Change Your Approach and Succeed with Your New Year's Resolutions. It's Not Too Late.

Happy New Year all!  I love this time of year:  A time to reflect on the past, a time to look to the future, a time to make change and energize the present.

I'm not a life coach, but I want to offer you some great advice to make sure you succeed with your resolutions and goals while making awesome change this year.  You can do it!  Read on!

The key to a successful resolution is all in your approach.  This entails your intentions and the perception of yourself among other things.  Unfortunately, many have not learned how to create a successful approach towards reaching their goals.  We are over saturated with poor advice coming from every facet of media, i.e. television, films, web articles, magazines at the grocery store check out, etc.

I often find you learn best from your own failures.  Our society and media often portray failures as a negative thing.  Our exposure to this can create a fear of failure that discourages people from trying something new.  FORGET all of that right NOW.  Failure is a great thing!  It makes success feel greater!  And as long as we can learn from failure, it is always positive.  Michael Jordan would agree.  Read some of his quotes on failure.

We're gonna learn how to make a successful resolution approach by breaking down a failed approach to one of the most common resolutions every year:  I WANT TO LOSE WEIGHT.

Tip 1:

How you phrase your resolution and every single word of your resolution is VERY IMPORTANT.  Empower yourself with your word choice.

When you study your words carefully, they describe your intentions and self perception along with your attitude of whether or not you think you will succeed.  You must STOP wanting and trying and START willing and being.  Although it's still not the best approach, you can improve the above resolution by changing the words to:  I WILL LOSE WEIGHT.

I recently read a very common resolution from a woman via Twitter/Facebook:  I want to lose 10 lbs this year.  This could possibly be a worse choice of phrasing for a similar goal.

Tip 2:

Make a concrete resolution that has tangible steps and goals that you can possibly see or measure.  Do not phrase your resolution with abstract words or ideas.

The idea of losing 10 lbs is somewhat abstract.  Sure, you can measure 10 lbs.  But you really don't know what the loss of 10 lbs is gonna look like.  And why 10 lbs?  Why not just a few pounds.  You can lose a few pounds by fasting without food and water for a couple days.  You may be severely dehydrated but you reached your goal right?  This is logical but sounds crazy.  It's crazy because you lost a few pounds, you succeeded with your resolution, and yet you still don't feel right.  Maybe it's because you're dehydrated now, or you forgot why you made this resolution in the first place, or the result doesn't match your original intention.

Tip 3:

Ask yourself, really, why are you making this resolution in the first place.  The why will help locate and describe your intention: Your reasons and actions for making change.

People often fail at resolutions when their intentions are misguided due to negative feelings, attitudes, and a negative perception of themselves.

For example, I'm going to guess that one reason you might make a resolution to lose 10 lbs is because you're not feeling happy with your body image.  This feeling may have come from self destructive media that portrays celebrities, athletes and skewed versions of health, beauty, and perfection.  Negative feelings of self perception often result from this media exposure.  Although these feelings are not good for you, they're really good for an economy where people want to make money off you by selling you gym memberships, athletic products, food and supplements, 'beauty' products, and a host of other things that, most often, do not make you any healthier or feel any better.

Tip 4:

Make your resolution about YOU and ONLY YOU.  Although it may have a positive ripple effect on others, you should be the primary one to feel the success of YOUR resolution and no one else.

Now, you're starting to realize that your intention to lose 10 lbs was not to look better for anyone else because you don't really care about them.  YOU CARE ABOUT YOURSELF!  

Tip 5:

Tell yourself that you LOVE and RESPECT yourself and THANK yourself for this love and respect.  Say it in the mirror. Say it out loud.  Say it all the time.

You must tell yourself, "I love you."  If you think it's not true, then you're letting the negativity of media, others, and your own self doubt speak for you.  Saying it is the first step to believing it and when you believe it, you will be empowered to create the change you want within yourself and the world.

Tip 6:

While making decisions, remember that you love and respect yourself.

You care about yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  Your love and respect of yourself will promote a healthy mind and body by influencing your decisions.  You realize that the earlier resolution to lose 10 lbs is actually not about losing weight.  It's about caring for yourself, primarily the physical.  It's about creating a healthy body that you love.  It's about empowering your body and enjoying your body which is only one part of enjoying yourself.  When you enjoy yourself, that energy radiates to others.  It's positive.  It's beautiful.  It's attractive.  It will most likely attract more positivity.

Physical health is not a secret.  However, with the great amount of poor and negative marketing and misinformation today, it may seem that way.

Physical health is comprised of 3 core ingredients:

-Good Nutrition

-Good Exercise

-Good Sleep

Obtaining great physical health involves a healthy balance of these components.  When thinking of balance and health, remember this:  Everything in moderation is NOT necessarily healthy.  But, everything healthful in moderation, IS healthy.

Now that we have clarified our intentions in a positive and healthy way, we can now rephrase and create new successful resolutions and approaches that will likely yield the same result to the original resolution: I want to lose weight.

Example:

I will love myself and my body.  I will take care of my health with proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep.

This resolution has a positive intention and message that you can remind yourself of everyday.  You will likely empower yourself and reach success with this resolution.  If you use the old resolution and you remind yourself everyday that you want to lose weight, it will likely promote negative feelings of body image which will hurt more then help you.

Again:

I will love myself and my body.  I will take care of my health with proper nutrition, exercise, and sleep.

This resolution also provides direction for creating sub-resolutions and small steps towards your health success: nutrition, exercise, and sleep.

Some examples of sub-resolutions:

-I will eat a fruit or vegetable I've never tried before (every week).

-I will check out a book from the library each week about nutrition.

-On Sundays: I will wake up without an alarm clock.  I will not do any work.  I will rest.

-I will join a recreation sports team, meet new people, and have fun.

-I will dance in my room or outside for 15 minutes a day.

Tip 7:

Make your resolution FUN!

If you make your resolution or sub-resolutions fun, you've already succeeded.  This is especially important for exercise.  Many people who make resolutions to lose weight also dread exercise.  If that's the case, you need to make it fun!  Or make it a game.  Get creative.  If you're a theatrical person, maybe find a rabbit costume to wear along with a friend who will wear a turtle costume.  Chase each other around town.  Perhaps if the turtle wins, the rabbit must make them a healthy lunch.  You will be exercising, having fun, and spreading laughter and joy to others while indirectly reaching your goal to lose weight.  But again, remember that the goal should not be to lose weight, but to love and care for yourself and your body.

Tip 8:

YOU are ultimately responsible for YOUR OWN HAPPINESS.  No one else.

Be conscious of the decisions you make regarding your health and know that you are responsible for the results.  You have the power to make better and better decisions everyday.  Since you are establishing a love and respect for yourself, it is likely that you will automatically make better decisions which will likely result in improved health and an improved sense of self.

Tip 9:

When approaching your resolutions: Always be positive, and never be negative.  Congratulate yourself on your successes while learning from and forgetting your failures.  Guilt must NEVER be considered when pursuing a goal or resolution.

This is very important on the day to day basis while pursuing a resolution.

Here's one common example: Say you made a healthy resolution and are achieving success.  You've joined a fun sports recreation team, you're exercising, you're learning about nutrition and preparing delicious healthy meals... then one day you breakdown and you try a little bit of junk food.  You feel like you failed.  You feel like you disrespected yourself.  You allow that negativity to sink in and then you don't care anymore.  Perhaps you forget that you care about yourself and you gorge for the rest of the day in bed on junk food while feeling sad.  You feel that it's hopeless.

You must remember that you have made a resolution to yourself and that you are making better decisions and getting better everyday.  That doesn't mean you're never going to make a bad decision.  Bad decisions happen.  They are natural and healthy when we learn from them and move forward.

Again, congratulate and support yourself on your good decisions.  Remember that you love yourself.  Remember your intention.  When you slip up, don't feel guilty and dwell on your bad decisions.  Move forward.  Get better and better.

Tip 10:

A resolution is a change.  A change of actions, thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, ideas...  Change is a transition that takes time.  Make sure to enjoy each moment of it!

Tip 11:

It's never too late.  Only seven days of the new year have passed.  It's nice to make resolutions at the beginning of a new year but really, you can make them whenever you want.

Congrats on reading thus far!  I wish you love, joy, and success while you empower yourself, better yourself, and make change with your resolutions.

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If any of this resonates with you, I always appreciate comments and feedback.  It's nice to know that I don't write these posts to an oblivious internet.

  

Change in Taste + Health: I'm a Certified Raw Living Foods Chef!

Citrus Mint Gazpacho.  My own recipe.  Delicious for that hot summer day!

Last weekend I completed my internship at the Creative Health Institute in Union City, MI where I have been transitioning to a raw living foods diet.  I spent 3 months of the summer here and several hours in the kitchen preparing delicious healthy gourmet raw meals, snacks, and desserts.  I've felt a great transformation in my health and energy as a result of this diet, including: increased physical performance with my running, a boosted sex drive, mental clarity, general happiness and more!  I'm now a firm believer that a balanced high raw diet is a critical component for a healthy life.

Receiving my certifications from Master Chef Na Young Anderson.  Na began her journey to raw living foods when she first came to CHI with ovarian cancer in 2009.  Since then, she has healed herself and continues to teach at CHI.

One of my most rewarding experiences in the kitchen was the development of my palette:  My first day, I tried a salad dressing that was prepared and the chef asked me, "What does it need?"  At that time I was pretty clueless. The majority of my food preparation in the past was simple and singular: SPICY.  I still love spicy food, but now I understand the complexity of all the flavors much more: spicy, sweet, bitter, sour, etc. and how different ingredients, herbs, and spices will affect that.  I can now taste a recipe and figure out what it may need to improve itself.  It's so rewarding to add that pinch of this or that from your intuition, taste it, and say, "Much better!"  Since then, I've created several meals just from intuition and taste and people will say, "That was fantastic!  I must have the recipe," and I smile, point to my head and say, "It's up there!"

Raw Vegan Blueberry Banana Crepes with Cashew Frosting.

Aside from flavor and taste, I'm becoming more and more intuitive with the nutrients I eat.  I'll typically eat to nourish my body and not just be full.  I feel more and more connected to what my body needs.  My body has craved both nutrients and junk food during this transition.  I've found my appetite to shrink at times when I was eating nutrient dense raw living foods.  Then my appetite grew tremendously at times since I've been training for a marathon.  I would crave more carbs and fruits.  Then, there were other times when I was able to eat a GREAT amount of junk food, more than I had prior to my transitioning, and STILL not feel full.  That's usually what happens when your body is hungry for nutrients and you give it junk.  It's been a crazy fun experience as I continue to experiment both with my diet and exercise.

Staff, Volunteers, and Guests at Creative Health Institute

As I move towards the future, I'll continue to incorporate the raw living foods lifestyle and share it with those who want to learn.  I may also try working as a personal chef for a few of my family members to get greater experience. I'd also like to travel and perhaps work as a personal chef on a ship!  We'll see!

Wheatgrass Face.  Good for skin.  Taken during my 10 Day Detox.

A quiet night at CHI.

CHI grounds.  Firefly show.  The photo doesn't do justice.

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Now I'm not a nutritionist, but a few tips if you are interested in transitioning to a raw living foods diet:

-RESEARCH.  Read books, websites, watch videos, listen to podcasts on nutrition and the raw living foods lifestyle.  Everyone has a different body type, will experience the diet in their own way, and will need to develop their own personal approach to better health.

-TIME.  The transition takes time.  And unless you're extreme, it will most likely continue to be a transition for a long time.  Judgement and guilt can present itself on the day to day basis:  Say you "slip" and have X food one day and you feel like you blew it... That happens and you shouldn't have any negative feelings about it.  Just remember that you're intention is to improve your health, your working at it, and getting better each day.

-ADD FIRST.  THEN SUBTRACT.  The important thing is to add healthy raw food to your diet.  If you love a particular food, don't subtract it right away.  That approach most likely won't work for you.  As you make progress adding more and more raw, the later steps are to slowly subtract the unhealthy components, perhaps doing less and less quantities until you can do without.  Again, it's a transition.

- DETOXING.  Toxins enter the body through a variety of means: the food we eat, the water we drink, the air we breathe.  The body naturally tries to release toxins through a variety of means: lymph fluid, excrement, urine, sweat.  However, toxins are stored in the body's cells when you consume higher levels of toxins: chemicals in processed foods, pesticides on non-organic foods, unnatural cleaning supplies, etc.  

When you start eating a high raw diet, you're body will detox.  And it will continue to detox throughout eating raw foods.  Detox symptoms can include: irritability, fatigue, headaches, and more.  If you slowly incorporate more raw, you may slowly feel detox symptoms.  

Some suggest doing a rapid detox cleanse such as the detox programs offered at the Creative Health Institute and other centers.  When I did my 10 Day Detox at CHI, I had days of irritability and fatigue.  And I came in as a young rather fit individual with no health conditions.  I did eat meat and dairy, but, I ate a good amount of raw fruits and veggies and tried to avoid processed foods.  I also exercised somewhat regularly.  It wasn't until my 3rd or 4th week on the diet when I experienced my "awakening" of energy.  And it felt great!  I started running everyday and now I'm training for a marathon.

So if you're beginning the transition at an older age, or with a poorer diet, just know that these symptoms are natural and you'll probably experience them more than I did.

Again, I just want to reiterate that I'm not a nutritionist, doctor, or expert.  I'm still transitioning, will continue to do so, while researching and learning more of what I think is a wonderful lifestyle.  I strongly advocate a well balanced raw living foods diet from both my personal experience and some of the miracles I've seen while at the Creative Health Institute, but you must be responsible for your own decisions and perhaps consult experts while doing so.

Change in Running: My 1st Half Marathon on Raw Food

Look for me with the headband, green tank, and yellow shorts!

I finished the Dexter-Ann Arbor Half Marathon Run this past Sunday, June 5th, 2011!  And I did quite well for my own expectations.

My breathing and body felt great for the entire 13.1 miles and I did it in 1 hour 42 minutes and 18 seconds with an average 7:49 per mile pace.  I only trained for about 2 weeks too!  I attribute a majority of my performance to the excellent diet of 100% raw living foods I've been eating as an intern at CHI.

My results:

Chip Time = 1:42:18

Clock Time = 1:43:34

Pace = 7:49

Overall Place = 375 out of 3137 finishers (Top 12%)

Sex Place = 319 out of 1679 male finishers (Top 19%)

Division Place = 40 out of 100 male, age 20-24 finishers (Top 40%)

Now, I don't really consider myself a runner.  At least yet.  This was my 1st race and I didn't have much time to train or learn about the sport in general.  This was mainly a quick mile marker for me to achieve my goal of finishing a full marathon.  I'll be running the Detroit Marathon October 16th and I'll definitely be training for it.

The goal of a finishing a marathon is important to me because it represents both physical and mental possibilities and restrictions.  There was a time when I thought the idea of running 26 miles was crazy and something I was incapable of.  I still think it's far... But now, I think it is possible.  As I continue to run, I grow stronger physically and mentally.  Those original ideas of restrictions are now changing to possibilities.  And it feels great!

This was my training schedule and some of my diet and prep for the 1/2 marathon:

5/4: 2.5 mi

5/5: 2.5 mi

5/6-5/15:  10 Day Raw Detox at CHI.  Transitioning to Raw diet.  No running, but some Yoga and Rebounding.

5/16-5/22:  Busy as CHI intern in the kitchen.  No running, little exercise.

5/23:  3.5 mi.  I begin to notice a sharp increase in energy for the first time since coming off the raw detox.

5/24:  5.6 mi

5/25:  6.5 mi

5/26:  Some weight lifting and stretching.

5/27:  9.5 mi

5/28:  Rest

5/29:  11 mi.  (My feet were sore, but breathing and muscles felt good.)

5/30:  Some weight lifting and stretching.

5/31:  5 mi.  I notice my left calve is really tight and bothering me a bit.

6/1:  5 mi.  Epsom salt bath in the evening.

6/2:  2.5 mi.  Epsom salt bath in the evening.

Dinner:  I had like 6 fresh garden burgers in lettuce wraps.  (My appetite has definitely increased with all the running.)

6/3 (2 days before race):  Rest.  I had my first colonic.  It was awesome and I felt great and much lighter afterwards.  Epsom salt bath in the evening.  My left calve is feeling better.

Breakfast:  Extra large bowl muesli (chopped almonds, pecans, walnuts, raisins, coconut...) with almond milk.  Banana, blueberries, strawberries, glass of orange juice.

Lunch:  Green energy soup smoothie.

Dinner:  Green energy soup smoothies and salad with sprouts.

6/4 (Day before Race):  Rest.

Breakfast:  Oatmeal, banana, blueberries.

Lunch: Chocolate banana smoothie with raw cacoa, maca, and hemp seed.

Dinner:  Snacked on apples, bananas, strawberries throughout the evening

Evening enema to clean me out so I won't have to take a crap during the race- and it worked :)

6/5:  HALF MARATHON RACE DAY.

Breakfast:  Smoothie (1 banana, 1 carton blueberries, 2 cups goji berries, 2 cups rejuvelac).

Drank 20 oz of rejuvelac prior to race (a fermented sprouted seed drink, high in probiotics).

Bathroom right before race started.  Didn't have to take a bathroom stop during the entire race- my plan worked out!

A few things I learned during the race as a newbie from either my experience or others:

-I shouldn't have worn a 100% cotton tank during the race.  From sweat and the t-shirt rubbing for 13 miles, my nipples were sore afterwards.
-Trim or shave armpit hair more.  13 miles of sweating and arms moving resulted in a bit of underarm rash burn.

-I didn't wear a watch or have a pace watch.  I did the math at each mile marker clock and realized I was keeping a consistent 8:00 pace.

-I would watch people who looked like pretty good runners and keep pace with them for a while.  Sometimes I would notice my breathing was better, or I felt better, so I'd move up.  Continued this throughout the race.

-I didn't know when to pick up my pace... I started speeding up my pace after mile 11.  The end of the race was uphill so I was worried about when to give my full energy.

-I say or think positive affirmations when I run and I repeat them.  Especially during spells when I may feel fatigue.  My favorite one that I learned at CHI and I continue to use is:  "Everyday in Every Way, I'm getting Better, Better, Better, and Better.  Physically, Mentally, Emotionally, and Spiritually."  For running, I sometimes like to switch "Better" to "Stronger."

-I did this race without headphones because they discourage their use on the race website.  I normally run with headphones as it helps me pass the time...  However, there was a lot of stimulation during the race and lack of headphones was no problem.
-I especially enjoy when neighbors are at the street cheering runners on.  I also got a few free high fives from little kids which helped.

-It was great to here family and friends cheer you on near the finish line!

-It was really gross to see that they were serving greasy pizza at the finish line... and that a lot of the runners were eating it... blah!  I went out to lunch with family and had a fruit salad and veggie salad. 

Thanks to my family and friends who were able to support me at the finish line!  It helped a lot!  Also thanks to my sister and brother-in-law for the photos!

I'll keep ya updated on my training and diet for the Detroit marathon.  Raw living foods baby!