The Golden Rule

As part of a course I am currently enrolled in, I have been spending a lot of time contemplating physics and philosophy. I'm going to focus on the philosophy in this post, as I am not smart enough to tackle the physics. But I will say this: that Einstein guy was pretty smart.

One theme that was central in some recent class material was the idea often referred to as The Golden Rule, commonly recited as "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." In short, be nice. But the more we peer under the surface, the more we see the far reaching implications of The Golden Rule.

So what does it really mean? Well, first off, let us acknowledge that The Golden Rule is not special to Christianity. It is a theme that is central in many different religious teachings:

Judaism: "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellowman. That is the entire law; all the rest is commentary." -Talmud, Shabbat 31a.

Buddhism: "Hurt not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful." - Udana-Varga 5:18.

Islam: "No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself." - Sunnah

So in essence, don't do something if you wouldn't want it done to you. But why? Why do so many different religions make such a point of stressing the importance of this? I believe that this philosophy drills right down into one of the most important aspects of existence, and that is that everything in this universe- every man, woman, child, dog, frog, blade of grass, molecule of oxygen, and speck of star dust, is connected to everything else. You know the saying "we're all in this together"? Well, we really are all in this together. The religions understand this, and that is why The Golden Rule is so critical.

The reason that it is so important we do not dump our garbage over our neighbor's fence and into their lawn isn't so that they will not turn around and do the same. No. It is on a much greater scale than that. The reason is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. (Ok, I admit, this is physics, specifically Newtonian). What this means to us though is that we get back what we put out, AKA- karma. If we do bad, we're going to get bad back. If we do good, we get good back.

Think about a world in which everyone adhered to the Golden Rule. If people acted with integrity, respect, and compassion, what would we get? We'd get justice. If people and corporations adhered to these principles, would we have rampant corporate malfeasance in our society? Would we have dog fighting rings? Would we have 24-hour cable news networks? (Well we might, but their content would be completely different.)

You  might be saying, "Seth, what the heck does this have to do with health? I want to know what carbs are good carbs, and which ones to avoid." Well, this has everything to do with our wellness. The better we are as individual people, the better off the world we live in becomes. If we are self-centered and concerned with only what is best for our individual situation, we promote a world that is self-centered and focused on ego. If we take into consideration how our interactions and actions affect others, then we help to create a world that reflects these values. This is what the various religions were getting at. The more positive energy we put out, the more positive energy there is in this universe.

I'll use myself as an example, specifically two things that I am working on as a person. The first is that I am trying to be less judgmental of people and situations. It is difficult, and it is something that I find myself working on every single day. Many of us have a natural inclination to quickly judge a new person or situation based on certain cues that we associate with our past experiences. This is a one-dimensional way to view a person, and does not have the integrity, respect, and compassion that I seek to treat others with. Also, I don't want to be judged by others, so it sort of flies in the face of that whole Golden Rule thingy that is so important.

The second thing that I am working on is speaking more from my heart and being more honest and forthright in my interactions. Being more authentic. This blog post is a great example of that. It isn't the easiest thing in the world to come out and talk about the belief that everything in the universe is connected to everything else. For one, it is very personal and intimate. Secondly, it is the kind of thing that some people might read and think, "That Seth guy is nuts. Plum loco. All foam, no beer." You know, judgmental stuff. Well, I could play it safe and just talk about good carbs and bad carbs, but then I would be one-dimensional. I wouldn't be authentic, and I would most definitely not be working towards fulfilling my personal mission.

I would encourage all of us to work towards being more self-aware of our actions and how they stack up against The Golden Rule. The actions we are putting out there- are they actions that we would like to see coming back at us? Because eventually they will.

And full disclosure, I am not perfect. Nobody is. And I am not better than anybody else. I am just working on being better than the one person on this planet I can be better than- me.

Be well.

Seth

What does it mean to "be well"?

Hello there. So yeah, I fell a bit off the radar here. I got a little distracted with work and studies, and in doing so neglected my blog. But I've missed writing long enough, so I'm back at it.

You may have noticed I sign off each post with the message "be well". And if you live near me and have seen me driving around, you'd also see that my license plate encourages people to "be well". So what is with all the well wishing? What does it mean to "be well"?

In short- a lot.

When I think about our health, I think of it in terms of wellness. And when I think about wellness, I see it as a continuum. Picture a line with a center and two end points. At the far right of the line we have optimum health and wellness. At the far left of the line we have illness and premature death. In the middle we have neutrality- no obvious illness or wellness. Each one of us is somewhere on this line, and we're heading in one direction or the other. We are either heading towards premature death, or we are moving towards a higher level of wellness.

What does a high level of wellness involve? First of all we need to define what wellness consists of. Being well means more than having good "stats". It is more than the number on a scale, our blood pressure, or our cholesterol levels. All of these measurements can be indicators of our health, but they alone do not determine our wellness. Our wellness is multifaceted. It is a combination of many aspects of our being: accountability, love, feeling, thinking, what we eat, our sex life, how we communicate, etc..

Since wellness is a complex and deep combination of multiple factors, it can also have many different forms and manifestations. You know the old saying 'Never judge a book by its cover"? It applies to people and their wellness. We might look at someone who is in great physical shape next to someone who is 50 pounds over weight and say, "It is obvious which person is well". But really, it isn't. We can't tell by the exterior alone where someone is on the continuum of wellness, and in what direction they are heading. Let's look at two men as examples.

Guy A is an avid triathlete. He runs, bikes, swims, and strength trains religiously. His body fat is 6%. Blood pressure and cholesterol levels are optimal. He is extremely conscientious of what he eats. He is what many people would consider the picture of health, and his "stats" definitely back this up.

Guy B is severely overweight. His Body Mass Index (BMI) puts him in the morbidly obese category. He has struggled with his weight for years, and continues to struggle with his diet. Guy B has made the decision though to reclaim his health. He has lost 75 pounds on his own, and he has now hired a personal trainer to help him lose more weight and make greater gains in his quest for wellness.

Oh, and here is the other thing about Guy A. He berates his young daughters at the local health club when their "dilly-dallying" interferes with his training schedule. He tells them that they are taking away his time, that he should be out on his bike instead of waiting for them to get out of the locker room. He also criticizes his daughters when they are "goofing around" or not taking their work-outs seriously enough. He is consumed with himself and his needs, and begrudges anyone, even his young girls, if they dare interfere with his goals.

Guy B is the kind of guy who will talk to anyone, and will spread joy and smiles when he does so. He knows he is overweight, but he is supremely confident in the directions he is going, and absolutely revels in the progress he has made to this point. He encourages others in the health club in their workouts, and compliments many of his fellow members on their physiques and dedication to taking care of themselves. He approaches every day and every workout with a sense of humor and goodwill.

(DISCLAIMER: Guy A and Guy B are fictitious characters created to make a point. If your name is Guy A or Guy B, well, I'm sorry your parents gave you such an awful name. But this blog post isn't about you. It is a coincidence.)

Now tell me, which one of these two is "well"? The answer is, they both are, but in different ways and for different reasons. One may score highly in the wellness areas that concern physical health, but score very low in the areas that concern relationships, awareness, love, etc.. The other may not score highly in physical areas, but very highly in others concerning awareness, love, etc..

It also highlights one vital fact about wellness: It is possible to be at any point on the wellness continuum in regards to current health, and to be moving in either direction- towards optimum wellness, or towards premature death. It is entirely possible for a person with stage 4 cancer with 6 months to live to be moving towards wellness, because of their attitude and mind set. Likewise, it is entirely possibly for someone in great physical condition to be moving towards premature death, because of their attitude and mind set.

So when I say "be well", it may seem like a simple directive or request, but in truth it is a complex challenge I am issuing. I am asking people to examine themselves on many levels; to become more aware of the many facets and ingredients that constitute their wellness. Being well isn't just a matter of getting to the gym, eating the right foods and being a "healthy weight". These things are part of the puzzle, but there are so many more pieces to it.

If you find this way of thinking about wellness intriguing and would like to explore it in more depth, I would encourage you to read Wellness Workbook- How to Achieve Enduring Health and Vitality, by John W. Travis, M.D., and Regina Sara Ryan. This book has been very influential in helping me clarify and articulate my own feelings and beliefs around health and wellness.

For now.....

Be well.

-Seth

Everybody's Working(out) for the Weekend...

Aaahh, weekends. They are beloved, and rightly so. For most of us the weekend is our little two-day oasis of fun. Time uninterrupted by the demands of work, that we can spend with our families and friends. Time to watch our favorite sports teams, or be weekend warriors ourselves at a local 5K. Also, time to go out to dinner, have some drinks, and eat all the foods we love so much. Because calories don’t count on the weekends. That’s right, we can eat and drink anything we want starting Friday night without any repercussions. Our weight, cholesterol, and overall health freezes at 5pm on Friday, and waits patiently for us ‘til Monday morning.

If only it worked that way. Obviously it doesn’t, and I am being a tad more than facetious here. But for a variety of reasons, many of us behave in a way that would lead one to think this was the case. We’re really good during the week, watching what we eat, avoiding fried, fatty foods, and going to the gym. Then Friday rolls around and all bets are off. “You know, I was good all week, I need to let off some steam. It won’t kill me to have a couple beers”. Or eight. Oh, and a bag of Doritos to go with.

Yes, the topic is self-destructive weekends, and how people trying to make positive changes in their health tend to undo 5 days of hard work in the course of a couple evenings. This is especially prevalent on my mind as within the past 24 hours I have spoken to two different friends about this exact issue.

I am intimately familiar with this topic, as this used to be me. Really, really fun weekends (with really not-so-fun headaches the next morning) were a key component of me getting to my heaviest weight. When I decided to dedicate myself to losing weight, I started working out religiously. I would hit the gym 4-6 days a week for at least an hour. Then the weekend would come around, and I still would make sure that I had a really, really fun time. I did manage to lose weight, about 22 pounds. That sounds good, except that I was still a good 30+ lbs. overweight, and I had hit a plateau.

I will use one of my friends I spoke with yesterday as an example. She asked me if I had dropped weight when I reduced my booze intake. She has been getting up at 4:40am and getting herself to the gym, eating healthier, but still drinking, and she is not seeing the results she wants. She said that she drinks wine on the weekend, and typically will have a bottle over the course of the evening. Multiply this by two evenings + Sunday, and she estimates she has 1.5 to 2 bottles of wine a weekend.

Let’s look at the weekends mathematically, using some made up (but very realistic) stats about a 150 lb. female. First, let us assume that she is working out 4 times during the week, doing 30 minutes of cardio by running 6mph. A 150 lb. woman will burn about 350 calories doing this workout. So that will total 1,400 calories burned for the week. Let’s also assume that during the week she is mindful of what she eats and runs a net-calorie deficit of 500 calories per day. So for the 5 day period of Monday through Friday, she has accumulated a net-calorie deficit of 2,500 calories. One pound is roughly equivalent to 3,500 calories, so, so far so good for the week. Our female is on track to lose about 1 pound for this week, so long as she runs a 500 calorie deficit over the weekend as well. (This, by the way, is a healthy rate at which to lose weight. Also, you notice that I don’t add the calories burned from the work outs- the person would simply have an extra 350 calories to eat on these days, as we should not be running too large a deficit, and we need to properly fuel ourselves for an active lifestyle.)

But then something happens. The whistle blows on Friday and Fred Flintstone slides down the back of a dinosaur saying “Yabba-Dabba-Doo!”. And everyone knows that the proper translation of “Yabba-Dabba-Doo” is: “It’s officially the weekend, so you are free to eat and drink whatever you like, regardless of your health and wellness goals. See you on Monday.”

How do a couple bottles of wine affect all of the week’s hard work? One 750ml bottle of wine will have about 600 calories in it. So two bottles and we’re at 1,200 calories. Now our 2,500 calorie deficit is down to 1,300, and we’ve gone from being on track to lose a pound, to losing about 1/3 of a pound. Now let’s add another favorite weekend past time, which is going out to dinner. Eating meals out is a surefire way to rack up some calories in a hurry. Chefs are fully aware of what flavors get the most mileage out of humans, and those are fat and salt. Restaurant meals are prepared in a deliberately more decadent manner so that our mouths respond by saying, “Wow! This is friggin’ awesome!” (Or if in a more upscale establishment, perhaps “Eek gats! This meal is pure ambrosia. Why, I was so moved by its delectable nature that my monocle fell clear out of my eye. Harrumph Harrumph.)

Eating out can easily add 1,000 extra calories to a meal. Let’s look at one of America’s top ranked casual dining establishments as an example: The Cheesecake Factory. Someone goes there and decides they’re going to be good, so they get the miso salmon (also happens to be one of The Cheesecake Factory’s bestselling dishes). Salmon is good for us, right? 4 oz. of baked salmon at home is a mere 110 calories. Well TCF manages to get their miso salmon dish up to 1670 calories. And so long as we’re there, we have to have a piece of cheesecake! How about a piece of the chocolate mousse cheesecake? That will run us another 940 calories. So even if we get the “healthy salmon” and split the cheesecake, we’ve put down 2,140 calories in one meal. Assuming we drank water and had no appetizer, either.

Now where is the weekly calorie deficit? It is lying on the floor of The Cheesecake Factory, rocking back and forth, crying. That’s where it is. What started as the beginnings of a 1lb deficit on Friday at 5pm is now more than likely a wash at best, and a weight gain at worst, by Sunday night.

This scenario is not outrageous at all. I know it isn’t because I used to do the same self-destructive thing, weekend after weekend. But I wasn’t eating at The Cheesecake Factory and drinking wine. I was drinking beer and eating at Chili’s. The results were the same though: I would work out all week and be mindful of what I ate, would get from square one to square three, let loose on the weekend, and Monday morning I would find myself back at old familiar square one.

Weekends count. More than we probably realize.

So much of weight loss and being healthy comes down to adopting and maintaining healthy behaviors and habits. To a large extent losing weight is about budgeting: calories consumed vs. calories burned. Weekends are also very much about behavior and habit, and a lot of those behaviors and habits lead to a lot more calories being consumed than burned. Once I figured this out for myself and took a more whole health approach to my wellness, and incorporated my healthy choices every day of the week, I saw tremendous results.

It comes down to priorities and the choices we make. This is definitely a situation where we cannot have our (cheese)cake and eat it, too.

What about you out there? Are the weekends a struggle? I’d be interested to hear other’s experiences with this topic.

Be well

Seth

Pleased to Meet Me

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone enjoyed (and survived) the holiday season, and wish you a year of love, prosperity, and personal growth. I am personally very excited for what lies ahead.

For the first blog entry of 2012 I am going to talk about a familiar concept- the old saying "you are what you eat". First of all yes, we are what we eat. Secondly, most of us don't know what we're eating. Hmm, see a potential problem here? I do.

Now you might say, "Seth, I know what I'm eating. I'm eating baked chicken, a baked potato, and some carrots. Ha! See, I totally know. AND I think it's pretty healthy. So there." Well, to some extent you'd be right. This is how I used to think about my food. I tried to buy non-processed foods (shop the perimeter of the store), and would focus on lean meats and vegetables. Sounds good, right? Well, sort of.

The more I have learned about where our food comes from, how it is raised and treated, and how it gets to us, the more I find myself looking for local options. In fact, my wife and I have made the decision that we will only buy our meats from local farms. We've decided that as much as we possibly can, we want to shake hands with the hands that feed us. AKA, "know your farmer".

That is what I mean by the title of this post, "please to meet me". If we are what we eat, "meeting" the food we eat is in essence meeting the nutrients that sustain and nourish us. We're looking ourselves in the eye. Eye of the potato, as it were.

I'm going to go into a few reasons why, and I am also going to recommend a couple of documentaries which deal with the subject of nutrition, health, and the food industry in different ways. One thing I am not going to do is go into some of the disturbing details about the meat industry. These details have changed the way my wife and I look at and consume meat, but this post is not the place for that in my opinion. If you want that information I can point you in the direction, or you could use something called "Google" I've heard about. But my intent is not to turn any stomachs here in this blog post.

Some advantages of buying local:

• Environmental concerns. The commercial food industry uses a lot of energy to produce its, um, produce. The typical carrot in a grocery store travels 1,838 miles to reach your table. There is also the amount of energy used in packaging the food. However, the biggest consumer of energy in commercial food production is the chemicals. Mmmm, delicious, man made chemicals. Yes, up to 40% of the energy used in the food system goes into the production of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. Sounds appetizing, no? Buying local, well, you can see how it takes a lot less fuel to get a carrot to your table from one town over. 
• Supports local economy. When you buy from a local farm, more of your money stays within and supports your local economy. Local farmers buy a lot of their supplies from local businesses. The farmers also retain much more of your dollars spent. A farmer selling goods at a local farmer's market will retain between 80 and 90 cents of every dollar. A large commercial farmer, depending on the crop, may retain between 20 and 40 cents. 
• You're getting food. What? "Um, Seth, pretty sure that the stuff at the grocery store is still called food". Yes, it is. But why is it that produce grown in California by big agribusiness can be in transport/storage for up to two weeks before it hits the supermarket, then sit on display, then get bought, then can hang out in my refrigerator for another week or so? But the same type of produce I buy at my local farm stand starts to rot in less than a week if I don't use it soon enough? Because one is a lot closer to its natural state than the other, and has been treated with a lot less chemicals. (Guess which one). 

These are just a few of the many reasons to try and eat as local as possible. My goal in this post is not to list all of the reasons why and try and convert as many people as possible. (For a longer list of the different issues, click here). My goal is to get people to start thinking about their food choices beyond the nutritional label. What are the implications to your health, the environment, animal welfare, and local economies, when you purchase ground beef at a supermarket? They are profound and numerous. 

One book that I highly recommend to anyone who eats food, (hint, that is all of you), is the book In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan. It is a fantastic read. Seriously, if you are a carbon based being who eats food, you should read this book. 

Two documentaries that I highly recommend that deal with this subject on some level. The first is Forks Over Knives. This documentary is less about the "eat local" philosophy and more about examining the traditional Western Diet. The information it contains changed the way both my wife and I eat. A lot of the traditional foods and meals in this country are killing us. Literally. Heart disease, obesity, etc.; guess what, they're not caused by our fashion choices. (Though some outfits are to die for, I know.)

The second documentary I highly recommend is Food, Inc.. This documentary examines the agricultural business in this country. Parts of it are disturbing, but here is something that I find really interesting about that. I will ask people "have you seen Food, Inc.?" and I commonly get the answer, "No. I've heard of it, and it sounds good, but I don't think I want to know what's in it". Wow. Think about what that statement is saying. It is saying, "I know that there is information about the food I eat that, if I knew it, would most likely change the way I eat. But I would rather just ignore it." Wow. Would we ignore it if it were cruelty to children? No.There would be tremendous public outcry. But cruelty to animals and detrimental to OUR OWN HEALTH??? Yeah, I'll just turn a blind eye to that. A little cancer or arteriosclerosis never killed any.....oh, wait. 

Don't put your heads in the sand on this one. Take an interest in your health, the health of your country, and the health of your environment. Doing the right thing is never easy. Important significant change requires courage and sacrifice. But every dollar you spend on food is a vote. It's a vote that says you either support or don't support a particular system that got that food to you. At least know what you're voting for. 

Best wishes for 2012.

Be well.

Seth

Gym etiquette

I spend a lot of time at the gym, about 4-6 days a week for 60-90 minutes, on average. I get to observe a lot of the different styles and habits of my fellow fitness enthusiasts. Some of them make me smile, some make me scratch my head, and others test my ability to not let things get to me. There is a new year around the corner, and coming around that corner will be an onslaught of new gym attendees. (There is nothing like the first week of January to test a fitness facility's floor plan for efficiency). With this in mind I thought now would be a good time to talk about a subject that is near and dear to my heart: gym etiquette. Or "How To Win Friends and Influence People While Sweating".

If I were going to sum up proper behavior on the gym floor and in the gym locker room in three words, it would be "leave no trace". (Actually, to the locker room I would add "Also, don't leave any horrific images in the psyches of your fellow gym members that will haunt them for years"). Gyms are shared, common spaces, and need to be treated with respect for the people and the equipment they are home to. Here are some good rules to live by.

In the facility:

• Wipe down. Once you have finished using a machine or a piece of equipment, please be sure to wipe it down with disinfectant spray and a rag or paper toweling. Besides being courteous, it is also just good public health protocol. Nobody wants to get a cough, cold, flu, or a rash in addition to their workout. 
• Put things back where you found them.  This is one of my biggest pet peeves at the gym. Free weights, Kettlebells, physio balls, foam rollers, BOSU balls, mats, medicine balls, jump ropes, resistance bands....there are a lot of aids that one can use in their workout. They all have a proper place in the gym, and it is not on the floor next to a bench. 
• Re-rack weight plates  A lot of machines, like Hammer Strength for example, use removable weight plates to modify resistance. These plates can be as small as 5 lbs, or as heavy as 45 lbs. A machine or bar (in the case of a bench press) should be naked when you find it, and naked when you leave it. This is especially an issue if you have 6' 2" 225 lb Mr. Universe working out in the same area as a 5' 4" 120 lb female triathlete (or me, as I am roughly as strong as a 4' 8" female. Who is 80). What I am getting at is that it is not fair to impose your workout requirements onto someone else. Just because Conan needs 6 x 45 lb plates for a machine doesn't mean the next person should have to move those 6 x 45 lb plates if they want to use it. It is not only about common courtesy, it is also a safety issue. 
• Don't watch the seasons change from the ab machine  Sometimes people will have a routine that requires they do 5 sets of 10 reps, with 27 minutes of rest in between sets. OK, an exaggeration, but you get my point. Do not monopolize a machine or workout station, especially during peak traffic times. If you have a special routine that requires more time on a machine, do it in off-peak hours, and be watchful of those around you. If someone looks like they're eyeing the machine you've been on for 10 minutes, they probably would like to use it before their 9 year old graduates college. Be polite and ask "You want to get on here?" Make sure they know you're talking about the machine, too. 
• Don't drop weights  Pretty simple.
• It's not the Zoo.... So don't grunt like you're in the primate house. I understand breathing can become labored at times, but Gronk-Nad the Destroyer yelps are not necessary.
• Keep your personal music, your personal music  Lots of people listen to music while they workout, and I think this is great. I have tracks that I absolutely love while running. However, just be sure that the entire building does not have to listen to your chosen play list as well. Some of the earphones on the market today have a bad habit of bleeding a lot of sound out to those on the other side of the ear bud. Oh, and I saw something the other day that I had never come across before. A fellow member was listening to music on her smart phone, without earphones- just playing the music through the phone's speaker. One, it sounded like crap. But two, this is just incredibly inconsiderate to anyone else in the area. I was shocked. I didn't say anything, and I probably should have. But I chose to use it as a test to see how calm I could stay in the presence of something that would normally send me into a homicidal rage. (I managed to stay calm. No death count ensued.)
• Let staff know of any issues  If you see something that needs attention- empty disinfectant spray container, machine that isn't functioning properly, etc, just bring it to the attention of the facility's staff so that it can be addressed. 

In the locker Room

• Remember that locker rooms are shared areas, not  private  
• Clean up after yourself  Here again is the concept of "leave no trace". After using a sink, just take some paper towel and clean up the water, toothpaste, shaving cream, hair gel, any little piece of evidence that CSI Mayberry could come in and discern exactly what your morning routine is.
• Keep conversation appropriate  Other people can hear you. Just because you're in the locker room doesn't mean that off color "humor" and derogatory speech is now acceptable. And also, detailed explanations of a surgery are not welcomed either. Anywhere. 
• Aerosol  These are my nemesis in the locker room. I abhor them. I don't know about women (as I haven't spent any time in the female locker room, hence my clean criminal record), but guys who use aerosol deodorant feel like they need to unleash a toxic cloud the size of Rhode Island, to ensure they don't sweat at work that day. It is nauseating. I really do not want to be inhaling Right Guard. I bet it's not good for me either.
• If the number of showers is limited, be efficient  If your locker room has a finite number of showers available, don't get too caught up in the joys of a hot shower. Get in, get clean, get going. There are other people that need to get to work, too. 

What it all really comes down to is common courtesy. Be mindful of the fact that your gym is not YOUR gym, it is every one's. 

One last thought on the pending influx of newbies to fitness facilities across this great land. This message is to the workout veterans, the people that go to the gym multiple times a week, all year long. People like me and my wife. We regulars see it every year, the big spike in attendance in January and the gradual decline in numbers that by March, is pretty much back to business as usual. All I ask is this: be kind. I know sometimes the regulars get annoyed and put-out by the fact that "their" gym is now crowded, and they  maybe have to wait for a machine they didn't in the past. But treat the new members with a smile, kindness, an open mind, and an open heart. Yes, a lot of the New Year's resolution crowd does fall off the map after a while, which in my mind is sad. But don't create any sort of environment that might be discouraging or intimidating to someone who is just starting out on the road to better health. Encourage them with something just as simple as a smile. It can make a huge difference. And who knows, your smiling face and friendly hello might be the extra something that helps keep them coming back, until the next thing you know, they are a regular and making their wellness goals a reality. You can never go wrong by leading with love.

Got any pet peeves or good gym stories? I'd love to hear them.

Be well,

Seth

Some random thoughts on happiness

It seems to me that one of the primary goals that a person has in life is to “be happy”. Seems reasonable. Seems appropriate. Also seems a little ambiguous. What is “happy” after all? Believe it or not I am not the first person to address this philosophical conundrum. In fact lots of guys with Latin names wearing togas and olive branches for hats have pondered this ad nauseum.

I believe this is particularly pertinent in the United States. Why? Because one would think that we should be some of the happiest people on the face of the planet, as we have (arguably) the highest standard of living on said planet. We take things like turning on a water faucet and being able to drink the water out of it for granted. Don’t want water? How about a coffee? There is either a Dunkin’ Donuts or a Starbucks within 378 yards of 87% of the U.S. population at any given moment. (Ok, an exaggeration, but probably by only about 5 yards).

But even with all this potable water and ubiquitous coffee, we are, as a nation, not so ecstatic. In a survey where people were asked if they considered themselves “very happy, quite happy, not very happy, or not at all happy” , the United States ranked 13^th out of 50. You know who was #1? Iceland. Seriously. A country whose name begins with “ice” has way happier people than the U.S..

So being that this time of year is usually one of greater self-reflection, I thought I would spout off some of my thoughts on the subject of happiness. After all, what are a lot of people thinking of making right now? New Year’s resolutions. And what is generally the reason for making a resolution? In broad terms it is to make a change in our lives that will make us happier.

·         Stuff will not make you happy

This one might seem obvious or it might not. It is not an original idea by any means, and you may even disagree with it. But one thing that I have verified in my own life is that it is absolutely, undoubtedly true. And this is coming from a guy who likes stuff. I love my iPhone, iPad, GPS multi-sport watch, my little German car, my 46”LCD HDTV, my four bicycles….you get the idea. I have plenty of stuff. And I won’t lie, I do enjoy it. BUT, and this is a big but (hence the caps)- none of it is the source of my happiness. I am a very happy person. I feel like one of the luckiest people on the face of the earth. It has nothing to do with any physical possession. In the end they are only things, and ultimately they are meaningless. Things will not make you happy.

·         Don’t be the picture in the dictionary next to the entry for “Insanity”

Ok, I know you’re thinking, “Wow Seth, this is great advice. Don’t be insane. Why didn’t I ever think of that?” Genius, I know, and, you’re welcome. What I am referring to here is the old saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Seems straight forward enough, but for some reason humans tend to like to do this. We are, as a species, a little self-destructive, no? I mean look how many of our inventions give us the capability of annihilating ourselves. Nuclear weapons, dirty bombs, firearms, bacon double cheeseburgers. And if you watch cable news you will see that some people use the opportunity somewhere every day. It is sad. But on an individual level we do this, too. Take our health for example. How many people want to lose weight and improve their health in an effort to be happier? A lot, that is how many. How many of those people though still eat the same unhealthy foods and lead the same sedentary lifestyle that got them to that point in the first place? Also a lot. (I know I’m using really scientific terminology here, sorry). If something is causing dissonance in a person’s life, they cannot continue the same behavior that is causing the dissonance, the problem, and expect the situation to get any better.  Bottom line, if something is broke, the only way to fix it is to fix it. Profound, eh?

·         Positive results start with positive thoughts

I am a firm believer that we get back in life what we put out. Some call it karma. We ultimately are responsible for our happiness and our misery. We are the architects of our own fate. So if you are the architect of your own fate ask yourself, what are you using as the building materials? If a person lies in bed at night and focuses on the negative in life, the things that they don’t want, guess what they get? Yep, those exact things. If on the other hand the person were to focus on the positive, the things that they do want, guess what they get? They still get the crap. HA! Just kidding! They get the good! Why do I believe in this? Am I very religious? No. Do I have very strong faith? Yes. Have I seen this manifestation in my own life? Absolutely.  Many, many times. If a person believes that their cup is half-full, it will be half-full. If they believe their cup runneth over, it will be spilling all over the place. One thing I do every night before I go to sleep is I give thanks. I give thanks and gratitude for all of the people, events, and love in my life that bring me immeasurable happiness. If you focus on love, gratitude, and abundance, and recognize it in your life, you will get love, gratitude and abundance back into your life in spades.

·         The path does not lead to happiness. Happiness is the path.

This is one of my favorite quotes from Dr. Wayne Dyer. Rather than me pontificate on this quote, I would suggest this: meditate on it. Say it over and over in your mind, and see where it leads you.

These thoughts have been a bit random and off the cuff. (It is a blog though, so incoherency is to be somewhat expected). When I read them over I feel like a lot of it should be followed by “Well, DUH!” as they feel so obvious. But in life the answers are right in front of us, we just tend to forget or ignore them. So here is one last “well duh” for you, and it is probably the most important “well duh” of them all.

Ultimately there is only one person in the universe who can control whether or not you are happy.

Be well,

Seth 

Holiday Eating

It's that glorious time of year again- the Holidays. A time when we gather hearth side with friends and loved ones, hold hands, and cast our heads back with song and laughter, as the spirit of love and giving fills our hearts. Aahhhh.

Well, maybe at the end of a Charles Dickens' story. For most of us the holidays mean varying degrees of chaos. End of year tasks and last ditch goal pushes at the office. Kids that are (understandably) turned up to 11. Logistical nightmares as you try and attend 12 holiday parties in the course of 8 days. And every time you turn around over the next month, it seems somebody has put out another plate of homemade gooeyness that has about 3,478 calories per teaspoon.

It's a fun time, no?

It is a fun time, but it can also be a time of increased stress and anxiety. For someone who is trying to lose weight this can be an especially difficult time of year. For one, a lot of weight loss comes down to behavioral changes, and most of us have programmed a lot of bad eating behaviors into ourselves around the holidays. Secondly, for a lot of people stress is a trigger to turn to food for comfort. And lastly, there is an over emphasis on food this time of year, and I'm not talking about kale chips here, people. Not unless of course they've been dipped in chocolate, rolled in peanuts, and served on a bed of fudge. You can see how the holidays can easily become a personal Waterloo for someone trying to lose weight, or even just maintain healthy eating habits.

So what is one to do to avoid Nutritional Armageddon? The old saying "Those who fail to plan, plan to fail" tells the story. To be successful around holiday eating it is imperative that one create a thoughtful plan on how they are going to manage it. Here are some ideas on what to consider, and how to make your own plan.

Let loose (but not too loose)

Let’s be realistic here. It is the holidays and there is going to be a lot more food-based celebrating than normal, and we should allow ourselves to partake in some of it. Look at the events you will be attending, and pick two to three that you will allow yourself more indulgence than you would on a typical day.

When you do indulge, don’t go crazy

Once you’ve picked a couple of events that you are going to allow yourself  less restricted eating, it is still important to have some guidelines in place so as to not go totally overboard. Some ideas:

·        Don’t eat anything larger than your head. (Ok, I’m just kidding. Actually, this is good advice for any time of year.)

·        Prioritize what it is you want to eat. We all have favorite dishes and foods. Pick the ones you like the most and stick with those. Do not just eat something because it happens to be staring you down. I did this over Thanksgiving for example, and had just one plate of food that was only turkey, mashed potatoes, and squash. I didn’t eat any bread or other sides that weren’t on my “All-Star” list.

·        Avoid drinking your calories. Nothing racks up calories faster with no sense of satiety than high caloric drinks. Especially those really yummy mixed drinks that taste more like elfin magic than alcohol. Same goes for sodas and non-alcoholic punch. There is no nutritional value whatsoever in these sugary drinks. Save the calories for the good stuff- food and desserts.

·        Try the Rule of One. Allow yourself one appetizer, one plate of food, and one dessert (or one alcoholic drink if you’d rather have that than dessert).

·        If the food happens to be in a buffet setting, use a smaller plate. Instead of going through the buffet line with a standard sized dinner plate, use a smaller appetizer plate. The plate fills up much faster with fewer calories. This way if you do go up for seconds, you’re doing so in a healthier fashion. The other advantage of this technique is that it takes our brains a while to register that we’re eating and our bodies to send out the “I’m full” message. If we sit down and have a small plate of food versus a large plate of food, we can achieve the same sense of satisfaction with less food.

Keep healthy alternatives handy

This is particularly important for those of us who find ourselves in an office setting during the holidays. It seems that the definition of “thoughtful” from December 1^st to December 25^th is to provide people with candy, cookies, and other baked goods that generally consist of butter, sugar, and flour. To help in resisting all of these artery-hardening goodies, keep some healthy snacks handy to have instead. Carrot sticks and hummus are one of my favorites. Greek yogurt is another.

Have a mantra

There are going to be some times during the holidays when not giving in and eating the ten pounds of chocolate sitting on the receptionist’s desk is going to be downright difficult. Come up with a saying or tactic to remind yourself of your big picture health goals. It might be the classic “A second on the lips, forever on the hips.” For me, when I find myself tempted to eat something that I know doesn’t fit the bill, I stop and ask myself, “Why do I want to eat this right now? Does it align with my goals and my wellbeing?” Sometimes just stopping and reflecting on the moment is all we need. I have often found the answer is, “I’m thinking about eating out of boredom, not out of hunger.” So I will occupy my mind with something else, and before I know it, the thought of food is gone and I haven’t eaten for the sake of eating.

I am very empathetic to the fact that making healthy eating choices around the holidays is a challenge. I hope there are some ideas in here that help in getting through the holidays. Here is one last thing to consider. Most of us know what it’s like to over indulge and then feel a sense of regret and disappointment about it later. The alternative to that is to get to the other side of the holidays, look back at them, and feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment in ourselves for proactively taking charge and staying true to our goals and beliefs.

May you all have a blessed and healthy holiday season.

Seth