Lifestyle
How to Accomplish Our Goals - It's in Our Perceptions!
By 1
Jan 8, 2007 - 7:00:00 AM

It's in Our Perceptions!

(HealthNewsDigest.com).. 2007 is here (can we believe it?) a new year, giving us a new start. So I think this is a great time for us to take a look at our perceptions about how to accomplish our goals. I often find that our ability (and my own of course) to change is hampered by our perceptions. And our perceptions about food and exercise can definitely affect our health and fitness among other things! (June M. Lay, Lifestyle Columnist - HealthNewsDigest.com)

I consider "Health & Fitness" to be a pretty broad category that covers our physical, mental and emotional well- being. After all, can we really consider any of these components separately as if they don't affect each other? Here are a few questions I think we can ask ourselves about our perceptions from last year which focus on how we viewed food, exercise, and the change process in general.

Did we use the "Anti-aging Magic of Exercise"? Exercise is one of the biggest anti-aging tools that we have. It contributes to our health, physical appearance, functional ability, mental ability and emotional well being. And it's natural! Did we increase our daily activity? Did we make exercise a priority regardless of our fitness ability? Did we get up and move? If not, we can now.
Did we use the " Disease Fighting Power of Foods"? All year we looked at Mother Nature's arsenal of drugs (yes I said drugs!) found in fruits, vegetables, and grains known as vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. We also discussed the many benefits of certain fats, the Omega's (yes, the good fats!). Have we focused on this disease fighting aspect of food? Did we try to eat more of these foods for our health more often (did we focus on eating these foods for health, and disease prevention versus our weight?)? If not, we can now.
Did we use "Food as Energizing Fuel" ? How often did we consider how the meals and snacks we eat affect our energy? How we function physically and mentally (food affects our mood) can be greatly affected by our choice of foods. High junk sugar foods and drinks such as soda can play havoc with our energy and mood versus the healthier choices we know we should take the time to make. If not, we can now.
Did we practice using "Healthy Coping Tools" for stress management? Did we eat too much, drink too much or smoke as a way of coping with stressful situations? When we use healthy tools more often than not, that don't have negative consequences short or long term, we can feel better, cope better, feel better about our behavior and be healthier. If not, we can now. All win-win!
Did we have "Realistic Expectations for Change"? Did we expect too much too soon from ourselves when we tried to make or break habits, or did we act on the view of "all or nothing"? Success starts with small changes. This is particularly true for making "lifestyle changes". Did we try to tackle too much too soon only to give up? If we did, we can be more realistic now.
Our health & fitness goals are within our reach, we just may need to change our perceptions!

Here's to our Health!

June
www.junefit.com
Want to share some perceptions so I may share in a tip? E Mail me at june@junefit.com.

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June is Lifestyle Editor at www.healthnewsdigest.com/


(c) 2007 junefit

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