The key to happiness Part 1
I have been fortunate enough to be a fairly happy
individual. To steal a quote from Wyatt Earp in the movie Tombstone
I have always enjoyed educating
myself through reading, doing, and talking to those who have done it. I have
had many opportunities to speak with people in their 70’s, 80’s and even 90’s.
My favorite question to ask someone of that age is “Looking back over your
life, what would you say is the key to happiness?”. Time and time again I have
heard the same thing from many people. Putting together what they have taught
me and what I have experienced I have found that there are two keys with two
pieces per key:
Health:
Physical
Health
Mental
Health
Wealth:
Physical Wealth
Mental Wealth
These are very important keys and
each one has a lot of information to them. I will break it up into weekly
segments. This week, Physical Health…
Physical health is a very
important key to happiness. Especially the older you get. Now I’m not saying
that if you have a debilitating disease or something that you can not be happy.
I know people with health issues that are not a fault of their actions and they
make the best of their situation and that is important.
I have found that physical
activity is a key to happiness now, and in the future. The more you can
physically do as you get older the happier you usually become.
You have heard the phrase, “Use it
or lose it”? This is very true for physical activity. To be physically healthy
a person needs to have a daily regimen of physical activity. Bike riding,
running, weight lifting, walking, so many other options to choose from.
The important thing is fitting it
into your very busy life. The way I have found to make sure I get my exercise
in is to make an appointment. Every day at 4:30am I have an appointment at the
gym. This is an important appointment and I can not cancel it.
I have a routine already figured
out before I get to the gym. You can not be effective in the gym if you just
show up and start doing whatever you find there to do. You should have pen and
paper and specific things you are planning on doing. When you perform an exercise
write down what you did, how long you did it for, what weight you used, and any
other pertinent information. Once you get a good baseline for what you can do,
try to do just a little bit more each time and you will find you will progress
nicely.
Another important piece to be
physically healthy is a proper diet. Fad diets rarely ever work in the long
term, I’m talking about good nutrition for a lifetime. Fruits, vegetables,
vitamin supplements and stuff like that.
There are three important
categories of food. Protein, Fat, and Carbs. There are a lot of opinions out
there about each one of these. I will tell you my take and you can weigh it
with several others and come up with what works for you.
Protein:
I before E except after…. Wait a
minute! Protein isn’t even easy to spell let alone figure out!
Protein is the muscle building
part of your diet. If you lift heavy, you need lots of protein. I have heard
many, many opinions on this. I have found that 1 gram per pound of body weight
works well for me. So if I weigh 200 pounds (nice round number) I need 200
grams of protein per day.
Fat:
Pretty small word for something
that makes a person big!
Healthy fats are important for
Heart health. Many people say a low fat diet is the way to go. Problem with
that is people restrict the good fats with the bad. Bad fats increase cholesterol and your risk of certain
diseases, while good fats protect your heart and support overall health.
§
monounsaturated fats (good fats)
§
polyunsaturated fats (good fats)
§
trans fats (bad fats)
§
saturated fats (bad fats)
Carbs:
And then there is this little category
that has stirred up a storm of controversy in the past 20 years or so.
Carbs are like a religion. People
believe very strongly about no carbs or lots of carbs. Most people with a
strong opinion of carbs can not be swayed from their opinion (and will probably
hate me for calling it an opinion. It’s just a fact damn it!). Arguments break
out all over the internet about carbs (check out fruitarians, or search YouTube
for “Durianrider or Freely the banana girl).
My take on carbs: carbs give a
person quick energy. That is why a runner “carbs up” before a race. If you are
about to expend a lot of energy you need carbs to go off of. There are healthy
carbs and not so healthy carbs but this is already longer than I intended so I won’t
go into that. Basically, the carbs you eat provide energy for your body. When
you eat excessive carbs and your body doesn’t need the energy, it turns it to
fat. Your body stores the fat to use for energy later. Unless you live a very
active lifestyle, I believe limiting your carbs is a good idea. Take it easy, I
didn’t say “no carbs”. Just “low carbs”.
Processed food is not proper
nutrition. If you like to snack on potato chips, try peanuts, cashews, walnuts,
almonds, or some other nut. They are salty and crunchy just like potato chips
but much healthier for you. Nuts are a healthy source of fat and protein. If
you like cheeseburgers, try a hamburger without cheese and no bun. And watch
the condiments; mustard is a good condiment as long as the label doesn’t list a
bunch of other stuff. Ketchup usually has a lot of added sugar. Lettuce,
tomato, pickles, jalapeños (yes, I said jalapeños. I LOVE jalapeños on my
burgers) are all great toppers.
I could go on for a long time on
this but I must stop before this gets long and dry…oops, too late!
I have done extensive research on
diet and exercise and would be happy to share my information. If you have a
question or thought, hit me up…
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