Click here to read Part 1: Nutrition

Part one of the A Healthy Attitude series covered basic thoughts on nutrition, the first of four pillars of a healthy attitude to life in general. The second pillar is training in the form of physical training. It covers questions on working out and movement in general.

Training is a necessity to keep your body in balance if you are not physically challenged otherwise. A body unchallenged becomes inert and imbalanced with mental ramifications. You are one great whole, a system that can only work in unity. Therefore physical training is an integral issue for most people in industrialized nations who experience a lack of movement. Again, answer a few questions for you to answer for yourself:

Q: What is it I want to achieve through physical training?
A: To stay healthy, it is enough to become active. Look for an activity you truly enjoy and do it. Go for walks regularly and spend as much time as possible beneath the sun, breathing in fresh air. Sunlight is a healing power and invigorates you. Practice your movements consciously and attain a feeling for your body. Enjoy it.

To enhance your performance you have to challenge yourself. To achieve a performance goal you have to take one step at a time in this distinct direction. If your goal is important enough to you, you will find the power to approach it and finally arrive at your envisioned destination. Do not cheat yourself. Without your heart joining forces with your will, you will be led astray in no time. Set fewer goals rather than many and put all your power in achieving them – this is the power of focus. Execute your training consciously and regard both goal and status quo. Take one step at a time and stay in the moment. Reflect on your goal from time to time.

Agony is everything you will ever attain by pursuing unrealistic goals. Take a close look on those who already have achieved what you dream about – and learn from the steps these pioneers have taken. Accept setbacks for what they are: Markers on your road to success. He, who is flexible enough to endure a setback prior to progression, will always progress, given time. Long is the way and a constant flow of vales and peaks, mounting higher over time. Enjoy your training and feel the sensation of joy overflowing your body. Enjoy every little sensation of success, driving you further.

Accept that you are, what and who you are. Everybody has different talents. Find out, which activity you have a talent in and transform into a skill. Do not strive to attain excellence in a discipline you are not talented in.

Q: How much time do I have in spare? How much time will I reserve for training?
A: Regardless of how much time you are going to invest in physical training, there is a training regimen suited for both your time frame and your goals.

Do you like long-lasting, steady activity? Do you love meditative routines? If you take the time, endurance sports will be for you. Start running, cycling or swim like a fish through water. If you love to work out with weights, choose volume training, doing lots of sets of various exercises.

Do you have the feeling that you are short in time? Compress the experience down to a few minutes of extreme intensity. Choose training routines like HIIT (high intensity interval training) for endurance sports, the Tabata protocol for endurance sports, body weight exercises and weighted exercises or HIT (high intensity training) for strength training. With adequate intensity, no training effect is lost in comparison to higher volume training.

Q: How much am I prepared to invest financially?
A: Where is your favorite place to train? Do you love to train at home and be independent, then arrange your training in fresh air or inside. Choose body weight exercises or low tech, do hatha yoga, cycling, running or even install a whole gym at your home.
If you like training in a gym, use it as a place, whose atmosphere is distinctly dedicated towards training. Go there to train and to motivate you with others. Search for motivating training partners that assist you on your way towards your personal training success. Never forget, why you went to the gym. Do not be distracted by external influences.

Q: Who do I train for?
A: Train for yourself, out of intrinsic motivation. If you train for someone else, you will lose either your motivation or your goal and be disappointed. It is then not your judgment anymore whether or not your work is good enough. If you train to be attractive to someone else, you make yourself dependent on what this particular person finds attractive. It is impossible to comply with an ideal. Become self-aware. Attractiveness is founded on individual perspective – this applies for you as well. If you train for yourself, you are the judge over yourself – and only you can be a fair one. Be honest. Criticize yourself where it is reasonable and be joyful about your accomplishments.

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Never forget that physical training has a purpose, which is different for everyone. Train because it enriches your life, not because you want to adapt to the social ideal of a fit person. Do not force yourself to train – learn to listen to your inner voice – it will be your greatest aid in training in the long term.

Be in movement – consciously.

Many people are frustrated with their situation and do not make any progress. What they have in common is – from my perspective – that they all share several misconceptions.

To progress in training as well as in life, the attitude is the most important factor. The attitude is the underlying stream of thought carrying your every effort – if the attitude is flawed, either the input (what and how you do it) or the output (the effects of your doing) or both will be below optimum as well. This four-part series of articles is dedicated to help you augment your attitude in all of the following areas. Concerning training, a constructive attitude consists of four pillars:

Nutrition

Training

Regeneration

Mind Set

Each of the four is equally important. Most people have at least once experienced the collapse of one of the pillars, endangering the stability of the remaining three. A solid foundation for athletic success always requires all four pillars intact.

This approach towards a healthy attitude is not aimed at being scientific – it merely represents the principles of a path I have chosen to walk down and recommend to follow to converge towards mental and physical health. The manifest itself is therefore constantly under construction – new revelations render the path different.

Part 1: Nutrition

Keep your nutritional efforts as simple as possible. Nutrition should – above all – be something you truly enjoy, be uncomplicated and not be a burden. It should nourish and energize you.
Eat as much living food as you can – fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds. Use dairy, if you can tolerate it. Meat and (some) grains have their place, if you decide on using them. Answer some key questions for yourself:

Q: Do I like eating breakfast?
A: If you feel good after eating breakfast, then do so. Choose foods that are of great taste and do you good. Chew your food thoroughly and stop at the point of satiety. If you like eating breakfast but do not find the time to do so, either rise earlier or skip it. Never eat in a hurry – it equals treating someone else in a hurry and without proper care and love – in this case you treat yourself without the love and care you deserve. Consuming food should always be a conscious act – an act of showing love to your body. Take your time to eat – your time is yours, anyway!

If you are amongst the people who do not like to eat something early in the morning, then consciously skip eating breakfast. There is nothing wrong in doing so. If you are in between those two extremes and like to eat something but not too much, one or two pieces of fruit, supplemented with a good cup of tea or water will be enough to get you going.

Regardless of your opinion, keep aware of the word breakfast’s etymology – it means breaking the fast of the night. Breaking the fast consequently means breaking the cleansing, detoxifying and regeneration process of the fast. Raw fruit is more an accelerator of detoxification than an inhibitor, especially when low in sugar content, it is therefore the ideal means to prolong the detoxification even when breaking the fast.

Q: What about sensations of hunger?
A: Eat only when you feel hungry. Most people like to eat at midday, hence they should do so. Here, the rule of consciously consuming your food applies as well. Eat what you like only and do not be dependent on the choices other people propose (e.g. when eating out). Most often, it is easier to take care for your food yourself than to find out, whether or not the offered food does you good. You are not in control of what is offered.
Do not eat anything that gives you the feeling that it does not do you good. Eat to satiety on which does you good.

Make it a habit to drink a glass of water prior to consuming food. Often, the feeling of hunger is thirst in disguise and hence misleading you – consuming food cannot satisfy your thirst and eating when your body is not in need is unnecessary ballast. Do not, however, drink with and directly after eating – it diminishes your ability to digest the foods you consumed by diluting digestive secretions. Wait at least half an hour before consuming any more liquids.

If you are hungry in the evening, then feel free to consume whatever does you good – in whichever quantity that does you good. Most people that eat a good portion for lunch prefer light dishes like salads in the evening hours.

Some people do not have the sensation of hunger throughout midday and afternoon or have the impression that the foods offered during this time period do not do them good. Pack up yourself a lunchbox: Some raw vegetables and fruits, maybe a handful of nuts. Try adding a cup of yoghurt. Develop a feeling for satiety and eat until satisfied.

If your hunger appears mostly in the evening hours, you are closest to your human nature. After you have finished your duty as human being and call a close to the day, you are invited to enjoy an abundant meal. Prepare it with love and enjoy it. Chew every bite consciously and savor its taste and texture. Eat to satiety, but no further.

Q: Do I like to drink?
A: If you like to drink, you are doing something good to your body. Pick crystal clear still (mineral) water or (cold) unsweetened teas and cleanse your body with these fluids. As they are devoid of nutrients, they tax the body effortlessly – everything of nutritional value consequently requires metabolic work – digesting and resorbing the nutrients.

Make sure to drink enough. If you drink only when feeling thirsty and have a dry feeling in your mouth, odds are that you have already missed the first appearance of thirst. Make 40 ml per kg body weight the lower bound for clear fluid consumption (water and unsweetened tea). Remember, that hot temperatures and intense physical drills increase the amount of water you sweat out.

Fruit juices are very sweet in taste and need plenty of water to become comfortable for sensible taste buds. Vegetable juices are less sweet and often bitter. Drinking vegetable juices feels more refreshing than (diluted) fruit juices and does not lead to a sharp rise in blood sugar.

Treat caffeinated beverages as tools. Caffeine manipulates your hormonal balance by increasing the secretion of adrenaline and thus manipulates natural regulatory systems. The consumption of more than the equivalent of two cups of coffee daily is regarded as a state of addiction. Caffeine is utilized best when used sparingly.

Carbonated sodas are devoid of nutrients but dense in calories. They are no viable fluid for human nutrition, not even in forms without caloric value. Artificial sweeteners trigger the secretion of insulin and thereby cause unnecessary hunger.

Alcoholic beverages share the attribute of all toxins: The dosage is of vital importance. Very small amounts of alcohol enhance the resorption of nutrients while higher dosages are entirely toxic to the body. Some alcoholic beverages (good wine and beer) are nutrient-rich and are beneficial if used wisely.

Q: What about sweets, fast food and other vices of modern nutrition?
A: Recalibrate your perception of these foods. Keep in mind the fact that they are heavily advertised in order to be sold. Imagine milk or grains being advertised in the same intensity as fast food is. Products of good quality sell well over long periods of time without advertising. Word of mouth is their driving force.

Experiment with fast food. Keep away from all kinds of fast food for a month of clean eating and retry them afterwards. Consciously experience the taste of these foods and update your opinion on these foods. Most people become sensible enough to be unable to bear the artificially enhanced taste intensity of these products.

The more conscious you experience the foods, the closer you get to their true nutritional nature. Continue to enjoy their taste if they do you good. Let yourself be wisely led by your senses.

Q: Is going out with friends even possible like this?
A: Grant yourself days out with friends where everything is allowed – but do keep conscious in acting. It is your time, your life, and it is your body. Let your senses be your guide, what to consume and how much of it. Eat conscious and enjoy the taste, if you do. Choose dishes that do you good – either physical or mental or both.

Do not coerce yourself to do something. Give yourself all the freedom of choice you can.

Q: What exactly should I eat then?
A: Try out everything and experience the taste and the feeling that the food arouses in your body. Try to combine every food choice at least once and experience the taste and feeling as well. There are combinations that do not do you good – find out, what they are.

These combinations are proved not to work out well:

Grains and fruits high in acid

Grains and sugar

Raw nuts and salt

It will be a substantial time investment to try out all products. Do not urge yourself to test foods and combinations pro forma. Take the chance whenever it appears. Do only combine natural foods, not the processed choices.

To pre-limit the range of foods that are worth testing both mono and in combination, stick to foods of these groups first:

Vegetables of all types

Fruits not too sweet for your taste

Nuts and seeds

Pseudo grains (oats, quinoa, and amaranth)

Legumes (soaked, cooked well)

(Raw) dairy

Meat and fish of the best available quality

Add different choices thereafter.

Be aware that you are unique. No one else reacts to food choices like you do. Therefore test everything for yourself instead of relying on generalizations. There is no guideline that can know better what is good for you than your own body does. Be willing to spend more money on best quality food – your body is the wrong place to start cutting costs.

Q: Can I trust the language of my body?
A: Whether or not you can trust the language of your body depends on your attitude towards nutrition prior to your decision to listen closely to your body. In the modern world, many food choices, if eaten regularly can alter the experience of taste and hunger and therefore influence the correctness of your internal compass. The body is keen on providing correct feedback, and like any other instrument it requires regular maintenance in order to work properly.

Cleanse your body from extrinsic alterations by doing a one-week water fast prior to changing your diet. Fasting on nothing but water and minimal amounts of lemon juice changes your perception of how food affects your overall well-being and resets the settings of your internal compass, again rendering it a suitable tool to judge the subjective quality of food choices.

Inform yourself thoroughly about the process of fasting and make use of the innate healing power of the body throughout this period. It is normal to experience sensations of hunger during the first two to four days. Hunger ceases thereafter, when the body becomes adapt to the circumstance that it is fed no food to digest. The body starts to live off its reserves in fat and protein entirely. Hormonal homeostasis is restored and stored toxins are released and excreted in this process.

Following the fast, have deep confidence in the language of your body. Your readjusted compass will now safely guide you.

Q: Do I want to lower my body fat percentage (drastically)?
A: Healthy, conscious living will normalize your body fat percentage. It will naturally lower itself to a point that is regarded healthy by your internal bodily regulatory mechanisms. Becoming obese is virtually impossible when deciding consciously. If you insist on cutting the percentage further, use methods that drive your body towards losing its fat storage. Cleanse it, challenge it and let it rest. Read through the next parts and focus.

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Nutrition has the purpose of nourishing the body. The body has the ability to express itself. Listen to your body closely and cleanse it so that it is able to communicate to you, what nourishes him and what deals him harm. The questions as to what and how much you should eat answer themselves thereby.