Real Fit or Fake Fit

Conforming to Your Image

Did you ever notice that you can't lie to or con the person in the mirror?

You can Ponzi your partner, scam your spouse, or maybe even do slim shady your live-in lover but you can't put on or bend the truth a smidgen with the reflexion that's glaring back at you from the aluminum-coated glass you shave in or put your morning makeup on in front of. The image returning your glance knows the real YOU.

And that brings us to the subject of today's post: "Are you Real Fit or Fake Fit?" Do you even really know anymore?

In so many areas of our lives, you and I have to augment our authentic selves to suit someone else or to be the most effective in the situation that we're in regardless of the ultimate cost. Today's social and business arenas oftentimes demands that we give 110% all the time and perform whether or not we're sick, tired, or just burnt out.

We feel constrained to jack ourselves up on quadruple espressos or artificial stimulants just to be that super charged, always positive leader, mentor, or salesperson that's always on the ball. The mega-dose of caffeine we ingest six days out of seven disguises our natural proclivity to get up slowly,  expands our normal attitude to larger than life in order to accomplish the goal that receives our achievement or captures the sale that must be penned, and amplifies our voice tones to a heightened crescendo above their usual evenness.

Might I offer a cautionary warning of "Buyer beware" to those who fake it on more days than they're living authentic self image?

My friend, there's a real danger in conforming to a portrayed or phony persona too often. While trying to please or achieve for ourselves for monetary reasons or for others in order to secure a career advancement, you and I lose our truth and compromise our future health. Our authentic self image blurs and well-being eventually vanishes.

In my area of expertise which is health and fitness, I find myself meeting one person at an initial consultation, hearing all about their personal life, work, dietary habits, exercise routine, and weekend hobbies only to become very well acquainted with someone entirely different after four to six weeks of diet monitoring under my watchful guise and an electronic scale who only tells it like it is.

The individual who originally contacted me for dietary guidance and assistance that described themselves as self disciplined and said that he or she only had one cheat day per week and ate clean on every other day really flip-flopped their real dietary intake. They ate clean just one day a week and filled their bellies with boxed, bagged, and wrapped food almost everyday.

And I don't just get the p.c. answer when it comes to eating, I get flimflammed in the area of exercise too. The man or woman who identified and likened themselves as an athlete, always making it to the gym to do at least 30-60 minutes of fasted cardio on five days out of seven and who rarely had one or at most two alcoholic drinks over the course of a weekend didn't have the cardiovascular capacity to walk up a flight of stairs carrying their daily mail but, strangely, was called by their first name at the neighborhood bar.

It's important to live who we really are most of the time in order to avoid losing ourselves and then, as a result, drown our self loathing in drugs and alcohol, permanently screwing up our metabolisms with weight-loss pills or steroids, and being diagnosed by our GP as having blocked arteries similar to the Hoover Dam, possessing skyscraper high blood pressure, or owning a total cholesterol number that looks more like the Power Ball Jackpot winnings than it does a serum blood fat amount.

So how do you and I stay authentic in the airbrushed, edited world that we find ourselves in?

What works for me and for many of the people I coach is to consistently address on a daily and weekly basis the five areas of our lives that we commonly lie to ourselves and other people about. The five spheres of life that make up who we are.

1.) Nutrition. We are what we consume each and every day. The food and drink that passes through our lips make up the cells, tissues, bones, and organs of our body which is ultimately you and me.  Eat as close to nature as possible at every meal.

2.) Mental Health. Learn to cope with the high stress of life, love, and work by putting yourself to a self-control test regularly, might I suggest weekly, where you can talk yourself down from off the ledge without chemicals. By doing this on a regular basis, you and I learn that in the hard times we can truly stand without bending or breaking. Hot yoga is one of the best ways to test ones mental strength. Putting yourself in a room that's heated to 105 degrees with mirrors reflecting back how unbalanced you are when a single droplet of sweat is about to drip off the tip of your nose while attempting to stand on one foot is a mental test like no other.

3.) Physical Fitness. I'm going to have to say it, "Leg Day." Sorry everybody. No one likes doing wall sits, weighted squats, cheek-to-cheek sprints, or walking lunges but almost everyone needs them and not one of us does enough of them on a regular basis (at least two days per week). Making yourself do the really hard stuff, the garbage you hate to do, defines you and having an awesome butt and set of legs can't hurt either when life goes on the skids.

4.) Environmental.  You and I are exposed to air toxins that can cause cancer as well as other serious health effects like reproductive and birth defects. We're exposed to toxic chemicals overtime with the air we breathe along with the toxic substances found in our water and soil, therefore, it's important for us to detox as much of these toxins as possible through the largest organ that we have -- our skin. Sweating is one of the best ways in my opinion to accomplish this so get outdoors and burn baby burn.

Hate the heat, then how about getting in subzero temperatures in a cryotherapy chamber. Cryo businesses are opening up in many major cities and their research speaks of reducing systemic inflammation, relieving muscle and arthritic pain, and improving nerve conduction velocity.

5.) Financial. You can't live very long without realizing that money matters. You can't be healthy mentally or physically without a balanced checkbook, credit cards that are max'ed out, or a mortgage payment that's late again. Being in the financial red is taxing on the mind and the body, eventually affecting the health of your brain, organ systems, and heart. Learn to live within your means and you'll feel better I promise.

At the end of our life, you and I wind up leaving this world solo so we might as well start getting familiar and really comfort with who that person truly is since we'll be spending the rest of eternity with them.

Thank you for reading and inspiring me to be genuine.

Bell Gia
Nutrition and Fitness Expert

WHAT IS THE COST OF GOOD HEALTH

Good Health Comes at a Cost 

"You don't get something for NOTHING!" We've all heard that saying and if you're over 12 years old, you KNOW that it's true. Everything comes at a COST and that includes GOOD HEALTH.

"What is the price of good health?" you ask. Good health will cost you 3 things -- TIME, ENERGY, and MONEY. 

Possessing good health doesn't just happen. Come on, you know that's the gospel truth. If good health and a great body didn't cost you some of your very limited time, we would all wake up gorgeous and ready to run a marathon every single morning. But that doesn't happen, does it? No, it doesn't and that's why coffee machines and cars were created.

Feeling good inside your body is going to take an investment of several hours each and every week of your time. Time you're going to have to CUT out of your television watching, game playing, social chatting, and just sitting around doing nothing. 

The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans released by the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recommends that Americans need AT LEAST 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity in addition to performing muscle-strengthening exercises 2 or more days per week. Notice that the HHS said, "at least 150 minutes" of moderate-intensity exercise per week. They suggest, however, that Americans who want additional and more extensive health benefits should increase their aerobic physical activity to 300 minutes a week PLUS 2 or more days of muscle-strengthening activities that involve all major muscle groups. 

It appears, according to the HHS, that GOOD physical health comes at a cost of 5 HOURS per week plus a couple days of lifting weights. 

If the first cost of good health is time spent in the gym then you know that Cost Number 2 has to be ENERGY because working out 5 plus hours per week (the plus is for the 2 or more days per week of strength training) you are going to need a whole lot of energy to accomplish that task. Where are you and I going to get all this energy from pray tell? We are going to get it from getting a good night's sleep so we are fully rested when we get up each and every morning and from following the 2015 United States Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) that tells us to drink WATER, which has absolutely zero calories, instead of sugary drinks. The DGA says water should be one of the primary beverages consumed. Sleep, water, and nutrient-dense foods are going to give us the energy we need to possess good health. Just like we put gas in our cars and trucks to make them go, the human body needs fuel also to carry out the activities of daily living. 

The food-for-fuel we consume brings us to Cost Number 3: MONEY.

There is a financial cost to owning good health. Good health does kind of grow on trees but those trees are owned by Big Agriculture and they want their money for growing the food that gives you and I good health. I'm not going to tell you that you must buy all organics because, frankly, the scientific research doesn't say that. It is suggested by the Environmental Working Group that you should try to purchase when possible the following organic produce due to the heavy use of pesticides by growers: apples, celery, cherry tomatoes, collard greens, cucumbers, grapes, hot peppers, kale, nectarines, peaches, potatoes, nectarines, snap peas, spinach, and sweet bell peppers. 

Besides purchasing the above-referenced 15 fruits and vegetables organically, good health is going to cost you when you eat out as well. If you want good health then you aren't going to be able to eat out at the fast-food restaurants that offer that lunchtime hamburger for $.99 or that burrito/taco for under $1 buck. There has been enough published research on the negative health effects associated with fast food consumption that you know that running to the border or driving under the golden arches is not going to bring about good health. You are going to have to spend some extra hard-earned money on a variety of colorful vegetables, fresh in-season fruit, lean sources of protein, low-sodium legumes, and healthy-heart fats like Omega 3 from fish, flaxseed, or algae sources. 

The cost of good health is time, energy, and money. Three resources we are all fortunate enough to possess to some varying degree. It is up to you and I to decide for ourselves whether or not good health is worth the personal sacrifice of our minutes and hours, dollars and cents, and precious calories. This is America. We are each free to choose. Cast your vote for good health. 

Thank you for reading. 

-Bell Gia

Nutrition and Fitness Expert