Cultivate good eating habits, for yourself and your family
   • This is not a diet I am suggesting
   • It’s a basic principle of living well and healthy
   • If you grew up on mac and cheese and chicken nuggets, its time to review your eating habits
   • Can you have treats – sure
   • But dial in your eating habits first before you focus on treats
   • Use the 80/20 principle. Eat well and healthy 80% of the time and you body will function properly to forgive you a treat here and there
2. Daily movements
   • With this I don’t mean exercise
   • I just meant how you move your body
   • If you work in a physically demanding job, be careful not to hurt yourself
   • Most workplaces are required to provide safety training in such environments
   • Especially when we are young, we often take risks when it comes to our body,
   • Unfortunately we pay the price for it in old age
   • Think long term
   • Just because you can do the crazy movement or activity doesn’t mean its good for your body
   • The same applies to people sitting all day
   • Our bodies are not meant to sit all day
   • Get up and move around
   • Our bodies are made for moving
   • But move safely and address area that cause pain
   • One of the best activities you can do is yoga.
   • And I don’t call yoga exercise.
   • yoga stretches and strengthens all parts of your body in a gentle way and ensures mobility and flexibility
   • Which brings me to
3. Exercise
   • If you don’t move regularly every day, then additional exercise may be required
   • For many people exercise has such a bad aftertaste
   • It doesn’t have to be weightlifting or running a marathon
   • Just bring movement into your day
   • We are meant to move every single day
   • I always evaluate every day baes on how much I moved
   • If I cannot get a gym workout in, I go for a brisk walk or climb the stairs 5 times
   • if you are not moving at all right now don’t worry about time or intensity of your exercises
   • so many people join gyms and only go infrequently
   • why – because it’s a huge shift form sitting to working out in a gym regularly
   • the motivation required is huge
   • so – set your targets low
   • Just get moving and don’t worry about the rest
   • If you sit all day – Think about movement all day. Its simple.
   • Then you build up from there.
   • But first establish the habit of moving.
   • Then move to getting a sweat in once in a while
   • It is nice as it actually detoxifies your body
   • But start small
   • And lastly
4. Optimizing your body
   • With that I mean fine-tuning your body
   • Preparing for long-term health and agility
   • This depends on each individual person
   • But it’s the last step, after you have tuned in your nutrition, your regular daily movements and your complementary exercise,
   • you then address the areas that are potential problems
   • Such as old injuries, or inflexibility in certain parts of your body
   • weightlifters are in top shape but they sometimes cannot do simple movements due to tightness in hips and joints
   • optimizing means you make sure you are mobile, flexible and limber
   • it also means increasing firmness through muscle building
   • as we age, we lose muscle and muscle is a key component of a healthy body
   • optimizing means adding some variety
   • if you are a runner, maybe you have a day of weight-lifting in your week, or a yoga class
   • runners are often very lean, even skinny, but they don’t have any muscle
   • if you only walk every day, maybe you introduce a day of something more intense that gets the heart-rate up
   • it also means fine-tuning your nutrition
   • not all natural foods are good for everyone
   • you may need to eliminate certain ones that cause you issues such as bloating, inflammation, tiredness and brain fog
   • for some people its dairy, for others its gluten,
   • some people need 3 bigger meals a day, others eat many small meals
   • but it means taking a look at how you feel every day and making changes
   • don’t be afraid to experiment
   • I talked about food in a previous episode
   • Listen your body
   • Stay informed on latest scientific research
   • Don’t jump on every diet bandwagon, but stay informed
   • Maybe hire a coach if you don’t see the results you want to have or if you want to push yourself al little
   • and if you don’t have any issues, you may just want to optimize for best health and prolong aging
   • that’s were supplements and additional tests come into place
   • there are entire communities out there that focus on hacking your way to optimal health and well being
   • functional doctors can provide better guidance in this area than regular doctors
   • regular medicine is reactive and only addresses issue when they occur
   • when you optimize your health you analyze your body and ensure its working at its best without waiting for complications
   • study foods and supplements and what they can do for you
   • have additional testing done – there are so many tests available now – allergies, gut analysis, hormone testing
   • and lastly – under optimizing I also consider tuning in your emotional and spiritual well-being
   • what drives the choices you make regarding your body ?
   • are there underlying emotional issues?
   • Do you binge eat when under stress?
   • Do you starve yourself when you notice you are getting bigger?
   • Are you unable to get out of the chair at all and move?
   • Ask yourself the tough questions and analyze yourself
   • I wont go much into detail on this as most of my episodes cover this area of your inner world
   • I am a strong believer in meditation, stillness, reflection – anything – but regular times where you give your body rest and contemplate your life – your choices, your actions,
   • This will greatly influence your physical health and can shed a light on underlying issues

• Take care of your body – it’s the only one you have
• These 4 areas should give you a good roadmap to get started
• To reflect and to make a few tweaks
• I believe in simplicity
• My days are simple
• I used to work-out like crazy
• I used to cook elaborate meals every week with hard-to-find ingredients
• And I ate a lot more
• I have scaled back and started living a simpler life
• Less time in the gym, but more variety to my exercise, more focus on specific areas of my body
• I cook simple meals, fewer ingredients per meal with more focus on the nutritional value each meal provides
• I have never been a dieter, but then I have never been overweight
• But I eat less
• I feel more energized on fewer and more modest meals
• I don’t drink much alcohol anymore
• I am more in tune with what my body needs to be well
• Take your own approach, the one that works for you, but I encourage you to keep it simple to start
• And don’t forget to listen to your body
• Don’t force it into some type of diet or exercise program without first clearly knowing what is best for you

“The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.” ~ Anthony Robbins