Changing It All: The Big Question
I’ve always believed that fitness is about something bigger than just fitting into an old pair of pants.
Yes, it’s an amazing thing when you can turn the clock back at age 40 and look and feel better than when you were 25 years old, but fitness isn’t merely a vain search for eternal youth.
It’s about living a healthier, fuller life now and in the future, not just for ourselves but for our children and their children.
For me it comes down to one major motivating question:
What kind of legacy do I want to leave my kids?
You can give your kids and grandchildren all the money, fame, and connections in the world, but without good health they won’t be able to enjoy what they have, and without good character, they won’t be able to grow what you give them.
Fitness develops personal discipline and health at the same time. These are skills that will help you in everything else you do in life, and they set an excellent example for your children to follow.
The leading causes of disease and death in America today are heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, all of which are linked to obesity. Every single one of these diseases has been proven to be treatable with a healthy diet and exercise.
Here “diet” does not mean caloric restriction - that has long been proven an ineffective way to stay healthy and trim - rather it means a balanced nutrition centered on natural, plant based foods, complete proteins, and healthy fats.
Many people actually need to eat MORE calories than they currently eat in order to burn the fat that they want to lose. The problem is, they’re not eating the kinds of healthy foods that allow the body to burn fat, clean out toxins, and fight off disease.
Most people are clogging their systems with processed garbage rather than energizing their systems with the ideal fuel for their bodies. That is why my major focus with any client is nutritional education first.
If doctors prescribed nutritional education instead of pills as the first line of treatment for most of the major diseases today, we wouldn’t be in the healthcare crisis that we are in now.
I want my kids to avoid those diseases, to be educated about nutrition, to be naturally fit and healthy, and to have all the energy and confidence they need to accomplish anything they want to do in life. That’s a legacy I want to pass down.
A life of physical fitness will give them the discipline to make and maintain those healthy choices that will keep them healthy and happy every day. Even something as simple as high school sports can help a child develop personal discipline and an understanding of what it takes to succeed at any goal.
Fitness takes discipline.
Health and nutrition take discipline. But once you learn that discipline, the benefits are so powerful in your life that they maintain themselves and even grow beyond what you imagined they could.
From this one change, everything else in your life can change for the better. From this one foundation of health and fitness that you can give yourself and your children, everything in your life and in their lives can be far better than what society is offering to those who simply follow the crowd.
When I was slaving away in corporate America, I thought that if I made enough money, I would automatically be healthy and happy. It wasn’t true.
I had to make my health, and my true purpose to help other people, my foundation, my first priority. Then, with my foundation in place, success followed me.
I want my children to have their health and fitness as a foundation for their life, not as an afterthought.
If you wait for the money or the success or the free time to arrive and simply deliver your health and happiness to you, you will be waiting forever.
Build your foundation. It’s not just for you.
