Guest Contributor: Noel Flynn from ABC GYM
You may have noticed my absence from the blog last weekend! Maybe you didn’t. So why no blog post Noel? I am not going to lie, I was on a stag and it destroyed me, for a few days at least. Not just physically but also my thoughts and my actions.
Many of you may realise that food and drink has a massive influence on our minds, thoughts and actions. I am writing this today (Sunday Afternoon) a few hours away from the stage where people get the dreaded ‘Sunday Night Fear’ but one wonders what is it that causes this ‘fear’? Perhaps it was the things we put into our bodies over the weekend rather than the hatred of work on Mondays. In fact it is very much a ‘double edged sword’ or ‘catch 22’ situation and I will do my best to explain why in as short and sweet lay man’s terms as I can.
The food and drink we put into our body effects our gut health in positive and negative ways. Our gut is linked to our brains directly through the nervous system. The gut therefore has a massive impact on our mindset and our thoughts.Poor quality foods that effect our gut can make us moody, While foods that our gut reacts well to can make us think positively and energetically.
Here is where that ‘Catch 22’ situation lies.
Usually we need to be positive and in good form in order to eat healthily BUT We need to be eating healthily to influence us to think positively.So where do you get started? It is tough because when we feel like crap the last thing we want to do is make the effort to prepare food or eat healthily but sometimes we need to just listen to the bull**** we tell ourselves and just dig in and make the effort to eat right. Good quality foods will then make us feel better about ourselves and influence our mindsets. I know that is not easy.I am the biggest bluffer myself when it comes to my diet.
About 5 years ago I developed dairy intolerance after consuming dairy with no ill effects my whole life. Now when I have dairy I react by sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes etc, basically I appear like I have a really bad cold……but does it stop me. NO!!! I will avoid milk, I will try and avoid cheese but if someone puts chocolate or ice cream in front of me, I will devour it and to hell with the consequences. For the 2nd weekend in a row I am sitting here with the symptoms of a cold like a pure eejit and I do feel sorry for myself and say to myself I better get this looked at, I better go to the doctor but the reality is on Friday night I had Chocolate Biscuit Cake and lots of it and last night I had most of the pack of Chocolate Kimberly biscuits but yet I am telling myself I need to go see a doctor. It is laughable….But yet so many of us self sabotage in our own way.
Those who are overweight or want to burn bodyfat will blame their gym or their trainer but are binging on food, drinking and will not go to bed on time, But it is easier to blame someone else.
Then there is those who put things off. “I really need to lose weight, and I am actually so determined right now, I think I will make an appointment for Monday, oh but Monday is the 10th of October, I am going away for a few Days in November, is there any point in doing anything before then, probably not, and sure then it is nearly December and that will be manic, so there is no point doing anything then, I might as well wait til January because I will have nothing on then and make a right go of things, but wait there is a Hens at the start of February, leaving me with 2 months to get into shape for a wedding in April….but is that enough time, ah feck it I’ll leave it”
Read that again and think to yourself have you ever done that in any situation in your life?
That is a genuine conversation but only one person was talking. Maybe you talk like that and at this time of year so many people do talk like that. And it is such nonsense and we wonder why we are one of the fattest nations in the world?But that’s the governments fault!!!! Get my drift?
Habit based nutrition is the best way to improve the way you eat but it is not a quick fix and people are too eager for the quick fix and that is why there are so many weight loss programmes eager to take advantage of people. The first habit I would suggest to you is to slow down, take time and think in a number of ways.
Have you taken the time to arrange or prepare your food?
This is a major excuse but for me I do not have that as an excuse any more since I started ordering prepared meals from the Dublin Meat Company (we even arranged a discount code for you guys a few weeks ago) but perhaps you are someone who likes to cook and prepare meals and that is even better if you will do that.
The next thing is to slow down when you eat. This is twofold, 1) is to slow down and take time out to eat rather than always eating on the go and in a rush, and 2) is to slow down the process of actually eating your food. Do you gobble your food down?Or do you eat nice and slowly? I want you to take time over the next few days to analyse that and see what you do?
The benefits of eating slowly are enormous but I will give you a few: When you eat really, really slowly you give yourself the time to think, in this time, 3 things happen. 1) You think to yourself is this something I should be eating and you may reconsider and put it down, 2) You give your food time to register with your brain and your brain will tell you that you are full and will eat less and 3) foods like pringles that are designed to be eaten fast and have a ‘crunch effect’ which is appealing to our brain, will not taste as good if they are individually chewed and the examples in 1 & 2 will kick in.
So to finish the 1st habit I want you to develop around your food is slow down, take time and think.
No it is not a quick fix but I think we established that this blog would never do that.
You can follow Noel on Snapchat on @abcgym and on Instagram here.
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