Carol Plumley

Wednesday, January 16, 2019

4 Components To A Healthy Lifestyle

Living a healthy lifestyle doesn't mean hours of training at the gym and eating only salad leaves. It's about making easy-to-manage healthy choices in your day-to-day living.

If you have ever tried to dramatically change your lifestyle you know how difficult it can be. It takes major discipline and there are so many options, fads, supplements and ads trying to get your attention stating "quick weight loss" or "30 pounds in 30 days" or "this is the miracle lifestyle". Creating a healthy, balanced lifestyle is a journey with many different components that must work together to achieve results. Whether you are wanting to completely transform your body, just be more active, cut out some bad habits or regain your energy, each of these components must be taken into consideration. Having a plan in place and the support you need will lead you to success.

Here we are discussing the 4 main components to achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

#1. Diet– consciously choosing what you put in your body on a daily basis is the starting point to creating a healthy body and mind. It is evident that some foods make you feel good and others don't. Becoming aware of which is which for you personally will help your overall wellbeing. Putting a basic meal plan in place, that is easy to follow and prepare is key to setting yourself up for success.

#2. Exercise– whether it is making simple choices like taking the stairs, parking farther away from the entrance, going to a fitness class twice a week or putting a daily gym routine in place, doing more exercise daily will make you more energized, alert and focused. We all have stress in our lives, exercise is a natural stress release. Where ever you can fit exercise into your daily routine you will thank yourself down the road.

#3. Sleep– the quality of sleep and the amount are both important when considering this component. Your mind and body require rest to function effectively. As the amount of sleep we need changes as we age so does the quality of the sleep we are getting. Being conscious of our sleeping patterns and getting what we need allows us to be highly productive, function people for our families, our job and our selves.

#4. Thoughts– this component is arguably the most important and the one that is most affected by all the others. Have you noticed that if your diet is full of sugary carbohydrates or processed foods that its difficult for you to concentrate on a task? Have you noticed that when you are hungry you don't treat people the way that you normally would? Have you noticed that when you exercise it is easier for you to focus and complete tasks? Have you noticed that when you are tired you are more irritable then normal? Have you noticed that with a lacking combination of each of these components anxiety can set in?

These are examples of how important lifestyle is when it comes to clear thinking. When our thoughts are clear and positive so are our actions, reactions and even the situations we encounter. Being aware of your thoughts and why they are there is the ultimate component of wellbeing.

Looking for support to implement and maintain a healthy lifestyle? We are here to help. Talk to our providers about the options we have to offer to support your healthy lifestyle journey.

To make an appointment at any one of our offices please call 817-345-0303.

The post 4 Components To A Healthy Lifestyle appeared first on T Off Men's Health and Wellness.

ObamaCare Open enrollment v6.0: Anecdata version

We know that anecdotes ≠ data, but this item (to which we were alerted by co-blogger Bob V) provides some helpful, personal perspective:

"Last week, we asked you to send in details of the insurance plans you purchased on the Affordable Care Act exchanges. We received more than 70 messages, mostly all with the same theme: This sh*t is too expensive, and it sucks."

Well, we've been saying that for years now, but welcome to the party!

There are a bunch of interesting example, none of which were surprising to longtime O'Care observers.

Feel free to share your own experiences in our comments section.

4 Components To A Healthy Lifestyle

Living a healthy lifestyle doesn't mean hours of training at the gym and eating only salad leaves. It's about making easy-to-manage healthy choices in your day-to-day living.

Here we are discussing the 4 main components to achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Looking for support to implement and maintain a healthy lifestyle? We are here to help. Talk to our providers about the options we have to offer to support your healthy lifestyle journey.

To make an appointment at any one of our offices please call 817-345-0303.

The post 4 Components To A Healthy Lifestyle appeared first on T Off Men's Health and Wellness.

4 Components To A Healthy Lifestyle

Living a healthy lifestyle doesn't mean hours of training at the gym and eating only salad leaves. It's about making easy-to-manage healthy choices in your day-to-day living.

Here we are discussing the 4 main components to achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Looking for support to implement and maintain a healthy lifestyle? We are here to help. Talk to our providers about the options we have to offer to support your healthy lifestyle journey.

To make an appointment at any one of our offices please call 817-345-0303.

The post 4 Components To A Healthy Lifestyle appeared first on T Off Men's Health and Wellness.

The Temptation of Old Beliefs

When I reflect on that time of leaving the Doctor's office, I realized it needed to happen. The exact way it did. And it happening was the single largest motivator going forward. I remember walking in my home and seeing the rejection letter to my novel. The Unexpected Victim. I saw it cause at one time I embraced defeat by framing it.

Now I will again!

The moment settled and I genuinely made a conscientious decision that I would frame that moment in time in my head. 432 pounds would not haunt me so bad that it would blow me off my schedule. Like I said that the next few days the workouts sucked but I went. The diet was harder but I made it.

That number does haunt me, but differently than even I expected. I use it for the leverage to get me out of bed. Every morning was the same wake up 7 am or 7:30 am feed the dog and get ready to go to gym.

During the beginning time I was also having horrendous stomach issues.

I recently learned that is due to ketosis and how fasting launches you into ketosis easier than many other diets. I would eat a first meal and within two hours I am in the bathroom feeling like I dying.

So this may be too much info for many but if you try Intermittent Fasting (IF) make sure you have very soft toilet tissue. It can be completely overwhelming and after four days of this routine of eating and rushing to the bathroom. I was very tempted to just stop. Day 5 comes and it starts to level out.

I do a ton of research and solve many of the other problems I was having. I found my energy was very high. My workout recovery was very fast and this became a problem in my head. I was doggedly trying to force my old knowledge into this new set of information.

What's Next? Talk with others. Take action.

We are proud of our SOCIAL INTEREST GROUPS-WEEKLY PHONE CALLS to discuss, gain insights, build communities- and help solve some of the most difficult challenges the world has today. Calls are for Members Only (although you can join the first call for free). Not yet a member of The Good Men Project? Join below!

RSVP for Mental Wellness Calls
-

Join the Mental Wellness FACEBOOK GROUP here.

Join The Good Men Project Community

All levels get to view The Good Men Project site AD-FREE. The $50 Platinum Level is an ALL-ACCESS PASS-join as many groups and classes as you want for the entire year. The $25 Gold Level gives you access to any ONE Social Interest Group and ONE Class–and other benefits listed below the form. Or…for $12, join as a Bronze Member and support our mission, and have a great ad-free viewing experience.

Register New Account

Please note: If you are already a writer/contributor at The Good Men Project, log in here before registering. (Request new password if needed).

◊♦◊

ANNUAL PLATINUM membership ($50 per year) includes:
1. AN ALL ACCESS PASS - Join ANY and ALL of our weekly calls, Social Interest Groups, classes, workshops and private Facebook groups. We have at least one group phone call or online class every day of the week.
2. See the website with no ads when logged in!
3. MEMBER commenting badge.
***
ANNUAL GOLD membership ($25 per year) includes all the benefits above - but only ONE Weekly Social Interest Group and ONE class.
***
ANNUAL BRONZE membership ($12 per year) is great if you are not ready to join the full conversation but want to support our mission anyway. You'll still get a BRONZE commenting badge, and you can pop into any of our weekly Friday Calls with the Publisher when you have time. This is for people who believe-like we do-that this conversation about men and changing roles and goodness in the 21st century is one of the most important conversations you can have today.

♦◊♦

We have pioneered the largest worldwide conversation about what it means to be a good man in the 21st century. Your support of our work is inspiring and invaluable.

Photo: Shutterstock

The post The Temptation of Old Beliefs appeared first on The Good Men Project.

The New Men's Movement and the Next Generation of Leaders

The men's movement began for me in 1969 when my first son, Jemal, was born. When I held him for the first time, I made a vow that I would be a different kind of father than my father was able to be for me and I would do everything I could to change the world and help men break out of the man box that had nearly killed my father.

At the time, most men thought there was no need for a men's movement in support of men. Weren't men in control? It was women who needed liberation from the restrictive roles that caused them to be less than they could be. My wife was drawn to the women's liberation movement and we both read Betty Friedan's 1963 book, The Feminine Mystique. I still have my copy with the $.75 price sticker with the quote from anthropologist Ashley Montague. "This is the book we have been waiting for…the wisest, sanest, soundest, most understanding and compassionate treatment of contemporary American woman's greatest problem…a triumph."

She described the "problem that has no name" as women who are fulfilling their family roles and wondering "is this all there is?" I realized that "the problem that has no name" was a men's problem as well as a women's problem. While my wife found support in the women's liberation movement, I supported her while wishing there was something that focused on men.

It took me three years to join my first men's group in 1972 and three more years before there was the beginning of an organized men's movement. I missed attending "The First National Conference on Men and Masculinity" at the University of Tennessee in 1975, but attended the second National Conference at State College in Pennsylvania the following year.

Over the years I have attended many more conferences, but it became clear to me that unlike the women's movement, the men's movement was quieter, less formally organized, more local, and hadn't really connected with a large portion of the male population.

That is beginning to change. New programs are developing under the auspice of the Mankind Project (MKP) and an exciting new program called Evryman. In a recent article in the New York Times, writer Hannah Seligson says, "MKP has 24 chapters in the United States and 11 regions abroad. It focuses on men's emotional well-being, drawing on elements like Carl Jung's theories of the psyche, nonviolent communication, breath work, Native American customs, and good old-fashioned male bonding. Minus ogling women, drinking or fist fighting, of course."

Evryman was started in 2016 and is now a B Corp (a business with a codified social mission). Evryman has grown to over 800 men in around 85 groups across 50 cities."

I first met Evryman, co-founder, Dan Doty, in 2017 when he asked me to do an interview for one of their first podcasts. Dan was interested in my long-time experience doing men's work and I was excited to hear about the success of their new programs and their ability to engage a younger generation of men. He told me that Evryman had a goal of helping 1 million men over the next five years and they had a team of entrepreneurs who were dedicated to the mission.

One of the most exciting programs they offer are expeditions into beautiful parts of our country. Dan is one of the main leads on these retreats. One expedition was described in a recent article in Men's Health magazine. "We're standing in a clearing in Big Sky, Montana, the most appropriately named town in America. It's 20 minutes to sunset and the clouds are just starting to turn purple around the edges. From where we are, you can turn 360 degrees and see for miles in every direction. The tall grass gives way to dense pine trees, which give way to jutting, snow-capped mountains that seem to prop up the big-no, massive-sky."

Dan is meeting with twenty guys from all walks of life who are looking for something more–a deeper experience of who they are as men and a desire to break through old barriers that have kept them from connecting with themselves and others. "Nice work, guys." Dan tells the men. "Get to the edge of your comfort zone and then go a little past it," he continues. "Let yourself open up."

Nate Green, the writer of the Men's Health article who went on the expedition as a participant describes Dan this way. "Dan is 36 years old, muscular, with reddish-brown hair and a full beard. For the past hour, he's been walking around in bare feet. Give him a cardigan sweater and a White Russian and he could pass for an outdoorsy version of the Dude from The Big Lebowski."

Green says, "The men here occupy different rungs on the socioeconomic ladder and come from all over the country. There's a woodworker from Seattle. A recently fired hedge-fund manager from Manhattan. There's a project coordinator from Iowa, a medical-cannabis grower from Arizona, and a guy who owns an Italian restaurant in Queens. At least four guys are ex-military. We have different jobs, different religions, and different numbers in our bank accounts."

At a time when our disconnections cause everything from depression and hopelessness, to rage and violence, men are hungry to reconnect with our ancient roots and be led by experienced men who are committed to our well-being.

I asked Dan how he got started doing this important work. "My first career was as a wilderness guide in therapeutic and correctional programs," he told me. "I spent hundreds and hundreds of days with hundreds of boys, hiking climbing, camping, paddling, and LIVING–and it was one of the most important things I've ever done in my life."

When Dan and I and first talked, we bonded immediately as fathers, each of us with children who meant the world to us and we both have gotten deep nourishment from being in nature. "I am personally most happy, alive, and fulfilled under the wild and untamed sky. Something in me ignites and I've seen it happen for hundreds of men of all ages. These Evryman Expeditions are explicitly designed to get men in touch with themselves, each other and nature. It's a very natural process, and the backcountry of Yellowstone and Glacier are about as raw and wild as it gets these days."

Evryman is part of the new men's movement that is expanding what it means to be a healthy man in today's world and to help men break out of restrictive roles.

Dan and the guys at Evryman are the leaders who are ready to embrace the new men's movement. You can reach them at https://evryman.com/.

The post The New Men's Movement and the Next Generation of Leaders appeared first on MenAlive.

4 Components To A Healthy Lifestyle

Living a healthy lifestyle doesn't mean hours of training at the gym and eating only salad leaves. It's about making easy-to-manage healthy choices in your day-to-day living.

Here we are discussing the 4 main components to achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Looking for support to implement and maintain a healthy lifestyle? We are here to help. Talk to our providers about the options we have to offer to support your healthy lifestyle journey.

To make an appointment at any one of our offices please call 817-345-0303.

The post 4 Components To A Healthy Lifestyle appeared first on T Off Men's Health and Wellness.