Passionate Living: Common sense tells us to sleep, exercise, and eat correctly. How do we find the passion for a healthy life?
Are You Struggling?
If you are struggling, you are not alone. Tens of millions of Americans do not get enough sleep, do not exercise regularly, and eat processed food that makes them overweight.
Common Sense is not Enough.
It seems to me that most people have the common sense to know how their energy, mental clarity, and self-esteem rise with healthy habits.
However, one-third of Americans are not getting enough sleep. Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese.
Spending Money is Not the Answer.
According to various articles online, Americans spend between $40 and $60 billion each year on sleep aids, weight loss, and exercise programs.
Buying sleep aids doesn’t change our behavior. People who stay up too late and take a sleep aid to go to sleep are more tired than people who simply go to bed on time.
Believing that a financial commitment will lead to a change of behavior, people sign a year-long contract to a gym in January. By March, most people have stopped going regularly. Others don’t go at all.
Additionally, other people buy expensive exercise equipment. Much of this equipment ends up gathering dust in the corner or on Craigslist.
Passionate Living: How People Form Healthy Habits
No one has needs to tell avid golfers to get off the sofa. They are too passionate about playing golf to care about the sofa. Tennis, fishing, soccer, softball, basketball, running, sailing, or any exercise that stirs our passions are good choices for creating new habits.
I have switched activities from time to time. But I continue to find new physical activities that I love.
As for eating healthy foods, I have never given up cake or ice cream. However, for 6 days of each week, I eat things that are healthiest for me instead. I have good luck with eating a ketogenic diet. My eating plan is 10 percent carbohydrates, 20-25 percent protein, and 65-70 percent fat. I track what I eat and track my weight.
About once a week, I purposely drift away from my eating plan to eat the most indulgent things I can find. And, I remind myself the next day that I had planned to eat that way for one-day week.
Then I return to my keto eating plan. The indulgent day kick-starts my metabolism into high gear. It is not just a day of pleasure. The indulgent day is a day of necessity. I have fun and feel passionate about the way I am eating and about the results.