TedTalk: Change Anything! Use skillpower over willpower

You can watch this talk here: youtu.be/3TX-Nu5wTS8

I just finished watching this Tedtalk, with notes, and I feel like this is a talk that everyone needs to hear at least once in their lives. Even if you are successful in everything that you put your mind to, you can pass the information in that talk along to help someone who struggles to do what they want to do.

There are two concepts stressed in this talk that resonated with me.

1.) Align yourself and your life with your goals. This is called the Six Sources of Influence in the talk. It's common knowledge that when we are supported and away from temptation we have a higher chance of success. However, in reality, we cannot stay at a retreat for the rest of our days, we must deal with temptation on a daily basis. HOWEVER, aligning your life around achieving your goals means that you'll be less likely to encounter temptations AND you'll have a support group in place in case you find yourself tempted.

2.) Turn bad days into good data. Too many people, myself included, have a bad day and practically give up on their progress. Instead of getting down on ourselves, turning the focus to why we gave in or didn't do what we should've done is key. Discovering the why is what will help us overcome the situation the next time it arrives because when we know the WHY we can find out HOW to overcome it. For example, I have a weakness for French toast and we just got an iHop in my town. When my friends ask me to go, I know that instead of ordering French toast I will only order from their healthier food option section. I will not look at the rest of the menu because it is likely that I will give in. The same can be said for Burger King. For years I would only be able to get Burger King once or twice a year. It was a special treat for me in a way. Then I moved to a town that had a Burger King on the way to the grocery store. My impulse always kicked in when I drove by and I would find myself pulling into the parking lot and ordering food without much thought. Then, since I know it's a weakness, I started driving a different way to the grocery store. Currently, the impulse is practically gone and I can drive the normal way to the store without worry.

Anyways, I just wanted to share this video with you all because it is something I'm going to use myself and have my clients use with Beachbody and when I become a registered dietician!

Vitamin A Quckie

Welcome to the first quickie blog post.  These posts aren't meant to be the end all on the topics they'll be talking about.  It's more of a collection of quick bursts of information, hence the name.  These posts will be me for me than anything else, but I figured, instead of just writing these up and keeping them on my PC, I'd share them with the world.  I'm planning on this being an on going series that gets updated every Monday.  :D

Why do we want some Vitamin A?

Vitamin A is an essential vitamin that: promotes cell regeneration and division which means healthy skin, gums, teeth, and mucus membranes; assists the immune system by stimulating and production and activity of white blood cells (Harvard School of Public Health/HSPH, n.d.); is crucial for the health formation and maintenance of major organs like the heart, lungs, and kidneys (National Institutes of Health/NIH, 2013); aids sight, especially for lower light situations; and may play a key role for breastfeeding.

What is Vitamin A?

There are actually two forms of vitamin A that I am currently aware of, active vitamin A (also called retinol or preformed vitamin A) and precursor/proformed vitamin A like beta-carotene.  Precursor vitamin A is created in the body through chemical reactions as the body breaks down one compound.  This form of vitamin A is not toxic, even at high intake levels (/HSPH, n.d.).  Active vitamin A, however, is a different story and should be capped at 3,000 micrograms, though "...intakes this high may increase the risk of hip fracture or interfere with the beneficial actions of vitamin D" (HSPH, n.d.). 

Where do we get active vitamin A?

A leading source is from fortified foods, like breakfast cereals, and supplements.  It is recommended that people use a supplement that uses a precursor vitamin A, like beta-carotene, instead of an active version.  Another high source is animal based, especially beef liver which can give up to 444% DV in 3oz (NIH, 2013).

Where do I get precursor vitamin A?

FRUITS and VEGGIES!  A serving of sweet potatoes pack a whopping 561% DV of vitamin A while a serving of cooked frozen spinach contains 229% (NIH, 2013).

How does my body absorb vitamin A?

Vitamin A is a fat soluble vitamin, meaning you need to eat the sources with some fat for your body to do much of anything with it.  This is another reason why I add Greek yogurt to my green smoothies, or coconut oil if I'm not using Greek yogurt.  

References

Harvard School of Public Health (n.d.). Vitamin A. Retrieved from http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/vitamin-a/.

Medicine Plus (February 18, 2013). Vitamin A. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002400.htm.

National Institutes of Health (June 5, 2013). Vitamin A - Health professional fact sheet.Retrieved from http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/#h3.

Are you ready for a life change?!

My results: 
There are five stages of change that people move through when losing bad habits or creating new ones (pre-contemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance). You’re in the third stage, preparation—getting ready for takeoff. In many ways, this stage is the most important, because you're setting up the course for all the work that lies ahead. This is the time to work out ways around the inevitable bumps, setbacks and plateaus that lie ahead. If it's a struggle for you to eat healthy while you're on the run, get some advice before you wind up in the fast food line. If you don’t know how you'll get to the gym when your kids are home after school, work out a plan before school's out. And don't get discouraged if you've tried to make changes in the past and it didn’t stick. Sometimes it takes a few tries, and you'll learn more about yourself each time. 

My thoughts: 
I definitely agree with the results, though I feel like I'm floating between prep and taking action. I'm eating better, making my smoothies (SOO good!), focusing on the future and how my health will be. However, I'm also still planning and trying to figure some things out. 

What I'm planning: 
When to exercise - I hate, HATE, exercising in front of people. I don't care who you are, if I love you or not, or if I even know you, I do not want to exercise in front of you. Haha! This normally wasn't a big deal, however, my boyfriend is now living with me in my tiny 397 sq. ft. apartment. I know I need to just get over this irrational idea because my health is more important...but I'm still feeling stuck. 

Contingency Plans - I am making contingency plans for when I go out with friends. For example, if we go to iHop (a chain we just got) I will only get two slices of french toast and a cup of fruit. Those two slices are A LOT of my daily intake of calories but I rarely go so I will be able to "sacrifice" during the rest of the day by having smoothies, veggie based protein, and quinoa pasta w/ tomato sauce. Now, I just need to have plans for when I get near my temptations like Burger King, sweets, fries, and ice cream. :D 

Ways to stay motivated - Mindbloom is a HUGE source of my motivation and so are the articles and stories here. Watching people's transformations is also highly motivational and because of that I'm thinking about recording my own transformation with T25. What do you all think?! 

What I am doing - Focus T25 (I'm sure you're tired of hearing about it but I LOVE it...and hate it at the same time) and Turbo Jam when I feel bored; focusing on hitting my daily goals here and on MindBloom; making breakfast and bringing lunch (especially since my financial situation isn't the healthy). 

The Plan for A Healthy Spark

Hi guys!

Firstly, thanks for coming along for the ride that is A Healthy Spark (AHS).  The purpose of this entry is to layout a weekly timeline of events for the blog and my social media presence as a whole. 

The Blog
Daily Mon - Fri = fitness progress in the form a video blog that will be uploaded to YouTube starting this Monday!!

Monday = Quickies - posts dealing with a random health/nutrition topic that I have researched.  Feel free to suggest topics for me to research and offer your own experiences to the discussion.

Wednesday = Personal Development Topic - posts dealing what I've learned or have been focusing on that week with personal development.  I'll likely go into the books I'm reading and the actions I'm taking to better myself and my business.

Saturday = Staturday for Focus T25 and I will be placing my stat updates for the world to see that day and also having a video blog about what I found easy/difficult that week.

Social Media
**I'm still getting everything up and running so I apologize for the lack of content currently.  That will be changing shortly though, right?!  :D
Instagram: coachmarquita  (www.instagram.com/coachmarquita)
Facebook: Marquita Rufus (www.facebook.com/marquita.rufus)
YouTube: CoachMarquita (www.youtube.com/channel/UCZfGZp6AqNL5eON7JBxcvVA)

I look forward to conversing with you all!

No Excuses! The Power of Self Discipline by Brian Tracey

I started listening to this book today on YouTube and I must say, it is amazing so far. I'm only in the prologue but he has made two points that really resonate with me, so I wanted to share them. 

1. We all know what we need to do to achieve our goals but often we stop before start by saying "Someday I'll..." 
I know I had, and honestly still have, this habit when it comes to certain areas of my life. I know the root of this habit: I felt that I don't deserve success. This thought stems from almost a lifetime of depression stemming from a singular event. However, I've consciously decided that my past will no longer dictate my future. Now I am relearning how to talk to myself and how to be a positive influence in my life, much like I'm a positive influence to others in theirs. We can all overcome our past trials to create a better future for ourselves, it just takes time. 

2. Self discipline, in my opinion, is key for success in every goal that involves personal investment. Another, and equally important key, is perseverance. The beginning of the journey towards accomplishment is the easy part, in a way. It's keeping the momentum that makes the journey difficult. 

3. "Self discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not." 
I'm going to be saying this on a daily bases. It inspires me to keep focused. 

Has anyone else read this too? What are your thoughts?

Having Motivation in the Morning

I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels super motivated in the evening and resolve to do soo many things the next day (i.e. clean the house, exercise, pack lunch, etc) only to wake up the next day and find that the spark is gone. Sometimes, there's no recollection of WHY there was motivation to accomplish all of the tasks. 

Well, my aim this week is to move beyond that and I've gotten a few ideas from an article: addicted2success.com/mot
ivation/15-ways-to-wake-up
-with-motivation/ . 

My key take-aways are: 
1. Have my goals predominately place everywhere I'm going to be. Luckily, there's only two for 2014: get out of debt and be a successful Beachbody Coach (the latter is a hefty goal with many smaller steps required though). So, I'm going to be placing these goals EVERYWHERE! On my phone, in my bathroom, on my fridge, in my car, and even at work. There won't be a day that I don't remember my goals because they'll be staring me in the face all day, everyday! 

2. Focus on TODAY! I've only had a "I wish I had..." mentality growing up and switching that to a "Today I'm going to..." mindset isn't going to be easy but take-away number one will make it easier. I've found that out before when I did the same thing during a period when I was attempting to get promoted at work. Having my work goal on my clip board for me to see daily kept me going strong in and out of work. I didn't have any "I wish I had..." thoughts because I had already done what I needed to do. 

3. Read voraciously! Now, the author isn't talking about reading fiction for the heck of it. He's talking about books that inspire and/or are focused on personal development. This is a stance that Beachbody takes and is one of the three behaviors they stress to their coaches. Everyday is a chance to better myself and that's what I'm going to do. I'll be revisiting Failing Forward this week. 

4. Practice discipline. There's two lines, that I combine into one in this quote, that really struck me from this article: "It's in discipline that we gain freedom...to get more done, to improve, and to remove regret from our lives." (Chad Howse, 08/03/2013) 
Again, take-away number one is going to help with this because it will keep me on track and increase my discipline through practice. It will also raise my consistency, a key factor in successfully completing any life change. 

So, there you have it. My four take-aways from the article linked above. Life changes take time but they are doable. There are success stories all over Spark People and the Internet. We can ALL change our habits for the better, it just takes drive and support.