Today, my co-worker was acting really frantic. He had to service a computer and only had a short amount of time to do it. Although he had plenty of time to work on it, my co-worker had it dead set in his mind that he had to get it done NOW or there would be dire consequences.
Mind you, my co-worker has high blood pressure. You can obviously see a peek as to why.
My co-worker is a slim person and looks pretty fit. You wouldn't think, off hand, that he has this kind of issue. His only short-term means for lowering his blood pressure is exercise. His "excuse" is that he has no time for it.
This started the wheels turning in my head. For the rest of the evening, my mind raced with ideas that appeared out of nowhere and did not disappear as soon as they came. They stayed in my brain and got stronger. I then spoke to one of my co-workers at my night job and he said something to me that confirmed what I had to do...write this blog.
I'll get to what he said to me in a minute...
An Idea is Born!
When it comes to health and getting healthy, a lot of people rely on time to deter them from reaching their goals. "I don't have enough time to do this or that. I have kids/job/parties/insert whatever here..." The list can go on, but it's basically all based on time. When I watched my first co-worker stress himself for no apparent reason, it occurred to me that people have a misconception about time when it comes to certain aspects of health.
In my experience with health, there are things that do not need to take a lot of time and there are things that need to take a lot of time.
The misconception is what should take a long period of time and what should not.
Exercise should NOT (and does not) need to take a long period of time.
Chewing your food SHOULD (and must) take a long period of time.
That's right. I said it.
Many people, on a quest to lose weight (or get fit or tone up or whatever you're calling it this week
) will start by working out 3 hours every day that they work out. They will go to the gym 3 or 4 times a week. Don't go to the gym? That's fine. They'll run for over 2 hours or walk for the same duration (3 or 4 times a week). Within weeks, they lose some weight. Feeling good, they continue this plan for another....2 weeks. Then, they feel tired and don't go as consistently. They start to feel pain and then 6 months later...
"I need to start working out again....I was doing this, that, and the third but then...I had to do (insert thing here) and didn't have anymore time."Maybe the reason why you quit working out after a while is because your body got tired
! It's not used to all that work! It took you how many months or years to reach whatever state you're in. The first misconception with time is to think that you can lose it properly within less than 1/16th of that time.
Properly means doing it in a manner consistent with respecting your body so that you are able to maintain health for a long period of time, possibly for the rest of your life.
With that being said, the misconception of exercise needing to be for long periods of time is based on the fact that people want their weight loss and "health" to come too soon. Typical OD factor that I spoke about last year.
So what do I do, Miss See?
Here's what you do. If you need to lose weight and haven't worked out in a while (I don't care how much you have to lose), start off with basic exercises for shorter periods of time, that can be done everyday. Include light and gentle stretching with whatever you do. If you are overweight, include some more cardio and leave the weights for later on, when you lose a couple of pounds off the cardio workouts.
All you really need is 15-30 minutes in the day.
If you include simple things, like taking a walk around the block after eating lunch (or right before you get lunch) , then every week, you will get an extra 15-20 minutes of exercise and you didn't even know it!!
Well, Miss See, it sounds easy. But what can I do for 30 minutes, other than walking?
Mix it up. If you decide to workout three times a week, then on one day, do a workout video or TV show (most of them last 30 minutes and they incorporate all aspects of exercise - stretching, warm up, focus, and cool down). The next day, do a routine out of a book you have in your possesion. On the third day, create a playlist and dance for 15 minutes! Sounds good to me!!
If you do go to a gym, you can mix it up too. Day One, Treadmill for 10 minutes. 2 minutes to active stretch/warm up before treadmill and 3 minutes to cool down/static stretch. Day Two, Elliptical for 10 minutes. Same time for warm up and cool down. Day Three, Bike for 10 minutes or Rowing Machine. As long as you don't mess with weights for the first month or two (I'll explain why in later blogs), you're good to go.
After a number of weeks or months, your body will get used to this and start to work with you. THEN you can add more time and incorporate more things.
Don't get me wrong, if you want to spend 3 hours in the gym, then do you. Have fun and enjoy. I truly don't have that kind of time.
Three Rounds of Sun Salutations takes 3 minutes. If I can get that done in a day, then I'm a happy camper.
Chew Slow
Many people (including myself, at times) are on the go. We are hungry and the only time we have to eat our food is while we are walking or going on the train, etc. We're not really thinking about the food or digestion or health. We just need something and we know we gotta go. This is a case of the body sending the most primal message, while the mind is still not listening to the body and its needs.
The digestion process starts in the mouth. Chewing is of upmost importance because the more you can liquefy your food, the more it can be absorbed into your bloodstream, properly providing the nourishment your body needs - short term and long term! The slower you chew, the better your digestive system will work. That means less gas, etc. (unless you're eating a bunch of raw food or beans) The slower you chew your food, the more you appreciate it. The more you can taste it and savor the flavor.
Ok, I'm getting hungry just talking like this so let me get a sip of water and continue focused on the task at hand.
The amount of time most people take to chew should be increased tenfold. It's a great start to getting healthy on the nutritious side of things and it's one of the easiest things to do.
In Macrobiotics, it's said that people should chew at least 50 times for every bite they take in. I'm not going to tell you how many times you should chew. All I will say is that once the food in your mouth is real close to being mush or liquid, then you have done enough chewing. I guarantee you whatever number that is, it's way longer than what you're doing right now!
And if this means that you have to take more time out of your busy day to eat food, then God Bless You...you have just figured out one of the many mysteries of Good Health!
Now that I am done with my Random Thought, let me go back to the beginning of this blog with what my other co-worker said to me. He told me that he works out three times a week and he only works out for about an hour. He includes swimming, stretching, warming up and maybe some treadmill or elliptical machine. He said, "I don't need all kinds of time to workout." To which I replied, I was wondering what to write a blog about in regards to exercise...and you're right! You don't need to take a lot of time to exercise, but you sure need to take more time out to chew!
Some headnods later...this is the result.
I hope you like my work.
Until next time, stay strong, stay healthy, and fight dis-ease!
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