Fitness Motivator, September 15, 2002 Volume 2, Issue 10

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Welcome to all our new subscribers, and I extend my appreciation to everyone who forwards this newsletter to friends. One friend telling another is how we grow, and I deeply appreciate your support. If you know anyone who might like it, please forward this newsletter to them or send them this link: http://www.FitnessMotivatorNewsletter.com

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

1. Greetings from the Editor
2. Article--Sugar Addicts Anonymous: The 12 Step Program to Beating Sugar Addiction
3. Article--You Can Lose Weight
4. Article--The Secrets to Starting an Exercise Routine
5. Inspirational Quotes
6. Articles of Interest on the Net
7. A Web Site Worth A Look

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I have missed exercising. It has been three weeks since I had foot surgery, and I am trying to remember how good it feels after a workout. Exercise is something we take for granted. Good health is something we also take for granted. As I have progressed from lying in bed for four days, then using a walker to hobble around, sitting in a wheelchair to be able to used the computer for short periods of time, and now just hobbling a bit and having to pace myself so I don't over do it, I can tell you that we are blessed to be able to exercise.

I know that I only have a few more weeks, and I will be able to really start back with an exercise routine. Since I haven't been able to do it for a while, I can tell you that is motivation for me to not only get back into my exercise, but to make a concentrated effort to begin eating healthfully to lose the weight I have allow myself to regain.

Good health and fitness may not always be easy to come by. It is something we yearn for when we don't have it. I want to try to impress upon each of you to make the most of your own personal situation. If your health is great—you win! If it isn't, do what you can to make it better. Find ways to incorporate some type of activity or exercise into your life each day. Every little bit you do, helps.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sugar Addicts Anonymous: The 12 Step Program to Beating Sugar Addiction

By James Keller

Most of us don't realize it, but we are drug addicts. Our drug comes in a pure, white crystal or powder form. We use it even when we don't know we're doing it. It's in salad dressing, peanut butter, soup, pickles, bread, jam, yogurt, canned fruits and vegetables... We crave it after every meal. On an average, each of us consumes about 130 lbs. per year. What is this controversial drug, you ask. It goes by many names, but the most common is sugar.

This deliciously sweet substance is also deliciously devoid of any nutritional value. Sugar passes through the wall of the stomach so quickly that it causes blood sugar levels to skyrocket, then plummet just as rapidly. I'm sure you are familiar with the feeling.

The problem that arises in coping with sugar addiction is that sugar is in so many common foods now, it's practically impossible to cut it out completely. You can't eat a sandwich without getting sugar from the bread or the mayo. You can't eat a salad without getting sugar from the dressing.

Beating sugar addiction may seem like a hopeless battle, but just like any drug addiction, you have to have a structured plan to win the war. I make no claims that it will be an easy battle. You won't be vomiting in back alleys or shivering in bed all night, but you will have the uncontrollable desire for something, anything that will give you your sugar fix.

Here is your twelve step program to beating sugar addiction. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it:

1. Stick to foods that are closest to their original form. Instead of eating corn from a can, eat corn on the cob. Banish white bread and embrace wheat bread. Forget fruit juices; go for the actual fruit. The closer a food is to it's original form, then less processed sugar it will contain.

2. Eat protein with breakfast. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but do you know why? Breakfast is the meal that will make or break you for the rest of the day. Your first meal must create blood sugar stability that will carry you to the next meal without sugar cravings.

3. Eat protein with every meal. As soon as your blood sugar is thrown out of whack, you will be off the wagon again. Eating protein with each meal prepares your body for the increase of seratonin production and keeps your blood sugar stable throughout the day.

4. Read Labels! It's incredible how many things we put into our mouths without the slightest idea what is in them. The longer the list of ingredients, the more likely sugar is going to be included on that list.

5. Don't starve yourself in order to reward your restraint with a donut or a Twix. Not only is this bad for your body, but you won't lose weight. Your body will just go into starvation mode, storing all your calories as fat. So that slice of chocolate cake you eat after a seven hour fast is going straight to fat.

6. Keep a journal of what you eat. You will be surprised, and probably shocked, by the amount of sugar-filled snacks and extras involved in your diet. Write down everything, down to those five M&Ms or that tablespoon of teriyaki sauce.

7. Brown is beautiful: brown rice, wheat bread, brown cereals, etc... Brown foods give your body the positive effects of carbohydrates without unbalancing your blood sugar and creating cravings.

8. Be active and keep busy. Most of us snack the most when we are bored and inactive. Go for a walk. Go shopping. Organize your entire house. Anything to keep your hands busy and away from the cookie jar.

9. Eat a potato before bed. Before your head explodes from the thought of eating a starchy, carbohydrate-filled potato right before bed, consider this: when taken with the right vitamins, that spud will increase your production of seratonin, balancing your blood sugar levels. Besides, it's better than eating ice cream before bed.

10. Try a detox program. Detoxing isn't just for yoga yogis and Enya junkies anymore. There are dozens of detox programs designed for health enthusiasts of all levels. Some last two days, some last two months. But they all have one thing in common: after the initial overwhelming sugar cravings, your body adjusts and you won't even want the sugar anymore.

11. Drink water constantly. The more water you drink, the more your body will be fooled into thinking it is not hungry. Plus, you can rest assured that there is not a grain of sugar in water.

12. Don't get down on yourself if you slip and eat a desert every once in a while. It's okay to reward yourself, just don't start the addiction all over again. There are always healthier options for deserts. Eat berries with some low-calorie whipped topping. Snack on a couple of graham crackers. Maybe you would be healthier if you cut out sugar altogether forever, but people who do things in moderation get the best of both worlds. Enjoy your life, but don't overdo it.

CURVE CRAVINGS! BURN FAT! INCREASE ENERGY! Watkins offers weight management systems to help you lose unwanted lbs. Look good, feel good and live your life to the fullest. BUY TODAY! For more information, Email: LoseWeightNow2@InfoGeneratorPRO.com or visit: Watkinsonline.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"To succeed...You need to find something to hold on to, something to motivate you, something to inspire you. "

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Do you believe that you can lose weight? Or do you find yourself coming up with all sort of reasons why you can't? I've noticed that the people I help to lose weight, who really believe they can do it, are the most successful.

One of the biggest challenges in losing weight is whether you really believe you can do it. The power of belief is strong and without it, weight loss isn't likely to happen. When you really believe you can lose weight, your mind looks at what you need to do to make this happen.

When you don't believe you can do it, your mind looks for all the reasons why not and sticks there. There are many reasons why people feel they can't lose weight and it often comes down to a lack of confidence in their ability. They feel that deep down they're not worthy of losing weight. Their self-esteem is low.

Different things drive different people to the stage where they really believe they can lose weight. For some people, this just seems to happen and they wake up one day knowing they can do it. Usually something has happened beforehand, but on this particular day, they decide "this is it".

Many people who want to lose weight, don't feel they have this belief they can do it. I suggest that this belief is there but it's been buried under everything else. Your belief that you can lose weight can be encouraged, by someone such as a coach or you can choose to take steps towards drawing this out of yourself.

When I first started talking with one of my clients, she said she didn't feel she could lose weight, although she really wanted to. We had met face to face and her posture radiated defeat - rounded shoulders, head down, not looking confident.

We spent about an hour talking and I was coaching her to show her she could lose weight. At the end of the hour session, the physical change in her was amazing. She sat up taller, was more confident and showed a real air of "I can do this."

What did we do and what does it take to have this belief? Part of the reason people believe they can't do something is the references they draw on whenever they think of losing weight.

The references can be negative thoughts such as "I can never stick to a diet," "I'll never enjoy exercising", "and I can't give up eating chips, chocolate, sweets." Instead of looking at what this client hadn't been able to do in the past to lose weight, I asked her to start telling me about the successes she'd had previously.

I reminded her that I'm looking for all successes, even the small ones. At first she found it difficult to recall instances of success in losing weight and becoming fitter. Slowly, they began to emerge and the more she said, the more she was able to remember them and share them with me.

Her face started to light up as she realised there had been many times when she'd done things to lose weight.

I suggest you write down a list of all your past successes to build up an attitude of "I can do it." You can do this on your own, or by working with a coach to encourage you. Or you can find someone else who wants to adopt the same "I can" attitude and make a game of listing your successes.

You say out loud one success; write it down and then your friend does the same. The synergy created when more than one person does this is amazing and will really lift your spirits.

I encourage you to keep your list of "I can's," so you can add to it on a regular basis and use it as a reminder in the future, to maintain your "I can" attitude.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Set your goals high, and don't stop till you get there."

~~ Bo Jackson

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it- as long as you really believe 100 percent."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Article of Interest on the Net

Making Fitness Fun

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Exercise is something we all know we should do. The trouble is getting ourselves to do it on a regular basis. When approaching exercise, we often think of the work involved and the discomfort we may experience. No wonder we have trouble finding time for it, and so easily come up with many excuses not to do the exercise.

So how do we get ourselves to start an exercise routine? And how do we get ourselves to stick to it over time? There are two secrets to overcoming our resistance to doing exercise. The first is to focus on the benefits and the second is to gather evidence that refutes our negative perceptions.

If an activity is something we associate to pleasure, like eating our favorite food, spending time with a person we love, or taking a nap when we are tired, it takes great effort to stop us from doing it. The problem with exercise is we tend to focus more on the difficulties than the benefits.

Exercising 30 minutes, four times a week will help you lose weight, get in shape, sleep better, improve your energy, increase your concentration, improve your mood, strengthen your heart, improve your health, help you look better, and improve your sex life. Sounds great, doesn't it? How many other things can you do that take so little time and give you so much in return? Reminding ourselves of the benefits of exercise is an important tool in getting ourselves to commit to an exercise routine.

However, to experience the benefits of exercise we first have to do it for a period of time. To do this we need to exercise even when we don't feel like it. To help begin exercising despite not feeling like it, try this simple experiment. Establish an exercise routine, for example taking a brisk 30-minute walk four times a week. Before you take each walk, rate how you feel about taking that walk. You can do this by using a 1 to 10 scale with 1 being the worst and 10 being the best. Then take your walk and afterwards rate the actual experience on your 1 to 10 scale. What do you notice? There is a good chance that you are going to rate the experience higher after you do it. Learning that doing exercise is going to feel a whole lot better than we anticipate, is a powerful way to combat the negative thinking that often gets in the way of our intentions.

To maintain an exercise routine we have to do it. It is only by doing the exercise on a regular basis that we begin to feel the benefits of it. Experiencing the benefits will reinforce our efforts to stay with our routine, and eventually we get to the point where we actually look forward to it. Don't believe me—try it!

Reminder: before starting an exercise routine, especially if you are out of shape or have a medical condition, consult your doctor.

Having the right diet and getting enough exercise will not only improve your health—IT WILL IMPROVE YOU LIFE.

Dave Junno Psy.D. is a psychologist, coach and author of Lowering High Cholesterol and Reducing Your Risk of Heart Disease- READY OR NOT! To contact him mail to: drjunno@drjunno.com or visit his website: http://www.lower-high-cholesterol-ready-or-not.com

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

If you need more motivation and some group support, feel free to subscribe to the Exercise Your Willpower mailing list. We have just started a program to help motivate each other to make goals and try to meet them. It is called Friday Accountablity Program. To get more information, visit our website at: http://www.exerciseyourwillpower.com

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*