{"id":289,"date":"2011-02-18T12:00:21","date_gmt":"2011-02-18T17:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wholeperson.com\/wordpress\/?p=289"},"modified":"2011-02-18T12:08:38","modified_gmt":"2011-02-18T17:08:38","slug":"eat-healthy-stay-active-and-stop-making-excuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wholeperson.com\/blog\/eat-healthy-stay-active-and-stop-making-excuses","title":{"rendered":"Eat healthy, stay active and stop making excuses"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong>\"Let<\/a>Feeling refreshed after a wonderful two-week Colorado vacation with friends and family it\u2019s time to get my body\u2019s insides feeling as energized as my mind and spirit.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s why my body needs help.<\/p>\n

We spent a week with close family – three couples and four kids – in Durango, CO. Wonderful cooks in each family showcased their skills creating mouthwatering breakfasts, lunches and dinners. This continued with our Boulder friends, too. I ate heartily at every single meal (boof!) and consumed generous amounts of alcohol over evening card games, laughter sessions and football games.<\/p>\n

Now that we\u2019ve returned, we\u2019ll do our annual post-holiday, two-day cleansing apple diet to rid ourselves of our excesses.<\/p>\n

I have two additional healthy intentions:
\n\u00b7 To switch to one or two meals weekly of beans and legumes, with little or no meat: since my husband is the cook, I must convince him this is a good idea. So, while in Boulder I purchased a bean cookbook. To make this happen I may have to cook these meals \u2013 I haven\u2019t cooked for over 27 years.
\n\u00b7 To return to my exercise regimen: weekly bicycling, kayaking and Nordic Track plus yoga multiple times a week. I slacked off last quarter due to a variety of reasons, one of which was the cold weather.<\/p>\n

If I fail to accomplish these goals, I\u2019ll stay attuned to my reasons \u2013 aka excuses, like it\u2019s too cold to kayak today.<\/p>\n

Best-selling author Bob Greene, Oprah\u2019s former personal trainer said, \u201cI\u2019ve heard every excuse on the planet \u2013 except a good one. Having an excuse is an obstacle that you choose to place in front of yourself. \u2026 in general, we do it to justify not changing. When you are out of excuses is when you are ready to change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Which excuses justify you not changing? Do your knees hurt? Maybe your job exhausts you so much that you can do nothing when you get home but veg out. Whatever your excuses, bring them to your conscious mind and admit that you just don\u2019t want to do whatever it is you\u2019re considering. Keeping excuses conscious versus automatic (unconscious) gives you more power to change someday.<\/p>\n

Also, strengthen your motivation for healthy change by using intrinsic reasons that benefit you rather than someone else. The day of each week I target for my Nordic Track session isn\u2019t a day I say, \u201cYippee! I get to do the Nordic Track today.\u201d I just do it because I\u2019m committed to strength, energy, health, flexibility, etc., all intrinsic reasons to work out.<\/p>\n

Greene encourages you to look for some form of activity that fits you. Distract yourself while doing it if that would help, like watch TV as you march in place. Make a t-shirt for yourself with \u201cNo excuses\u201d printed on it. Eat modestly and healthfully five days a week leaving two days to eat whatever you like. Do whatever works for you.<\/p>\n

As one reformed couch potato said, \u201cThere is no excuse good enough for poor health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacquelyn Ferguson, M. S., is an international speaker and a Stress and Wellness Coach. Check out her book, Let Your Body Win: Stress Management Plain & Simple<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Feeling refreshed after a wonderful two-week Colorado vacation with friends and family it\u2019s time to get my body\u2019s insides feeling as energized as my mind and spirit. Here\u2019s why my body needs help. We spent a week with close family – three couples and four kids – in Durango, CO. Wonderful cooks in each family […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[141,137,139,138,140,142,10,8,11],"class_list":["post-289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-body","tag-eating","tag-excuses","tag-healthy","tag-mind","tag-spirit","tag-stress","tag-wellness","tag-whole-person"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nEat healthy, stay active and stop making excuses - The Wellness Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wholeperson.com\/blog\/eat-healthy-stay-active-and-stop-making-excuses\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eat healthy, stay active and stop making excuses - The Wellness Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Feeling refreshed after a wonderful two-week Colorado vacation with friends and family it\u2019s time to get my body\u2019s insides feeling as energized as my mind and spirit. 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