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[Part 4] Wine Not?! How did I WINE-D Up Here?

You’ll find that a consistent theme in my writing and teaching on health is the importance of reaching the Spiritual Connection to any change you wish you make in your life, even your health goals. I believe it is not until you reach this pivotal moment of spiritual alignment that you can finally make a LIFE change, not just a short-term, will-power dependent, kind of change.

Over the course of this week in my 5-Part Series called “Wine Not?!”, I’ve charted the path at how I arrived at the life decision to step away, or as I said, “break-up” with my relationship with WINE.

This decision first started for me with some physical ramifications (which I explained on Tuesday‘s blog), which lead to some logical assessment and some tougher questions to answer (which I explained on Yesterday‘s blog).

Today, I want to go over how it all finally “clicked into place” as I explain how I reached a Spiritual Connection to the act of avoiding wine.

I believe it’s worth explaining here exactly what I mean when I say “Spirit” and exactly what I mean when I say “Spiritual Connection or Alignment.”

What Is Your Spirit?

As I’ve struggled to fully articulate the complexity that is our Spirit, I think I have settled on this finite explanation, for now:

To me, our Spirit is our Truest Essence and Being. It is our inner compass that directs our lives and guides each decision we make. It is the home to our values, our virtues, and our character. It can be both our Light and our Darkness.

Our Spirit is the place where God dwells, waiting for us to call on Him. It is also where the Evil One dwells, hoping we’ll believe his lies.

Our Spirit is not always in our consciousness and most people live their entire lives having never awakened their mind to their Spiritual being.

Spiritual Consciousness:

I am not actually referring at all to RELIGIOUS BELIEFS when I’m talking about being guided by our Spirit.

I don’t in fact believe that religion itself actually guides anyone to a conscious spirituality. In spite of growing up in a healthy, faith-based home, going to church every Sunday and attending a Christian university, I can admit that I only came to my Spiritual Consciousness maybe 4-5 years ago.

While I have gone through stages of loving and hating attending church, it has been only by a shift in my Spiritual Alignment that I have truly CHANGED MY LIFE.

It has been a shift in my Spirit that has opened me up to the purpose of this great life……which is to have a personal relationship with God.

Religion does’t necessarily get you that relationship. Religion can often be caught-up in traditions and rules and guilt and fear. Religion is more man-made where as I know my Spirit was God-made.

Step 1: AWARENESS

Even so, just because I was now “conscious” of my Spirit in MOST areas of my life, it does not mean I was truly letting my “inner compass” guide me in ALL areas of my life.

What I was eating and what I was drinking were certainly never things that I thought I needed to consult my Spirit about. These were actions that were still relegated to the subconscious part of my being. All my eating and drinking habits (i.e. the Strict Binger person I was) were largely due to having a narrow and mainly negative focus on how I saw my body.

As I struggled to cut back my drinking, in spite of knowing it wasn’t having a good affect on my body, I started to ask myself these tough questions:

-Am I dependent on wine?
-Do I need wine to have fun?
-Do I need wine to make people to like me?
-Do I need wine to like people?
-Do I need wine to feel like myself?

 

After some deeper connecting, I realized the reason why I was still resorting to drinking wine even when I was “trying to stop” was because of one truth:

I BELIEVED THE ANSWER TO ALL THOSE QUESTIONS WAS—-> yes_logo

 

That is not to say the answer IS yes to all of those questions. (The answer to all those questions is indeed a strong NO, I have found).

But, I was subconsciously believing that I was dependent on wine on a Spiritual level.

Somewhere, deep in my soul, there were still some lies that I was believing about myself. Lies that were telling me I needed a chemically induced way to truly alleviate stress. Lies that told me I needed a drink to have fun. Lies that were telling me that those around me would like me more when I’m drinking. Lies that were telling me I needed wine to feel like my real self.

LIES

LIES

LIES

 

They are LIES in my head and they are LIES in your head too. Whatever your “thing” is that you just can‘t seem to give up, in spite of suffering some body or mental consequence because of it, is because of some set of LIES you continue to believe in your Spirit. Whatever reason you give yourself for not being able to DO anything, is a lie. Because I’m here to tell you, LOUD AND CLEAR,

THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN’T DO, IF YOU DO IT WITH GOD.

Exposing these LIES through simple awareness and spiritual consciousness is the first step to replacing them with the TRUTH about you and the TRUTH about whatever it is you’re trying to change.

STEP 2: REATTACHMENT

Once I become aware of these lies, I couldn’t just tell myself to STOP BELIEVING THE LIES.

Ha! If only it were so easy.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.

The only thing that casts out LIES is the TRUTH.

The truth is I CAN de-stress without wine. I CAN be fun at dinner without getting lubricated. Others WILL like me even if I’m not drinking and they are.

MY Truth, was that I was not put on this earth to be dependent on anything except my relationship with God. Not my husband, not my mom and not any of that Good Juice I call Wine.

I needed to REATTACH myself to my Greater Purpose in my life and see things how for their TRUTH.

Each one of us has a Greater Purpose. This is the term that I use to describe your destiny, your calling or basically your God-given purpose.

Each of us is built with our unique DNA, our unique character and our unique set of core values that all live within our Spirit. We find our Greater Purpose when we can SURREND‘her these spiritual gifts to God and align ourself on His path, not our own.

As I was drinking and depending on WINE so much, I realized this was because I was attaching this act to some old, subconscious VALUES of mine:

  • People-Pleasing
  • Approval
  • Harmony
  • Conformity
  • Meekness

 

But the Greater Purpose set of values I have identified from my Conscious Spirit (i.e. from God) are:

 

  • Health
  • Faith
  • Integrity
  • Love
  • Obedience
  • Serving Others

 

(BONUS, If you’re interested in investigating in YOUR Core Values to live your Greater Purpose, click HERE to receive my 6-Steps to Values Based Living straight to your inbox!)

When I REATTACHED my decision of drinking to my Greater Purpose set of values, my decision was much easier to make.

  • In Health, I’ll limit my intake to none or just 1 glass at a time to avoid the body consequences of drinking.
  • In Faith, I remind myself of ALL that I’m put on this earth to do, which right now includes a habit of getting up at 530am every day to have some quiet time and to practice the art of writing. Having to get up so early means that I DON’t want to have a foggy brain or headache the next day from drinking.
  • In Integrity, I’ll remind myself that if I say I’m going to do something, I need to follow-through and do it. Making promises to myself and breaking them is not allowed in this value.
  • In Love, I realized how slippery a slope alcohol can be to my relationships. Drinking always increases the chances of arguments or feelings getting hurt. Out of love for others and love for myself, I don’t want wine to be the excuse for these things.
  • In Obedience, I want to be actively obedient to my divine intuition. I want to obey what is coming from my spirit so I might avoid hurtful pathways that don’t serve my Greater Purpose. I want to be obedient for the blessings that come from that.
  • In Serving Others, I know that my Greater Purpose is to

    “Let my light shine before others, that they may see (my) good deeds and glorify (my) Father in heaven.“ (Matthew 5:16)

Put another way from Gandhi, I want to,

“Be the change I wish to see in the World”

I don’t want to see a world that suffers from alcohol addiction or dependence any more. I want to see more people acknowledging their problems and accessing treatment from places like Enterhealth. What can I do? I can serve others by holding myself accountable first.

When we align these aspects of our life to what God wants for us, we find that tremendous blessing ensue. A feeling of peace waves over you as you realize you are doing exactly what you need to do.

If something in your life isn’t working for you any more, it is likely due to the fact that this habit or entity doesn’t actually fit into your Greater Purpose and the Godly given character and values you could be following. It is worth revisiting your values to reveal more about your Greater Purpose.

(Again, if you want my Values Based Living Guide, HERE’s the link again to have it sent to you)

Step 3: PRACTICE

After I was able to reattach, and thereby re-engage, my Greater Purpose based approach to this act of drinking wine, the only thing left for me to do was PRACTICE.

But, yes, I am talking about practice! Even after all this CLARITY and after all of my deeper connecting, nothing was going to change until I put it into PRACTICE.

Check me out tomorrow in the 5th and FINAL part of the series, as I detail how I put into practice ALL of this decision work and didn’t let it defeat all of my relationships and my social life!

It’s a good way to WINE-D down the series! You won’t wanna miss it!!

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[Part 3] Wine Not?! Thinking and Drinking…

Over the last couple of days, I’ve introduced a major change I’ve made in my health and lifestyle as I’ve decided to “break-up” with my close friend, WINE.

Yesterday, I went over the way that I was first prompted to consider this health change because I was experiencing some pretty uncomfortable BODY reactions to this regular habit of drinking wine. I explained yesterday, that while these BODY reactions were not only caused by wine, but rather the ramifications of the lifestyle I’d been engaging for some time, wine nevertheless made them much much worse for me.

In spite of the physical pain that drinking induced into my body, it was not just because of those body reactions that I was able to just up and quit drinking wine.

I actually tried to do just that, but it didn’t work.

I would tell myself, “Ok, I’m not going to drink tonight.”

But sure enough, when I got to the dinner and everyone was drinking some delicious bottle of buttery
chardonnay, it would take all of 2-seconds to cave right it! Call it the “Fear of Missing Out” (FOMO) or just plain caving into peer pressure, every good intention I had would fly right out the window when around the good juice.

So, in what I call the Becoming WISE‘her phase to change, I started to really think through what was going on with this regular habit and started to question why I was having such a hard time cutting back.

Some of the questions I asked myself were:

1. Do I have a drinking problem or an addiction here?

I think this is always going to be the first question you ask yourself. It is a fair question for not just particular substance of WINE, but for anything we consume or indulge in. Anyone can become addicted to anything and I think certainly food, drinks and drugs are at the top of that list.

I was lucky that I was pretty able to assess that my drinking was not an addiction. I did the online self test and passed. I was really glad I did pass, however, I understand that people can become addicted to alcohol quite easily. I know a couple of people who have had to deal with this realization and luckily they were able to solve it. If I remember correctly, I had one friend who stayed at the austin sober house to help them recover. So long as it works, then that’s all that matters. Since I passed the test though, I don’t have to worry about going that far to fix my drinking problem. Also, I did my own examination and I did not drink every day and had gone several months without drinking. Also, when I did drink, I didn’t spiral out of control and consume copious amounts at one time (although, I do admit that has happened before, just not on a regular basis). I also very rarely got “drunk” but would just enjoy the act of drinking socially.

Something that’s stereotypically more severe than alcohol addiction is the attachment to illegal, recreational drugs like meth and cocaine. These drugs can have a detrimental impact on one’s life and in some cases, can lead to fatality if a dose is too large. It’s essential that people access help if they find themselves falling into the addiction to illegal drugs. There are plenty of Addiction Treatment Center‘s out there that are more than willing to help anyone with an addiction.

If you feel that addiction may have taken control on your life, with love and compassion, I highly suggest you take the same linked test and also self evaluate your life. Alcohol, or any substance we over consume, can be detrimental to our health and well-being. It can also has a negative impact on your life. Some people who may be struggling with alcohol addictions may need someone to help register them into a residential alcohol treatment center. The individual may not want to go, but often going to these places can turn people’s lives around for the better. I know how common every day drinkers are in society today, but just because we are like everyone else, doesn’t mean we don’t have an addiction. It could very well mean “we all” have an addiction. Out of love, I hope that everyone who might feel this inkling from overdoing any substance visit this link first!

2. WHY do I always want to drink wine?

So if I’m not addicted to the wine, why am I having a hard time stopping drinking?

I know the reason why I LIKE wine, of course.

It tastes good. It helps me relax. It goes well with dinner. It helps lighten the mood with others. It is a bonding agent with friends and new people I don’t know. It’s fun to do with my husband etc.

But from this list of things– this process lead me to the BIG WISE‘her QUESTION:

3. Are any of the reasons why “I like it” bigger or more important than my health?? Is it more important than feeling good in my body every day?

Surely, you would know that being in the health and fitness field, I would of course immediately want to
answer “No, of course not!!” as I slam my fist down on the table and take up my torch to march off to throw out all the bottles of wine in the house (cue my husbands gasp as he reads this comment :-))

But, when I got honest with myself the answer was actually, “Hmmm…..I’m not sure.”

And THIS answer bothered me. It REALLY, REALLY bothered me.

Logically, I wanted my answer to be a no brainer that I was choosing my health over all other reasons. I am someone that appreciates my body and I want to use it to my best ability.

This question became what I’ll call an ONION question. It’s the type of question that has LAYERS.

It prompted a layer of questions like:

-Are you dependent on wine?

-Do you need wine to have fun?

-Do you need wine to have people like you?

-Do you need wine for you to like people?

-Do you need wine to feel like yourself?

And these types of questions are not questions where I consult my brain and my mind and try to find the most logical answer. Contrary to popular belief where you think you just need to “think about this more.”

No, if I wanted to REALLY get to the bottom of my WHY, I needed to go deeper, yet again. I needed to travel down from my head……to my heart and what emanates from there.

These questions are actually questions regarding my values, my character, and my virtues.

These are questions from my SOUL.

Look for how I dove even deeper into my Spiritual and thus TRUE path to health tomorrow!!

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[5-Part Series] Wine Not?! Those Darn Tough Choices that Affect Your Social Life

Making those darn health choices that affect our social lives. How I did it and how you can do it to!

I’d like to share a pretty sad story.  It’s about me and one of my closest friends over the last several years. 

We’d get together quite often through the years.   She’d join me at dinners on a regular basis, especially the dinners with my husband and some of my other closest friends.

I like her because she makes me feel relaxed and my stress just rolls off my shoulders when we’re together. Oh, and I always have such a good time when she’s there!   She made a strong presence at my wedding and most every big event I’ve ever had! 

She smells really good too, a different fragrance every time we meet! 

Oh, but really what I love the most about her is the way she tastes.

Wait……….what?

Oh, yes, I should mention that what I’m talking is my friend I call WINE.  😉

Yes, yes I admit I am a WINE-O with the best of them.  It started while waitressing at a nice steak house after college and getting to do wine tastings (for sales purposes, of course!)  But it developed from there and has become one the my favorite pastimes! 

In fact, my husband and I joke because it seems our entire relationship over the course of the 7-years of dating (on and off) prior to our wedding day was largely been built by our mutual love for wine.  In fact, he calls me “Lady Chardonnay”, because….well, I AM a lady….and well, there’s some pictorial evidence indicating that is, in fact, a good nickname for me.  

LADY CHARDONNAY COLLAGE

Drinking wine has been a large foundation of how we have built social engagements!  We go on regular trips to Napa Valley with good friends.  We have weekly dinners with even bigger Wine-Os who bring some of the real good stuff which has now made me into a “wine snob,” of course!

WINE BOTTLE COLLAGE

Not to mention the several company dinners for him that I will sometimes attend where wine is just a natural part of the deal.  It helps loosen up the corporate types and helps a business dinner go smoother. 

It’s not just with my husband either, it’s a LOT of my friendships too!

Every time my college girlfriends and I get together there usually involves brunch with mimosas or wine with dinner.  When I get together with my best friend in Denver, we sit and gab over a bottle of wine and cheese plate.  It’s just what we’ve always done!

Needless to say, between my love for it and the endless excuses to indulge in it (celebrating breathing, anyone?!)  I can easily find myself enjoying wine 2-3x per week, or more!

Well, the sad part is that I just can’t be that close with my friend WINE anymore.  In fact, as of today, March 16, 2015, I have actually only had 3.5 glasses of wine so far in 2015. 

Much like all friendships that have run their do course, things in my life just started pointing to the fact that this was a change I needed to make.  It didn’t ever really “hit me over the head”, but it was just gradual knowing that came to be that I’d like to share with you.

I was finally able to make this true lifestyle change for my health because I was finally able to see the benefit of this change in ALL 3 areas of my TRUE HEALTH:

1. MY BODY:   It’s not that I don’t like her, I do.  A lot.  But frankly she makes me feel bad.  Like, really, really bad. I’ve had some digestive issues pop-up over the course of the last couple of years (that were not triggered by wine, but were definitely exacerbated by wine).
2. MY MIND:  I came to realize that I had been using wine as a social crutch and I didn’t want that dependence anymore.
3. MY SOUL:  I’ve changed the alignment of what I want to do in this life and my Greater Purpose.

Over the course of this 5-part series, I’m going to break-down my break-up with wine! 

  • PART 1: Introduction to making a health change that affects your social life.
  • PART 2: (Tuesday): Stage 1 to changing– my BODY reasons for stepping back.
  • PART 3:  (Wednesday):  Stage 2 to changing– my MIND reasons for stepping back.
  • PART 4: (Thursday):  Stage 3 to changing– my SPIRITUAL  reasons for stepping back. 
  • PART 5:(Friday):  We’ll discuss how to adjust your relationships and expectations after making a health change for you, so you don’t feel “Pushed” into doing things you don’t want to do!

 Making a Health Change that Affects You Socially:

 I want to make it clear that my break-up with WINE was not about me thinking wine was a “bad” thing.  I don’t believe that at all actually.    So if you’re mentally picturing of me up on some soap box preaching about about the religion of “sober life”, you’re in for some disappointment.

But I AM going to be telling my story of truth and you might very much relate to some of the realizations I came to, but it may not be about wine or alcohol at all!

You see, what WINE was to me might be what “Behavior X” might be to you.

Your “Behavior X” might be things like:

  • sugar
  • soda
  • fast food
  • drugs
  • alcohol
  • meat
  • other animal products
  • comfort foods
  • processed foods
  • all-you-can-eat-buffets
  • caffeine
  • energy drinks
  • health/weight loss supplements
  • your family’s culture foods
  • etc.

You see, any one of the above listed is a change that’s tough to make.

Each one of these behaviors is likely something you have engaged in with others and it has become a social or family routine.

Not to mention,  all of the above listed have actual chemical properties that are addictive as well (sugar, artificial sweeteners, alcohol, drugs, caffeine, energy drinks, food, supplements)!

Because of this, many of the above behaviors are likely pretty tightly wound into your lifestyle.  As I explained above, drinking wine was truly a part of my identity and apart of my relationships!  Any one of the above behaviors, or more, can be equally the same for you.  It’s tough, I get it!

It is my hope by reading my story you’ll start to see that change has it’s own course, but change is ALWAYS POSSIBLE!!

Some changes you can do on a whim and somehow it sticks!

But most, especially these behaviors that really infiltrate our whole lives,  might need some tactical steps and guidance  to get to the “gut” of the real reason for change.  For me it started with some body symptoms that prompted me to dive deeper into the culprit.    For you, it might be the mental or spiritual reasons that hit you first.

The big picture is that just because YOU decide to change, does NOT mean all your friends, family and society will be right there with ya!  The real hope is to be able to make this change FOR YOU and have it not let it affect your relationships!    It can be tricky, and personalities will matter, but there is HOPE!

I HAVE found the way that I have been successful in this endeavor (so far, of course) and I can tell you it was not because of any one else.  It started with me……. and it ends with me!

Join in the journey and I “wine” a little.  😉

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Nutrient Based Timing! WHEN you eat can be as important as WHAT you eat!

Part II of my quest to create a Nutrient-Based society is taking a look at the timing of eating, especially when eating Nutrient-Based!

Just as a recap from Part 1 that I’ve been featuring over the course of the last couple of weeks (HERE) the importance of having a Nutrient focus with each of your meals will help ensure that you get enough of the necessary vitamins and minerals!    

Vitamins and Minerals are absolutely necessary to not just look better (brighter skin, acne control, stronger bones and teeth, muscle tone, etc.) but to also feel better (high energy, low fatigue, efficient digestion, internal organs all doing their job, better sleep, disease prevention and high immunity, etc.)

But, as you might have guessed, just being sure you are getting enough of the necessary vitamins and minerals does NOT necessarily mean that you are able to stay lean and fit! 

Quality of food IS an incredibly important step in the right direction, but it does not necessarily promote weight loss or physique goals!

So, the next part I want to introduce to the Nutrient Based Diet is the TIMING of when you eat.

While there are no rules  to Finding “A. Wright Fit” for yourself, I have found that there are definitely some benefits to monitoring your eating patterns and adjusting how often you eat!

It all boils down to just 3-Steps to Nutrient Based Timing! 

(click picture to view more clearly)

Nutrient Based Timing INFOGRAPHIC

(If you’re interested in getting this printable infographic for you to add to the 5-Steps of the Nutrient Based Eating that you can get by signing up HERE). 

Step 1: Go minimum 12-hours without eating every night.

Research has been showing more concretely lately that going extended periods of time in a “fasted” state at night, has been extremely effective in helping bodies avoid obesity, even when eating a high fat diet.  It has been termed Intermittent Fasting in the fitness community.

The concept of intermittent fasting was first introduced around 2009 and was popularized with a study that occurred in 2012. In this rodent research, three groups of mice were studied.  One group was fed healthy food and the two others were fed the the same “higher fat” diet.  Of the high-fat diet, one group was allowed to eat at all times of the day (“ad libitum”) and the other group was restricted to eating only 8-hours of the most active part of their day.  The group that actually restricted their diet to just the 8-hours of the day stayed just as lean as the group that ate “healthy” food.  But the group that ate the same amount of calories and food, but ate at all hours of the day, became obese!!   Read about this study HERE.

Even more recently, another follow-up study has been done over a less drastic fasting time range that has equally shown great results.  This study had 4 groups of mice fed differing diets and found that over a 38-week study, the mice that limited their food intake to just 9-12 hours of the day, were able to stay lean and fit no matter what diet they were given.  More importantly, the study also tested whether those same mice could take a “break on the weekend” (much like we humans do)  and indeed, they were still able to stay fit and trim mice even when taking those weekend breaks in fasting.    Here is the graphic from the study and link HERE.

Intermittent Fasting Mice Graphic www.cell.com

I have personally tried intermittent fasting both for the 8-hour eating window AND a 12-hour eating window and I find that both time frames work equally well to one another for my body. 

The difference I have found is that I’m much more uncomfortable when trying to go 16-hours a day fasted.  I have early morning stomach grumbles like crazy and I would rely more heavily on coffee and tea in the morning (without cream or sugar, or it doesn’t count!) which I found unsustainable for my lifestyle.

Now that I only eat 12-hours a day (and thereby fast for 12-hours a day), I find it much easier to implement  this into my lifestyle and now many of my clients too!

This is how it works:

If you finish your last meal by 8pm at night, then you simply drink water, plain coffee or plain tea in the morning until your first meal at 8am.

For those that are morning people, you may want to monitor your dinner the night before so you can have the breakfast you need at the time that more convenient. 

For those that are night owls, you might do just fine eating a little later of a dinner since you’ll be up later at night.   (See more about food timing after STEP #3 below)

Step 2:   Eat meals every 3-4 hours, with no snacking in between!

We live in a society where we have immediate access to food.  What a blessing that is! 

But with such access comes the unfortunate tendency to snack or “graze” all day long.  I call it “Drive by Eating” in my home.  Every time I come across the nuts in the pantry, I gotta munch on a few!   Every time I open the refrigerator for some water, I see the grapes and I gotta pop a few into my mouth! It is mindless and I’ve had to put some parameters on myself in an effort to stop!

Some of us have heard that we need to eat “every 2 hours” when trying to lose weight to “speed up our metabolism.”  But recent studies have actually debunked that myth.

The reality is that it all depends on your body and how fast your digest and break down your food.  It also depends on the size of your meal (which we’ll get to in Part III of the Nutrient-Based living!).   

So some bodies WILL eat 5-6 meals per day because they will digest their food fast enough.  But more commonly, most of us will eat 4 meals a day, which allows adequate time in between meals.

A list of benefits for allowing more time between meals is:

  • You are more likely to eat when you’re body is actually hungry, not just when you’re craving something. 
  • You give your digestive system adequate time to reset its digestive hormones and secretions necessary for adequate and efficient food break down.
  • The digestive rest in between meals is reseting your fat metabolism (i.e. You are in Fat Burning Mode!)
  • It helps regulate your hunger and satiety hormones (Ghrelin and Leptin, respectively)
  • Helps you maintain normal blood sugar and insulin responses. 
  • Helps maintain balanced mood.
  • Allows your body to use energy toward detoxing your systems instead of only focusing on digesting.

The amount of time you need to wait in between meals is unique to your body.  Since you are eating a full, Nutrient-Based meal for every meal, the size of this meal should take at least 3 hours to fully digest, if not more.  The fiber, the protein and the fat in our meals do take a while to break down. 

Some of you might have much faster metabolisms which means your body will become physically hungry much sooner. 

I encourage everyone to determine signs that you are “physically hungry” versus when you are mentally or emotionally craving something.    Here is a graphic from Metabolic Effect that I think sums it up really well!

Physical Hunger Verus Emotional Hunger Graphic

To ward off the tendency to have high cravings or emotionally eat in between meals, drinking water or herbal and green tea (without sugar or cream!) is really helpful in keeping your stomach happy and your body circulating!

STEP 3:  ATTEMPT TO EAT AT THE SAME TIMES EVERY DAY

The reason for trying to time your life to be similar day to day is because of the value add of going along with your Circadian Rhythms.  To get to the point, many functions in our body is regulated best in a rhythm, including when we eat!


To optimize these rhythms, the goal is to eat around the same time every day!  Your role for your body is to asses and see what times of day work best for you!

Circadian Rhythms are defined as: “physical, mental and behavioral changes that follow a roughly 24-hour cycle, responding primarily to light and darkness in an organism’s environment.” (National Institute of General Medical Sciences)

Essentially, it is our internal, or “body clock”, that regulates our hormonal responses, body temperature, heart rate and sleep cycles

Circadian Rhythms (CR) certainly contribute largely to our sleep/wake patterns in our life since they are highly regulated by the light and dark responses. 

But studies have shown that they can also be regulated by the timing of eating!  Eating at times when our bodies are in “rhythm” to eat is ideal for metabolic responses to be at their best. 

Our CR is mainly regulated by an area in our brain, the Hypothalamus, where about 20,000 neurons called the SCN (Superchiasmatic Nucleus) as the “master clock.”  But, recent studies have shown that the expression of our bodies “clocks” are not limited to just that area of the brain, but have been found in many tissues and cells throughout the body called the “peripheral tissues.”

Several studies  reported on in The-Scientist Journal HERE said:

“From these studies it’s clear that the clocks in peripheral tissues—vulnerable as they are to the timing of eating—are vital to metabolism in the body’s organs. “I would say the clock is playing a very fundamental role regulating all metabolic pathways,” says Takahashi, “not just in organ systems, but at a cellular level.”

Finding a patterned rhythm of eating that best supports your metabolism is one of the best things you can do to promote your healthiest, most energy efficient, and LEAN bodies possible!  

Sporadic eating does not contribute to helping find the natural “rhythm” of your body.  It causes some disruption to these natural rhythms and causes more internal stress than you know.   

In reality, we all know that we don’t always eat just when our bodies are hungry.  That would be too easy!

We eat largely because of behavioral and mental reasons too: 

  • -We eat just because it’s 12-Noon and we think “oh, I must have lunch!”. 
  • -We eat because we schedule that dinner with the couple at that certain time. 
  • -We eat because everyone else around us is eating.  We eat because we’re bored or sad or happy.

Just becoming more aware of an eating pattern (and sleep and wake pattern too!) is a great first step in finding your best rhythm for your energy!

WHAT TO DO:

  1. Map out your typical schedule.
  2. Start with the time you’d like to wake-up and the time you need to go to bed (getting 7-9 hours of sleep).
  3. Start with those personal qualities that are important to your eating life and require priority in planning.

—Do you workout early in the morning or evening?
—Does your family stress the importance of family dinners?
—Do you have a designated lunch hour that you need to stay within?
—Are there times of the day that you are most active and therefore most hungry afterward?
-If there is a particular meal time that you know you already are akin to, start THERE.  Don’t try to force something different from that important spot.

4.  From that time, designate a meal 3 hours before and 3 hours after (as many times as necessary) until you get about 4-5 meals. Some meals will be bigger some may be smaller.

5.  Assess and be sure that you are able to implement the 12-hour window of Step #1 given this timeline and map.

Allow me to use myself as an example:

*Everyday, I get up at 530am and go to sleep at 9pm-930pm.
*My main meal priority is my workout, which I typically do at 10am.  Therefore, my priority meal is right after this at 11am.

My schedule thus becomes:

Meal #1- 8am breakfast
Meal #2- 11am post workout
Meal #3- 2pm
Meal #4- 5/6 pm Dinner
(Meal #5- 8pm Post dinner snack (if I need it))

IF, I need to change my workout that day, I  still don’t change my meal timing.  I try to fit in the workout in a way that will allow be time to keep this schedule (so I’d try to workout at 12/1pm, or 4pm).

REMINDER!!!

As with all things about your body, this is an investment in time and requires patience for you to learn about YOU!  What works for me, may not work for you.  What works for you may not work for your sister!

But the payoff to some true, intentional investigation into your body, will be tremendous!  Remember, you are not put on this earth just to look a certain way!  You are put here for a GREATER PURPOSE!  Your LIFE must be LIVED in order to fulfill that!  Taking care of your health in your responsibility and the gift that you give back to God for the amazing, although at times HARD, life you have been given!

Your hard work will pay off in ways you can’t even imagine!  Just take it 1… 2…or  3 steps at a time!

Have any questions?  Comment below or contact me at amanda@amandawrightfit.com!

Categories
Food & Nutrition Health Coaching Uncategorized

[Infographic] 5 Steps to the Best Meal For Your Body!

NutritionNew

When it comes to your body, what should be your #1 focus to building the best meal for your body??

My guess is 50% of you are mumbling something about Calories, saying that the QUANTITY of food that you eat is the most important part of weight loss and maintenance. 

(Nodding head) Yes, yes very true and valid point.

Then I’d venture to guess that the other 50% of you is saying something about the Macronutrient Breakdown or the QUALITY of your foods and how many grams of Carbohydrates, Fat, and Protein you are getting.

(Raising hands in the air) also, not wrong there!   Getting enough protein while not too many carbs and the right amount of healthy fat IS very important too.

In this industry of Health and Fitness, you’ll visit a hundred sites focused on weight loss that will break down weight loss this way.

Focusing on Quantity = Weight Loss 

Focusing on Quality = Fat Loss (aka. leaning out)

I have lived the majority of my life focusing on one……then the other…… then both…… then neither!  But, I’ve changed my focus and my priority now.

I’ve realized, I have been living just to see results, but I have not been LIVING my best.

I might be at a healthy weight, I might have pretty great muscle mass and a pretty lean figure.  But my main issue for the last few years, especially as I age (and don’t worry, I fully admit I’m not even old yet!) is that no matter how healthy my weight and my body fat levels might be, it doesn’t mean my body is FEELING great.  If I’m not feeling great, then I’m not living my best life and I’m certainly not living the life at my fullest potential the way God intended.

I am happy to announce, that I have completely re-wired my mindset and approach to my health and to those of my clients.  Instead of starting with calculations and macro nutrient distribution of meals plans, we start with the ENERGY components first and foremost!

I’m talking about  NUTRIENTS.

More appropriately, getting Nutrient Sufficiency from your food.

Focusing on Nutrients Sufficiency= Happy Body (aka Thriving)

Nutrient deficiency is the one factor that no matter how healthy of a weight you might be, no matter how much muscle mass you’re sporting, or how ripped and toned you are, if you are not getting enough nutrients in your body, then you are simply not living your life the way God intended!

Life should be about thriving!  About having energy without depending on things like caffeine or other stimulants to make it through the day.  About having sustenance for your brain to function at it’s highest capacity; to have a healthy digestive system that moves quickly and excretes efficiently;  to be sure that our immune systems are working at optimal levels to prevent illness and death; to know our systems are all working at peak conditions. 

The difference between living and thriving can be found in a Nutrient Focused meal plan! 

What’s great about living this way, is that it really is very simple to start!  There are only 5 Steps to the Best Meal for your Body!  Every meal can get you closer to Nutrient Sufficiency and feeling better every day!

But first, let’s define what we’re talking about when I’m talking about NUTRIENTS. 

As I mentioned before, the stars of the weight-loss world are the essential MacroNutrients :

-Protein
-Fats
-Carbohydrates
-(Water)

They are called Macro because you need larger quantities of them (measured in grams)

However, my good but less glamorous friends the Essential MicroNutrients:

-Vitamins
-Minerals

They are called Micro because you need less of them (measure in milligrams or less)

Vitamins and Minerals are incredibly important because they the delivery agents that actually carry out all functions in the body, including converting our food into energy!!  

One example) Muscles cannot contract unless the mineral Calcium binds in the muscles cell.  That same muscle cannot relax unless Magnesium binds in the muscle cell.

Kinda important, wouldn’t you say?!

So, while it is easy to glance over Vitamins and Minerals and only focus on “weight loss” or “leaning out” but you’d be missing a HUGE, albeit, micro-sized problem!   A problem that is all too common when we are just focusing on our BODY goals without fully embracing what it means to be Truly Healthy: Body, Mind and Spirit.  

So, I know what you’re thinking!  You’re saying, “Yes obviously Amanda, we need our Vitamins and Minerals, that is why I take my multivitamin every day!”

Before you go reaching for your Gummy/Flintstone/WomanDailyChewable or any other version you get, be aware, that simply taking a multivitamin does not mean you are doing a service for your body.   In fact, it could be quite deadly. 

Many studies have come out warning against the dangers of over supplementing with vitamins ad minerals. 

One article from the NY Times said that “scientists have known for years that large quantities of supplemental vitamins can be quite harmful.”  See full article HERE

One study from the New England Journal Of Medicine back in 1996 studied “18,000 people who were at an increased risk of lung cancer because of asbestos exposure or smoking received a combination of vitamin A and beta carotene, or a placebo. Investigators stopped the study when they found that the risk of death from lung cancer for those who took the vitamins was 46 percent higher.”

Uhhhh…… what?

The article goes on to site 5 additional studies that showed that taking supplements of several different vitamins and minerals, notably Vitamin E, all were associated with higher rates of mortality. 

The article goes on to highlight one important fact about the FDA.  Apparently we have not heard about these mortality rates from Vitamins and Minerals because of a botched court hearing and other political reasons.  The Vitamin and Mineral companies certainly make a lot of money, and you can bet they enlisted the help of a congressman to help keep their empires in tact.

I’d like to highlight here that we can all thank a politician named, William Proxmire, a Democratic senator from Wisconsin, for getting that bill to protect the Vitamin and Supplement industry banned in in congress back in 1976.  Jerk.

Moreover, it has recently been revealed that the industry of Supplements ARE NOT regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).  So there is no telling if the labels are accurate, the quality is worth it, or the supplements we take are even what they say they are.

Without knowing about all of those important factors, how can you justify the amount of money you are spending on taking them without really knowing if they are working for you or against you?  

The obvious first step in Nutrient Sufficiency that I emphatically practice and encourage is to make your priority getting enough nutrients and a wide variety of nutrients.  So every meal includes green vegetables, colored vegetables and water.

I know, I know, I know.  We are all so sick of people telling us to eat our vegetables!!

But, honestly,  in this day and age and in America, the land of plenty,  there is such a wide variety of  produce available to us, there is hardly any excuse that you can give me for not finding several vegetables in a wide array of colors that you can’t cook in a way to make them edible.

You don’t have to love it…..but I can guarantee you can learn to like it.

I know that we are America, and that we all think we have the right and need to LOVE everything that we do in life otherwise we just don’t do it.   But, the reality is that we do a lot of things we don’t LOVE to do.   But we do them because we must and because living is a responsibility.  You know, like work.  Jury duty. Wipe babies butts.  Need I go on?

Our bodies are sheer miracles.  They are such blessings and we should all be in awe that God has designed us as he has!    If anyone has any doubt in God, I dare you to take one human physiology class and tell me the complexity of our systems don’t make you believe in a Creator.  

Our bodies not only give us life and function and house our great minds and intelligence.  But they are the vessel for which our souls carry out our Greater Purpose!

As with all blessings from God, our bodies are our responsibility.  It is vital to take care of them.  They are our indeed our temples.    

Taking care of your body is our way of showing gratitude to God for the abundant life we live in our bodies.  It shows how much you value and recognize the great gift He has given us.  In spite of the pain, the hurt, the disease if might have.  I still believe that you can find gratitude for what it CAN do and certainly how important it is!

Eating well means you are showing your gratitude to God.  Taking care of your body means you do not take it for granted.  Loving our Body shows that you Love God. 

I encourage you to educate yourself on what you are eating and be more mindful of what goes in your mouth.  It also means you might just have to eat some foods that you don’t LOVE.  But doing so with a grateful heart will certainly make it taste better than you thought!

Part of my calling and my goal is that I might help educate you, my beloved reader, on some of the very necessary and some less necessary Vitamins and Minerals out there and the ways that you can make your way to a more vivacious, energetic and grateful life!

OH, and you might just lose weight while you’re at it too!!  #bonus!

First things first though, let’s make it easy on ourselves and just start with the basics.  The Meal Plan design.  

Here’s my Inforgraphic to the 5 Steps to a Nutrient-Based Diet!

Nutrient Based Diet PDF AWF

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Categories
Fitness & Training Food & Nutrition Health Coaching Spiritual Health Uncategorized

“I just want to fit into my skinny jeans” and other ways we fall short


One of my health coaching clients sent me an article she received from her gym in New York City.   Coincidentally, it was also an article about overcoming the urge to quit and she asked me what I thought about it.   A couple days ago,  I debuted my first blog also on ‘not quitting’ (which I purposely chose the positive affirmative of “Tips to Keep Climbing”).  If you didn’t see it,  check it out HERE!

This other article was written with the intention of  helping keep people from already giving up on their New Years resolutions, which as we all know is very common around this time of year!  Just 1-month in the New Year and a large population of people have already forgotten those new habits they were so determined to get right this year!  Like many in the Health and Fitness Community, this gym came up with a very concise and straight forward list of tips:

1. Remember the reason why you started
2. Speak Positive Truths
3. It’s Just A Valley  (ie. don’t quit from the challenge)
4. Play It Loud (get new music)
5. “They” expect you to quit (do it to show others they’re wrong)
6. Look at the ladies (or guys) for motivation
7. Eat Well (don’t cut too many calories)
8. Go To Bed (sleep)
9. Picture the New You (imagine your success)

They are all friendly reminders and with good intention behind it.   I am not bashing the intention of this article at all and on the surface, they are all great tips. 

But that seems to be my biggest issue with the way the Health and Fitness generation is trying to teach health.  Everywhere you look, you are given tip after tip after tip!  Often times, they are contradictory too and more confusing than anything. 

But the reason why I feel I am called to this platform writing and expressing my view of health and why God is calling me not only to write my truth but to also question the truths that I have long been accepting from “experts”.  My whole life I have been trying “harder” to follow ALL the tips at once, and feeling defeated when I couldn’t sustain any of them for very long.    

It wasn’t until I dug deeper into my health in my spirit and my mind that I was finally able to have real impact on my body’s health.  I believe that we as a society need to GO DEEPER in order to invoke any real change in the trajectory of our health both as individuals and as a nation.

We can see all around us that we have a health epidemic on our hands.  Our nation is sick, literally dying from health related causes.  Our kids, our elderly, our poor and our rich–it doesn’t escape anyone.   Our health has everything to do with much more than what’s on the surface too.   Ironically, there have never as many Diet and Fitness Experts in society as there are today too. Thousands of them out there that will give you a thousand different “Tips” on how to lose weight and meet your goals.  And YET, if you look around, all these “experts” aren’t really having any impact. 

To Me, most people will fit into one of three categories:

A. Yo-Yo Dieters— hopping on and off the health bandwagons in an “all or nothing” fashion  

B. Apathetic— that choose not to pursue their health and quit before we even start, seeing that the struggle is not worth the fight  or it’s just “how they’re built.”           

C. Extremists— The Uber fit, overdoing our goals to meet some unrealistic body image that doesn’t actually exist for long-term health. 

As I read the list from the New York City gym, I don’t disagree with any one of the tips.  But I also find the list to be very shallow in motivation and severely lacking in the DEPTH or any real CONVICTION behind it.

For example, if I were the old me and thinking about my New Year’s resolutions of years past, for Tip #1:  Remember the Reason Why You Started?, my answer would have been something like:

“I want to fit into my size 6 skinny jeans so I can feel confident and better about myself!”

And I would log hour after hour at the gym until I reached my goal!  Then, yes, as I slid on those size 6 skinny jeans I would feel really good about myself…….for about a week.  Maybe two. 

Then I would need another “motivation” or new “goal” to keep me going further otherwise I would just go back to drinking and binge eating and soon the skinny jeans wouldn’t fit so well any more. 

That is literally how I lived the majority of my life.  I was a “new goal” junkie, just creating more and more goals to get me “fitter” and “fitter.”  Never having actually felt fit at all.   Making small-time goals and reaching them, only to not feel as great about them as I thought I would.   Most of the time I actually felt disappointed by them!  Something was lacking.  There was no “Joy” in my success.  There was no real success!

The type of True Health and thus True Goals I am talking about are much deeper than this.  To make goals based on FAITH and not FEAR. To use GOD and not GUILT.   Tying our goals to our Greater Purpose makes the reason why we get-up-and-going to be a much deeper and much more life changing.    

My True Health Goals look something like this:

I want to feel loved, fit and good enough no matter what my jean size is.  I want to go to the gym and increase my strength and power so that I know if God calls on me to do something great, I will be physically strong enough to do it.  I want to be a shining example for my kids, my friends and  my family and I want to show them that anything is possible at any age.  And, I know I can do this because I know “I can do all thing through Christ, who gives me strength.” (Phil 4:13)

Doesn’t my WHY resonate SO much deeper to SOULFUL level?  Doesn’t the above goal not just hit what I want for my Body, but also my Mind and my Sprit too?    Doesn’t it sound like the kind of life-changing conviction that will change my whole life and keep me motivated for longer?  Not just help me with some small-time skinny jeans goal for the New Year? 

So what if we turn that list into something with more DEPTH?  Take their great tips and just add some Greater Purpose thinking behind it?    

I think it would look something like this: 

1. Remember why God is calling you to be fit, how does it tie to your Greater Purpose?
2. You are able to speak positive truths because you are perfectly Loved
3. Valley’s are purposeful so you always must rely on God. Embrace the challenge and draw nearer to Him.
4. The Music Lives Within— No matter what beat you hear, the movement will come from within you.  Tap into that beat.
5. “Do Not Judge or You Too Will Be Judged” (Matt 7:1)- Think about ways you can support others in their goals and you will find that they will support you back.
6. Look to your soul for motivation and the men/women will come in the right time.
7. Eat Well to sustain your fuel for your Greater Purpose.
8. Find REAL rest to renew your body, mind and soul.
9. Picture Yourself Living Out your Greater Purpose!

Journal/Thought Provocation: 

What are some of the goals that you have made so far this year?  What are some ways you can re-frame those goals to serve your Greater Purpose?

If you are struggling with knowing what your Greater Purpose is, I invite you to sit and pray about it.  Even if an answer doesn’t come to you immediately, the act of listening will be rewarding for you soon enough.  What God might be telling you is that your Greater Purpose for right now is to do exactly what you are doing, but do it in a way that would bring honor to Him.  Do it with integrity, courage, faith and love.   Their is purpose in everything we do, so do it well and do it for Good.  

In Good Health,

Mandi

Categories
Fitness & Training Spiritual Health Uncategorized

DON’T MISS THE VIEW FROM THE TOP: 5 TIPS TO HELP YOU KEEP CLIMBING!

HikeScaled

I am originally from Colorado and thus I have always loved hiking. So naturally, when my husband and I were taking a road trip from our home in San Diego,CA to Phoenix, AZ, I was all about the Camelback Mountain hike! Now that we’re more experienced, we can go on more challenging routes and we even forage for berries and check on campingfunzone.com to check they’re safe to eat! We have so much fun and spend hours trekking through the area.

We set out on the terrain on busy Tuesday morning. For those that have ever been near Camelback Mountain, or have ever done one of the two trails on the mountain, you’ll know it really doesn’t waste anytime going up! It goes from a flat-ish land to boom….mountain! A thrilling challenge! For anyone looking to start rock climbing in Colorado, it may be worth checking out these colorado rock climbing guides, for example, to learn more about it. This can be a pretty exciting hobby for many people! Plus, who doesn’t love a challenge?

Midway through out trek, we came upon a particularly rocky incline and a woman who was stopped in the middle (see pic). Treks like this often throw some hazardous obstacles our way to overcome; the trick is to be prepared! Having essential equipment like a ham radio for survival can ensure thay you’ll be able to stay in contact with other members of your group should you require thier assistance.

I trudged ahead and my husband followed suit and as I approached her, she asked me, “Have you ever done this hike?” I told her that it was our first time. “Oh I was just wondering if the rest of this hike is going to be as rocky as this part?”

I replied that I honestly didn’t know what to expect, but I made mention to, “Use the rocks in your favor. They are steps that help you keep your balance.” and I moved ahead.

I believe she took my advice and promptly turned around!

The rest of the hike, I was in deep thought, wondering about this woman that gave up on her journey because she was afraid it was going to be too hard.

It got me thinking about how many people do that all the time in their life and on their quests for health.

I believe God has placed a mountain before each of us, and if we accept his path, it’s not just taking us onward, but it’s taking us upward! Just like we are hiking!

As this woman noted- when hiking, you really can’t tell what’s ahead. False peaks and winding paths block your view to the top. So it takes quite a bit of trust, courage and perseverance to keep moving onward and upward.

What I see in our society, is that so many of us quit before we even start the hike, deciding we are not sure about this whole God thing to begin with. Others, think they want to follow in God’s path, but quit before reaching the top as they see the challenges.

In terms of your health, I believe that God calls us all to follow Him in ALL things in our life and that includes our quests for better health. I believe we are all here to serve a Greater Purpose in life, and our health is certainly a factor in whether we can do that to our highest potential or not. Our true health doesn’t mean “skinnier” like society might seem to make it, it means healthier in our body, our mind AND our soul. Healthy in the sight of God. Not healthy in the sight of Man.

Many of us face huge mountains ahead of us as we seek true health. There is a real struggle that we face and many times we quit. Thinking that our body’s health or mindset of health is just not able to face this mountain.

But what we miss by quitting or stopping short is the amazing view from the top. What I would term a fully realized blessing from God. A view that is breathtaking and so beautiful that you don’t even remember any struggle along the way, all you can do is sit in awe of God, thankful that he has blessed you far greater than you could ever imagine.

So as I thought about that woman who quit, and I think about all of you out there on your own quests for health, I wanted to share:

5 TIPS TO HELP YOU KEEP CLIMBING!

1.) REMEMBER, Reaching the top is not a matter of WILLPOWER, but a matter of FAITH

So often in life, when we have a set-back on our path and we think, “Oh, if I just had the willpower to keep going!” If we are wanting to get healthier and lose weight, we think it’s all about having enough WILLPOWER to diet and exercise and stay the course.

But, this is not a willpower issue, this is a FEAR issue. We are afraid of what we don’t know.

Some (like me) think we are motivated by fear:

Oh, I HAVE to workout 2-hours a day so I don’t gain the weight back! I have to obsessively measure all my food and count every carb so I don’t gain body fat!

Others are paralyzed by fear:

I can’t even start the idea of working out, because I’m too afraid I’ll fail and be even more disappointed in myself.

It wrecks havoc on our lives.

For those that are motivated in fear, it might mean that we blindly run up the path as quickly as possible, only to realize in our hurry, we missed the shortcut path that God had laid out for us. For those that are paralyzed by fear, it stops us cold in our tracks rendering us unable to move at all.

The solution is not to willpower yourself out of it, but to simply refocus and reframe your thoughts to that of Faith. Look for the next step of what you CAN do.

Looking up at the top, you think, “Oh God, I can’t make it all the way up there!”

But if you look at the next step ahead of you, you probably CAN make the next step.

In your quest for health, you CAN start by walking every day around your block. You can focus on just feeling better, not performing better. You can just create one healthier habit and focus on implementing that, not everything all at once.

In your quest for health, don’t get too caught up in the mountain you have ahead of you, think about that next step that you CAN do and faithfully take that step. God will show you what step to take. Have Faith in HIM, not just faith in YOU.

2.) REMEMBER, THOSE ROCKS ARE STEPS!

The woman on the trail, thought, “Look at all these rocks on my path! No thank you! It’s far too rocky for me.”

What she didn’t see was that the rocks were there for her not against her.

Romans 8:31 says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Had there been no rocks at all and rather just sand or dirt, the hike would be significantly harder. You would take a step up only the slide back down

The rocks in your journey for health are things like finding time to exercise, finding the right foods to eat, a demanding life, work, kids, stress, relationships etc! Many of us see these rocks as blockades, that are against us.

But really, God uses them STEPS to take you higher. Each rock he has placed there, he has done so for a reason. Take a look at all of the rocks and ask how God might be using this rock as a step?

If the rock in your way is you are struggling with finding time to work out and spend time with your family? Maybe God is trying to tell you to workout with your family. Doing push-up challenges, races, jump rope or just exercises during the commercial break of your favorite TV program. Don’t let the rock let you quit. Find a way to use it as a step.

3.) REMEMBER, YOU ARE ABLE, SO STOP SHOULD-ING ALL OVER YOURSELF!

I will be honest, just as the woman had feared, the hike did get harder at some points and had areas that were a challenge!

But, I can tell you that she could have still finished. I had watched her as we were following her for some time and she was in plenty good shape.

God will not put us on any mountain that we are not able to climb.

1 Corinthians 10:13 “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.”

It doesn’t mean that it won’t be challenging, quite the contrary. But he says he will not allow you to have more than you can handle.

The reason this woman couldn’t see that was because she was should-ing all over herself. She was thinking things like, “I should be in better shape to do this.” Not realizing she was more than able just the way she was.

If you stop thinking in terms of what you should be doing and instead focus on what God has enabled you with, it will keep your focus on that next step.

4.) REMEMBER, COMPARISON IS THE THIEF OF JOY:

Besides being afraid, I’m sure this woman stopped short because she was intimidated by the other hikers on the path. She was self conscious in her ability to “keep up” with the others.

You have some avid hikers can literally RUN that trail. They are advanced. It can be really intimidating for the average person!

But, comparing your journey to theirs, you are robbing yourself of the joy and the view from where you are.

In reality, those that are running up the hike, might be doing more harm than good. Sure, they might look all fit and in good shape, but check back on their knees cartilage in about 5 years! Check-in on them when they thought they had their footing and instead slipped and fell. Just because something looks glamorous in the health and fitness community, doesn’t mean is the smartest thing for a person to do. A lot of times people are doing crazy things from a place of insecurity themselves.

But another view point is that maybe God is surrounding you people for a reason. Maybe the people around you are there to help you and motivate you, not make you self conscious. More than one person on that hike gave me a helping hand to help me up on a steep step. They were there for a reason. But it was up to ME how I viewed them and used them.

See the others around you on your path to health in the same way. Don’t try to “keep up with them” or compare yourself to them. But use them to help you when you need it. What you might find is that you are there to help others too!

5.) REMEMBER, THE FALSE PEAKS ARE GOOD FOR A VIEW, BUT NOT TO STOP:

Often on hikes we think we are reaching the top only to realize that there’s still more to go! It can be such build-up and let down.

Many people take these false peaks as the “good enough” parts of their journey. They think, well this view from here is beautiful and good enough. The next leg of the journey seems like too much of a hassle to get the energy to get there again.

Similarly in our life we think:

“Church on Sundays is enough. I really don’t have enough time to read the bible or to sit a pray.”

“My exercise routine that I’ve been doing for the last 2-years is good enough. If God is asking me to do any more, I’m just not willing to try something new.”

“This one vegetable I like to eat is good enough. I’d rather just stick to the one thing I know then to try something new.”

We get comfortable with mediocrity. We think our effort so far is good “enough”. But by doing so, we are limiting ourselves from our fully realized blessing! We convince ourself this is all that God has to offer and it takes too much sacrifice and won’t be worth the effort.

Don’t get me wrong, the view that you see from the false peak is beautiful. It should be celebrated and viewed as a blessing! But it’s not the place to stop and quit.

The FULLY-REALIZED, 180° view from the top, kind of blessing is going to be far greater than anything you could ever imagine.

The woman that quit early had NO idea how beautiful it was gong to be! She had no idea what blessing was in store for her and the feeling she would feel from such an accomplishment. She could have done it, but she’ll never know.

You have no idea how wonderful the blessing from God is going to be for your life either! But expect something miraculous! If you’re on the trail, just keep going! If you have quit, get back up and try again! It’s ever too late to follow God’s calling and find that view.

CAMELBACK MTN HIKE