action, adaptation, ageing, awareness, Beliefs, courage, faith, game of life, habits, hope, life, long-term perspective, you

An attitude of gratitude.

Some wise person once said:

“Its not your aptitude, but your attitude that determines your altitude in life.”

Pretty wise words, don’t you think? You probably don’t need to look very far – look at the immediate people in your circle of life to see examples of this aphorism.

Maybe even you.

Being grateful for all that we have is a way of thinking.

You probably have your own way of giving appreciation to whoever you speak to. Whichever way it is, the essence of it is communication and routine. Ideally, giving thanks should be done daily and not only when you’re in real trouble or at a special occasion, like a funeral for example.

It can be done at any time convenient for you.

Me – I try and say a prayer of thanks every time I eat a meal. That is a minimum of six times a day. You pray for the meal to be blessed, thank the good Lord (or whatever higher force you believe in) for your blessings and ask for continued blessings for you, your family and friends and the world at large.

My wife and I have always prayed together, before consuming our meals and we also try to say a prayer before sleeping at night. Our kids have come along and they also join us in prayer. They take turns in leading the prayers now that they are both older.

It’s a family habit. Part of our daily routines.

But I believe there is more to gratitude. It not only reminds us of not taking anything for granted. It humbles us. It puts a certain level of perspective on life.

It is essentially the choice of attitude of the person and their attitude to life. There is magic in being grateful. There is magic in having a thankful spirit.

This magic, I believe, is POWER.

Yes, power!

How is that, you may ask?

Well, I believe a thankful spirit has the power to overcome anger with love; it has the power to subordinate fear with courage; it replaces sadness with happiness and has the power to feel not jealousy but genuine joy at another’s success.

Having a thankful spirit and an attitude of gratitude has the power to inspire productivity and innovation over lack of creativity. Being grateful releases guilt with an heart of forgiveness.

An attitude of gratitude has the power to allow one to grow with an abundance of love
and self-sharing over greed and hatred.

It is a form of power, not as you know it but power none-the-less. An intangible one at times.

So, there you have it, some reasons why I believe that an attitude of gratitude is power.

Knowing that it is a form of power is not power. No, ‘knowing’ is potential power. Applying an attitude of gratitude on a daily basis, now that is power. The power rests in the choosing.

Check your attitude and work on your attitude of gratitude if you think you need to. You may just surprise yourself with how much more you get out of life, by giving more in to it, through choosing your best attitude, always.

Feel, really feel, that intangible power.

Start with a ‘reverse bucket list’ to put some structure to it. Some people do.

What is it? Well, a reverse bucket list is simply a list of things you have done, places you’ve visited and opportunities you have experienced in your life to date. How is this an exercise of gratitude you may be thinking?

You see, when you write it down and then look over what you have written, you can reminisce and be grateful for what you have achieved and done in your life so far. You may even shock and surprise yourself with what you have achieved.

Keep adding to that list as the seconds of life tick by …reminding yourself how lucky you are to be breathing and living life.

When I take my first breath upon waking every morning, I say a quick prayer of thanks to my God, thanking him for being alive. That is the best gift, I believe, anyone alive has been granted.

My whole focus from that moment on is to see how it is that I can be of service to and help people get what they want out of life to the best of my ability.

Also, remember, its not just about adding years to your life, its also important to add life in to those years.

Ask yourself how are you going to best achieve that?

Hint: reflect and give thanks.

Until next time,

Balance & symmetry brings you closer to harmony … to beauty …closer to infinity. Just like mathematics does

ageing, Beliefs, Energy, game of life, you

The toughest job in the world.

Me and my two children – Olivia and Zachary. I love them with all my heart.

There are all sorts of jobs in the world that claim to be ‘tough’. A few may come to mind. You name it – too many to name them all.

From all the dads and mums I have spoken to in gyms over the last 20+ years, I would have to say that being a father or a mother is the toughest. I know how difficult it is so far because I have been lucky enough to be a father now for the last five years.

The main reason why a father’s role, no less than a mother’s, is the toughest job in the world is that it never ends. I am still learning my role as a dad and I love every bit of it. I tell people that it is the best role I have ever played in my life to date.

I have been fortunate enough to spend a bit more time with my two children this past year and I have decided it is the toughest job there is simply because it never ends. You’re faced with challenges – daily, weekly, monthly, year after year. Its 24-7, 365 days of the year! Being a parent is very demanding indeed.

A full-time job, with no let up, no time off even for illness and recuperation (or to nurse that occasional hang-over). Nope, not now and I have concluded, not any time soon.

Getting buried in sand while on holiday in Fiji

They are not like your neighbour’s cat who you let in to your home for a feed and cuddle and when you’re tired of it, you let out of the house. No, it does not work that way. Indeed, in High School and University years, I anticipate that they will ‘come and go’ more so than their toddler years, but I think their absence in those years will not lessen the burden of a parent’s responsibility.

No, in fact, I believe that as children get older, our tasks as parents, gets even more complex. It intensifies. I expect it to.

I am very grateful for my children and I give to them with all my heart like I trust all parents out there do, too. Giving and gratitude go hand-in-hand. They go together like humour and laughter.

It seems in all my discussions with parents over the years, that in spite of all the many years of experience they have had, the job of a father (or mother) never seems to get easier.

I think that is true.

As a young father, I can understand (along with my amazing wife), our responsibility at this point in our life – to be the main provider of shelter, food, clothing and lots of love and care in the comfort of home. However, as fathers or mothers, I don’t think we ever stop caring, even when they are all grown up and we are no longer the main providers.

I know, as the biological father of my children, it will be my joyful pleasure to continue to care for them, even after they may no longer seem to need me, when they are older. I know it will be the same for my wife, the biological mother of my children.

I’m sure it will be the same for every father or mother reading this blog. I trust it would be the same for future fathers and mothers too. Investing love and time in your child(ren) is the most important investment you will ever make in your life.

One point is clear: Once a parent, always a parent.

Be the best parent you can be.

Until next time,

A ‘sick day’ from school day for us here, 4 years ago now.
Enjoying the entertainment at Sydney’s beautiful Luna Park.
I never let schooling interfere with my or my family’s education.
Children teach you better conflict resolution skills

action, adaptation, awareness, diet, eating, Energy, you

Eating right actually takes less time than you think. Tip # 7: Food supplements.

Side Chest

Tip #7: Food Supplements.

The food tip says it all – ‘Food supplements’. That is what it is and should not be anything but that.

Just that: supplements! Purpose: to supplement!

Supplementing your diet with some of the countless food supplement products you can get out there today is good for several reasons:

1. Efficiency: allows you to consume your minimum daily requirements of say, with minimum of preparation time, minimum fuss. A typical serving of protein shake would give you anywhere between 20g and 40g of protein. So, depending on your goals and daily protein intake requirements, mixing and drinking a protein shake saves you time. You don’t need to defrost, marinate and cook a steak for example to get that serving of 30 to 40g of protein in to you.

2. Variety available: You have such a plethora of brands, colors and types in our world today, to suit almost every individual taste and want there is. Overcomes food monotony and spices up your taste buds and life with variety.

3. Convenience: very little time taken to prepare and drink the supplement. Particularly relevant for today’s ‘busy’ professional who is in and out of meetings and don’t have the time to sit down to eat a meal.

4. Cost: apart from time cost, supplement companies are at each other’s neck’s with competition and price-wars are very prevalent in today’s world. Increased competition leads to lower cost. Excellent for the discerning customer: you.

5. there are others …..

However, nutrition should be primarily about food – real food. It should not be confused with supplements. Even though this point is of paramount importance, you still find that discussions in and around the gym and training revolve around supplements. You hear gym members asking so ‘what supplements are you taking?” As if there is some magic supplement that everyone else is on that you should be on too.

I’ve been saying it for over two decades now, it does not matter what supplements you take, if you don’t have a sound and proper diet aligned with your goals, all the supplements in the world would not build you the body you want.

Period!

Here are a few things to consider prior to placing some dependence on ‘bodybuilding supplements’:

1. Be clear on what your physical goals are. Eating for mass is quite different to eating to get lean.
2. Set your daily caloric consumption plan (includes protein/carbs/fats portions).
3. Deliberate consumption of macro-nutrient, portion-controlled meals eaten over 5 to evenly-spaced meals towards the daily caloric targets.
4. Adequate daily consumption of water.
5. The generation of lean body mass (muscle) through the routine application and adaption of points 1 through 4.

Once the above points are considered, supplements has a role to play and may assist you move towards your physical goals, faster, if used in the right way.

So, lets have a re-cap of the total time you would take to implement these tips.

Total time taken to apply Top 6 Tips (b/f) = 17 minutes (1020 seconds).
Estimated time to apply Tip 7 (this tip) ~ 3 minutes (180 seconds) *
Total daily estimated time for 7 tips ~ 20 minutes (1200 seconds)

* NOTE: based on the assumption that you will take 2 x protein shake servings at specified time during your day.

So, there you go, my seven tips to a better you this summer and also supporting my subject-heading that “eating right actually takes less time than you think”.

Running total so far ~ 20 minutes (still less than half an hour per day).

Apply Action.

Adapt Accordingly.

Until next time,

adaptation, awareness, Energy, game of life, hope, long-term perspective, you

The Sum of a Life.

Front double biceps – a week ago. Practice.
“Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.”

The sum of a Life: the sum of your searches, your seeking.

The choice is yours. Yours alone.

1. Seek – you will find.
2. Seek Not– you won’t find.

To seek is part of being human, part of the human soul. Part of you. Part of me. Part of the human race. Life is a constant search.

To live is to seek.

A never-ending search for answers.

We are all searching. We are all seeking. From the moment we take our first breath in this world, being granted life, we have searched.

Every second, of every day.

Constantly. A never-ending appetite.

We need to know. Answers. To the all important question – “why?”.

Why? I don’t know. Not even certain if it will make us better as a human race if we got the answer to all questions.

We seek to understand. Understand the world around us. We seek to understand people. We seek to understand ourselves. We seek to understand the meaning of life.

Some people do more seeking than others. Some people don’t bother seeking much. Some people think seeking and searching is a waste of time. Fair enough. That is their prerogative.

Whichever choice you make, on whether to seek or not to seek, I believe that the sum of your life will come down to the extent you seek and search for answers.

Outside yourself. Within yourself.

The more you seek, the more you search, the greater the chance of you reaching your potential in your life. The greater the chance you live a life of significance.

The greater the chance that at the end of your life, you are proud and very content of the person you HAVE BECOME as opposed to what YOU’VE GOT in life. That you have searched to understand rather than searched to be understood.

Seek, my friend – seek. Just do it!

The more you seek – the more you find. It is as fundamental as that. If you don’t seek – the less you find.

Keep that hunger alive. That flame burning.

Like the very powerful passage in the bible states along the lines of … “Seek and ye shall find”.

Very true indeed. Believe it so. Have no doubt.

No belief. No nothing.

Keep searching for a better YOU. Don’t ask yourself “why” you should continue to search, to seek. Instead ask yourself “why not?”

You cannot afford not to.

Keep your dreams alive. Keep the faith.

Keep on keeping on your searching. Never, ever, ever …. give up!

Until next time,

With 8 x Mr Olympia – “The King”, Ronnie Coleman, earlier this year.

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Inside-out Roll.

Front double-biceps with Olivia and Zachary for the camera.

Family Traditions

My family and I enjoy eating Japanese Sushi. We have it once a week.

It is part of one of our young family evolving traditions – eating out at this point in our lives. My kids enjoy kids tuna and rice sushi pieces and my wife normally digs in to whole larger versions of the sushi roll. She specifically requests for the “Inside-out Roll” with either tuna/avocado or salmon/avocado.

I normally have one or two of these Inside-Out Sushi Rolls in addition to fresh or cooked garlic prawns with a touch of seaweed. Delicious. A weekly treat for the Valentine’s in this phase of our lives.

The inside-out roll got me thinking about life.

How it could symbolise one of the important lessons of life, relating to change and that to change any worthwhile aspect of our life, as part of our self-growth, we need to turn ‘inside-out’.

Just like that sushi roll.

We need to turn ‘within’ to live, happily, without. I have to make a qualification though – you adopt the 80-20 rule ” or principle”, with regards to letting go of things or comforts of life, depending on where and how you choose to live.

To make any change to ourselves, we need to turn ‘inside-out’, to change within to change without.

Eliminate and de-clutter the ‘noise’ that has been uploaded in to your brain since the cradle

Change – REAL CHANGE – comes from the INSIDE-OUT.

Yes, you can make superficial small changes on the surface, but in order to make significant changes and sustain them, you cannot just trim the edges of the bushes. You cannot just rake the leaves off the ground under the tree. The leaves which represent attitude and behaviour.

Nope, you cannot just focus on the ten percent of the ice-berg that you see above water and do some ‘band-aid’ quick-fix personality technique.

Nope, not good enough!

For sustainable change to a significant area in your life, you need to dig at the roots of the tree. You need to work on the ninety percent of the ice-berg that is under the water. You need to get at the cause. You need to get to your belief systems, to become more aware of your fundamentals. Your philosophy of your life so far.

You need to understand YOU better and understand the philosophy or paradigm you adhere to that defines your character at this point in time. Your being. And the lens through which you see the world outside.

It is quite obvious that if we want to make relatively smaller, insignificant changes in our lives, we can perhaps appropriately focus on our attitudes and behaviours. However, if we want to make significant, quantum change, we NEED TO WORK ON OUR PHILOSOPHY. Our basic paradigm.

This is how change, sustainable significant change, can only come about successfully by working on yourself from the inside-out, just like that tasty inside-out sushi roll.

So, what can you do to make change happen that could have a positive and possibly significant impact on your life?

Try this: become more patient with yourself.

Just like muscle growth, patience is key. So, to change the world, change within. Change is essential to life. If you’re not changing, you’re not living. With change, one is forced to consider adapting.

It is in the process of adaptation, that one appreciates growth (with muscle growth and also with life growth). Changing within to live without, allows for growth. A worked muscle is usually a little ‘tender’ the next day or two. Implementing change inside-out leads to muscle growth, leads to self-growth.

Just like muscle growth, self-growth is tender, a little precious even. Work on it. Persist. Build change from within. Then, preserve it.

Sustainable Self-growth and muscle growth occurs best through the inside-out approach. Remember, though, for growth to be positive, you need to work hard at maintaining the environment that helps create that growth.

Both are two of the most important investments you will ever make in your life.

Good luck!

Until next time,

Cheers & Ahoy!

The Old Cap’n Viking Pirate

Back Double Biceps
Placing: 2nd in Australia

Champions practise a lot of visualisation and simulation.
To create magic, you need to fuse the worlds of sanity (where you are) with insanity (where you dream/imagine you are, before you are).
That is difficult.
That is one of the key keys.
Don’t stop. Trying. Believing.
Keep on … keeping on. You’ll get there. Everyone always does.
Especially, if you do it with your heart. and ….
with LOVE.

adaptation, awareness, balance, better choices, Body shape, body weight, choices, diet, eating, game of life, habits, happiness, Imagination, life, muscles, needs, responsibility, self discipline, self-respect, you, your life

Eating Right actually takes less time than you think. Tip # 6: Eat more snacks!

Educating a top national sprinter of the importance of proper nutrition for recovery & growth for optimal performance

Eating more snacks

How good is that?!

Eating more snacks, that is. It makes us all feel good just reading that tip. Gives you some mental peace of mind, a release valve when you’re on a ‘slimming diet’ program or just contemplating the thought of going months on end saying ‘no’ to all the good food you’re used to eating.

It can be quite difficult for many to create what I refer to as your own self-imposed ‘purity bubble’ when everyone around you is consuming everything. In abundance. Yes, indeed, it can be very difficult.

Your saving grace is your imagination.

The more vivid your imagination is of the image you visualize yourself to be, the less difficult it is to maintain that purity bubble. Your desire and need for this has to be greater than your need for instant gratification from temptation in the short-term. You goal (image) could be to ….

… To look and feel better about yourself at Christmas, say.

My tip of eating more snacks will assist in your journey towards this goal. Phew, finally, a nutritional tip that agrees with the majority of us! Finally, a tip that we all want to do more of and yes, the more snacks you consume, the better.

But not too fast now … there are conditions though.

There is a definite ‘mind-muscle’ connection. Train your muscles to train & exercise your brain and help it release all those necessary life-affirming hormones to flood your body … needed nutrition for the cells and soul. Try it.

there are conditions

This tip should take you less than 4 minutes flat!

Add that to the running total of my previous Top 5 Tips which was thirteen minutes.

Sum of estimated time taken to perform the Top 6 Tips = 17 minutes. A whopping 17 minutes (or 1020 seconds) out of your busy day with the goal of eating right.

Just to remind you that these Top Ten Tips to eating right also has another goal and that is to demonstrate to you that it should take you less than 30 minutes (1800 seconds) out of your day to eat right. And why is this important to you and worth your body, mind and spirit’s time? Because it is important to provide the best ‘mix’ of raw materials to the being, the machine, the energy-ball that is – YOU.

I am not going to go in to why snacking is important. I have elaborated on this in a previous blog “snacking. The more, the better”.

What I am going to do is give you a list of some good snacks you should carry with you every day before you leave the house for work, play or socialize. Whether you’re a vegetarian or an omnivore, we all still get most of our protein from the three main meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner. And, before you get the wrong idea, by snack I don’t mean cupcakes and fries!

Nope, I refer to a well-composed small meal on the run.

Your life is a continous journey of setting, failing and succeeding in goals … until you …
kick the bucket!
Keep moving forward, I say!

The choice of what you eat is always yours

Whilst food is analysed to shreds keep this one fact in mind for simplicity’s sake: once any form of carbohydrate is eaten (whether its fast burning or slow burning), your body converts all carbohydrates to sugar. So, from that standpoint all sources of carbs are equivalent. However, what is different from the types of snacks I will be listing below and junk choices are essential input the body needs.

Essentials such as fiber, the vitamins and minerals and some cancer-fighting phyto-chemicals found in vegetables and fruits.

At the end of the day, the choice of what you eat is always yours, but so are the level of risks attached to those choices and the consequences likely to occur to your health. Your life.

Choose wisely.

Carbohydrate (Carb) comparisons examples:

1 marshmallow = 1 medium raw carrot = 7 cups mushrooms = 420g (3 ½ cups) of broccoli = ½ cup melon = ½ orange = ¼ very small potato = 1/7 Mars Bar = 1/3 medium banana = 7 jelly beans = 14 cups fresh lettuce = 3 french fries!

Interesting calorie to volume ratios relating to just a small sample comparison, isn’t it?

The snacks below provide approximately 5g or less. If you’re hitting the weights in the gym, add a protein shake (with low carbs or no carbs) to these to ensure that you’re getting adequate levels of protein for muscle repair and growth. A serving should give you between 20g and 30g additional protein.

½ medium avocado = 1 medium carrot = 1 cup frozen spinach = 1 medium tomato = ½ cup diced eggplant = ¼ cup blueberries = ½ cup strawberries = ½ cup snap beans.

Other snack options:

Sandwich (light bread, 30g meat) P:C = 7g:7g

Apple/cheddar slices (1/4 apple/30g cheese) P:C = 7g:1g

Cottage cheese (1/4 cup) P:C = 7g:2g

Hard-boiled egg (1 large) P:C = 6g: 0.6g

Lean meat slices (30g) P:C = 7g: 0.1g

Walnuts (30g) P:C = 4g: 5g

Macadamia (30g) P:C = 3g: 4g

An exhaustive list of ideal snacks? No. Rightly so.

Homework for you: try to become more aware of what you’re consuming. Start measuring the food you eat. We measure everything else – how much money we spend; how much time you spend at work; what size coffee you want; buying a new pair of shoes or trousers.

Measuring is part of our every-day life. We’re constantly measuring. Why not start measuring your food intake. Buy yourself a food scale and measure your foods. Make it habit. To make it habit, repeat to remember and remember to repeat. Like a good pair of shoes, make your food ‘mix’ fit right. For you – the YOU, you want to be (in a few months perhaps).

There you have it, my 6^th Tip of my series of Top Ten Tips to a better you, this summer.

If by some chance, a part of you, a part of your goal is to lose excess body fat – and for most people who suffer from insulin resistance, it is – this tip, along with the previous five and the next four will be good for you. It will offer you one of the easiest and most effective system available (through the power of habit) for doing that quickly, safely and sustainably.

Two common questions I have heard from the many hundreds of people I have helped over the last two decades is:

How quick can I lose weight and how long will it take to reach my goal?
How much food can I eat each day?

Before you seek answers to this, my tip to you is try adopting my Top Ten Tips in to your daily life. Work it in to your lifestyle. The metabolic adaptations that occurs in your body as a result of falling insulin and the increased sensitivity achieved triggers off many good things.

Your improved sensitivity to insulin will in turn increase the rate at which you burn calorie (even at rest) and you will find the new you, sooner than you think.

Act.

Adapt.

…. And give you a little bit more peace of mind.

Good luck in your choices.

Until next time,

Do the Right Thing, ALWAYS.

adaptation, awareness, better choices, bodyweight, choices, diet, eating, Energy, game of life, gym, habit, habits, life, long-term perspective, long-term strategy, mind, muscles, responsibility, self discipline, self improvement, self love, self-respect, truths, you, your life

Eating Right actually takes less time than you think: Tip # 4.

Tip # 4: Take your Nuts with you, wherever you go!

Total estimated time taken out of your day = approx. 10 minutes (as detailed in my previous blogs) –

Represented by:

Time to perform Tip # 1= 5 min

Time to perform Tip # 2 = 3 min

Time to perform Tip # 3 = 2 min

So, hopefully you are trying to incorporate the first 3 tips I have shared with you in my previous blogs. Also, hopefully, you are slowly being convinced about my subject heading.

With this tip (#4), adding nuts to your day is a fantastic ‘snack’ option. Like I have mentioned in a previous blog, ‘snack’ does not need to be a euphemism for junk food. Snacking can be healthy too and should be encouraged for many good reasons.

What do you need to do?

Eat nuts but don’t go nuts on it!

All you need is a handful. Actually, we all have different size hands so I will be more specific – eat less than or equal to 30g of nuts. Some good nuts to choose from include: walnuts, almonds, cashews, peanuts and macadamias.

Quick snacks on the run should still ideally provide high-quality protein with a controlled amount of carbohydrate. This handful roughly provides between 4g and 7g of Protein and Carbohydrates and vary from nut to nut.

Time taken to perform this Tip # 4 in the mornings is approximately 1 minute. Yep, only 60 seconds. So, the running total for the 4 tips so far is approximately equal to 11 minutes. Eleven minutes out of your busy day!

Just to eat right.

A good snack. Berries are a wonderfully tasteful treat.

Good Fats.
My aim is to show you how my Top Ten Tips to eating right should take you less than 30 minutes of your day. Why is this eating tip worth your time and of great value to your body, you may ask?

Well, it provides ‘good fats’ to your body. Yep, not all fats are ‘bad’, but you know that. Your body needs fats to survive and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. There are some vital minerals and vitamins that are fat soluble only.

For example, vitamins A, D, E and K are some such vitamins. So, these essential vitamins are only assimilated in to your body as nutrients in the presence of fat.

Even for those of you reading this blog that have started or are planning to commence your ‘get fit for summer’ training program, understand that losing fat is assisted when you provide the body with fat. Good fats, that is.

That’s correct – you need fat to burn fat!

Good fats provide many benefits such as omega – 3 fatty acids that elevates good cholesterol or High Density lipo-proteins (HDL). Why is this important? Well, this lowers your risk of heart disease as blood is more malleable, that is, blood is made thinner, hence flows better to keep you alive.

Good fats from nuts also provide joint protection. This is vital for those of you who work out in the gym with weights – like me. Having nuts in your diet allows better recuperation for inflamed joints, stiffness and swelling. You’ve got to be nuts not to include them in your diet after reading this.

It should also be noted that these good fats are found in cold water fish such as salmon, tuna and mackerel and plant-based foods such as flaxseeds and soyabeans. Reach out and grab them and add these sources to your diet.

To dig deep, you have to dig deep.

Nuts come in many sizes.

The average person does not eat adequate daily amounts of these good fats, probably less than 1g per day. Carrying around two or three servings of nuts with you in your busy day does not take much time to consider and provides great value to your body, mind and vitality.

Nuts come in many sizes but are essentially small and convenient enough to eat ‘on the run’. Here’s an old Uni riddle: What do you call nuts on a wall? Yep, walnuts. So go for walnuts. There’s no excuse!

We’re on track to prove that Eating right actually takes less time than you think. So far, a grand total of 11 minutes out of your day to apply my Top Four of my Top Ten Tips to get you in Tip-Top Shape this summer.

You’re now Aware. Apply Action. Adapt accordingly.

My Triple A philosophy to self-development.

Thank you for reading.

Until next time,

Do you strive to better yourself in every way?
Are you a Leader?

ageing, body, body weight, diet, eating, Energy, game of life, habits, life, risk, time, you

Eating Right actually takes less time than you think: Tip # 3.

Relaxed.

Tip # 3: If its green and not a frog – eat it!

And what class of foods would fall in this group – yep, you’re not wrong: vegetables.

This includes all the green vegetables, all shades of green. Some good examples include – broccoli, spinach, asparagus, cabbage, long beans.

Obviously, the darker green it is, generally, the better for you. I should also include fruits that are in the shades of yellow to orange in this tip also.

Total estimated time so far (previous top 2 tips) = approx. 8 minutes.

Add: green vegetables (this tip) = approx. 2 minutes.

Estimated time taken out of your day = approx. 10 minutes!

Why is eating greens (or yellow or orange fruits) important to your life? What value could it possibly pass on to you?

Well, besides being natural sources of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other nutrients, they tend to keep you fuller – for longer. This helps you curb your appetite throughout the day and from snacking on ‘junk food’. Yellow, orange and green fruit and vegetables offers your body and mind multiple nutritional benefits.

Educating a top national sprinter of the importance of proper nutrition for recovery & optimal performance

Lets have a look at a few of these fruits – bananas and oranges for example. Their yellowish-orange pigmentation have been shown to slow down the ageing process and also reduce risks of some types of cancers. Bananas are loaded with potassium and magnesium which reduce the risk of muscle cramping.

This is especially important for anyone who trains with weights in the gym. Potassium and magnesium assist in the muscles extending and contracting properly and are essential for maximising muscle performance.

Obviously, not all yellow-orange fruits and vegetables have the same sugar content and don’t all have the same impact on your insulin levels. Lets keep it simple, if your body transformation goal is to lose unwanted fat around the butt and belly then:

** stay away from high – sugar or High Glycemic Index (GI) fruits and vegetables.

Some examples include: pineapples, yams, corn and carrots.

Instead choose options which include low to moderate GI, that is foods that have more complex carbohydrates and does not ‘spike’ your sugar levels and keeps your insulin steady. Some examples include: grapefruits, mangoes, oranges, paw-paws, peaches, pumpkin, capsicum and tomatoes.

A good teacher is hard to find but finding a good student is even harder.
Plan the work – to work the plan.
Photo: discussing fine points of one of my programs with retired legend of rugby – Phil Waugh.

We need to work with our bodies, not against it.

Eating in a way that does not encourage fluctuations in sugar and insulin levels is critical to body transformation and weight management. Like I have mentioned before, the key to body transformation is hormonal management – specifically, insulin management.

Make time to eat properly

When insulin is under control, your body’s drive to store fat is minimized and under control too.

So, there you have it! Tip # 3 of my series of Top Ten Tips to being in Tip-Top Shape come summer. The awareness of these top 3 tips is one thing.

Application is the other pillar. Adaptation is yet another. The philosophy of my blog.

So, as you can see, to implement these top 3 tips, it should not take you any more than 10 minutes out of your day. Now, of course you can spare 10 minutes.

My goal is to not only inform you but also to show you how Eating Right actually takes less time than you think. Matter of fact, one of my goals is to show you how the application of my Top Ten Tips should not take more than 30 minutes or 1800 seconds out of your busy day.

Make the time to eat properly.

It might not only add years to your life, but along with consistent weight training and regular cardiovascular training, may just add more life and zest in to your years.

Its your choice. Your life, after all.

Good luck in your decision.

Until next time,

Cheers & ahoy!

The old Cap’n Viking Pirate Muscled Prophet … & eating well and time

Planning my meals and cooking meals in advance (in bulk( allowed me to build a Physique worthy of standing against the best in the world.
Efficiency in the preparation and timely consumption of meals is critical to achieving the physique your aim to create.

World Natural Bodybuilding Championships.
Side Chest pose. Managing your meals allows you to build the best physique you can. Attention to detail and time, matters. Placing: 4th.

adaptation, ageing, body, Energy, game of life, habits, life, long-term perspective, long-term strategy, mind, needs, perspective, respect, self-image, time, truths, Vitality, you

The Fire Within.

Life is short. We all agree on this.

Life is also complex. One of the skills is to make this complexity a little less complex. Simplify the complex. De-clutter. Simplify life. Most of us would agree on this too.

Life is also an exercise in Risk Management. Anyone that thinks otherwise needs to put their thinking hat on for a few minutes. Look back at your life. Look at your life so far to this point. Look at all the decisions you have made either consciously or subconsciously to minimise your life risks. How many?

Many.

I believe one category with high risk to a growing number of human beings today, partly because of the increasing levels of obesity is cardiovascular disease and other stress-related disorders.

As I see it, it is not enough to just eat the right foods and keep cholesterol levels low. It is also not enough to exercise regularly, not enough still, to take regular holidays to ‘get away from it all’.

Nope, not enough.

How can we lower that moderate to high risk of cardiovascular and stress-related diseases? As I see it, to protect ourselves and lower these real Life Risks, we must learn to ‘switch-off’. Like I tell most of my apprentices in the gym and in life, we need to learn to “quiet the mind”.

Easier said than done.

We need to learn how to ‘turn off our engines’ in order to lengthen the effective useful life of our time on this planet. What I mean by this is that we need to switch off our production of the “Fire within”. What Fire Within, you may be asking?

You see, we are many things. One thing I know is that we are not in control of ourselves as much as we think we are. We are hormonal creatures. Because of this, the Fire Within is a term I use for the production of the hormone – “adrenaline”. I also refer to this as the “Energy Hormone”. The hormone that gives you that sense of Vitality. The hormone that is triggered whenever we a faced with a ‘flight or fight’ response to a threat. That fire within needs to be turned off, when no longer needed.

This hormone, this Fire Within needs to be tamed. To be controlled. Better. Many people need to learn to become less dependent on this energy hormone for their everyday living. As a keen observer of human behaviour, I believe that like many other things people struggle with managing, in life – their diets, their money, their insatiable desire for ‘newness’, their constant dis-satisfaction with the old etc, many people do not know how to ‘switch off’ this vital hormone – the giver of vitality or life and also – THE TAKER!

Not turning the Fire Within OFF, allows emotions such as anger, frustration, irritation, challenge and excitement trigger this energy hormone: adrenaline. I see many people incapable of managing these psychological triggers of this deadly hormone. Incapable of bringing this hormone under control. They let these emotions get the better of them.

Effective stress management is what is needed. Some rules of the brain to consider –

Step 1: Quiet the Mind.

Step 2: Repeat to Remember.

Step 3: Remember to Repeat.

Effective stress management requires that we be healthy in mind and spirit, not just in our physical bodies. What I am talking about here when I refer to effective stress management, it is to “quiet the mind …. And spirit”. This is what will truly allow you to manage one of your life’s greatest risks: adrenalin mis-management.

Eating well and exercising is not enough.

Many individuals seek adrenalin ‘highs’ and seek increasing levels of excitement and joy to enjoy the thrill of challenge. They never seem to get enough. Constantly seeking more and more different ways to experience the adrenalin rush. I believe these people may find it much more difficult to manage adrenalin which could likely increase their life risks.

Ask yourself: are you one of these types of people?

Like any surfer would know, you cannot keep riding the peak of the wave forever as there will always be a trough. A low point. Adrenaline “junkies” need to train and re-train themselves to experience life without the constant novel stimulation. They need to come down from the “mountain-tops” and enjoy the peace and calmness of the valley. This is where true rest and recuperation/re-charging and healing can occur.

Please do.

Your life depends on it more than you think. Turn off the Fire Within.

The hustle and bustle and frantic pace of modern living does not allow us the luxury of natural recovery. We are robbed of it. This comes at a cost: an ever-increasing state of mental diseases or stress-related diseases. A costly price to pay for not managing the energy hormone, better.

Because of this theft brought on us by modern-day living, we find ourselves planning these ‘vacations or holidays’ in to our lives, through deliberate design. But, you cannot escape YOU – you cannot run away from your mind.

Even Jesus Christ, the greatest psychologist that ever lived, thought it was very important, too. Rest, that is. There is a passage in the bible where he did request of his disciples to follow him to a quiet place and get some rest (somewhere in Mark gospel, I think).

Think about it: Jesus Christ thought it was necessary all those years ago.

Now, from a Christian – religious point-of-view, if Jesus Christ thought it was necessary for him and his disciples to periodically get some rest, then, who are we to think we can exist without it?

Practice switching off the Fire Within before the flames burn out your life before your time.

Pour some water to put out those flames. From time to time.

Don’t just treat the symptom (vacations/holidays). Focus on treating the cause: Quietening your mind. And spirit.

Longer, better quality life to you.

Until next time,

body, Body shape, diet, Energy, game of life, Goals, habits, life, mind, muscles, needs, risk, Strength training, truths, Vitality, workout, you

Drink ‘til you float.

The title does not refer to what some of us did in our youth with beer and the various other types of alcohol. No, I am talking about: water, and consuming more of it.

As part of my effort to prove to you that eating well takes less time than you think, here is my 2nd tip in my series of blogs that will outline my Top Ten Tips.

TIP # 2: Drink a minimum of 3.0L water per day.

When you wake up, go to the toilet and relieve yourself first thing, drag yourself from the bathroom to the kitchen sink and pour 12 glasses of water (approximately 250ml per glass) in to a larger flask or water bottle. The water bottle should be able to hold 3.0L of liquid, in this case – water or H2O (for the chemistry inclined).

Approximate time needed to do this: 3 minutes or 180 seconds.

Can you take 180 seconds out of your ‘busy’ day to do this very important task? You bet you can! This is the 2^nd Tip to “Tip-Top” shape and all it takes is 3 minutes.

So, back to my previous blog, when we add the 3 minutes to the time it took to do the first habitual tip (which was less than five minutes), you have an accumulated total of 8 minutes. Yep, eight minutes to invest to a more healthier – YOU.

What to do after you’ve filled the water bottle? Put it in the fridge to cool. Why? Because, you are going to take it with you to work and be ready to drink from it throughout the day until you finish it.

Why is this tip valuable to your body and worth your time investment?

Water makes up more than sixty percent of your body’s mass. It is vital to your health and vitality and without sufficient water intake, you could put your life at risk. If you didn’t know this, sometimes when your body tells you that it is hungry, a lot of times, it is actually asking you for more water. It is telling you, you are thirsty.

Why? Well, if you are not aware of this, the body does draw a lot of its water from the food you eat.

So, when you constantly sip water throughout your work day, in addition to its health benefits, you will feel fuller. And when you drink before, during and after every meal, it reduces your appetite, especially during the rest of your day.

There are many studies done on what the recommended daily amount of water an average person requires and generally, there is a consensus that a person should drink anywhere between 8 and 10 glasses (250ml) per day. Great!

The question I would like you to ask yourself is this: are you currently drinking that many? Be honest. I am certain that many (maybe you included) are not drinking anywhere near the recommended daily allowance.

If you’re staying physically active (and I am presuming most of you reading this are active), having a little bit more (12 glasses) is wiser, giving you a little buffer for the additional energy output you expand during exercising.

Most of you know that the moment you realize that you’re thirsty, it’s a little too late. The body, by that stage has already lost approximately 4-5% of its total water. Now, you should note that your energy output is heavily dictated by the amount of water or hydration level you have at any point in time. Losing just 1 percent of your body weight in water (approximately 1kg to 2kg) can decrease your overall energy output by as much as 20 to 30 percent.

Now, that is a significant reduction in potential energy output. It will affect your vitality. You will notice this lack of energy in your training sessions. You can see that dehydration puts unnecessary stress on your body, on your organs. Your body goes hunting for water in other places – within the body itself. Where do you think it will find water? Yep, you guessed it – your kidneys, your stomach, colon and also, where you least want to lose it – your hard earned muscles.

All that muscle you have been working hard in the gym for months. Years, perhaps. Being catabolised. Not good. Not what you desire. You want to work hard to build muscle and then hang on to whatever muscle you have. Muscle is precious. Preserve it as best you can from it been cannibalized by its own body.

From a health point-of-view, your organs are put under unnecessary stress than it already has and does not work at its most effective and efficient selves. Your brain requires adequate water to allow you to focus and think at its optimum. A lack of water can also relate to recurring headaches and migraines. I have seen a reduction in these ailments over the years with my clients, the frequency and intensity of such drops.

From a muscle point-of-view, muscles that don’t have sufficient water will mean that your lifts in the gym due to a reduction in your strength levels. This would mean a less than your best effort which would translate in to less potential for muscle growth. No growth means no progress. No progress ultimately leads to an empty, unhappy feeling in your gut. This remains true not only for muscle but for almost all areas in our lives – not experiencing a step-by-step progression towards whatever goal you are working towards.

No progress – you get de-motivated. Progress – you feel motivated. The latter feeling is preferable, I believe.

We are all ‘goal-seeking’ animals, so make this 2^nd Tip of my Top Ten Tips to a healthier you a part of your daily life. Take action and start making this habit a part of your life. Today. In a week, see how you feel.

There is power in habit.

It takes approximately 8 minutes of your day to carry out these two habits. Give your body, your life what it needs. Simply, because you’re worth it. The compound effect of making these two tips habit is contribution to a better quality of life in your future.

You’re now Aware. Apply Action. Adapt accordingly.

Until next time,

Changing lives. Empowering people. One life at a time.

Triple A to Life: Awareness. Action. Adaptation.

Category Archives: you

An attitude of gratitude.

The toughest job in the world.

Eating right actually takes less time than you think. Tip # 7: Food supplements.

The Sum of a Life.

Inside-out Roll.

Eating Right actually takes less time than you think. Tip # 6: Eat more snacks!

Eating Right actually takes less time than you think: Tip # 4.

Eating Right actually takes less time than you think: Tip # 3.

The Fire Within.

Drink ‘til you float.