What to Listen to While You Run: 5 Podcasts to Run By

<h2 style="background-color: white; color: #2b5b61; font-family: myriad-pro, 'Droid Sans', Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, san-serif; font-size: 22px; line-height: 22px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; text-shadow: rgb(219, 219, 219) 1px 1px 0px;"> <br /></h2> <div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: myriad-pro, Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"> New to podcasts? Then, you may need a little assistance figuring out what to listen to while you run on the treadmill. Here’s a list of five podcasts to get you going:</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: myriad-pro, Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <span style="color: purple;"><strong>1. <a href="http://www.earwolf.com/show/comedy-bang-bang/" style="color: #53b5c2; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="comedy bang bang"><span style="color: purple;">Comedy Bang Bang.</span></a> </strong></span>Many people consider this show to be a bit weird. But, it’s also unique and consistently hilarious. It’s hosted by Scott Aukerman, who some have described as a bizarre parody of a serious talk show host. He tends to invite well-known actors and comedians to the show, or comedians who make a living impersonating actors. On this podcast, they discuss work, do some freestyle rapping and play games, such as the popular “Would You Rather.” After listening to an episode of this combination comedy show-talk show, you probably won’t find yourself feeling any smarter. But, you will feel sillier.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: myriad-pro, Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <span style="color: purple;"><strong>2. <a href="http://howwasyourweek.libsyn.com/" style="color: #53b5c2; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="How Was Your Week"><span style="color: purple;">How Was Your Week</span></a>?</strong></span><b> </b>This interview show is hosted by writer and comedian, Julie Klausner. It opens each week with a rambling monologue that ponders the week’s cultural and political events in a very hilarious manner. Klausner also gives airtime to the important capers of her cat. Her interviews with musicians, performers and writers are informal and far from dull. These interviewees tend to be extremely fascinating literary types and characters that are larger than life.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: myriad-pro, Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <span style="color: purple;"><strong>3. <a href="http://www.stuffyoushouldknow.com/podcasts/" style="color: #53b5c2; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="stuff you should know"><span style="color: purple;">Stuff You Should Know</span></a>. </strong></span>This podcast is perfect for those shorter, 30-minute treadmill workout routines. It comes out two times each week, and provides education to its audience on diverse topics. Its entry point is that of pop culture. The recurring theme of the show is “How _____ Works”, which can be about chess, chocolate, werewolves, even castration. This show brings shock factor by discussing topics you never even knew you’d be puzzled about.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: myriad-pro, Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <span style="color: purple;"><strong>4. <a href="http://www.maximumfun.org/shows/bullseye" style="color: #53b5c2; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="bullseye podcast"><span style="color: purple;">Bullseye</span></a>. </strong></span>This podcast is an interview-style program. It’s targeted to attract a younger audience with its focus on comedians. Guests are culture and arts personalities, who are interviewed by host Jesse Thorn of NPR. He’s a great curator of recommended pop culture topics each week. Expert guests bring to the show thoughtful pieces on hip hop music, video games, new novels and more. Bullseye used to be known as <em>The Sound of Young America.</em></div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: myriad-pro, Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"> <span style="color: purple;"><strong>5. <a href="http://www.npr.org/programs/wait-wait-dont-tell-me/" style="color: #53b5c2; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Wait... Don't Tell Me"><span style="color: purple;">Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me</span></a>! </strong></span>This particular podcast is a radio news panel game show. It’s hosed by Peter Sagal, a contributor to <em>Runner’s World </em>and NPR host. It features contestants who take part in various competitive challenges. You’ll always get some good laughs out of it. And, playing along has a way of making your hour-long treadmill run fly by in no time at all.</div> <div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: myriad-pro, Arial, Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"> article shared from fitbottomedgirls.com</div>

Fitness motivation, fun workout, good advice, good habits, health and fitness, healthy lifestyle, running

What to Listen to While You Run: 5 Podcasts to Run By

New to podcasts? Then, you may need a little assistance figuring out what to listen to while you run on the treadmill. Here’s a list of f...

How To Use Visualization To Get What You Want

<div class="feature-box" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgb(243, 243, 243) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(228, 228, 228) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(243, 243, 243) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(243, 243, 243) -1px 0px 0px; background-color: white; border: none; box-shadow: rgb(243, 243, 243) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(228, 228, 228) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(243, 243, 243) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(243, 243, 243) -1px 0px 0px; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: 'Open Sans'; line-height: 20px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 850px;"> <div class="feature-body clearfix" style="padding: 20px;"> <div class="byline" style="color: #999999; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 180% !important; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-transform: uppercase;"> <img src="http://res.mindbodygreen.com/img/crp/HappyWoman40sAsianFieldofFlowers-850x400.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; height: auto; line-height: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 810px;" /></div> <div class="body" style="clear: both; line-height: 25px;"> <div class="perspective-other perspective-top" style="border-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); border-style: solid; border-width: 4px 0px; clear: both; float: right; font-size: 14px; line-height: 15px; margin: 10px 0px 10px 20px; padding: 20px 0px 15px; position: relative; width: 248px;"> <div class="perspective-other-header" style="font-family: Asap; font-weight: bold; padding-right: 4px; position: absolute; top: -9px;"> You May Also Enjoy</div> <div class="item clearfix" style="margin-top: 3px;"> <div class="detail" style="margin-bottom: 3px;"> <a href="http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-14660/20-ways-to-get-in-touch-with-your-body.html?utm_campaign=recommendation&utm_medium=interfeaturetop&utm_source=feature" style="color: #5ac7e1; font-family: Asap; line-height: 1.3em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><img class="perspective-img" src="http://res.mindbodygreen.com/img/crp/WomanDancingOnTheBeachWithArmsUp-70x70.jpg" style="border: 0px; float: left; height: auto; margin: 0px 8px 3px 0px; max-width: 70px; vertical-align: middle;" /></a><a href="http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-14660/20-ways-to-get-in-touch-with-your-body.html?utm_campaign=recommendation&utm_medium=interfeaturetop&utm_source=feature" style="color: #5ac7e1; font-family: Asap; line-height: 1.3em; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">20 Ways To Get In Touch With Your Body</a></div> <div class="perspective-desc" style="color: #777777; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.6em;"> Getting in touch with our bodies can be challenging sometimes, especially if we have spent years being out of touch with them, and are now leading a stressful life that is dominated by competition  <span style="white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-14660/20-ways-to-get-in-touch-with-your-body.html?utm_campaign=recommendation&utm_medium=interfeaturetop&utm_source=feature" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Read <span class="icon-double-angle-right" style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-image: none; background-position: 0px 0px; background-repeat: repeat repeat; display: inline; font-family: FontAwesome; height: auto; line-height: normal; margin-top: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto;"></span></a></span></div> </div> </div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> We have two minds — the conscious and the subconscious. According to <a href="https://www.brucelipton.com/store/the-biology-of-belief" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Dr. Bruce Lipton</a><span style="line-height: 1.5rem;">, a former professor of medicine at Stanford University, "the subconscious mind operates at 40 million bits of data per second, whereas the conscious mind processes at only 40 bits per second."</span></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <span style="line-height: 1.5rem;">Without our even knowing, our subconscious mind is processing things at an astronomical rate. So how can we harness this power and use it to our advantage?</span></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Well, the subconscious mind <em>thinks</em> in images and feelings. This could mean that if you set a goal of earning a certain amount of money or finding your soul mate, you are much more likely to obtain these future goals if you try focusing on the images and feelings associated with them.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> It’s important to visualize your goals with images that trigger you in the most physical way possible. You can tell when you’ve found a great image, because you'll feel the sensation of that excitement in your body.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Whether it's a tingling feeling like champagne bubbles in your stomach, or the hairs on your arms stand up a bit —  try taking notice of how different images trigger you physiologically when you visualize your goals.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> For example, my business partner and I want to write a best-selling book. So I tried to visualize our book at the top of <em>The New York Times</em> bestseller list, but that image didn't seem quite right. I didn't feel any sensations of excitement in my body.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Instead, I started to imagine that I already had a best-selling book. I visualized the situations that could come with this scenario that made me feel excited.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> This was the scenario that came to my mind:</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <em>I’m walking through the airport, traveling for business. I’m running a bit late (as I often do), frantically looking up at the monitor and searching for my gate, when out of the corner of my eye, I see my own face looking back at me from the airport bookstore. It’s very surreal, completely unexpected and a bit unsettling. Then I realize it’s my bestselling book and a huge smile spreads across my face!</em></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> As bizarre as it may sound to you, it was this series of images that created a happy, tingling and excited feeling in my body.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Another woman I know from my MBA program experienced similar success through her own visualizations. She was single, and wanted to find her soul mate. She said that she could picture clearly, the toasts at her wedding — tears would fill her eyes. And just less than three months later, she met this wonderful man! They just decided to move in together and while she isn’t engaged yet, she’s incredibly happy and feels confident that the relationship is here to stay.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Think of one of your goals right now. Close your eyes and try to imagine different scenarios that could occur if this goal were a reality. Find the images that most excite you in your body and focus on those. If you’re feeling stuck, a great way to get started is to <a href="http://akoyapower.com/resources/goal-board/" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">create a Goal Board</a>.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Skeptical? Well, if you’re looking for scientific evidence before giving this visualization stuff a try, research shows that adding a visual element to our written goals may bring even stronger results.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> In one <a href="http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-leaders-code/201401/why-picture-is-worth-1000-words-lessons-goal-setting" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">1996 study at Michigan State University</a>, over 200 emergency room patients were given instructions on how to care for their wounds at home before being discharged. Half of the patients received text-only instructions. The rest received the same text accompanied with images.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> The research team followed up with the patients three days later to see which individuals were more successful in following their home-care plan.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> The results were intriguing:</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <em>While almost half (46%) of the people who received the images along with the instructions were able to answer each of the wound-care questions correctly, only 6% of the text-only group did so successfully. And, those in the image group were less than half (43%) better in terms of their adherence to the instructions than the text-only crowd.</em></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> So what does this mean for you?</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Adding pictures that represent what you want to come to fruition in your life can make attaining those goals easier than just writing them down. You can make a Goal board or even give hypnotherapy a try, by adding the element of guided relaxation to help tune in to your subconscious mind. I find that it helps to try visualizing your ideal life five years from now.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Once you’ve gotten clear on the images that excite you and represent your goals, it’s important to visualize them often in your mind's eye, to continuously trigger the power of your subconscious.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Every night when you go to sleep, spend about two minutes picturing the images of your future success. If you made a Goal Board, look at it right before bed and again first thing in the morning.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> According to <a href="http://www.drwaynedyer.com/blog/how-do-you-sleep" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Dr. Wayne Dyer</a>, the last two minutes before fall asleep at night stay in your subconscious mind for up to four hours while you’re sleeping! So this is the best time to do your visualization.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> When you imagine your future success, your subconscious mind will draw in people and opportunities to make that future success a reality. So give visualization a try and create the future of your dreams!</div> <div class="byline" style="color: #999999; float: left; font-weight: bold; line-height: 180% !important; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-transform: uppercase;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">shared from mindbodygreen.com BY VANESSA LODER </span></div> </div> </div> </div>

fitness goals, goal setting, good advice, health and fitness, lifestyle, mental health, mental toughness, visualize

How To Use Visualization To Get What You Want

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6 Basic Principles Of Using Food As Medicine

<div class="title" style="-webkit-transition: font-size 0.2s; background-color: #f8f8f8; color: #333333; font-family: Asap; font-size: 32px; line-height: 32px; margin-bottom: 18px; transition: font-size 0.2s;"> <br /></div> <div class="feature-box" style="-webkit-box-shadow: rgb(243, 243, 243) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(228, 228, 228) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(243, 243, 243) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(243, 243, 243) -1px 0px 0px; background-color: white; border: none; box-shadow: rgb(243, 243, 243) 1px 0px 0px, rgb(228, 228, 228) 0px 1px 0px, rgb(243, 243, 243) 0px -1px 0px, rgb(243, 243, 243) -1px 0px 0px; color: #333333; float: left; font-family: 'Open Sans'; line-height: 20px; overflow: hidden; position: relative; width: 850px;"> <div class="feature-body clearfix" style="padding: 20px;"> <div class="byline" style="color: #999999; float: left; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; text-transform: uppercase;"> <img src="http://res.mindbodygreen.com/img/crp/WomanHoldingWatermelonSticks-850x400.jpg" style="border: 0px; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; height: auto; line-height: 20px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 810px;" /></div> <div class="body" style="clear: both; line-height: 25px;"> <br /><div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> In 1973, when I was a researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health and beginning to become interested in alternative therapies, I met Shyam Singha, a London-based Indian osteopath, naturopath, herbalist, acupuncturist, homeopath, and meditation master. Shyam had gleaming yellow eyes and flowing black hair, and wore impeccably tailored Savile Row suits or floor-length, orange silk gowns.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Lecturing, he paced the front of the hall like a panther. A brilliant, challenging, occasionally terrifying trickster, he became my guide to the frontiers of healing. Together Shyam and I cooked meals that astonished my taste buds, raised my energy, and lifted my mood. The fast, “chaotic” breathing meditation he had learned in the Indian mountains pushed me through fear and anger.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Shortly after meeting Shyam, I was crippled by a back injury. The orthopedists were issuing dire warnings and getting me ready for a surgery I didn’t want.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Desperate, I called Shyam in London. “Eat three pineapples a day, and nothing else for a week,” he said.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> I thought the phone had gone bad, and then suspected, not for the first time, that he was mad. He repeated it and explained, using principles of Chinese medicine, how the pineapple would “work on your lung” which was the “mother of the kidney,” and that the kidney was “connected” to the back. It made no sense to me then, but I knew that Shyam knew many things that I and the orthopods didn’t.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> And I <em>really</em> didn’t want back surgery.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Amazingly, the pineapple fast worked. Later, Shyam suggested I eliminate <a href="http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-7482/10-signs-youre-gluten-intolerant.html" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">gluten</a>, <a href="http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-14201/29-tips-to-get-rid-of-dairy-without-turning-to-soy.html" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">dairy</a>, <a href="http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-10014/the-5-foods-i-banned-when-i-quit-sugar.html" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">sugar</a>, <a href="http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-8759/is-eating-red-meat-dangerous-a-cardiologist-explains.html" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">red meat</a> and <a href="http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-9686/how-processed-foods-are-killing-you-one-bite-at-a-time.html" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">processed food</a> to relieve my occasional allergies, asthma, and eczema. That worked, too.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Ever since, I too have been committed to using food as medicine. Soon I was reading scientific studies that were validating the therapeutic power of traditional remedies and suggesting the need to eliminate or cut down on foods that had become staples of the standard American diet. I began to prescribe nutritional therapies for my medical and psychiatric patients.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> By the early 1990s, I had decided it was time to teach what I was learning to my students at Georgetown Medical School. I asked Susan Lord, MD, my colleague at <a href="http://cmbm.org/" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">The Center for Mind-Body Medicine</a>, to join me. To honor Hippocrates, who coined the phrase, we called our course “Food As Medicine,” and it quickly became a hit with med students.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> The students experimented with diets that eliminated sugar, gluten, dairy, food additives, red meat and caffeine. Many felt less anxious and more energetic; they slept and studied better and learned more easily. They shook their heads at how little attention their curriculum paid to nutrition.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> A few years later, Susan and I made an expanded version of this course available nation-wide, to medical school faculty, physicians, other health professionals and anyone who was interested in improving her own nutrition.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Together with the dietician Kathie Swift, we created exactly the course we wish we’d had in school — one combining impeccable science and traditional wisdom, presented in the most interesting, practical user-friendly way. We called it “Food As Medicine” (FAM) and <a href="http://www.kripalu.org/program/view/FAM-141" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">we continue to offer it every year</a>.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> The course is comprehensive, but the basic principles are simple and straightforward:</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>1. Eat in harmony with your genetic programming </strong><strong>— i.e,. t</strong><strong>he way our hunter-gatherer ancestors ate.</strong></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> This doesn’t mean conforming to a strict Paleo diet, but rather following the guidelines it suggests. Consider a whole foods plant-based diet with as little processed food and added sugar as possible.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Ideally this means consuming far fewer grains (understanding that some people can’t tolerate wheat and other grains at all); little or no dairy (even if you don’t seem intolerant to it); cold water fish like salmon, sardines and mackerel as the preferred animal product; and far more intestine-activating fiber — we consume a paltry average of 15 grams a day; our Paleolithic ancestors took in 100 grams.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>2. Use foods rather than supplements to treat and prevent chronic illness.</strong></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Whole foods contain a number of substances that work synergistically and may be far more effective than supplements that just deliver one of them.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Why take the powerful antioxidant lycopene in a pill when you can eat a tomato that contains both lycopene and a number of other antioxidants, along with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that work together to prevent heart disease by decreasing cholesterol and lipid levels and stopping abnormal blood clotting?</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>3. Combine your nutritional plan with a program to reduce stress and raise awareness about how as well as what we eat.</strong></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Stress inhibits and interferes with every aspect of digestive functioning and with the efficient use of nutrients. <a href="http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-14560/10-reasons-why-stress-is-the-most-dangerous-toxin-in-your-life.html" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Stressed-out people</a> can’t make very good biological use of even the most healthy diets.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Learning to eat slowly and mindfully will increase your enjoyment of meals, reduce your consumption of food (most of us eat so fast we don’t have time to register signals from our stomach that we are full), and help you make food choices that are better for you.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>4. Understand that we are all, as the pioneering biochemist Roger Williams pointed out 50 years ago, biochemically unique.</strong></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> We may be the same age and ethnicity, have very similar health status, ethnicity, and income, but you may use 100 times as much B6 as I do, and I may require 100 times more Zinc.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Sometimes we may need a nutritionally oriented physician, dietician or nutritionist to do specific, sophisticated tests to determine our deficiencies and requirements. We can always learn a great deal about what’s good for us by experimenting with different diets and foods, and by paying close attention to the outcomes.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>5. Find a health professional who will help you begin treatment of chronic conditions with nutrition and stress management (as well as exercise) rather than medication.</strong></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Except in life threatening situations, this is the sane, common sense way to go. The prescription antacids, Type 2 diabetes drugs, and <a href="http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-14794/5-major-myths-about-depression.html" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">antidepressants</a> that tens of millions of Americans use to decrease acid reflux, lower blood sugar, and improve mood, only treat symptoms and do not address causes. And they have very significant and often dangerous side-effects. If they are only prescribed, as they should be, after a thorough trial of non-pharmacological treatment, they will rarely be necessary.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>6. Don’t become a food fanatic.</strong></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Use these guidelines (and others that make sense to you), but don’t beat yourself up for deviating from them. Just notice the effect of a questionable choice, learn, and return to your program.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> And don’t waste your time and energy judging others for what they eat! It will just make you cranky and self-righteous, stressful emotional states that will ruin your digestion. And it sure won’t do those other people any good.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> <br class="Apple-interchange-newline" /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="color: #999999; font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px; text-transform: uppercase;">shared from mindbodygreen.com BY</span><span style="color: #999999; font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span>DR. JAMES S. GORDON<span style="color: #999999; font-weight: bold; line-height: 21px; text-transform: uppercase;"> </span></span></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <br /></div> </div> </div> </div>

clean eating, good advice, health and fitness, healthy eating, healthy lifestyle, lifestyle, nutrition

6 Basic Principles Of Using Food As Medicine

In 1973, when I was a researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health and beginning to become interested in alternative therap...

How Exercise Helps Us Tolerate Pain

<br /> <header class="postHeader"><h1 class="entry-title" itemprop="headline" style="font-family: nyt-cheltenham, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; line-height: 1.6875rem; margin: 0px 0px 6px;"> </h1> </header><br /> <div class="entry-content" style="margin-left: 120px; width: 480px;"> <div class="w592" style="margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: -120px; margin-top: 5px; padding-top: 0px; width: 592px;"> <br /> <figure itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2014/08/12/health/physed_pain/physed_pain-tmagArticle.jpg" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" role="group" style="margin: 0px; position: relative;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Photo</span><div class="image" style="margin-bottom: 7px; position: relative;"> <img alt="" height="390" id="100000003052683" itemid="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2014/08/12/health/physed_pain/physed_pain-tmagArticle.jpg" itemprop="url" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2014/08/12/health/physed_pain/physed_pain-tmagArticle.jpg" style="display: block; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 592px;" width="592" /></div> <figcaption class="caption" itemprop="description" style="color: #666666; font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 0.75rem; line-height: 1rem;"><span class="caption-text"></span><span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder" style="color: #999999; display: inline; font-size: 0.75rem; line-height: 1rem;"><span class="visually-hidden" style="border: 0px; clip: rect(0px 0px 0px 0px); height: 1px; margin: -1px; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; position: absolute; width: 1px;">Credit</span></span></figcaption></figure></div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> <span style="font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem;">But whether exercise alters the body’s response to pain over the long term and, more pressing for most of us, whether such changes will develop if people engage in moderate, less draining workouts, have been unclear.</span><span style="font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem;"><br />For some time, scientists have known that strenuous exercise briefly and acutely dulls pain. As muscles begin to ache during a prolonged workout, scientists have found, the body typically releases natural opiates, such as endorphins, and other substances that can slightly dampen the discomfort. This effect, which scientists refer to as exercise-induced hypoalgesia, usually begins during the workout and lingers for perhaps 20 or 30 minutes afterward.</span>Regular exercise may alter how a person experiences pain, according to a new study. The longer we continue to work out, the new findings suggest, the greater our tolerance for discomfort can grow.</div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> So for the new study, which was <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24504426" style="color: #326891;">published this month in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise</a>, researchers at the University of New South Wales and Neuroscience Research Australia, both in Sydney, recruited 12 young and healthy but inactive adults who expressed interest in exercising, and another 12 who were similar in age and activity levels but preferred not to exercise. They then brought all of them into the lab to determine how they reacted to pain.</div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> Pain response is highly individual and depends on our pain threshold, which is the point at which we start to feel pain, and pain tolerance, or the amount of time that we can withstand the aching, before we cease doing whatever is causing it.</div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> In the new study, the scientists measured pain thresholds by using a probe that, applied to a person’s arm, exerts increasing pressure against the skin. The volunteers were told to say “stop” when that pressure segued from being unpleasant to painful, breaching their pain threshold.</div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> The researchers determined pain tolerance more elaborately, by strapping a blood pressure cuff to volunteers’ upper arms and progressively tightening it as the volunteers tightly gripped and squeezed a special testing device in their fists. This activity is not fun, as anyone who has worn a blood pressure cuff can imagine, but the volunteers were encouraged to continue squeezing the device for as long as possible, a period of time representing their baseline pain tolerance.</div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> Then the volunteers who had said that they would like to begin exercising did so, undertaking a program of moderate stationary bicycling for 30 minutes, three times a week, for six weeks. In the process, the volunteers became more fit, with their aerobic capacity and cycling workloads increasing each week, although some improved more than others.</div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> The other volunteers continued with their lives as they had before the study began.</div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> After six weeks, all of the volunteers returned to the lab, and their pain thresholds and pain tolerances were retested. Unsurprisingly, the volunteers in the control group showed no changes in their responses to pain.</div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> But the volunteers in the exercise group displayed substantially greater ability to withstand pain. Their pain thresholds had not changed; they began to feel pain at the same point they had before. But their tolerance had risen. They continued with the unpleasant gripping activity much longer than before. Those volunteers whose fitness had increased the most also showed the greatest increase in pain tolerance.</div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> “To me,” said Matthew Jones, a researcher at the University of New South Wales who led the study, the results “suggest that the participants who exercised had become more stoical and perhaps did not find the pain as threatening after exercise training, even though it still hurt as much,” an idea that fits with entrenched, anecdotal beliefs about the physical fortitude of athletes.</div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> Because it did not examine physiological effects apart from pain response, however, the study cannot explain just how exercise alters our experience of pain, although it contains hints. Pain thresholds and tolerances were tested using people’s arms, Mr. Jones pointed out, while the exercisers trained primarily their legs. Because the changes in pain response were evident in the exercisers’ upper bodies, the findings intimate that “something occurring in the brain was probably responsible for the change” in pain thresholds, Mr. Jones said.</div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> The study’s implications are considerable, Mr. Jones says. Most obviously, he said, the results remind us that the longer we stick with an exercise program, the less physically discomfiting it will feel, even if we increase our efforts, as did the cyclists here. The brain begins to accept that we are tougher than it had thought, and it allows us to continue longer although the pain itself has not lessened.</div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> The study also could be meaningful for people struggling with chronic pain, Mr. Jones said. Although anyone in this situation should consult a doctor before starting to exercise, he said, the experiment suggests that moderate amounts of exercise can change people’s perception of their pain and help them, he said “to be able to better perform activities of daily living.”</div> <div style="font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: bold; line-height: 12px;"> shared from well.blogs.nytimes.com By <a class="url fn" href="http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/author/gretchen-reynolds/" rel="author" style="color: black; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase;" title="More Posts by GRETCHEN REYNOLDS">GRETCHEN REYNOLDS</a></div> <div class="story-body-text" itemprop="articleBody" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: 1rem; line-height: 1.4375rem; margin-bottom: 1em; max-width: 540px;"> <span style="font-family: nyt-cheltenham-sh, georgia, 'times new roman', times, serif; font-size: xx-small; font-weight: bold; line-height: 12px;"> </span><time class="dateline" datetime="2014-08-13T04:01:34+00:00" style="color: grey; display: inline-block; font-family: nyt-franklin, arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: bold; line-height: 0.75rem; margin-left: 12px; padding: 0px 8px 0px 0px; text-transform: uppercase;" title="August 13, 2014 12:01 am">AUGUST 13, 2014 12:01 AM</time></div> </div>

exercise and fitness, good advice, good habits, healthy lifestyle, workouts

How Exercise Helps Us Tolerate Pain

Photo Credit But whether exercise alters the body’s response to pain over the long term and, more pressing for most of us, whethe...

Legit Ways to Move More During Work

<h1 class="title" id="page-title" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Book', Futura, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 2.3em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.3em; margin: 0px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> </h1> <div class="article-body block" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Avenir Book', Futura, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div class="ds-1col node node-article node-promoted view-mode-full clearfix" style="margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div class="field field-name-field-image-homepage-story field-type-image field-label-hidden" style="margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item even" rel="" resource="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/Empty%20desk%20chair_f.jpg"> <div class="file file-image file-image-jpeg" id="file-24239"> <h2 class="element-invisible" style="clip: rect(1px 1px 1px 1px); font-family: 'Avenir Black'; font-size: 24px; font-weight: normal; height: 1px; line-height: 1; margin: 0px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute !important; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"> <a href="http://greatist.com/file/empty-desk-chairfjpg" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;">Empty desk chair_f.jpg</a></h2> <div class="content"> <div class="pinterest-image" style="position: relative;"> <img alt="Exercise at Work" class="" height="380" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/Empty%20desk%20chair_f.jpg?itok=UUDPae_r" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; width: 752px;" title="" typeof="foaf:Image" width="732" /></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="collapsible group_share field-group-div speed-none effect-none fieldgroup-effects-processed" id="node-article-full-group-share" style="margin-bottom: 24px; overflow: hidden;"> <div class="field-group-format-wrapper"> Say goodbye to coffee shops or conference rooms and hello to the pavement. Moving while working? Now that’s the way to get things done.</div> </div> <div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"> <div class="field-items"> <div class="field-item even" property="schema:articleBody content:encoded"> <h3 style="margin: 16px 0px;"> Why You Should Ditch Your Chair</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Unbroken hours spent seated in a chair <a href="http://greatist.com/health/sitting-problems-making-us-fat" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">hurt our bodies</a> in a way that even regular visits to the gym or a 5K weekend run can’t fix. One of the earliest studies to investigate the risks of “sitting disease” occurred in the 1940s, when a Scottish epidemiologist discovered conductors were at lower risk for coronary heart disease than their bus-driving colleagues. Morris and his team <a href="http://bjsm.bmj.com/content/34/3/217.full" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">found similar results</a> when they expanded the study and compared postal delivery workers to sedentary postal clerks.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Since Morris’ time, <a href="http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/2/4/e000828.short?g=w_open_current_tab" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">more and more research</a> links sitting for uninterrupted periods of time—the kind of sitting we experience at work and while commuting—with two times greater risk of diabetes, a 90 percent greater risk of cardiovascular disease, and a 49 percent greater risk of death, among other conditions and diseases <a class="ifoot-cite active" href="http://greatist.com/connect/how-to-move-more-at-work#footnote-node-5133-1" id="note-node-5133-1" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;">[1]</a>. It’s this research that drives the media buzz about how <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/31/how-your-job-is-slowly-killing-you_n_3652943.html" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">our jobs are killing us</a>.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> The good news is that we have choices when it comes to death by chair. To <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2963525/" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">quote Dr. James Levine</a>, a Mayo Clinic endocrinologist credited with developing the concept of the treadmill desk: “There are solutions to chair-associated ill health that range from population-wide gym attendance, pharmacological administration, or genetic manipulation. Alternatively, people could get up" <a class="ifoot-cite active" href="http://greatist.com/connect/how-to-move-more-at-work#footnote-node-5133-2" id="note-node-5133-2" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;">[2]</a>.</div> <h3 style="margin: 16px 0px;"> The Benefits of Moving at Work</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> So how does a person get up at work? It may sound like a funny question, but, if you’ve ever found yourself sitting at your desk for hours on end, you know not to laugh.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Some people work for companies that willingly invest in office equipment that gets employees moving, such as treadmill desks or adjustable-height desks. If you’re not one of them, then you’ll have to move yourself. You can perform exercises <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/deskercise-33-ways-exercise-work" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">at your desk</a> or do <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/50-bodyweight-exercises-you-can-do-anywhere" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">bodyweight exercises</a> by the copy machine, in the restroom, or in your office (provided you’re lucky enough to have your own). But one of the easiest (and least sweaty) ways to move more at work is to start walking while meeting.</div> <blockquote style="margin: 20px 0px; overflow: visible; padding: 10px; position: relative;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #999999; font-family: 'ArcherPro Semibold Italic'; font-size: 2rem; line-height: 1.2em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 65px;"> <span style="font-size: 2.5rem; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1em;">“</span> Whatever it is, it's solved by walking. <span style="font-size: 2.5rem; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1em;">”</span></div> </blockquote> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Regardless of how you choose to do it, studies show there are numerous benefits to moving at work. Physical activity at work can help employees in the following ways:</div> <ul> <li><span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">Boost Creativity</span><br />A recent <a href="http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/april/walking-vs-sitting-042414.html" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Stanford study</a> found that simply going for a walk (outside or on the treadmill) can get our creative juices moving—and help them stay that way. In fact, study participants had twice as many creative responses after a jaunt as a person who’d remained seated.</li> <li><span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">Improve Focus and Retention</span><br />The absolute best way to move? Get outside. When people venture outdoors into a forested area or an arboretum, or simply look at scenes of nature, their bodies relax and their <a href="http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/6892" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">memories and attention improve</a>.</li> <li><span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">Meet Activity Goals</span><br />NEAT, or Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis, is the energy we expend for all activities not associated with eating, sleeping, or gut-busting exercise. Even though they may not require much effort, these <a href="http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2013/jan/study-finds-taking-stairs-raking-leaves-may-have-same-health-benefits-trip-gym" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">little bits of movement</a> (like walking) can help us meet daily and weekly physical activity guidelines in a manageable way <a class="ifoot-cite active" href="http://greatist.com/connect/how-to-move-more-at-work#footnote-node-5133-3" id="note-node-5133-3" sl-processed="1" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">[3]</a>.</li> <li><span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">Shape Work Culture</span><br />“A movement must be public,” pronounced Derek Sivers in his superb TED talk, <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/derek_sivers_how_to_start_a_movement#t-58842" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">How to Start a Movement</a>. When one person does something, he or she may be declared a “lone nut”—but when two or three join? Then you have a leader and a movement. Walking meetings or group fitness outings make movement a true priority and help to establish a work culture that support employees’ healthy choices.</li> </ul> <h3 style="margin: 16px 0px;"> Your Action Plan</h3> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> Convinced that it’s time to ditch the seat and move more during work? Fill out this breakup madlib, then use the simple steps below to get started.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> </div> <div class="pinterest-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;"> <img alt="How to Move More at Work" class="file-default media-element" src="http://greatist.com/sites/default/files/styles/article-content-732/public/ChairMadLib.png?itok=RNDB8VTz" style="border: 0px; height: 524px; max-width: 100%; width: 732px;" title="" /></div> <br /> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 40px;"> <span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">1. Find a path.</span>Before you set off on your first walking meeting, build your route map and identify options of varying lengths and direction. You’ll want walking routes that are safe, not too noisy, and easily accessed from the office without an additional commute.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 40px;"> <span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">2. Walk by yourself.</span>There’s no hard-and-fast rule that a walking meeting needs to be a group activity. When you need to mull something over or come up with fresh ideas, get out of your head and head outside. If available time or company rules restrict walking outside, walking the perimeter of a factory or office floor is an excellent stand-in.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 40px;"> <span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">3. Invite appointments to walk instead of having a seated meeting. </span>In his famous <a href="http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/newton3laws.html" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">laws of motion</a>, Newton found that an object at rest will remain at rest unless an external force acts upon it. Be that external force, and start inviting appointments to walk and talk instead of meeting on seats. You may experience a few quizzical looks at first (remember our “lone nut”), but plenty will soon become walking meeting devotees.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> <em>[Ready to get a move on? Greatist and Hotseat are offering the first 200 readers a free download of Hotseat, an app that uses nudges, social accountability, and game play to help you ditch the seat. To request the gift, email <a href="mailto:Help@GetHotseatApp.com" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;">Help@GetHotseatApp.com</a> with the subject line “Greatist Gift.” To check out Hotseat, visit <a href="http://www.gethotseatapp.com/" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">GetHotseatApp.com</a> or @GetHotseatApp. Note that Hotseat is currently only available for Apple products.]</em></div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 40px;"> <span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">4. Set walking meetings up for success. </span>There’s no telling whether your first overtures to turn traditional meetings into walking ones will be met positively. But there are ways to make your efforts, and the meetings themselves, more successful:</div> <ul style="margin-left: 40px;"> <li>Let your walking partners know about the idea <a href="http://everybodywalk.org/collaborative/1130-hosting-walking-meetings.html" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">in advance</a> so they can best prepare themselves.</li> <li>Consider what the other person is wearing and <a href="http://www.tedeytan.com/2008/01/10/148" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">modify the walk’s length</a> and path accordingly (e.g. If your walking partner is wearing high heels, steer clear of bumpy sidewalks).</li> <li>Keep the group size small, and vary its size depending on the topic at hand. If the plan is to brainstorm, for example, consider breaking the larger group <a href="http://www.feetfirst.org/walk-and-maps/walking-meetings" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">into small subgroups</a> before you set out walking. Then each subgroup can generate ideas to share with the whole once everyone has returned to the office.</li> <li>Be mindful of when walking meetings don’t make sense (but check whether this is <a href="http://www.wired.com/2013/03/how-technology-can-make-us-stand-up/" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">outmoded thinking first</a>). While difficult performance conversations could be well served by a real breath of fresh air, for example, your company’s human resources policy might prefer you stay indoors.</li> </ul> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 40px;"> <span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">5. Find a sponsor to champion walking meetings. </span>Change happens within an organization when a visible and influential leader drives it. To that end, seek out an influential person within your company (a manager, a beloved colleague, even the CEO if they’re accessible and you feel comfortable) and invite him or her to a walking meeting. Then slip all the research cited in this article into your conversation. If they still need some convincing, let them know that great thinkers like<a href="http://blog.ted.com/2013/04/29/walking-meetings-5-surprising-thinkers-who-swore-by-them/" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Aristotle and Freud swore by them</a>, today’s technology and political leaders <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-30/walking-is-the-new-sitting-for-decision-makers.html" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">advance their agendas</a>through them, and numerous companies are <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/3006933/innovation-agents/companys-hourly-exercise-breaks-make-it-more-fit-sure-also-more-successful" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">promoting group activity</a> as a means of increasing productivity, <a href="http://gethotseatapp.com/sodexo-talent-acquisition-team-acquires-fitness-via-webcam/" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">ramping up collaboration</a>, and <a href="http://gethotseatapp.com/employers-take-different-paths-to-get-employees-stepping/" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">lowering health-related risks and costs</a>. By the end of the walk, it’s likely they’ll be at least a little more receptive to making movement a company-wide priority.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 40px;"> <span style="font-family: 'Avenir Heavy';">6. Sneak it in. </span>At certain jobs and companies, it’s simply not possible to move while meeting (or even to leave your station at all). That doesn’t mean all is lost. The key takeaway is that any type of movement counts. Try to <a href="http://greatist.com/fitness/deskercise-33-ways-exercise-work" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">exercise at your desk</a>, take the long way to the break, lunch, or rest room, and squeeze in some form of movement before and after work. If desperate times call for desperate measures on the job, <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4468682" sl-processed="1" style="color: #1ca1c8; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">simply fidget</a> (pace while you're on the phone, fiddle with a pen while you're talking, etc.); you'll still be moving more than you otherwise would. With a little creativity, it’s possible to find subtle ways to sneak in a little wiggle or a walk on the job.</div> <div style="box-sizing: border-box;"> <em>This post was written by Fran Melmed, the owner of context, a boutique communication and change management consulting firm that specializes in workplace wellness. Fran wrote this article while walking on her hacked-together treadmill desk after walks through Philadelphia’s historic Washington Square helped pull her thoughts together.</em></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div>

exercise and fitness, good advice, good habits, healthy lifestyle, inspiration

Legit Ways to Move More During Work

Empty desk chair_f.jpg Say goodbye to coffee shops or conference rooms and hello to the pavement. Moving while working? ...

10 Simple Ways to Relax Everyday

<div class="feature-hero" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; max-width: 850px; width: 810px;"> <img src="http://res.mindbodygreen.com/img/crp/WomanBlowingDandelion.jpg,-WomanBlowingDandelion-850x400.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 810px;" /></div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25px;"> <br /><div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> The pace of our culture is increasing at an astonishing rate. While this speed certainly has its benefits and conveniences for our outer lives, they come at a great cost to our inner world.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> For as all of the wisdom traditions teach, well-being can only be cultivated when you take time every day to slow down and turn inward. So as fabulous as it is to click a few buttons on your phone and receive a package at your doorstep two days later, the momentary thrill is quickly tempered by the undercurrent of anxiety and emptiness that pervades most people's lives.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> When I talk about slowing down with my clients, many of them draw a blank. They're so addicted to the fast pace of our modern world that they believe they've lost the capacity to develop<a href="http://conscious-transitions.com/the-well-of-being/" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"> the inner life so necessary to well-being</a>. I'm not talking about giving up all worldly possessions and retreating to a cave on the top of a mountain; no, I'm talking about making a commitment to yourself to slow down and turn inward each day while still remaining connected to a full and active life.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> If you need a jump start reminder for how to do that, experiment with the following simple suggestions.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>1. Light a candle.</strong></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> There's something about the flicker of the flame in a dark room that naturally inspires us to slow turn and inward. Perhaps it's a primal reminder of an earlier time in human history when the lack of electricity required that we follow the natural rhythm of day and night. We can find thousands of ways of skirting time; lighting a candle hearkens back to a time when we lived more organically and less technologically.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>2. Sit in nature.</strong></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> Similarly, one of the beauties of nature is that it's completely unaffected by technology. The seasons still follow the same rhythm that has informed their cycle of shedding and renewal for thousands of years. The leaves of the trees die and reborn at their same pace; animals hibernate and migrate at the same rhythm. When you sit in nature — and I do mean sit, as opposed to hike, run, bike, or drive — you absorb via osmosis the pace of nature and your internal clock is reset to organic time.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>3. Read poetry out loud.</strong></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> Poetry is an aural art and, as such, is meant to be read out loud. When you read it out loud, your voice is more likely to meet the pace of the words as they were written, to savor each symbol, and to allow the imagery to wash over your soul and fill you up. It's like standing barefoot in the grass and allowing the waters of the earth rise up through the bottom of your feet, through the channels of your legs, and into the chambers of your heart.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>4. Listen to inspiring speakers and teachers</strong></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> One of the blessings of technology is that it allows us to access some of the world's greatest thinkers with the click of a button. If your mind is an overactive place and, despite trying to meditate you can't seem to quiet those incessantly loud and often mean voices, try replacing them with kinder ones by listening to inspiring audiobooks and lectures.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>5. Read an actual book.</strong></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> Kindles and iPads are convenient, and for some people they may even be easier on the eyes, but when you only take in information through technology, you're much more likely to jump onto the Internet or quickly check your email instead of staying focused on the book. There's a certain romance to reading an actual paper book that is lost when the information is presented technologically.Curling up with the iPad just doesn't feel quite the same as curling up with a good book.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>6. Write an actual letter.</strong></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> The act of putting pen to paper naturally slows us down. While it's convenient to let your fingers fly across the keyboard and click send, when you take the time to choose stationary, write an actual letter in your own hand, fold it up, address it and stamp it, and put it in the mailbox, you're hearkening another era where time moved at a slower pace, and you will move at that pace as well.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>7. Meditate.</strong></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> Meditating creates spaciousness and is now widely acknowledged as one of the most effective ways to slow down and turn inward. Thirty to forty minutes several days a week is ideal, but even just ten minutes of sitting down and getting to know your mind will help you fill your inner well.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>8. Journal.</strong></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> Journaling is a free and accessible way to enter your inner world. When you take time to reflect on the contents of your thoughts, feelings, and actions, you develop a capacity to make choices regarding how you treat yourself. In other words, if you're operating on a running commentary that says, "I'm not good enough," journaling helps to bring that subtext into the forefront of consciousness where you can then choose either to believe it or seek to replace it with a commentary that's more loving and kind.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>9. Take a nap.</strong></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> When's the last time you took a nap? When's the last time, instead of getting something done, you lay down on the bed or your office floor and just closed your eyes? In our culture that values doing over being, it's hard to set aside the voice that cracks down with the cackling whip of "you're lazy" and remember that in many other cultures, a <em>siesta</em> or rest time is built into the fabric of the day and seen as an essential component to well-being.</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>10. Pet an animal.</strong></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> If you're wondering how to cultivate more being and less doing, study your pet, as Eckhart Tolle writes in his beautiful little book, <em>Guardians of Being: Spiritual Teachings from our Dogs and Cats.</em></div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> There are many other ways, of course. When you orient your compass toward <a href="http://conscious-transitions.com/filling-the-well/" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">filling the well of Self</a>, you'll discover the ways that are most nourishing for you.</div> </div>

good advice, good habits, health and fitness, healthy lifestyle, mental health, relaxation

10 Simple Ways to Relax Everyday

The pace of our culture is increasing at an astonishing rate. While this speed certainly has its benefits and conveniences for our outer...

5 Apps That Keep Me Happy, Fit & Healthy

<div class="feature-hero" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 14px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; max-width: 850px; width: 810px;"> <img src="http://res.mindbodygreen.com/img/crp/ManCheckingHeartRateMonitorWatch-850x400.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 810px;" /></div> <div class="body" style="background-color: white; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: 'Open Sans'; line-height: 25px;"> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Losing weight isn’t all about exercising more and eating less. I know this to be true because I’m one of a very small percentage of people who has maintained a 125-pound weight loss for five years now.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> Getting healthier can be really challenging when you're just starting out on your journey, but I've personally found these five apps to be lifesavers!</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>1. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lose-it!-weight-loss-program/id297368629?mt=8" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Lose It!: Weight Loss Program and Calorie Counter</a></strong></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> I've used this app for the entire five years of keeping 125 pounds off. It’s great for accountability to yourself on what you actually eat. I don't use it merely for calorie counting; I use to track how honesty I have been with myself on eating healthfully. This app has many free features with setting and tracking weight goals, challenges, and a community of other people trying to get healthy. A very useful tool to have with many free benefits!</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>2. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/happier/id499033500?mt=8" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Happier</a></strong></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> This is a free app that I use multiple times a day to show <a href="http://www.mindbodygreen.com/tag/gratitude.html" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">gratitude</a> for things big and small in my life. It's a great social community of folks just trying to stay positive! It’s way better than Facebook, in my opinion. This helps me stay focused on what's important in life. It also brings a ray of sunshine into my day when I’m dealing with naysayers in my personal life.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>3. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alarm-clock-sleep-sounds-free/id579625446?mt=8" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Alarm Clock Sleep Sounds Free: Guided Meditation for Relaxation Cycle, Hypnosis and Insomnia</a></strong></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> This app is also free, and I use it every night before I go to sleep! If you didn’t already know, sleep is very important to your body, and helps maintain low stress levels. So getting a good night’s rest is key to maintaining a healthy body. This app is not only a great alarm clock, but it has an amazing soundtrack of sounds to help you drift to off to a peaceful slumber. Once in a while, if you hit the snooze button too much, the alarm will even give you an inspiring affirmation to start your day.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>4. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sweetbeat/id492588712?mt=8" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Sweet Beat</a></strong></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> The cost of this app is $4.99, but the technology is well worth the investment. I use this to track my heart rate variability each morning before I work out. It helps me understand if I've pushed too hard in the previous day’s workout, or if I’m good to go for another one. It can also be used to detect food sensitives and daily stressors that you may not even be aware of! This app only works with a Bluetooth Polar heart rate monitor, so it does require extra equipment. If you're serious about your physical fitness, this is the way to go.</div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> <strong>5. <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/pact-earn-cash-for-living/id456068701?mt=8" style="color: #5ac7e1; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Pact: Earn Cash for Living Healthy</a></strong></div> <div style="font-size: 14px; margin-bottom: 25px;"> The ultimate in accountability. I only use this when I need a swift kick in the rear. You could earn or lose money by using this app! If setting a reward or punishment is enough to get you motivated into exercising, this is the app for you! Just check in at your local gym and you’re good to go!</div> <div style="margin-bottom: 25px;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">shared from mindbodygreen.com by Naomi Teeter</span></div> </div>

good advice, good habits, health and fitness, lifestyle, mental health, Motivation

5 Apps That Keep Me Happy, Fit & Healthy

Losing weight isn’t all about exercising more and eating less. I know this to be true because I’m one of a very small percentage of peop...

Mistakes, Losses & Disappointments

<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <a href="http://mentalitywod.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/1795749_617292818339327_1006388009_n.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #042fed; outline: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;"><img alt="1795749_617292818339327_1006388009_n" class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-7294" height="225" src="http://mentalitywod.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/1795749_617292818339327_1006388009_n-300x225.jpg" style="border: 0px !important; box-sizing: border-box; display: block; height: auto; margin: 5px auto; max-width: 100%; word-wrap: break-word;" width="300" /></a></div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; word-wrap: break-word;"> Mistakes, losses, disappointments, setbacks and failures. I really don’t like any of those words and don’t use them much at all.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; word-wrap: break-word;"> Here’s why.</div> <ul style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <li style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; letter-spacing: 0.05em; word-wrap: break-word;">Many people think about losses or failures as very negative events, and that can be very damaging to self-confidence.</span></li> </ul> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; word-wrap: break-word;"> But, when you view these experiences as valuable, helpful and necessary to your growth…then they don’t seem so damaging after all.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; word-wrap: break-word;"> I love this quote</div> <blockquote style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 10px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #666666; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; margin: 5px 0px 1em; padding-left: 12px; word-wrap: break-word;"> <div style="box-sizing: border-box; word-wrap: break-word;"> “I have not failed seven hundred times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those seven hundred ways will not work. When I have eliminated all the ways that will not work, I will find that way that will work.” -Thomas Edison</div> </blockquote> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; word-wrap: break-word;"> You can make every experience work for you in a positive way.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; word-wrap: break-word;"> Here’s how</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; word-wrap: break-word;"> 1. After a loss, mistake or setback, think about reframing that event as a “stepping stone” to get you to where you want to go. You need that experience to make you better.</div> <div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px; word-wrap: break-word;"> 2. Write down at least 2 things you can learn from that experience that you can help you improve for next time.</div>

compassion, Determination, fitness goals, good advice, good habits, health and fitness, mental health, mental toughness, positive thinking

Mistakes, Losses & Disappointments

Mistakes, losses, disappointments, setbacks and failures. I really don’t like any of those words and don’t use them much at all. Here’s...

A Model's Guide To Letting Go Of Self-Doubt

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUDk6sTyTbQzGNBKfSGxCpCMeuefAP0RPbEMoNB5HqsuUNnI7wtgcy6sYr3acIxwrVFYFS5y3rAP5DRTAlv4YW5-zjJyYGWWSsfw44OdXA3T-AwfhK9HScE0A1WlCctJU17yN_AfaBjVfM/s1600/Michael-Weschler_Emily-Nolan_bike-(adorable)-850x400-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUDk6sTyTbQzGNBKfSGxCpCMeuefAP0RPbEMoNB5HqsuUNnI7wtgcy6sYr3acIxwrVFYFS5y3rAP5DRTAlv4YW5-zjJyYGWWSsfw44OdXA3T-AwfhK9HScE0A1WlCctJU17yN_AfaBjVfM/s1600/Michael-Weschler_Emily-Nolan_bike-(adorable)-850x400-1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> <span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br /><br />shared from mindbodygreen.com by BY EMILY NOLAN JOSEPH </span><br />As a younger model, I dealt with a lot of rejection and judgment (like every model does), and it was frustrating because the only thing outsiders saw was the last successful campaign I booked. Beneath my flawless skin, I still had a lot of invisible scars.<br /><br />There were often moments when I had to conceal my emotional pain from the constant judgment coming from the industry. For example, people would tell me: “Your chest is nice and big." "Tell your clients you have magic boobs and can fit every bra size at the casting." "Your hair color is ‘mousey,’ let’s change the color.” And so on, and so on…<br /><br />In reality, this is just the surface level of judgment that models endure in order to to pursue, in some cases, their childhood dream. My childhood dreams were to become a grocery store checkout lady, a railroad conductor, a veterinarian and then a country music singer. But a model? I didn't even know that career existed. I was so unaware of the idea of selling sexuality, in a way that every child should be.<br /><br />And then, I got to high school. I got my first fashion magazine from the grocery store checkout line (how ironic), went home, and sat down on my broken-in family room sofa and started turning the pages of a new chapter of my life.<br /><br />This chapter would be an unhealthy self-awareness. Where are my hip bones? Why is my stomach soft? All of the sudden, I was not like, "them” — the models in the magazines. I was no longer aspiring to be a railroad conductor or a veterinarian. I aspired to be like the girls in the magazines. Beautiful. Sexy. Perfect.<br /><br />So began my journey of eating disorders, diets, and body shaming — for 10 years. And though most people said and even I still say, “you have to love yourself before you can love anyone else,” I was so lost on how to love myself, if I didn’t look exactly like the girls in the magazines.<br /><br />Through therapy and years of invisible scarring, I was able to put together an acronym, "SNAP," that actually worked. The idea of the acronym came from a time where I had to learn how to get over the nervous feeling I had before a big show, casting, or meeting. Most of the time, when I was uncertain of something, I was consumed with the feeling of nervousness and self-doubt, until I read an article that really struck me.<br /><br />The article said, when you’re nervous about something — a job interview, a big meeting, speaking in public or anything else — allow yourself to feel the nervousness before the actual event. Once you feel nervous, there’s no need to cling to the emotion anymore and carry it around with you. Drop it like a bad habit and find comfort in knowing you’ve already felt nervous, and now it’s time to feel strong.<br /><br />This example of fully allowing myself to feel the emotion, dropping the feeling and then quickly getting on with my life was in one word: awesome.<br /><br />For example, if I felt fat, I would embrace what it feels like to feel heavier. In my mind I pictured myself wearing jeans that were too tight and cutting off my breath, and sometimes I would picture my insecurity. As soon as I felt that, I had soaked the emotion in like a sponge, I would quickly turn around and wring out that full sponge of self-doubt. I would empty the feeling of insecurity and discomfort and just leave my mind free to pursue the journey that I was proud of: becoming a role model that inspires kindness.<br /><br />So here it is, my simple SNAP routine to help you give your amazing self all the love that you deserve:<br /><br />Surround yourself with supportive people that love you.<br /><br />Notice how badly you feel in moments of doubt and self-sabotage.<br /><br />Allow yourself to feel the emotion for a moment and then immediately let go of it.<br /><br />Persevere in your journey of self-love.<br /><br />The next time you start to judge yourself, find comfort in knowing that you can most definitely change your thoughts in a SNAP. Write it down and carry it in your wallet. No one will know what SNAP means, so don’t worry — it’s a personal reminder that you’re allowed to feel a certain way, and you’re also allowed to be freed from those feelings. Now SNAP to it!

body image, girlboss, good advice, good habits, health, health and fitness, mental health, Motivation, self-care

A Model's Guide To Letting Go Of Self-Doubt

shared from mindbodygreen.com by BY EMILY NOLAN JOSEPH As a younger model, I dealt with a lot of rejection and judgment (like every model ...

If you’re struggling with your fitness goals, feel free to quit. Just quit tomorrow.

<div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">article from precisionnutrition.com by Craig Weller</span></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.5em; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;">Coach Craig Weller talks about the importance of finding your “deep reason” when things get tough and</span><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;"> how to keep going when the going gets tough, Craig explains how</span><span style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;"> </span><strong style="font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px;">small daily decisions can help to keep us on track.</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <span style="font-size: 30px;">More lessons from Special Operations Forces</span><b></b></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In Special Operations Forces selection we used to have a saying:</div> <blockquote style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 1.4em; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <div style="padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> “Finish out today and quit tomorrow.”</div> </blockquote> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> SOF selection is essentially a system of heavy-duty hazing, ruthlessly tormenting a bunch of people until most of them drop out.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> During this intensive process, it’s so tempting to tell yourself that <em>The run is too far</em>.<em>The water is too cold</em>. <em>My arms are too weak to do one… more… pushup… unnnggghh</em>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> It’s so tempting to tell yourself: <em>It doesn’t matter. It’s not worth it. <strong>Nothing</strong> is worth this pain or boredom.</em></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> So what’s the secret to staying the course?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Quitting. Later, that is.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> My buddies and I promised each other we’d never quit in the middle of an evolution. At least, we’d wait until the end of the day, when the intensity of the moment had passed.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> The carrot of quitting dangled enticingly in front of us. A little treat, the promise of eventual relief to keep us going. It was just a <em>little</em> farther away.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Of course, at the end of the day, we’d look back on the incident that had made us want to quit, realize it wasn’t so bad – and feel good about our decision to continue. Invariably, this simple trick would pull us through.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> We didn’t quit today. And every one of us made it through selection.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px; text-align: center;"> <img alt="Precision Nutrition Motivation Secret 2 Quit Tomorrow Body Image Motivation secret #2: Quit tomorrow" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-40022" height="400" src="http://www.precisionnutrition.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Precision-Nutrition-Motivation-Secret-2-Quit-Tomorrow-Body-Image.jpg" style="border: none; display: block; margin: 10px auto 18px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" title="" width="600" /></div> <h2 style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Self-herding</h2> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Great, you might be thinking – but what’s the carry-over to ordinary life? How do small daily decisions (like my decision to postpone quitting) support or detract from our longer-term commitments, like a commitment to fitness and health?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Upside-Irrationality-Unexpected-Benefits-Defying/dp/0061995037/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1314645593&sr=8-1" style="color: #0a7baa;"><i>The Upside of Irrationality</i></a><i>, </i>author Dan Ariely describes a phenomenon he calls “self-herding.” “Herding” is what happens when we follow what others are doing. “Self-herding” occurs when we allow our own previous actions to govern our current behavior.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Sounds pretty innocuous. But here’s the thing: <strong>Many of our small, daily decisions are governed by our emotional state in the moment. </strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> And self-herding is such a powerful force that <strong>each decision has the potential to establish a habit</strong>, which in turn could help or hinder our long-term goals.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Ariely gives an example. Suppose your favorite team wins a game just before you head out to your mother-in-law’s for supper. In your excitement, you stop to buy her flowers on your way. Two weeks later, on your next visit, you find yourself buying flowers again.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> What’s going on here? The underlying reason for your initial purchase (excitement about the game) is gone. But without necessarily meaning to, you use your previous actions as a template for what you <i>should</i> do next and the kind of person you are.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Thus, a passing emotion ends up influencing a long string of decisions and helps to establish a habit – and to shape a character.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Now what if, in that initial moment of happiness about your team’s win, instead of buying flowers for your mother-in-law, you chose to stop at the pub for five or six pints?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Or what if your team <i>lost</i> and you chose to kick the dog – or open a bag of Oreos?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Self-herding can turn you into the kind of person who finishes a demanding course of training or brings flowers to your mother-in-law – or the kind who drinks too much, lashes out at others, or eats for comfort.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong>The small, seemingly unimportant decisions we make in the moment can have far-reaching consequences for the kind of people we become</strong>.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> That’s why it’s so important to pause and think before we act. To harness the power of self-herding so it works for us, not against us. To finish out today and “quit tomorrow.”</div> <h2 style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> The Opposite Rule</h2> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> In our coaching programs, we often like to use the Opposite Rule: If what you’re doing isn’t working, try the opposite. (Ridiculously simple, we know. But it works.)</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Most of us have told ourselves: <em>I’ll start ___ tomorrow</em>. [Insert one or more of the following self-improvement projects: running, getting up early, eating healthy, being nicer to my in-laws, learning Swahili, etc.]</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> “Starting tomorrow” — while it’s a great way to begin — also often lets us justify poor decisions today.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> So what about trying the opposite? Instead of “<em>start</em> tomorrow”, how about: “<em>Quit</em>tomorrow”?</div> <h2 style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 30px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 18px 0px;"> Quit tomorrow to keep fit</h2> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Did you just start eating a clean diet and give up processed foods? Did you just start a new and more intensive exercise program?</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Here’s some news: It’s going to suck sometimes, and there is nothing you can really do about that until your body adapts.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> You’re going to have moments of weakness when you want nothing more than a bag of chips or a package of Twinkies. Days when you can barely drag yourself to the gym.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <i>It’s only once. It can’t really hurt. It’s not so bad</i>. The mind is remarkably adept at coming up with justifications.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But – as the theory of self-herding demonstrates – this decision won’t stand on its own. Every choice you make lays neural groundwork that will bias your future decisions. Eventually, you’re the sum of your habits. No more, and no less.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> <strong>So, my advice when you want to give up is this: Quit tomorrow.</strong></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> Nourish yourself with healthy food today. Get yourself to the gym and do that set today. And tomorrow, if you want that Pop Tart or you need a rest, go ahead and take it.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: news-gothic-std-n4, news-gothic-std, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 27px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"> But I’m betting the urge to quit will be gone. Instead, when tomorrow dawns, you’ll feel just a bit healthier, a little less dependent on sugar, a little stronger. You’ll have harnessed self-herding in your favor. And you’ll be one step closer to your goals.</div>

attitude, Fitness motivation, good advice, good habits, health and fitness, lifestyle, mind over matter, mindset, Motivation, workouts

If you’re struggling with your fitness goals, feel free to quit. Just quit tomorrow.

article from precisionnutrition.com by Craig Weller Coach Craig Weller talks about the importance of finding your “deep reason” when thin...