7 lifestyle factors that you can control
In last week's column I answered a question from a reader about insulin resistance (IR). Specifically, he wanted to know if IR could be the reason that he hasn't lost more weight than he expected to when he started exercising and changing the way that he was eating. In my response, I mentioned that there was a genetic factor that could predispose someone to becoming insulin resistant. At the same time, however, I also wrote that there were several lifestyle factors that were fully controllable. It got me thinking about how many things in our lives we actually do have control over and how the healthiest, fittest, most balanced people that I know seem to be in control of them most of the time.
Here are 7 things that I came up with that we have some control over in determining whether we live with dis-ease" and dysfunction or live a meaningful, fulfilled, happy life.
1- Your mindset. Perhaps the most important thing that you can control is your mindset. Everything else that you do is a result of your state of mind, including all of the decisions that you make on a daily basis concerning you care for yourself. Some of the tools and strategies that can help you develop a better, more positive mindset include journaling, meditating and practicing visualization.
2- The quality of your sleep. Increasing the duration and improving the quality of your sleep can 10 X" the results of everything you do. From how you train to the quality of your nutrition choices and your ability to focus on tasks during the day; better sleep means better results. The great thing is that there are documented ways that we can improve how we sleep. Two of the main ones include keeping your bedroom cool and removing electronic devices like phones and computers from the room where you sleep.
3- The strategies you use for managing stress. To be alive is to experience stress. Both good and bad. The challenge is to develop strategies for managing the bad" stress and not letting it consume us. Some positive ways to handle stressful situations include practicing deep breathing, getting physical with exercise or using the distraction of a mundane task like cutting grass, folding laundry or doing a weekly meal prep to focus your mind on something other than the stressor.
4- Your activity level. While I think that everyone should be doing some formal exercise, it is just as important to have a life built around activity. One way to do this is to add some inconvenience" into your day; walk to complete an errand, wash dishes by hand, take the stairs instead of the escalator or use a rake instead of a leaf blower when you're cleaning up your property. Almost every part of our lives has been made easier due to automation. If we can take back a little agency over the way that we do things, we have a better chance of living for longer with strength and vigour.
5- How you plan, prepare and pack what you eat. I like to teach an easy nutrition lesson called the 3 Ps, which stands for Planning, Preparing and Packing. Successfully shopping for groceries that will feed your body in a healthy way only happens when you have a plan before heading to the store. Without a plan going in, you are at the mercy of multi-million dollar marketing plans designed to get you to buy processed, refined, nutritionally devoid food-products. Make a menu for the week that features healthy, delicious, and easy to prepare meals and create a shopping list for needed ingredients. Once you have the first P" in place, you can easily prepare food throughout the week that will keep you lean, fit and healthy. Packing" refers to the way in which you carry food with you when you are away from home, or even how you store fresh foods that you have prepared to be ready to use when needed.
6- If you exercise progressively. While active living is great and engaging in formal exercise is even better for maintaining a fit, healthy, resilient body, the real magic" happens when you take your regular maintenance exercise and build in progression over time. This means that you continually find ways to safely increase the challenge that you place upon your body over time as a way to avoid backsliding results which result in muscle loss and fat gain. This could mean increasing the intensity of your exercise, changing the way that you exercise or the frequency and/or duration.
7- Whether you live proactively or reactively. Thinking about the future and focusing on the things that you can control instead of what you can't can help you really take responsibility for how you live.
Certified Personal Trainer Ernie Schramayr helps his clients physically and mentally prepare for specific events in their lives. You can follow him at erniesfitnessworld.com; 905-741-7532 or erniesfitnessworld@gmail.com