Are Your Habits Past Their Expiration Date?

The other day while I was waiting for an appointment, I was thumbing through a popular women's health and fitness magazine. One article that caught my attention was written by a women who had just gone through a bad break-up with her boyfriend. As she was wallowing in Haagen-Dazs ice cream and self-pity, her Dad put it all in perspective when he simply said: "I guess relationships have an expiration date." It was then she realized she that she held on to her boyfriend longer than she should and like sour milk, it was time throw out the toxic substances in her life and re-emerge healthier and happier. (Cue the inspirational music.)

Anyway, this got me thinking about the nutrition habits in our life. People often cling to unhealthy habits because they're as comfortable as an old pair of sweatpants. Though we perceive that it's easier to keep doing the "same old same old" with our eating, eventually we do pay a price for our unhealthy habits - whether that be not looking how we want, not feeling as well, or having health problems. (Think back to having to put on a pair of pants with an actual zipper after days of eating our way through snowpocalypse - not pretty.)

So I challenge you to ask yourself two questions:

1. Which of my eating habits are way past their expiration date?

2. What nutrition patterns need to be discarded so I can look and feel my best?

Awareness is the first step before true change can begin.

Need help answering these questions and moving forward? I'm always here to help.

Top 15 Ways to Get Unhealthy & Be in the Worst Shape of Your Life

Now that I've got your attention, you're probably thinking "Mary has lost it and gone to the dark side." Not quite. A colleague of mine sent me a link to the website Sports Fitness Solutions. (Thanks Margie!) Check out this website as it has great strength & conditioning programs for a number of sports. I found this list in their blog and thought it would be a fun change of pace to hear all the top things to do to get unhealthy and as he puts it become a "physical mess." I'm enclosing this list here, but check out their blog for more interesting articles on fitness & motivation.

Top 15 Ways to Become Unhealthy & in the Worst Shape of Your Life

1. Eat two meals a day and make sure you skip breakfast totally. If you MUST eat breakfast for whatever reason, make sure you eat a lot of high sugar and high fat foods, such as sticky buns, French Toast, and Pancakes with syrup.

2. Make sure the two meals you eat are full of mostly sugar, and processed ingredients. If you need some help with this, eat lots of high sugary carbs that are found in packages.

3. Do your best to be as inactive as possible each day. If you work at a desk job, stay there as much as possible. Get rides to and from your destination and make sure you get a parking spot as close to your door as possible.

4. Eat very late at night, and be sure to eat only fatty foods that are filled with high amounts of saturated fat, sugar, and white flour. Make sure you more than you should, especially before you go to bed.

5. Drink a lot of alcohol each night. Beer, mixed drinks, whatever, just make sure it’s more than you need. Don’t ever just have a “few”…drink to excess. Always follow your alcoholic binging with the suggestions from number 4, above.

6. Never lift weights, stretch, or in any way get your heart rate up. That means no running, walking more than necessary, and no working out at all. EVER.

7. Do not listen to your body, when your body hurts, pay no attention to the pain, just push through it, and try not to do anything to make it better. Do nothing to correct it.

8. Watch a lot of TV. In fact spend all of your spare time watching TV or surfing the net. ALWAYS have some kind of fatty, high calorie snack with you while you are watching or surfing. Some great choices are cookies, M & M’s, chips, wings, and ice cream.

9. Drink everything except water. Make sure that all of your liquid intake, other than alcohol, are liquids that are loaded with sugar. Sodas are your best choice here.

10. DO NOT eat VEGGIES or Fruit. If you must eat fruit, make sure it comes in a can and is packed in syrup. If you must eat fresh fruit, make sure to dip it in chocolate, honey or some other kind of high sugar, high fat food. If you are forced to eat veggies, spread a ton of butter or cheese over them.

11. Smoke everyday, and smoke a lot. Fill your lungs with thick smoke as much as possible. If you can do this WHILE you are drinking alcohol, even better.

12. Stay up very late eating, and watching TV; and wake up early each morning. Make sure you are always tired and never get enough sleep.

13. Eliminate all fiber from your diet. If you eat mostly fatty processed foods, you should be good here.

14. Never wash your hands throughout the day. This goes for after you go to the bathroom too.

15. No vitamin or mineral supplements whatsoever. Don’t supplement your already crappy diet with anything that might help your health.


I hope you enjoyed this light-hearted look at the habits that make us unhealthy. If a number of these ring true for you, try to work on one item at a time to turn it around. And as always, I'm here to help.