Few people know more about the fitness industry than Dr. John Spencer Ellis. Active in the fitness and health community for more than 20 years, and a renowned member, Ellis is known for a variety of things, including his stint on the Real Housewives of Orange County, the creation of NESTA, and most recently the launch of DietGuru.com.
We had a chance to speak with John and catch up on a few goings-on in the fitness world right now. We talk about making the resolutions last (yes, there’s still time!), identifying the best personal trainer for your needs, and how Diet Guru can help you become an A+ eater.
If you quit smoking for your New Year’s Resolution, good for you, Quitter! This is one of the single greatest things you can do to improve your health. Dropping a nasty nicotine habit can be tough work, and most people end up replacing the oral fixation of smoking with something else oral- chewing and swallowing junk food.
On an average, people tend to gain 5 pounds during their quitting process. The action of lighting up, bringing the cig to and from your mouth and inhaling and exhaling the smoke is one that many people become addicted to just as much as the chemical addiction to harmful nicotine. In addition, when you smoke a cigarette, a chemical reaction occurs in the body and sugars are released into the blood stream. This is why many people consider cigarettes as an appetite suppressant. When cigarettes are removed, a former smoker may fiercely crave sweets.
The oral and chemical addiction can make quitting smoking a tough process, but there are things you can do to keep the cigarettes away and weight gain at bay.
There’s only a week left in January, and you’ve no doubt got your mind more focused on February being a week away than you do the new year celebration that was just three weeks ago.
How’s that resolution treating you? In England, 92 percent of dieters have already let their resolution go. We’re not that different from the English. Whether you’ve forgotten, abandoned, or given up on yours, there are probably a lot of reasons you left yet another resolution behind.
We’re not saying it to beat you up, we raise the conversation to light a fire in you and have you reassess those goals. Your health is most important – more so than a lot of the reasons you can probably come up with for avoiding the issue.
We’re taking your best excuses and knocking them down, and showing you that behind every excuse is a better answer. Put yourself, and your health, first this year.
Think you don’t have time, don’t have the money, or that you’ll start tomorrow? We’ve got your number.
It’s two-and-a-half weeks into the new year: are you still following your resolution? If so, how much longer do you think you can keep it up? Or are you like most of us and did you ditch it by now?
Most people make resolutions that are too hard to stick with long-term. We end up failing and then give up completely. As a dietitian, I’m going to focus on New Year’s Resolutions to lose weight and be healthy. I’m sure you want to be healthier even if you didn’t make a formal resolution.
Perhaps you resolved to be happier and healthier in 2012. If you feel overwhelmed or do not know where to start, a great book just came across my desk that could be exactly what you want. Brett Blumenthal has written52 Small Changes: One year to a happier, healthier you, and it looks like an excellent program.
On the first page of the introduction, I was immediately impressed that not only is this research-based, but she has done her homework and cited her references. All of her theories seem to be right on, and it is all things we need to hear when trying to make a change, even if it seems basic. The approach is holistic, including change items in four sections: diet and nutrition, fitness and prevention, mental well-being, and green living. If you are suspicious that “green” is simply a marketing label, I would venture that these are truly healthy living habits that don’t quite fit into diet and nutrition or fitness and prevention. Each change is something that will lead to a physically and mentally healthier life, so even if you never complete the book, you can be healthier and happier.
While she is using the kaizen theory to create an entire lifestyle change in a year, I do think this is a lot of change very quickly. No single change will be cemented in a single week. You will still be practicing when you add in the next thing. After several weeks, there may be a lot to track. Brett states that you can use this book in any way that fits for you. That may mean mastering each change (which could take several weeks or months) before moving on to the next one. It may mean starting on January first. It may mean starting on Monday. It may mean starting on or a year before a milestone birthday. It may mean picking and choosing what is most applicable to you right now.
