WANT TO LIVE LONGER AND BETTER? LOOKING AT YOUR LIFESTYLE, WHAT WOULD A LIFESTYLE COACH SAY?

Today, there seems to be a movement in America toward having Lifestyle Coaches. These professionals have a wide gambit of professional names and just as many specialties. One of my goals as a Wellness and Lifestyle Coach is to help people with there long-term health. This approach not only improves people’s quantity of life, but their quality of life as well.

For example, I really believe we get WAY too hung up on age. Baseball great Satchel Paige said this about age, "Age is a question of mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter" and “How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?" Satchel Paige actually pitched in Major League Baseball game at the age of 60. Yes, sixty. As your Lifestyle Coach, I teach people that life is much more mental than physical. If you are constantly telling yourself something, sooner or later, it will become the truth!

In America there are too many people that look like they are fifty who are thirty, too many people who move like they are sixty who are only forty. This just doesn’t have to be.

I have had a high percentage of my clients say something like this, “I can’t believe how bad of shape I am in; I feel and look horrible. What happened?” I used to believe it was a combination of two things: 1. my client was not being honest about how much their lifestyle had changed in the past twenty years, and 2. the lack of resistance training had slowed their metabolism and worsened their body composition make-up. Though these two reasons might be correct, the truth might actually be that they really had not changed their lifestyle. As a Lifestyle Coach it is my job to discover all of the variables in a person's life that is destroying their health.

Let me explain.

To create an environment for long term health we need to stay away from the daily lifestyle choices that destroy our metabolism. Unfortunately, some people seem to destroy their metabolisms before they are through with their adolescence (yes, it can reversed, but it takes WORK). Others seem to ride their “good genetics” into their mid-thirties to early-forties. Truth be told, some people can LOOK like they are getting away with “drinking beer and eating pizza” everyday and still have an abdominal area that looks like a six pack. But once they have damaged their metabolisms they will put weight on by the truck-load for no apparent reason unless they realize that their new found health concerns are a metabolism issue, not just an excessive calorie issue. You see, if it takes decades to destroy your metabolism, any Lifestyle Coach should tell you that it is going to take some (huge understatement) work/time to heal it. Cutting calories (or dieting), which usually means reducing nutrient intake as well, will not be beneficial but extremely detrimental.

As a Lifestyle Coach, I like to break a person's life down into different components. Here is a list of different components, variables within each, and a comment about each, that must be watched to keep our health optimal.

Component: NUTRITION

Variables: Quality of food; Frequency of meals and snacks; Combinations of Carbohydrates, Proteins, and Fat; Supplementation; Water Intake.

Comment: Keeping your metabolism “fired-up” by consuming quality frequent meals with a proper macro-nutrient combination may be the best way to look forty at age sixty. If you don’t want to be well, or age well, don’t make an effort with your nutritional regimen. This component is a must; your body will not and cannot be fooled.

Component: SLEEP

Variables: Quality; Quantity.

Comment: Full recuperation, restoration, recovery and repair of your physical and mental faculties come only from consistent nights of quality sleep. Our being awake using synthetic light is a relatively new phenomena, so try to follow the rising and setting of the sun as closely as possible for your sleep patterns.

Component: TOXINS

Variables: (In order from worst to least toxic)

Illicit drugs and narcotics

Tobacco/nicotine

Alcohol

Artificial Sweeteners

Refined sugars

Additives

Caffeinated beverages

Over-the-counter medications

Prescription medications

Comment: Each of these toxins has side-effects that will damage your metabolism, thereby accelerating the aging process. Though the goal is to taper-off and avoid all toxins; prescription drugs must only be tapered- off/avoided with the guidance of your doctor.

Component: EXERCISE

Variables: Resistance Training; Cardiovascular/Respiratory; Aerobic.

Comment: In America, the majority of us are over-fat and under-muscled. A proper resistance training program has little to no risk, but reaps great benefits. There is no reason a properly trained sixty year old cannot move as well as his or her grandchild.Resistance, cardiovascular/respiratory, and aerobic training should never be hard on the joints or create chronic stress on the adrenal glands.

These are just four components of your life that if improved on a daily basis can benefit your quality and quantity of life. Long-term benefits are not always seen or felt the next day, just in the same way our poor lifestyle habits that destroy our metabolism are not seen or felt the next day.

The truth is though, if you make better choices now, you will have a better life later.

Right now, as your personal Lifestyle Coach, I guarantee it!