An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States. MLK was a powerful leader and a strong voice in the battle for civil rights in the 1960′s. He lived his convictions every day. He never doubted his responsibility to the world at large.
While we’re here trying to meet our personal goals of weight loss and better health, it’s good to remember why we’re choosing to do that. If we’re only here for vanity, then our lives will lack meaning. Become your best so you can make an impact on your community and the world. And don’t wait until you’re at your best (it’s a journey, you know? It’s going to take a lifetime!) to start doing some good.
What will you do today to make a difference?
Side note * If you’re ever in Memphis, the National Civil Rights Museum is a really good place to learn (or be reminded) about the fight for civil rights in the USA.
Our bodies have several built-in systems that go into action when we introduce a heavy load of refined sugar into them. Minerals such as sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium from our bones are mobilized, and neutral acids are produced in an effort to return the acid-alkaline balance of the blood to a more normal state. Consuming a fairly large amount of sugar each day continuously creates an overly acidic condition, so that more and more minerals are required from within our bodies to create this balance. Eventually so much calcium is robbed from the body, bones, and teeth, that decay and weakness result. As I have always maintained, people don’t need the calcium from dairy products to strengthen their bones as much as they need to stop eating sugar to avoid the damage it causes to bones.
If you could give your patients one piece of advice on how to stay healthy, what would it be?
Care enough about yourself to make important lifestyle changes. Take the time every day to become more physically, mentally and emotionally fit; and be proud of your success! Stop smoking, eat well, embrace exercise and activity, love and be loved.
This is what I love about acting. Nothing is ever wasted, and you use everything constantly, as long as you keep yourself available to what is happening.
It’s the same thing in everyday life. If you leave yourself open to what is really happening, you’re not going to get hung up on what it ‘should be,’ but you will embrace what ‘is,’ and more on from there.
~ Marilu Henner, from a chat during The Role of Your Life class with members, April 22, 2010
Food that loves you won’t make you sick. It won’t keep you on (or away from) the toilet. It won’t make you break out. It won’t give you diabetes or heart disease. It won’t make your eyes puffy, or bloat your belly.
Food that loves you is easily digested. It gives you energy and vitality. It strengthens your body and helps fight off disease and sickness. It gives you glowing skin and clear eyes. It’s fuel for your body as well as your soul.
Food that loves you *
vegetables and fruits in all colors – eat the rainbow!
Here’s a favorite poem to ponder on this Spirit Sunday. Be your best, today and every day.
IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!
The reason it is so difficult for us to change is that we focus too much on the microcosmic steps, or the “program,” and not enough on changing the perspective that landed us where we are in the first place. Deep and true changes come from the inside out, not the other way around.
Ask yourself one question. “Am I the best version of myself?”
~ Marilu Henner, Total Health Makeover
If emotional eating is getting in the way of your success, join the Stop, Drop & Roll class, now in session (don’t worry, Coach Heather will help you catch up).
Standardized tests are a horrible way to test individuals. Unfortunately, they’re all we’ve got to work with, so they are used for almost everything.
I have the same feeling about weight charts.
My suggestion is that your idea weight is within a certain range of weight. Any woman can tell you that her weight can fluctuate as much as five to ten pounds for a number of reasons. Lack of sleep, drinking alcohol, PMS, flying, and of course, diet issues such as excessive salt, which causes water retention.
I say your idea weight should be based on what feels good to you and what is healthy. Use how your clothes are fitting as a barometer.
I can’t tell you how many people’s bodies break down early because they never made the connection that it is due to their lifestyle habits. Don’t we want to be vibrant and healthy right now? Why do we have to wait until we’re old and infirm and trying to get ourselves back on the road? We’re going to have a much harder job recovering after we’ve let ourselves go.
