LOOK INSIDE THE BOOK
PRACTICAL
CHANGE
8 Ways to Rejuvenate Your Life
Introduction
• Prologue
• The First Way:
Get A Reality Check
• The Second Way:
Take Action: Formulate the Master Plan
• The Third Way:
Take Nutrition 101
• The Fourth Way:
Put Down the Remote, Get Up and Get Moving
• The Fifth Way:
Look Outside Yourself, Stay Committed, Practice Discipline and Get
Support
• The Sixth Way:
Reconstruct Your State of Mind
• The Seventh Way:
Use the Power of Forgiveness
• The Eighth Way:
Possibilities Exist-Create the Future You Want
• Epilogue
• Sources
• Nature’s Youth Product Descriptions
• Suggested Reading List
Introduction
I’ve changed, I used to be fat and now I’m not. I used
to eat sugar and now I don’t. I used to think that pondering
about good health was better left to the ‘earthy, crunchy’
people and now I know that it is something our whole culture needs
to concern themselves with.
I’m not a Holy Roller nor am I a fitness expert, I am a real
person who lost 60 pounds and changed my life and my thinking as
a result. The weight stayed off and the changes have caused me to
reinvent myself. I am now the Vice President of a Nutritional Supplement
company called Nature’s Youth and for the past three years
I have become increasingly more alarmed at the rising rates of overweight
Americans and the overall decline of good health. It seems to me
that we have become a society that has given itself permission to
be unhealthy, because being healthy is far too much work. Its true,
being healthy, exercising, eating correctly and taking the time
to take care of yourself is a lot of work. However, being sick and
fat will also be a lot of work, not to mention you will have a far
shorter lifespan.
To change is uncomfortable and it requires hard work and a commitment
from you to yourself.
We live in a society that would have us believe that weight loss
can be achieved with little effort by taking a special pill or staying
on the latest fad diet for a few short weeks. As my friend Steve
Gill says, “The truth hurts, feel the pain.” The truth
in this case being that sustained weight loss and good health require
permanent lifestyle changes that are often difficult.
This book has been designed to give you educational information
and provide some new ideas to inspire you.
I am a single, working mother and if I can change my life, so can
you. Staying healthy is a work in progress and everyday I have the
opportunity to work on myself, set higher goals and maintain my
weight loss. Everyday the choice is mine and some days I eat potato
chips and pizza and some days I skip the treadmill and everyday
I drink Lattes from Starbucks…most days I make smart choices
and most days I workout and I’m in the best shape of my life,
so it’s paid off. Please note that there has not been one
day in three years that I have run overjoyed to the treadmill, everyday
I have to remind myself of my commitment to be healthy and exercise
and some days I have to call on someone else to remind me. Support
systems are a blessing…
Have a little faith in you, I do, you’re worth it and I know
that you can attain your goals if you make an effort. I will intend
that you are enlivened by reading the pages of this book and that
something in here causes you to take action for change.
The contents are presented in an “easy read” fashion
with 8 ways to rejuvenate your life. Webster’s defines rejuvenate
as: to make young again, to restore, to uplift, to make fresh.
In addition to the suggestions, we have provided a commentary at
the end of each chapter. The founder of Nature’s Youth, Jeff
Jones, has been kind enough to share his thoughts with you at the
end of each section. Jeff has some great insights on the nutrition/health
industry and what it takes to be a success.
Enjoy and thank you for taking the time to read this…
Prologue
Milton Erickson said, “Change will lead to
insight far more often than insight will lead to change.”
Every change in my life has taught me something about myself and
every change in my life has made me uncomfortable in some way. Change
is designed to shake us up so that new things can be created. Change
is both challenging and powerful. The very nature of change breathes
new life into us; it has us sitting on the edge of our seats straining
to see what’s next.
This book talks about getting healthy, more importantly; it talks
about what it takes to enact change in your life. Everyone can benefit
from some type of change as it fosters growth in human beings.
Workable, lasting change starts with telling yourself the truth
about what isn’t working and then taking practical steps to
do things differently.
In my experience, I have discovered 8 important factors that contribute
to lasting change. Those 8 factors make up the 8 ways to rejuvenate
your life referenced in the title. I believe that all 8 factors
are equally important in regards to incorporating lasting change
into your life.
While reading this book I invite you to start an investigation
into your own life to determine what changes are necessary to create
a desirable future.
The power to create the future lies within you…USE IT WISELY
“Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a persistent one…”
-Albert Einstein
“Reality can be beaten with enough imagination.”
-Jules de Gautier
The First Way…
Get A Reality Check
The first part of changing or improving anything is to first determine,
honestly, where you are now. We will call this a ‘Reality
Check’. Conducting an honest reality check with yourself will
help you determine the areas that require change. When conducting
a Reality Check it is necessary to be completely honest with yourself.
If you feel that you are overweight then step on the scale and see
how overweight you truly are.
Reality Checks can be a shock to the system…
In order to foster change you must admit to yourself what the problem
is. This can often be the most painful part of the whole process.
Many of us fool ourselves into thinking that there aren’t
any issues to deal with, our clothes are tighter but we’re
not fat, we drink a six pack every night but we’re not addicted,
we smoke but just when we drink or when we’re stressed or
depressed or…
Our credit cards are maxed out but we don’t have a spending
problem, you get the picture. Wake up and get honest with yourself,
give yourself a reality check. Once you have determined what the
reality is then you can become powerful in the circumstance. If
you are lying to yourself the circumstance has power over you. When
you tell the truth to yourself you get your power back, that power
will enable you to make the changes that are required in your life.
“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.”
-La Rochefoucauld
“He that takes medicine and neglects diet, wastes
the skill of the physician.”
-Chinese Proverb
The Third Way
Take Nutrition 101
Here we are in Nutrition 101, previous to starting Weight Watchers
and meeting Jeff I considered nutrition to be something for fitness
freaks and granola crunchers. Webster’s defines NUTRITION
as: being nourished, the series of processes by which an organism
takes in and assimilates food for promoting growth and replacing
worn or injured tissues, the study of proper balanced diet to promote
health.
If you are anything like me, nutrition no matter what its definition
is not something you spend a lot of time thinking about. You basically
know that eating 7 chocolate bars in one sitting is bad and that
eating a
salad has potential health benefits. Color me surprised when I actually
started to READ the Nutrition Facts panel on product labels and
discovered what we unwittingly consume.
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