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“What You Put In Is What You Get Out”

When it comes to eating clean and getting lean, you might be surprised the thing I count as most important, has nothing to do with what you put in your mouth, but rather what you put in your mind. Before setting out on any course of self-improvement, whether it’s changing your diet, starting an exercise program or embarking on a journey of healing or therapy, it’s wise to ask yourself why you want to change. Journeys begun from a place of pushing against something unwanted often don’t go very far before failing.

Most people start a diet or workout regime because they don’t like some aspect of themselves. They want to change their shape or size in order to fit in or be attractive. When you start by positioning your body as the enemy, as something you need to punish and overcome, then you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Instead, try starting from a place of love. Eating well and exercising can be ultimate expressions of self –care. Choose to put good foods in your body because you value it, respect what it does for you – and trust it will know how to heal itself, find balance and perform at its highest potential.

Coming from a place of love helps us make daily decisions about what to eat. It can inform how hard to push in a workout and when to give our bodies the rest it needs. It’s time to stop beating ourselves up and working against our own inner intelligence. The human body is an amazing living organism, more complex and intricate than the most advanced super-computer, with trillions of cells, each with their own intelligence, performing millions of functions every second of every day with no conscious direction, or even awareness, on our part. We are blessed to have them, so let’s start to treat them right.

It’s okay if you’re not happy with the shape or health of your body the way it is today. But if you start today to take small steps towards choosing better foods, moving more and taking care of your amazing machine, it will respond. In the meantime, keep your thoughts focused on where you’re going, not where you’ve been. Focus on the positive steps you are taking and be grateful you have the opportunity to do so.

So You’re Thinking Good Thoughts – Now What?

There are a dizzing variety of programs out there all purporting to know best what you should put in your mouth, magazine articles, website, television programs, infomercials, all saying something different. It can be overwhelming. I’m not going to add to the noise by claiming my approach is best. What I’ve learned over 25 years of study and interest boils down to a simple, common-sense set of principles whose truth will resonate for itself.  To me, eating well should make sense. Trust your own guts and see if these principles don’t make sense to you too.

10 Clean = Lean Tips:

1. Enjoy Real Food & Emphasize Produce - Choose whole, natural, unprocessed foods.
2. Eat Often - 5 small meals a day, six if you can swing it.
3. Eat Balanced - Protein, carbs and fat at each and every meal.
4. Control Your Starches - Choose the best kind and limit to early day or post-workout.
5. Hydrate - Drink an exorbitant amount of water.
6. Supplement - Take a good multi-vitamin/mineral supplement.
7. Move Your Body- Exercise every day.
8. Plan for Success – Preparing  and putting it all together guarantees success.
9. Cheat…Just a Little - Allow yourself some wiggle room by planning some ‘treats’ throughout the week.
10. Sleep - Make sure you’re getting enough shut eye.
11. Come from a place of self-love - Not a separate principle, but one woven through them all.

Together, these attitudes and behaviors create an approach to healthy living that will support your body’s ability to heal, restore and rejuvenate itself.

I invite you to follow along, ask questions, engage in the process and watch patiently and expectantly for the positive signs to come…

Ok, let’s start. In my next post I’ll get in to Tip 1 – Eat Real Food.