Self-Discipline and Personal Health
There is no area in which self-discipline is more important than in your practices regarding your health.
Your number one goal for
yourself should be to live as long and as well as you possibly can.
Your goal should be to defy the averages and live to age ninety, ninety-five, or even longer
Living a Long Life
Today, most causes of early death that had shortened life in the past
have been eliminated in the industrialized world.
You cannot predict or protect against the unpredictable, like random accidents, but you can use your self-discipline to control the controllable in your life.
The predominant causes of early deaths today are heart disease, cancer of all kinds, diabetes, and traffic deaths, all of which are subject to your control to a certain extent.
Seven Key Health Habits
Eat regularly rather than fasting, starving, or gorging
Eat lightly: Overeating makes you tired and sluggish, whereas eating lightly makes you feel healthy and alert.
Don’t snack between meals: When you eat, your body has to break down and digest the foods in your stomach so that they can move into your small intestine.beneficial to your overall health.
Exercise regularly: The ideal is about thirty minutes a day, or two hundred minutes per week
Wear a seatbelt: Right up to age thirty-five, the most common cause of premature death is traffic accidents.
Don’t smoke: Smoking is correlated with thirty-two different illnesses including lung cancer, eso - phageal cancer, throat cancer, stomach cancer, heart disease and a variety of other ailments.
Drink alcohol in moderation: Studies show that one to two glasses of wine per day aid digestion and seem to be
The Five Ps of Excellent Health
Proper weight: This requires the regular exercise of discipline and willpower in order to achieve your proper weight and then to maintain it throughout your life, but the payoff is tremendous.
Proper diet: As Benjamin Franklin said, “Eat to live, rather than live to eat.”
Proper exercise: The most important exercise for long life is aerobic exercise.
Proper rest: This is very important. More than 60 percent of adults do not get enough sleep. They are suffering from what is called a “sleep deficit.”
Proper attitude: This is perhaps the most important of all. The quality that is most predictive of health, happiness, and long life is “optimism.”
as a result, they are seldom sick. They seldom get colds or flu. They bounce back quickly from hard work or fatigue. An optimistic person has a built-in “Teflon shield” against many of the diseases and ailments that affect the average person.
Get Your Weight Under Control
The biggest single problem with self-discipline that people have today is overeating and becoming overweight.
You have heard it said that “diets don’t work.” What this really means is that when you starve yourself to lose weight, you will tend to put the weight back on almost as quickly as you lost it. There are many reasons for this.
This metabolic rate is set over the course of your lifetime by the amount of food you eat relative to the amount of exercise you do to work it off.
Change Your Set Point
the first thing you do is to create a clear mental image of how you will look when you are at your ideal weight.
Remember, if you are overweight, it has taken you many years to get to where you are today. Be prepared to invest a lot of time in getting back.
The Fatal Flaw in Dieting
Many people diet and lose weight with the idea that as soon as they have dropped a certain number of pounds, they can reward themselves by going out and having a fabulous meal or consuming unlimited desserts.
Decide instead to buy yourself new clothes that will fit you only at your ideal weight.
Take yourself and your family on a vacation where you engage in fun activities. Make a bet with someone that you will take off the weight and keep it off for one year.
The Formula for Permanent Weight Loss
The only way that you can lose weight permanently is to burn off more calories than you consume. There is no other way
Get Rid of Sugar. To lose weight permanently and to enjoy high levels of health and energy, you should eliminate all simple sugars from your diet
The fact is that you require no additional sugar to enjoy superb levels of physical health
Pass on the Salt. In addition, you should eliminate all additional salt from your diet
When you stop consuming excess salt and simultaneously drink eight glasses of water per day, your body releases all the excess fluid and you can actually experience weight drops of as much as four or five pounds in the first day.
Avoid White Flour Products. Finally, eliminate all white flour products from your diet. This means all breads, pastries, pastas, buns, rolls, and anything else made with white flour.
Live to Be One Hundred
Your goal in life should be to enjoy the highest levels of health and energy possible. This requires that you eat the right foods and fewer of them.
you must maintain a positive mental attitude in which you look for the good in every situation and remain determined to be a completely positive person.
the exertion of self-discipline and willpower
will give you payoffs that are far beyond the effort that you put in.
It requires that you get regular exercise and move every joint of your body every single day.