My friends tell me that Im too persnickety, too bossy and stiff, about what I eat and when I go to bed, but thats hard to believe for anybody like you and me who knows how very important it is to eat well and get our beauty sleep. My one friend Pat McGarry (the guy who drives a Nissan Murano, if you remember him) stays up all hours of the night drinking Dirt Wolf and playing video games like The World of Warcraft. I told him yesterday that that is probably insanely unhealthy for a thirty five year old.

But Pats a good guy, he means well, and he takes good care of his bunny rabbit Jables, who, if I remember rightly, is turning ten years old this month or next. That bunny eats better than most people do, and it shows because his fur is expensive looking, shinny and soft. I wont hold him though as I have it from an animal doctor of high authority that bunnies in their old age can grow to be rather cantankerous.

You cant drink beer every night and stay up to three in the morning playing The World of Warcraft and expect to get very good sleep otherwise, have level energy tomorrow, or balanced hormones Pat, if youre reading this, you know that Im right.

Sleep and food and exercise are at the bottom of the pyramid of health, which is the harmonious interplay between the kidneys, the heart, the lungs, the liver, etc. Any input, even what may seem to be rather trifling, can affect positively or negatively, either largely or very minutely, this interplay, and cause further disruption or agreement.

Usually you become hormonally imbalanced over a longish period of time, through many years of abuse or neglect, or some utterly grotesque and malefic amalgamation of the two. And so it takes a stretch of time to get yourself reoriented, and back to equilibrium, which is home. The general rule is that for every year youve been unhealthy you can expect one month of recovery time. Ive had many clients where its been shorter than thatway shorter than thatbut everybody is a different person, and only you are you.

We cannot address just fitness. Just fitness is not enough. We need to talk about sleep, too, and eating, of course, and, if necessary, herbs and supplementation (I wonder how many commas I can fit into the next sentence). The easiest way to do this, I think, would be to trot out a list, and say here are all the things you need to think about when it comes to hormone optimization: food, sleep, exercise, water, stress, home life, work life, vitamins, minerals, and drugs if you take any.

Beyond that, there can only be individualization, because whats right for you might not be right for Pat McGarry or my eighty year old grandmother who lives in Upper Darby because she doesnt know any better. And the curious misstep that fitness professionals continue to make is the gross and contemptible error of mistaking means for ends. I had one client, for example, come to me so filled with stress that if I gave him anything more than a brisk walk he would have exploded into a bajillion pieces. In other words, MY preferred means of heavy lifting and metabolic conditioning would have defeated HIS desirable ends.But weve got a firm handle on things, now, his face isnt so beat red anymore, and he lost 30lbs without ever touching a weight, which is cool. I had another client who suffered damnably from hot flashes for years, and now, miraculously, or not, she doesnt. (She looks great, too, by the way.).

The Point: Their programs, though aimed towards the same ends of achieving balance and harmonious internal interplay, along with fat loss and lean muscle gain, of course, used various, and sometimes wildly different means to get there. So I want to remind you, gently, that there are many ways to the same ends, and sometimesif not all the timemany ways are needed.

- = +

- Pat

P.S.I spent a lot of time once doing nothing about my healthalmost sixteen years, in fact, and developed over the course of that time an extraordinary collection of ineradicable diseases, or so I thought: obesity, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, dandruff. My organs grew accustomed to disagreement, as it were, like a roomful of catty office workers, but implausibly carried out the necessary functions regardless, though rather poorly, for fear of a forced early retirement. It took me four years to figure it all out, I lamentably report, but I can finally scratch my head again.

P.P.S. Join me for a webinar next Thursday, the 18th, at 7pm Eastern onGetting The Best-Ever Nights Sleep. Its $20 to get in, and heres what youll learn:

Like I said, its $20 to get in, but I promise youll get at least 6x the value out of this training than what you pay to be there. The $20 is your commitment to me to take the information I give you seriously, and use it.

Dont worry if you cant make it live, anyone who signs up gets the recording, which will be yours to keep forever. But if you do show up live, Ill be taking QnA at the end.

This is the first in a series that Im doing about Hormone Op, so if this topic is something of interest to you, pleasepleasedont skip this part of the series. Its too important.

My webinar system can only take so many people, and were about halfway full, so if you want to be a part of this, please sign up today.

CLICK HERE to claim your spot now

See the rest here:
Hormone Optimization Part 1