AFTERWORD

“We learn by practice. Whether it means to learn to dance by practicing dancing or to learn to live by practicing living, the principles are the same…. One becomes in some area an athlete of God.”

—Martha Graham

Assess Your Health Success

Now that the year’s at its end, this is a great time to review your progress on all fronts. One of the best ways to see how far you’ve come and to plot changes for the upcoming year is to spend a few minutes assessing your progress. Answer the following questions:

• Have you improved your diet? Have you cut way back on saturated fats, while increasing good fats? Have you added more fruits and vegetables? Are you making sure you are eating vitamin-rich foods?

• Are your muscles stronger than they were a year ago? Are you able to lift heavier weights, or increase your reps? Have you noticed an improved ability to perform everyday tasks?

• Are you eating foods that nourish your brain? Do you regularly do activities that will keep your brain supple? Do you challenge your brain? Do you make sure you get thirty minutes of exercise daily to keep your brain functioning at peak capacity?

• Have you kept abreast with the increasing difficulty and duration of the exercise programs offered in this book? Do your regularly push yourself just a little harder? Are you ready to add a more strenuous regime, such as running three times a week?

• Have you added yoga (or a similar routine, such as Tai Chi) to your weekly workouts? Do you consciously execute the types of stretches that will facilitate flexibility? Do you alternate workouts to focus on various sets of muscles (shoulders and arms one day; buttocks and legs the next)?

• Do you make time for recreational activities? Do you make sure that your recreational activities are ones that give your body a workout? Do you have a hobby that you do regularly? Have you cut back on time spent watching TV?

• Do you make time to rest? Have you tried meditation? Do you have rituals that nourish your soul? Have you grown to know yourself—and what pleases you—better? Are you able to quiet your mind and truly relax?

In answering these questions, you may be pleasantly surprised to discover how far you really have come, and what a difference working toward the healthiest you ever has made in your overall health and happiness. If you fell short, simply start the new year by starting over; if you’ve done fairly well, go back and focus on the activities that you didn’t adopt; if you’ve done really well, keep up your program, coming up with your own ideas for ways to bolster your progress.

To all, major congratulations on valuing yourself enough to buy this book and spend the time to institute changes that will make a huge difference in your life.