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Back when I was in college I took a ‘gym’ class called “Physical Fitness for Life”.  Half the time we stretched in a small gym, and the other half we lifted weights and did cardio in an exercise room.   After this class I would go to my gym and work out again.   I was 20 years old and life was good.

The whole concept of the class was to build routines that kept physical activity a part of your life after college so that you could enjoy life and reduce risks of disease.   While the concept is genius, in practice it is very tough.

Building habits are very tough.   It always take time, and focus.     The truth is if you build good habits, then Physical fitness for life is relatively easy.  Whenever you encounter a stressful situation, or you have to make a last second choice your instinct is often formed by your mental habits.

For our purposes the lifestyle habits that are essential are:  Diet and Exercise.

Diet:  This is the toughest one for me.   I have never been a “proper” eater.  My diet has always been full of sugar, fats, fast food, etc.    These habits have made me develop a sort of addiction to the taste of these foods.  The salt, the sugar, the fat, the cholesterol.   Do you have the same situation?

Steps for Change: 

1. Make a strong mental decision to change the way you eat.

2. Reinforce that decision every time you find yourself eating the things you want to eat less of.  ex: At Burger king, tell yourself how bad the food is, and how you don’t need it.

3.  Slowly begin to phase out the bad foods in your diet.   Be slow, and be successful.    Going cold turkey is reserved for the hard core and those with the plan to fail.

4. As you start putting healthier foods into your diet, reinforce this decision by telling yourself how good things taste or how much better you feel.   You have to be real with yourself.

5. Keep phasing good food in, and bad food out and soon enough you will be in the Top 20% of the people in the country.

Now:  Did you notice something?    Out of 5 total steps 3 of those steps were only mental decisions.    The first two steps were initiated before any changes were actually made.   I feel this is CRITICAL.   For diet, and for life in order to make sweeping changes and become ultra successful at something you try it requires mental dedication and re-dedication.

If you take away one lesson from this post it should be:  Always commit yourself mentally before changing your actions, and if at all possible, commit yourself at least twice over.   The more positive, committed self-talk you have, the more successful you will be.

Stay tuned for the 2nd part:  Exercise.

A.D.

At the Minds of Wealth we focus on all areas of Wealth, including Physical Wealth. This is a short summary of what I went through when someone said “Got Fiber?”

First off.. what the hell is Dietary Fiber? Ok.. Fiber.. Metamucil.. Grandma’s and Grandpas.. bland.. boring. These were the first things that popped into my mind.

However according to a small site known as Wikipedia: it is the indigestible portion of plant foods that move food through the digestive system absorbing water and making defecation easier.

So in plain English: It makes you poop better. There is a whole lot more than just this, however this is the first thing you may notice.

Just don’t go diving into piles of Fiber though, or you may end up living in the bathroom for awhile. Studies have shown that most people in the U.S. do not get the recommended amount of fiber in their diet.

For most the correct amount is: 20-35 grams per day. I decided to study my own diet and check out the nutritional labels on the foods I consumed most. Uh oh.. almost NO fiber. Whoops.

The more I looked into it the more I found that I needed to get some Fiber.

There is a great article here: Fiber 101

The benefits included:

Reduced risk for heart disease, diabetes, colon cancer. These are things that aren’t in my mind at 26, but will be at 56. The best way to build Physical Wealth for the future is begin today.

In changing my bad eating habits I am starting to mix in: Peanuts, Carrots, Eggs, Super Whole grain bread, and apples. Green leafy vegetables are also on the horizon including broccoli and spinach.

If your natural eating habits need a little “American” help, then my suggestion is supplements. There are many Fiber supplements that will help you get your Fiber.

*If your body is used to consuming little to no fiber do NOT overload it!   This will cause cramping, bloating, and other bathroom issues.  So please ramp up slowly and you will have NO problems. *

How will you do it? Make a commitment!

Good luck and stay tuned for more healthy eating tips.

A.D.

I am going to keep this post short and simple: STRESS CAN KILL YOU! 

 I recently wrote a post like this about my grandfather titled, “Health: An Eye Opening Experience.” In this post I talked about how my grandfather was admitted to the hospital due to the clotting of his legs. I went on explaining how the bad decisions he made when he was younger ultimately led him to the bed he now occupies.  

This post is not much different from the last. It has the same type of results only with different problems. Instead of my grandfather it is now my grandmother. Besides her also having bad cholesterol it was now extreme stress that admitted her. Believe it or not this almost killed her a few days ago. As a matter of fact if she would not have went to the hospital when she did, and instead went to bed, the doctor told her she would have never woken up. 

It turns out that she got into a little scuffle with my sister and because of that almost ended her life. It seems almost surreal to me that something as simple as stress could kill you. If you think about it, people go through stress all the time. Have you ever had to get up in front of people and give a speech? Although I am fairly O.K. with it now, I used to stress out for weeks at the thought that I would have to give a speech. Other times we stress over getting a new job or more money. Can we ever be stress free?  

Actually we can be free of the BAD stress. In Dale Carnegies book titled “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living” He explains all of these stress free techniques in complete detail. I feel the man is a genius and has some amazing tactics you can apply immediately to jump start your path to a stress free life.     

All I have to say is remember to think before you act. This may sound simple but the next time you want to jump over the table at someone because they have offended you, think of this: Stress Can Kill You. This is what I leave you with. I hope you pick his book up and start reading. Without it I probably would not be where I am today. Good luck!

Also Check out:

Health: An Eye Opening Experience

If you are asking yourself: Why would anyone want to give up sweet carbonated beverages??? Then you may want to pick another item to read, for the rest of this post is for those with a desire to give these up.

For the purpose of the rest of this blog I will refer to the carbonated drinks(Pepsi, Coke, Mountain Dew, etc) as PSC (Pop/Soda/Coke). This will prevent any regional arguments about what exactly to call these beverages.

Their are several reasons for wanting to give up PSC. Perhaps you want to lower your sugar intake. Maybe lower the amount of caffeine. For the diet drinkers out there maybe its cutting back on Phenylalanine?

I personally crossed PSC off of the habit list back when I was 15. I started practicing for high school football and was strongly advised to drink only water before, during and after practices. PSC would impact my performance it was said because caffeine, sugar and more were bad for endurance training and strength. So there it was after my initial dismay, I parted with my PSC lifestyle with a big cup of water in hand.

So how can you cut out PSC?

Step#1: Prepare yourself. If you aren’t ready to stop drinking it, you won’t. If you don’t have anything else to drink then you won’t quit for long. My suggestion would be to focus on this goal. Write it down, and set a short term date that you will quit for good. Buy bottles of water. These will help in a moment of weakness when PSC rears its ugly head. Keep in mind ALL dine-out places have plenty of water, all you have to do is ask. Please remember that ALL PSC machines also have water as well.

Step#2: Start changing your Self-Talk. This is the little voice in your head that will tell you its ok to drink PSC when you’re having a bad day, or when you are really thirsty, or when you are ordering a Combo Meal at McD’s. You have to step in and tell yourself that this is not in my best interests. The person who knows your Self-Talk best is you. You have to sell yourself on this for it to work. You know what objections it will have, so you must be prepared to overcome those each time they are brought up.

Step#3a: Ok this is where those rare strong folks out there give it up. Done. End of story. It will be tough, but its all or nothing. I give great Kudos to those individuals.

Step#3b: For the rest of us: Ease your way toward your ultimate goal date. Talk yourself out of that daily PSC during lunch, or at dinner. Each week cut out 1 PSC per day, and eventually you’ll be down to Zero. As mentioned earlier, make sure you know what your options are when you are thirsty.

Say goodbye to PSC, and hello to the new world of healthy non-carbonated beverages like WATER!

To read up some more on healthy eating stop by the 3-2 Eating plan post.

A.D.

Recently my 64 year old grandfather was diagnosed with a vascular disease. Within twelve hours the veins in his legs collapsed and he had to go through three surgeries. I’m sure that you can guess that this kind of stress reeks havoc on the body. Either way, here is why this was an “Eye Opening Experience” for me.

I was in the middle of work when I received the phone call that my grandfather was not doing well. Because of his bad habits when he was younger the veins in his legs clogged with cholesterol and could no longer take it. They collapsed and put him where he is right now.

While I was in the hospital I thought of it to be a good learning experience. I asked the nurse what had caused this type of disease. What she said, although common sense, shocked me. Here was her insight.

1.) Smoking

No big shocker here. She stated that smoking was a large cause of his disease. Although he had quit smoking fifteen years before, the twenty plus years he smoked before hand did its damage. Personally I used to smoke about five cigarettes a week. I considered myself a social smoker and whenever there was a get together you could bet I had a cigarette in my hand. Within the last five hours I have sworn to myself never to smoke again. That did it for me. Not to say that smoking was the only cause for his disease, but if it was a factor that was one less thing to knock off the list.

2.) Diabetes

Because of the foods that he ate the doctors diagnosed him with diabetes a few years ago. This played a large role in his vascular disease. I am not a doctor but I can bet due to his high blood sugar his body had a hard time fighting the cholesterol in his legs. From what I now know, diabetes runs in the family and mind my words I will begin watching what I eat.

3.) Over Weight

Being over weight has its side effects as it is. If you add diabetes and smoking on top of that, no wonder his arteries were clogged. Combined with the foods that he ate and his smoking habit, was surely the answer for his health problems.

Thinking back, if he would have exercised a few hours a week or ate less sugary foods I wonder where his health would be right now. He might not be as well off as most 65 year olds, but I can bet he would not be in the hospital. I can thank my grandfather for many things he has taught me, but if there is one thing that sticks out it was his lesson on health. Seeing him like that opened my eyes wide. From now on I will make sure I cherish my health and my ability to walk.

If you have ever been in a situation like this please leave a reply. Myself and others would love to hear what you have to say.

Also Check Out:

Eye Opening Experience #2: Stress Can Kill You

M.B.