Month: December 2014

Disclaimer: Please remember if you have any medical condition such as high or low blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, or any other condition or are dealing with depression, to discuss with your doctor what nutrition you need and other interventions that they recommend This information is not intended as medical advice.
Many people struggle with the holidays, whether it is with emotions, weight management, lack of sleep, poor nutrition, financial struggles or other ailments.
Nutrition to boost your immune system and mood:
• Vitamin C; has antioxidants that help keep you from getting run down or sick.
• Potassium: eating foods rich in potassium helps to keep your blood pressure under control (if you have low blood pressure or kidney issues, check with your doctor or dietician as to how much potassium you should consume each day- for some people too much can be dangerous, but most of us are not getting enough).
• Vitamin D: helps to prevent depression.
• Zinc: nuts (in moderation) are a great addition to your holidays, they are rich in zinc which is loaded with antioxidants, as well as protein to keep you satiated before heading to the potluck. There are also studies that link eating 2 small handfuls of cashews to staving off depression (they also have tryptophan in them which is believed to produce serotonin).
• This is a great time of year to add a Nutriblast smoothie to your daily routine (only veggies, fruit and water and maybe some nuts or flax for a boost). Focus on fruits such as blueberries, apples, berries. Toss in a little kale and spinach. Ask Santa for a Bullet or Ninja blender if you don’t have one and then USE IT.
Herbs and spices to add to your diet:
• Cinnamon: maintains blood pressure, blunts blood sugar spikes when you eat it with sweets.
• Ginger: fights cold symptoms, helps with digestion.
• Turmeric: anti-inflammatory. May help with pain management.
Get enough sleep: Make sure you are getting enough sleep. Chronic sleep deprivation is known to increase your stress and cortisol levels in your body and can greatly impact your mood. Lack of sleep can also increase your risk for having a car accident, puts you at risk for many diseases and can amplify symptoms.
Don’t wait until New Year’s to make healthy choices: Your body doesn’t know the date. Start now. Don’t let your current fitness and nutrition plan fall to the wayside. Stay healthy. The holidays are not a good time to make major transformations, but a time to try to maintain health and fitness. Keep going to the gym, eat clean.
Make “better” bad choices when you go to parties: Eat the veggie tray and turkey slices at parties rather than the cheese plate and meatballs. If you must have the cheese/meatball/cookie/fudge or whatever treat you tell yourself you just can’t live without, have a taste of it, not a 2,000 calorie serving.
Keep emotional and financial struggle at bay: The best advice I can give to anyone who may be struggling is to keep focused on the positive, albeit hard to do sometimes. Find things to keep you busy, like networking events and parties, without over-burdening yourself and becoming harried. Don’t over spend. Nobody needs a WII or and IPhone more than you need to pay your bills. Stay healthy. The holidays are not a good time to make major transformations, but a time to try to maintain health and fitness. Keep going to the gym, eat clean. Make “better” bad choices when you go to parties.

Follow me on Facebook for tips throughout the holidays: https://www.facebook.com/liz.jones.1441810
Liz Jones is a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

“What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.”
― Maya Angelou, Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now
Today I decided to go on a complaint purge and excuse exorcism. I am true believer that what we focus on is what we manifest in our lives to some point and I’ve learned from many different sources that living a life of gratitude and positivity really is the key to our happiness. Yet… I still complain. When I come home from work and see that there dirty dishes left on a counter, garbage sitting on the kitchen table, or dirty socks on the floor, my complaint detector goes off, my eyes squint into my “resentment evil eye” and a loud sigh probably comes out of my mouth- or something else comes out. Sometimes my aggravated complaining has been an effective tool for getting things done, like when the house needed to be painted but most of the time, it just frustrates me and gets me nowhere.
We all have things that we can complain about if we focus on them, especially the things that are repeat offenders (see above complaints). Although I am a wellness professional and I know doing things like creating a gratitude journal or list is one way to help focus on the blessings in life and to keep the mind from obsessing in a pity party and finding excuses for not reaching our goals or not being happy, even I couldn’t just go “cold turkey.” Anyone that knows me will tell you I have no poker face, I can’t pretend nice, I ooze annoyance if I get agitated. So I decided for day one, I would not complain for week starting with no complaints….out loud. I started a list of things that annoyed me when I walked in the door once I got home. And yes, all of the usual daily culprits were present. But although I was still annoyed, I didn’t say anything, just wrote it on my “if I was going to complain” list. That seemed to help. My next step is to focus on the things that I am grateful for. Then to be accountable for things I can do something about and to accept the things that I have no control over.
Chronic complaining is the reason many of us don’t reach goals that we set for ourselves in fitness, at work, in relationships. “I’m too tired to workout,” “I’m too busy,” “All men are (fill in the blank),” “my scanner didn’t work so I couldn’t complete my project (this happened today too, but I found an alternative scanner).” Fill in your complaints here that lead to excuses as to why you haven’t reached your goals.
Take a few minute and have a complaint purge. Write down all the things that bug you. Now write down all the excuses you have for not reaching your goals (bad genes, kids take up too much time, unsupportive spouse, work too much, etc.). Get it all out… let the excuse exorcism come forth! Tomorrow take that list and decide what you have control over and what you can take accountability for. Really own it, empower yourself to make changes. The day after that, begin the gratitude list. Try it for a week and if you find complaints keep coming back up, go back to step one. Let me know how it goes and what results you get!

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

The New Year is a time for new beginnings!
As we approach the New Year, I’d first like to say, I am not an advocate of “New Year’s Resolutions.” I believe that leaving something as just a resolution is the reason many people fail in their efforts by February or March of each year. Although making a resolution is a small part of an effective goal plan. To set your resolve means to express your opinion or determining a course of action. That is the first step in reaching your goals. Decide what it is you want to change or accomplish, but there are many more steps that you may need to take to reach the destination that you are going for.
First- set that goal and set your intention set measurable goals, set a timeline.
Then spend some time thinking about WHY you want to accomplish that goal. If weight loss is your goal (or to stop smoking, drink less, love more, stress relief, financial responsibility, etc.), write down your reasons for changing. Is it to look better, feel better, better health, to see your children or grandchildren grow up, to improve your relationship, to increase your joy, to be better able to care for others. Why is making the change important to you?
Next- let go of the past. Forgiveness of self and others, moving forward to the new you and your new life are the only way to leave old patterns in the dust. Whether it is a pattern of always driving through McDonalds, dating the “wrong” people, wallowing in self-pity, chronic poverty or living paycheck to paycheck- stop telling yourself that is your story. Envision what you want your life to look like, not what you don’t want. Let go of resentment and fear. Our own minds and the stories we tell ourselves are what hold us back, more so than our situation and certainly more than anyone else.
Think about how you will overcome barriers. Realize struggle is part of the journey. If achieving all of your goals was easy, everyone would be rich, fit, and madly in love. Realize all the accomplishments you have made in the past. You have achieved things, you have overcome things. There is no reason that you can’t have everything you desire if it’s what is best for you and what you are meant to have.
Wishing you peace, love, strength and health in the New Year.
Follow me on Facebook for tips: https://www.facebook.com/liz.jones.1441810

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

Currently I’m in the process of reading a few different books, the well-known book by Napoleon Hill, “Think and Grow Rich,” the latest and greatest in the yoga world, Baron Baptiste’s, “40 Days to Personal Transformation,” as well as “Buddha’s Brain- the practical neuroscience of happiness, love and wisdom,” by Richard Hanson, PH. D. and Richard Mendius, MD, and “SPARK- the Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain,” by John J. Ratey, MD. It’s probably clear what the common thread is with all of these books… the brain and its connection to exercise and transformation.
The first step in any kind of program, or any life change, is getting your thoughts in order. Knowing where you want to go and what your objectives are, fully believing that you can do it and that you can achieve your goals. Then, there is the evidence that to keep your mind healthy, you need to exercise and maintain physical activity. Keep your body healthy to keep your mind healthy. Keep your mind healthy to keep your body healthy. It seems that it is a continuum, a circle that can bring you closer and closer to your aspirations. However, transformation is always about the process, the journey, with multiple destinations. So, how do you get your mind in line with your ambitions? What do you do if in the back of your mind, you don’t have faith in yourself, or don’t feel motivated?
Here are some tips to get your thoughts aligned with what you really want:
• Identify your reason for wanting to make the change. If you really don’t have the desire to change, it will be very difficult to find the motivation to hit your target. Do you want to look better more than you want to eat Doritos? Do you want to have more energy to be able to be there for your family more than you want to sit on the couch for six hours? Do you want to live a quality life more than you want to take that next puff?
• Make priorities and make time to do the necessary things. I tend to be a procrastinator on things that I don’t really want to do or that are not important to me (like unpacking, transferring things from an old purse to a new one, putting clothes away), so I need to make the important things a priority (work, time at home, exercise, writing) and then set aside times to get the less important or less fun tasks, such as unpacking for 30 minutes.
• Really take the time to envision your ideal life. Meditation, prayer, guided imagery, all can help you visualize what you want to achieve. Creating things like vision boards and even written lists of what you want to accomplish, that you look at on a regular basis, can help you get your mind focused.
• Get support. Whether it is a family member, a friend, or a personal trainer or wellness coach, find someone to be accountable to, as well as someone that can be supportive and encouraging. If your family or friends seem like they aren’t ready to accept the changes that you want to make, you may want to find other support systems. Things like your employer’s Employee Assistant Program, or counseling services, or even online support that is offered by many insurance companies can be a resource to you. If you are struggling with issues such as anxiety, depression or addiction to alcohol, drugs, food or anything else, seek out help to work through the barriers that you are facing so that you can move past them and get where you want to be.

Liz Jones is a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

Everyone knows that healthcare is changing. That is not news anymore… It’s time now to stop complaining about it and start taking ownership in it. Most people, even the “experts,” don’t fully understand all that the changes entail or what the outcomes will be long-term. What I think we all can understand is that, as a nation, healthcare costs are phenomenal. Hopefully you are still with me and haven’t gone off on a political tirade about whose fault it is. Stay with me…

What we do need to acknowledge is our own part in the solution to this. Some of the reasons health care is costing us so much is because people are not taking ownership of their own health, preventative care is by far the BEST way to avoid disease and to slow down the deterioration of the body. Staying healthy now, rather than trying to get your health back later, is something we can take charge of for ourselves and our families. I was at a presentation this morning in Dallas and liked the phrase that he used, that we need to present this to people as “slowing disease production.”

Right now, numbers show that over 80% of the male adult population in the United States is overweight or obese. Evidence is also starting to show that, more important than weight, is the circumference of your waist.
A high waist circumference and too much abdominal fat puts you at high risk for type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease. It means you need to lose weight.
By measuring your waist circumference, doctors can track your body composition before, during, and after your weight loss efforts.

A high-risk waist circumference is:
• A man with waist measurement over 40 inches (102 cm).
• A woman with waist measurement over 35 inches (88 cm).
*Source WebMD.com

It’s clear that there is a problem when 80% of our population is overweight, undernourished and inactive. Although “reality shows” about how to survive in the woods, obstacle courses such as “American Ninja Warrior”, and shows such as “Extreme Weight Loss” and “Dancing with the Stars” are becoming more and more popular, the people who need to be participating in activity the most, may very well be the people who are on the couch watching the show, as well as before and after the show (admittedly I’m loving the “American Ninja Warrior” and “Extreme Weight Loss” programs as well, when I have a chance to catch them on TV). What will you do today to help our nation bring the cost of health care down? What can you do to stop being a victim of your body and start being the steward of it?

Liz Jones is a wellness professional in Rockwall, Wylie, Mesquite, and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

Many diseases can be linked back to some basic things, what you eat and drink, your activity level, quality and quantity of sleep, your thought processes and managing stress. There are other factors such as genetics, hormonal imbalance, and environment that can impact your health, but the best way to take charge of your health is to identify what you have control over, think about what your motivation is to be healthy, and make necessary changes to move toward wellness.
The thing that we have the MOST control over is what we eat. Diseases such as diabetes and heart disease can often be directly linked to dietary choices that paved the way for the body to stop functioning properly. Although there is no single cause to obesity, again, dietary choices are the most predominant factor to someone becoming obese. Obesity is a leading cause of many other health-related issues like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and even cancer, back pain, joint pain, sleep apnea, gallstones, and many others.
Wellness in the workplace: Obesity among full-time employees cost employers $73.1 billion a year in medical costs and lost productivity in 2008. A recent study estimates that an obese person incurs annual medical costs that are over $2,700 higher (in 2005 dollars) than if they were not obese.
Employers are moving toward preventative health and wellness programs as a way to help their employees make better choices to prevent disease, manage disease if it is already induced, and to help their workforce have a better quality of life and thus being better employees. One of the easiest ways an employer (or school or other places) can have an impact is by getting healthier food in front of people. It can be as easy as changing the items offered in a vending machine, moving water to the top of the beverage machine (and making it the predominant choice), having healthy themed potlucks rather than sugar laden birthday and holiday celebrations, and encouraging staff to bring healthy food while on the job. I don’t think we ever need to regulate what people eat, however, I do think we can create a culture of wellness and encourage people to make better choices.
I encourage you to take the lead in your environment and try having a healthy potluck with your friends or at work. If you need recipe ideas, follow me on Facebook for recipes, tips and information. If you’d like help with ideas for workplace wellness, please feel free to send me a message at: [email protected]. I’m happy to help.

Liz Jones is a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

Some people love the holidays, but for many people, the holidays bring with them things such as financial worries, weight gain, family dynamics that bring out the worst in some of us and relationship stress. Personally, I love the spirit of the holidays, but have an extremely hard time with them. I write tips not from a place of all-knowing, but from a place of “I get this.”
I will even admit that I have been known just to skip a holiday here and there because I wasn’t in the mood for it. When I moved to Texas and my grown son, Jordan, was still in Wisconsin I stayed home in my pajamas on Christmas because I was depressed that I wasn’t able to see my kid. Of course, I could have gone to see family in Dallas or gone to see my friends that were in the area for “post-family” cocktails, but for me that year, I felt so drained and sad because all I could think about was how much I missed my son and how alone I felt. I know I would have been better off to stay active, to get around people and to have fun in whatever capacity it was available to me.
When Jordan was growing up, I was a single mom and we didn’t have a lot of money and so Christmas sometimes was tough because I couldn’t afford a lot of frivolous stuff. Luckily, I had a child that never really wanted much. He’s always been pretty down-to-earth and enjoyed having “old-school” Nintendo games even when his friends all had the latest and greatest technology. Later, when I was able to afford more and bought expensive gifts for extended family, it never felt right, or appreciated. I prefer to do things for people when I can, not because it is Christmas, but because I want to or am able to. I finally stopped buying gifts for most people and began donating money each year to a worthy cause because it felt like the right thing to do and was needed more than some of the gifts that I had given in the past. I still buy small gifts for some people and this year we are going in January to visit family. I don’t get to see my son this holiday, so I’m having a tough time with that, but I have new family members now and hope that with the changes in my life, also may bring a change of heart about the holidays.
The best advice I can give to anyone who may be struggling is to keep focused on the positive, albeit hard to do sometimes. Find things to keep you busy, like networking events and parties, without over-burdening yourself and becoming harried. Don’t over spend. Nobody needs a WII or and IPhone more than you need to pay your bills. Stay healthy. The holidays are not a good time to make major transformations, but a time to try to maintain health and fitness. Keep going to the gym, eat clean. Make “better” bad choices when you go to parties. If there is something that you are struggling with, please feel free to email me at: [email protected] and I’m happy to help and offer suggestions.
Follow me on Facebook for tips throughout the holidays: https://www.facebook.com/liz.jones.1441810

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.”
Marcus Aurelius
I’m writing on this topic not as an expert, but as a thinker and as an “experimental relationship scientist” if you will. We all have other people we live with, work with, gave birth to, or were given birth from. We have to drive on the streets with others, wait in line behind them, live and work among other humans.
Yes, other people’s behavior can be annoying. Other people’s lack of action can gum up your plans moving forward and sometimes throw a wrench into making progress on your goals. Yes, the people in our lives (families, those we coach, our co-workers/employees) are all people that we want to succeed and to be the best person that they can be and that we, in many ways, often feel we are responsible for. But no, their behavior can’t be blamed for you not reaching your goals in most cases.
A lot of the stress that we put on ourselves comes from worrying about what other people are or aren’t doing. The co-worker who, in your mind, slacked off and left your project high and dry. The spouse that doesn’t seem to be motivated to complete household tasks. The child who isn’t going to college. All seem to have a domino effect on us, in our minds “causing” us to not have the life that we want to live, as if it’s our job to control their behavior, or that their behavior directly is the reason we aren’t doing what we need to. This is a painful article for me to write as I ruminate over all the examples that this scenario appears in my life.
Realize there is no such thing as perfection in yourself or others, or that everything is already “perfect,” as it is right now. Think about right now, stop wasting your energy focusing on past wrongs. Don’t worry about what your coworker is doing. Don’t stress over a lack of accomplishment in your family members. If your workout partner doesn’t show up, workout anyway. It is actually bad for your self-esteem to spend all of your energy focusing on other people’s “bad” behavior. Focus on yourself. Look at ways that you have been working toward your goals, rather than what you haven’t accomplished. Do more of what you are doing right.
Today is one of those Universe lesson days (when the world just slaps me in the face with a message that I need to receive) that reminds me that positive reinforcement is the best tool to move toward where we want to be both for ourselves and in our relationships with others. Replace the negative things you think or say with positives. Focus on what you have control over and then control it. Visualize what you want your life to look like and then do what’s in your power to make it happen. It is extremely empowering when you realize you do have the wheel to the car of life in your hands.

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

I made a joke the other day, “Getting a wild hair after 40 sure doesn’t mean the same thing as it used to!” It was funny because it is true. Among the list of things that we (or at least I) always thought fell in the “It won’t ever happen to me,” category is the random, dark, wiry hair that pops up in an awkward location. Other things that, as a woman over 40 (and possibly similar issues affect you guys out there, but I’m not sure if you are as traumatized by them as most women I know), that seems to plague us is back fat…. Really??? How exactly did that get there? I go to the gym almost every day, I eat good, clean, whole food. When exactly did I grow extra boobs on the back of me? Totally unfair!
I won’t complain too much about the magic belly bulge that appears after eating any type of wheat product. In my profession, I know that can be an after-effect of gluten, but seriously… I go from looking lean in the morning, to some days, looking like I’m soon to deliver a bread baby. Come on! I have more than once perused the liposuction clinics in Dallas after a bad week of pants that don’t button. Now, I don’t think I’d ever resort to that, since I am dedicated to living a life that is focused on fitness, I keep holding out hope that I can beat the belly fat genes that I have been dubiously blessed with, but sometimes I think if there was a home lipo-kit, I may watch the wrong infomercial on the wrong day and get literally sucked in (or sucked out as the case may be).
Now, I’ll admit, I occasionally now drive with my turn signal on for a few miles without knowing it. I knew it was something that happens to most everyone as they get older. I’ve more than once been known to walk into a room and have absolutely no idea why I am in there. But hormones… I tell you… again, never thought it would happen to me. PMS has started to stand for Packing My Shotgun, when before it maybe meant having a day or so of feeling emotional, I can’t even imagine what it will be like when I hit the peri-menopause and menopause stage of life. So many women I know who are over the age of 40, find that weight management has become a whole new ballgame. They workout, they try to eat well, but yet the scale barely moves.
My advice to them, my sister middle-aged goddesses is to first of all, know you are not alone. Really, it happens to the best of us, so don’t give up. Keep your focus on the process and keep training, do your cardio. Ask yourself if you are really giving it your best effort. Eat clean, almost all the time. It’s OK to have a treat day, but when you are trying to lose weight, you really need to keep an eye on your food. I know it’s not fair, but it’s a reality that we all have to deal with. We need less food the older we get and the negative effects of processed and fatty foods is amplified once we get past a certain age. If, after taking a realistic inventory about what you are and aren’t doing, you may want to consider visiting your medical professional to have your hormones checked to make sure everything is in at the level it needs to be. Again, I’m here for you if I can help in anyway. Hopefully you catch me on a day where my pants are fitting and my tweezers are resting peacefully in the bathroom. I feel far more inspirational on those days.

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. — Buddha
I recently had a conversation with someone I know, I asked, “If someone asked you what would you say if someone asked you what you would do to save your child’s life or keep them from disease?” Almost everyone would answer that they would do anything to save their child. For those of you who don’t have kids, you can change the question to anyone that you care deeply about. If you were told you could give up M&Ms (as a very simplistic example) and your child would have ten additional years of a quality life, you would never eat another M&M again. I doubt that there would even be the temptation to do so.
So, I’ll ask the question a different way. What would you do to save your own life? We know that bad eating habits and lack of physical activity almost guarantee us, expect maybe a few very lucky exceptions, years taken off of our life, a poor quality of life in which we feel run down, in pain, depressed and suffer low self-esteem. So, why is it so hard to love ourselves enough to decide that we deserve to feel good, look good, and most importantly be healthy and live a good quality of life? My friend answered that it is because death does not seem imminent to any of us. Eating that donut doesn’t have the instant effects that cyanide does but it certainly does have the same effects long-term, when consumed as part of your regular diet.

Lack of activity is certain to bring muscle atrophy and a lack of mobility, pain, and a lack of muscle definition. Do you really want to have to push yourself out of a chair or walk with assistance as you grow older? I realize in some cases disease and disability are not something that we have control over, but in many, many cases, we do.
First, make sure you are asking the right questions when you are thinking about health and wellness. Maybe the question isn’t “how many calories should I consume?” or “what exercises should I do to get lean?” but “what needs to happen for me to feel worthy to dedicate the time and effort to myself to feel good?” Really think about who you are responsible to in your life and what you being healthy for yourself and for them means in the long run.
Next, make yourself a priority. Your workout is as important as brushing your teeth, showering, and the work that you do every day. Buying healthy food really is as easy and affordable as buying junk food (non-food like soda especially). We can all find a lot of excuses to why we can’t (but really why we won’t) take the steps we need to in order to be healthier.
Start with small steps. It’s hard to make big lifestyle changes all at once, but it is really easy to add one little good habit at a time. Start with waking up at the same time each day, or carrying a gallon jug of water (it really does help to carry the jug, both logistically and psychologically), or even going for a 15 minute walk after your dinner each night. Once that becomes a habit, add a little more. You can do it!

Liz Jones is the Wellness Coordinator for the City of Mesquite and a wellness professional in Rockwall, Mesquite, Wylie and surrounding areas. She is a writer, certified yoga instructor, personal trainer and wellness coach. She holds a Master’s Degree in Organizational Leadership and Strategic Management, with a graduate certificate in Ethics and Leadership. Her undergraduate studies included communication, business, writing, art, fitness, and dance. Liz Jones can be reached at: [email protected].