So...how do you sustain lifestyle changes?

I spoke to a local group last week.  Mostly about how to sustain an exercise program and a bit about nutrition.

This was a group that had just completed a company-sponsored walking program where they kept up with their steps during the day with a pedometer.  There was some friendly competition involved but mostly it was about working toward better health. 

Oh, a couple of them admitted that they were doing it for the financial reward but most were genuinely interested in doing it for their health. 

My question for them was how do you sustain it.  How do you keep going with this really great path you've started down without the incentives of competition, reward, and acknowledgement?

When the clock goes off in the morning and you haven't slept well and it's a lot easier just to hit the snooze button and skip the workout? 

Or you didn't have time to pack your lunch and you're hungry and so working out at lunch just won't work today?  Or the kids called and you've now got something after work to take care of that wasn't 

on your schedule. 

Plain and simple--it is hard to sustain regular exercise.  I can't tell you how many times I've watched someone join our gym and be on fire for exercise only to fizzle out in a few short months.

Life too often gets in the way.

But it can be done.  Look at it this way:  It has to become part of your life. 

You won't skip meals (you need to eat to live).  You won't skip sleep (that one will eventually fix itself).  You won't skip bathing (please).  You won't skip brushing your teeth.

See, there's a lot of things in your life that are simply part of your life, that can't be passed up.  I would like to suggest that daily exercise is in the same category.

If you want good health, you will exercise regularly.  And eat better.   Both have to become part of your life to be truly sustainable over a lifetime.

My wife and I have a new mantra:  eat to live, not live to eat.  Oh, we enjoy our food but we're totally committed to eating what is healthy for us.  Good meats, vegetables, fruits, nuts.

At the end, I had an interesting question from this group.  "If you had to choose between a regular soda and a soda with artificial sweetener, which would you choose?"

This was after a tirade about the evils of sugar.

With only a moment's hesitation, I said that I would drink the regular soda but I really didn't drink sodas of any kind. 

Afterwards, I had a chance to reflect on that answer.  I think that my answer was based on this:  I know what's in sugar and I know what it will do.  I don't know what's in the artificial sweetener.  We simply don't know what affect it has on our body.

I've also said this many times in recent months--what we now know is that dietary fat is not the culprit we always thought it was.  Science has proven that.  The bad stuff is that refined flour and refined sugar.

Significantly reduce those things from your diet and you've taken another giant step toward good health.