It’s hard to fully comprehend the fact that Barack Hussein Obama is the President of the United States. We now have a President whose experience is shaped by a multiracial, multicultural and international heritage. I could be biased, but how refreshing.
After his inauguration speech I settled down to write an article about fitness when it finally hit me: there will black kids playing on the White House Lawn.
Never before has there been an American leader of Obama’s stature who reflects the face of an increasingly globally interdependent planet;
Never before have we had a leader that fundamentally challenges the ignorant assumptions of class and race that have determined a narrow corridor of ideas that have limited our palate of choices;
Never before have we had a president so fit. His passion for fitness won him the title of “Fittest Man in America“.
We are all aware of the increasingly alarming (and expanding) state of the American waistline. We can blame a myriad of factors, ranging from poor eating habits to sedentary lifestyles. Childhood obesity, or fat-ass children as I prefer to call it, is so serious that half the TV specials I watched last year pertained to that.
How can we change that? Here are ten tips to kick-start your way to better health.
1. Move it or lose it (the no-brainer)
30 minutes (up to 60) of pushing your body beyond what it’s used to doing.
2. Stop putting up with stuff that’s holding you back from being healthy, fit, and energized. Why waste your happiness, health, time, and energy when you don’t need to in the first place?
3. Fruits and veggies. Get five to seven servings of fruits and veggies a day.
4. Simplify your life, immediately. Our lives are too jam-packed with projects, goals, ideas, coulds, shoulds, have-to’s, commitments, concerns, obligations.
5. Take a multi-vitamin. Your insurance policy to get the nutrition your body craves.
6. Create and use 10 Daily Habits. There is a daily routine which will keep you focused, clear, motivated, and moving forward – your 10 Daily Habits. These are the things you do each day which make your life better.
7. Get your Zzzzz’s. Depriving yourself of sleep (okay, I’m guilty of this, too) not only makes you grumpy and less productive but may also age you prematurely and promote serious illnesses like diabetes and hypertension.
9. Feed your body well, and feed it often. If you want plenty of energy in addition to boosting your metabolism, eat 4-6 small meals a day instead of 3.
10. Drink your water! Drink at least eight glasses of water a day – even a slight dehydration can make you feel lethargic.
Raise your standards. How many of you would like to feel very, very good about yourself, and others, too? Be irresistibly attractive to high quality people? Have “high-as-a-kite” self-esteem and self-worth?
Find a role model whose qualities and behavior you admire. Try Obama, he seems like a good candidate. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel; what standards could you raise so you can be more like them, and still fit you?