Fit For Life: It’s Non-Negotiable!

Sunday, July 16, 2017

Matt Espeut, GoLocalWorcester Health +Lifestyle Contributor

When is the last time you stopped and looked at something, and started thinking, wow we really take these things for granted, don’t we? It happened to me last week when I was boarding an airplane and realized how we take for granted the fact that we can have breakfast on the East Coast, and dinner on the West Coast in the same day. When you analyze how that can happen, it seems pretty amazing that a long cylinder with wings and an engine can take us over 3,000 miles through the air, in under 6 hours, and that we have access to any place in the world in a short amount of time. Give it some thought - amazing how far we’ve come.

Besides being addictive, and ruining all social human contact, the iPhone is another technological development that’s pretty amazing, too. I hate the fact that everyone is on their phones constantly, and people walk around with their heads up their butts because of it, but it is another amazing piece of equipment. Again, think about what it can do. Through the airwaves, you can call, research, find directions, control the heat in your house, take quality pictures and basically organize your entire schedule. Remember the days with phone lines, and rotary dial phones? Man, we have come a long way, and the more you think about what technology does, the more mind blowing it is. But most don’t think about what goes into making things happen, they just recognize the benefits and features of owning and using one.

With all the hate and negativity around us, sometimes we take the good people in our lives for granted. Stop doing that! I can be cynical about some of my fellow man at times, but I never take for granted the good people in my life. From family, to friends, to clients, I am always grateful for them, and appreciate having them in my life. Do I agree with my family and friends all the time? NO. Do I know everything about all my clients, and if they are as nice to everyone else as they are to me? No, I don’t. But every day when I leave work I leave knowing that despite all the bad, there are a lot of good people in this world. Sure, some bad people would rob and kill you for $20 dollars, but we can’t let that dictate how we view the world, and we can’t take the good souls for granted.

Our freedom is another thing many take for granted. When that young man came home from North Korea and died, that should have sent a message to ALL the American people that we have it pretty good, and our freedom shouldn’t be taken for granted. My grandfather fought on enemy soil less than 70 years ago, so we can enjoy the life we live today. If it weren’t for events like that, we could be living under the leadership of a Hitler, or that other leader from North Korea, Kim Jong-un – or the popular nickname for him, “Kim Fatty the Third”.

Before some idiots go burning flags to prove a point, they should realize that if you lived in another country, you may not live long enough to get your stupid little protest on YouTube.

The last, and in my opinion the most important thing we take for granted is our health.

If you don’t work out regularly, and you still eat commercial unhealthy food, you are taking your health for granted. You may want to argue this, but if you are not taking steps to improve your health daily, you are taking it for granted, and probably feel it will always be there. Going to the doctor and getting on medication is not taking care of your health. Eating properly, and exercising regularly will keep you out of the doctor’s office, and medication won’t be necessary, in most cases. Yes, there are people that work out and eat well that still get sick, but it is less likely to happen with some proactive steps.

Many of us are looking for quick and easy fixes when something goes wrong, but being preventative, and taking care of yourself before things go wrong is the best way to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Most of the time we take our health for granted, and don’t try to improve it until it’s too late. To many, healthy habits such as eating, exercising and getting a good night’s sleep are expendable habits that get replaced by late night TV, and processed fast food. By contrast, these things should be non-negotiable. If someone asks you to have a few drinks, you may feel obligated. Instead of saying “no, that will throw me off my routine" you do it anyway. Think about it, if you were pregnant, it would be non-negotiable. If you were vegan, and someone gave you a burger, you wouldn’t eat it. So why are general healthy habits expendable? They should always be non-negotiable, regardless of where you are. When a show comes on at 9:30 at night, many people will get wrapped up and stay up too late, for fear that they will miss something. Good things happen to our bodies when we sleep, so this too should be a non-negotiable task. Get to bed on time. No excuses. You are not missing anything!!

Folks, understand that when your health goes, it never comes back. Just ask a sick person what they would give to have their health back. Most would give everything they had to feel good again. You have the opportunity to live a healthy lifestyle NOW before this happens. It’s as easy as visiting Providence Fit Body Boot Camp and getting on our fitness and fat loss program.

Many of you reading this already know the benefits!

Recovering from sickness is complicated, while staying healthy is easy. You just need to stop taking your health for granted, and make some changes. That’s the good word for today.

Stop daily and look around at all the amazing things we have in our lives that we take for granted.

Write a few things in a gratuity journal daily, and it will help give you some clarity on what’s important. Look at the steps it took to be able to do the things we do daily.

When you stop, and look deeper and deeper into what we all have, you will take less for granted.

Matt Espeut, GoLocal's Health & Lifestyle Contributor has been a personal trainer and health & fitnesss consultant for over 25 years. He is the owner of Fitness Profiles, a one on one, and small group personal training company, as well as Providence Fit Body Boot Camp, located at 1284 North Main St., on the Providence/Pawtucket line. You can reach Matt at (401) 453-3200; on Facebook at "Matt Espeut", and on Twitter at @MattEspeut. "We’re all in this life together – let’s make it a healthy one

Related Slideshow: The 7 Best Health and Fitness Apps

Here is a list of some of the most obsession worthy health apps.

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MapMyRun

MapMyRun is the number one selling running app for a reason: it is easy to use, offers community support if you want it, and tracks and stores your exact routes for you. If you are training for a race or a serious runner, users say that the extra perks in the upgraded paid version are well worth it.

Made for iPhone, Android and Blackberry

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MyFitnessPal

MyFitnessPal seems to be the clear favorite amongst everyone polled. It is helpful not only for the fitness tracking aspect, but everyone polled mentioned how much they loved the food/diet aspect as well. From carb counting for diabetics to recipe ideas to complement your fitness goals, users love this app.

Made for iPhone and Android

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JeFit

JeFit is another fitness app that has rave reviews. It not only tracks progress for you, but offers a huge database of workouts. While many apps offer community support, JeFit allows you to sync workouts with friends who use the app, offering a (real) virtual buddy system.

Made for iPhone and Android

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Strava

Strava gets the highest mark of all the cycling apps. While it is also great for runners, the cyclers seem particularly inclined towards the fierce competition that can be ignited by this app. You can track all of your rides via GPS, then you can compare your efforts to those logged by others in the community on the same stretch of road. You can also join ongoing challenges that can net you great prizes (in addition to bragging rights).

Made for iPhone and Android

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YogaStudio

YogaStudio gets the top vote for Yoga apps. It has a lengthy collection of full class-length videos available at your fingertips. Unlike many other apps, this one also allows you to customize your own video yoga class. All of the poses are done by qualified yoga instructors, and you can find classes suitable for all levels of yogis.

Made for iPhone only

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SimplyBeing

SimplyBeing meditation app offers the best of both worlds. You can choose to run this app as a background for your meditation with soothing music or natural sounds that run for a set amount of time. Conversely, for those of you who have trouble focusing during meditation, you can choose a soothing voice-guided meditation.

Made for iPhone and Android

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Fooducate

Fooducate is an app all about educating people so that they make healthier food choices. Although not perfect, this app is easy to use (you can even take pictures of bar codes to instantly find foods in their database). It gives food a letter grade, tells you the pluses and minuses, and gives you better ranked alternatives. You can also use it as a weight loss tool by tracking your daily calories.

Made for iPhone and Android