Food is fuel. If your vehicle needs diesel and you put in gasoline it will not run well. We need to feed our bodies the foods that have the nutrients we need. Which means getting healthy is not just a case of calories in–calories out.
But calories do still count. There is a formula for determining how many calories your body needs just to keep you alive. This is called your resting metabolic rate. If you eat fewer than those calories your body will begin to eat itself to keep you alive. If it is eating stored fat that’s OK. If it is eating muscle that is not so good. To make it even more of a challenge if you do not eat enough calories your body returns to it’s hunter/gatherer survival skills, assumes there is a famine happening, and reduces your resting metabolic rate. That means you can eat fewer calories to stay alive. It also means you NEED to eat less which can make it harder to get all your nutrients in without overeating. So you want to eat neither too much nor too little food.
When it comes to exercise function is the most important. If you cannot walk to the gym don’t waste your time on the exercise classes there–go for a walk! A little bit the first day, then a little further and a little further until your body can take you the places you want to go. Then you can make the gym your destination.
Learn to listen to your body to determine when it is physically hungry. We in the USA eat for things other than nutrition. Food is not entertainment. Food is not a drug to cope with our emotions. Food is not something to eat just because you can’t think of anything else to do. We need to find new ways of entertaining ourselves and others. We need to learn to feel and process those emotions that scare us. We need to plan our days so we are doing things that help us get into the flow so we don’t even notice time is passing.
Structure House is teaching me all that and much more including ways to meet those challenges. Who knew you could have fun learning to do karate while sitting in a chair?
TTYL,
Linda
Some very important truths.
Your going to have to give classes once we get to Q.
You are definitely getting educated about food and nutrition. We hope to see you in Q and talk to you more about it. Take care and hang in there.
Good and important lessons to learn, worthwhile lessons to learn. Thank you.
Linda,
You are so right. eating the right foods is so important along with exercise.
I walk everyday and found that the more I walked and eat properly and was
feeling better than I had in a long while.
Keep up the Great work.
Take care,
Jeff