Category: Wellness

Get an attitude of gratitude to conquer a case of the grouchies

Attitude is everything
Conquer the groucies with an attitude of gratitude

We all have those mornings from time to time where we get up on the wrong side of the bed.  Maybe its because we didn’t have enough sleep, or we wake up stuffed up from allergies, or maybe its that annoying cat or dog bugging you to go outside.  Whatever the stimulus is, we need to be careful about how we allow it to affect us.

If we stay in that grouchy state and start to allow that to taint the words we say, we can start to bring others around us down to, and before you know it (if not prevented) we enter a spiral downwards.

I speak of this today because I was guilty of allowing myself to enter the grouchy-zone this morning.  Allergies were at an all time high and I had our little dog, Dolly, whining me out of bed.  I started to get a little grouchy about the little things and even said the word “hate” a couple of times when describing little things like a malfunctioning toaster oven.

I pulled myself out of the tailspin of destruction by taking a break from everything and getting away to a quiet place.  I prayed and asked for forgiveness from God and started to focus on things I was grateful for.

Very quickly I pulled out of the grouchy-zone into the grateful-zone and my attitude was now full of gratitude.

In Philippians it talks about focusing on the good…

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8 ESV

And in several places in Proverbs it talks about how words can be damaging or creative depending on how they are used.

Jesus also spoke about “from the mouth the heart speaks”.

The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks. Luke 6:45 ESV

So, if today happens to be a day where you run into the little things that could put you in the grouchy-zone conquer them by building an attitude of gratitude.

Be blessed today friend and stay away from the grouchy-zone.

 

Have you ever had a case of the groucies? Tell me about it in the comments? Tell us what you do to deal with trying times when your attitude needs a check in the comments below.

Dark Chocolate: God’s gift to you and me that cures what ails you!

Amazing Cures of Dark Chocolate!
Dark Chocolate: God’s Gift to you and me that cures what ails you

Yes, Dark Chocolate, and more importantly chocolate with a Cacao content of 72% or higher is not only good for you it can help prevent some pretty nasty ailments.

I’ve been eating Dark Chocolate for about 2 years now.  I was first turned on to it by Mark of Primal Blueprint fame, when he convinced me to give it and try it as a supplement to my diet, because it had so many benefits and was a nice replacement for this choco-holic who just quit his long-term sweet-addiction.

I started with 72% (and would recommend at least 70%), which today I’d say is a bit to sweet for me and a bit high in sugar. I slowly graduated up over time to an 86% Cacao (you can find it at Trader Joes if you have one close by) which is the highest I’ve been able to find.

I imagine if you ate cacao-nibs, you can increase the Cacao percentage, but I’ve not yet found a way to easily integrate those little guys into my diet.  I’ve tried them and the experience was a little like chewing on little wood bits that had a slight chocolate flavor.  I guess people who use them a lot use them in homemade shakes and smoothies. Evidently some people also throw them into savory dishes. Any way you can get them into your diet is a good thing and once you read all of the health benefits of Dark Chocolate I might have you convinced as well.

Dr Mark Hyman, in his great book Ultrametabolism recommends you eat between 1-3 ounces of dark chocolate everyday day.  I’d like to add, that when you do so, make sure that it is after a meal or eaten with some other lower glycemic foods to help minimize the glycemic load of the chocolate.  Even the very high cacao content chocolate has a pretty high level of sugar.

Another tip to keep in mind is that it’s very easy to go overboard on this super-food.  When you are going to eat dark chocolate ration out your 1-3 ounces and put away the rest.  You’ll be glad you did.  I know, speaking from experience, I’ve gone overboard on more than one occasion in the name of super-food consumption.

Here are just some of the benefits of Dark Chocolate:

  • Dark Chocolate contains healthy fats. Mostly monounsaturated and saturated fat, with very little polyunsaturated fat.  Most of the saturated fat is stearic acid widely know to have no bad effects on LDL cholesterol, so you don’t have to have any guilt to enjoy cacao fat.
  • Dark Chocolate is loaded with Polyphenols too. In particular flavanols. When it comes to polyphenols & antioxidant capacity, Dark Chocolate blows away any other super-food. The most studied polyphenol in cacao is epicatechin, a flavanol that is highly potent and potentially healthy for humans.
  • Dark Chocolate lowers your blood pressure too. Epidemiological studies consistently show that dark chocolate consumption is related with lower blood pressure readings.  One study even found that eating dark chocolate for 15 days straight, lowered blood pressure and insulin sensitivity in healthy subjects.
  • Cacao consumption has been proven to improve arterial flow of blood in smokers.
  • Dark Chocolate can reduce cardiovascular disease.
  • Dark Chocolate lowered insulin resistance in diabetic patients (in addition to lowering blood pressure).
  • Dark chocolate is good for folks who have a fatty liver (some of us who have been eating sugar in high doses all of our lives are in this camp). The chocolate can reduce oxidative stress and inflammation as well.
  • Dark chocolate can help increase our body’s natural defense against UV exposure.  In several studies recently it’s been proven that eating dark chocolate can increase our natural defense against the harmful affects of the sun by as much as double. So, you could stay out twice as long without sun-damage.

So, go eat some dark chocolate with dinner tonight.  Make sure it’s high in cacao (70%+) and low in sugar.  Eat it with your meal and feel good knowing you just took in some of the best tasting medicine on the planet.  Thank you God for the gift of Dark Chocolate.

So, what’s your favorite dark chocolate recipe? Have you tried 86% Cacao ye? Tell me about your experiences with Dark Chocolate below in the comments.

Try new activities for new muscle & weight loss gains!

Keep moving and keep growing
Make great gains by trying new things.

You are going to laugh at me likely when I tell you that today I am so sore that getting up out of a chair is very difficult and walking is impossible without a slight limp.  What terrible amount of exercise or activity was it that made this 43 year old fairly fit man so sore he can hardly walk?

I umpired a Majors Level Softball game for my 12 Year-old daughter.

Yep. Umpiring…

In hindsight if you look at the activity I was doing to Umpire the game I was either doing a movement very similar to a squat (you’d see in a gym) or and lunge (also a common gym movement).  I did it for every pitch of the 2 hours worth of Umpiring.  I estimate that I probably did about 150 – 300 repetitions of the movement with my full body weight.

To make things worse Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) which is what I am suffering from increases for activities and actions that involve long term muscle stress that elongates the muscle…kind of like a squat that is held or a lunge that is held for a few seconds. These are called eccentric contractions and are the most common cause of DOMS.

So, a little warning for you, when you try new activities there a few precautions you can take that will help prevent or reduce the amount of DOMS that you experience when you try new things.

  • Make sure that you stretch the muscles being used before and after the exercise or activity.
  • Make sure to stay hydrated before, during, and after.
  • Make sure to do a warm up of the movement using about 50% of the stress that you expect to see during the exercise.
  • Take recovery supplement(s) like L-Glutamine (5-10 grams) & Creatine Monohydrate (5-10 grams) immediately following the exercise and first thing in the morning the day after. I take both for a couple of days after, 2-3 times per day depending on how sore I am.

DOMS pain and soreness peaks at about 48 hours after the activity and slowly subsides over the days following.

Please don’t associate DOMS as a bad thing it is a sign that your muscles have had a small amount of damage to them and your body will grow the muscles stronger to adapt (the process known as hypertrophy).

And don’t use it as an excuse to not try new things frequently.  Changing things up is a prerequisite of a healthy lifestyle and keeps life (and exercise) from becoming boring.

I hope also that my story about Umpiring will also highlight the fact that even something like Umpiring, which on the surface doesn’t look like great exercise, can have a fairly fit guy so sore he can hardly get up out of a chair.  Always be trying new ways to keep your self moving.

Or another way to state it as a mantra to adopt “Always be moving!”.

Please share in the comments below your favorite activity and maybe an activity that you look forward to trying soon.

Be blessed and always keep moving…

In times of FAILURE get back in the saddle again!

Get back in the saddle toward your success!
In times of failure whether spiritual or weight loss or nutrition. Don’t focus on the failure.

Imagine for a moment that you are riding a horse…I know you may not yet have had the pleasure like I have, but you’ve likely seen plenty of folks on TV or online to at least get the idea.

Ok…so you’re galloping along (which is faster than trotting, but not a full out run and your enjoying the scenery.  The sun is shining and your surroundings are beautiful.  All you hear is the rhythmic sounds of your horse’s feet hitting the ground and the snort from your horse breathing.

All of a sudden you hit a tree branch and are knocked to the ground flat on your face.

Ouch!

Your horse being an awesome, owner-loving-horse (nothing like my last horse Malika) stops just a few dozen feet ahead of you and does what horses do…immediately starts grazing on some grass next to the trail.

I share this somewhat painful imagery to hammer home a point of getting back in the saddle.

So, what should I do if I’ve cheated on my weight loss nutrition plan, or I’ve missed my workout three days in a row, or I binged on Chocolate Cake & Ice Cream last night…whatever the personal “failure” it doesn’t matter.

So, in a sense you’ve lost some momentum somewhat like you just did on your imaginary horse. So, what?

The good news is that its’ only been a little while since you were riding the horse off into the fat loss sunset, before you decided to gracefully (on your own accord) dismount and take a break. again…Ouch!

In our Christian Fatloss Program (not yet released as of the time I’m posting this) I designed some breaks from the diet & exercise on purpose.  It’s helpful by design. It allows your body & mind a reset the system of sorts and help break up any thoughts of monotony.

So, partner, its time to saddle up and start back down the trail to your Spiritual & Physical Recovery.  Dust yourself off (get rid of any bad foods you’ve might of indulged in during your free/cheat days) pick yourself up (get ready to exercise & eat clean again) and mount up.

Some of my victories along my journey to lose weight
Celebrate your accomplishments on your fat loss journey

It’s much easier mounting this horse this time, than it was when you started, isn’t it? You’ve likely made some gains and had some small victories.  Allow yourself to celebrate them. You are a Victory In Progress.

Your new title: V.I.P.

Doesn’t that feel great?

Celebrate now…take a quick look down the road from where you came from and turn back down the road to a healthier happier You!

 

So, what changes have you made in your life so far that you can celebrate? Any diet or exercise changes? drop any pounds (or stones for my UK friends) that we can celebrate with you?  Please share in the comments below…

Find YOUR Majestic Moment – they’re everywhere!

God's Majestic on Display in Creation
Find YOUR Majestic Moment Today!

One of my mentors is big on Magic Moments and although he professes to be a Christian, he’s more mainstream and focused on more mainstream audiences.

His philosophy is that at the end of our lives we’re not going to remember most of the things that keeps us busy, but we will remember the Magic Moments.  He believes we should strive to fill our lives with those kinds of moments in order to achieve fulfillment. I totally agree.

This morning I had one of those most amazing moments.  For the last week or two after I get the kids ready with their breakfast and before I jump into the getting ready routine, I’ve been trying to spend 20 minutes in the sun everyday on the deck off of my bedroom.

I’m blessed to have a view of the mountains here in North Scottsdale which are literally only 3 miles away and in my backyard.  My deck faces North so in the morning I face east on a barcalounger and was really enjoying the moment.  I started to meditate on God’s word and focusing on being grateful in the moment and the word Majesty came to mind.

God is Majestic. His creation is awesome and all around us.  We are his creation.  Our friends, our family, and all the things around us are his creation (in harmony with man’s creation).

Within a couple of minutes of these thoughts it started to sprinkle.  When I say sprinkle, I mean the kind of huge drops that often come with thunderheads When I looked up at the sky, I saw almost exactly what the photo above shows. Drops every second or two coming straight down on me as I looked straight up.  It was one of those wow moments that made me think, “hey God thanks for that you are awesome” kind of moments.  A Majestic Moment.

So, whether you are in an Urban surrounding or in the middle of the woods, try to set aside 20 minutes to have yourself an encounter…your Majestic Moment. An encounter with God, a Majestic Moment, that you will never forget.

You can have one of these moments in the middle of the woods, the desert, driving in your car.  I had one recently in a park in the middle of downtown Kansas City recently.

God’s creation and Majesty are on display for all to see…you just have to take them time to look.

Be blessed my friend as you strive to see God’s Majesty and store up your own Majestic Moments.

Share in the comments a Majestic Moment you had today, this week, or this month that you remember feeling that overwhelming sense of gratitude for God presence in your life.  Do have any? Share some things you might be able to do this week that will set you up to have one?  I want to hear from you all in the comments below.