Hi everyone! I wanted to take a minute to say hello, and encourage you all to continue on your path towards a more healthy lifestyle. When I post my thoughts for you all to read, I am usually posting about things that I find relevant in my life at the time, and therefore have the hopes that passing along what I have learned may help you with a similar situation. Lately I have been really focusing on what it means to be healthy. I know for sure that no matter how thin or fit we might be physically, it ultimately won't lead to happiness if we are too focused on perfection. I was watching a special on Jane Fonda a few weeks back, and she said something that resonated with me. She said the ultimate goal "is not to be perfect, but to be whole." This may be an obvious statement to some of you, but if you are like me, there are areas in your life where you strive for perfection.For me,fitness and nutrition has been one of those areas. So, for the past few weeks I've been letting that quote sit with me, and paying attention to how it made me feel. I have to say, it made me feel great. It brought back
something that I've known for a long time, but tend to lose sight of...I am on this adventure of health and wellbeing because it makes me feel good. Period. All of the tabloids, celebrities, advertisements etc. send such a strong message that we have to be perfect, look perfect, and act perfect in order to have happiness. Well where is the fun in that? It's an impossible standard to uphold and it drives me up the wall. So... When you are thinking about your current situation, whatever it might be (fitness or not), keep in mind the quote of the great Jane Fonda, who has dedicated much of her life to teaching others about what it means to be healthy, and how to go about getting it. Focus on being whole, rather than perfect, and the journey towards better health and fitness will naturally fall into place, because you will want to be kind to yourself, and to FEEL GOOD. No punitive workouts after a an unhealthy meal or before an upcoming event, and no more impossibly strict diets with an "I'm starting my diet tomorrow" mentality... but rather, moving because that is what our bodies are meant to do, and consuming foods that provide energy.

Happy New Year

I wanted to take a minute to wish all of you a very happy New Year! I will keep this one brief, but I wanted to address how fitness and health works into our New Year's resolutions. The best advice I have been given and would like to pass on is how important it is to not think about a commitment to health that you have to carry out for an entire year. That almost always leads to failure. Instead, try thinking about what you can do, just today, to improve your health. This could mean taking a walk, increasing the intensity of your workout, eating a healthy breakfast, or adding a serving of vegetables to lunch or dinner. It could also mean deciding that just for today, you will not consume sugar, such as soda, dessert, wine or white bread. That may seem difficult when you first think about it, but remind yourself that you can do anything just for one day. Then tomorrow, you can reassess how you are feeling and what kind of changes you would like to make for just that day. If you continue with this mindset, before you know it the year will be up, and you will have made great strides towards improving your health and fitness level.