Stop calling me a Vegetarian.

Please stop calling me a vegetarian and don’t say “whatever.” It is rude and you obviously don’t care or understand healthy living. We need a new term or phrase to capture the trend happening in this country and starting across the globe.

I am not a vegetarian and I am not a vegan even though most people say that about me. While both sound appealing to me, neither one is accurate. I eat a plant-based diet. This means I occasionally have steak, chicken, eggs or fish. Occasionally means about once a week on average. I regularly eat dairy products such as butter and cheese, but also limit those to a minimum. A lot of people I know do the same. This is very healthy and probably the most realistic for most people. There are times when you cannot avoid meat, eggs or dairy without offending the host, especially when in company of other cultures.

So why do I choose a plant based diet? Three reasons.

1 - We don't need nearly as much protein as it had been previously believed. Not even bodybuilders. Here is my reasoning. If an infant gets only 3 -5% protein in a breast milk diet (the perfect meal), and this is the stage where we grow at the fastest rate and therefore need the most protein of any time in our life, why would we need 20-40% as adults?

2 – Meat is nasty. I didn’t always think this way. I ate meat at every single meal and even my snacks were beef jerky. The more you learn about the meat, poultry, and fish industry, the less appealing it is to eat it. Watch some PETA videos. Or read this brilliant article by the New York Times or watch this video. If that is not enough, make a dish of beef gravy and then put it in the fridge to chill. The next day there will be a disgusting, artery clogging, thick gelatinous layer of fat. This is what causes blocked arteries leading to heart attacks and also a reason for premature death.

3 - It is a personal belief choice, a philosophical choice, and even a spiritual choice. I don't believe that it is right that we take an animal's life for our own selfish and egotistical reasons. We don't need meat to live healthy, in fact we should NOT have it often to live healthy. So why raise hundreds of thousands of animals each year to send to the slaughterhouses? Why over-fish our oceans to the point of extinction for many species? And lastly, is it really in the spirit of God or the Universe (or whoever is your higher power) to take another life be it a person or animal when it is not necessary?

So what to call the plant based diet?
Healthy American diet?
Healthy plant based diet?
The Spiritual diet?
The Right diet?

Hmmm.... any ideas? Comment below and let me know what you’re thinking.

Getting healthy and fit is easier than it seems

Becoming healthy and fit is a lot easier than it seems. You will think it is a difficult thing to do if you listen to the media and if you take advice from friends. The reason that most people cannot lose weight and become fit is because they are doing the wrong things. Obviously right?

Doing the wrong things also includes listening to the majority. If most people cannot successfully stay healthy and fit then why would you do what they do? Most people go out and buy the latest and most popular diet book expecting to lose weight plus shed fat and they fail at their goal. Why? Because the information is wrong OR it only answers part of the question.

Losing weight and becoming fit and healthy is easy to do if you do jus one thing… “Act as if.” That’s it. Act as if you are healthy and fit and you will become healthy and fit. It sounds too simple right? Yes and no. It is that simple if you do what fit and healthy people do. It is not simple if you do what most people do and make excuses instead of taking action.

ACT AS IF means:
Modeling healthy people (do what they do)
Eating the right foods
Doing the right exercise
Creating an active lifestyle
Staying away from the bad stuff
And maybe even staying away from “bad habit” people

The fact is, this is simple when you stop trying to be something you are not and start being someone who you will be ... who you already are. Act as if means you take on the belief that you are already there and the results have yet to appear. If you act as if you are already healthy and fit and do what a healthy and fit person does, then you will become healthy and fit as an effect of your lifestyle.

Give yourself the gift of health.

Let me know you’re alive. Love the post or hate it, please comment below. We give out random gifts to random comment posts.

Want to learn more ways to act and think like a fit person? Sign up for Croix’s free posts and videos. Look to your right. No the other right. lol

Your Children Are What You Eat

Children are amazing little recording devices. My little girl is almost three and it constantly surprises me how much she retains. The problem is that she retains nearly everything – even the things we don’t want her to. The bigger problem is that she is at the age that you cannot necessarily rationalize and explain things. She wants to do everything that we do. Most of the time that is good, but sometimes that is not so good.

It is not enough to say, “Because I said so!” How many times did you hear that as a child? Did it ever work? Only if you were threatened with capital punishment. Since capital punishment is not longer accepted in today’s society we need to find a smarter and better way.

It seems to me that the most effective way to get your children to do what you want, is to do it yourself. We have to lead by example. Preach, yell, or lecture is not nearly as effective as being the example. And sometimes this is very difficult.

If you want your children to be healthy, lean, and fit with the healthiest eating habits – then you have live that way to show them. That is a pretty good deal. You lose weight, you get healthy, you get fit, your exercise regularly, and your children grow up living, learning and breathing that environment. Wow, A reward that pays back dividends for a lifetime – yours and your children.


If:
You eat healthy – they eat healthy
You are active – they are active
You are fit – they will be fit
You exercise regularly – they will exercise too

My children are way to young to go running with me, but I can take them with me in a jogging stroller as I train for My next Ironman triathlon. I have run as far as seven miles pushing my daughter up and down the hills of Connecticut, and four miles pushing both kids in a double stroller. Is it tough? You better believe it. But they love it. I get a tougher workout and they get to see the world. More importantly, they will only know a life of activity, health and exercise.

If you are new to exercise, then take them with you for a walk around the block or the high school track. Let them play in the room that you keep the treadmill while you exercise (you know, that thing that most use for a clothes hanger). Do this and even the youngest child will absorb the memory of you taking care of your health as a typical part of life and they will follow your lead.

Be the change you want to see in the world – Mahatma Gandhi

You are eating 100 pounds of “added” sugars a year.

You know that added sugars are bad for you, but did you know that you could be eating 100 pounds of it a year? And adding up to 50 pounds of body fat in a year?

It sounds unbelievable, but this is the case with the average American diet. Added sugars are in most packaged products you buy at the supermarket. Even ones you would not expect such as yogurt smoothies, frozen entrees, healthy cereals, pasta sauce, and salad dressing. This can add up to 30 teaspoons of added sugar a day (just “added sugar”, not including natural sugars in fruit or milk) and 500 calories a day. This totals almost 100 pounds of added sugar a year per person.

How do you know if a food has a lot of sugar?

On the label in the ingredients list look for 2 things:
1 – the first 3 or 4 ingredients are a sugar, any sugar.
2 – there are many sugars forms hidden throughout the ingredient list.

Sugar comes in so many names. High-fructose corn syrup may be the most known but the list is much longer. How many of these are in the foods in your cupboard and fridge?

• Brown sugar
• Corn sweeteners
• Corn Syrup
• Crystalline fructose
• Dextrose
• Fructose
• Fruit juice concentrates
• Glucose
• High-fructose corn syrup
• Honey syrup
• Invert sugar
• Malt syrup
• Maltodextrin
• Maltose
• Maltose
• Molasses
• Raw sugar
• Rice sugar
• Rice syrup
• Sucrose
• Sugar

Do you want to lose up to 50 pounds in a year? Cut out the added sugars and you may.
More about sugars in the next post … stay tuned.

Live Fit and Healthy.

Your Attitude Determines if You Succeed

Everything in life worth achieving is difficult. Think about the times when you are most proud of what you accomplished – weren’t they also the most difficult to achieve? Didn’t they require everything you had at that moment? Your attitude kept you going even when there were moments when you wanted to give up?

But you didn’t give up and you prevailed. You graduated college. You finished a 5k run. You completed that project on time. You stepped out of your comfort zone and tried something new. You lost 20 pounds.

It is no different when it comes to your health. You must do what seems too difficult in the moment. Say no to a second helping. Don’t buy the junk food. Go to the fitness center when you rather watch TV. Jog one more mile. Choose the healthy food over the garbage.

In the moment some choices are hard, but when you do you grow past your previous perceived limitations the next time is easier. And the next time – even easier. Soon what was once difficult becomes a habit and there is no effort at all.

Check out this video clip from Facing the Giants. Don’t let the negative voice of attitude in your head keep you from doing what you can easily do. What you thought was impossible becomes reality.



You CAN Do It!

I will send a FREE autographed copy of BetterBody BetterLife to the most inspiration comment I receive to this post in February. Extra credit if it relates to health or fitness, but every story counts

Would you like to have more energy? Feel better? And live longer?
Of course everyone would answer yes to all of these questions. Unfortunately most people don't take care of themselves with these questions in mind. The food and pharmaceutical companies have their motivations and it is not for you to live healthy and well because it means a smaller financial bottom line for them. You must control your life or others will control it for you.

I came across this video today from Food Matters. It will make you think.



Namaste

Study Links Obesity to Ovarian Cancer

Here is another reason to get healthy and fit.

World-class runner without legs

We all have challenges in life, but few of us go through life without our legs. Only Oscar Pistorius became a world-class runner without his legs. An unimaginable story of a boy that lost his legs when he was just one-year old. Fitted with artificial blade like legs Oscar tried-out to compete against world-class sprinters in the Olympics. He was initially rejected from the Olympics as having an unfair advantage.



Oscar is an inspiration to us all and an example of what you can achieve when you decide who you will be and what you will achieve. Next time you come up with an excuse not to work toward your goal think of Oscar and tell yourself, “Get over it!” Then go become who you are meant to be.

“The act of taking the first step is what
separates the winners from the losers.”
- Brian Tracy