My mum was over this weekend and we got talking about food (as you do). As a personal trainer in Dublin, I have seen a good few food plans to cast an eye over.
We were putting the world to right over a cup of tea (I’m English you know) and remarked about a new cookbook I had got my hands on.
This book is all about simplicity and basic real ingredients. The best bit is they are frickin tasty and even a child of 2 with the cooking skills of Daisy, my Jack Russell, could make it up.
We talked some more about shopping habits.
“Well, you only have to look at most shopping baskets. They are full of rubbish. All those boxes of this and that. What’s wrong with the basics? You know, the simple stuff. If that, sees me well. I fed you didn’t I?
She had a point.
How to Eat Healthy
If you want to eat healthy then look at your previous generation Some of the healthiest meals are cooked by your grandparents or your parents. For us in the UK a good casserole, hot pot or veggies with lentil casserole. In Ireland, a good old fashioned Irish stew fits the bill.
What’s involved? Cheap ingredients. Simple cooking time. A lack of processed junk and nutrient dense foods. Winning formula really.
It is far cheaper to eat healthy 80 per cent of the time than it is to eat rubbish, dead processed foods 100 per cent of the time.
You see, we all blame our environment for poor food choices and living off the remnants of McCain’s and Bernard Matthews. Tough times, lack of time, lack of choices etc etc. In the end who cares?
The short of is – no one. No one cares. Only you.
How to Stick to Something Easily
You have to care enough to get in the kitchen, out for a walk or learn how to make eating healthy easy. If that is too much to ask for yourself then that’s ok. But no-one cares about your impending ailments as a result of your values being low enough not to care about yourself.
I care a wee bit. I am a good listener. But you better be ready for the impending solution if you ask my opinion!
It is easy for me to set aside time to exercise and eat right. Why? Because I place my health and well being near the top of my values.
How can you suddenly tap into these values and align them so that you find the motivation to do exercise and eat healthy easy?
The answer lies firstly in how you spend your time. Look at your schedule. This will leave clues as to what is important to you. Maybe you spend it all day at work. Perhaps you spend it all day in front of the computer looking at particular things or phoning friends. You will soon get a good idea of what is important to you.
Don’t stop there. Because you must then examine your environment. Telling me you spend all day ay home looking after your kids gives little indication.
However, looking at your home space with every photo on the wall devoted to your travel pursuits and children will soon provide you with the all important ‘values’ that are important to you. In this case it is your love of travel an your children that you value the most.
How to Empower Yourself
The trick to empowering yourself to achievement is to align your goals with these values. These are the values that you need very little motivation to do. You just do them without question. They come top of the list.
In the case of exercise and health aligning this goal with your values would mean asking yourself the question ‘do you think you are much use to your children if you are unfit, moody and irritable?’
Or if you value travel ask yourself the question ‘do you think travel would be much more fun and less uncomfortable if I was fit and had bundles of energy?’
Or what about if you are involved in business. If your work is important to you then can you imagine how much more of a ‘return’ you will get from yourself if you are fit and healthy and don’t carry around a walking time-bomb in your chest?
Take time to do this. This is not some new-age quasi pseudo programming technique. It works. It just requires you to take a step back and look. Look at what drives your decisions every second of the day.
John Lark is a personal trainer in D2 Fitness, Fitzwilliam Square Dublin 2
Visit http://spherefitness.ie now to download his T2H Transition to Health Information Pack where you will receive Recipes, Home workouts and a Manual to accompany this all for free
