Fitness, Body Image, and Eating Disorders

Health, Wellness and and overall Fitness...

Our American Society, Eating disorders, and the Diet Rollarcoaster.

I can talk from first hand in the trenches, personal experience. Since 1982 Health, Wellness, and Overall Fitness has never stopped being a part of my life no matter what other business I was presently consulting on  and or creating and or what Production or set I was on. No matter if I was working 12-14 hours a day or recovering myself from one of my 26 surgeries - health, wellness and fitness has and is an active daily mindset.

AT SOME POINT IN YOUR LIFE... YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO CHOOSE YOU...

What are YOU waiting for ???

I had N.Y. State Certifications in the Following starting in 1982-2001
Western Medicine:
*Certified Nurses Aide
*Certified Home Health Aide
*Certified Personal Care Aide
*Certified EMT-D
*Certified First Responder

Fitness Certifications: 2001 on.
*Certified Pilates Mat and Reformer
*Certified Specialized Personal Trainer

Eastern and Energetic  Healing Modalities 2001 on.
*Physical Therapy Aide
*Certified Medications Dispensing
*Certified B.E.S.T. Technique

*IET- Integrated Energy Therapy Master Instructor

 *White Light and Usui Reiki Master Instructor

And Massively studied Herbs, Flower Essences, Nutrition, and Various other Healing Modalities. My N.Y. State Certifications are NOT currently active however, always and until this day I am actively Learning, Playing and Growing in the ares of Health, Wellness, Fitness, and Eastern and Western ways in all areas of my life each and every day.

I basically massively dived into the world of Western and Eastern medicine in 1982 and then after Running my Preschool I created called, "Learning, Playing and Growing Inc.", for 3 years  I started working in Nursing Homes, Day Treatment Programs for the disabled, Hospice, ER, ICU, CCU and Rehabilitation Centers for people recovering from Strokes and Paralysis and various Gyms on Private Duty assignments.

I have always been massively curious about the Mind, Body, Spirit Connection and Health, Wellness, and Fitness, because of my health challenges growing up from being birthed from a Mom who had German Measles when she was pregnant with me in her first trimester. They told her to abort me, she didn't and here I am still standing, regardless of all of the challenges tossed my way throughout my life.

I can also say having experienced being very anorexic and then bulimic and having been 90 lbs. and having been 200 lbs. I can appreciate and understand what challenges there are for people Physically, Mentally, Emotionally and Spiritually with body image, the diet roller coaster, and figuring out what is healthy and what is not. Ultimately, arriving at what is a healthy balance within and without and finding peace within your Mind, Body, and Spirit-Physically, Mentally, Spiritually and Emotionally.  There is NO magic pill and it does take Willingness, Effort, Action, and constant pro-action as society is filled with pot holes so to speak attempting to lure you down the hole.  Fashion Magazines, Fast Food, Crazy work schedules, family relationships, partnerships, friends etc... Massive distractions everywhere IF, you let them take you out.

This was me in 1986, and the beginning of my fitness modeling days, I barely ate, worked out beyond excessively up to two hours a day at Jack La Lanne's Gym and then would also dance for hours etc...   Most would say I looked awesome in this photo, yet I know what I did to get like that and it was NOT healthy.

The pictures of  me even thinner, I literally shredded years back because they were so horrible to look at, I just couldn't bare to look at them and they would just bring back not so fun memories. I did do one stint in the hospital for 6 months for the anorexia, not at all FUN... repeat NOT fun...  And... a blessing because, what it did do for me, I was able to trace the issue back to my origins of much past abuse that I had never really dealt with.

The TIPPING point of Choose LIFE or DEATH 200 lbs.
For some more tips on the How I did see this below Link

Carly Alyssa Thorne's Journey from 200 lbs. to 125 lbs.

The Most PIVOTAL time in my life, after years of ups and downs, and even though I was always helping others, I finally hit a breaking point of dealing with my past demons.  Thankfully, because I had the background and training I

got my healthy self back within 6 months by myself without a trainer. Bottom line, if you want something badly enough or you are sick and tired of being sick and tired, You will make a choice to do something.  When you have hit rock bottom, trust me, you will do something.

Here is what I  can I tell you about Health, Wellness and Fitness. First, I truly do not like the word, "diet", it doesn't sound fun at all and the terminology of "losing weight", seriously; the whole concept of losing weight to me is I lost something and my intention if I lose something  is, I am looking to find it; so why would I want the weight back.  I truly find that using words that are inspiring and empowering is one way to truly stick to something.  Health, Wellness and Fitness isn't a FAD it truly must become a lifestyle choice for it to become a main factor in your daily life.

MAJOR KEY:  TEAMWORK , COLLABORATION, SHARING
*Make sure to have a support system in place, find a buddy to do it with you, or make it a family project.

*Find at least TWO people who are totally willing to support you while you are going thru the shift that you can call when you need to.

*Join online support groups, there are so many free support groups for exercise and healthy eating.

BODY MOVEMENT BASICS: 
Honestly a lot of it is common sense seriously...

-Move your body everyday for at least 30 minutes and it is not necessary to go beyond an hour.  Everything in LIFE is a Balance too much to excess it NOT good, and neither is too little.  Again this usually DOES NOT Apply if you are an athlete or are using your body as a commodity, like modeling, etc... Athletes are training hours and hours a day, and they are also getting massive nutrition and proper training and I have my personal opinions that I will NOT get into here about how some of that is done to the determent of people's body and how their bodies are burnt out and a mess at a relatively YOUNG age, that applies to modeling as well, however this article is NOT about that.

-VERY IMPORTANT: any exercise it is all about quality and form, body alignment it is NOT about EGO and doing more reps and or weight with bad form and body alignment. Think of it as a dance, a dancer has to hit certain poses and their body is in alignment when doing so, they are also FLUID, not jerky, well okay hip hop or other dance forms might have some jerky movements in there... You get my point.  You want your hips, shoulders, head all facing forward an in alignment when exercising, even when you are walking.
I also suggest someone get a QUALIFIED person to walk them thru some routines where they are educating you on body alignment and form etc...

-Unless you are in a competitive sport or getting PAID to work out, or your body is your physical commodity and the way you make a living, there is NO need to do hours of cardio and gym time.

-Take a quick paced walk, go for a bike ride, whatever rocks your world fitness
wise, just truly commit to doing it for at least 30 minutes at least 5x a week.

-Food intake: again I could write a book on all the different things out there,

Raw, Vegan, Vegetarian, Eats fish and eggs yet no red meat, etc... etc... etc...

We make it Soooo Complicated, it truly doesn't have to be. The more complicated you make it the less chances you have of having a successful  outcome that you will be happy with and can sustain.

YOUR KITCHEN AND FOOD:

Before you do start anything it is a must that you go thru your kitchen and give away all of the food that is truly not good for you.  All the fake, processed, fatty, sweets etc...  there is NO way that you are going to follow thru on eating healthy if there is crap food in the house even it is other family members food or house mates food. You are going to have to have the whole household involved.

So depending on your living environment, if they are not willing to participate or help, sometimes is might mean making choices.  You might want to live with people that do care about what they eat etc.... It might mean you being the parent and adult and choosing to also get your kids and partner eating healthy.

ALL FOOD, Preferably: No pesticides, Organic if possible and NO Additives.

Definitely NO:
Fast food places, white flour, sugar, corn syrup, processed, pre packaged food, TV dinners, etc...etc...etc...  Come on folks we all know that fake sugars, all of the additives, candy, and all of the crap food is NOT good for us, so WHY eat it.

If you eat Whole Grain, Alive Food, you will have a ton of more energy and not crave the crap food.

Sugar is addictive and once you start eating that piece of cake it sends a signal to your brain with endorphins and you start craving more sweets. Trust me when you start to eat cleaner and cleaner your taste buds truly do shift. And... Nobody said your food has to taste bland.  There are so many amazing seasonings cumin, dill, pepper, oregano, parsley, garlic etc... etc... etc....

Think about this, if you had a friend that was an alcoholic you wouldn't hand that person a beer would you ?  So knowing that sugar is addictive and truly an out of control addiction for many, why would you knowingly give yourself let alone a person with eating issues something that was 100% Crap sugar like a processed artificial cookie and or piece of cake ?

HONOR and LOVE your body it is the ONLY one you have for this Lifetime if you believe in multiple lifes, like I do.

MORE BASICS:
*First basic math you must expend more energy or calories if you will, than you are eating... So honestly we all have our personal dogma when it comes to food, so again here are some basics:

*Eat 5-6 meals a day and don't skip to keep your metabolism active, when you skip meals your body freaks out and goes back to the OLD AGE times and stores your next meal because it doesn't know when you might or might not feed it so to speak, there is more to this scientifically involving sugars dropping and then when you finally eat blood sugar levels going up way too fast  etc... etc... etc... however again I don't want to make this complicated... Simple is KEY....

In the morning when you get up or the night before pack some snacks in baggies to make things easier. I will get into the Glycemic Index and sugar levels a bit below.

Your 5- 6 meals:
*Make sure to have 3 well balanced meals and 2-3 small snacks.
What do I mean by snacks: one apple, 1 large carrot cut up or 6-8 mini carrots with almond butter or peanut butter, 2 Large stalks of celery with almond butter or peanut butter, 1/4 raw almonds.  Almond butter is healthier for you because it is alkaline. 

Meals depending on your dietary preference:
Again basic common sense: Eat whole, alive, whole grains foods, tons of vegetables, and some fruit and if you eat meat, make it LEAN meat.
Enough food that you feel satisfied, not Stuffed, bloated...

SOME BASIC DIGESTION TIPS:
*Do not drink while you are actively eating, drink before a meal or after.
WHY ? because our body is a LAB so to speak and your mouth has natural digestive enzymes that when we CHEW help break down the food to make it is easier to digest. When we drink while we eat, we dilute those enzymes.

*It is best to eat FRUIT by itself, as when you mix it with other foods it tends to get fermented and sit in your belly.  You can eat Fruit it will be totally digested within 2 hours.  Also the most beneficial time for Fruit is mornings.

Also WATER first thing in the morning with lemon juice helps get your organs hydrated and jump started for the day and Lemons are alkalizing to your system. Which I will get into that a bit later too.  Lemons act as a blood sugar stabilizer and helps boost your metabolism and aids in digestion.  Great for your skin and lemons do contain some calcium

Like I said early our bodies are like one big LAB, or chemistry set and there are massive studies out there that state that disease or another term used is our body is out of harmony, when our food intake is primarily acidic. Ideally you want to eat 80% Alkaline 20 Acidic.  Again this is a topic of great discussion and another book so for now here is a basic chart and below the chart is a great resource link to dive more into it.

MORE ON ALKALINE VERSUS ACIDIC

NOW ONTO BIGGEST impact of Health and Wellness and the prevention of Insulin resistance or Pre-Diabetes, the Glycemic Index.

Bottom line the white processed foods, NON whole foods items and sweets etc are much highly on the Glycemic index and are also higher on the acidic side, not an accident as they are interrelated.

Great Resource with a Printable PDF all about the Glycemic Index

Nutrition and glycemic-index

So I will end here for now for more in depth education and detailed programs being tailored specifically to your body type etc... you can email tlccoaching@gmail.com and put in subject heading Wellness and Fitness.

LIABILITY DISCLOSURE:

All the links, resources and information on this Blog, My FB Page, and or Websites are from my Personal Experience, Research and my Personal Opinion.  In the end, You decide what resonates for you.

I am not a licensed M.D., or Psychologist . I am a Transformationalist Life Coach, Interfaith Minister, & Personal Business Consultant and have studied Massively in all areas of the Mind, Body, and Spirit - Everything from Philosophy, Psychology, Theology, Nutrition, Overall Wellness, Fitness, Metaphysics etc... and have numerous Certifications to back that up along with my LIFE experience in the field since 1982 when I started working in the Medical Field that evolved into the Business, Metaphysical, Healing, and Wellness field.

All advice and or exercises I have provided in this Blog, My FB Page, and or Websites I have actually done, lived and still live and I have taught to hundreds of Private clients.

I am not being paid to endorse anyone’s links, books, advice, or products.

All of the resources listed, I have Read, Studied, and Used First on myself and then with clients. I am providing them here for Your Exploration and Growth of Mind, Body and Spirit, and Ultimately it is up to you to CHOOSE what best suits you.

Be sure to consult with your OWN Physician before starting any Exercise or Nutrition program.  Carly Alyssa Thorne

*Transformations Life Center

*Transformations Life Coaching

*Transformations Life Productions

Copyright ©2007 Carly Alyssa Thorne