Listening to your body? How this has failed you!

Ever heard of a 'health guru' tell you to just listen to your body? That your body knows what to eat, how much to sleep, how much to workout? Have you ever paid for this service and wonder did I just really pay for this? haha! I'm sure we've all been there or heard this awful advice! I call it awful because it is the best way to keep clients returning! In most cases 'listening to your body' has led you down a path of self destruction and diet roller coasters! Your 'body' has truly let you down, yet here you are, being told by 'professionals' you should trust your body!

Why doesn't this method work? Because we have been programmed to eat certain foods, to believe that cravings for certain foods are real, and our hunger drive has been poisoned by chemically treated food-stuff. We have dieted, over and under trained, drastically cut calories, we have eaten animal products, and stuffed our faces with desserts. When you have caused this type of damage, the body is no longer functioning properly, and can no longer be trusted!

I'm not saying that you can't heal your body and mind, and someday be able to rely on your body again, but until then, you need actual guidance and a plan! The human body requires consistent fuel and consistent movement! Once you have cleaned up your bad behavior, you will be able to trust your body again, but until then you need a plan! It has to be strict, clear, and precise! You cannot succeed on any lifestyle without 'rules', you need to fix years, if not decades of destructive behavior! If you follow someone on social media and they claim they lost weight by listening to their body, well, look into it deeper. You will find they have gone from one diet to another, gained and lost weight, removed caffeine then added it back in, and ultimately cut down their calories! Nothing about that is consistent or healthy!

How do you pick a lifestyle you can trust? So many people get caught up on before and after pictures! They believe that if she can lose 40lbs in 6 months, she must know what she is doing! Right? Often this is the worst path to follow! I say this because many have lost weight quickly, using numerous methods to get there, most rely heavily on coffee, juice cleanses, and calorie restricting and call it 'listening to your body'! These methods lead to a lifetime of roller coaster dieting! Most will continue down this path, losing and gaining weight over and over again!

Instead, look for those who have maintained a healthy weight for years, sticking to an easy to follow diet, high calorie, and have a daily fitness routine! Fitness is such an important factor, you can't just diet, daily movement is really the key to log term health! So when someone is just dieting to lose weight...then it is a fad not a lifestyle and we want to avoid fads! Movement helps the body heal. It revs up your engine after years of being sedentary! It will help boost your metabolism, improve digestive health, reduce stress, and build muscle!

How long will it take before you can trust your body again? I say years, but it will vary for all of us! We all have done different amounts damage; drugs, diets, excessive exercise, no exercise, tons of caffeine, over eating and starvation! Working with a lifestyle Coach who can keep you on track is really important! They will help you stay focused and motivated! Though weight loss is most people's goal, it may take a few added pounds to heal the body. At that point you may want to quit and go back to calorie restricting and your bad habits, but what you should do is contact your lifestyle coach! There are ways to help tweak a high calorie diet as well as a fitness routine to continue down the right path without doing any harm! But the worst thing you can do is CUT CALORIES and begin excessive training again!

The best part of this journey is you will get to a point where your body will run like a well oiled machine! You will start to notice the changes, and maybe for the first time in your life actually feel amazing! When your body is healed, the unwanted weight will come off naturally! You will begin to crave movement daily, your taste for clean food will develop, and you will finally be able to trust your appetite! Life is just better when you find peace with your body! Until then, get real coaching, and don't let your body fool you into a lifetime of self destruction! For Naturally Vegan Guidelines, click HERE!

Does 'Fit' Represent Health?

We are bombarded with images of 'fit' women and we have been conditioned to believe this image represents health...but does it? Have you ever met a girl that is really fit? Have you talked to her? Or have you met the guy who looks like an athlete from Sports Illustrated? Chances are you have! You also envied them for their beautiful body and probably thought 'wow, they are so healthy'. This is where the line is very blurred.

The guy who resembles an athlete is not necessarily healthy, just like a body builder is generally NOT healthy. Being around 'fit' people a lot, I can tell you what it takes for this athlete to look this way. Let's start with his horrible diet of meat & protein shakes! I once asked a 'fit' guy at the gym what his diet was like, and he said I eat a ton of meat and drink protein shakes a few times a day. He said 'I try to stay away from carbs, even fruit, then I allow myself a cheat day and I binge out on pizza and junk food'. Sounds healthy, right? No way. We know a high protein diet is acid forming and contributes to numerous health issues, cancer being one of them! Depriving yourself fresh fruit is extremely harmful. Fruit is nutrient rich, unlike meat. A diet without fruit is a nutrient poor diet and that is not healthy.

Cheat days. Why do so many 'fit' people have them, or quickly fall off their high protein diets? Cheat days happen due to lack of nutrition. The body will crave high energy food, looking for carbohydrates (that the 'fit' person denies himself) so when the craving is out of control one cannot make a healthy food choice. Turning to junk food, high in fat, salt, and sugar. Meanwhile a healthy person on a high fruit diet has no cheat days...we don't binge eat, we don't feel deprived. We don't need to cheat.

After these disgusting cheat days, he said he would hit the gym harder than ever out of fear all his hard work would go down the drain! WHAT???? He already works out for hours a day, some days twice a day. After a cheat day, his workout routine would be 1 and 1/2 hrs cardio, followed by an insanity style hour long workout. Why would you torture your body for the bad decision YOU made. Your body is your home, it is not your bodies fault YOU binged all day. It shouldn't be punished.

What does that do to your mental state? Does it feel good to binge? To deprive yourself of carbohydrates? To train for hours and hours? To feel like crap after the binge? To feel like crap after torturing yourself at the gym? NO, this is why this 'fit' person is not healthy. I once asked him why do this? His only answer...to look 'like this'. To jeopordize your health for looks is sad!

This is very common in the fitness industry, both 'fit' men and women follow this kind of lifestyle. Some women are even worse, over training on a regular basis, spending 2 to 3 hours at the gym, usually out of guilt from what they ate, or trying to lose weight quickly to fit into a dress or be ready for swim suit season.

Is it healthy to train 3+ hours a day if you only do it 3 times a week? Depends who you ask. If you ask a 'fit' person they would say sure it's fine. 'No Pain, No Gain' right? If you ask a healthy person, the answer would be it's NOT healthy. Over training for long hours puts unnecessary stress on the body, creating an acidic environment! If your diet is right, workouts can be short and efficient, keeping you lean & fit without the added stress! There are no binges when diet is right! There is no guilt when diet is right!

So does the 'fit' person always represent health? Absolutely not!