CAN MARGARITAS BE A PART OF YOUR WELLNESS PROGRAM?

CAN MARGARITAS BE A PART OF YOUR WELLNESS PROGRAM?

It's a funny thing being a fitness coach as many people have misconceptions about my lifestyle. They think I must be some sort of “fitness nazi” who live an austere life devoid of any hedonistic pleasures. Chocolate? Heaven no! Butter? No way! Alcohol? God forbid! The presumption is that I eat only “healthy” food and spend 5 hours a day exercising (10 on Sundays). It's assumed I would never contaminate my body with “evil substances” such as fat, alcohol, and sugar.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. I've also developed quite a reputation for my blended lime margaritas. Ask the guests who attended our summer barbeques and I'm sure they'll vouch for my margs!

How is this possible? Genetics does play a role but that can only account for about 30% of the results. Environment and personal decisions play just as an important role because they help determine how your genes express themselves.

North Americans are notorious for looking at other cultures' diets and trying to find a secret ingredient that is the key to health, youth & vitality. We've looked at the Okinawa diet, the Mediterranean diet, and the French diet trying to find that magic bullet that will allow us to have perfect health.

A Mediterranean type diet and low-carb diet. The low carb group lost the most weight (10.3) lbs), followed by the Mediterranean group (10) libs.) and low-fat group (6.5lbs.). The low-carb group also had the best improvement in cholesterol levels whilethe Mediterranean group had the greatest improvement in the blood sugar levels.

Western science is very narrow-minded in its approach. It generally tries to break everything down into parts to understand how things work. An eagle-eye perspective is needed to tie together the data collected by a microscopic view.

There are three major similiarities between the cultures of the three diets I mentioned above (the Okinawa (Japanese), the Mediterranean and the French) that can help explain the health of their people:

(1)the sense of community foiund in these cultures
(2)a slower pace of life and less stress than the typical North American lifestyle
(3)an emphasis of real (high quality) food versus processed (poor quality) food

The lower stress levels of the French goes a long way to explaining the apparent paradox of their diet which can include many rich foods such as cheese and butter. The point I'm making is it's not simply what foods these people eat that's important but the quality of the food itself and the environment they eat in are equally important.

Getting back to my situation, yes I enjoy chocolate, beer, red meat, cheese and margaritas. But I don't use these foods as a way of dealing with stress which is what many people do with things like alcohol and chocolate. I use exercise, meditation and other techniques to handle the stresses of modern life and allow myself to enjoy these “bad” substances when relaxing and having fun with friends.

And keep in mind what the researchers from the three-diet study concluded; there is no one diet that is right for everyone. So experiment for yourself and enjoy an occasional margarita!