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"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments."
- Jim Rohn
Realistically, I could write a complete book on discipline…
Hey wait, that’s a good idea… Anyway, discipline is such an
exciting concept to me, I am so motivated by the thought
that with each and everyday we can exact discipline in our
lives and one day master the concept entirely. I have
always been fairly good at putting my mind to something and
eventually getting what I wanted. It wasn’t until a few
years ago that I could do this with focus and manifest
specifically what I wanted, what I desired at a more
expedient rate. And with that said, take it from me,
discipline is a virtue, a thing to practice that takes you
where you want to go and gets you what you want, yes...it’s
really that simple. As for nutrition, because there is so
much conflicting and misleading information out there, I
will try to simplify the disciplinary elements of nutrition
and provide the tangibles on how to exact results from
plain simple practice. After all, practice makes perfect!
My guess is with the plethora of conflicting advice abound
and so ubiquitously present; you’re still mystified, yet
still seeking a real solution to your nutritional dilemma,
good for you. And again, I'll bet you’re probably still
wondering… Does anyone out there even know what the heck
they’re talking about? Will the experts, those guru's of
gnosh really ever reach a consensus on anything? Is the
health and fitness industry only about profit, or is there
anybody out there whose integrity and desire to teach the
gospel truth about nutrition alive and kicking? These are
all good questions and very justifiable, you are not alone
my friend. Yes and no is the ambiguous answer or
answers, it depends on what side of the fence you are on and who is
buttering your bread, unfortunately most people are still
looking for the quick fix, the magic bullet, so it does
make it quite hard to speak to an audience that doesn’t
even ‘show up’, let alone listen. But because you found
yourself here, that means you showed up and are listening,
therefore this one is for you, those who seek shall find,
so without further adieu, here you go…
…You’ve picked up every book and e-book on the subjects of
food and nutrition and you’ve perused every web site on the
net and now you speculate whether you’ll need a degree in
either nutritional biochemistry or food science before you
can lose that stubborn abdominal or inner thigh fat.
So what’s the deal? Why so much confusion? Why does one
guru suggest that high protein is best for everyone, while
another guru suggests high carb and yet another guru
suggests high fat? Whew, thats alot of gurus.
Anywhoo... What exactly do high protein, high carb, and high fat
really mean? And why are other experts, those pesky guru’s
telling us that food choices should be based on our
"metabolic type," our "blood
type," or our "pedigree" or “point of origin”? Such confusion!
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Antithetically speaking, one authority declares; “Eat like
a Cro-Magnon” and another loudly and proudly utters, “Eat
like a Neandertal”, or perhaps you should consume like an
ancient Norseman, what gives? But while searching for
nutritional Valhalla, most folks just go astray and eat
like a Modern American—and end up appearing more like a
Sumo than a Samurai.
These days, we have a dissonance of expertise: lots of
confusing noise from the pros drowning out the signal of
truth. Where is the beacon of clarity?
Confusingly, on the surface it does appear as if today’s
nutrition technology is quite advanced. After all, we have
at our disposal more nutrition information than ever
before. More money is being spent on nutrition research
than in any time in history. Every day, impressive
strides are being made in the field. Tons of nutrition experts are
rising and or being eleated to prominence, fame and
fortune. Yet simultaneously and quite sadly, we’re
witnessing a steadily increasing rate of obesity, an
increase in nutrition-related illness (Diabetes, CVD, and
Syndrome X), and an increase in nutrition-related
mortality.
A major contributor to the quandary is that much of the
information hasn’t reached the people who need it. While
another part of the predicament is that even when it does
reach those people, they often
don’t use it, it’s too much
work. And certainly, the dilemma is
multi-factorial—there are probably many more reasons than I can list here, like
with anything most of the issues are cumulative and not
isolated.
So I ask… How much more information do we need?
Strangely, the overwhelmingly curious thing is that many
people try to solve the problem by seeking out more
information. They know it all and still want more. If
there’s one thing of which I am absolutely convinced, it’s
that a lack of good nutrition information isn’t what
prevents us from reaching our goals or attaining what we
desire. We already know everything we need to know.
Sometimes the real problem isn’t too little information but
too much.
All the fundamental principles you need to achieve good
health and optimal body composition are out there already,
and have been for years. Unfortunately, with 2500 experts
for every fundamental principle and very little money to be
made from repeating other people’s ideas, the gurus’ must
continually emphasize the small (and often relatively
unimportant) differences between their diet/eating plans
and the diet/eating plans of all the other experts out
there.
In the world of advertising and marketing or profiteering,
this is called "differentiation." By highlighting the small
distinctions and fleshing out the large similarities
between their program and all the others, they’re going to
the mat for your next nutritional dollar.
Now…and let me be clear on this, I’m not accusing nutrition
experts of quackery, I stand for unity not division! Yes,
some programs are pure unadulterated rubbish, mindless
drivel. Those are generally quite easy to pick out and are
not worth discussion here, or in my opinion anywhere. And
the truth is most professionals/experts do know what they
are talking about, can get results, and wholeheartedly
believe in what they’re doing. Many of the differences
between them are theoretical and not practical, and on the
fundamentals they generally agree completely.
In fact, many of the mainstream programs out there, if not
most of them, will work. To what extent and for how long,
quite obviously will vary. As long as a program is
internally consistent, follows a few basic nutritional
precepts, and as long as you adhere to it consistently,
without hesitation, and without mixing principles
haphazardly taken from other programs, you’ll get some
results. It’s that simple and that hard…as you can see;
results depend as much if not more on psychology as on
biochemistry or physiology.
But if you’re like most people, you’ll first review all the
most often discussed programs before deciding which to
follow. And in this assessment, you’ll get confused, lost,
and then do the inevitable. That’s right; you’ll revert
back to your old, ineffectual nutrition habits.
You see, most commercial weight loss programs work in the
short term (initial lean mass loss), they are not effective
fat loss programs because they are deprivational by nature,
which means the body is starved of a sufficient amount of
daily calories to maintain proper function and the first
thing that occurs is a loss of muscle tissue; translating
to weight loss. But this is not the solution; no it usually
is the beginning of the downward spiral of confusion and
frustration.
So, let me give you something that is unbiased and
unfettered…
I call these applications:
“10 Disciplines of Effective
Nutrition”
These definitely are not new or innovative techniques and
procedures, nor are they cutting-edge. More blatantly, they
are simple, time-tested; no nonsense traditions that you
need to apply when subject to an effective ingestion
program.
1. The majority of your daily caloric intake should be in
whole foods, except workout and post-workout drinks.
2. Always eat a complete (containing all the essential amino
acids), lean protein with each meal.
3. Consume either fruits or vegetables with each meal.
4. Eliminate starchy
carbohydrates from daily consumption, except morning
oatmeal.
5. The majority of your carbohydrate intake should
come from fruits and vegetables, with the exception of
workout and post-workout drinks & meals and the morning
oatmeal.
6. Do away with all simple sugars and nutrient
barren carbohydrates (e.g. candy, cake, cookies, pastries
and the like).
7. Make certain that 20-30% of your energy
intake comes from fat, with your fat intake split equally
between saturates (e.g. animal fat), monounsaturated (e.g.,
olive oil), and polyunsaturated (e.g. flax oil, salmon
oil).
8. Drink only non-caloric beverages, the best choices
being water and green tea.
9. Imbibe no less than 10, eight
ounce glasses of water per day. More if you exercise and
you should be exercising.
10. Consume every 2-3 hours, no
matter what. You should eat between 5-8 meals per day.
Finale
Most people can achieve optimal fitness and a desired
healthy body composition using the 10 disciplines alone. In
fact, with a good deal of my clients at Synergy Fitness
Systems, I spend the first few months just supervising
their adherence to these 10 fundamentals. But, if you have
explicit needs, or if you’ve reached the ninety-percentile,
you may need a bit more individualization and or specific
fine-tuning beyond the 10 disciplines, so feel free to call
or email me.
About
The Author
Kurt Lee
Hurley
Kurt Lee Hurley, of
KREATEFITNESS.COM clients refer to him
as a "Secret Weapon", has 3,000 + weight loss success
testimonials and his Provo, Utah Wellness Center, Synergy
Fitness Systems has become a Weight Loss Results Factory!
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