My 10 Top Secrets To A Healthy and Vibrant Life part 1

I have to admit. I LOVE being a personal trainer. Yes, it isn’t the most glamorous job, working with sweaty people, and touching germ infested dumbbells all day long, but it is highly rewarding.

Not only has personal training allowed me to truly help the public and meet some awesome people, being a personal trainer has allowed me to develop a real sense of myself and cultivate a steadfast confidence that most people lack in our otherwise, spineless society.

There’s a very fine line between confidence and arrogance, and I must say, that I’ve learned to walk it with poise.

On one hand, you need to be able to stand your ground and believe in what you preach, and on the other, you need to learn the fine art of cultivating relationships, which can be a bit difficult if you just come off as a plain ol’ JERK.

Being a personal also has it social perks — some people really embrace the fact that they’ve just met a trainer and find you interesting, witty, and knowledgeable. You can quickly become the center of attention in any social setting. Watch out though, because if you’re not careful, you could easily get trapped in a corner with someone hoping you can help them with their shrinking jeans, as they try to suck as much free information out of you in a 20 minute time span.

Then there are those who shy away, thinking that I’m going to call them out in the middle of the party because they’re drinking a Rum and Coke while scarfing down Doritos. No, I would never do that to you.

During these conversations, I also find that people think that I’m a slave to the gym and eat nothing more than rice crackers and salads. Psh! How they couldn’t be more wrong!

So, to help clear up the MISCONCEPTIONS to how I stay healthy, I’ve made a list of my “10 Top Secrets To A Healthy and Vibrant Life”. It was tough whittling it down to only 10. I know just as much as you, that the last thing the fitness/health world needs is another damn Top 10 List. I’m not going to list the 10 top fat burning foods, Top 10 Ab Exercises, To 10 Ways To Lose Weight While, blah blah blah.

Nope. This is MY list. These are the things that I do, the things that have worked for me. I’m not saying that this is going to be YOUR recipe for success. But, it’s worked pretty well for me so far. Hopefully you can take a bit of it for yourself, or inspire you to make a change, or take a stand.

Here’s part 1:

1. I never count calories.

Or weigh my food. NEVER. Uh huh, that’s right. NEVER. I know that may come as a surprise to some people, as most of the nutrition advice that’s floating around is strictly based on the theory of calories in vs. calories out. Although I do feel that most American’s eat way more than what is humanely  appropriate, it is the source of our foods that are more important than the amount.

Pretty plain and simple: 2000 calories of chocolate cake is NOT the same as 2000 calories of whole, unprocessed foods like chicken, buffalo, veggies and fruit. This is why most commercialized diet plans (Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers) fail, because the premise of these plans are strictly calories, regardless of their source.

Over the course of my own path to ideal health (which, has not been easy, as I will tell you guys in future posts), I’ve learned to LISTEN to my body. I’m very in tune to my body, and I know when enough is enough. I know when I need to eat more based on the weather, my stress, and even my hormonal cycles. Part of this intuitiveness also includes the occasional fast — sometimes 12 hours, sometimes 48. But that’s material for a whole other post…

2. I eat bacon, red meat, and dark chocolate. On a REGULAR basis.

Whoever said diamonds were a girl’s best friend obviously wasn’t a woman. Show me a woman who doesn’t get weak around chocolate and I’d be so bold as to pull an Ace Ventura…ha, for those of you who get it, you know what I mean.

But in all seriousness. I do eat bacon and red meat. And I enjoy them thoroughly. All the hype of cholesterol and saturated fat are based on faulty studies and years of government funded ad campaigns that have convinced us that a healthy diet consists of 6-11 servings of grain, cereal and pasta, and hardly any fat. Obviously, this plan has worked for most of America.

I enjoy food, and do not believe in giving up foods I enjoy entirely. However, I do believe that most people can benefit from living a dairy and gluten-free living…but again, that is material for a whole other post…

3. I drink a ton of water.

Now, here is where I do get a little cooky, if you even want to call it that. When it comes to water, I am very particular about the source, and choose to only drink fresh and natural spring water.

No tap water for this girl. Not even Brita filtered tap water.

Call me crazy, but I actually ENJOY taking the hour’s drive to get my water out of a natural spring on the side of the road in the woods of New Hampshire.

Some people knit, some people scrapbook…I hunt for water. Here’s a great site to find a natural spring near you: http://www.FindASpring.com

4. I spend the LEAST amount of time working out as possible.

As much as I love being a personal trainer, the last place I want to spend my free time is the gym. Ugh. Thus, I’ve learned to leverage my time by getting the most out of my workouts.

That means they are quick — usually don’t last more than 45 minutes TOPS, 3 times a week.

Full-body, multi-joint compound exercises done in circuit fashion. Here’s a good example of my style of training, courtesy of my friend, and funny man fitpro, John Romaniello: Dynamic Workout

5. I am a relentless optimist.

My glass is always full. And I work hard to keep it that way. But despite my good intentions to be a positive person, I’ve found that some people strive on sucking out every last drop of optimism I have to offer.

So as a part of staying optimistic, I only surround myself with positive and supportive people. Anybody less isn’t worth keeping in my life.

Trust me, I know. It’s hard to cut ties with people, even if you’ve known them for years. And I’ve had to sever what I thought were good relationships with people because they held me back. But if they are not encouraging you in your life, they are not worth keeping around.

Along with keeping good company, I also enjoy reading inspirational books and listening to uplifting music.

Now, I wouldn’t really consider the last book  I read “inspirational”, unless of course your goal is to have non-committal sex with wanna be actors and midgets, (“My Horizontal Life” by Chelsea Handler), but it sure did make me laugh. And at the end of the day, finding joy and happinness in every day things is really all that matters.

Those are the first 5 of my Top 10. What did you think? And you know what, I’d love to hear some of the ways you strive to stay healthy.

So go ahead, leave them down below. Let’s compare notes.