Monday, December 23, 2013

Day 8 Toothbrush Analogy

Buy a new toothbrush!  There are many reasons why I chose to suggest buying a new toothbrush as part of our transformation.  First my "Toothbrush Analogy"  

A toothbrush is more than a toothbrush.  
I came up with this idea around summer time when many of my clients and students were going on vacation.  At first they all talked about whether or not they could take, or find a kettlebell or a trainer with kb's, to use while away.  It didn't take long for them to dismiss the idea due to the time and trouble to try and arrange it.  Then they would defend their choice to drop the idea altogether by saying something like, "Well, I will be on vacation after all!", as if being on vacation means that it's a valid excuse to forget about the maintenance of our health.  So I asked them if they were going to take their toothbrush!  Of course they were taking a toothbrush!  

But they were going on vacation!  Vacation means you don't have to be responsible for anything, right?  Why bother brushing your teeth?  Take it easy, relax, let yourself go....right?  Brushing our teeth is a huge part of maintaining good health and so is regular exercise.  If there comes a day when you don't feel like training, try not brushing your teeth either, see how good that feels! There is never a vacation from health, you are either moving towards it or moving away from it.

I'm not saying that you have to take or find a kettlebell while on vacation, but I am saying that going on vacation shouldn't mean that you let yourself go. If that's the case don't brush your teeth, wash your face, or take a shower.



Now that you will have a brand new fancy smancy toothbrush you may find it comes in handy more often than once day, first thing in the morning!  A couple of other ideas for using your new toothbrush:

#1 If or when you find yourself loitering in the kitchen pantry / refrigerator after dinner, bored and looking for something to nosh on, go brush your teeth and call it a night!  

Now that your teeth are nice and clean you just may feel that getting them dirty again eating something you really don't want to eat, especially something sweet and sugary, isn't worth it after all.

#2 If you find yourself wanting more to eat after you know you are full, or at the very least not hungry, calmly stop and go brush your teeth!  

Many times this can happen when we eat over-flavored foods.  By brushing our teeth and tongue we can clean away the sugar and salt, replacing it with a fresh minty taste.  The act of moving away from the food and towards good health, for our teeth and our body, feels much better and your mood can change dramatically in the right direction.

Let your new toothbrush remind you of the new you!  The new you that cares about how you feel and how you look.  We only get one set of teeth, and we only get one body, let's take make sure they both shine brightly!




Food journal.  I was so busy yesterday getting ready for hosting an early Xmas dinner that I pretty much let the journalling go.  I did a quick recap this morning for this picture deciding that I should at least write it down, listing the foods, letting go of measuring and counting for the day.  As I mentioned a couple of days ago, Mark has been getting some really good bottles of wine for Holiday gifts and I've been enjoying them a little too much, which is why Fri/Sat calories were just way too high.  I think I've decided the calories and hangover are not worth it so I'm moving on!  After last night's family celebration a ton of leftover cakes, pies, candy went straight into the trash!  I'm going to clean out the fridge/freezer of holiday crap later today, brush my teeth early and get ready for tomorrow's special Christmas Eve morning swing workout!


2 comments:

Maribel said...

I love that analogy! It's perfect.

Tracy Reifkind said...

Maribel,

Well, it does get the point across :)