Okay, here we go! A new year full of …………….excuses?
Websters defines the word excuses as such:
a. To explain (a fault or an offense) in the hope of being forgiven or understood.

Of all the faults, weaknesses, or vices that make obtaining our fitness and wellness goals, I believe “excuses” is the biggest stumbling block. Excuses creep subtly into our lives and provide the justification for why we are overweight, not as succesful or why we don’t strive to tap into our true potential. Having played collegiate sports and professional basketball in France for almost 9 years, I was constantly surrounded by excuses! My wife will even tell you that she heard the, ” if I was two inches taller I’d be in the NBA” excuse from me all the time. Yet there are numerous players in the league that are shorter than my 6’4″ frame!
So why is it so easy to continue along in the ever deepening rut of excuses. I mean let’s face it, the goals and dreams we set for ourselves are real and truly desired, but yet it amazes me everyday that we choose to choose the depressed, frustrated, empty companionship of Monsieur Excuses!
How do we recognize where those excuses are coming from? The thing I like to do is write down all my goals, dreams and aspirations. Once those are layed out in front of you, now you can start to list the excuses or stumbling blocks to each of those goals. This can be eye opening and a little painful too, be honest and true to yourself because this exercise is about CHANGE!
The biggest excuse when talking about exercise and wellness issues is that we often think we are too far gone, helpless. Here is the trick, just like baby steps. We can have an end goal BUT we cannot, must not focus on the end result. We need to focus on a small, accomplishable, obtainable action. For example, we want to, need to lose 50 lbs. Immediately we want to start a diet and exercise everyday, the problem here is that most have NEVER ever done this before so we are just setting ourselves up for failure and MORE excuses right?
Instead of focusing on exercising everyday and the end result, because let’s face it there will be lots of days when we won’t feel up to it, something more important comes up, or whatever! We have to say to ourselves, ” the only thing I am going to do is get myself inside those gym doors.” that’s it, let your trainer take care of the rest!
” all I am going to do is get home after work without stopping at the local fast food joint”
Once we start stepping over these small but damning stumbling blocks we will start to learn how to leap over them and even SQUASH the excuses that have chained us to a lifestyle we are not happy or satisfied with!
Here at LinkFit we strive to help each of our clients meet their goals for fitness and wellness. Let us all have a greater desire and commitment in achieving Our dreams and overcoming our excuses. Heres to a New You in this New Year of 2012!
NO EXCUSES!!

Does this describe you: 

• You feel like eating even though you just finished a meal.
• You feel urges to eat throughout the day, not necessarily related to a meal schedule or even true hunger?
• You feel fatigued, fuzzy-headed, or have difficulty concentrating without a “pick me up” snack between meals?
• You frequently feel sluggish after eating, especially after a meal rich in starches and sugars? 

 The low carb diet was around long before Atkins. In fact, bodybuilders were using a modified low carb diet back in the 50’s while the Atkins plan really gained prominence in the 70’s. 

 What’s the problem with Carbs?
Sugary carbs, especially table sugar (sucrose), used to be seen as causing adverse health effects for diabetics and people with symptoms of impaired glucose tolerance or insulin insensitivity. Although a high sugar diet can cause problems for these groups, most nutritionists now view refined white flour foods (most of which have a high GI-value) as causing more glycemic health problems, such as insulin resistance, and digestive disorders.  

Low carb diets typically lead to:

• More rapid weight loss than (say) the more orthodox lower-fat diet programs. However, clinical trials show that weight-loss between these two diet methods tends to equalize after the first six months.

• Improved weight control as a result of reduced hunger and fewer appetite swings due to more stable blood glucose levels.

• Extra fat-burning, which (in theory) raises metabolic rate, (because muscle tissue needs more calories to sustain it, than body fat) which makes it easier to lose weight. 

By restricting carbohydrates drastically to a mere fraction of that found in the typical American diet, the body goes into a different metabolic state called ketosis, whereby it burns its own fat for fuel. Normally the body burns carbohydrates for fuel — this is the main source of fuel for your brain, heart ,and many other organs. A person in ketosis is getting energy from ketones, little carbon fragments that are the fuel created by the breakdown of fat stores. When the body is in ketosis, you tend to feel less hungry, and thus you’re likely to eat less than you might otherwise 

As a result, your body changes from a carbohydrate-burning engine into a fat-burning engine. So instead of relying on the carbohydrate-rich items you might typically consume for energy, and leaving your fat stores just where they were before (alas, the hips, belly, and thighs), your fat stores become a primary energy source. The purported result is weight loss. 

If you are interested in implementing a low carb approach into your diet come and talk to either me or Ryan and we can help get you started and provide some tips. 

(of course anyone looking to add a low carb diet should consult with their physician first)

The following is a guest post about why you may actually be doing more damage than good with those calcium supplements you are taking – this post comes straight from the desk of Dr. Carolyn Dean (visit her fantastic website by clicking here). Leave your comments and questions below!

Calcium is prominent in the news these days. A July 29, 2010 British Medical Journal meta-analysis says that “Risks outweigh benefits for calcium supplements.” This study indicates that calcium supplements cause more cardiovascular events (such as heart attacks and stroke) than the number of fractures they prevent.

The study analyzed data on 12,000 people involved in the 15 trials. The increased risk was about 30 percent. The seven authors of the study say the risk is modest but they are concerned that with so many people taking calcium supplements “even a small increase in incidence of cardiovascular disease could translate into a large burden of disease in the population.” They even go so far as to “suggest that a reassessment of the role of calcium supplements in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis is warranted.”

That’s a huge admission of failure of the main treatment for osteoporosis—high dose calcium supplementation.

Now, if you are a regular reader of my blog, you’ve heard me say all this before. Most calcium supplements are only absorbed 4%-15% and the other 85%-96% deposits in various body parts. These deposits create gall stones, kidney stones, heel spurs, atherosclerotic calcium plaques and breast calcifications. It’s the calcium deposits that are the problem. If these supplements were 100% absorbed we wouldn’t need so much and there would be nothing left over to cause problems.

What will you do for your bones instead of taking calcium supplements? Here’s what I suggest:

1.) Eat calcium rich foods. If you go to whfoods.com you could research calcium-rich foods. Add up the amount you get in your diet.2.) Eat magnesium-rich foods and add up the amount you are eating on a daily basis. 

3.) Take twice as much magnesium as you do calcium.

4.) If you aren’t getting enough magnesium, take supplements. Magnesium differs from calcium because if it’s not absorbed the excess is eliminated through the bowels as a laxative effect.

5.) If you feel you need more calcium than you get in your diet, take an angstrom form of calcium to avoid the non-absorbed forms. Angstrom minerals are a bit smaller than a picometer…and that’s very small. You only have to take a small amount because these minerals are 100% absorbed.

6.) Check your vitamin D levels. Have your doctor use the 25(OH) D test. If your levels are not in the high normal range, get out in the sun for 20-30 minutes a day without sunscreen and take a few thousand IU’s of Vitamin D3 per day.