Avoiding Failure is Avoiding Success

When it comes to our health sometimes the biggest mistake we make is trying to avoid failure. 

When we try to avoid something that is unavoidable like, failure the impact of the failure is usually negative and harmful instead of helpful. When we see failures as they are: part of the process of success, we embrace the lessons we learn when we fail. When we see failure only as a failure we learn little to nothing from the failure. 

This is why fad diets are mostly ineffective. I say mostly because there are always a few success stories (even know most of those don't pan out long-term).  

Trying to avoid failure by adhering to some crazy restrictive fad diet doesn't actually help us avoid failure, unfortunately, In most cases, it causes an endless circle of failure.

How many people do you know that have tried more than five different popular diets to only be looking for the next one because even though they may have lost weight on the last five they gained it all back and a few more to boot?

Failure is something we will all face and when we try to avoid it we end up delaying the inevitable and feel much worse about the failure.  

So what do I do?

No matter what you do failure is going to play a part so embrace the opportunity to learn from your failure because that's really what is going to bring success 

Failure doesn't mean you are a failure it just means your learning; more about yourself, more about how your body reacts, more about nutrition. You are learning.

So ditch the latest diet fads and start learning about your body, your strengths and build personal eating habits that allow you to eat the foods you like in a way that promotes health and vitality. 

Eat Slower -  This is a great habit to help build a healthier you and yes sometimes you will fail and from these failures, you will learn strategies to better eat slowly and the more you fail the more you learn until one day you will find yourself being the slowest eater at the table.

Eat until satisfied (Think 80% full) - Another great habit to build a healthier you! Again you will fail but those are the times you will learn the triggers that cause the failure and before you know it you will be eating less because you're done.

Eat less processed food (avoid highly processed food) - This is the food that feeds more than our appetite, it feeds our body with nutrients for a healthier you.  

Listen to your body and don't let the latest confirmation biased weight loss book convince you that: Carbs are bad, Fat is bad, Grains are bad, Dairy is bad, Fruits are too high in sugar, Alkaline is the way, Meat is evil, putting butter in your coffee is the secret to good health.

Now if you don't feel very good after eating dairy, stop eating it. You have stomach problems after eating bread, stop eating bread. You don't like bananas, stop eating bananas. You love butter in your coffee, drink it that way. 

Be careful not to stop or start eating certain foods because someone else is trying to create a fear narrative that's not real, in hopes of promoting their preferred lifestyle.


www.zaofit3.com 

How can a penny help you get healthy?

The other day when I was on a morning run with my wife and a friend, I was thinking about some of my clients and former clients and I found myself asking why some really struggle and others flourish? If I could just find out "the why" I could be a better coach. I understand we all have stories that can give some insight, and there are a lot of great resources that I use (school, books, mentors) to help be the best coach I can be, but this particular day as I was running, and I started thinking about my wife, and she found change project. Boom! I realized it's all about the penny! So here's how it works: If while running she sees money she stops and picks it up, most the time its pennies but she has found all kinds of different coins, even some bills and other things like pocket knives and even a posable bunny. 

 My wife's old jar and new jar (first got too small)

Most people when running with her for the first time laughs when she suddenly stops. Usually, the person looks back and asks; "did you drop something" and she responds "No I found a penny" and at this point, she proceeds to tell them how she collects money that she finds regardless of its denomination. Most people laugh when she tells them she's saving money to pay for her trip to run Boston (marathon) someday, but others that have run with her for any period of time are inspired. Some even collect pennies themselves. Why? Because she has made believers out of us by collecting over a hundred dollars the last several years.

What do My clients and their health have to do with my wife and her coin collecting endeavor (obsession)? I believe it's the same reason you and I don't stop and pick up a penny, well, at least why I don't. When I see a penny I think its value is not worth me stopping in the middle of a run to pick it up; well it's only a penny and some of the pennies are barely even recognizable. Now if a see a quarter I think about it, I still don't pick it up but I do think about picking it up and if I see a dollar it's mine. What I have learned from my attitude towards her found change project; Is that because of her faithfulness to pick up everything she sees no matter the value, she has collected about one hundred dollars, a couple of pocket knives, a cool rock that says "Jesus Lord of all", a pretty shell and has inspired others to start their own found change jar.  

My coaching philosophy is a slow process of building habits and learning to make choices that are a little better. One of my favorite sayings is "Think a little better"  When it comes to your nutrition and exercise we can always do a little better. The problem with this philosophy is that it's like collecting pennies and most people don't want to collect pennies we want dollars! But you see if my wife only collected dollars she would be at a fraction of where she is, as a matter of fact, she might not have anything saved, because why save the dollar when it's sitting in your jar for over a year all by itself, it's a little discouraging so we might as well spend that dollar, right?

So what am I trying to say? When reclaiming your health you can be like my wife who no matter how tired she is, or how hard she has to push to catch the pack, how the run is going or how small the denomination of money is, she picks it up, because she understands that the Boston (marathon) is expensive and every penny gets her one penny closer to her goal.

Or you can be like me and pass the pennies hoping that you will find the stockpile of money that will pay for Boston all at once and end up with nothing. 

There is no magic bullet (short cut) to get you to your health goals, it comes one penny (small habit, little better choice) at a time. The awesome thing is that some days because of your faithfulness to the small things (pennies), big things (dollars found) will happen.

If you are looking to reclaim your health and are willing to build habits that bring long-term results by making small changes (collect pennies) I would love to talk to you about some options that will give you the tools needed to collect all the pennies you need to reach your health goals.

zaofait3@gmail.com

Open the pharmacy

Some people think I'm a little fanatical about my running. Yes, I do enjoy running, and I probably run more than most, I also do enjoy the spiritual, emotional and physical benefits of running. But it's not as much about running than it is about the benefits of exercise. Yes exercise. Running is my choice for exercise, but it's not the only choice. These days it's not uncommon to hear people argue over what is the best form of exercise, but unless we do it, I don't care how much science we have it's not going to work. The same goes with nutrition. We can argue all day what nutrition plan is best, but those that know nutrition are aware that there isn't a one best plan for everyone. My point is that we are all different and the exercise and nutrition plan that we follow can help one succeed and another feel like a failure. The important thing is to know that moving and staying active with something you can enjoy and eating as much real food as possible opens up the best pharmacy in the world; the one inside of you and me. The pharmacy that we have within us can heal and help us better than any drug in any pharmacy man has created thus far, unfortunately, most people have closed their pharmacy. The keys are in our control, but we have to put them to use so we can open the pharmacy up for business. I do believe there are situations where people need medicine from an external pharmacy, but a lot of times we need them because we have closed our own personal pharmacy and we have to get the medicine somewhere else. Here is an amazing thing about our own pharmacy: Our pharmacy knows exactly what we need and how much with no guessing! Yes, imagine if you went to a doctor and they gave you a prescription that wasn't based on a guesstimate of what the average person that was your size weight, and gender needed, but rather what amount you needed for you as an individual. That's what your body is capable of doing. Open your pharmacy and keep it open 24/7, it's your best plan for quality and quantity of life.

If you are wanting to open your pharmacy and you could use so help email me at zaofit3@gmail.com