I did a talk this week to a local business who were quite an active bunch.
It got onto the whole ‘processed food’ debate.
I was trying to link it into the whole ‘what’s healthier a jaffa cake or an orange’ and ‘what’s going to give you more energy and life as a result?’
I also demonstrated in the same vein how much sugar was in their bowls of cereal and a can of coke (between 8-10 teaspoons if you didn’t know) and diet drinks are actually WORSE but we will save that for another day.
I explained how food manufacturers actually make food even tastier and that is why it tastes so good.
We ram an archaic food pyramid down people’s throats which, by the way, is responsible for the prevalence of diabetes since the Second world war and some folk STILL swear by it.
We bang on about calories when the habit of eating a Mars Bar and 3 ciggies before breakfast is what’s killing you.
We lecture our friends about how foods should be low in fat when good fats in the form of olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds and fish oil are the essence of life.
If you want to eat healthy for you and your children then look at your previous generation. Some of the healthiest meals are cooked by your grandparents. For us in the UK a good casserole, hot pot or veggies with lentil casserole
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
