Living In Convenience

Many food items have become so well accepted that people no longer think of them as convenience foods. A loaf of bread is a good example. Most people today think of convenient foods as packet foods and canned foods.


Convenience means saving time. But there can be a nutritional and monetary cost  for that saving of time. There are several things to consider when evaluating convenience foods and those prepared from “scratch”.    You can compare by adding the cost of the ingredient used in a recipe and dividing the cost by the number of servings.

Talents and wealth may vary from person to person but there is one great equaliser  in life-time. While we are alive, we’ve all been given an equal allotment. We share the same sixty minutes of each hour and the same twenty-four hours of each day. It’s been said that we make room for that which we decide is most important. Choose to be the master of your time and find small, consistent ways to invest in your lifestyle. If you wait until tomorrow, it will never come.

Some years back, I had no control over what I eat  so I became a compulsive, emotional  overeater. I  was out of control with food. Soft drink was my best and I took it everyday. And of course, in the whole bulimia cycle, every time I drank one more bottle than I thought I should, I figure I might as well consume more bottles of the drink and throw up. It was powerfully destructive thinking. Over time I came to believe the lie that the drink  had control over me, worst of all, I had little or no time for physical activities.

If you have battled with your weight for years you may not believe you can ever lose weight and have a perfect shape for your age, sex and height. Lies sabotage us when we begin to believe them, so we must take control of what we allow to enter our brains. Some people get a little concerned that this might be some kind of New Age routine that is obscure and confusing due to it’s complexity. It isn’t. God has designed our brains to respond in specific ways to consistent messages. If these messages are negative or destructive, the results will be negative as well. Get in tune with all the negative messages and programmes and tune them out. Get them out of your life.

It is also appropriate to create healthier messages specific to your personal issues or habits. For example, if you feel compulsive about eating every time you sit down to watch television, give yourself a new message: “When I sit down to watch television, I don’t feel like eating.”  If you tell yourself that message long enough, you will start to change your thinking. This is a simple biological truth about how your brain has been designed.

Develop A New Attitude
Words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I became that life is 10 per cent what happens to us and 90 per cent how we respond to it —Chuck Swindoll.

There are some common attitudes that sabotage your potential for lifestyle. Among others, there is what I termed – The All or Nothing attitude.

This is the attitude that convinces you that Monday is the best day to start a new lifestyle change. And when the next Monday falls at the end of the month, you may as well wait until the first of the next month! All or Nothing thinking leads you to believe that if you aren’t “on” a programme you are off. This attitude says nothing counts unless you are doing it all the way. Nothing is farther from the truth in regards to living a healthy lifestyle. Everything counts. And it’s the small things day after day that make the biggest difference.

Think of your lifestyle journey as a less-than-direct route towards your destination. Imagine you are walking across a room by taking three steps forward and then two steps back. This is what we do in our lives when we are trying to grow. Don’t focus too much on the two steps back. Focus on the three steps forward and celebrate the fact that you are making progress! Yes, progress in every area including physical activities. These few steps will be helpful if you are just beginning.

If you’re new to exercise, you should start with a workout programme that’s specifically designed for those who are just beginning their exercise plan. Beginners need to start out slow. They should initially begin at a pace and time limit that’s comfortable for them. Eventually, they’ll progress and can exercise for at least three days a week!

Morgan Vermiel, a health expert, outlined this easy 12- week exercise  plan  that will turn you into a fitness friendly lady at the end of the day. Even if you can only exercise for five or ten minutes right now, just follow this week-by-week guide, and you’ll be slimmer and fitter in three months:

Week 1: Three days this week, walk for ten minutes. You can do this any way you find comfortable. Some people prefer to walk all ten minutes at once. Others may choose to walk five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening. Choose a pace that’s easy for you. You should be able to carry a conversation while you walk.

Week 2: Three days this week, walk for ten minutes. But walk for ten minutes all at one time! Again, your pace should be comfortable. If you feel you’re exerting yourself too much, don’t be afraid to slow your pace or even stop until you’re rested. If you must, repeat this week until you can comfortably walk ten consecutive minutes.

Week 3: Four days this week, walk for ten minutes. Like last week, you’ll be walking consecutive minutes. However, this time you’ll be adding a fourth day. It’s best to avoid consecutive days–Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday–for your exercise. Get in the habit now of adding a rest day to your schedule. You may decide to walk on Sunday and Monday, then rest on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then walk again on Thursday and Friday.

Week 4: Increase the amount of time you spend walking by two minutes. So four days this week you’ll be walking twelve minutes instead of ten. Feel free to add some light stretching at the end of your walks.

Week 5: You’ll again increase the amount of time you spend walking. For four days this week, walk for fifteen minutes. You’re now exercising for an hour each week!

Week 6: By this time you should be feeling pretty confident, so we’re going to boost your walking time again. Four days this week, walk for eighteen minutes. Add three minutes of light stretching to the end of two of your walks.

Congratulations! You’re halfway through the programme!

Week 7: Four days this week, walk for twenty minutes. One day this week, do five minutes of light strength training. This could be leg lifts, pushups off a wall, bicep curls (use sand-in-bottles as weights) or stomach crunches. It’s best to purchase a book or video to show you how to properly perform these exercises.

Week 8: Three days this week, walk for twenty-five minutes. You’ve dropped back on the number of days you’re walking, but you’ve increased the time by five minutes instead of two or three. Two days this week, do five minutes of light strength training. Don’t forget to do your light stretching after two of your walks.

Week 9: Three days this week, walk for thirty minutes. Congratulations! You’ve completed a full thirty minutes of activity! Two days this week, do ten minutes of light strength training. Take plenty of breaks if needed to keep your workout from being too strenuous. Start stretching after each of your walks.
Week 10: Three days this week, walk for thirty minutes. Again, pick up the pace if you feel comfortable. Two days this week, do twelve minutes of light strength training.

Week 11: This is the week to slightly increase intensity. If you haven’t picked up the pace yet during your walks, try walking just a bit quicker this week. If that isn’t comfortable yet, trying walking briskly just during the first five minutes of your walk. Then you can settle back to your normal pace. Two days this week, do fifteen minutes of strength training. And don’t forget to stretch after your walks!

Week 12: This is your final week! Celebrate your success by walking briskly for thirty minutes three days this week. Do two days of light strength training, and stretch after your walks. You  can now engage in cardio exercise three days each week for thirty minutes, plus you do thirty minutes of strength training each week. As you progress, you can continue to increase the time you spend exercising or you can increase the intensity at which you exercise. Do not increase both time and intensity in one week.

Remember: Always exercise at a pace and intensity level that’s comfortable for you. Do not try to push yourself too hard during the beginning stages.

Let your doctor know your intended exercise plan so he/she can determine if you’re physically able to begin the programme.